Abstract:
A method and system are presented for using the stock of one physical store, selected from among many physical stores, for the purpose of making a delivery of a product purchased through a virtual store. The appropriate physical store is selected based upon proximity to the customer and availability of the desired product as indicated by the computerized inventory maintained by the store. Once the store is selected and the customer selects local delivery, the order is sent to the store and a delivery request is sent to a local delivery service that services the store.  
     Upon receipt of the order, delivery tags are printed at the store. An employee of the store pulls the desired products from the store&#39;s inventory and tags the products for delivery. The results of the employee&#39;s efforts are input into to the system of the present invention. If the products are successfully retrieved, then shipping details are received from the shipping service and communicated to the customer. The shipping service then picks up the products and completes the delivery.  
     If the employee is unsuccessful in retrieving the products, this result is used to alter the stores computerized inventory, and, if possible, another store is selected. If no other local stores has the item in stock, the shipment is handled through the normal fulfillment processes of the virtual store.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0001]    The present invention relates generally to electronic commerce over computer networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to the integration of a network of brick and mortar stores being used as a shipping source for products ordered over a computer network.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Many traditional retail companies have developed web sites on the World Wide Web to allow customers to shop over the Internet. Rather than seeing the web as a threat to their more traditional “brick &amp; mortar” locations, these retail companies have viewed their web sites as a partner to their physical stores. With proper marketing and planning, the physical and virtual stores can benefit each other and build business through both channels.  
           [0003]    One of the problems that is encountered by retailers that have adopted this “click &amp; mortar” strategy is inventory management. Inventory must be maintained at the traditional stores and the warehouses that service them. At the same time, shipping locations and fulfillment partners must have access to inventory in order to ship to customers who order through the web site. Many retailers maintain two conceptual inventory systems, one for web site fulfillment and the other for the brick and mortar retail stores.  
           [0004]    Another problem facing the click &amp; mortar strategy of retailers is the minimization of shipping costs. Large retailers have spent a great deal of energy and resources streamlining the shipment and handling of products to geographical diverse retail stores. These efficiencies are often lost, however, when a customer orders a product over the Internet. Typically, Internet purchases are handled and shipped from a limited number of fulfillment locations that handle purchases from the web site. Thus, a purchaser of a television located in Tampa may be shipped the television from a fulfillment location in Memphis. This is true even though that same television may already be sitting in stock in a physical store located much closer to or even in Tampa.  
           [0005]    What is needed is a way for click &amp; mortar retailers to take advantage of the inventory found in physical retail locations for the fulfillment of purchases made over the Internet.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    The present invention meets this need by providing a system and method that utilizes individual store inventory for the purpose of fulfilling orders made over the Internet. In the preferred embodiment, the present invention is integrated into a system that also allows for a customer to pick-up an item ordered over the Internet at a physical store location.  
           [0007]    The method for accomplishing this goal is to allow the customer to select local store delivery at the time that an order is placed via the web site. This option is presented to the customer only after two conditions have been met. First, at least one store must be identified as being located physically close to the customer. The actual distance between a physical store and a customer can vary from implementation to implementation. Second, inventories of the local stores must be electronically checked to verify that the item or items being ordered by the customer are found in the inventory of at least one of the local stores.  
           [0008]    Once the system has verified that the ordered item is found in the inventory of a local store, the purchaser is presented with the option of having the item locally delivered. Other delivery options may be presented, including delivery from the standard web-site fulfillment location, or in-store pick-up at one of the discovered local stores.  
           [0009]    If local delivery is selected, personnel at the local store having the item in inventory are contacted. At approximately the same time, the system places an order with a local delivery service to pick up the item and deliver it directly to the customer&#39;s address. The contacted employee is then responsible for physically taking the item from the store&#39;s available inventory and placing the item aside for local delivery. The employee then communicates to the system that the item has been successfully located and set aside for local delivery. After this, the present invention confirms that the local delivery service will be able to deliver the product. Once the shipping details have been verified with the shipping service, the time of delivery and tracking number are communicated to the customer, such as via e-mail, and the product is delivered. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a box diagram showing information and product shipping flow between the major parties of the present invention.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the first portion of present invention method relating to the selection of local delivery.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the second portion of present invention method relating to the holding of a product at a physical store location.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the third portion of present invention method relating to the delivery of the product from the physical store location. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]    The present invention allows products purchased on-line to be delivered directly to the customer from a nearby, physical retail store. The key players in the present invention are shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1. This figure also shows information flow over a computer network or networks that is desired for the present invention. Each of the parties ideally will have a computerized system available for their use. These systems are then connected through a data network represented by the arrows connecting the blocks of FIG. 1.  
