Patent ID: 8452635

Claim:
A method for estimating sales of a type of item by a first entity through a first commercial channel versus sales of the item by the first entity through a second commercial channel, comprising: estimating a particular point of time corresponding to when the first entity initially began selling the type of item through the first commercial channel, wherein estimating the particular point of time includes: determining a plurality of monetary values associated with sales of the type of item through all available commercial channels by the first entity, each of the plurality of monetary values representing sales of the type of item during one of a plurality of consecutive periods of time, comparing differences between the plurality of monetary values, based on the comparison of the differences between the plurality of monetary values, selecting one of the plurality of consecutive periods of time, and estimating that the particular point of time corresponding to when the first entity initially sold the type of item through the first commercial channel occurred during the selected one of the plurality of consecutive periods of time, selecting a second entity which sells the type of item, wherein each sale of the type of item by the second entity is through the second commercial channel; comparing, using a processing system, data associated with sales of the type of item by the first entity before the occurrence of the particular point of time with data associated with sales of the type of item by the second entity before the occurrence of the particular point of time to determine an adjustment factor; altering data associated with sales of the type of item by the second entity after the occurrence of the particular point of time based on the adjustment factor to obtain altered sales data; and comparing data associated with sales of the type of item by the first entity after the occurrence of the particular point of time with the altered sales data to obtain an estimation of sales of the type of item by the first entity through the first commercial channel.