Fulfillment of orders from multiple sources

• US 9,195,959 B1
• Filed: 09/19/2008
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lopez, Gustavo Eduardo, Walsh, Paul J., McMahon, Jason Aaron, Ricci, Christian M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender, F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROJAS, HAJIME S
• Application Number:
  US12/233,934
• Time in Patent Office: 2,622 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders

Abstract

This disclosure relates to order fulfillment by various fulfillment sources in a fulfillment network. A fulfillment source is selected in the fulfillment network to fulfill an order before a contingency deadline. If the order is not fulfilled by the deadline, other fulfillment sources are used. Lead times for fulfillment of orders for products are adjusted for respective fulfillment sources based on their past fulfillment history.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

storing a plurality of inventories in a memory accessible by a server, each of the plurality of inventories expressing an inventory of products associated with a corresponding one of a plurality of fulfillment entities;

facilitating interaction in the server with a client to generate an order for one of the products to be fulfilled by a selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities;

receiving a directive from the client during the interaction that the one of the products is to be picked up from a physical site within a geographical area;

identifying multiple ones of the plurality of inventories that include the one of the products and that correspond to respective ones of the plurality of fulfillment entities that have a fulfillment network with a physical presence within the geographical area specified by the client;

identifying a lead time associated with the one of the products for each of the multiple ones of the plurality of inventories;

generating a listing of each of the plurality of fulfillment entities associated with a respective one of the multiple ones of the plurality of inventories, the listing including the lead time for the one of the products for each of the plurality of fulfillment entities;

serving the listing up to the client during the interaction between the server and the client;

directing a selected one of the fulfillment entities to take steps to fulfill the order for the product; and

specifying a contingency deadline by which the selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities is to take action to fulfill the order, where a predefined period of time exists between the contingency deadline and a promised delivery date provided to the client.

2. A method, comprising:

storing a plurality of inventories in a memory accessible by a server, each of the plurality of inventories expressing an inventory of products associated with a corresponding one of a plurality of fulfillment entities;

identifying multiple ones of the plurality of inventories that include a product;

identifying a lead time associated with the product for each of the multiple ones of the plurality of inventories;

generating a listing of each of the plurality of fulfillment entities associated with a respective one of the multiple ones of the inventories, the listing including the lead time for the product for each of the plurality of fulfillment entities;

serving the listing up to a client;

directing a selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities to take steps to fulfill an order for the product; and

specifying a contingency deadline by which the selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities is to take action to fulfill the order, where a predefined period of time exists between the contingency deadline and a promised delivery date provided to the client.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying multiple ones of the plurality of inventories that include the product further comprises identifying a plurality of fulfillment networks associated with corresponding ones of the plurality of fulfillment entities that have a physical presence within a predefined geographical area received from the client.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

facilitating interaction in the server with the client to generate the order for the product to be fulfilled by the selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities; and

receiving a directive from the client that the product is to be picked up from a physical site within the predefined geographical area during the interaction.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

facilitating interaction in the server with the client to generate the order for the product to be fulfilled by the selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities; and

where the listing is served up to the client during the interaction to facilitate a selection of the selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

canceling the fulfillment of the order by the selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities if confirmation is not received from the selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities that the action to fulfill the order has been taken by the contingency deadline; and

implementing fulfillment of the order using a contingent fulfillment source after the fulfillment of the order is canceled.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising periodically updating the plurality of inventories with inventory data received periodically from the corresponding ones of the plurality of fulfillment entities.

8. A system, comprising:

a server;

a plurality of inventories stored in a memory accessible by the server, each of the plurality of inventories expressing an inventory of products associated with a corresponding one of a plurality of fulfillment entities; and

electronic commerce logic executable in the server, the electronic commerce logic comprising;

logic that identifies multiple ones of the plurality of inventories that include a product;

logic that identifies a lead time associated with the product for each of the multiple ones of the plurality of inventories;

logic that generates a listing of each of the plurality of fulfillment entities associated with a respective one of the multiple ones of the plurality of inventories, the listing including the lead time for the product for each of the plurality of fulfillment entities;

logic that serves the listing up to a client;

logic that directs a selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities to take steps to fulfill an order for the product; and

logic that specifies a contingency deadline by which the selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities is to take action to fulfill the order, where a predefined period of time exists between the contingency deadline and a promised delivery date provided to the client.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the logic that identifies multiple ones of the plurality of inventories that include the product further comprises logic that identifies a plurality of fulfillment networks associated with corresponding ones of the plurality of fulfillment entities that have a physical presence within a predefined geographical area received from the client.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the electronic commerce logic further comprises logic that facilitates interaction with the client to generate the order for the product to be fulfilled by the selected one of the fulfillment entities, where a directive is received from the client indicating that the product is to be picked up from a physical site within the predefined geographical area during the interaction.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the electronic commerce logic further comprises logic that facilitates interaction in the server with the client to generate the order for the product to be fulfilled by the selected one of the plurality of fulfillment entities, where the listing is served up to the client during the interaction to facilitate a fulfillment entity selection.

12. A method, comprising:

interacting with a server using a client to generate an order for a product, where a plurality of network pages are received in the client from the server during the interaction;

selecting a fulfillment channel for a fulfillment of the order in one of the plurality of network pages on the client;

selecting one of a plurality of fulfillment entities for the fulfillment of the order in one of the plurality of network pages on the client; and

specifying a contingency deadline by which the one of the plurality of fulfillment entities is to take action to fulfill the order, where a predefined period of time exists between the contingency deadline and a promised delivery date provided to the client.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the fulfillment channel for the fulfillment of the order in the one of the plurality of network pages on the client further comprises specifying that the order is to be fulfilled by customer pickup at a physical site associated with the one of the plurality of fulfillment entities.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising specifying a geographical area within which the physical site is to be located for the customer pickup.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the one of the plurality of fulfillment entities for the fulfillment of the order in one of the plurality of network pages on the client further comprises selecting a physical site at which a customer pickup associated with the order is to take place.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising cancelling the fulfillment of the order by the one of the plurality of fulfillment entities if confirmation is not received from the one of the plurality of fulfillment entities that the action to fulfill the order has been taken by the contingency deadline.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising implementing the fulfillment of the order using a contingent fulfillment source after the fulfillment of the order is canceled.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising identifying a lead time associated with the product for each of a plurality of inventories.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising periodically updating the plurality of inventories with inventory data received periodically from corresponding ones of the plurality of fulfillment entities.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the one of the plurality of network pages includes a listing of the plurality of fulfillment entities.