CA2360221A1 - Method and system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions - Google Patents
Method and system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions Download PDFInfo
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- CA2360221A1 CA2360221A1 CA 2360221 CA2360221A CA2360221A1 CA 2360221 A1 CA2360221 A1 CA 2360221A1 CA 2360221 CA2360221 CA 2360221 CA 2360221 A CA2360221 A CA 2360221A CA 2360221 A1 CA2360221 A1 CA 2360221A1
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
A method and system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions involving intermediaries who host on-line malls, such as banks. The method includes specifying the type of information that an Internet shopper must provide in order to complete an electronic transaction on the Internet merchant's online store and the manner in which the purchase order information should be organized. The Internet merchant also configures the order processing software that is resident on its computer to match these specifications. Once the purchase order information is received by the Internet merchant's computer, it is loaded into the merchant relational database that is residing on the Internet merchant computer and the order processing software guides the Internet merchant through the order processing steps. The Internet merchant also sends this purchase order information and information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server. An Internet shopper is able to check the status of his order from the Internet merchant's online store and the inventory status of one or more selected items by clicking on embedded links which then transmits the request to the customer management host server. Also an Internet merchant, wishing to market its online store to potential Internet shoppers, queries a relational database, residing on either the Internet merchant's computer or the customer management host server, for a list of potential Internet shoppers.
A method and system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions involving intermediaries who host on-line malls, such as banks. The method includes specifying the type of information that an Internet shopper must provide in order to complete an electronic transaction on the Internet merchant's online store and the manner in which the purchase order information should be organized. The Internet merchant also configures the order processing software that is resident on its computer to match these specifications. Once the purchase order information is received by the Internet merchant's computer, it is loaded into the merchant relational database that is residing on the Internet merchant computer and the order processing software guides the Internet merchant through the order processing steps. The Internet merchant also sends this purchase order information and information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server. An Internet shopper is able to check the status of his order from the Internet merchant's online store and the inventory status of one or more selected items by clicking on embedded links which then transmits the request to the customer management host server. Also an Internet merchant, wishing to market its online store to potential Internet shoppers, queries a relational database, residing on either the Internet merchant's computer or the customer management host server, for a list of potential Internet shoppers.
Description
Method and System for Facilitating Electronic Commercial Transactions Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates generally to a method and system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions and more particularly relates to a method and system for transferring product order information between electronic or on line "malls" or web-sites and the small to medium-sized business that market goods and services through such on-line malls.
Background of the Invention:
Each year, several billion dollars worth of commercial transactions take place on the Internet.
An Internet presence is quickly becoming vital to a company's commercial success. Many companies wish to market a variety of goods and services by way of the Internet. A company wishing to have a successful Internet commerce presence must be able to process a commercial transaction quickly, efficiently and accurately. Processing includes not only receiving an order, but also adjusting inventory levels, shipping orders, performing related accounting tasks and the like. Creating systems and software to achieve the goals of speed and accuracy is expensive and time consuming. As well, small to medium sized enterprises often lack the managerial or technical expertise to design, build or maintain these e-commerce applications.
Several methods and systems for facilitating electronic commerce transactions are presently being sold on the market today or are in the process of market testing. These products allow Internet users to place a purchase order on an Internet merchant's Web site who in turn takes the purchase order information and fills the orders. While these products provide effective ways of handling and processing commercial transactions there are shortcomings to all of them that limits their use to medium to large companies with considerable resources.
One shortcoming of several of the e-commerce solutions available today is that they require a large outlay of money and time. As a result of this shortcoming, solutions of this type are often restricted to medium to large companies with significant assets or cash flow.
Small to medium sized companies (SMEs) with modest levels of resources are restricted from adopting many of these solutions. As such, their ability to participate competitively in Internet commerce is severely limited.
