Systems, methods and computer program products for facilitating the sale of commodity-like goods/services
The invention provides systems and methods for facilitating the sale of commodity-like goods/services. The commodity-like goods/services at which the invention is directed, are of a type that are relatively indistinguishable from one brand, identity and/or outlet to another in end-use functionality and features. These types of goods/services are many times sold at retail under various brands or identities at multiple locations, to the final end user. Such goods/services may also or separately be of a type that are repeatedly purchased at intervals, and/or for which the price varies between purchases, from outlet to outlet or brand to brand. The goods/services may also be of a character such that they are not deliverable to the consumer, but require the consumer to travel to the retailer outlet. The system and methods also provide information relating to the consumers and competitors of a retailer of such goods/services. The invention establishes methods and procedures to define, organize, collect, distribute, and maintain information that can be used by the owner of a business selling commodity-like goods/services as well as by its customers. This information may include, but is not limited to, name brand of the product, location of the retailer, price of the product, other related goods/services available and their prices, and promotions. These processes may be performed and implemented on a computer network that is accessible in real time via a suitable communication device, such as a computer, wireless communication device, telephone or the like. A database of such information is created, allowing the consumer and other retailers to query the database using various search criteria. The consumer has the opportunity to obtain information about retailers of commodity-like goods/services that meet the consumer's requirements, and pricing may be guaranteed by the retailer.
Latest Patents:
- DRUG DELIVERY DEVICE FOR DELIVERING A PREDEFINED FIXED DOSE
- NEGATIVE-PRESSURE DRESSING WITH SKINNED CHANNELS
- METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR COOLING A SUBSTRATE SUPPORT
- DISPLAY PANEL AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF, AND DISPLAY DEVICE
- MAIN BODY SHEET FOR VAPOR CHAMBER, VAPOR CHAMBER, AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS
This application is a continuation of co-pending application Ser. No. 09/630,514, filed Aug. 2, 2000, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe present invention relates generally to systems and methods for facilitating the sale of retail goods and/or services that are not easily or readily delivered to the consumer, or where the prices of such goods and/or services are not readily determined except at the retail outlet, such as vehicle fuels.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONVarious retail goods/services cannot be purchased/performed other than at the outlet of the retailer of such goods/services. Goods such as gasoline, diesel fuel, propane and a variety of other fuels, as well as services including vehicle repair or servicing, laundry and dry cleaning services, food service and the like, must generally be physically acquired at the retail outlet.
As with most items for sale, consumers of retail goods/services that are generally not deliverable to the consumer are interested in finding them at convenient and/or nearby locations, and/or finding them while traveling for other reasons, such as work, recreation, and/or other shopping. Unfortunately, the consumer presently has only limited ways to determine if a particular retailer of such goods/services has additional goods/services that may be of interest. For example, vehicle fuel or like retailers often have convenience store items available at their outlet, or provide vehicle repair or servicing, but the consumer may generally be unaware of these other goods/services unless/until they actually visit the outlet. In addition, vehicle fuel or like retailers have other features that are of interest to consumers, such as hours of operation, acceptance of credit cards, and automated teller machines (ATMs). From the point of view of both consumers and retailers, it would be worthwhile to provide consumers with information relating to the array of goods/services provided by the retailer without the consumer having to visit the outlet.
Additionally, retail consumers of goods/services that are subject to frequent, volatile, and/or asynchronous (meaning non-uniform over time or without a consistent pattern between various retailers) price fluctuations, are interested in finding the most attractive price for such goods/services. For example, a vehicle owner typically purchases fuel about 1.2 times per week, and the price of the fuel may vary within this period. The most attractive price is not necessarily the lowest price, but it is that price which the consumer judges to be best in terms of a variety of factors, including those such as quality, convenience, and other subjective factors. Unfortunately, in the case of these types of goods/services, the consumer often has to drive around to assess the prices of competing retailers in order to determine which retailer has the most attractive price. As a result, much time, vehicle operating expense, and effort can be expended in trying to determine the most attractive price. Further, because of the frequent, volatile, and/or asynchronous price fluctuations of such goods/services, consumers find that prices can change between the time that they are observed and the time that the purchase is consummated. From the point of view of both consumers and retailers, it would be worthwhile to have the ability to provide consumers with information relating to the pricing of the goods/services without the consumer having to visit the outlet, and to assure that the price information communicated to consumers was honored by the outlet, for at least a specified period of time.
