Abstract: In the field of retail product sales, a retail store would like to identify the most popular products in the market to make sure the product assortment of the store carries those popular products. By focusing on the most popular varieties of products and decreasing the exposure of the least popular varieties of products, a retail store can optimize its assortment selection and increase its profits and sales. The present invention supports the optimization of a retail product selection in a computerized system for categorizing products in inventory, determining market demand for products in the market, and optimizing the variety of products in inventory based upon retail sales data for a geographic region and a chain of stores. With the present method and system, a significant amount of retail sales data is manipulated into an easy to understand format for product category management and variety optimization.

Abstract: Apparatus for adding movable wings and feet to a conventional hollow waterfowl decoy includes a battery powered electric motor with a rotary disk operatively connected thereto, disposed in the hollow interior of the decoy body, a pair of wing assemblies extending through a pair of opposed slots in the sides of the decoy body and connected to the rotary disk and a pair of foot assemblies extending through a second pair of opposed slots in the sides of the decoy body and connected to the rotary disk, such that activation of the motor and resulting rotation of the disk produces oscillatory motion of the wing assemblies and foot assemblies to simulate the movement of live birds. A method of adding movable appendages to a waterfowl decoy and a method of adjusting the movement of such appendages are also provided.

Abstract: A waterfowl decoy with interchangeable moveable appendages includes a body with a hollow interior and two opposed sides with shaft apertures extending through the two sides in opposed relation to each other, a drive assembly with two battery powered electric motors, each having a rotatable output shaft, disposed in the hollow interior of the body with the output shafts extending through the shaft apertures on each side of the body of the decoy, and a variety of appendage assemblies each removeably connectable to an output shaft of one of the motors. Each appendage assembly has a hub and at least one appendage such as a wing and/or a paddle connected to the hub, so that upon activation of the motors the hubs rotate and the appendages move to simulate movements of live waterfowl.

Abstract: A self-propelled waterfowl decoy to float on and propel itself along the surface of a body of water includes a body with a hollow interior and two opposed sides with shaft apertures extending through the two sides in opposed relation to each other, a drive assembly with two battery powered electric motors, each having a rotatable output shaft, disposed in the hollow interior of the body with the output shafts extending through the shaft apertures on each side of the body of the decoy, and a pair of paddle wheel assemblies each connected to an output shaft of one of the motors and each having a hub and at least one paddle extending outwardly from the hub, so that upon activation of the motors the paddles rotate to engage the surface of the water to propel the decoy along the surface and splash water toward the rear of the decoy.