Shopping System With Improved Matching

The present invention describes several embodiments in which a customer orders items from a grocery store using an electronic shopping interface that allows him or her to select a designated picker among a plurality of pickers available at the store. The designated picker is a person selected to pick perishable items from the store. This helps bridge the trust gap that consumers have with grocery stores, particularly with regard to perishable items such as vegetables. The invention enables improved customer satisfaction for the consumer and substantial business opportunity for a grocer with an online electronic commerce platform.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to shopping systems for online commerce and more particularly to shopping systems that offer improved reliability and customized experience for consumers of perishable items.

BACKGROUND

Systems for electronic commerce where consumers order items online, provide an address for delivery, and the where retailer fulfils the order by preparing and delivering the requested items to the delivery address are known.

Electronic commerce has proven especially attractive for digital content such as digital music, where in addition to the fidelity of the product the ease and speed with which the consumer is able to receive and enjoy the product makes electronic commerce very attractive.

In addition to digital content, for purchase of standardized physical goods where there are no meaningful differences between items of the same specification, many consumers have proven willing to order items online—fairly confident that what would be delivered to their specified address upon fulfilment of their order will match their expectation. The enormous growth of electronic commerce is a testament to the increasing willingness of consumers to engage in online shopping of standard nonperishable items such as books and electronic items.

However, where the items are not uniform or standardized, the use of online commerce tends to lag far behind the market for standardized nonperishable items such as books or electronic devices. For example, consumers are hesitant to order perishable items such as vegetables online due to quality concerns.

Many vegetarians struggle with exercising the option to order perishable grocery items online. The risk of disappointment is often rightly perceived as quite high, that the perishable items that would be shipped and delivered may not be to the vegetarian consumers' liking.

Accordingly, improved shopping systems that mitigate some aspects of the aforementioned problems are desired.

SUMMARY

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of electronic commerce that includes, at a server, maintaining a plurality of item identifiers corresponding to a plurality of items maintained at a store, maintaining a plurality of picker profiles corresponding to a plurality of pickers, and receiving an order from a buyer. The order includes an item identifier among the item identifiers associated with at least one of the plurality of items to be purchased at the store; and a picker identifier associated with at least one of the plurality of pickers, in response to the receiving the order. The method further includes notifying the at least one of the plurality of pickers associated with the picker identifier, wherein the at least one of the plurality of pickers selects the at least one item at the store for delivery to the buyer.

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a server system, including: a processor; a memory; a communication interface; and a non-transitory processor readable medium storing processor executable instructions configured to be executed by the processor, the processor executable instructions for: maintaining a plurality of item identifiers corresponding to a plurality of items maintained at a store; maintaining a plurality of picker profiles corresponding to a plurality of pickers; receiving an order from a buyer, the order including: an item identifier among the item identifiers associated with at least one of the plurality of items to be purchased at the store; and a picker identifier associated with at least one of the plurality of pickers, in response to the receiving the order, notifying the at least one of the plurality of pickers associated with the picker identifier, wherein the at least one of the plurality of pickers selects the at least one item at the store from for delivery to the buyer.

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a client system having: a processor, memory, a communications interface, an input interface and a non-transitory processor readable medium. The medium stores processor executable instructions to be executed by the processor. The processor executable instructions include instructions for: receiving, through the input interface, an item identifier among said item identifiers associated with at least one of the plurality of items to be purchased at the store; receiving, through the input interface, a picker identifier associated with at least one of said plurality of pickers; and sending the picker identifier and the item identifier to a server system in data communication with the client system through said communications interface.

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory processor readable medium storing processor executable instructions which when executed by a server computer cause the server to perform a method including: maintaining a plurality of item identifiers corresponding to a plurality of items maintained at a store; maintaining a plurality of picker profiles corresponding to a plurality of pickers; receiving an order from a buyer, the order including: an item identifier among the item identifiers associated with at least one of the plurality of items to be purchased at the store; and a picker identifier associated with at least one of the plurality of pickers, in response to the receiving the order, notifying the at least one of the plurality of pickers associated with the picker identifier, wherein the at least one of the plurality of pickers selects the at least one item at the store from for delivery to the buyer.

