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AU-2005202159-A1 - System and Method for an Electronic Commerce Product for Managing the Pricing, Inventory, Sales, and Selection of Goods and Services Offered for Sale

AU2005202159A1AU 2005202159 A1AU2005202159 A1AU 2005202159A1AU-2005202159-A1

Inventors

  • GAMBHIR ROBIN

Assignees

  • ROBIN GAMBHIR MR

Dates

Publication Date
20060518
Application Date
20050520
Priority Date
20041028

Claims (20)

  1. 1. A data processing system wherein one or more retailers can directly search the inventory of one or more suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers for pricing an N availability information comprising: O a database for storing information corresponding to an inventory of one or more O o 10 available items accessible via a communications network; a retail website which is provided access to the inventory database via a communications network; a propagation layer wherein one or more retail websites are connected to retailer, wholesaler, and manufacturer databases via a communications network; a creation layer enabling the creation and modification of the databases.
  2. 2. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the propagation layer contains several applications for the control of specific tasks.
  3. 3. The data processing system of claim 2 wherein the specific tasks controlled are tiered markups, discounts, incentive programs, transaction logging, inventory sharing, item customization, and order status.
  4. 4. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the creation layer is comprised of several applications which enable the creation of a retail website accessible via a communications network. o 5. The data processing system of claim 4 wherein prices can be quoted in multiple O Cl currencies, and in prices ranges or a fixed price. o 5 6. The data processing system of claim 4 further comprising a method of inputting inventory items whereby certain fields are automatically filled in based upon the contents of the previous entry.
  5. 7. The data processing system of claim 4 further comprising a method of saving a O o 10 "snap shot" of a database at a given moment in time and browsing and reporting upon that archived data at a later time.
  6. 8. The data processing system of claim 4 comprising a method of providing pricing guidance on the basis of: past transactions for the same or similar items; prices from competitors for the same or similar items.
  7. 9. The data processing system of claim 4 further comprising a method of automatically re-pricing all in stock items based upon this guidance.
  8. 10. The data processing system of claim 4 further comprising a method of marking or tagging inventory items using only a bar-code scanner and without the necessity of any keyboard or mouse input.
  9. 11. The data processing system of claim 10 further comprising a method of maintaining inventory levels by providing thresholds below which the inventory level, for a given item or class of items, should not fall. o 12. The data processing system of claim 11 further comprising a method of 0 N automatically reordering items that fall below the threshold or maintaining a restocking tlist for those items that do. 0 C"l
  10. 13. The data processing system of claim 4 further comprising a method for retailers of sourcing inventory and pricing information using a single or series of database(s) rN] maintained by suppliers, wholesalers distributors and manufacturers on the network. 0 0 o 10 14. The data processing system of claim 4 further comprising a method of maintaining CN1 the retailer's local inventory of: finished jewellery; semi-finished jewellery making components such as precious metal findings; chains; bracelets; pendants; pearls and pearl strands; other precious stone bead strands; precious and semi-precious gemstones; diamonds; watches and watch parts; China; Crystal and giftware with the ability to automatically replenish or re-price it based upon information provided from the databases maintained by suppliers, wholesalers distributors and manufacturers on the network. The data processing system of claim 4 further comprising a method of providing cost estimates for the design, repair and manufacture of jewellery and jewellery related items by: a method of sourcing jewellery making components such as precious metal findings; chains; bracelets; pendants; pearls and pearl strands; other precious stone bead strands; precious and semi-precious gemstones; diamonds; watches and watch parts; China; Crystal and giftware; and 44 a method of maintaining a list of services and the associated cost of those o services from other vendors that comprise: any and all steps in jewellery design, repair 0 N and manufacture; a list of other jewellery related services such as watch repair, gem tcutting and repair and restringing. 0 C"l
  11. 16. The data processing system of claim 4 further comprising a method for breaking down an order or job into discrete tasks that involve a combination of materials and Nl services and using the information from the system databases to estimate either a set 0 Scost or a cost range in multiple currencies. O O
  12. 17. The data processing system of claim 4 further comprising a method of tracking the status of orders by listing the status of each discrete task and assigning, on that basis, an overall status for the orders.
  13. 18. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising an inventory and point of sale system operated through a web enabled browser.
  14. 19. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising an inventory and manufacturing process control operated through a web-enabled browser or by means of software. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising a system for wholesalers and distributors offering inventory management, consignments, invoicing and analysis operated through a web browser or by means of software.
  15. 21. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising a system of storing O client preferences and automatically applying those preferences to new transactions. O t22. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising a method of supplying O 5 additional information such as care and handling and, in the case of diamonds, gems and pearls, disclosure of treatments, on printed approvals, quotations and invoices for any items appearing on the form. Cl O (Ni S23. The data processing system of claim 22 further comprising a method to provide O O 10 varying detail of the above information based upon a setting in the customer's preferences.
  16. 24. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising a method of storing forms or images as part of a customer record. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising a method of rating the sales success of an item based upon the number of times it is consigned compared to the number of times it is consigned and sold.
  17. 26. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising a method of rating the sales success of a client based upon the number of times items were consigned to that client compared to the volume of sales generated from those consignments.
  18. 27. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising wherein the use of a series of buttons at the top of a browse screen to quickly isolate records on a user definable basis. O 28. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising a method of storing O N tax, discount and shipping rates individually with each document so that changing tthose rates in the system's master file will not affect documents already in existence. 0 C"l
  19. 29. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising a method of automatically attaching many discrete images to many discrete inventory items l automatically through a combination of file naming conventions and directory O Sscanning. O O The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising a method of redirecting secondary documents to a different printer from which the primary document is printed.
  20. 31. The data processing system of claim 14 further comprising a method of grouping data displayed in table form into single or multiple groups.

