Patent ID: 8209236

Claim:
A process for automating supply chain merchandise ordering and importation, comprising the steps of: providing an on-line merchandise quotation, confirmation and tracking system; a vendor creating a quotation for an item by adding quotation data to pre-established fields within the system; the vendor approving, saving, and submitting the quotation data; determining if all of the required quotation fields have been completed; an importer logging into the on-line system and reviewing each quoted quotation of the vendor; determining whether to change the vendor quotation, present the quotation to a customer without changes, or finalize the vendor quotation; a customer logging into the on-line system and reviewing importer finalized or presented quotations for each vendor; the customer determining whether to reject or accept the quotation, request a requote, pre-select a quotation, or select a quotation; the customer creating a purchase order; comparing data in purchase order to quotation data previously entered into the system to determine if discrepancies exist between the purchase order and the quotation data entered into the system, and if there are discrepancies between the purchase order and the quotation data pertaining to the item within the system, notifying the importer and/or the customer of the discrepancies; storing the purchase order in the system; notifying the vendor of the purchase order; displaying a purchase order summary to the vendor; the vendor confirming or canceling a purchase order; forwarding the confirmed purchase order data to a freight forwarder; periodically creating a purchase order status; depending on the order status, determining if the purchase order should be revised, or cancelled; notifying importer of shipment delivery to freight forwarder automatically when vendor's shipping documents are received by the system; determining that total item quantity has been delivered; and the importer entering warehouse estimates.