Location-Level Inventory Tracking via Spatial Distance Calculation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current inventory management systems in brick and mortar retail stores maintain inventory at the SKU level, making it difficult to accurately track inventory at specific locations within the store, as customers typically remove items from shelves without scanning the location, leading to incomplete data for decrementing inventory levels.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a central database and point of sale client to determine the most likely location of item purchase by calculating distances between customer location coordinates and product location coordinates, allowing for accurate decrementing of inventory units at the location level, including mechanisms for handling multiple-locational products and dependent products.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If inventory is maintained at the SKU level only, then inventory tracking is simple, but location-level inventory accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments inventory tracking into two levels: SKU-level aggregation for simplicity and location-level granularity for precision. The system divides the store into multiple locations (primary and secondary) and tracks inventory at both the aggregated SKU level and the specific location level, allowing precise tracking without overwhelming complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a spatial dimension to traditional inventory tracking by introducing location coordinates (latitude, longitude) and calculating distances between customer mobile device locations and product locations. This dimensional addition enables location-level inventory accuracy while building upon the existing SKU-level tracking framework.
2Loss of information
If customers shop manually without scanning locations, then shopping experience is simple, but location data for inventory decrement is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the customer's own mobile device to automatically capture location information through GPS or other location services. The mobile device itself serves the dual purpose of shopping list management and location tracking, eliminating the need for additional scanning hardware while preserving shopping convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously receives location feedback from the customer's mobile device during the shopping journey. This real-time location data is fed back to the server, which uses it to determine which location the customer visited and decrement inventory accordingly, ensuring accurate tracking without disrupting the shopping flow.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple locations are used for the same product, then shopping convenience and sales potential increase, but determining the correct decrement location becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter used to identify product location from static product tags to dynamic spatial parameters (coordinates and distance calculations). By calculating the distance between the customer's mobile device location and multiple possible product locations, the system dynamically determines which location the customer most likely visited, maintaining accuracy despite multiple product placements.
4Measurement precision
If location-level inventory tracking is implemented, then inventory management accuracy improves, but data collection complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The customer's mobile device is utilized for multiple functions: serving as a shopping list, receiving product location information, providing location tracking data, and enabling payment. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate dedicated tracking devices, reducing overall system complexity while achieving location-level inventory accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for determining a specific location in a brick and mortar retail store from which an item purchased by a customer in the store was likely obtained, so as to enable maintenance of inventory at the location level within the store is provided. The system includes a central database in which information regarding product inventory for a brick and mortar store location is maintained, a point of sale client capable of obtaining a product identifier from items being purchased by a customer, and a product location mechanism that utilizes the product identifier obtained by the point of sale client for the items being purchased by the customer, and other information from the point of sale client and/or from within the database to determine the most likely location from which an item was obtained by the customer and decrement the inventory unit amount stored in the database for the location by the number of such items purchased.