Further, retailers attempt to attract customers through costly advertising on television, radio, or in print, but again limitations exist as to what information can be conveyed to the consumer. In some cases, the prices of these goods/services are so volatile that it is impractical to advertise them other than at the outlet where they are purchased. A retailer must also promote and advertise its other secondary goods/services such as convenience store items or vehicle repair, which are often purchased in tandem with a product such as vehicle fuel. It would be worthwhile to retailers to have other media, and/or lowest cost media, for communicating with consumers.
However, advertising is a passive form of communication and it does not allow the retailer of these commodity-like goods or services to compile current, actual demographic data of its customers. Without this data, a retailer can only infer what the needs of his consumers are. As a result, the retailer may offer goods/services that do not precisely meet the needs of the consumer, or the retailer may miss out on revenue opportunities by not providing the goods/services that consumers are interested in purchasing. It would be worthwhile to retailers to be able to collect better information about the interests of their consumers.
It is also difficult for retailers, relative to their competition, to assess pricing and other variables for these types of goods/services. Retailers of these types of goods/services incur additional expenses, such as the labor and vehicle expense associated with driving around, in order to ascertain the current prices of such goods/services sold by their competitors. This is particularly true when the price of such goods/services may be subject to rapid, volatile, and asynchronous price fluctuations in the marketplace. Further, retailers are sometimes limited in collecting this information because of work schedules, distances between competitors, traffic, and other factors. It would be worthwhile to retailers to reduce the expenses associated with gathering information about the current prices of such goods/services sold by their competitors, and/or to be able to collect such information more frequently and/or more easily.
It would thus be of great value to provide systems and methods which better allow the consumers and retailers of such goods/services to communicate and acquire information relating to such goods/services without having to travel to the retail outlet(s).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONBased upon the foregoing deficiencies in the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide systems and methods for facilitating the sale of commodity-like goods/services. The commodity-like goods/services at which the invention is directed, are of a type that are relatively indistinguishable from one brand, identity and/or outlet to another in end-use functionality and features. These types of goods/services are many times sold at retail under various brands or identities at multiple locations, to the final end user. Such goods/services may also or separately be of a type that are repeatedly purchased at intervals, and/or for which the price varies between purchases, from outlet to outlet or brand to brand. The goods/services may also be of a character such that they are not deliverable to the consumer, but require the consumer to travel to the retailer outlet.
It is also an object of the invention to provide systems and methods for facilitating the sale of goods/services which are subject to rapid, volatile, and/or asynchronous price fluctuations.
The present invention is also directed to providing information relating to the consumers and competitors of a retailer of such goods/services.
The present invention establishes methods and procedures to define, organize, collect, distribute, and maintain information that can be used by the owner of a business selling commodity-like goods/services as well as by its customers. This information may include, but is not limited to, name brand of the product, location of the retailer, price of the product, other related goods/services available and their prices, and promotions. These processes may be performed and implemented on a computer network that is accessible in real time via a suitable communication device, such as a computer, wireless communication device, telephone or the like. The invention is directed to creating a database of such information, and allowing the consumer and other retailers to query the database using various search criteria. The consumer has the opportunity to obtain information about retailers of commodity-like goods/services that meet the consumer's requirements. The consumer then has the opportunity to evaluate which retailer to purchase items from. The pricing information the consumer is presented with for such goods/services may be guaranteed by the retailer. Other retailers have the opportunity to obtain information about retailers of commodity-like goods/services with whom they compete. They then have the opportunity to evaluate the scope of goods/services that the other retailers offer, their prices, and other terms and conditions.