This summary does not necessarily describe the entire scope of all aspects of the disclosure. Other aspects, features and advantages will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In this disclosure, the terms “comprising”, “having”, “including”, and “containing”, and grammatical variations thereof, are inclusive or open-ended and do not exclude additional, un-recited elements and/or method steps. The term “consisting essentially of” when used herein in connection with a composition, use or method, denotes that additional elements, method steps or both additional elements and method steps may be present, but that these additions do not materially affect the manner in which the recited composition, method, or use functions. The term “consisting of” when used herein in connection with a composition, use, or method, excludes the presence of additional elements and/or method steps.

Directional terms such as “top”, “bottom,” “upwards,” “downwards,” “vertically,” and “laterally” are used in the following description for the purpose of providing relative reference only, and are not intended to suggest any limitations on how any article is to be positioned during use, or to be mounted in an assembly or relative to an environment. The use of the word “a” or “an” when used herein in conjunction with the term “comprising” may mean “one,” but it is also consistent with the meaning of “one or more,” “at least one” and “one or more than one.” Any element expressed in the singular form also encompasses its plural form. Any element expressed in the plural form also encompasses its singular form. The term “plurality” as used herein means more than one, for example, two or more, three or more, four or more, and the like.

As noted earlier, conventional systems for ordering items online from retailers are known. A consumer that wants to place an order uses a client side system of hardware and software, such as a personal computer running a web browser, a mobile device with a compatible app, or another web-enabled software and hardware, to send the request for information describing the item to be ordered. The server system sends the requested information (e.g., via a web page) to the client system along with an indication of actions to perform on a user interface to place the order for the item. When the consumer performs the required actions, the client system sends related instructions to the server system which completes the order.

Conventional electronic shopping works well for non-perishable items. However, as noted above, consumers are hesitant to purchase perishable items online due to quality concerns. Lack of uniformity in the items to be ordered implies that there is a degree of subjectivity involved in the choosing perishable items that are suitable for the buyer.

Note that this problem does not generally arise with nonperishable items having predictable, standard and fairly uniform characteristics. For example, book retailers with online shopping platforms do not typically have to deal with this problem. If a consumer is interested in a hardcover book of a particular title and edition by a particular author, then he or she can simply order a copy of the book online. Any hardcover copy of the book can be shipped to the consumer with a very high degree of certainty that the product will be satisfactory. Neither the book retailer nor the buyer will be unduly concerned that the book that arrives will not meet the expectations of the buyer.

The same can be observed with electronics retailers. If a consumer is interested in a particular digital camera or a memory stick, then the consumer can place an electronic order for the unit by specifying the make and model of the digital camera or memory stick and have it shipped.

Perishable Items

In the case of digital content such as digital music, digital books or digital movies, the characteristics of the items being ordered are identical and thus indistinguishable. The same may be said for manufactured goods such as electronic gadgets, manufactured household wares and the like, if the goods are free of defects.

However, a grocery store with an online presence will have to help ensure that items selected for shipping or to be picked up by the consumer, which are often perishable items, indeed match the often highly subjective and nuanced tastes and preferences of the buyer. The consumer is, often justifiably, quite concerned whether the perishable items ordered online will match expectations when actually delivered.

Conventional online grocery store maintain one or more employees who will fulfill online orders. These employees may be dedicated pickers or may have other additional responsibilities such as stocking items, customer service duties, manning cash registers or controlling inventory. Typically, a computer server handling online orders for the grocer selects a picker from the available pool of employees that care capable of picking items. The selection is often made on the basis of some metric such as average picking speed, availability until next break, total hours worked in a given period, compensation rate or the like. A conventional retailer's server system can also select a picker from the available employees randomly or in a round robin fashion.

While having flexibility in the way the conventional online grocery store assigns a picker among its available employees may be advantageous from a scheduling and logistics perspective for the grocery store, the inability to have some control over the picker is often perceived as a disadvantage for the consumer.

