Group Purchasing Campaigns Using Historical Prices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers often miss sales on products due to long waiting periods for reduced prices, leading to inventory storage issues for merchants and unmet consumer demands, as existing e-commerce systems do not facilitate group purchasing at historical prices effectively.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for group purchasing in an e-commerce environment that allows users to initiate a purchasing campaign based on historical prices, communicating with merchants to determine available quantities and generating a campaign when a predetermined number of consumers agree to purchase at the historical price, thereby facilitating consumer-driven pricing and inventory clearance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If merchants wait for natural sales cycles to clear inventory, then product availability is maintained, but storage costs increase and consumer satisfaction decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-identifying products that are likely to be purchased at historical prices, pre-calculating available quantities from merchants, and pre-setting up purchasing campaigns before consumers actually need to buy. This eliminates the waiting period by having everything ready in advance when consumers express interest.
Solution Approach 2:
The system acts as an intermediary between consumers and merchants by matching consumer demand for historical prices with merchant supply capabilities. It mediates the transaction by aggregating consumer interest and negotiating with merchants to secure available quantities at specified historical prices, thus clearing inventory without long waits.
2Productivity
If merchants reduce prices to clear inventory quickly, then consumer satisfaction improves, but profit margins decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the price parameter by utilizing historical prices that were previously set by merchants. Instead of creating new discounted prices that erode margins, it leverages existing historical price data to find acceptable price points that maintain merchant profitability while enabling inventory clearance through group purchasing campaigns.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges multiple consumer purchases into a single group purchasing campaign. By combining demand from multiple consumers, it creates sufficient volume to justify selling at historical prices without requiring individual deep discounts, thus maintaining profit margins while achieving inventory turnover.
3Ease of operation
If consumers purchase individually at current prices, then immediate satisfaction is achieved, but storage burden on merchants persists
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the purchasing process into distinct phases: campaign setup with historical price specification, consumer enrollment phase where multiple buyers join, and fulfillment phase where aggregated orders are processed. This segmentation allows consumers to participate conveniently at their own pace while ensuring bulk purchase capability to clear merchant storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous useful action by keeping purchasing campaigns active over time, allowing consumers to join at their convenience rather than requiring immediate individual purchases. The campaign structure ensures continuous aggregation of demand until sufficient volume is reached to clear merchant inventory efficiently.
Data Source
AI summary
The method and system are directed at providing group purchasing at a historical price in an e-commerce environment. A user may select a price that a price at which a produce previous sold, seen as the historical price. This price may then be used to generate an online purchasing campaign that other user may join. The purchasing campaign is user or consumer driver rather than merchant driven.