Patent ID: 8793194
Filing Date: 2014-07-29
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for delivery of goods in a first plurality of defined local areas, the method including the steps of: i. providing a computer having a software application running an internet based application; ii. dividing a large area containing a second plurality of potential customers into the first plurality of defined local areas and keeping track of the defined local areas in the software application; iii. providing an internet web site using the software application used by (a) a third plurality of suppliers of goods and services inside and outside of the defined local areas, (b) a fourth plurality of warehouses proximate each of the first plurality of defined local areas receiving and storing the goods of the third plurality of suppliers, (c) a fifth plurality of at least one of pickup centers, delivery centers, and distribution and transportation centers transporting the goods, at least one of the pickup centers, delivery centers, and distribution and transportation centers being located inside each of the first plurality of defined local areas, and (d) the second plurality of potential customers seeking to purchase the goods of the third plurality of suppliers, wherein the potential customers are located throughout the first plurality of defined local areas; iv. offering goods via the website using the software application, wherein the goods are offered via the website using the software application by the third plurality of suppliers and to the second plurality of potential customers, the offering resulting in direct transactions between the third plurality of suppliers and the second plurality of customers by bypassing wholesalers and distributors; v. using the software application, enabling the distribution and transportation centers to transport the goods and enabling the fourth plurality of warehouses to receive and store the goods of the third plurality of suppliers prior to consummation of any purchases of the goods; vi. displaying, by the website and on computers of the second potential customers, the goods offered by the third plurality of suppliers, wherein like goods of different suppliers are offered for the same price, wherein the price includes any shared delivery charges to a predetermined point within a selected one of the first plurality of defined local areas, and wherein the price constitutes prices offered to the potential customers as already delivered to and as being shipped from the predetermined point; vii. requiring a selected supplier of the third plurality of suppliers to provide goods to at least one of a selected warehouse of the fourth plurality of warehouses and a selected one of the at least one pickup centers and delivery centers for a selected one of the first plurality of local areas prior to any purchase of the goods by an actual customer in the selected one of the first plurality of defined local areas, where the selected supplier has provided goods to at least one of the selected warehouse and the selected one of the pickup centers and delivery centers, and wherein the goods have at least a predetermined volume; viii. directly integrating the suppliers' distribution of their offerings; ix. wherein the same offerings of goods and level of service are provided within the same defined local area; x. wherein each of the defined local areas includes at least one of the pickup centers, delivery centers, and distribution and transportation centers; xi. wherein the price, including any delivery cost, of like goods delivered through the at least one local pickup center, delivery center, and distribution and transportation center as a final delivery method is always the same in the same defined local area for each of the third plurality of suppliers, the delivery cost being shared by the third plurality of suppliers based on volume and not on package weight, and xii. in response to a particular customer of the second plurality of potential customers selecting a selected good, and seeking to purchase the selected good from a particular supplier offering the selected good in a local area of the particular customer and having the selected good already in the warehouse in the defined local area prior to the purchase, wherein the particular customer is using the web site, wherein the particular customer compares the offerings of the selected good of different suppliers delivered to a selected delivery initiation point which constitutes the predetermined point of the at least one local pickup center, delivery center, and distribution and transportation center in the same defined local area, the offerings of like goods from different suppliers having the same price that includes any shared delivery charges to the selected delivery initiation point in the defined local area, regardless of a location of the particular supplier with respect to the defined local area, wherein the predetermined volume is greater than individual quantities, and xiii. wherein the fourth plurality of warehouses store the goods of each of the third plurality of suppliers separately from the goods of any other suppliers.