Centralized Receipt Database for Automated Price Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
The process of price matching in retail is cumbersome and time-consuming for consumers, as they need to provide advertisements for competitor prices, which involves store managers reviewing the information.
Innovation Solution
A network system that allows consumers to share receipts with a central repository, generating a price lookup table that identifies the lowest prices for items, enabling consumers to query this table before purchase and present the information to retailers for price matching.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If consumers provide competitor advertisements for price matching, then price matching can be performed, but the process becomes cumbersome and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-collects and stores competitor pricing information in a database before the consumer needs it. When a consumer wants price matching, the information is already available, eliminating the need for them to provide advertisements at the moment of purchase.
Solution Approach 2:
A centralized database acts as an intermediary between consumers and retailers. Instead of consumers directly providing advertisements to store managers, the information flows through the database which automatically retrieves and provides pricing data.
2Reliability
If store managers manually review competitor advertisements, then price matching decisions can be made, but the process becomes cumbersome and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs price matching automatically without requiring store manager intervention. The database self-service mechanism retrieves competitor pricing data and provides it to consumers, eliminating manual review processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical process of store managers reviewing physical advertisements is replaced with an automated electronic system that queries the database and retrieves pricing information digitally.
3Loss of information
If consumers search for lowest prices manually, then they can find price information, but the process requires significant time and effort
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized database serves as an intermediary that consolidates pricing information from multiple competitors. Consumers query this single source rather than manually searching multiple retailers, significantly reducing the time and effort required.
Solution Approach 2:
The database provides universal access to pricing information for multiple retailers and product types through a single system, allowing consumers to obtain comprehensive price comparisons in one place rather than visiting multiple sources.
Data Source
AI summary
A method may include receiving, from users, information identifying items purchased by the users, the information including a price for each of the items, and storing the information in a database. The method may also include receiving, from a second number of users, additional information identifying items purchased by the second users, the additional information including a price for each of the items, and identifying a first item in the database that matches a second item associated with purchases by one of the second users. The method may further include determining whether the price for the second item is lower than the price for the first item stored in the database and updating the database to include the second price for the first item, in response to determining that the second price is lower than the first price.