Integrated Online and Offline Inventory Management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019147446-A1
Application number	US-201916246960-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 14, 2019
Priority date	Jun 25, 2013
Publication date	May 16, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

Method, systems, and apparatus for integrated online and offline sales management. A system manages both offline and online transactions and inventory in an integrated environment. An offline transaction is a sale at a point of sale (POS) system, e.g., at a typical “brick and mortar shop” physical store. An online transaction is a sale using an online store, e.g., an online shopping cart and checkout system accessed by a web browser or other application. An online store can be converted to offline store, and vice versa. An inventory management system can receive an input from a merchant device of merchant designating an item carried by the merchant as an item to be sold at the physical store, at the online store, or both. The inventory management system can modify a record of the item to respond to the input.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 - 20 . (canceled)

21 . A method, implemented at least in part by one or more servers, the method comprising:
storing, in at least one database associated with the one or more servers, an inventory of items for a merchant, the inventory of items including (i) one or more first items associated with a first indicator indicating that the one or more first items are available via an online store of the merchant and (ii) one or more second items associated with a second indicator indicating that the one or more second items are available via a physical store of the merchant; causing, by the one or more servers, a first graphical user interface (GUI) to be presented via a merchant device operated by the merchant, the first GUI including a GUI element to enable a modification of an indicator associated with an item of the inventory of items via an interaction with the GUI element; receiving, from the merchant device and at the one or more servers, an indication of an input associated with the GUI element; changing, in response to receiving the indication of the input and by the one or more servers, a status associated with the item based at least in part on modifying the indicator associated with the item; updating, by the one or more servers, the inventory of items based at least in part on the changed status of the item; and causing, by the one or more servers, at least the one or more second items to be presented via a second GUI displayed via the merchant device operated by the merchant at the physical store.

22 . The method as claim 21 recites, wherein a first item comprises an online item that is (i) viewable via the online store of the merchant and purchasable at the physical store or (ii) purchasable via the online store.

23 . The method as claim 21 recites, wherein the GUI further comprises one or more additional GUI elements to enable the merchant to specify one or more attributes associated with individual items of the inventory of items.

24 . The method as claim 23 recites, wherein the one or more attributes comprise at least one of a discount status, an amount of a discount, or a quantity of items available.

25 . The method as claim 23 recites, further comprising:
receiving, from the merchant device, another indication of another input associated with an additional GUI element of the one or more additional GUI elements, the other input associated with the item; and
updating a record associated with the item based at least in part on the other input.

26 . The method as claim 21 recites, further comprising:
receiving, from the merchant device, information associated with an offline transaction for purchasing a second item of the one or more second items at the physical store;
generating an online receipt based at least in part on the information on the offline transaction, the online receipt comprising an electronic document specifying a time, a location, a price, and an item name of the offline transaction; and
providing the online receipt to a user device upon request.

27 . The method as claim 21 recites, further comprising:
sending, from the one or more servers to another server associated with the online store, an indication of the one or more first items associated with the first indicator; and
causing the other server to present the one or more first items via a third GUI associated with the online store.

28 . A system comprising:
one or more processors; and a non-transitory storage device storing computer instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
storing, in at least one database, an inventory of items for a merchant, the inventory of items including (i) one or more first items indicated as available via a first commerce channel associated with the merchant and (ii) one or more second items indicated as available via a second commerce channel associated with the merchant;
causing a first graphical user interface (GUI) to be presented via a device operated by a user, the first GUI including a GUI element to enable modification of a commerce channel via which an item of the inventory of items is available;
receiving, from the device, an indication of an input associated with the GUI element; and
changing, in response to receiving the indication of the input, the commerce channel via which the item is available.

29 . The system as claim 28 recites, wherein a first item comprises an online item that is (i) viewable via an online store of the merchant and purchasable at a physical store or (ii) purchasable via the online store.

30 . The system as claim 28 recites, wherein the GUI further comprises one or more additional GUI elements to enable the user to specify one or more attributes associated with individual items of the inventory of items.

31 . The system as claim 30 recites, wherein the one or more attributes comprise at least one of a discount status, an amount of a discount, or a quantity of items available.

32 . The system as claim 30 recites, further comprising:
receiving, from the device, another indication of another input associated with an additional GUI element of the one or more additional GUI elements, the other input associated with the item; and
updating a record associated with the item based at least in part on the other input.

33 . The system as claim 28 recites, further comprising, based at least in part on changing the commerce channel via which the item is available, sending an indication of the one or more first items to another server associated with an online store of the merchant.

34 . The system as claim 28 recites, further comprising, based at least in part on changing the commerce channel via which the item is available, sending an indication of the one or more second items to a point-of-sale (POS) device associated with a physical store of the merchant.

35 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
storing, in at least one database, an inventory of items for a merchant, the inventory of items including (i) one or more first items which are available via a first commerce channel associated with the merchant and (ii) one or more second items which are available via a second commerce channel associated with the merchant; causing a first graphical user interface (GUI) to be presented via a device operated by a user, the first GUI including a GUI element to enable modification of a commerce channel via which an item of the inventory of items is available; receiving, from the device, an indication of an input associated with the GUI element; and changing, in response to receiving the indication of the input, with the commerce channel via which the item is available based at least in part on modifying the indicator associated with the item.

36 . The computer-implemented method as claim 35 recites, wherein a first item comprises an online item that is (i) viewable via an online store of the merchant and purchasable at a physical store or (ii) purchasable via the online store.

37 . The computer-implemented method as claim 35 recites, wherein the GUI further comprises one or more additional GUI elements to enable the user to specify one or more attributes associated with individual items of the inventory of items, wherein the one or more attributes comprise at least one of a discount status, an amount of a discount, or a quantity of items available.

38 . The computer-implemented method as claim 37 recites, further comprising:
receiving, from the device, anot

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Varma Ajit Kalidindi
• Reiss Jesse L
• Lin Andrew
• Robinson Joseph Loree

Classifications

• G06Q30/06 Primary

  Buying, selling or leasing transactions · CPC title

• G06Q10/087

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

• G06Q20/409 Primary

  Device specific authentication in transaction processing · CPC title

• G06Q10/0872

  using inventory planning · CPC title

• G06Q10/08772

  Inventory counting methods · CPC title