A second shortcoming of the solutions available today is that the merchant, large or small, is often tied into using proprietary software or hardware and may become "locked in" to the hardware or software of particular vendors. Also, the software on the transaction server and the software on other workstation computers where the order is fulfilled must often be purchased from the same manufacturer. Thus, any merchant that adopts one of these proprietary systems is limited in the software and hardware choices that he or she can make. This is true for both the more expensive and also for the more affordable products available. For example, manufacturers such as SAPTM offer large, proprietary systems that offer high degrees of functionality but often provide more features than are required by the user, have a significant impact on business processes, and are not easy to interface with easier to use and less expensive "off the shelf' or "shrink-wrap" software, or with the unique business processes typical of SME's.
A third shortcoming of the systems that are presently available that further restricts the SME's ability to participate fully in Internet commerce is the SME's ability to access and create customer profile data. Access to this type of data is limited to those merchants that have the resources to either purchase this data or create it from the pool of their customer base.
Institutions, such as banks or established e-commerce companies, such as .AmazonTM or YahooTM, often act as intermediaries between merchants and consumers.
Theymayprovide on-line shopping malls that bring together consumers seeking goods and services with merchants who wish to provide them. Such intermediaries can be effective at aggregating buyers and sellers but often are unable or uninterested in providing "back-end" solutions that provide reasonably priced, effective back-end software solutions that can easilybe scaled as demand for a merchmt's goods and services increase. SMEs need solutions that provide back-end functions such as order fulfilment, inventory management, accounting and order tracking. Another difficulty faced by SMEs is that they often find it difficult to respond to sudden increases in e-commerce transactions or fluctuations in the number of transactions. One reason for this is that order-entry systems are often not integrated with order fulfilment or back-end systems or are poorly integrated with such systems.
Summary of the Invention~
S The present invention relates generally to a method and system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions and more particularly relates to a method and system for transferring product order information between electronic or on line "malls" or web-sites and the small to medium-sized business that market goods and services through such on-line malls.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method and system to facilitating electronic commercial transactions that improves the functionality available to SME.
An Internet merchant, lacking the software, hardware and resources to maintain a server to host an on line store, approaches an intermediary merchant host server that hosts such online stores.
The Internet merchant specifies the online store configuration information, such as. the information that will be displayed on the Internet merchant's store, specifications of the type of information that an Internet shopper must provide in order to complete an electronic transaction on the Internet merchant's online store, the manner in which the purchase order information should be organized, the file format to be used to store the purchase order information and the mode by which the purchase order information will be transmitted to the Internet merchant. The Internet merchant also configures the order processing software that is resident on its computer to match the said specifications.
An Internet shopper, wishing to make a purchase of an item advertised as being available on the Internet merchant's online store, submits the required purchase order information in order to complete the transaction. Once the required purchase order information is received by the intermediary merchant host server, it is organized, formatted (according to the said configuration information) and transmitted to the Internet merchant's computer. The formatted purchase order information is then loaded into the merchant relational database that is residing on the Internet merchant computer and the order processing software guides the Internet merchant through the order processing steps. The Internet merchant also sends this purchase order information and information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server. An Internet shopper wishing to check the status of his order from the Internet merchant's online store clicks on a embedded status link that is located on the Internet merchant's online store. This request for order status information is then transmitted to the customer management host server which in turn queries the host relational database for information on the status of the Internet shopper's order. Information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's order is then transmitted to the Internet shopper.
An Internet shopper wishing to check the inventory status of items available on the Internet merchant's online store clicks on an embedded inventory Link that is located on the Internet merchant's online store. This request for inventory status information is then transmitted to the customer management host server which in turn queries the host relational database for information on the inventory status of the selected items. Information relating to the inventory status of the selected items is then transmitted to the Internet shopper.
IS
An Internet merchant, wishing to market its online store to potential Internet shoppers, queries a relational database, residing on either the Internet merchant's computer or the customer management host server, for a list of potential Internet shoppers. The relational database then retrieves and compiles a list of potential Internet shoppers that matches the Internet merchant's query. This list of potential Internet shoppers is then transmitted to the Internet merchant.
