METHODS, SYSTEMS, COMPUTER PRODUCTS, AND WEBSITE FOR PROGRESSIVE E-COMMERCE
An e-commerce system where progressive incentives are displayed to entice shoppers to purchase goods is disclosed. The e-commerce system includes a database with a region of memory having data related to a first inventory of physical goods and a second inventory of digital goods. The e-commerce system also includes a website configured to facilitate an event, where the website is coupled to the database for accessing the first inventory in response to the event. The event may be a purchase of one or more physical goods. The e-commerce system further includes a webpage configured to display at least a portion of the first inventory that is available for sale, and to display one or more digital goods, where the webpage presents a locked digital good before the event occurs, and in response to one or more events occurring, the webpage presents an unlocked digital good.
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This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/758,891 entitled “Methods, Systems, Computer Products, and Website for Progressive E-Commerce” filed on Apr. 13, 2010. The entire contents of the foregoing document is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to a technology for providing incentives for e-commerce shoppers to purchase products, and more particularly to a technology for providing progressive e-commerce.
Traditional methods of selling goods and services have involved the use of incentives. For example, merchants at brick and mortar stores offer deals such as “buy one get one free.” This marketing technique is known in the marketing industry as BOGOF or BOGO and is a very effective form of offering special deals for goods. In addition, many companies offer reward programs for brand loyalty. For example, airline companies allow customers to participate in frequent flyer programs to provide round trip airline tickets after a predetermined amount of miles have been flown. Other companies offer loyalty cards where a customer is given a gift card after purchasing a predetermined dollar amount. These loyalty programs have been successful in giving adequate incentives for shoppers to buy goods/services.
In recent years, the Internet has changed the way merchants market and sell their products to buyers. Websites such as Amazon.com offer books and other products, and the website Zappos.com focuses on selling shoes. These websites include a secure transaction webpage where the shopper can enter his or her credit card information (or use PayPal or any other similar online payment processor) to purchase various products. Some websites offer one specific product for one day only (“one day sale”), while other websites sell products with a variable price that decreases as more people buy the product until their inventory runs out.
For purposes of discussion, the term “webpage” is defined as a document or resource of information found on the Internet that can be accessed through a web browser and displayed on a computer screen. The term “website” is defined as a collection of related webpages, images, videos, or other digital assets that are addressed with a common domain name or IP address in an Internet Protocol-based network. A website is hosted on at least one web server, and is accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network.
Furthermore, companies have embraced reward programs with electronic commerce (or “e-commerce”) to sell goods and services. E-commerce involves the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown significantly with the widespread adoption of broadband Internet. For example, ShopSite offers a customer rewards program that includes the traditional BOGO rewards program. CDnow has launched a customer incentive program called Fast Forward Rewards that gives customers points that can be redeemed online for merchandise. Shoppers who purchase from CDnow earn reward points for every dollar spent. Customers can cash in their points for a variety of CDnow products from the Fast Forward Rewards Catalogue. Another example of an e-commerce site is Groupon, which offers a deal of the day to local markets. When a certain number of people sign up for the deal of the day offer, the deal becomes available to all. However, the website requires that a predetermined minimum be reached. If this predetermined minimum is not met, no one gets the deal of that day.
However, in the case of conventional e-commerce reward websites, the use of progressive incentives tied to digital goods is not prevalent. In addition, conventional e-commerce websites seem to lack any display of progressive incentives to lure e-commerce shoppers to purchase products.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide methods and systems for progressive e-commerce. Another object of the present invention is to provide digital goods that can be unlocked to act as incentives for e-commerce shoppers to purchase products.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention provides for an e-commerce system where progressive incentives are displayed to entice shoppers to purchase goods. The e-commerce system includes a server that has an interface for communicating over a computer network. This interface may have a graphical user interface with a display and a selection device. The e-commerce system further includes a database with a region of memory having data related to a first inventory of physical goods and a second inventory of digital goods. The e-commerce system also includes a website configured to facilitate an event, where the website is coupled to the database for accessing the first inventory in response to the event. The event may be a purchase of one or more physical goods. The e-commerce system further includes a webpage configured to display at least a portion of the first inventory that is available for sale, and to display one or more digital goods, where the webpage presents a locked digital good before the event occurs, and in response to one or more events occurring, the webpage presents an unlocked digital good.
The present invention provides for a method of providing incentives for customers to purchase physical goods. The method includes displaying, via a graphical user interface of a computer, one or more physical goods available for sale. The method also includes facilitating, via a website, an event related to the one or more physical goods, where the event may be a purchase of the one or more physical goods. The method further includes displaying, via a webpage, one or more digital goods, where the webpage presents a locked digital good before the event occurs, and in response to one or more events occurring, the webpage presents an unlocked digital good.
The present invention also provides for a computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program for causing a computer to perform a method for providing incentives for customers to purchase physical goods. The computer-readable medium causes the computer to perform the method that includes displaying, via a graphical user interface of a computer, one or more physical goods available for sale. The method also includes facilitating, via a website, an event related to the one or more physical goods, where the event may be a purchase of the one or more physical goods. The method further includes displaying, via a webpage, one or more digital goods, where the webpage presents a locked digital good before the event occurs, and in response to one or more events occurring, the webpage presents an unlocked digital good.
