Location-Based Purchase Attribution via Inventory Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
The market penetration of online purchases has been limited due to consumers' preference for physically interacting with products before buying, leading to high shopping cart abandonment rates and slow growth of e-commerce, as people enjoy browsing in stores and magazines, and often intend to purchase items later.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that ascertains the physical location of inventory items matching a user's online wish list, alerts the user to their availability near an offline store, facilitates online or in-store purchases, and tracks payments back to the user, even for offline purchases, by using a networked matching engine, location engine, and notification engine to match stock information with user location and notify the user of item availability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users browse items online and add to wish list, then they can view items remotely, but they abandon the purchase when unable to physically interact with the item
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a location-based notification service as an intermediary between online browsing and offline purchase. When users are near physical stores carrying items from their wish list, the system sends notifications to alert them of availability, bridging the gap between remote browsing and physical purchase to reduce cart abandonment
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing user wish list data, match it with real-time inventory data from physical stores, and prepare location-based notifications in advance. This ensures that when users are near stores, the system can immediately alert them of available items, facilitating quicker purchase decisions
2Loss of information
If the system tracks user location and matches with inventory data, then purchase attribution can be determined, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a multi-functional mobile device that serves multiple purposes: browsing items, storing wish list data, receiving location-based notifications, and completing purchases. This universal device approach consolidates tracking functions into a single platform, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive purchase attribution capability
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops where location data from mobile devices is continuously monitored, matched with inventory availability, and used to trigger notifications. This feedback mechanism enables real-time purchase attribution tracking while maintaining manageable system complexity through automated data processing
3Productivity
If e-commerce grows slowly with high cart abandonment, then online penetration remains limited, but offline shopping experience is superior
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges online and offline shopping experiences by combining digital wish list functionality with physical store inventory data and location-based notifications. This integration allows users to enjoy the convenience of online browsing while accessing the tactile benefits of physical stores, thereby increasing overall market penetration without sacrificing product interaction quality
Data Source
AI summary
A system for facilitating the postponed purchase of an item is described. The system comprises: a networked matching engine for matching stock identifier information relating to one or more items for postponed purchase by a user, with information relating to the availability of the one or more items in a physical store; a location engine for locating a mobile device in a physical location relative to the physical store; and a notification engine in communication with the networked matching engine and the location engine, the notification engine configured to receive matches of stock identifier information and then notify the user via the user mobile device regarding the availability of the one or more items when the mobile device is disposed at a selected distance from a physical store which has items within it which correspond to the matched stock identifier information. There is also described a method of facilitating a postponed purchase of an item to a user. The method includes the steps of: receiving at least one data set relating to an item for sale into a networked computer processing device; representing at least one of the data sets on a display of the networked computer processing device; assessing a distance between a physical item for sale associated with the at least one data sets and the networked computer processing device; notifying the user via the networked computer processing device of the distance to the physical item.