Brief Description of Drawings:
The present invention will now be explained, by way of example only, with reference to certaW
embodiments and the attached Figures in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for transferring product order information between Internet shoppers, electronic or on line "malls" or web-sites and the small to medium-sized business that market goods and services through such on-line malls in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
The present invention relates generally to a method and system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions and more particularly relates to a method and system for transferring product order information between electronic or on line "malls" or web-sites and the small to medium-sized business that market goods and services through such on-line malls.
Background of the Invention:
Each year, several billion dollars worth of commercial transactions take place on the Internet.
An Internet presence is quickly becoming vital to a company's commercial success. Many companies wish to market a variety of goods and services by way of the Internet. A company wishing to have a successful Internet commerce presence must be able to process a commercial transaction quickly, efficiently and accurately. Processing includes not only receiving an order, but also adjusting inventory levels, shipping orders, performing related accounting tasks and the like. Creating systems and software to achieve the goals of speed and accuracy is expensive and time consuming. As well, small to medium sized enterprises often lack the managerial or technical expertise to design, build or maintain these e-commerce applications.
Several methods and systems for facilitating electronic commerce transactions are presently being sold on the market today or are in the process of market testing. These products allow Internet users to place a purchase order on an Internet merchant's Web site who in turn takes the purchase order information and fills the orders. While these products provide effective ways of handling and processing commercial transactions there are shortcomings to all of them that limits their use to medium to large companies with considerable resources.
One shortcoming of several of the e-commerce solutions available today is that they require a large outlay of money and time. As a result of this shortcoming, solutions of this type are often restricted to medium to large companies with significant assets or cash flow.
Small to medium sized companies (SMEs) with modest levels of resources are restricted from adopting many of these solutions. As such, their ability to participate competitively in Internet commerce is severely limited.
A second shortcoming of the solutions available today is that the merchant, large or small, is often tied into using proprietary software or hardware and may become "locked in" to the hardware or software of particular vendors. Also, the software on the transaction server and the software on other workstation computers where the order is fulfilled must often be purchased from the same manufacturer. Thus, any merchant that adopts one of these proprietary systems is limited in the software and hardware choices that he or she can make. This is true for both the more expensive and also for the more affordable products available. For example, manufacturers such as SAPTM offer large, proprietary systems that offer high degrees of functionality but often provide more features than are required by the user, have a significant impact on business processes, and are not easy to interface with easier to use and less expensive "off the shelf' or "shrink-wrap" software, or with the unique business processes typical of SME's.
A third shortcoming of the systems that are presently available that further restricts the SME's ability to participate fully in Internet commerce is the SME's ability to access and create customer profile data. Access to this type of data is limited to those merchants that have the resources to either purchase this data or create it from the pool of their customer base.
Institutions, such as banks or established e-commerce companies, such as .AmazonTM or YahooTM, often act as intermediaries between merchants and consumers.
Theymayprovide on-line shopping malls that bring together consumers seeking goods and services with merchants who wish to provide them. Such intermediaries can be effective at aggregating buyers and sellers but often are unable or uninterested in providing "back-end" solutions that provide reasonably priced, effective back-end software solutions that can easilybe scaled as demand for a merchmt's goods and services increase. SMEs need solutions that provide back-end functions such as order fulfilment, inventory management, accounting and order tracking. Another difficulty faced by SMEs is that they often find it difficult to respond to sudden increases in e-commerce transactions or fluctuations in the number of transactions. One reason for this is that order-entry systems are often not integrated with order fulfilment or back-end systems or are poorly integrated with such systems.
Summary of the Invention~
S The present invention relates generally to a method and system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions and more particularly relates to a method and system for transferring product order information between electronic or on line "malls" or web-sites and the small to medium-sized business that market goods and services through such on-line malls.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method and system to facilitating electronic commercial transactions that improves the functionality available to SME.
An Internet merchant, lacking the software, hardware and resources to maintain a server to host an on line store, approaches an intermediary merchant host server that hosts such online stores.
