Digital Showrooming Service for Retail Inventory Visibility

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional bricks and mortar retailers face challenges in competing with online retailers due to higher operational costs and the practice of 'showrooming,' where customers examine products in-store but purchase online, lacking the means to market to online customers effectively.

Innovation Solution

The 'Digital Showrooming' service allows shoppers to use smartphones to check local availability and prices of products by processing data from online merchant websites, providing maps and driving directions to nearby stores, enabling seamless transitions between online research and in-store purchases.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If online retailers provide smartphones and software to enable purchases, then online retailers can capture more customers, but conventional retailers lose customers to online retailers

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecustomer acquisition capabilityVSAvoidability to compete across channels

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an intermediary system that bridges online and offline retail channels. This system includes a server that receives product identification data from mobile devices, queries inventory databases, and returns availability information. The intermediary enables conventional retailers to participate in the digital shopping experience without requiring customers to complete purchases online, thus resolving the contradiction between online customer capture and multi-channel competitiveness.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments the retail experience into distinct functional components: product research (online), availability checking (hybrid), and purchase completion (offline). By separating these functions and providing specialized tools for each, the system allows conventional retailers to maintain their physical store advantage while leveraging online information resources, thus adapting to multi-channel competition.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Loss of time

If conventional retailers maintain physical stores, then they provide immediate customer satisfaction, but they incur high operational costs for display space and staff

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecustomer waiting timeVSAvoidoperational costs

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of timeVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies partial action by implementing inventory visibility only for specific products that benefit from local availability checking, rather than requiring full omnichannel capabilities across all product lines. This selective approach allows conventional retailers to maintain physical stores for immediate satisfaction while reducing operational overhead by not investing in comprehensive digital infrastructure for every product category.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Loss of information

If shoppers use smartphones to check local availability, then they can make informed purchase decisions, but the system requires processing and transmitting product data

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveproduct availability informationVSAvoiddata processing system

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts only the essential data elements needed for availability checking (product identification, inventory status, store location) from the complex retail ecosystem. By isolating and transmitting only these critical data points rather than complete product catalogs or detailed inventory records, the system reduces data processing complexity while maintaining full information utility for the end user.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS10262356B2Methods and arrangements including data migration among computing platforms, e.g. through use of steganographic screen encoding

Publication Date: 2019.04.16 DIGIMARC CORP

AI summary

An illustrative implementation of the technology includes three primary components: a desktop application, a mobile phone application, and connections to retailer inventory and pricing APIs (e.g., for Walmart and/or Best Buy). The experience begins with the consumer going to an online retailer's website (e.g., Amazon) to search for a product. The desktop application automatically searches for the same product using the APIs of Walmart and/or Best Buy. If matches and near-matches of the product are found, the product name, model, price, and local availability at affiliate locations is shown. With a mobile phone camera-scan of the product page, relevant information is transferred to the consumer's phone. From there, the consumer can interact with the options on the mobile phone to be directed to the nearby brick and mortar store of choice carrying that product at the price they want. Along the way, the retailer can present offers and additional product information directly to the consumer. A great variety of other technologies and arrangements are also detailed.