Grouped Merchandise Trading Platform for E-Commerce Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current e-commerce platforms face issues such as inefficient communication between multiple buyers and sellers, repetitive listings of identical products, lack of user freedom in withdrawing offers, non-payment fraud, asymmetric information, and limited integration of shipping services, leading to an incomplete and unfair trading experience.
Innovation Solution
A new e-commerce model that groups merchandise into sub-categories with unique IDs, allowing multiple bidders and sellers to interact, integrates shipping carriers to compete on shipping costs, provides a user-friendly interface for price comparison, and includes features like market orders and deposit payments to secure transactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If current e-commerce platforms list individual merchandise instances, then each product can be traded independently, but identical products are repeatedly listed causing information redundancy and inefficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple identical or similar merchandise instances into a single grouped listing represented by a Merchandise Group ID (MGID). Instead of listing each individual product instance separately, the system combines them into one unified listing that represents the entire group, thereby eliminating information redundancy while maintaining the ability to trade individual instances within the group.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple buyers and sellers interact on current platforms, then trading flexibility increases, but communication efficiency decreases due to lack of organized grouping
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the marketplace into organized groups using MGIDs for merchandise and UGIDs for users. This segmentation creates structured categories that simplify communication by allowing participants to interact with groups rather than individual instances, reducing communication complexity while preserving trading flexibility through the ability to trade within and across groups.
Solution Approach 2:
The MGID acts as an intermediary that mediates between multiple buyers and sellers. Instead of direct communication between all participants, the grouped listing serves as a central reference point that organizes interactions, simplifying the communication structure while enabling flexible trading within the group.
3Adaptability or versatility
If shipping services are integrated into e-commerce platforms, then transaction completeness improves, but competition among carriers is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple shipping carriers into a universal platform that serves all merchandise transactions. The system accommodates various carriers (FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS, etc.) within a single integrated framework, allowing the platform to perform multiple shipping functions while enabling carriers to compete for transactions based on their respective services and pricing.
Data Source
AI summary
This method groups multiple merchandises (products/services) and multiple traders (buyer/sellers/carriers) that share similar properties with a Merchandise Group ID (MGID) and a User Group ID (UGID), respectively. Each MGID and UGID represents one Merchandise Group and Trader Group, respectively. Different MGIDs and UGIDs represent different merchandise and trader groups. The method also utilize a multi-party matching mechanism to trade Merchandise Groups among Trader Groups by having grouped buyers/sellers/carriers place bid/ask/cAsk offers on both the merchandise and any shipping services required to fulfill the transaction. Based on offers received, the system calculates Gap Values in real-time to determine if deals can be closed. Like stock tickers, MGID enables grouped merchandise to be traded like stocks. UGID enables grouped traders to trade desired merchandise with acceptable counterparties through matching both MGIDs and UGIDs. Based on the grouping, matching and gap value calculating mechanism, this method changes “Instance Trading” into “Group Trading”.