As noted earlier, many consumers of specific types of food items such as vegetarian food or organic food, for example, often hesitate to utilize of an online grocery purchase. For a vegetarian consumer, if the assigned picker, over whom he or she has no control, fails to choose and pick the types of vegetables that the vegetarian himself or herself would choose, the result is very likely disappointment, leading to loss of the consumer as future customer, potentially for good.

These problems may entail serious repercussions in the market place. For example, a Pulse survey of 2036 respondents indicated that among the motivations or reasons for not shopping online is “not seeing/touching product and fresh goods” which was the most frequent response by 419 respondents.

Another motivation according to the survey was “I am worried the product quality won't be as good” which was the fifth most common response by 226 respondents.

Yet another motivation according to the survey was “food safety and food handling concerns” which was the seventh most common response by 119 respondents.

Fully 92% of the respondents that have had their groceries delivered to them felt the quality of products picked for them was as good or better than if they had picked it themselves (52% felt it was better).

Further, 86% of the respondents that have picked up their groceries curbside felt the quality of products picked for them was as good or better than if they had picked it themselves (22% felt it was better).

One of the effects of embodiments of the present invention is to help bridge that trust gap between the consumer and the grocer. This is accomplished generally via a picker and more specifically by appropriate matching of a shopper or consumer and a suitable picker. In embodiments of the present invention, after a customer selects their store and builds their cart, he or she will have an opportunity to choose the designated picker, that is, the person that picks their perishable items from the grocery store.

Bridging the trust gap will thus likely translate to improved customer satisfaction for the consumer and substantial business opportunity for a grocer with an online electronic commerce platform.

Overall Architecture of System with Picker Selection

A system that allows the consumer to select a picker that is likely to pick items in a manner that is consistent with the preferences of the consumer, is therefore desirable. Accordingly, a system exemplary of an embodiment of the present invention includes a server and a client device as illustrated inFIG. 1.

FIG. 1, depicts a simplified block diagram of a system100that includes a store120containing multiple items122for sale which may include perishable items such as vegetables and fruits as well as other items available for sale either in the physical store120or online.

A grocery store server102in data communication with one or more digital electronic or computing devices112a,112b(individually and collectively, “devices112”) via a network110hosts an online e-commerce platform for the store120.

The server102includes a server-side software, the components of which may include a database104, an application server108and a business application logic106and adapted for facilitating communication between the database104and the application server108. Application server108is adapted for communicating with client side applications114a,114b(individually and collectively, application114or “app114”) running on a devices112a,112brespectively. The application server108can be any suitable application server that is adapted to permit applications, apps, client applications or browser software, running on devices112, to access data on server102through network110. Suitable application server includes, but is not limited to, the Apache HTTP Server, the Internet Information Server (IIS). In other embodiments, the server side computing system can be a system comprising a network of computers (e.g. database server computer, application logic server computer, web-server computer), or a cloud service that uses a large network of server computers (e.g. database server computers, application logic server computers, web-server computers), the server computers collectively hosting multiple instances of application logic server software, database software, and application server. In other embodiments, the system does not include a application server running on a server that communicates to an app running on devices112.

Each of the computing devices112access the grocery store server102through an application114running thereon, such as a browser (e.g., Chrome™, Internet Explorer™, Mozilla Firefox™, Safari™) or a mobile browser software, via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or its secure version (HTTPS) for data entry, shopping item selection, payment data entry, delivery address data entry, shipping address data entry, and various other activities enabled by the electronic commerce platform as will be described later. In other embodiments, the server is not accessed via HTTP or HTTPS, but instead is accessed via another suitable protocol.

Application logic106executing on server102implements application logic rules for system100. As contemplated in this first embodiment, application logic106can be implemented as software components, services, server software, or other software components forming part of application logic106. Application logic106encodes specific business rules determining the creation, manipulation, alteration, generation, or verification of data using data received from devices112or retrieved from database104.

