Collective procurement management system

Abstract

A collective procurement management system which permits multiple potential purchasers of a specific item or service to submit orders for the item or service on an ongoing basis. As orders enter the system, they are grouped such that potential purchasers are may “cooperate” in generating a collective bulk order so that all participants may obtain discount / volume pricing. Once a threshold level of order volume is obtained as a result of multiple orders, the grouped order is submitted to the supplier for fulfillment. The order is then fulfilled at a volume pricing level although individual portions of the collective order are routed to a plurality of purchasers. The present invention also includes a Reverse Auction Process (RAP) which, in one embodiment, operates to allow potential purchasers to select a product or service and set a maximum price that they are willing to pay for the same. Following submission of this information to the system, possibly including orders for the same item from other potential buyers, potential vendors bid to supply the item to the relevant buyers requesting the item.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates generally to automated systems and methods for transaction processing and more particularly to systems and methods for efficiently and optimally processing purchase and sale orders for goods and services. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Business is all about commercial transactions. These transactions result in the critical revenue streams necessary for businesses to survive. In some cases, businesses purchase goods or services which are helpful or necessary for the company to operate. Goods and services may be purchased as “overhead” (e.g. pencils and pens for employees) or for redistribution to the ultimate consumer (e.g. software to be distributed by a PC seller in connection with the sale of PCs). [0003] While commercial transactions between parties have occurred practically since the beginning of time, the methodology by which they are conducted has evolved rapidly. This is especially true in recent years with the a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] It is another object of the present invention to provide a flexible and efficient system which provides a buyer with the opportunity to obtain desired goods and services at prices which would otherwise be unavailable to such a buyer.

[0016] As may be seen, the system of the present invention produces significant advantages for both the supplier and the individual potential purchasing entities. The suppliers benefit by receiving large orders for specific products / services at one time and the potential purchasers benefit by obtaining pricing discounts that would otherwise be unobtainable. In one embodiment of the present invention, potential purchasers specify orders in the form of multiple “fulfillment levels” at different price points. In this case, a potential purchaser may submit an order (“primary fulfillment level”) through which they agree to pay a specific price if the order is filled within a certain time frame. Whether or not the order is filled at this price is dependent upon the amount and timing of other orders for the same item made by other parties. Additionally, in this embodiment, the potential purchaser may specify additional fulfillment levels (“secondary fulfillment levels”) through which the potential purchaser agrees that if the primary fulfillment level is not met and the order not filled at the specified primary price, the potential purchaser would be willing to accept the product at a different (higher or lower) price during a different time frame.

Problems solved by technology

While these systems are extremely successful, they do suffer drawbacks.

In particular, these systems generally operate under the restriction that the supplier-purchaser relationship is predefined and relatively inflexible.

This can be disadvantageous to the purchaser not only in terms of pricing but also in terms of product / service quality and fitness for purpose.

In other words, the purchaser may, due to a prior commitment made to a supplier, be stuck with an inferior product / service or one that does not meet its needs as well as another product / service which would otherwise be available to the purchaser.

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