Out of stock item tracking at retail sales facilities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9911097-B2
Application number	US-201615202897-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2016
Priority date	Aug 3, 2015
Publication date	Mar 6, 2018
Grant date	Mar 6, 2018

Abstract

In some embodiments, methods and systems of locating overstock items at a retail sales facility include receiving an indication that a product at the retail sales facility is out of stock and determining whether the product is located on a sales floor or in the stock room at the retail sales facility; then, in response to a determination that the product is not located on the sales floor or in the stock room, tracking a location of the product based on at least one inventory management factor associated with the retail sales facility and at least one worker task event associated with the product; and outputting to a worker at the retail sales facility, based on the tracking of the location of the at least one product, an indication of a perceived location of the least one product.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for assisting in the locating of out of stock products at a retail sales facility, the method comprising:
providing an inventory management database storing electronic data indicating at least one product that is offered for sale to consumers both at a primary display location on a sales floor of the retail sales facility and at a secondary display location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility;
receiving, an indication that at least one product is out of stock on the sales floor of the retail sales facility;
determining, via an inventory management electronic device including a processor, and in response to querying the inventory management database via the inventory management electronic device to obtain inventory management data associated with the at least one product, that the inventory management data obtained via the inventory management electronic device from the inventory management database indicates that the at least one product is not located at the primary display location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility, is not located at the secondary display location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility, and is not located in a stock room of the retail sales facility;
tracking, via the inventory management electronic device and the inventory management database, a location of the at least one product at the retail sales facility other than the primary display location, the secondary display location, and the stock room, based on analyzing, via the inventory management electronic device, at least one inventory management factor associated with the retail sales facility and at least one worker task event associated with the at least one product, the at least one management factor and the worker task event being stored in the inventory management database; and
outputting, based on the tracking step and via the inventory management electronic device, an indication of a predicted location of the least one product at the retail sales facility other than the primary display location, the secondary display location, and the stock room, to a worker at the retail sales facility;
wherein the at least one inventory management factor includes at least one of: mis-rings, shipping error, sales floor quantity versus shelf cap, change in on-hand inventory at the retail sales facility, bin accuracy, perpetual inventory accuracy, modular integrity, shrink, replenishment method, and pick completion; and
wherein the at least one worker task event includes at least one of: time stamp of last sale of the at least one product, time stamp of last customer return of the at least one product, time stamp of last customer claim for the at least one product, time stamp of last binning or unbinning of the at least one product, time stamp of last feature set or unset of the at least one product, time stamp of last delivery of the at least one product, time stamp of last scan of the at least one product, time stamp of last price change of the at least one product, and time stamp of pick of the at least one product.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving step includes inputting identifying information for the at least one product into the inventory management database and receiving a signal from the inventory database indicating that the at least one product is out of stock at the retail sales facility.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary display location is a shelf on the sales floor of the retail sales facility where the at least one product is regularly offered for sale, and the secondary display location is a location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility where the at least one product is offered for sale as a feature product.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tracking step is performed via a control circuit including the processor in communication with the at least one inventory management database.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring, via the inventory management electronic device, whether the at least one worker task event entered into the inventory management database as being completed was physically completed, generating in the inventory management database at least one data point indicating whether the at least one worker task event entered into the inventory management database as being completed was physically completed, and generating, via the inventory management electronic device, a report including the at least one data point over a predetermined period of the monitoring.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the outputting step further comprises indicating, via the inventory management electronic device, to the user, based on the tracking step, to look for the at least one product in a location at the retail sales facility including at least one of: truck unload area, to be stocked area, unworked freight area, unbinned area, returns area, claims area, pick cart in stock room, area near shelf on the sales floor of the retail sales facility, last known bin location, and feature product display.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the outputting step further comprises indicating, via the inventory management electronic device, to the worker and based on the tracking step, that the at least one product is not present on hand at the retail sales facility.

8. A system for tracking out of stock products at a retail sales facility, the system comprising:
at least one inventory management database storing electronic data indicating at least one product that is offered for sale to consumers both at a primary display location on a sales floor of at the retail sales facility and at a secondary display location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility; and
a control circuit including a processor in communication with the at least one inventory management database, the control circuit configured to:
receive electronic data from the at least one inventory management database that indicates that the at least one product is not located at the primary display location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility, is not located at the secondary display location on the sales floor of the retail sales facility and is not located in a stock room of the retail sales facility;
track a location of the at least one product at the retail sales facility other than the primary display location, the secondary display location, and the stock room of the retail sales facility, based on an analysis, by the control circuit, of at least one inventory management factor associated with the retail sales facility and at least one worker task event associated with the at least one product, the at least one management factor and the worker task event being stored in the inventory management database; and
output to a worker at the retail sales facility, based on the tracked location of the at least one product, an indication of a predicted location of the least one product at the retail sales facility other than the primary display location, the secondary display location, and the stock room of the retail sales facility;
wherein the at least one inventory management factor includes at least one of: mis-rings, shipping error, sales floor quantity versus shelf cap, change in on-hand inventory at the retail sales facility, bin accuracy, perpetual inventory accuracy, modular integrity, shrink, replenishment method, and pick completion; and
wherein the at least one worker task event includes at least one of: time stamp of last sale of the at least one product, time stamp of last customer return of the at least one product, time stamp of last customer claim for the at least one product, time stamp of last binning or unbinning of the at least one product, time stamp of last feature set or unset of

Assignees

• Wal Mart Stores Inc

Inventors

• Jones Nicholaus A
• 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

• G06Q10/08724 Primary

  by shelf level inventory management, e.g. planograms · CPC title

• G06Q10/08726

  for replenishment processing, procedures, or recommendations using forecasting or optimisation · CPC title

• G06Q10/0877 Primary

  by inventory control or reporting using inventory tracking or counting · CPC title