E-commerce Bundle SKU Management via Hierarchical Data Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Prior art electronic commerce systems require a large number of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) to manage packages and bundles, leading to database bloat and increased complexity, as each permutation of items within a package necessitates a unique SKU, making it difficult to manage and maintain efficient response times.
Innovation Solution
Defining relationships between products at the product level rather than the item level, using a parent SKU for bundles and packages, and maintaining interrelated tables to track these relationships, allowing products to be manipulated as part of a package or bundle, reducing the need for numerous SKUs and simplifying database management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If each permutation of items within a package is assigned a unique SKU, then product tracking precision is improved, but database complexity and size increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the SKU system into two levels: package-level SKUs that identify the bundle as a whole, and item-level identifiers that are referenced within the package structure. This segmentation allows the database to track packages at the package level while maintaining item-level detail through references, rather than requiring a unique SKU for every possible item permutation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a hierarchical dimension to the SKU structure, organizing data from package level down to item level. This dimensional change allows the system to manage complexity by operating at the appropriate level of abstraction for each operation, reducing the need for flat, exhaustive SKU enumeration.
2Measurement precision
If each permutation of items within a package is assigned a unique SKU, then product identification accuracy is improved, but response time deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the identification process into package-level and item-level operations, the system can quickly identify packages using package-level SKUs without needing to process or store information about every possible item combination. This segmentation maintains identification accuracy while reducing processing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes package-level identifiers and relationships in advance, so that when a package is queried, the system can immediately retrieve package-level information without needing to compute or search through all possible item permutations. This preliminary structuring of data accelerates response time.
3Adaptability or versatility
If numerous SKUs are created to manage packages and bundles, then product management completeness is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal package-level SKU structure that can accommodate any combination of items within a package. This universal structure eliminates the need for separate SKUs for each permutation, as the package-level identifier works for all item combinations, thereby improving ease of operation while maintaining management completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
By adding the hierarchical dimension with package-level and item-level organization, the system achieves comprehensive product management through structured relationships rather than through exhaustive SKU enumeration, making the system easier to operate.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention comprises a software based method and apparatus for organizing, presenting and manipulating packages and bundles in electronic retailing that greatly reduces the number of SKUs an electronic retailer needs to assign and track in order to sell packages and bundles. This is accomplished by defining the relationships of sellable objects to each other at the product level, rather than the item level. In accordance with the invention, a parent SKU number is assigned for each bundle or package that an e-tailer defines. A plurality of interrelated tables or databases are maintained in which the individual products that comprise bundles and packages are defined at the product level, rather than the item level. The definitions are recursive in that a product may simultaneously be for sale individually as well as part of one or more packages and/or bundles. When any product is manipulated (e.g., added or deleted from the shopping cart), the tables are consulted to determine if that product is part of a package or bundle and what other products comprise that bundle so that any such other products are manipulated accordingly.