Database104provides storage for persistent data. Persistent data includes, but is not limited to, data related to items for sale in a store, such as name, prices, promotion periods, discounts, eligibility criteria, coupon information and the like. As is known in the art, persistent data is often required for applications that reuse saved data across multiple sessions or invocations. As contemplated in this first embodiment, database104is supported by a relational database management software (RDBMS), and is encrypted.

Suitable RDBMS include, but are not limited to, the Oracle® server, the Microsoft SQL Server database, the DB2 server, MySQL server, and any alternative type of database such as an object-oriented database server software. Encryption can be done by any method known in the art. Suitable encryption methods or algorithms include, but are not limited to, RSA public-key encryption, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (3DES), and Blowfish. In other embodiments, the database on the server side computing system is not an RDBMS. In other embodiments, the database is not encrypted.

In alternate embodiments, server102has a separate database server hardware to host database104. In other embodiments, the system has a separate application server computer for the purpose of providing additional resources in terms of processors, memory capacity, and storage capacity in order to improve the performance of the system. In other embodiments, the system further comprises a business logic server that is external to server102, the business logic server for hosting an application logic (e.g. application logic106). Other computing devices suitable for communication with server102or as devices112include, but are not limited to, server class computers, workstations, personal computers, and any other suitable computing device.

In this first embodiment, network110is the Internet. In other embodiments, the network can be any other suitable network including, but not limited to, a cellular data network, Wi-Fi™, Bluetooth™, WiMax™, IEEE 802.16 (WirelessMAN), and any suitable alternative thereof. The suitable data communications interface contemplated in this embodiment between devices112and network110is wireless. The interface can be an antenna, a Bluetooth™ transceiver, a Wi-Fi™ adapter, or a combination thereof.

As contemplated in this first embodiment, device112amay be smartphone or another handheld electronic device. Non-limiting examples of such devices include smartphone (e.g. iPhone™, Blackberry™, Windows™ Phone, Android™ phone), personal digital assistant (PDA), cellular telephone, media player (e.g. iPod™), and a device which combines one or more aspects or functions of the foregoing devices.

On the other hand, device112bmay be a desktop or laptop computer, such as a personal computer (PC) or laptop running Windows® or Linux, MacBook®, MacBook® Pro, MacBook Air®, iMac®, Mac® Mini, or Mac Pro® from Apple Inc. In other embodiments, the devices can be any other suitable electronic devices having a suitable data communications interface to network110. One or more of devices112are used by the consumers to participate in electronic commerce.

Server Hardware

FIG. 2, depicts a simplified block diagram of computing device hardware200. Hardware200comprises a processor202such as, but not limited to, a microprocessor, central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) or the like; a memory medium204, and interface circuit206adapted to provide a means of communication between processor202and memory medium204.

Interface circuit206also interconnects input and output (I/O) components such a display214, a network adapter216, and a storage medium210. Interface circuit206also interconnects a printer212and one or more additional peripherals218ato218c(individually and collectively, peripherals218). Suitable peripherals218include, but are not limited to a keyboard, a camera, a scanner, a touch panel, a joystick, an electronic mouse, touch screen, track-pad, and other input or pointing devices, and any combination thereof. In other embodiments, the interface circuit does not interconnect a printer. In other embodiments, the interface circuit does not interconnect any peripherals.

Memory medium204may be in the form of volatile memory or a combination of volatile and non-volatile memory, including, but not limited to, dynamic or static random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, solid state memory and the like.

Interface circuit206includes a system bus for coupling any of the various computer components210,212,214,216,218to the processor202. Suitable interface circuits include, but are not limited to, Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Micro Channel Architecture (MCA), Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA), VESA Local Bus (VLB), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCI-X), Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe).

Storage medium210can be any suitable storage medium including, but not limited to, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), EEPROM, CD-ROM, DVD, and any other suitable data storage element or medium. Storage medium210is readable by processor202.

Display214can be any suitable display including, but not limited to, monitor, a television set or a touch screen.

