Patent Publication Number: US-2023162250-A1

Title: Social product promotion

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/815,524, filed Jul. 31, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/872,670, filed Apr. 29, 2013, which is a non-provisional application claiming priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/727,913, filed Nov. 19, 2012, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/641,329, filed May 2, 2012, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     Various embodiments relate to electronic commerce (e-commerce) and social networking, and more, particularly to product promotion in an e-commerce environment having social networking aspects. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Electronic commerce (e-commerce) sites are an increasing popular venue for consumers to research and purchase products without physically visiting a conventional brick-and-mortar retail store. Similarly, social networking sites, such as Facebook and Google+, are an increasing popular venue for members to further grow and establish relationships with friends, family, and acquaintances. Given the success of such social networking sites, e-commerce sites have added features that integrate the e-commerce site with popular social networking sites and/or add social networking features to foster and grow a community on the e-commerce site itself. While such approaches have garnered various levels of success in the form of increased patronage and sales, incorporation of additional social networking features and further leveraging of social relationships in an e-commerce environment may drive even greater sales and customer loyalty. 
     Limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches should become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Apparatus and methods of promoting products in an e-commerce environment are substantially shown in and/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, and are set forth more completely in the claims. 
     These and other advantages, aspects and novel features of the present invention, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof, will be more fully understood from the following description and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    shows an e-commerce environment comprising a client and an e-commerce system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    shows a highly-simplified embodiment of a computing device for use in the e-commerce environment of  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  3    shows user profiles and product catalogs maintained by an e-commerce system of  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  4    shows an embodiment of a product listing provided by the e-commerce system of  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  5    shows a listing of products wanted by the requesting customer and owned by another customer of the e-commerce system of  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  6    shows a listing of products owned by the requesting customer and wanted by another customer of the e-commerce system of  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  7    shows a mutual listing of products that have the same attributes across two separate customers of the e-commerce system of  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  8    shows a method of promoting products implemented by the e-commerce system of  FIG.  1   . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Aspects of the present invention are related to e-commerce systems with social networking features. More specifically, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to apparatus and methods that leverage social networks to promote products. 
     Referring now to  FIG.  1   , a highly-simplified depiction of e-commerce environment  10  is provided. As shown, the e-commerce environment  10  may include a client  20  connected to an e-commerce system  30  via a network  40 . The network  40  may include a number of private and/or public networks such as, for example, wireless and/or wired LAN networks, cellular networks, and the Internet that collectively provide a communication path and/or paths between the client  20  and the e-commerce system  30 . The client  20  may include a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, a smart phone, and/or some other type of computing device which enables a user to communicate with the e-commerce system  30  via the network  40 . The e-commerce system  30  may include one or more web servers, database servers, routers, load balancers, and/or other computing and/or networking devices that operate to provide an e-commerce experience for users that connect to the e-commerce system  30  via the client  20  and the network  40 . 
     As noted above, the depicted e-commerce environment  10  is highly simplified. Those skilled in the art readily appreciate that the e-commerce environment  10  of  FIG.  1    may be implemented in numerous different manners using a wide range of different computing devices, platforms, networks, etc. Moreover, those skilled in the art readily appreciate that while aspects of the e-commerce environment  10  may be implemented using a client/server architecture, aspects of the e-commerce may be implemented using a peer-to-peer architecture or another networking architecture. 
     As noted above, the client  20  and the e-commerce system  30  may include a computing device.  FIG.  2    provides a highly-simplified depiction of a computing device  50  suitable for implementing a computing device of the client  20  and/or e-commerce system  30 . As shown, the computing device  50  may include a processor  51 , a memory  53 , a mass storage device  55 , a network interface  57 , and various input/output (I/O) devices  59 . The processor  51  may be configured to execute instructions, manipulate data and generally control operation of other components of the computing device  50  as a result of its execution. To this end, the processor  51  may include a general purpose processor such as an x86 processor or an ARM processor which are available from various vendors. However, the processor  51  may also be implemented using an application specific processor and/or other logic circuitry. 
     The memory  53  may store instructions and/or data to be executed and/or otherwise accessed by the processor  51 . In some embodiments, the memory  53  may be completely and/or partially integrated with the processor  51 . 
     In general, the mass storage device  55  may store software and/or firmware instructions which may be loaded in memory  53  and executed by processor  51 . The mass storage device  55  may further store various types of data which the processor  51  may access, modify, and/otherwise manipulate in response to executing instructions from memory  53 . To this end, the mass storage device  55  may comprise one or more redundant array of independent disks (RAID) devices, traditional hard disk drives (HDD), sold-state device (SSD) drives, flash memory devices, read only memory (ROM) devices, etc. 
