Dynamic Mobile Seller Routing System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile sellers face challenges in selecting profitable locations and times for their sales due to reliance on intuition and experience, which often fail to maximize profits and minimize competition.
Innovation Solution
A mobile seller analytics system that combines historic data with map information, geospatial data, and GIS data to analyze and suggest optimal locations and routes for sales, taking into account customer demand, competition, travel costs, and user-defined criteria, using servers that access various databases for sales and demographic data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If mobile sellers select locations based on intuition and experience, then they can make quick decisions, but profit maximization is not achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of historic sales data, demographic information, and competition data before the seller needs to make a location decision. This advance preparation of location recommendations based on comprehensive data analysis enables sellers to make informed decisions without relying on intuition, directly addressing the profit maximization goal while eliminating information gaps.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary analytics system that mediates between raw data sources (sales data, demographic data, competition data) and the mobile seller's decision-making process. This intermediary system processes and synthesizes multiple data types to generate location recommendations, transforming unstructured information into actionable insights that bridge the gap between data availability and profit optimization.
2Productivity
If mobile sellers analyze multiple data sources to optimize location selection, then profit potential increases, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The analytics system is designed as a universal platform that handles multiple data types (sales data, demographic data, competition data) and serves multiple functions (location analysis, route optimization, profit prediction) through a single integrated system. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate analytical tools, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive profit optimization capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically collects, processes, and analyzes data from multiple sources without requiring manual intervention from the seller. The analytics platform performs self-service data aggregation and analysis, generating location recommendations autonomously based on predetermined criteria and algorithms, thereby simplifying the user interface and reducing the perceived complexity for the end-user.
3Measurement precision
If mobile sellers spend more time analyzing location options, then location selection quality improves, but time for actual selling decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs comprehensive location analysis in advance, generating pre-evaluated location recommendations before the seller needs to make a decision. By conducting the time-consuming data analysis, comparison, and evaluation processes beforehand, the system delivers ready-to-use location suggestions that require minimal seller review time, thus maintaining high selection quality while preserving maximum selling time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of location analysis with an automated computational system. Instead of sellers manually evaluating location options through time-consuming research and analysis, the system uses automated algorithms to process data and generate recommendations instantaneously, substituting computational speed for human analysis time and thereby preserving selling time while maintaining or improving selection quality.
4Ease of operation
If mobile sellers rely on intuition for location selection, then decision-making is simple, but competition optimization is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The analytics system serves as an intermediary that processes competition data and other relevant information to generate objective location recommendations. This intermediary layer filters out subjective biases and provides data-driven insights about competition levels at potential locations, maintaining decision-making simplicity for the seller while significantly improving the reliability of competition optimization through systematic analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the seller's intuitive decision-making process with an automated analytical system that objectively evaluates competition factors. By substituting human intuition with computational analysis of competition data, the system maintains ease of operation (the seller still receives clear recommendations) while dramatically improving reliability in optimizing for low-competition locations through systematic data evaluation.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and computer program products for dynamically routing a mobile sales operation are disclosed. A computer-implemented method may include receiving a request to provide a location recommendation to a mobile sales operation where the request comprises GPS coordinates from a GPS device associated with the mobile sales operation, determining the location recommendation based on analyzing data associated with a competitor of the mobile sales operation in view of the GPS coordinates, sending a first communication comprising the location recommendation to a computing device of the mobile sales operation, and sending a second communication comprising GPS coordinates of an updated location recommendation to the computing device of the mobile sales operation in view of a change in status for one or more competitors of the mobile sales operation.