Based upon the foregoing, in one aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for acquiring and disseminating information related to goods/services comprising a user interface having at least one input device to enable a user to input predetermined information relating to predetermined goods or services. The predetermined goods/services may have pricing which is subject to substantial variations, or are not deliverable to a consumer. There is also provided a method for generating a database relating to goods/services sold via retail outlets, comprising the steps of prompting a user to input information related to a retail outlet selected from the group of vehicle fuel outlets, vehicle servicing outlets, convenience food stores and combinations thereof. The input information is selected from the group consisting of location of the retail outlet, brand information, price information, goods sold, services offered, special promotions on goods or services, price guarantees on goods or services or combinations thereof.
Additionally, a method of providing a guaranteed price in the sale of goods/services is set forth. Firstly, the consumer is provided with predetermined information relating to at least the price of goods/services presently being offered. The consumer is also provided with a predetermined guarantee related to at least the price of goods/services, for some pre-authorized period of time, which guarantee can be authenticated and redeemed at the outlet where said goods/services are offered for sale. Other methods and a computer program product are also set forth.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSOther aspects, advantages and attributes of the invention will become apparent upon a reading of the description of embodiments thereof along with the figures, wherein:
The present invention is fully described hereinafter with reference to the drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. The invention may also be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to only the disclosed embodiments. The provided embodiments are included so the disclosure will be thorough, complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to persons of ordinary skill in the art.
A person of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the present invention may be embodied as a method, data processing or acquisition system, or computer program product. As such, the present invention may take the form of an embodiment comprised entirely of hardware; an embodiment comprised entirely of software or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. In addition, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code means embodied in the medium. Any suitable computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.
The present invention is described with reference to flowcharts and/or diagrams that illustrate methods, apparatus or systems and computer program product. It should be understood that each block of the various flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the flowcharts, can be implemented by computer program instructions. Such computer program instructions can be loaded onto a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowcharts. The computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable memory that directs a computer or other programmable data processing device to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowcharts or diagrams. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowcharts or diagrams.
It will be understood that blocks of the flowcharts support combinations of systems for performing the specified functions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions and program instructions for performing the specified functions. It is also to be understood that each block of the flowcharts or diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowcharts or diagrams, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform the specified functions or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
The present invention could be written in a number of computer languages including, but not limited to, C++, Basic, Visual Basic, Fortran, Cobol, Smalltalk, Java, and other conventional programming languages. It is to be understood that various computers and/or processors may be used to carry out the present invention without being limited to those described herein. The present invention runs on standard computers such as IBM or IBM-compatible or Apple/Macintosh personal computers, utilizing suitable operating systems. However, it should be understood that the present invention could be implemented using other computers and/or processors, including, but not limited to, mainframe computers and mini-computers.
Currently consumers of price sensitive or commodity-like retail goods/services often drive to the outlet at which the commodity-like goods/services are being sold in order to determine the current selling price of the particular item or service. Specifically, both private and commercial consumers are interested in the price of commodity-like goods/services such as vehicle fuels because the product's price is often subject to rapid, volatile, and asynchronous fluctuations. Furthermore, operators of fleet and cargo transportation companies must constantly scrutinize the price of these fuels because of the impact that vehicle fuel prices have on their cost structure. However, even though fuel prices affect a vast array of business and personal decisions, there is presently no method or system for tracking prices in real-time, reserving a price in advance for commodity-like goods/services, such as vehicle fuels, and/or accessing competitor information relating to such commodity-like goods/services. Commercial and private consumers of these and similar goods/services often drive to the outlet at which the commodity-like goods/services are sold to determine the price, expending valuable time, effort, and resources. It would therefore be desirable to provide a method and system for compiling prices of commodity-like goods/services in one central location, such as a web site or other easily accessible location. The present invention provides this ability, by allowing a user to determine the current price of commodity-like goods/services among various competitors. This creates a tremendous breakthrough from a buyer's perspective. However, the invention builds on its foundation of centralized commodity-like goods/services price data and has increased the utility of its system to the user, by creating a method where a consumer can receive a price guarantee on particular commodity-like goods/services for a fixed amount of time. Commercial and private consumers of vehicle fuel as an example, would then be able to save time, money and effort by simply accessing the interface of the invention, such as a web site, comparing the prices of the commodity-like goods/services among various retailers, and then printing a price guarantee for that item. Furthermore, by allowing a commercial consumer to be able to “lock into” commodity-like goods/services at a specific price, the business can take advantage of market conditions to make a large purchase for its entire fleet. As a result, the invention can be an essential tool in the competitive fleet and transportation industries which purchase hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel each year. By having the ability to instantly determine the most attractive vehicle fuel price among competing vehicle fuel retailers prior to purchasing, commercial entities can budget and reduce costs. Thus, the invention can be/can become a valuable tool for accessing price information of commodity-like goods/services, that is easy to use and will save both private and commercial consumers time, effort and money.
