Patent ID: 11710160

Abstract:
A series of associated merchant websites or respective merchant websites each selling narrowly defined product categories to shoppers who browse to select products for placement into a shopping cart. While each website is operated and controlled by a different merchant or a single merchant, each website has access to a shared server farm where information about each shopper is stored. Also shared is a virtual e-commerce shopping cart that the shopper can use to check out at any of the merchant websites even though the virtual e-commerce shopping cart may contain products from multiple different merchant websites. Each merchant website is associated with metadata limited to the narrowly defined product category, thereby providing enhanced SEO benefits without the need to purchase ad words. Each boutique specifically targets a single category making the shopping and buying experience easier. Information gathered from shoppers at each unique boutique is stored at the server farm for being shared with other associated merchants in the collection of sites. A shopper's user account will transfer between sites and allow the data gathered to be used in a cross-promotional method and will ensure the shopper's experience is consistent with what they like and want in future visits. Moreover, a merchant incentivizes an account holder to make an authorized transaction by terms and agreement to auditably donate to the account holder's affinity entity. To incent desirable commerce with locals, the merchant's terms may limit its donation by a derivation of navigation time between account holder and merchant, and/or by date and time of the transaction. The account holder can direct the donation to one of more affinity entities within their own community, and/or within a community where the transaction was physically conducted. An account holder can also donate at the time of transaction where the donation is paid by the account's issuer for reimbursement as a debit to the account holder's account statement. Other payment system participants may donate (the merchant's acquirer, issuer, and transaction handler for the issuer and acquirer), by way of favorable interchange rates, can also make audible donations to account holder directed affinities entities.