Patent ID: 7236944

Claim:
A system for calculating discounts on items, the system comprising: a processor; and a memory, including a program executable by the processor, the program including: an estimator configured to allow user selection of at least one item for creating a cost quote of total price for a purchase order, each item being a member of an item unit with items of a particular kind, the item unit having associated therewith a volume; a unit setting module configured to allow setting membership of a plurality of item units with related item units in at least one first group unit in the purchase order, each item unit in a first group unit having a type of volume that is the same, each first group unit having associated therewith a cumulative volume of the at least one item unit therein; a discount rule module configured to allow setting at least one discount threshold for each first group unit in the purchase order, each discount threshold of a first group unit having an associated discounted price given to a user when the discount threshold is met; and a calculator configured to recommend selection of additional volume to attain a next discount threshold, wherein the discount rule module is further configured to selectively assign a rank to each discount threshold of each first group unit, wherein the rank indicates a reference level of each discount threshold.