Patent ID: 8326698

Claim:
A configured system comprising: at least one database for storing information relating to online stores where items are available online and for storing information relating to offline stores where items are available offline; and a computing device having a processor configured to communicate with the at least one database, the computing device being operative to: receive a user request from a user for information about an item; identify at least one online store where the item is available, the identified at least one online store being identified based on information relating to the user request, and gather first information about the item from one or more of the identified at least one online stores; identify at least one offline store where the item is available, the identified at least one offline stores being distinct from the identified at least one online stores; in response to the received user request, contact one or more of the identified at least one offline stores to gather second information about the item at the one or more identified offline stores, the contacting including using electronic communications to perform interactions with human representatives at the one or more identified offline stores and to obtain the second information from the interactions; and initiate a display of the gathered first and second information to the user.