Merchant-Affiliated Direct Wholesale Marketing and Fulfillment System

Abstract

A merchant-affiliated direct wholesale marketing and fulfillment system. A computer server receives information from a consumer and from this information assigns the consumer to one of a plurality of independent retail merchants. The server then provides the consumer's remote computer with identifying information for the assigned retail merchant, to be displayed along with information regarding products for sale. Consumers may then purchase products directly from the organization operating the server, with a partial profit from the transaction delivered to the assigned retail merchant. Consumers may also purchase products at merchants' retail locations, in which case a transaction is consummated between the organization operating the server and the merchant, permitting the merchant to resell the purchased item to the consumer. The system may also be used for fulfillment by merchants.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a divisional of pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 097,842, filed Mar. 14, 2002, which is a continuation of PCT Application Serial No. US99 / 21575, filed Sep. 17, 1999, both application of which are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to management information systems that facilitate retail sales of goods to consumers.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Traditional retail merchandising involves establishing a storefront in an appropriate commercial district, hiring and training a knowledgeable sales staff to handle consumer inquiries regarding products for sale, and maintaining regular business hours during which consumers may visit the storefront, review items for sale, and discuss those items with a salesperson. The merchant typically makes sales to consumers out of the inventory available at the store, and replenishes inventory as it becomes depleted through sales...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0024]In the described embodiment, pricing information for products for sale are not delivered to the remote computer or displayed to the consumer, until after the consumer has been assigned to an affiliated retail merchant. Once a consumer is assigned to an affiliated retail merchant, the identifying information supplied by the server for the assigned retail merchant, is stored in the remote computer system to prevent reassignment of consumer to another retail merchant, and to prevent the consumer from viewing pricing of another retail merchant.

[0028]A system operating in accordance with this aspect of the invention provides affiliated retail merchants with a virtual Internet site through which those retail merchants can provide products to consumers in competition with other e-commerce providers. Because the merchants utilize a common server for storing and delivering product information, the merchants are freed from the cost and burden of managing independent Internet systems.

[0029]In accordance with a related aspect of the present invention, the server maintains an identification of those products that are authorized for on-line sale by each merchant. Once a merchant has been assigned to a consumer, the server does not provide product information for any products that the merchant is not authorized to sell on-line. In this way, the server can enforce restrictions imposed by manufacturers as to particular merchants that are permitted or not permitted to perform on-line sales.

[0031]Furthermore, in accordance with another related aspect of the present invention, the server maintains a listing of current available inventory of the business entity. Using this information, the server does not provide product information for any products that are not currently available. In this way, the server can avoid backorders, and provide accurate delivery times for items ordered on-line.

[0036]In the disclosed specific embodiment, the business entity operating the direct marketing system may provide the remote computer to affiliated retail merchants for free or a reduced price to enable use of the system by affiliated merchants.

Problems solved by technology

Independent merchants often discourage catalog shopping because purchases through catalogs by definition will create a backorder for the merchant, requiring the administrative overhead of tracking the backorder and contacting the customer upon delivery to complete the sale, which is burdensome as compared to directly selling from existing inventory.

Furthermore, particularly in those markets where customers are time-sensitive (such as fine jewelry, where many customers are shopping for gifts that must be obtained by a specified date), the uncertain nature of the delivery date of catalog orders makes the use of catalogs undesirable.

This traditional process for selling at retail involves substantial overhead costs in a number of areas.

Maintaining a commercial storefront in an attractive commercial district involves monthly rent expense.

Hiring and training sales staff to wait on consumers involves labor expense.

The fixed cost of inventory also represents an interest expense.

E-commerce merchants have several significant cost advantages as compared to traditional retailers, and as a result e-commerce retail merchants often can undercut the prices of traditional retail merchants.

First, substantial programming expense is currently required to create a comprehensive Internet server application for marketing products.

Smaller merchants cannot amortize this cost over a large quantity of products sold.

Furthermore, smaller merchants of necessity have a smaller inventory than the combined inventory of the stores in a large retail chain, and so have difficulty matching on a product-for-product basis, the offerings of larger e-commerce merchants.

This requires the merchant to have the organizational arrangements in place to handle and track a substantial number of backorders, which large chain stores often already have in place, but independent merchants lack.

A traditional retail merchant cannot charge different pricing for sales using the Internet, than for sales from its retail store, without undermining the investments the merchant has made in its own retail presence.

A problem with this model of consumer behavior is that it assumes that consumers will be compelled to purchase goods from those parties that provided information on the goods.

Although this was true in the traditional retail environment, where consumers cannot readily move from one merchant to another merely for the purpose of price shopping, in e-commerce, this is not the case.

Users do not always expect e-commerce merchants to have an available knowledgeable sales staff ready to answer consumer questions.

Indeed, consumers often expect no more than to be able to connect to the e-commerce merchant's server and place orders for shipment to the consumer.

However, in some retail markets, consumers require substantial product information before reaching a purchase decision.

Although manufacturer policies of this sort are detrimental to e-commerce, manufacturers are not philosophically opposed to e-commerce.

Traditional merchants, particularly those lacking the resources to begin e-commerce, are opposed to brands that permit other merchants to sell via the Internet, and the risk of alienating these merchants has caused many manufacturers to continue to maintain policies prohibiting Internet sales.

In these markets, e-commerce faces substantial challenges.

Unbranded merchandise, however, does not benefit from brand-name familiarity, making consumers substantially more wary, and largely unwilling to purchase unbranded merchandise from unknown merchants.

Unbranded merchandise, therefore, can only be effectively sold via the Internet by national, well known merchants, as such organizations can use their reputation as a substitute for brand recognition.

The risk is particularly high to those merchants that deal in retail markets that lack strong brand names, such as traditional single location fine jewelry stores; these stores are unlikely to be protected by manufacturers via price minimums and Internet sales prohibitions, and these stores lack the resources and inventory necessary to commence e-commerce and compete on an item-to-item basis with national chains.

Furthermore, even those independent merchants dealing in brand name dominated industries, will eventually lose the protections imposed by manufacturers and begin to lose sales to e-commerce competitors.

Images