     The network interface  57  may enable the computing device  50  to communicate with other computing devices via network  40 . To this end, the networking interface  57  may include a wired networking interface such as an Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) interface, a wireless networking interface such as a WiFi (IEEE 802.11) interface, a radio or mobile interface such as a cellular interface (GSM, CDMA, LTE, etc), and/or some other type of networking interface capable of providing a communications link between the computing device  50  and network  40  and/or another computing device. 
     Finally, the I/O devices  59  may generally provide devices which enable a user to interact with the computing device  50  by either receiving information from the computing device  50  and/or providing information to the computing device  50 . For example, the I/O devices  59  may include display screens, keyboards, mice, touch screens, microphones, audio speakers, etc. 
     While the above provides some general aspects of a computing device  50 , those skilled in the art readily appreciate that there may be significant variation in actual implementations of a computing device. For example, a smart phone implementation of a computing device generally uses vastly different components and may have a vastly different architecture than a database server implementation of a computing device. However, despite such differences, computing devices still generally include processors that execute software and/or firmware instructions in order to implement various functionality. As such, the above described aspects of the computing device  50  are not presented from a limiting standpoint but from a generally illustrative standpoint. The present application envisions that aspects of the present application will find utility across a vast array of different computing devices and the intention is not to limit the scope of the present application to a specific computing device and/or computing platform beyond any such limits that may be found in the appended claims. 
     As part of the provided e-commerce experience, the e-commerce system  30  may enable customers, which may be guests or members of the e-commerce system  30 , to browse and/or otherwise locate products. The e-commerce system  30  may further enable such customers to purchase products offered for sale. To this end, the e-commerce system  30  maintains a product catalog or database  300 . As shown in  FIG.  3   , the product catalog  300  includes product listings  310  for each product available for purchase. Each product listing  310  may include various information regarding the respective product, such as a unique product identifier (e.g., stock-keeping unit “SKU”), a product description, product image(s), manufacture information, available quantity, price, etc. Moreover, while the e-commerce system  30  may enable guests to purchase products without registering and/or otherwise signing-up for a membership, the e-commerce system  30  provides additional functionality to those users that become a member. 
     One additional feature the e-commerce system  30  provides to members is the ability to create a customer profile  330 . As shown, a customer profile  330  may include personal information  331 , personal catalogs  333 ,  335 ,  337 , and relationship designations  339 . The personal information  331  may include such items as name, mailing address, email address, phone number, billing information, clothing sizes, birthdates of friends and family, etc. which the e-commerce system  30  maintains in a private manner. The personal catalogs  333 ,  335 ,  337  may enable a member to assign various ownership, desirability, and/or other attributes to products in the product catalog  300 . The e-commerce system  30  may further enable the member to assign relationship designations  339  to other members. For example, the e-commerce system  30  may permit a member to identify another member as a friend, buddy, co-worker, family member, or some other designation. The e-commerce system  30  may utilize such relationship designations  339  to control the amount of information shared between members. For example, the e-commerce system  30  may enable the member to share information (e.g., birth date, clothing sizes, name, email address, personal catalogs, etc.) with members having one designation but not with members having another designation. In particular, the member may share certain information with their “friends” and may share a subset of such information with general “members” of the e-commerce site. 
     As noted above, the e-commerce system  30  permits members to assign attributes to products and create personal catalogs based on such assigned attributes. To this end, the e-commerce system  30  may cause a client  10  to display a product listing  310  as shown in  FIG.  4   . In particular, the e-commerce system  30  may provide such a product listing  310  in response to a member browsing products by type, price, kind, etc., viewing a list of products obtained from a product search, and/or other techniques supported by the e-commerce system  30  for locating products of interest. As shown, the product listing  310  may include one or more representative images  350  of the product as well as a product description  360 . The product listing  310  may further include one or more attribute controls  361 ,  363 ,  365  which the member may activate (e.g., clicking via a mouse, touching a touch screen, etc.) in order to associate a particular attribute with the product. In one embodiment, the e-commerce system  30  may cause the client  20  to display a product listing  310  that includes a “Like It” control  361 , a “Want It” control  363 , and a “Have It” control  365 . 