         [0015]    As seen in FIG. 1, a customer  10  interacts with a virtual store  20 , just as would happen in prior art e-commerce web sites on the World Wide Web. When the customer  10  has ordered a product through the virtual store  20 , the virtual store  20  will check with the local physical store  30  to determine whether the product selected by the customer  10  is in stock at the local physical store  30 . This is typically accomplished by checking the computerized inventory management system maintained by local store  30 .  
         [0016]    If the product is in stock, the virtual store  20  presents the customer  10  with the option of local delivery. If the customer  10  selects this option, a product order including a message to pull the product from stock is sent from the virtual store  20  to the physical store  30 . An employee of the local physical store  30  then physically removes the product from stock. A local delivery service  40  is contacted to pick up the item from the local store  30  and deliver the product to the customer  10 . Because the delivery is being accomplished locally, the customer can generally receive faster and less expensive delivery than if the virtual store simply delivered the product through a central fulfillment facility. In addition, the present invention is able to better leverage the existing inventory of products found in local physical stores  30 .  
         [0017]    The virtual store  20  and local store  30  will generally be part of the same retailer or be part of a partnership between separate retailers. This common ownership or partnership is shown in FIG. 1 as dotted box  50 . The present invention will generally refer to a retailer  50  as the combination of the virtual store  20  and the physical store  30 , even though there is no requirement in the present invention that a single entity own both parties  20 , 30 . The communication between the virtual store  20  and the customer  10  and between the local physical store  30  and the delivery service  40  can be exactly as shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, the virtual store  20  and the physical store  30  can communicate with external parties  10  and  40  as a unified entity, with the virtual store  20 , the physical store  30 , or another computer system handling all communication for the retailer  50 .  
         [0018]    The method  100  of the present invention is shown in more detail in FIGS. 2 through 4. This method begins by allowing the customer  10  to select a product in the virtual store  20 , which is shown as step  102  in FIG. 2. At the present time, the virtual store  20  will most likely be a web site on the World Wide Web, accessed by a web browser over the Internet. However, since the present invention does not rely on the protocols of the Web or the Internet, it would be well within the invention&#39;s scope to use another method for selecting a product through a virtual store  20 . Other methods might include a web clipping service, the i-mode technology of NTT DoCoMo, or some other protocol now developed or developed in the future.  
         [0019]    At any time while shopping, the virtual store  20  can determine the physical brick &amp; mortar stores  30  that are located close to the customer  10 . These stores  30  can be used as pick-up locations if the customer  10  so chooses, or the stores  30  can be used as the shipping point for local shipping under the present invention. In the preferred embodiment, more than one store  30  can be designated as local for each customer  10 . To determine the local stores  30 , the virtual store  20  requests that the customer  10  enters their local address, as shown in step  104 . The virtual store  20  then locates physical stores  30  near the customer  10 . If the virtual store  10  does not find any local stores  30 , as determined by step  106 , the option of local delivery would not be available for that customer  10 . Rather, the virtual store  20  would handle delivery through fulfillment locations normally used by the virtual store  20  (step  108 ), and the process  100  would be completed.  
         [0020]    Once local physical stores  30  are found to exist for a customer  10  in step  106 , the virtual store  20  will check the computerized inventory for these stores  30 . If none of the product selected by the customer  10  is in stock at any of the local stores  30 , then step  110  will direct the virtual store  20  to handle delivery through its normal fulfillment channels (step  108 ). If the product is in stock at one or more of the local stores  30 , the virtual store  20  will offer the customer  10  the option for local delivery at step  112 . The offer of local delivery can be made in parallel with an offer for local pick-up of the product at one of the local stores  30 . These two offers can be made separately among a list of available delivery options, such as: 1) ground delivery, 2) two-day delivery, 3) next-day delivery, 4) local store pick-up, or 5) same-day local delivery direct from your local store. Alternatively, local store pick-up and local delivery can be presented as a single option at this point, with the selection between these options not occurring until after the local store  30  has verified the availability of the product by pulling it from inventory.  