As a further aspect of the invention, fleet operators have the ability to plan a route in which fleet trucks will be able to get extended term fuel price guarantees to provide for the long distance that the trucks will be traveling. Therefore, as the truck goes from vehicle fuel retailer to retailer, the truck operator will have in advance, established a guaranteed price along the travel route.
It is also a distinct advantage of the present invention to provide the retailer with an enhanced ability to monitor its competition. This enhanced ability will allow the business owner to monitor price movement of a product or service over time, and trends relating to competitors and consumer purchasing activities. Additionally, the business owner now has a tool to inform the consumer of its attributes, specials or other information, which will facilitate drawing the consumer to their facility.
Referring now to
More specifically, the options in the menu bar 41 allow both retail and consumer users to build user profiles, gain access to customer service information, access information concerning public interest, and complete a tutorial of how to use the invention. The hypertext button entitled “Home” 42 allows the user to return to the welcome page 40 from any web page that the user is currently viewing. Customer service option 45 provides the user a wide variety of resources in the event a problem arises when using the system. This information will include items such as the site mailing address, phone numbers to access both general and technical information, email addresses to access general and technical information, a privacy statement, and a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section with the most commonly asked questions regarding the use of the system. The public interest option 46 will provide Internet links to various web sites associated with travel and vehicle maintenance, such as motel/hotel web sites, car enthusiast web sites, tourist information or other information. The tutorial option 47 will contain information and assistance on the protocol and procedures required in establishing registration on the system, how to receive and print a price guarantee in addition to basic general tips for novice computer users. The site map option 48 will transfer the user to the site map web page 70 as shown in
Returning to
Returning to
Another feature of the system and methods herein relates to the ability of being able to provide a price guarantee for specific commodity-like goods/services, where price is sensitive and volatile, such as with the purchase of fuel according to this embodiment. Thus, when a consumer using the invention finds a particular brand, grade, and price of vehicle fuel that they wish to purchase, the consumer will get a guarantee on that price for a specific period of time set by the retailer. The consumer may receive the price guarantee by selecting the “Print Guarantee” hypertext option 133 with his mouse, or other suitable methods. By selecting “Print Guarantee” 133 the consumer is transferred to the price guarantee web page to be described hereafter. The page shown in
Other features that could be offered to a consumer as a further aspect of the invention, such as the ability to schedule automotive services on the retailers page on the web site. A consumer that is interested in a particular service could click his mouse on the applicable service in either the “Features” section 134 or “Special Messages” section 136 and be transferred to a service scheduling web page. This scheduling web page may contain the openings for when the consumer could bring his car in for service (i.e., tune-up, oil change, etc.). Upon selecting a convenient time, the consumer would enter their personal information into the scheduling web page to complete the reservation for those services.