Network adapter216in server102facilitates wired or wireless connections to an Ethernet, Wi-Fi™, Bluetooth™, cellular network or other suitable network, thereby enabling connection to shared or remote drives, one or more networked computer resources, other networked devices, I/O peripherals and the like. Devices112also contain complementary network adapters therein for connecting with a suitable network, and are further equipped with browser or other thin-client or rich-client software. As contemplated in this embodiment, network adapter216comprises a wireless network interface card that allows communication with other computers through a data network such as network110. In other embodiments, the network adapter does not comprise a wireless network interface card. In other embodiments, the network adapter communicates with the network via a wired connection.

In some embodiments, the hardware architectures of computing device112band server102may be as depicted inFIG. 2.

Client Device Hardware

FIG. 3, depicts a simplified block diagram of exemplary embodiment of a client device hardware such as mobile device112a. Device112acomprises a processor302such as, but not limited to, a microprocessor, a memory304, an input interface308, a battery320, and a display314. Several components and processor302communicate with each other through an interface circuit306. Interface circuit306also interconnects components including, but not limited to, a wireless network interface316, a storage medium310, an input-output (I/O) interface322, a camera326, an audio codec312and a positioning module328such as a GPS unit. Audio codec312in turn connects to one of more microphones318and one or more speakers324. A sensor330and/or other components may interconnect to processor302via I/O interface322.

Wireless network interface316includes one or more of a wireless LAN transceiver (e.g. Wi-Fi™ transceiver), an infrared transceiver, a Bluetooth™ transceiver, and a cellular telephony transceiver. I/O interface322may include one or more wired power and communication interfaces such as a USB port.

Input interface308may be a keypad or keyboard, a touch panel, a multi-touch panel, a touch display or multi touch display having a software keyboard or keypad displayed thereon.

In operation, a customers will be presented with various picker profiles on device112. Each picture profile includes one or more of a picture or image of the person, name, number of years working in the grocery, family size, dietary restrictions, working hours, and the like.

Client Use Interface

As depicted inFIG. 4the application114executing on device112includes an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI)400. The GUI400for application114may include user interface elements in the form of buttons, tabs, lists, images, text, text edit boxes, dropdown lists, radio buttons and the like.

In the depicted embodiment is a mobile or desktop web browser application includes several user interface elements including text box402displaying the date and element404allowing the user to select a suitable time slot from time slots available for the date displayed in text box402. A plurality of picker profiles are depicted in user profile elements406a,406b,406c,406d(individually and collectively picker profile element406). These profile element406may be shown in a row element408dedicated for displaying picker profiles.

An electronic shopping cart412is used to select and place elements410from the elements that represent available items for sale. Items414in the cart412visually represent items selected for purchase. As the skilled reader will readily appreciate, the illustrated user interface is only exemplary, and many alternative user interfaces and interactions for allowing the user or customer to shop for grocery items electronically are possible.

In addition to at least one grocery item, one or more of a payment method, a billing address, a delivery address or a pick up address, a timeslot for picking up or a time slot for delivery, or the like may be specified using application114as shown inFIG. 4,FIG. 5andFIG. 6.

A customer may choose a list of item elements410that are placed into the electronic shopping cart412. The customer may also choose a specific picker using picker profile elements406a,406b,406c,406d. The choice of a picker is of course optional. In addition, the customer may optionally select one or more timeslots405during which he or she would like to pick up their groceries or have the grocery items delivered to a specified destination.

If the preferred picker unavailable to on the day that the customer would like to pick up their groceries, the customer may be notified and will have the option to choose a different picker. For example, upon time slots405being selected or changed, user interface400of application114may redisplay row element408with profile elements406of only those pickers available during time slots405on the date shown in element402.

Upon a specific profile element ofFIG. 4(e.g., element406a) being picked, by the customer, a profile window500may be displayed by the application114. The window500may depict the full name, number of baskets picked, the family size and specialization of the picker in user interface elements,502,504,506,508respectively.

In addition, a details button510, when selected by the customer, may pop up a details window600as shown inFIG. 6. The details window600may depict the name, name, age group, number of kinds or children, number of years at the grocer and a text indicating why the picker should be trusted by the customer, in user interface elements,602,604,606,608,610respectively.