The Internet merchant specifies the online store configuration information, such as. the information that will be displayed on the Internet merchant's store, specifications of the type of information that an Internet shopper must provide in order to complete an electronic transaction on the Internet merchant's online store, the manner in which the purchase order information should be organized, the file format to be used to store the purchase order information and the mode by which the purchase order information will be transmitted to the Internet merchant. The Internet merchant also configures the order processing software that is resident on its computer to match the said specifications.
An Internet shopper, wishing to make a purchase of an item advertised as being available on the Internet merchant's online store, submits the required purchase order information in order to complete the transaction. Once the required purchase order information is received by the intermediary merchant host server, it is organized, formatted (according to the said configuration information) and transmitted to the Internet merchant's computer. The formatted purchase order information is then loaded into the merchant relational database that is residing on the Internet merchant computer and the order processing software guides the Internet merchant through the order processing steps. The Internet merchant also sends this purchase order information and information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server. An Internet shopper wishing to check the status of his order from the Internet merchant's online store clicks on a embedded status link that is located on the Internet merchant's online store. This request for order status information is then transmitted to the customer management host server which in turn queries the host relational database for information on the status of the Internet shopper's order. Information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's order is then transmitted to the Internet shopper.
An Internet shopper wishing to check the inventory status of items available on the Internet merchant's online store clicks on an embedded inventory Link that is located on the Internet merchant's online store. This request for inventory status information is then transmitted to the customer management host server which in turn queries the host relational database for information on the inventory status of the selected items. Information relating to the inventory status of the selected items is then transmitted to the Internet shopper.
IS
An Internet merchant, wishing to market its online store to potential Internet shoppers, queries a relational database, residing on either the Internet merchant's computer or the customer management host server, for a list of potential Internet shoppers. The relational database then retrieves and compiles a list of potential Internet shoppers that matches the Internet merchant's query. This list of potential Internet shoppers is then transmitted to the Internet merchant.
Brief Description of Drawings:
The present invention will now be explained, by way of example only, with reference to certaW
embodiments and the attached Figures in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for transferring product order information between Internet shoppers, electronic or on line "malls" or web-sites and the small to medium-sized business that market goods and services through such on-line malls in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a flowchart of a method for transferring product order information between electronic or on line "malls" or web-sites and the small to medium-sized business that market goods in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 3 is a flowchart of the system of Figure 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 4 is a flowchart of the system of Figure 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure S is a flowchart of the system of Figure 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 6 is a flowchart of the system of Figure 1 showing an embodiment of the present I S invention;
Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing order processing software in an embodiment of the presentinvention;
Figure 8 is a flowchart of the system of Figure 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Detailed Description of the Invention' Referring now to Figure 1, a system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions is indicated generally at S. System 5 includes two computers, an Internet shopper computer 10 and an Internet merchant computer 30, and two servers, an intermediary merchant host server 20 and a customer management host server 40.
Intermediary merchant host server 20 and a customer management host server 40 are any suitable servers, as will occur to those of skill in the art, such as the IBM
Netfinity~ 3000 sold by IBM~
of Armonk, NY, and are generally operable to function as network computing servers. In an embodiment of the invention, servers 20 and 40 are Windows-based and include a central processing unit (not shown), random access memory (not shown), a data storage means (not shown) and a communications means, such as a network interface card or other network interface means (not shown) to allow the servers to communicate with other computers over a communication medium such as the Internet (not shown).
