Systems and methods for providing substitute products in place of ordered products that are out of stock

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10540632-B2
Application number	US-201715413776-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2017
Priority date	Feb 3, 2016
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

In some embodiments, methods and systems of enabling consumers to purchase substitute products when the products ordered by the consumers are out of stock include processing an internet order for a product received from a consumer in a geographic location and in response to receiving an electronic notification indicating that the product ordered by the consumer is out of stock at a retail sales facility associated with the geographic location of the consumer, generating an electronic message including an indication that the product ordered by the consumer is out of stock at the retail sales facility, and including a selection option of at least one substitute product for the product ordered by the consumer. The methods and system further include transmitting the electronic message from the electronic inventory management device at the retail sales facility to an electronic computing device of the consumer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system of enabling consumers to purchase substitute products when the products ordered by the consumers are out of stock, the system comprising:
an order processing server configured to receive an internet order for a product from a consumer in a geographic location;
an electronic inventory management electronic device at a retail sales facility associated with the geographic location of the consumer;
an inventory management database configured to store electronic data associated with product inventory at the retail facility;
an electronic scanning device configured to:
permit a worker at the retail sales facility to scan an identifying indicia of the product ordered by the consumer;
transmit an electronic signal representing a query to the inventory management database regarding inventory status of the product ordered by the consumer;
in response to receipt, from the inventory management database, of electronic data indicating that the product ordered by the consumer is out of stock at the retail sales facility, generate an alert signal including an electronic notification indicating that the product ordered by the consumer is out of stock at the retail sales facility; and
transmit the alert signal to the electronic inventory management device;

wherein the electronic inventory management device includes a processor-based control unit configured to:
receive, from the electronic scanning device, the alert signal including the electronic notification indicating that the product ordered by the consumer is out of stock at the retail sales facility;
generate an electronic message including an indication that the product ordered by the consumer is out of stock at the retail sales facility and including a selection option of at least one substitute product for the product ordered by the consumer; and
transmit the electronic message to an electronic computing device of the consumer;
set a predetermined time interval for the consumer to accept the selection option of the at least one substitute product;
after not receiving a response within the predetermined time interval from the electronic device of the consumer indicating an acceptance of the selection option of the at least one substitute product, trigger a delivery to the consumer of the at least one substitute product after the predetermined time interval elapses; and
after receiving an electronic message within the predetermined time interval from the electronic device of the consumer indicating that the consumer accepts the at least one substitute product, trigger a delivery to the consumer of the at least one substitute product accepted by the consumer.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the order processing server is further configured to receive and process payment for the product from the consumer and transmit a fulfillment request for the processed order to the electronic inventory management device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to receive an alert signal from a scanning device of a worker at the retail sales facility generated in response to the worker attempting to pick the product ordered by the consumer, the alert signal including the electronic notification indicating that the product ordered by the consumer is out of stock at the retail sales facility.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic message further comprises at least one of: a query for the consumer asking the consumer to respond by indicating whether the consumer is willing to accept the at least one substitute product instead of the product ordered by the consumer; a clickable link to the at least one substitute product, a picture of the at least one substitute product, and a video of the at least one substitute product.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to obtain historical purchase data associated with the consumer and generate the selection option of the at least one substitute product based on the obtained historical purchase data associated with the consumer.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the control unit is further configured to, when the historical purchase data associated with the consumer is not available, obtain historical purchase data associated with other consumers of the retail sales facility, and generate the selection option of the at least one substitute product based on the obtained historical purchase data associated with other consumers of the retail sales facility.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to, after receiving an electronic message from the electronic device of the consumer within the predetermined interval of time indicating that the consumer does not accept the at least one substitute product, transmit an electronic message to the electronic device of the consumer including a generated selection option of at least one similarly priced different product that is not a substitute for the product ordered by the consumer, the at least one similarly priced different product being generated based on one of obtained historical purchase data associated with the consumer and obtained historical purchase data associated with other consumers of the retail sales facility.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the control unit is further configured to, after receiving an electronic message from the electronic device of the consumer indicating that the consumer does not accept the at least one similarly priced different product, transmit an electronic message to the electronic device of the consumer including a query for the consumer whether to refund payment for the processed order, and process a refund for the order placed by the consumer in response to receiving a message from the electronic device of the consumer indicating agreement to the refund.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic message comprises at least one of a push notification to a mobile application installed on the electronic device of the consumer, a text message, and an electronic email.

10. A method of enabling consumers to purchase substitute products when the products ordered by the consumers are out of stock, the method comprising:
processing, at an order processing server, an internet order for a product received from a consumer in a geographic location;
providing an electronic inventory management device at a retail sales facility associated with the geographic location of the consumer;
providing an inventory management database configured to store electronic data associated with product inventory at the retail facility;
providing an electronic scanning device;
permitting a worker at the retail sales facility to scan, using the electronic scanning device, an identifying indicia of the product ordered by the consumer;
transmitting, from the electronic scanning device, an electronic signal representing a query to the inventory management database regarding inventory status of the product ordered by the consumer;
in response to receipt, from the inventory management database, of electronic data indicating that the product ordered by the consumer is out of stock at the retail sales facility, generating, via the electronic scanning device, an alert signal including an electronic notification indicating that the product ordered by the consumer is out of stock at the retail sales facility; and
transmitting the alert signal to the electronic inventory management device;
receiving, at the electronic inventory management device, the alert signal including the electronic notification indicating that the product ordered by the consumer is out of stock at the retail sales facility;
generating, at an electronic inventory managemen

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Putcha Sai Phaneendra Sri Harsha Viswanath
• High Donald R
• Natarajan Chandrashekar

Classifications

• G06Q10/087 Primary

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

• G08B21/18

  Status alarms (G08B21/02 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06Q30/0633

  Managing shopping lists, e.g. compiling or processing purchase lists (shipping orders G06Q10/083; order filling G06Q10/087) · CPC title

• G06Q30/0631

  Recommending goods or services · CPC title

• G06Q20/102

  Bill distribution or payments · CPC title