FIG. 7is a flowchart700illustrating a set of exemplary procedural steps taken by a customer's computing device112ofFIG. 1running grocery shopping application114.

In step702, the device112receives selection of items to be purchased as determined by the customer utilizing application114.

In step704, the device112adds the selected items to an electronic cart utilizing application114.

In step706, if there are more items to be added the process proceeds to step702. Otherwise the next step is step708where the application114received the consumer's choice of deliver of pickup address and desired time slots for delivery or pickup.

If the consumer wishes to select a picker (step709) then the application displays a GUI (such as GUI400and optionally one or more of window500and window600) of available pickers (step710) to allow selection of a picker. Upon receiving selection of a picker (step712) the application114then associates the selected picker with the cart (step716). The association is sent to and stored by server102in a processor readable medium so that the picker can actually pick the items indicated in the cart in store120.

If the consumer does not wish to select a picker (step709), then the application114selects (or allows the server102to select) any available picker independent of an input from by the consumer (step714) and associates the independently selected picker with the cart and the association is sent to and stored by server102(step716).

FIG. 8is a flowchart800illustrating a set of exemplary procedural steps taken by the server102ofFIG. 1running a server-side software, which may include database104, app server or application server108, and business application logic106as noted above.

In step802, the server102receives selection of items to be purchased as determined by the customer using his or her app114.

In step804, the server102adds the selected items to an electronic cart utilizing software108.

In step806, if there are more items to be added the process proceeds to step802. Otherwise, the next step is step808where the server102receives the consumer's choice of deliver of pickup address and desired time slots for delivery or pickup.

If the consumer is to select a picker (step809) then the server102sends a list of available pickers and related information for display (for example in a GUI such as GUI400and optionally one or more of window500and window600) of available pickers (step810) which allows selection of a picker. Upon receiving selection of a picker (step812) the server102then associates the selected picker with the cart (step816). The association is stored by server102in a processor readable medium.

If the consumer is not to select a picker (step809), then the server102selects (or allows the app114to select) any available picker independent of an input from by the consumer (step814) and associates the independently selected picker with the cart. The association is stored by server102and the selected picker(s) are notified (step816).

The notification may be accomplished by simply storing the data, which is then accessed and displayed at a client device of selected pickers or display board at store120. The notification may also involve sending an email, text or short message to a computing device of a picker using a wireless or in wired communication means. In addition, audio, video or image signals may be broadcast at or near store120in a vicinity or device accessible by the selected pickers. Email, text message, instant message, SMS, blog posting, chat room posting, online bulletin board, Twitter Tweets®, social networking post, chat postings, calendar-sharing, status updates, rich media annotations, telephone call, voice-over-IP call, pagers, other messaging variations and combinations may also be used. Many different ways of notifying or alerting selected pickers will be known to persons of skill in the art.

Advantageously, embodiments of the present invention allow the customer to build trust, build a relationship, and feel safe knowing who is picking out the food for him or her.

The grocer would also find embodiments of the present invention advantageous, as these embodiments allow for optimal allocation of time and other resources based on the needs of the customer and availability of resources.

Both the customer and the grocer are able to bridge the trust gap which can lead to an increase in online sales for perishable as well as non-perishable items, resulting from an increase in customers purchasing online.

Although detailed exemplary embodiments have been discussed in relation to grocery stores, those of skill in the art will readily understand that the invention is not confined to just grocery stores but may be used in any formal or informal physical retail and other spaces where goods, services and other intangibles, are exchanged, sold, bartered or traded.

It is contemplated that any part of any aspect or embodiment discussed in this specification may be implemented or combined with any part of any other aspect or embodiment discussed in this specification. While particular embodiments have been described in the foregoing, it is to be understood that other embodiments are possible and are intended to be included herein. It will be clear to any person skilled in the art that modification of and adjustment to the foregoing embodiments, not shown, is possible.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as is commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. In addition, any citation of references herein is not to be construed nor considered as an admission that such references are prior art to the present invention.

The scope of the claims should not be limited by the example embodiments set forth herein, but should be given the broadest interpretation consistent with the description as a whole.