Turning to
Other methods of providing the price guarantee are also contemplated, such as through the use of barcode scanning technology. After the consumer has selected the particular brand and type of vehicle fuel, they will be given the opportunity to print a barcode that will contain the consumer's unique user ID, the location of the retail outlet, the time at which the consumer selected the vehicle fuel, and the guaranteed price itself. The consumer would then take this printed bar code to a bar code scanner that is placed on the retailer's vehicle fuel pump. The bar code would then charge the consumer's credit card with the applicable guaranteed price. This would drastically decrease the time that it would take to have a printed price guarantee verified by a retail associate. Furthermore, the bar code scanning technology would increase the traffic at the pump, which is at a premium when vehicle fuel prices are at higher than typical prices and the retailer has an attractive price. Finally, this technology provides speed and efficiency that many consumers demand because people do not enjoy waiting in lines to pay for basic, essential commodity-like goods/services. Other suitable methods are also contemplated, such as through the use of smart cards, flash memory cards or other suitable interfaces.
Turning to
In
Alternatively, the consumer IVR user could be given a unique numerical code that could be used to identify the consumer, verify the outlet where the consumer wants the price guarantee, and the time at which the consumer received the price guarantee. Now the consumer can proceed to the retail store, where many vehicle fuel pumps have numeric touch pads at the pump (point of purchase), and input this code and receive the vehicle fuel at the guaranteed price which in turn is charged to the consumer's credit card. This process may again accelerate the transaction process at the pumps and allows greater turnover or throughput for each pump. Other commodity-like goods/services could also be purchased or arranged in a suitable fashion to that described with reference to vehicle fuel. The capabilities offered by the system to the retailer are also made available through the telephone via an IVR system as shown in
The next section of the retailer profile web page 205 is called retail outlet information 247. This section allows the retailer to enter information about goods/services that it provides, which the retailer wants posted on its site web page 139 to be viewed by consumers. Further, this section provides boxes in which the retailer can identify the amenities and services that the retailer offers to the consumer. These items may include an ATM 249, car wash 250, auto repair 251, restaurant 252, bathrooms 253, etc. This information will be shown on the retailers web page if the retailer clicks the corresponding check box. The retailer also has the opportunity to place advertisements 256 on their web page by entering a title 257 and a message 258 in the retailer advertisements section 256 of the retailer profile web page 205. This feature of the service allows competitors to be highly responsive to another competitor's business decisions. The retailer is also given the opportunity to post special messages 259 to its customers regarding specials or limited offers by entering a title for the message 260, and entering a message 261.
The method and system according to the invention also provides a unique opportunity for retailers to access real-time data relating to selling of commodity-like goods/services and particularly which may relate to data of competitors. The invention provides registered retailers a means of collecting and sorting current real-time data as well as the capability to access historical trend data of competitors. The system also collects raw price and purchasing data and can be used to produce custom marketing trend reports for retailers. This data may include information such as the brand name of goods, grades of goods/services, the location of goods, and the timing and frequency in which a consumer has purchased the goods/services. Traditionally, retailers must physically obtain the price data first hand or pay various third parties to gather the data, which is not often comprehensive in scope. Therefore, the system and methods are a tremendous asset to any business that participates in the competitive commodity-like goods/services market or in other business environments. The retailer profile web page 205 also allows the retailer to store and track a list of competitors. By selecting which competitors the retailer wishes to track, the retailer can view the competitors' prices for each grade or type of vehicle fuel 271, the distance that a competitor is from the retailer 270, the name brand of the competitor 269, and the address of the competitor 268, or other information. However, if a retailer is no longer interested in tracking a competitor then the retailer may remove the corresponding competitor by selecting the remove button 272. This remove button 272 could bring up a further web page to finalize the removal of a competitor or it could instantaneously remove the competitor's listing that is correspondingly adjacent to a particular remove button 272. Once a retailer has selected all of the competitors that it wishes to track, they may sort them according to various criteria such as price, competitor name, and distance from retailer by selecting a criteria using the sorting preference drop box 273. The retailer is also given the option of which types of vehicle fuel that it wishes to hear on the IVR telephone system by choosing an option in the IVR listening preference drop box 274. Once the retailer has entered all applicable information into the retailer profile 205, the “Submit” button 275 will forward the information to the web site and store the information for subsequent access.