There are a number of advantages of the present invention. A technology is provided for presenting a physical good/product for sale, and as more of the physical product is sold, a locked digital good is unlocked for an entire audience, even for those who did not purchase the physical product. In this manner, a larger population gets the benefit of viewing the digital good, and this acts to provide more incentives for potential buyers to actually purchase additional products. The technology of the present invention can be applied to any number of social networking websites to use the collective actions of a group of people to obtain the unlocked digital good(s).
The key principles of the present invention are to provide e-commerce shoppers with a digital good that is associated with a physical good. The digital good can be displayed on a webpage in an initial locked state, where the locked digital good is progressively unlocked as sales targets for physical goods are reached. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a technology is provided for presenting a physical good/product for sale, and as more of the physical product is sold, an initially locked digital good is unlocked and presented to an entire audience, even for those who did not purchase the physical product. In this embodiment, the entire digital good could be a set (i.e., two or more) of digital pictures, where the initially locked digital good is a configuration where a first digital picture is fully revealed to the audience, but the second digital picture (and possibly others) are blocked from view. As more physical goods are sold and after a predetermined purchase quantity goal is reached, the digital good is unlocked such that the second digital picture in the set of digital pictures is unlocked and revealed to the audience. Similarly, after a subsequent predetermined purchase quantity goal is realized, the digital good is unlocked such that a third digital picture in the set of digital pictures can be viewed. This process can repeat until the entire set of digital pictures is revealed to the audience. Thus, after attaining the predetermined purchase quantity goal(s), an initially locked digital good can be progressively unlocked and viewed by the entire audience, even for those who did not purchase the physical product. In this manner, a larger population gets the benefit of viewing the digital good, and this acts to provide more incentives for potential buyers to actually purchase additional products. The technology of the present invention can be applied to any number of social networking websites to use the collective actions of a group of people (i.e., crowdsourcing) to obtain the unlocked digital good(s).
Upon entering webpage 210, a shopper has the ability to purchase one or more physical goods. In some embodiments of the present invention, the minimum quantity of purchased physical goods required to unlock at least a portion of digital good 240 is displayed at status bar 242. For example, imagine the shopper decides to purchase three dress shirts on webpage 210. A predetermined threshold of five purchased dress shirts has been set by the website administrator, and this quantity is displayed at/near status bar 242 as the minimum quantity of dress shirts needed to unlock a portion of digital good 240. It should be appreciated that these predetermined thresholds (i.e., sales targets) could comprise any quantity (i.e., dollar amount or item amount), and that subsequent predetermined thresholds to further unlock the digital good(s) could vary from each other. For example, the first threshold could be five purchased items, the second threshold could be ten purchased items, the third threshold could be twenty purchased items, and so on. In another example, each threshold to unlock the digital good(s) could be equal to the same quantity, such as ten purchased items or $1000.
In the embodiment shown in
Each predetermined threshold (i.e., sales target) that acts as an incentive for people to purchase physical goods and to continue unlocking the digital good could also be attached to a time limitation. For example, status bar 242 could display that twenty dress shirts need to be purchased within the next four hours to unlock the next stage of digital good 240. Moreover, status bar 242 could display that the next two stages (i.e., the next two digital pictures or the next two portions of a single digital picture) of digital good 240 could be unlocked if fifty dress shirts are purchased within the present day. It should be appreciated that any variation of quantities and time limitations could be used in accordance with the present invention. In addition, in other embodiments of the present invention, digital good 240 comprises digital video, digital text, and digital audio. For example, digital good 240 could be a digital video, where the initial version displayed is an introduction digital video. As more physical goods are purchased, and the quantity of purchased physical goods hits the sales targets, subsequent digital videos could be revealed to the website audience. In other embodiments, the initial version displayed could be a first portion of a complete digital video, where a few seconds of the video are shown. As more physical goods are purchased, and the quantity of purchased physical goods hits the sales targets, subsequent portions of the complete digital video are shown.
It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that variations to this flowchart may be made consistent with embodiments of the present invention. For example, flowchart 600 could include an additional step asking a potential shopper to fill out a survey. Flowchart 600 could also include a step where after making a purchase, a shopper is asked to link to an external social network such as Facebook or MySpace which updates his user profile to inform his friends that he purchased physical goods which has contributed to the unlocking of digital good(s) for others to view.
It should be appreciated that the digital good of the present invention could comprise both digital pictures and digital videos. In other words, an initially locked digital good could be a complete view of a digital picture, where the first unlocked stage of the digital good reveals a complete digital video. Any combination of digital pictures, digital video, digital text, and digital audio could be used to act as incentives in accordance with the present invention.
Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented using special-purpose hardware, software executing on general-purpose or special-purpose processors, or any combination thereof. The embodiments have been described in terms of functional blocks that might or might not correspond to separate devices in a particular implementation. Although the present disclosure may refer to a general-purpose computing system, those of ordinary skills in the art with access to the present disclosure will recognize that the invention may be employed in a variety of other embodiments, including special-purpose computing systems or any other computing system that provides e-commerce capability.
Computer programs embodying various features of the present invention may be encoded on computer-readable media for storage and/or transmission; suitable media include magnetic disk or tape, optical storage media such as compact disk (CD) or DVD (digital versatile disk), flash memory, and carrier signals for transmission via wired, optical, and/or wireless networks conforming to a variety of protocols, including the Internet. Computer-readable media encoded with the program code may be packaged with a compatible device such or provided separately from other devices (e.g., via Internet download).
Thus, although the invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, it will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the locked/unlocked digital goods (e.g., digital pictures) could all appear on the same webpage, but the locked/unlocked digital goods could also be presented on any number of sale webpages. Further, in alternate embodiments of the present invention, a locked digital good includes a digital picture that is blurred or pixilated. The digital good may be unlocked incrementally, where the digital picture becomes clearer (i.e., less blurry/pixilated) as sales targets are satisfied. Accordingly, the foregoing description is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention which is set forth in the following claims.
Claims
1. A method of providing incentives for customers to purchase physical goods, the method comprising:
- displaying, via a computer, one or more physical goods available for sale;
- facilitating, via a server, an event related to the one or more physical goods, wherein the event is a purchase of the one or more physical goods;
- displaying, via the computer, an incomplete portion of a first digital media;
- displaying, via the computer, an additional portion of the first digital media in response to one or more events occurring; and
- displaying, via the computer, a full complete segment of the first digital media when the number of events reaches a predetermined threshold.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first digital media comprises at least one of a digital video, digital audio, digital picture, digital mobile application, and/or a combination thereof.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein after the computer displays the full complete segment of the first digital media, the method further comprises:
- presenting, via the computer, an additional portion of a second digital media when the number of events reaches a subsequent predetermined threshold.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second digital media comprises at least one of a digital video, digital audio, digital picture, digital mobile application, and/or a combination thereof.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein after the computer displays the full complete segment of the first digital media, the method further comprises:
- presenting, via the computer, a full complete segment of a second digital media when the number of events reaches a subsequent predetermined threshold.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second digital media comprises at least one of a digital video, digital audio, digital picture, digital mobile application, and/or a combination thereof.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical goods comprise: collar stays, cufflinks, undershirts, dress shirts, coats, jackets, polo shirts, uniforms, long sleeve shirts, and blazers.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer comprises at least one of a desktop computer, laptop/netbook computer, tablet computer, handheld/palm computer, and smart mobile telephone.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method is implemented via a software application installed on the computer.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- sending information, based on the one or more physical goods, to a group of people affiliated with an external social networking website; and
- displaying a status of the predetermined threshold indicating how many more events are needed to reach the predetermined threshold.
11. A method of providing incentives for customers to purchase physical goods, the method comprising:
- displaying, via a computer, one or more physical goods available for sale;
- facilitating, via a server, an event related to the one or more physical goods, wherein the event is a purchase of the one or more physical goods;
- displaying, via the computer, a full complete segment of a first digital media; and
- displaying, via the computer, a full complete segment of a second digital media when the number of events reaches a predetermined threshold.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first digital media comprises at least one of a digital video, digital audio, digital picture, digital mobile application, and/or a combination thereof.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the second digital media comprises at least one of a digital video, digital audio, digital picture, digital mobile application, and/or a combination thereof.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the physical goods comprise: collar stays, cufflinks, undershirts, dress shirts, coats, jackets, polo shirts, uniforms, long sleeve shirts, and blazers.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein the computer comprises at least one of a desktop computer, laptop/netbook computer, tablet computer, handheld/palm computer, and smart mobile telephone.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the method is implemented via a software application installed on the computer.
17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
- sending information, based on the one or more physical goods, to a group of people affiliated with an external social networking website; and
- displaying a status of the predetermined threshold indicating how many more events are needed to reach the predetermined threshold.
18. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program for causing a computer to perform a method of providing incentives for customers to purchase physical goods, the method comprising:
- displaying, via a computer, one or more physical goods available for sale;
- facilitating, via a server, an event related to the one or more physical goods, wherein the event is a purchase of the one or more physical goods;
- displaying, via the computer, a full complete segment of a first digital media; and
- displaying, via the computer, a full complete segment of a second digital media when the number of events reaches a predetermined threshold.
19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the first digital media comprises at least one of a digital video, digital audio, digital picture, digital mobile application, and/or a combination thereof.
20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the second digital media comprises at least one of a digital video, digital audio, digital picture, digital mobile application, and/or a combination thereof.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 13, 2013
Publication Date: May 16, 2013
Applicant: VIICII LLC (Baltimore, MD)
Inventor: VIICII LLC (Baltimore, MD)
Application Number: 13/740,210
International Classification: G06Q 30/06 (20120101);