Systems and methods of analyzing recycled products to detect trends and adjust inventory based on the trends

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10423935-B2
Application number	US-201715855287-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2017
Priority date	Dec 29, 2016
Publication date	Sep 24, 2019
Grant date	Sep 24, 2019

Abstract

In some embodiments, methods and systems are provided that include a scanner for scanning products recycled by consumers at a retail facility and an electronic inventory management device to analyze the scan data obtained by this scanner in order to determine consumer trends with respect to the recycled products and to determine whether the consumer-recycled products are associated with a trends that warrants one or more adjustments to the inventory at the retail facility.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for analyzing products recycled by consumers at a retail facility of a retailer to determine trends in the recycled products and adjust inventory at the retail facility based on the determined trends, the system comprising:
a scanner at or near the retail facility configured to scan identifying indicia of the recycled products and generate scan data;
an electronic inventory management database in communication over a network with the scanner and configured to obtain the scan data from the scanner and including:
inventory data associated with products offered for sale at the retail facility and including data identifying the products offered for sale at the retail facility;
the scan data associated with the recycled products scanned by the scanner and including the identifying indicia scanned by the scanner;
trend data including a total number of times the recycled products were scanned by the scanner and predetermined scan data thresholds associated with the recycled products scanned by the scanner that, if exceeded, indicate a presence of consumer trends, in association with the recycled products scanned by the scanner, that support an adjustment of the inventory at the retail facility; and

a processor-based electronic inventory management device in communication over the network with the scanner and the electronic inventory management database, the electronic inventory management device being configured to:
obtain the scan data, the inventory data, and the trend data from the electronic inventory management database to determine whether at least one recycled product identified based on the obtained scan data is offered for sale at the retail facility, and to determine whether a total number of times products identical to the at least one recycled product were scanned by the scanner at the retail facility within a predetermined time interval exceeds a predetermined scan data threshold stored in the electronic inventory management database in association with the at least one recycled product scanned by the scanner; and
generate an output, based on a determination of whether the determined total number exceeds the predetermined scan data threshold and whether a consumer trend is present, in association with the at least one recycled product scanned by the scanner, that warrants the adjustment of the inventory at the retail facility, the output indicating whether the adjustment of the inventory at the retail facility is warranted based on the consumer trend is present in association with the at least one recycled product.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the scanner includes at least one of a motion-detecting sensor, a photo sensor, a radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor, an optical sensor, a barcode sensor, a digital camera sensor, a weight sensor, a volumetric sensor, and a size sensor, and wherein at least one of the electronic inventory management database and the electronic inventory management device is located in at least one of the retail facility and a facility remote to the retail facility.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the identifying indicia is a bar code, and wherein the electronic inventory management device is configured to compare the bar code in the obtained scan data to a listing of uniform product codes stored in the electronic inventory management database in order to identify the at least one recycled product scanned by the scanner.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic inventory management device is configured to compare the identifying indicia of the at least one recycled product to the inventory information associated with the products offered for sale at the retail facility in order to determine whether the identifying indicia of the at least one recycled product corresponds to inventory data identifying a product offered for sale at the retail facility.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein, after a determination by the electronic inventory management device that the identifying indicia of the at least one recycled product does not correspond to the inventory data identifying a product offered for sale at the retail facility, and after a determination that the consumer trend is present in association with the at least one recycled product, the electronic inventory management device is configured to generate a recommendation indicating whether the at least one recycled product not offered for sale at the retail facility should be offered for sale at the retail facility.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic inventory management device is configured, after the electronic inventory management device identifies the at least one recycled product scanned by the scanner, to compare data indicating an identity of the identified at least one recycled product to the inventory information associated with the products offered for sale at the retail facility in order to determine a total number of times products identical to the identified at least one recycled product were previously scanned by the scanner at the retail facility within the predetermined time interval.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the inventory data associated with the products offered for sale at the retail facility further includes consumer purchases associated with the products offered for sale at the retail facility, and wherein the electronic inventory management device is configured to compare a total number of products offered for sale by the retail facility that are sold within the predetermined time interval to the total number of times products identical to the at least one recycled product were scanned by the scanner within the predetermined time interval.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the inventory data associated with the products offered for sale at the retail facility further includes prices of the products offered for sale at the retail facility, and wherein the electronic inventory management device is configured to access at least one database of at least one competitor of the retailer in order to obtain prices of the products offered for sale by the at least one competitor.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein, based on a determination by the electronic inventory management device that the consumer trend is present in association with the at least one recycled product, the electronic inventory management device is configured to obtain the prices of products identical to the at least one recycled product and offered for sale by the at least one competitor, and to determine whether the price of the products identical to the at least one recycled product and offered for sale by the at least one competitor is higher or lower than the price of the at least one recycled product offered for sale at the retail facility.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein, after a determination of whether the price of the products identical to the at least one recycled product and offered for sale by the at least one competitor is lower than the price of the at least one recycled product offered for sale at the retail facility, the electronic inventory management device is configured to generate and include in the report a recommendation indicating that the price of the at least one recycled product offered for sale at the retail facility should be lowered.

11. A method for analyzing products recycled by consumers at a retail facility of a retailer to determine trends in the recycled products and adjust inventory at the retail facility based on the determined trends, the method comprising:
providing a scanner at or near the retail facility configured to scan identifying indicia of the recycled products and generate scan data;
providing an electronic inventory

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Jones Matthew A
• Jones Nicholaus A

Classifications

• G06Q10/30 Primary

  Administration of product recycling or disposal · CPC title

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06Q30/0601

  Electronic shopping [e-shopping] · CPC title

• G06K7/10861

  sensing of data fields affixed to objects or articles, e.g. coded labels (postal sorting B07C3/14, conveying articles B65G47/48) · CPC title

• G06K17/0022

  arrangements or provisions for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device ("transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L) · CPC title