Patent ID: 7124107

Claim:
A collective procurement management system comprising: a processor; and a memory in communication with the processor, the memory storing a plurality of processing instructions that enable the processor to: generate a profile for each of a plurality of purchasers based on their purchasing characteristics over a period of time, the profile characteristics including types of items ordered, quantities of items ordered, location and shipping needs; generate a profile for each of a plurality of sellers based on types of items provided, industry type, payment methods used, order shipment time and credit rating; provide to each of the plurality of sellers a macro for automatically uploading a catalog of items available for purchase, including a minimum price and a minimum order size of each of the items; provide the minimum price and the minimum order size to the plurality of purchasers prior to a submission of a purchase request; receive a purchase request from each of the plurality of purchasers for an item, each purchase request including at least one separate purchase price for the item, a separate quantity of the item, and a separate delivery condition for the item; receive, from each of a plurality of sellers, a bid for a supply commitment for the item, each bid including a plurality of supply prices for the item, each supply price corresponding to a quantity of the item to be included in an order; group said plurality of purchase requests, based on the item and the purchase price, into a collective procurement order; identify at least one of the plurality of sellers for supplying the item for the collective procurement order based on the received bids; identify a final supply price for the collective procurement order based on the ordered quantity of the item in the collective procurement order and the received bids; and fulfill said collective procurement order by matching at least one of the identified suppliers to at least one of said plurality of purchasers, based on a comparison of the profile of each purchaser with the profile of each identified supplier, and further based on each requested purchase price and received delivery condition compared to the supply commitment received for each identified supplier, at least one of said purchase requests being fulfilled at the final supply price when the final supply price is lower than the purchase price included in said purchase request.