         [0021]    If the customer does not select local delivery in step  114 , the virtual store  20  will deliver the product through normal fulfillment processes  108 . If local delivery is selected at step  114 , the method  100  continues at the “Obtain Product” section  200  of method  100 , which is shown in FIG. 3.  
         [0022]    The first step  202  in obtaining the product  200  is for the virtual store  20  to select one of the local stores  30  that has the product in inventory. If only one local store was found to have the product in inventory in step  110 , this step is trivial. If multiple stores have the product, than the process  100  will attempt to select a store using some pre-established business rules. For instance, step  202  could select the store  30  physically closest to the customer  10 , or select the store  30  with the largest inventory for the product, or even select the store  30  that the customer  10  has previously indicated to be a “preferred” location. Alternatively, step  202  could analyze prior local delivery orders to determine if the present order could be advantageously combined with an existing delivery order. If so, the store  30  having the existing delivery order will be selected for this delivery.  
         [0023]    Once a local store  30  is selected, it is necessary to create an order for the store  30  in step  204 . The order will contain the product or products being ordered and identifying information for the customer  10 . The order will also preferably contain at least a portion of the credit card number used to place the order at the virtual store  20 , which can be used to verify that the customer  10  receiving or picking up the product is the same person that ordered the product.  
         [0024]    The order is then sent to the local store  30 . Ideally, the sending of the order is also accompanied by some notification that an order has been sent, such as by sending a page to a pager that is used by the employees of the local store  30 . The receipt of a page will indicate to the employee that an order has been received. Additionally, the virtual store  20  should track the time that the order and notification was sent to the local store  30 . All of these elements relating to the sending of an order to the local store  30  take place in step  206  of FIG. 3.  
         [0025]    Once the order has been sent to the local store  30 , it is also wise to communicate to the local delivery service  40  that a product will be ready for delivery within the next few hours (step  208 ). Typically, this notification will be made to a third party not related to the retailer  50  or the customer  10 . This third party could be a delivery management service that contracts with the retailer  50  to provide a certain level of service within a delivery area. The delivery management service could have its own fleet of delivery vehicles, or could subcontract with other delivery services. Alternatively, the delivery service could be owned and managed by the same retailer  50  that owns the virtual store  20 , the physical store  30  or both. The management details of the delivery service  40  are outside the scope of the invention. Nonetheless, the service should be able to provide a reasonable guarantee of pick-up and delivery times, and should have the ability to track the status of a delivery.  
         [0026]    When an employee of the local store  30  receives a notice that an order has been placed for local delivery, the employee accesses the order through a convenient interface at the local store  30  (step  210 ). This interface could be networked computer, a wireless handheld organizer, or a similar digital communication device. The interface should allow the employee to print out the order and, ideally, print out delivery tags that can be placed directly upon the ordered product (step  212 ).  
         [0027]    With the printed order and delivery tags in hand, the employee then pulls the products from stock and attaches the delivery tags in step  214 . The products are generally placed in a hold location within the physical store  30  along with other items being set aside for local delivery. The employee will then use their interface device to input the fact that the products have been placed in the hold area in step  216 . This step  216  will also update the computerized inventory for the products in store  30 .  
         [0028]    It is possible that the employee of the local store  30  will not be able to place all of the products ordered by the customer  10  on hold. This may occur because of a discrepancy between the computerized inventory checked in step  110  and the actual in-store inventory. Alternatively, it is possible that the products desired by the customer were sold between the time of the check in step  110  and the time the employee went to pull the items in step  214 . If a product is not found in stock, step  216  will update the computerized inventory to indicate that no products are currently in stock.  
