Patent ID: 8533053

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a computing device, the program comprising: code that obtains a request from a first merchant to contribute a first inventory of a product to a common pool of inventory of fungible products, the first inventory of the product being held on behalf of the first merchant in at least one fulfillment center in a fulfillment network; code that determines whether the product is fungible with respect to the common pool of inventory of fungible products; code that contributes the first inventory of the product to the common pool of inventory of fungible products in response to the request when the product is fungible, the common pool of inventory of fungible products including a second inventory of the product contributed by a second merchant and held in at least one other fulfillment center in the fulfillment network; code that, in response to determining the product is fungible, associates a quantity of inventory credits for the product with the first merchant, the quantity corresponding to the first inventory of the product contributed by the first merchant to the common pool of inventory of fungible products; code that, in response to determining the product is fungible, initiates a transfer of at least a portion of the common pool of inventory of fungible products held at a first fulfillment center in the fulfillment network to a second fulfillment center in the fulfillment network in response to a projected demand for the product in a region served by the second fulfillment center; code that, in response to determining the product is fungible, obtains an order for the product from a customer of the first merchant in the region served by the second fulfillment center; code that, in response to determining the product is fungible, initiates fulfillment of the order from the common pool of inventory of fungible products held at the second fulfillment center; code that, in response to determining the product is fungible, debits the quantity of inventory credits associated with the first merchant in response to the order; and wherein the order is fulfilled from the second inventory of the product contributed by the second merchant, and a quantity of inventory credits associated with the second merchant is not debited in response to the order.