The information compiled by the site relating to information on possible competitors and demographic information relating to customers may also be analyzed using appropriate software products. This information can then be presented in a useful fashion on an updated basis, such as reports, graphs or other forms to allow the user to use the data in their business planning. In this manner, the retailer can obtain information on their consumers and competitors, as well as trends or other market factors that will facilitate business operations. The capabilities offered by the system to the retailer are also made available through the telephone via an IVR as shown in
An alternate embodiment of the present invention may be implemented using a combination of a user locating system, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), cell phone locating or other suitable method, and mobile web browsing electronics as shown in
Furthermore, the system and methods of the invention can be easily applied and adapted to a host of other business models such as the hotel, restaurant, and medical industries. The retail consumer's ability to search, find, and locate various commercial entities which are in a close proximity to the consumer is of a very high utility. As wireless communication advances, the system of the present invention can be used by consumers and retailers or other entities to facilitate locating, selecting and purchasing goods/services.
Although the principles, particular embodiments and operation of the present invention have been described in detail, the foregoing should not be construed as being limited to the particular illustrative forms of the invention as disclosed. It will become apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications of the embodiment shown herein can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
Claims
1. A method for generating a database relating to goods/services sold via retail outlets, comprising the steps of:
- a) prompting a retailer to input its own information related to its own retail outlet selected from the group consisting of vehicle fuel outlets, vehicle servicing outlets, convenience food stores and combinations thereof,
- b) storing said input information from the retailer, wherein said database includes information, relating to individual retailers within said plurality of retailers, selected from the group consisting of location of retail outlet, brand information, real-time price information, goods sold, services offered, special promotions on goods/services, retailer guarantees for current prices on goods/services or combinations thereof in a computer readable storage medium, said real-time price information being restricted to current price information input by said retailer.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of allowing a user to pre-determine from said database a subset of outlets within a geographical region, which subset is displayed to the user upon entry of user-identifying information.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of allowing a user to pre-determine from said database a subset of competitor outlets within a geographical region, which subset is displayed to the retailer upon entry of user-identifying information.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the source of said input information is a retailer of vehicle fuel goods/services.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said input information is directly downloaded by a retailer into an electronic database.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said information is input to said computer readable storage medium through a global information system.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said information is substantially real time information relating to vehicle fuel goods/services supplied by said retailer.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said information is real time price information relating to vehicle fuel goods/services.
9. A method of providing a guaranteed price from a retailer in the sale of goods/services, comprising the steps of:
- a) providing predetermined information to a consumer relating to at least the real-time price of goods/services presently being offered by a predetermined retailer,
- b) providing to said consumer a predetermined price guarantee from the predetermined retailer, related to at least the real-time price of goods/services, which is authenticated by the retailer at a predetermined retail location, and
- c) the retailer honoring the predetermined price guarantee upon purchase of the goods/services at the predetermined retail locations.
10. A method for acquiring and disseminating information relating to vehicle fuels, the method comprising the steps of:
- prompting a retailer to input information related to current vehicle fuel prices;
- restricting the retailer to inputting vehicle fuel price information relating to only the retailer's vehicle fuel prices;
- storing the current vehicle fuel price information inputted by a plurality of retailers in a common database;
- prompting a consumer to input search criteria; and
- displaying at least current retailer vehicle fuel price information and retailer geographic information in response to the consumer search criteria.
11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of prompting a retailer includes prompting the retailer to input information relating to a guaranteed vehicle fuel price, the guarantee being provided by the retailer, and the step of displaying includes displaying information relating to the price guarantees.
12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the price guarantees are offered for a limited time.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 24, 2005
Publication Date: Oct 27, 2005
Applicant:
Inventor: Jerome Grdina (Pepper Pike, OH)
Application Number: 11/166,410