         [0029]    The virtual store  20  will time the duration between the notification of step  204  and the confirmation of step  216 . If step  218  determines that this duration has exceeded a desired time, such as one hour, it is necessary to contact the store  30  to determine the cause for the delay. This contact is accomplished in step  220 . Although steps  218  and  220  are shown in FIG. 3 as happening in series with steps  208 - 216 , steps  218  and  220  ideally occur in parallel, and will be triggered whenever the delay between steps  206  and  216  exceeds the desired time.  
         [0030]    Step  222  determines whether less than all of the ordered products were pulled in step  214 . If so, the present invention then checks to see if any other local store  30  can fulfill this deliver order more completely (step  224 ). This is accomplished by determining if any other local store  30  has the ordered items in stock according to their computerized inventories. If another store  30  is found to have the products available, then it is necessary to cancel the delivery order placed with the local delivery service  40  in step  226 , and then repeat the process of obtaining the products with a newly selected store at step  202 .  
         [0031]    If no other stores  30  are found to have the ordered products in stock, step  228  will determine if the order can be partially filled (i.e., whether any of the products in the order were placed on hold in step  214 ). If not, the customer  10  is notified of the situation in step  230 . Typically, this notification will include some discount on normal shipping, or even an offer of free shipping to make up for the inconvenience. In step  232 , the delivery service  40  is notified that this delivery order has been cancelled. The order for the product is then handled through normal web site fulfillment channels in step  234 , and the process for local delivery  100  ends.  
         [0032]    If some items have been held, as determined by step  228 , the customer  10  is notified of the situation in step  236  and is offered the option to split the order between local delivery  40  and some other delivery mechanism. If the customer  10  does not wish the order to be split, as determined by step  238 , the delivery order is cancelled in step  232  and the entire order is handled through the web site fulfillment mechanism in step  234 .  
         [0033]    If the customer  10  is willing to split the order in step  238 , or if step  222  determines that all of the products in an order have been found, then the customer delivery portion  300  of the method  100  is executed, as shown in FIG. 4. The first step  302  of this process is to determine the appropriate price for the products in this order. It is possible that the price for identical products can vary between the local store  30  and the virtual store  20 . In the preferred embodiment, step  302  will compare the virtual store price with the local store price, and give the customer  10  the benefit of the lowest price.  
         [0034]    Next, it is necessary to figure the details of the local shipping arrangement in step  304 . This step  304  requires communication with the delivery service  40  contacted in step  208 . Because of the time that passes between  208  and step  304 , it is expected that the deliver service  40  will be able to verify certain shipping details, such as the pick up time, the expected delivery time, and the tracking number that will used to identify this delivery. These details are gathered in this step  304 , preferably by means of an electronic communication between a computer operated by the delivery service  40  and the computer(s) used by the retailer  50 .  
         [0035]    It is possible that a delivery service  40  will not be able to pick up the products within an acceptable time frame. Generally, this situation will be avoided by developing relationships with one or more delivery services  40  that will guarantee nearly 100 percent availability. However, if the delivery service  40  contacted in step  208  notifies the retailer  50  that timely delivery will not be made, the retailer  50  will either contact another delivery service  40 , or will contact the customer  10  and handle the order through the normal fulfillment process of the virtual store  20 . Ideally, the preferred embodiment will begin working on one of these contingencies as soon as notice of non-availability is received from shipping service  40 .  
         [0036]    Once the delivery details are confirmed in step  304 , the customer  10  is notified that the products will be delivered (step  306 ). This step will also provide the customer  10  with the delivery details  
         [0037]    Once it is clear that the product will be delivered to the customer  10 , the retailer  50  will charge the customer&#39;s credit card for the products in the order (step  308 ). In step  310 , the local shipper  40  picks up the products from the local store  30 . Finally, in step  312 , the shipper  40  delivers the products to the appropriate customer  10 . Because this is a local delivery, the delivery will likely be made either on the same day as the order was placed with the virtual store  20 , or, if the order was made late in the day, on the next morning. In addition, because this shipping is local, the shipping costs for the retailer  50  and the consumer  10  may well be reduced.  
         [0038]    Of course, many possible combinations of features and elements are possible within the scope of the present invention. Therefore the scope of the present invention is to be limited only by the following claims.