Intermediary merchant host server 20 is operated by an intermediary party, such as a bank or Internet shopping mall, that hosts the Internet merchant's online store. The software running on intermediary merchant host server 20 includes Internet site hosting software and transaction processing software that is commercially available, such as Microsoft~ Windows NT~ Server 4.0, with its built-in Web Server Internet Information Server (ITS) 4.0 as licensed by Microsoft Corporation of Seattle, Washington. In an alternate embodiment, the software running on intermediary merchant host server 20 is a proprietary merchant application developed by the intermediary party or is open source software. Alternatively,.the computing environment may be distributed and the software may be resident on one or more distant computers. Intermediary merchant host server 20 also includes a embedded status link 22 which in the preferred embodiment is used to direct an Internet shopper's queries regarding the status of his or her order to customer management host customer management host server 40 via embedded inventory-status communication link 80. Intermediary merchant host server 20 also includes a embedded inventory link 22 which in the preferred embodiment is used to direct an Internet shopper's queries regarding the inventory status of one or more selected items to customer management host customer management host server 40 via embedded inventory-status communication link 80. Intermediary merchant host server 20 is able to communicate with Internet shopper computer 10, Internet merchant computer 30 and customer management host customer management host server 40 via shopper communications link S0, merchant communication link 60 and embedded communication link 80, respectively. Such links could include the Internet and be comprised of a series of routers and communications lines or could include portions of dedicated communications links. Customer management host server 40 is operated by a customer management host that provides order status information as well as Internet marketing services, and other customer relationship management software and functionality.
Customer management host server 40 is able to receive communications indirectly from Internet shopper computer I O
Figure 3 is a flowchart of the system of Figure 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 4 is a flowchart of the system of Figure 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure S is a flowchart of the system of Figure 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 6 is a flowchart of the system of Figure 1 showing an embodiment of the present I S invention;
Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing order processing software in an embodiment of the presentinvention;
Figure 8 is a flowchart of the system of Figure 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Detailed Description of the Invention' Referring now to Figure 1, a system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions is indicated generally at S. System 5 includes two computers, an Internet shopper computer 10 and an Internet merchant computer 30, and two servers, an intermediary merchant host server 20 and a customer management host server 40.
Intermediary merchant host server 20 and a customer management host server 40 are any suitable servers, as will occur to those of skill in the art, such as the IBM
Netfinity~ 3000 sold by IBM~
of Armonk, NY, and are generally operable to function as network computing servers. In an embodiment of the invention, servers 20 and 40 are Windows-based and include a central processing unit (not shown), random access memory (not shown), a data storage means (not shown) and a communications means, such as a network interface card or other network interface means (not shown) to allow the servers to communicate with other computers over a communication medium such as the Internet (not shown).
Intermediary merchant host server 20 is operated by an intermediary party, such as a bank or Internet shopping mall, that hosts the Internet merchant's online store. The software running on intermediary merchant host server 20 includes Internet site hosting software and transaction processing software that is commercially available, such as Microsoft~ Windows NT~ Server 4.0, with its built-in Web Server Internet Information Server (ITS) 4.0 as licensed by Microsoft Corporation of Seattle, Washington. In an alternate embodiment, the software running on intermediary merchant host server 20 is a proprietary merchant application developed by the intermediary party or is open source software. Alternatively,.the computing environment may be distributed and the software may be resident on one or more distant computers. Intermediary merchant host server 20 also includes a embedded status link 22 which in the preferred embodiment is used to direct an Internet shopper's queries regarding the status of his or her order to customer management host customer management host server 40 via embedded inventory-status communication link 80. Intermediary merchant host server 20 also includes a embedded inventory link 22 which in the preferred embodiment is used to direct an Internet shopper's queries regarding the inventory status of one or more selected items to customer management host customer management host server 40 via embedded inventory-status communication link 80. Intermediary merchant host server 20 is able to communicate with Internet shopper computer 10, Internet merchant computer 30 and customer management host customer management host server 40 via shopper communications link S0, merchant communication link 60 and embedded communication link 80, respectively. Such links could include the Internet and be comprised of a series of routers and communications lines or could include portions of dedicated communications links. Customer management host server 40 is operated by a customer management host that provides order status information as well as Internet marketing services, and other customer relationship management software and functionality.
Customer management host server 40 is able to receive communications indirectly from Internet shopper computer I O
via embedded status link 22 in intermediary merchant host server 20 via embedded inventory-status communications link 80. The software inside customer management host server 40 includes a host relational database 42 that in the present embodiment is based on the File Maker Pro version 5.0 developer application. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other database applications may be used to create the host relational database.
