WO2020217080A1

WO2020217080A1 - System and method for invoicing, inventory tracking and sales tracking in hyperlocal retailing

Info

Publication number: WO2020217080A1
Application number: PCT/IB2019/051649
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anand Kumar Bajaj
Original assignee: Nearby Technologies Private Limited
Priority date: 2019-04-22
Filing date: 2019-04-22
Publication date: 2020-10-29

Abstract

Disclosed is a communication tool for tracking sales in hyperlocal retailing. The communication tool includes a receipt module adapted to receive inputs related to first identification details of products/articles sold, quantity and price thereof from a retailer, and generate a receipt based on first identification details, quantity and price the receipt being identifiable by a second identification details. The tool also includes an image module adapted to capture images of the products sold and create a container containing the captured images; and a link module adapted to link the container to generated receipt based on the second identification details, and also to link each of the captured images to relevant first identification details of product/articles.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INVOICING, INVENTORY TRACKING AND SALES TRACKING IN HYPERLOCAL RETAILING

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[1] The present invention is generally related to digital business enablement of mass market retail outlets with integrated approach to help retailers oblivious to high end technology and be able to use it with simple and meaningful services. More specifically, the present invention relates to a tool and system that enables the customers to track the purchase they made at a retailer in terms of getting a digital invoice prepared with appropriate details while the retailers are able to track the sales made by them and manage their inventory.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[2] Hyper-retailing shops selling grocery and other products are quite common in any neighbourhood where customers buy products they need off the shelf. Such shops are last resort for immediate essential needs of people are quite common in developing countries like India where still the concept of super-markets and on-line shopping is picking pace. The hyper-retailing shops have rudimentary systems in place. Specifically, there is no record of inventory maintained as such and hence the retailer does not come to know in advance if his stock is depleting.

[3] The inventors herein have also identified that a common problem most hyper-retailers _' grapple with is that they do not have any invoicing system in place. Consequently, it is difficult for them to keep account of the sales made by them at the end of each business day. Moreover, they are not able to provide detailed invoices with details of products purchased by the customer. As a result, the retailer is unable to keep a stock of inventory in his shop as he is not tracking the sales made.

[4] In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a solution to the afore-said disadvantages of the existing methods and systems, as discussed. Particularly, there exists a need for a solution that enables the neighbourhood retailers to be efficiently able to keep a track of sales made by them both for the purpose of invoicing their customers and also to keep track of their inventory. Besides, there is a need to enhance the customer experience as well, which is lacking in the customers’ dealings with e-tailing platforms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

Fig. 1 illustrates a system for tracking sales in hyperlocal retailing.

Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a communication tool of the system of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a retailing server of the system of Fig. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[5] This patent describes the subject matter for patenting with specificity to meet statutory requirements. However, the description itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. The principles described herein may be embodied in many different forms.

[6] Illustrative embodiments of the invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal

requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

[7] FIG. 1 illustrates a hyperlocal retailing system 100 that incorporates the present invention and enables the functioning thereof to achieve the afore-said objectives. Particularly, the present invention envisages that the retailer would have a communication device 105 having a first communication tool 105a (shown in Fig. 2) that is coupled to a server 1 15 (shown in Fig. 3). As shown in Fig. 2, the communication tool 105a includes a receipt module 120. When the retailer makes a sale of one or more products to the customer, he uses the receipt module 120 to enter the first identification details of the products and amounts pertaining to each of the products in series of steps so as to make a list. The first identification details includes one or more of information such as a brand name and type of product. Once the list is complete with all the products’ details, i.e. first identification details, the receipt module 120 is used to generate a receipt identified by a second identification number such as receipt number. In addition, the communication tool 105a includes an image module 125 that prompts the retailer to click photographs of the products sold in each sale and an image container is created for storing the pictures. The retailer, using a link module 130 of the communication tool 105a, links the image container to the generated receipt with the help of the second identification details of the receipt. Thus each sale the retailer makes, he has to click photographs of each product pertaining to the sale. The photographs are saved in an image container and the image container is linked to the receipt generated for the sale. The communication tool 105a thereafter sends the details of the image container and the generated receipt to the server 115 for further usage. The server 115 stores these details in a repository 150.

[8] The present invention identifies that the hyperlocal retailers currently do not prepare invoices due to the historical and traditional practice of paper based calculations while dispensing with invoices. To avoid this, the present invention intends to make the task easier for the retailer by way of crowdsourcing the inputs from Customer, himself or the public in general. Briefly, image of products is sent to central server and ICR/OCR image processing engine on the server processes the image and gives possible recommendations of the product name on the basis of city, prices, color and size etc. of the packet. The retailer, customer or public users can then refine this recommendation with a finer review of the image with recommendation. Particularly, all subscribers to the central server 115 are able to access the receipts containers and the image containers linked thereto, by using link modules of their communication tools 105a. Particularly, the link module 130 of the communication tool 105a of a subscriber is provided communication link to a linker module 152 of the server 115, thereby providing access to the stored image containers and linked receipts in the repository of the server 115. The subscriber may pick any stored receipt and linked image container, and start linking images of the product to the corresponding entries in the receipts. For instance, the receipt includes an entry called chocolate with an amount INR 10, and the image container has an image of a branded chocolate. The subscriber would be able to link the image of the branded chocolate to the relevant entry thereto along with mentioning the name of chocolate on the basis of available image. Likewise, he can link the images for other entries to relevant images.

