Patent ID: 8160917

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for determining promotion prices for a plurality of items, comprising: receiving, using one or more data processors, price data corresponding to a plurality of items; receiving, using the one or more data processors, price vehicle data corresponding to a promotion event, wherein the price vehicle data identifies allowable discounts for each item in the plurality of items, and wherein the price data and the price vehicle data form a champion configuration; receiving, using the one or more data processors, promotion vehicle data corresponding to the promotion event, wherein a promotion vehicle includes one or more promotion vehicle slots that display an item and the price for the item; determining, using the one or more data processors, a champion metric value of a champion metric for the champion configuration based upon the price data, wherein the champion metric value is calculated using cross effects of prices among different items, wherein the champion metric corresponds to a target business objective; adjusting, using the one or more data processors, the price data for a particular item according to the allowable discounts for that item identified by the received price vehicle data, wherein the adjusted price data is used to calculate a cross effect on demand for the different items; adjusting, using the one or more data processors, the promotion vehicle data corresponding to the promotion event, wherein the adjusted promotion vehicle data is used to calculate a cross effect of demand for the different items, and wherein the adjusted price data and adjusted promotion vehicle data form a revised champion configuration; using one or more nonlinear demand models to calculate a revised value for the champion metric for the revised champion configuration, wherein the revised value is calculated based upon the calculated cross effects of the adjusted price data and adjusted promotion vehicle data, and wherein when the revised value is more optimal than the champion metric value with respect to the target business objective, the revised value and the revised champion configuration are retained; and determining, using the one or more data processors, a final champion configuration by repeatedly adjusting the price data and the promotion vehicle data for the particular item using a local searching operation and the one or more nonlinear demand models, wherein the local searching operation incrementally adjusts the price data and the promotion vehicle data for the particular item, and wherein the nonlinear demand model repeatedly calculates a revised value that is compared to the champion metric value to determine the final champion configuration.