Systems and methods for dynamic pick time estimation and real-time order delay management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018315112-A1
Application number	US-201715582305-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 28, 2017
Priority date	Apr 28, 2017
Publication date	Nov 1, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods including one or more processing modules and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of receiving an order comprising items for sale at a store, coordinating displaying an order promise time to the customer, automatically determining in real-time an estimated order completion time using at least a dynamic pick time estimation for the order, and, if the estimated order completion time is after the order promise time, sending an escalation alert to an employee of the store.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
one or more processing modules; and one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of:
receiving, from a first electronic device of a customer, an order comprising one or more items for sale at a store;
coordinating displaying one or more order promise times on the first electronic device of the customer;
receiving, from the first electronic device of the customer, an order promise time selected from the one or more order promise times displayed on the first electronic device of the user;
automatically determining in real-time an estimated order completion time using at least a dynamic pick time estimation for the order; and
if the estimated order completion time is after the order promise time, sending an escalation alert to a second electronic device of an employee of the store.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein automatically determining in real-time the estimated order completion time comprises automatically determining in real-time the estimated order completion time using the dynamic pick time estimation for the order and a picking start time for the order.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein sending the escalation alert to the second electronic device comprises sending the escalation alert to the second electronic device of the employee of the store assigned to collect the order at the store.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein receiving the order comprises receiving, from the first electronic device of the customer, the order for pickup of the one or more items at the store after the employee of the store has collected the one or more items.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more non-transitory storage modules storing the computing instructions are further configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform an act of receiving a delivery address from the customer; and receiving the order comprises receiving, from the first electronic device of the customer, the order for delivery of the one or more items for sale at the store to the customer at the delivery address.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein automatically determining in real-time the estimated order completion time comprises automatically determining in real-time the estimated order completion time for delivery of the order to the delivery address using at least one of: (1) the dynamic pick time estimation for the order, (2) an estimated driving time from the store to the delivery address, (3) a picking start time for the order, or (4) a location of a delivery driver before picking up the order from the store or after picking up the order from the store.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more non-transitory storage modules storing the computing instructions are further configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform an act of sending an additional alert to the second electronic device of the employee of the store if the delivery driver has waited for the order at the store for longer than a predetermined period of time.

8 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions are further configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform an act of determining, while the customer is making the order, the one or more order promise times using: (1) the dynamic pick time estimation for the order and (2) an estimated driving time from the store to the delivery address.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more non-transitory storage modules storing computing instructions are further configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of:
automatically assigning the order to the employee of the store for collection of the one or more items of the order at the store; and
sending a notification to the customer if the estimated order completion time is after the order promise time; and
the dynamic pick time estimation is based on: (1) one or more locations of the one or more items in the store, (2) a number of commodity switches required to collect the one or more items at the store, (3) a historical performance of the employee of the store assigned to collect the one or more items of the order, and (4) a time of day when the order is collected at the store by the employee.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the dynamic pick time estimation is based on: (1) one or more locations of the one or more items in the store, (2) a number of commodity switches required to collect the one or more items at the store, (3) a historical performance of the employee of the store assigned to collect the one or more items of the order, and (4) a time of day when the order is collected at the store by the employee; sending the escalation alert to the second electronic device comprises sending the escalation alert to the second electronic device of the employee of the store assigned to collect the order at the store; the one or more non-transitory storage modules storing the computing instructions are further configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform an act of receiving a delivery address from the customer; receiving the order comprises receiving, from the first electronic device of the customer, the order for delivery of the one or more items for sale at the store to the customer at the delivery address; automatically determining in real-time the estimated order completion time comprises automatically determining in real-time the estimated order completion time for delivery of the order to the delivery address using at least one of: (1) the dynamic pick time estimation for the order, (2) an estimated driving time from the store to the delivery address, (3) a picking start time for the order, or (4) a location of a delivery driver before picking up the order from the store or after picking up the order from the store; and the one or more non-transitory storage modules storing the computing instructions are further configured to run on the one or more processing modules and perform acts of:
sending an additional alert to the second electronic device of the employee of the store if the delivery driver has waited for the order at the store for longer than a predetermined period of time;
determining, while the customer is making the order, the one or more order promise times using: (1) the dynamic pick time estimation for the order and (2) an estimated driving time from the store to the delivery address;
automatically assigning the order to the employee of the store for collection of the one or more items of the order at the store; and sending a notification to the customer if the estimated order completion time is after the order promise time.

11 . A method comprising:
receiving, from a first electronic device of a customer, an order comprising one or more items for sale at a store; coordinating displaying one or more order promise times on the first electronic device of the customer; receiving, from the first electronic device of the customer, an order promise time selected from the one or more order promise times displayed on the first electronic device of the user; automatically determining in real-time an estimated order completion time using at least a dynamic pick time estimation for the order; and if the estimated order completion time is after the order promise time, sending an escalation alert to a second electronic device of an employee of the store.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein automatically determining in real-time the estimated

Assignees

• Wal Mart Stores Inc

Inventors

• Smith Austin Lee
• Krishnan Vidyanand
• Ebener Michael Gilbert
• Rajkhowa Pratosh Deepak
• Deshpande Deepak
• Katz Arnon

Classifications

• G06Q30/0635 Primary

  replenishment orders; recurring orders · CPC title

• G06Q10/083

  Shipping · CPC title

• G06Q10/063116

  Schedule adjustment for a person or group · CPC title

• G06Q10/087

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