Description

1 System and Method for an Electronic Commerce Product for Managing the O Pricing, Inventory, Sales, and Selection of Goods and Services Offered for Sale O tCROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS: o C"l This application cross-references U.S. Patent Application SN 10/975,235, entitled "System and Method for Inventory Sharing Across a Multi-User Network", filed Nl on October 28, 2004. O O O 10 TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to computer networking and software, electronic commerce systems, and product pricing systems. More specifically the present invention relates to an electronic commerce product pricing, inventory, sales, and selection system. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Computer networks such as the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) have developed into a convenient medium by which businesses and consumers can sell and purchase goods and services. To facilitate such commercial activity or "electronic commerce", businesses provide virtual stores electronically utilizing web, application, and transaction servers which a customer can then access using a web browser application. Electronic orders are received using websites displaying a store's inventory. Once received, orders are processed and the store's inventory database is updated. 2 Today, businesses offer an extremely wide variety of products for sale online. o Websites often feature products from the owner's own inventory and products 0 N belonging to the inventory of an independent vendor or third party supplier, generating trevenue in the form of advertising fees, retail "markups", or commissions. o 5 Many businesses have attempted to offer the products of others via this "virtual" inventory mechanism in order to present a greater variety of products or a wider selection of a particular product to consumers or to avoid having to invest their N own capital in inventory, particularly if a product's acquisition cost is high and/or if the 0 Saverage amount of time between product acquisition and product sale is long, which is 0 O 10 a common occurrence in the jewellery industry. Until recently, inventory electronic commerce systems have been extremely difficult to implement, requiring e-commerce businesses to integrate and maintain vendor and product selection, access to vendor inventory information, and product quality and pricing supervision in a single electronic commerce website. While recently developed e-commerce systems have overcome many obstacles associated with providing access to vendor inventory information, they have yet to address product pricing supervision or the selection of vendors or products based on product price or margin which has made the adaptation of some products to the virtual inventory model even more difficult. Jewellery and jewellery related items and components (such as findings, precious stones and diamonds), are examples of products that have been particularly difficult to adapt to virtual inventory e-commerce systems due to this shortcoming. Jewellery is typically an attractive product to sell online. Generally, consumers desire large inventories, competitive prices, and the assurance of product when purchasing jewellery online. Inventory systems currently known in the prior art typically allow online jewellery retailers to offer a wider selection of items without 3 having to undertake the typically high acquisition costs and inventory associated with O jewellery. Such inventory systems would likewise allow consumers to make a greater O variety of purchases at fewer electronic stores in which they have confidence. tConventional pricing methods have prevented jewellery from being combined into a o 5 shared, integrated inventory system. The present invention allows retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers and distributors to create, manage and share their inventories while also sharing those l inventory items with other people on the network. Users of the invention can sell, 0 Sconsign and quote on their own inventories as well as those of others on the network. O O 10 All participants can publish their inventories through their own and, optionally, other members' web sites while employing features such as tiered markups, percentage and dollar discounts, rebates and other incentives. The system can be used by members of the network for their own wholesale or retail sales through the point of sale features afforded by the system. The invention can also work using only the retailer, wholesaler and manufacturers own inventory alone. Since the system offers novel features for inventory management, publication of inventory to a web site, order tracking and process control in addition to some of the point of sale features well known in prior art, it offers a compelling feature set. One system known in the prior art is Gemfind.net. This system is typical of the online sales model found in the jewellery industry and suffers from many shortcomings. The Gemfind.net system does not utilize