Specifications for the platform of host relational database 42 can be found at Http://www.filemaker.con~/products/fin requirements html.
Customermanagementhostserver 40 is able to communicate directly with Computers 10 and 30 via host communications link 70 and status communication link 90, respectively.
Internet shopper computer 10 and an Internet merchant computer 30 are any suitable computers, as will occur to those of skill in the art, such as the IBM Aptiva 880 sold by IBM of Armonk, NY, and are generally operable to function as network computers or in a client-server or distributed computing mode. In an embodiment of the invention, Internet shopper computer 10 and an Internet merchant computer 30 are Windows-based and include a central processing unit (not shown), random access memory (not shown), a data storage means (not shown) and a communications means, such as a network interface card or other network interface means (not shown) to allow the servers to communicate with other computers aver a communication medium such as the Internet (not shown).
The softyvare running on Internet shopper computer 10 includes an Internet browser that is capable of displaying the information contained in web pages, such as those maintained by an Internet merchant. Internet shopper computer 10 also has softyvare necessary to maintain an Internet connection with a merchant's online store via shopper communication link 50. Internet shopper computer 10 is run by an Internet shopper who browses Internet Web sites, such as the Internet merchant's online store that is hosted on Intermediary merchant host server 20.
The software inside Internet merchant computer 30 includes a merchant relational database 32 that in the preferred embodiment is based on the File Maker Pro version 5.0 developer application. Specifications for the platform of merchant relational database 32 can be found at Http://www.filemaker.com/~roducts/fm requirements html. In an alternate embodiment, the merchant relational database 32 may be resident on one or more distant computers. The software running on Internet merchant computer 30 also includes order processing software 34 that can be customized to receive purchase order information from any of a variety of merchant software packages, such as the merchant software package that is running on Intermediary merchant host server 20. It is not dependant on, nor does it function exclusively with any one merchant software package.
Figure 7 shows order processing software 34 that is intended for execution on an Internet merchant computer 30 for processing an Internet shopper's purchase order and transmitting the Internet shopper's purchase order information to a customer management host 40. In an alternate embodiment, order processing 34 may be executed on the customer management host server 40 or any other computer to which the Internet merchant has access. Order processing software 34 is preferably written in an object-oriented language and structure known in the art, and contains six objects, order OBJ,, receiving OBJz, loading OBJ3, processing OBJ4, archiving OBJS, transmitting OBJ6 each of which interact with each other according to their function within the overall function of order processing software 34. (It will be appreciated that the six obj ects order OBJ~, receiving OBJ2, loading OBJ3, processing OBJ4, archiving OBJS, transmitting OBJ6 in the present embodiment are for purposes of simplifying the explanation of the embodiment only and that order processing software 34 can have a different number of objects.) In an embodiment of the present invention, objects OBJ1, OBJ2, OBJ3, OBJ4, OBJS and OBJ6 are proprietary File Maker Pro objects and the genics specifications for such objects are outlined at Http://www.filemaker.comldevelopers/index html.
System 5 functions generally as follows: An Internet merchant, operating Internet merchant computer 30, wishing to set up an online store, but lacking the software, hardware or resources to maintain a server to host the online store approaches the owner or operator, such as a bank, of an internlediary merchant host server 20 that hosts online stores, such as the one that the Internet merchant wishes to establish. The Internet merchant provides the online store configuration information to the intermediarymerchanthost server 20. This information includes information that will be displayed on the Internet merchant's store as well as specifications of the type of information that an Internet shopper, operating Internet shopper computer 10, must provide in order to complete an electronic transaction on the Internet merchant's online store.
Further specifications include the manner in which the purchase order information should be organized, the file format to be used to store the purchase order information as well the mode by which the purchase order information will be transmitted to the Internet merchant computer 30.
The Internet merchant then configures the order processing software that is resident on the Internet merchant computer 30 to match the configuration information provided to the intermediary merchant host server 20.
