Patent ID: 8374907
Filing Date: 2013-02-12
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for providing an e-commerce price index, comprising the steps of: reading, by a computer, information regarding products available for purchase online, the information comprising, for each of a plurality of product offers, a product, a price, and a click rate, the click rate representing a number of times in a time period that one or more web-based input mechanisms associated with the product offer are activated, each product associated with a product category; calculating, by the computer, a click-weighted average price for each product category based on the read information, wherein each click-weighted average price is calculated using the following equation: where ω i,t is the click-weighted average price for the i-th category at time t, p i,j,k,t is the unit price for j-th product sold at the k-th merchant from the i-th category at time t, and c i,j,k,t is the number of clicks for the j-th product sold at the k-th merchant from the i-th category at time t; and constructing, by the computer, an e-commerce price index based on the calculated click-weighted average price for each product category, the e-commerce price index indicating changes over time in the prices of the products, wherein the index module is implemented in at least one computer system that comprises instructions stored in a machine-readable medium and a processor that executes the instructions.