     By activating the “Like It” control  361 , the member may cause the e-commerce system  30  to add the product to a “Things I Like” or “Like It” personal catalog  333  which maintains a listing of products which the member likes. Similarly, by activating the “Want It” control  363 , the member may cause the e-commerce system  30  to add the product to a “Wishlist” or “Want It” personal catalog  335  which maintains a listing of products which the member wants to own. Furthermore, by activating the “Have It” control  365 , the member may cause the e-commerce system  30  to add the product to a “My Things” or “Have It” personal catalog  337  which maintains a listing of products which the member owns. 
     Besides permitting a member the ability to add products to respective personal catalogs via a product listing, the e-commerce system  30  may further provide various manners by which the member may remove a product from a personal catalog. For example, the product listing  310  may display the controls  361 ,  363 ,  365  in a manner that indicates the respective attribute has already been assigned to the product. In particular, the product listing  310  may depict a depressed button, a checked box, etc associated with the respective attribute. In such embodiments, the member may remove a product from a personal catalog by simply reactivating the corresponding control  361 ,  363 ,  365  in the product listing  310 . The e-commerce system  30  may further permit the member to browse their respective personal catalogs  333 ,  335 ,  337  in order to perform various management tasks such as removing products from the respective catalog. For example, the e-commerce system  30  via the client  20  may provide a product listing with a “Remove” control that enables the member to activate the control in order to remove the product from the respective catalog. 
     Thus, the e-commerce system  30  may enable members to create and maintain various personal catalogs of products with common attributes assigned by the member. In one embodiment, the e-commerce system  30  may leverage such personal catalogs of its members in order to help promote products. In particular, as shown in  FIG.  5   , the e-commerce system  30  via the client  20  may present a member with a listing  500  of products  510 ,  512  that the member wants to own and another member owns. Besides identifying the products that satisfy the relevant criteria, the listing  500  may further include a title  520  that conveys the depicted criteria or attributes of the displayed products  510 ,  512 . For example, the listing of  FIG.  5    indicates that the products  510 ,  512  are products that the member (e.g., “You”) wants and that the other member (e.g., “Jan Doe”) owns. The listing  500  may further include a Contact control  530  and a “More” control  540 . 
     In one embodiment, the e-commerce system  30  may limit the listing  500  to a predetermined number (e.g., 4) of products to prevent presenting the member with too much information. The e-commerce system  30  may select the predetermined number of products based on various criteria such as popularity of the product, price of the product, availability of the product, promotions associated with the product, price reductions, and/or heuristically determined desirability of the product to the member. For example, the e-commerce system  30 , based on various information maintained about the member, may calculate the likelihood of the member purchasing the product. Since the e-commerce system  30  may limit the number of products presented in the listing  500 , the More control  540  provides the member with a way to view additional products that satisfy the attributes of the products in the listing  500 . In particular, the More control  540  may further indicate the number of additional products which satisfy the attributes. 
     As noted above, the listing  500  may further include a Contact control  530 . In one embodiment, the e-commerce system  30  may present the Contact control  530  in a manner that asks the member whether they want to ask the other member for information or other feedback about the product. The member may then activate the Contact control  530  in order to initiate communication and ask the other member (e.g., Jan Doe) for such information about one of the products  510 ,  512 . Such communication may take many different forms. For example, the communication may be an e-mail message, an instant message, a comment placed in a timeline of home page, profile page, etc. of the other member. In this manner, the e-commerce system  30  provides a vehicle by which the member may obtain additional information regarding a product. In particular, the member may ask other members regarding their experience, opinion, etc. with product. Such feedback may greatly influence the member&#39;s decision to purchase the product for themselves especially if the other member is a family member, friend, or acquaintance for which they respect their opinion. 
     It should be appreciated that the e-commerce system  30  may provide the member with the listing  500  as a result of various browsing, research, and/or other usage of the e-commerce system  30 . For example, the e-commerce system  30  may provide the listing  500  when the member requests the profile of another member. The e-commerce system  30  may also provide the listing  500  when the member views a page for a product that is in the member&#39;s “Wishlist” catalog  335  and that is in another member&#39;s “My Things” catalog  337 . In such situations, the e-commerce system  30  may limit the search of “My Things” catalogs  337  to those members with which the member has specified a relationship (e.g., family member, friend, etc.). Feedback from such members is likely to have a greater influence on the member&#39;s purchasing decision than feedback from a stranger. 