An Internet shopper wishing to make a purchase of an item configured to be available on the Internet merchant's online store, selects said item and submits a request to purchase the item.
The intermediary merchant host server prompts 20 the Internet shopper computer I O to provide the required purchase order information in order to complete the transaction.
Once the required purchase order information is received by the intermediary merchant host server 20, it is organized, formatted and transmitted, according to the configuration information, to the Internet merchant computer 30. In the preferred embodiment, the formatted purchase order information is then loaded into the merchant relational database 32 that is residing on the Internet merchant computer 30 and the order processing software 34 guides the Internet merchant through the order processing steps. It could also be loaded into other database or data storage formats. In an alternate embodiment, the merchant relational database may be distributed and resident on one or more distant computers. In addition to processing the order, the Internet merchant also sends in the preferred embodiment, the purchase order infornation as well as the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server 40. This information is loaded into the host relational database 42.
a. An Internet shopper wishing to check the status of his order from the Internet merchant's online store selects, typically by pointing a mouse and clicking, on the embedded status link 22 that is displayed on the web pages of the intermediary merchant host server 20.
This generates a request for order status information which is then transmitted to the customer management host server 40 which in turn queries the relational database 42 for information on the status of the Internet shopper's order. Information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's order is then transmitted to the Internet shopper computer 10. Examples of status information including shipping date, courier company, and courier transaction identifier number.
An Internet shopper wishing to check the inventory status of one or more items on the Internet merchant's online store selects, typically by pointing a mouse and clicking, on the embedded inventory link 24 that is displayed on the web pages of the intermediary merchant host server 20.
This request for inventory status information is then transmitted to the customer management host server 40 which in turn queries the relational database 42 for information on the inventory status of the selected items. Information relating to the inventory status of the selected items is then transmitted to the Internet shopper computer 10.
An Internet merchant that wishes to market its online store to potential Internet shoppers can either query the merchant r elational database 32 for a list of potential Internet shoppers or it may send a request to the host relational database 42 to generate such a list. The customer management host server, upon receiving the Internet merchant's request for a list of potential Internet shoppers, queries the host relational database and then compiles a list of potential Internet shoppers in response to this query which is then transmitted to the Internet merchant computer 30.
Configuration Information; setting up System 5 In a present embodiment, an Internet merchant, such as a small to medium "bricks and mortar"
store establishing an Internet presence, operating Internet merchant computer 30 transmits via merchant communication link 60 to an intermediary party, such as an online shopping mall established by a Large financial institution, operating intermediary merchant host server 20, configuration information that is to be displayed, at least in part, on the Internet merchant's online store. The configuration information in the case of products consists of information such as a product list, product information and product descriptions such as prices, delivery options, and the like. The configuration information in the case of services consists of information such as a service List, service information and service descriptions such as prices, location of performance options, etc. For both products and services, the information also includes whether the products or services that are displayed are available for sale, lease, licence, assignment, etc.
The Internet merchant also submits to intermediary merchant host server 20 the URL for an embedded status link 22 that is to be located on the Internet merchant's online store. The S embedded status link, which is displayed on the web site of intermediary merchant host server 20, via embedded communication link 80, will direct an Internet shopper's request for information on the status of her order from the Internet merchant's online store to customer management host server 40. This is done because the intermediary may not want to be responsible for such queries or may not have the resources necessary to support such queries.
The Internet merchant also submits to intermediary merchant host server 20 the URL for an embedded inventory link 24 that is to be located on the Internet merchant's online store. The embedded inventory link, which is displayed on the web site of intermediary merchant host server 20, via embedded inventory-status communication link 80, will direct an Internet shopper's request for information on the inventory status of the selected items on the Internet merchant's online store to customer management host server 40. This is done because the intermediary may not want to be responsible for such queries or may not have the resources necessary to support such queries.