[9] Once all the images have been linked, a message is sent to the retailer’s communication tool 105a by a communicator module 155 of the server 115. In an embodiment of the present invention, the communicator module 155 could be a processor and/or a

transceiver. The retailer verifies if all images have been linked appropriately to the entries in the generated receipt. Once the retailer approves the details, a final receipt may be generated having image of the product, the quantity sold and the amount paid by the customer for each product as well as in aggregate. The generated final receipt is sent to the customer for his records.

[10] At the end of business day, the central server 115 sends the totalled amount towards all sales made by the retailer along with item wise quantity, to each retailer for enabling him to keep an account of sales. Particularly, the communicator module 155 retrieves the final receipts for each retailer at a predetermined period, such as end of business day or any other period fixed by the retailer, and the total amounts therein are aggregated. The aggregated amount is then communicated to the retailer at the end of the day. This would help the retailer have an idea of the sales he makes every day.

[1 1] This way the present invention envisages to empower the neighbourhood retailers to provide invoices to their customers and break away from traditional practice of making sales. Moreover, the customers are now able to get a detailed invoice with pictures in an online mode. Not only does this save paper, this also helps in creating a globally readable invoice in the sense that the invoice is language independent as it includes photographs of the product sold rather than description of the product in only a particular language.

[12] Moreover, the present invention envisages the retailer to keep track of his inventory. Particularly, the server 1 15 may store the details of inventory of each product for every retailer. Once the retailer enters one or more product in receipt module and a receipt is generated, the receipt module communicates the quantities of each product sold to the server 1 15. The communicator module 155 of the server 1 15 updates the quantities in the inventory details of the retailer, thereby enabling him to maintain sufficient stock. The server 1 15 may also send regular reminder based on the depletion of inventory.

[13] Both the communication tool 105a and server 115 could be implemented in the form of a software, hardware and/or any combination thereof.

[14] Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments are apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention.

[15] Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as herein described.

[16] As one of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate, the example system and method described herein can be modified. For example, certain steps can be omitted, certain steps can be carried out concurrently, and other steps can be added. Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail, it is understood that the invention is not limited correspondingly in scope, but includes all changes, modifications and equivalents coming within the spirit and terms of the claims appended hereto.

[17] While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and various embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. [18] This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention shall be defined later in claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art.

Claims

We claim:

1. A communication tool for tracking sales in hyperlocal retailing, the communication tool comprising: a receipt module adapted to receive inputs related to first identification details of products/articles sold, quantity and price thereof from a retailer, and generate a receipt based on first identification details, quantity and price the receipt being identifiable by a second identification details; an image module adapted to capture images of the products sold and create a container containing the captured images; and a link module adapted to link the container to generated receipt based on the second identification details, and also to link each of the captured images to relevant first identification details of product/articles.

2. The communication tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first identification details of the product/article sold includes a nomenclature of the product for identifying the same.

3. The communication tool as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first identification includes at least a brand name and type of product.

4. The communication tool as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second identification detail includes a receipt number.

5. A system for tracking sales in hyper local retailing, the system comprising: a

communication tool comprising: a receipt module adapted to receive inputs related to first identification details of products/articles sold, quantity and price thereof from a retailer, and generate a receipt based on first identification details, quantity and price, the receipt being identifiable by a second identification details, an image module adapted to capture images of the products sold and create a container containing the captured images, and a link module adapted to link the container to generated receipt based on the second identification details, and also to link each of the captured images to relevant first identification details of product/articles; and a retailing server communicably coupled to the communication tool, the server comprising: a repository to receive the linked container and generated receipt from the communication tool and store the same, a linker module adapted to provide access to subscribers, of the retailing server, to the generated receipt and linked container to enable linking of each of the captured images in the container to relevant first identification details of product/articles in the receipt, the linking enabling generation of a final receipt, and a communicator module coupled to the linker module, the communicator module adapted to communicate the final receipt to one or more communication tools.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the linker module communicates with the link module in one or more subscriber’s communication tool to enable linking of captured images to relevant first identification details.

7. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the communicator module aggregates the final receipts for each retailer at a pre-determined period and communicates the same to the retailer.

8. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the first identification details of the product/article sold includes a nomenclature of the product for identifying the same.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first identification includes at least a brand name and type of product.

10. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the second identification detail includes a receipt number.

1 1. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the retailing server includes an inventory repository for maintaining inventory of each of the retailers.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the retailing server updates the inventory for each retailer based on quantity of product included in each generated receipt for the retailer by deducting the quantity from inventory of the product.