     As shown in  FIG.  6   , the e-commerce system  30  via the client  20  may present a member with a listing  600  of products  610 ,  612  that the member owns and another member wants to own. Besides identifying the products that satisfy the relevant criteria, the listing  600  may further include a title  620  that conveys the depicted criteria or attributes of the displayed products  610 ,  612 . For example, the listing of  FIG.  6    indicates that the products  610 ,  612  are products that the member (e.g., “You”) own and that the other member (e.g., “Jan Doe”) wants to own. The listing  600  may further include a Contact control  630  and a More control  640 . It should be appreciated that the e-commerce system  30  may implement listing  600  in a manner similar to listing  500 . The main difference between listing  500  and listing  600  is that Contact control  530  results in the member requesting information about a product  510 ,  512  that the other member owns, whereas the Contact control  630  results in the member providing information about a product  610 ,  612  that the other member wants to own. To this end, the e-commerce system  30  may present the Contact control  630  such that the Contact control  630  requests the member to share information about a product  610 ,  612  with the other member. 
     The e-commerce system  30  via the client  20  may further provide a mutual listing or listings  700  based on personal catalogs as shown in  FIG.  7   . As shown, the mutual listing  700  may provide products mutually wanted, mutually liked, and mutually owned by two members. More specifically, the listing  700  may provide a subset of products  710 ,  712 ,  714 ,  716  that are mutually wanted by two members, the number  719  of products mutually wanted by both members, and a more control  718  that can be activated to show additional products mutually wanted by both members. As depicted, the more control  718  may provide an indication of the number of additional products that are mutually wanted by both members but not currently displayed. It should be appreciated that the e-commerce system  30  may generated such mutually wanted listing based on the “Wishlist” catalogs  335  for the two members. If the product is present in the “Wishlist” catalog  335  of two members, then both members want the product. 
     The e-commerce system  30  may generate the mutually liked and the mutually owned listings in a similar manner based on the “Things I Like” catalogs  333  and “My Things” catalogs  337  of the two members. More specifically, the listing  700  may provide a subset of products  720 ,  722 ,  724 ,  726  that are mutually liked by two members, the number  729  of products mutually liked by both members, and a more control  728  that can be activated to show additional products mutually liked by both members. Similarly, the listing  700  may provide a subset of products  730 ,  732 ,  734 ,  736  that are mutually owned by two members, the number  739  of products mutually owned by both members, and a more control  738  that can be activated to show additional products mutually owned by both members. 
     It should be appreciated that the e-commerce system  30  may provide a member with the mutual listing(s)  700  as a result of various browsing, research, and/or other usage of the e-commerce system  30 . For example, the e-commerce system  30  may provide the listing  700  when the member requests the profile of another member. The e-commerce system  30  may also provide the listing  700  when the member requests the e-commerce system  30  to locate a member with similar product preferences. Such a request may help the member to expand their social network to other members that share a similar view of products and thus provide another avenue for relevant feedback. Such identification of previously unknown members may be helpful to a member when none of their current contacts have experience with a product of interest. 
     Referring now to  FIG.  8   , a flowchart of a method  800  of promoting products in an e-commerce environment having social networking aspects is shown. In particular, at block  810  a computing system such as e-commerce system  30  may store and maintain a catalog of products that are available for sale. Such catalog may be stored in one more mass storage devices  55  which may be associated with one more database servers. The catalog may include various information about the products for sale such as, for example, quantity available, price, product description, etc. At block  820 , the e-commerce system  30  may store and maintain profiles  330  and personal catalogs  333 ,  335 ,  337  for customers/members of the e-commerce system  30 . The e-commerce system  30  at block  830  may receive a request for information from a particular customer. In response to such request, the e-commerce system at block  840  may obtain the personal catalogs for the customer and identify based on personal catalogs for at least one other customer a product that is present in a personal catalog of the customer and the personal catalog of the other customer. As block  850 , the e-commerce system  30  may provide the customer via client  20  information based upon the product identified as being present in personal catalogs of the two customers. In particular, the e-commerce system  30  may provide the client  20  with information for a product listing  500 , a product listing  600 , and/or a mutual listing  700 . 
     Various embodiments of the invention have been described herein by way of example and not by way of limitation in the accompanying figures. For clarity of illustration, exemplary elements illustrated in the figures may not necessarily be drawn to scale. In this regard, for example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements to provide clarity. Furthermore, where considered appropriate, reference labels have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. 
     Moreover, certain embodiments may be implemented as a plurality of instructions on a tangible, computer readable storage medium such as, for example, flash memory devices, hard disk devices, compact disc media, DVD media, EEPROMs, etc. Such instructions, when executed by one or more computing devices, may enable result in the one or more computing devices promoting the sale of products and/or one or more of the other aspects of the e-commerce environment  10  described above. 
     While the present invention has been described with reference to certain embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the present invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited to the particular embodiment or embodiments disclosed, but that the present invention encompasses all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.