Patent ID: 7853492

Claim:
A method of merchandise ordering and order fulfillment from a product storage space, said method comprising: providing an order processing system comprising a central station interfaced to a communication network so as be accessible to customers via the communication network for creation of a merchandise order, the order processing system including a database of product locations representing locations of products in the product storage space from which the merchandise order is to be fulfilled; assembling a customer merchandise order for fulfillment from the product storage space, including receiving identification of product items to be added to the merchandise order and the quantity of each identified product item; and fulfilling the merchandise order from the product storage space, including the steps of: compiling a listing of the product items of one or more merchandise orders to be assembled in the product storage space, identifying the product locations in the product storage space of each of the product items on the listing of product items from the database of product locations; and determining a merchandise order fulfillment path through the product storage space, the order fulfillment path comprising a sequence of person movement instructions between the product locations of product items on the listing of product items.