Location Sensing for Price-Triggered In-Store Purchases
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Solution Overview
Problem
Customers often fail to purchase merchandise items due to advertised prices exceeding their willingness to pay, and online shopping convenience leads to missed sales opportunities as they do not return to brick-and-mortar stores for price reductions.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing sensors to detect customer location and merchandise items, allowing customers to specify a desired purchase price, receive notifications when prices meet or drop below that threshold, and facilitate purchases without queuing at checkout.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If customers wait for price reductions or shop online, then they can purchase at lower prices, but they lose the convenience of immediate in-store purchase and may miss sales opportunities
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by detecting customer interest in merchandise items before purchase decisions are made. Sensors identify when customers are viewing items, and the system proactively monitors price changes and sends notifications, eliminating the need for customers to manually check prices or wait for reductions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops by continuously monitoring both customer behavior (through sensors detecting presence and interest) and price changes (through automated price monitoring). When prices drop to desired levels, the system provides feedback to customers via notifications, enabling timely purchase decisions without requiring customers to actively search for price reductions.
2Reliability
If customers manually monitor price changes, then they can find lower prices, but they waste time and effort that could be spent shopping
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically monitoring price changes without requiring customer intervention. Once customers indicate their desired purchase prices through the mobile application, the system autonomously tracks price fluctuations and notifies customers when conditions are met, freeing customers from manual price monitoring while ensuring they receive items at optimal prices.
Solution Approach 2:
The system takes preliminary action by setting up automated price monitoring in advance. Customers specify their desired prices beforehand, and the system proactively monitors and compares current prices against these targets, eliminating the need for customers to repeatedly check prices during their shopping trip or afterward.
3Reliability
If customers return to the store after price reductions, then they can purchase at lower prices, but the process becomes inconvenient and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides immediate feedback to customers when prices reach their desired levels through mobile device notifications. This eliminates the need for customers to physically return to the store to check prices, as they receive real-time alerts on their devices, allowing them to make informed purchase decisions at their convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the mechanical process of physically returning to the store with electronic notification delivery. Instead of customers needing to travel back to the store to check price tags or ask staff, the system uses mobile communications technology to deliver price reduction information directly to customers' devices, significantly reducing the effort and time required.
4Measurement precision
If the system monitors all merchandise items continuously, then it can provide accurate price notifications, but the device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by focusing monitoring resources on specific merchandise items that customers have expressed interest in or have indicated as priority purchase targets. Rather than uniformly monitoring all items in the store, the system dynamically adjusts monitoring based on customer preferences and purchase intent, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high precision for relevant items.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided for purchasing merchandise items at a desired purchase price. In accordance with certain embodiments, systems and methods are provided for specifying a desired purchase price for a merchandise item. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also provide systems and methods for completing purchases of the merchandise item when the purchase price of the merchandise item is less than or equal to the desired purchase price. Other embodiments of the present disclosure may also provide systems and methods to determine and/or adjust the purchase price for a merchandise item and notify the customer when the adjusted purchase price is less than or equal to the desired purchase price.