Patent ID: 8417572

Claim:
A method in a computing system for analyzing ordering trends for an item offered by a merchant holding inventory in the item, comprising: performing by one or more computers: providing an inventory model that includes a stored representation of respective inventory levels of different items offered by the merchant and, for each of those items, a respective inventory exhaustion time at which inventory in that item is expected to become depleted; determining a first depletion time that specifies when future ordering activity is expected to deplete the merchant's inventory in a particular item; receiving a configurable parameter that specifies a period of time during which inventory in the particular item is permitted to be temporarily exhausted, said period of time ending after the first depletion time; in response to determining that the merchant's inventory in the particular item is expected to be replenished by additional inventory after the first depletion time and prior to the end of the configurable parameter's specified period of time during which inventory in the particular item is permitted to be temporarily exhausted: eliminating said first depletion time from consideration for inclusion within the inventory model; and selecting for inclusion within the inventory model, a new inventory exhaustion time that is dependent on when the additional inventory is expected to be depleted by future ordering activity; and in accordance with said selection and said elimination, updating the respective inventory exhaustion time of the particular item within the inventory model to the new inventory exhaustion time without updating the respective inventory exhaustion time to said first depletion time.