Systems and methods for generating a two-dimensional planogram based on intermediate data structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11210618-B2
Application number	US-201916508070-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2019
Priority date	Jul 10, 2018
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A system for generating a two-dimensional planogram. The system generates, for a facility in a cluster of facilities, a planogram for sets of items using an intermediate file.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system for generating a two-dimensional planogram, the system comprising:
a plurality of retail stores including a first retail store, a second retail store, and a third retail store, the first retail store having first products displayed using a first plurality of fixtures and the second retail store having second products displayed using a second plurality of fixtures, wherein the first retail store and the second retail store share common facility traits;
wherein the third retail store does not share the common facility traits;
a storage device configured to store intermediate files;
a computing device equipped with a memory and a processor and configured to execute a planogram generation (PG) module that when executed:
determines, from the plurality of retail stores, a cluster of retail stores that includes the first retail store and the second retail store but does not include the third retail store;
obtains a first specified percentage of items from one or more retail stores that are not within the cluster of retail stores including from the third retail store;
generates, for a retail store in the cluster of retail stores, initial recommendations to add a first set of items from the first specified percentage of items, keep a second set of items from the plurality of items, and delete a third set of items from the plurality of items based on a performance of each item in the first specified percentage of items and the plurality of items;
stores, in the storage device, at least one intermediate file that includes the initial recommendations;
analyzes each item in the third set of items for uniqueness based on predefined item attributes;
determines demand transference of at least one first item in the third set of items onto at least one second item in the second set of items, wherein the at least one first item and the at least one second item share at least one item attribute;
generates final recommendations to add a modified first set of items from the first specified percentage of items, keep a modified second set of items from the plurality of items, and delete a modified third set of items from the plurality of items based on the performance of each item in the first specified percentage of items and the plurality of items, the uniqueness of each item in the third set of items, and the demand transference;
modifies the at least one intermediate file to include the final recommendations;
recommends locations for the modified first set of items and the modified second set of items on a plurality of fixtures within the retail store; and
generates, based on the location recommendations, a planogram for the modified first set of items and the modified second set of items using the at least one intermediate file;
wherein the planogram is implemented only in stores within the cluster of retail stores including the first retail store and the second retail store of the cluster of retail stores and not at the third retail store by moving and arranging the first products within the first retail store using the first plurality of fixtures according to the planogram, and by moving and arranging the second products within the second retail store using the second plurality of fixtures according to the planogram;
wherein the computing device comprises multiple processors that are effective to provide a virtual machine, and wherein the PG module executes across the multiple processors, and wherein the multiple processors are shared with and execute processes other than the PG module.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the PG module when executed determines the demand transference by:
ranking the predefined item attributes for each item of the plurality of items based on levels of importance to customers using an item decision hierarchy or a similarity index, wherein the ranking is performed using transaction data to determine how customers are switching between items that include the predefined item attributes;
using the item decision hierarchy or the similarity index at an item pair level to generate a customer decision tree; and
identifying substitutable groups between items in the second set of items and items in the third set of items and demand transference within each substitutable group using the customer decision tree.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the PG module when executed determines the first set of items by identifying items within the first specified percentage of items as potential items to add to the retail store.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the PG module when executed determines the second set of items and the third set of items by:
determining a performance metric for each item of the plurality of items based on at least one of sales/linear feet, units/linear feet, and profit/linear feet;
classifying a second specified percentage of items in the plurality of items as items to keep based on the performance metrics, wherein the second specified percentage of items is the second set of items; and
classifying a remainder of the plurality of items not within the second specified percentage of items as items to delete, wherein the reminder of the items is the third set of items.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the PG module when executed transmits the final recommendations to each retail store in the cluster of retail stores and not to other retail stores in other clusters.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein each retail store in the cluster of retail stores generates a second planogram based on the final recommendations wherein the second planogram is implemented in each of the retail stores of the cluster of retail stores by moving and arranging products within the retail stores according to the second planogram.

7. The system of claim 1 , the system further comprising a mobile application, the PG module when executed:
transmits at least one alert to the mobile application executing on a mobile computing device and associated with an individual in the retail store, the alert including at least one of an image of the planogram.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the PG module when executed transmits the at least one alert to a facility manager for changing item placement on a fixture or transmits the at least one alert to a replenishment manager for ordering the modified first set of items.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the computing device is configured to receive user input to increase or decrease the first specified percentage of items.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the PG module when executed generates the modified second set of items and the modified third set of items by at least one of:
transferring at least one item from the third set of items to the second set of items where the at least one item is unique, or
deleting at least one item from the third set of items where the at least one item has a demand transference above a predefined threshold.

11. A method for generating a two-dimensional planogram, the method comprising;
determining, by a computing device equipped with a memory and a processor and configured to execute a planogram generation (PG) module, from a plurality of retail stores that include a first retail store, a second retail store, and a third retail store, the first retail store having first products displayed using a first plurality of fixtures and the second retail store having second products displayed using a second plurality of fixtures, wherein the first retail store and the second retail store share common facility traits, and the third retail store does not share the common facility traits;
obtaining, via the PG module, a first specified percentage of items from one or more retail stores that

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Kolluru Murthy Narayana
• Goswami Manisha
• Nazarian Ehsan
• Tempest Paul Michael
• Veliyanallore Rajesh

Classifications

• G06F18/24323

  Tree-organised classifiers · CPC title

• G06F18/231

  Hierarchical techniques, i.e. dividing or merging pattern sets so as to obtain a dendrogram · CPC title

• G06Q30/0639

  Locating goods or services, e.g. based on physical position of the goods or services within a shopping facility · CPC title

• G06Q30/0202

  Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities · CPC title

• G06Q30/0201

  Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data · CPC title