Systems and methods for estimating availability of additional sales floor space for a product being binned

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10546271-B2
Application number	US-201715592456-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2017
Priority date	May 12, 2016
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

In some embodiments, methods and systems of estimating whether additional space for a product being binned is available on a sales floor include an electronic inventory management device configured to: receive an indication that a product is being placed into a storage bin after a determination that no space for the product is available in a primary display location of the product on the sales floor; obtain a demand for the product on the sales floor during a predetermined interval of time; retrieve at least one inventory position estimation factor associated with the product when the demand for the product during the predetermined interval of time is greater than zero; estimate whether the inventory position estimation factor supports a likelihood that the product is in a feature display location on the sales floor; and output an indication of possible space availability for the product on the feature display location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system of estimating whether additional space for a product being binned is available on a sales floor of a retail sales facility, the system comprising:
an electronic scanning device including:
at least one of a display screen and a speaker; and
a scanner configured to scan an identifying indicia on a surface of the product;

an electronic inventory management database configured to store data representing a demand for the at least one product on the sales floor of the retail sales facility and data representing at least one inventory position estimation factor associated with the at least one product;
an electronic inventory management device including a processor-based control unit, the control unit configured to:
receive electronic data from the electronic scanning device indicating that at least one product is being placed into a storage bin in a stock room of the retail sales facility after a determination that no space for the at least one product is available in a primary display location of the at least one product on a sales floor of the retail sales facility;
obtain from the electronic inventory management database the electronic data representing demand for the at least one product on the sales floor of the retail sales facility during a predetermined interval of time;
analyze the obtained electronic data representing the demand to determine whether the demand for the at least one product during the predetermined interval of time is greater than zero;
in response to a determination by the control unit that the demand for the at least one product during the predetermined interval of time is greater than zero, retrieve from the electronic inventory management database, the electronic data representing the at least one inventory position estimation factor associated with the at least one product;
estimate whether the at least one inventory position estimation factor supports a likelihood that the at least one product is stocked in a feature display location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility; and
output, when the at least one inventory position estimation factor supports a likelihood that the at least one product is stocked in the feature display location, electronic data indicating possible space availability for the at least one product on the feature display location on the sales floor; and
transmit a notification including the electronic data indicating the possible space availability for the at least one product in the feature display location from the electronic inventory management device to the electronic scanning device;

wherein, in response to receipt of the notification by the electronic scanning device, the electronic scanning device generates at least one of a visual and audible alert via the at least one of the display and the speaker of the electronic scanning device, the alert notifying the worker of the space availability for the at least one product in the feature display location and instructing the worker to bring the product to the feature display location instead of placing the product into the storage bin.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one inventory position estimation factor comprises one or more of: electronic data indicating that the at least one product being placed into the storage bin was delivered to the retail sales facility and not previously placed into a storage bin in the stock room since being delivered as part of an above-average size delivery to the retail sales facility; electronic data indicating that the at least one product being placed into the storage bin was previously picked from a storage bin in the stock room to be stocked in the primary display location on the sales floor; electronic data indicating that present on-hand inventory of the at least one product is above average on-hand inventory; electronic data indicating that sales of the at least one product during the predetermined interval of time are above average sales of the at least one product during an identical interval of time; electronic data indicating that a most recent delivery of the at least one product included a number of units of the at least one product that is greater than an average number of units delivered to the retail sales facility; and electronic data indicating that a manual replenishment order for the at least one product was made at the retail sales facility.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to:
receive electronic data from the electronic scanning device of the worker indicating that at least one product is being placed in the feature display location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility; and
transmit the generated electronic data indicating that the at least one product is being placed in the feature display location on the sales floor to an electronic inventory management database.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to, when the at least one inventory position estimation factor supports a likelihood that the at least one product is stocked in the feature display location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility, generate electronic data indicating that the at least one product is stocked in the feature display location on the sales floor, and transmit the generated electronic data indicating that the at least one product is stocked in the feature display location on the sales floor to an electronic inventory management database.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to output, when the at least one inventory position estimation factor does not support a likelihood that the at least one product is stocked in the feature display location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility, an indication to the worker to place the at least one product into the storage bin in the stock room of the retail sales facility.

6. A method of estimating whether additional space for a product being binned is available on a sales floor of a retail sales facility, the method comprising:
providing an electronic scanning device including:
at least one of a display screen and a speaker; and
a scanner configured to scan an identifying indicia on at least one product;

providing an electronic inventory management device including a processor-based control unit;
receiving, by the electronic inventory management device and from the electronic scanning device and in response to a worker at the retail sales facility scanning the identifying indicia on the at least one product using the electronic scanning device when the worker is placing the at least one product into the storage bin, electronic data indicating that at least one product is being placed into a storage bin in a stock room of the retail sales facility after a determination that no space for the at least one product is available in a primary display location of the at least one product on a sales floor of the retail sales facility;
providing an electronic inventory management database configured to store data representing a demand for the at least one product on the sales floor of the retail sales facility and data representing at least one inventory position estimation factor associated with the at least one product;
in response to the receiving of the electronic data by the electronic inventory management device from the electronic scanning device:
obtaining, by the electronic inventory management device and from the electronic inventory management database, the electronic data representing the demand for the at least one product on the sales floor of the retail sales facility during a predetermined interval of time;
analyzing, by the processor-based control unit, the obtained electronic data representing the demand to det

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Jones Nicholaus A
• Vasgaard Aaron J
• Taylor Robert J
• Jones Matthew A

Classifications

• G06Q10/087 Primary

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