The configuration information also includes the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide, that is required by the Internet merchant, in order to complete a commercial transaction on the Internet merchant's online store. This purchase order information may consist of an Internet shopper's name, address, shipping address, phone number, the item or service chosen, method of payment, credit card information, etc. In an alternate embodiment, the purchase order information is specified by the intermediary party such as a Bank or Financial Institution, operating Intermediary merchant host server 20 or the customer management host operating customer management host server 40.
In addition to the purchase order information that an intermediary party must collect in order to complete a commercial transaction on the Internet merchant's online store, the manner in which the purchase order information is ordered, the file format and the mode of communicating the purchase order information file to the Internet merchant are specified by the intermediary party.
lI
In an alternate embodiment, the order of the purchase order information may be specified by the Internet merchant or the customer management host. In an alternate embodiment the order of the purchase order information may be specified in the form of pre-determined data templates or fully customizable data sheets that are provided by the Internet merchant, intermediary party or the customer management host.
In the preferred embodiment the file format to be used for transmitting the purchase order information file is in the form of a text file. In an alternate embodiment, the purchase order information file may he saved as a spreadsheet file from a commercial, proprietary or open source product, etc. The format may be specified by the Internet merchant, intermediary party or the customer management host.
In a present embodiment the purchase order information file from intermediary merchant host server 20 to Internet merchant computer 30 transferred via merchant communication link 60 by e-mail. In an alternate embodiment, the purchase order information file may be sent by FTP or the Internet merchant may download the purchase order information file via HTTP. The mode of communication may be determined by the Internet merchant, intermediary party or the customer management host.
After all the configuration information has been specified, the Internet merchant then configures the software on Internet merchant computer 30, including merchant relational database 32 to receive the formatted purchase order information file from intermediary merchant host server 20 via merchant communication link 60 according to said configuration information.
Internet shopper makes a purchase An Internet shopper operating Internet shopper computer 10 logs on the Internet via a shopper communication link SO that has been provided by an Internet service provider or other access provider. The Internet shopper locates the Internet merchant's online store that is hosted on intermediary merchant host server 20 and browses through the configuration information that is displayed on the screen. The intennediaryparty, operating intermediarymerchanthost server 20, presents at least one available item, product or service, to the Internet shopper. The Internet shopper, having selected the available item or items, transmits to intermediary merchant host server 20 via shopper communication Link 50 a request to complete the transaction for the available item or items Intermediary merchant host server 20 receives this request to complete a transaction from the Internet shopper and through the same communication link prompts the Internet shopper to provide the previously specified purchase order information. The Internet shopper submits this purchase order information via shopper communication link S0.
Intermediary merchant host server 20, through the same communication link, receives the this purchase order information and then organises and stores in memory or saves purchase order information in a previously specified file format. The purchase order information file is then transmitted to Internet merchant computer 30 via merchant communication link 60.
The Internet merchant receives the purchase order information file at Internet merchant computer 30 which is then stored into Internet merchant computer 30, for example, in random access memory. In an alternate embodiment, the file is saved in read only memory of Internet merchant computer 30. The content of the purchase order information file is then loaded into a merchant relational database 32 that is running on Internet merchant computer 30. In an alternate embodiment, the merchant relational database maybe resident on one or more distant computers.
Once the purchase order information has been loaded into merchant relational database 32, it is accessed by the order processing software 34 which guides the Internet ~erchaxit through the order processing steps. These steps may include reviewing the purchase order information, conducting an inventory check (in the case of products) or time availability (in the case of services) and adjusting inventory to reflect the current purchase, billing, invoicing, preparing shipping materials and shipping the item or items to the Internet shopper.
Once the Internet shopper's orderhas been processed, the purchase order information is archived in the merchant relational database 32. In an alternate embodiment, the purchase order information is archived at any point during the order processing sequence. The archived purchase order information is then transmitted from Internet merchant computer 30 to customer management host server 40 via host communication link 70. In a preferred embodiment, the content of the archived purchase order information that is transmitted to customer management host server 40 consists of the purchase order information that the Internet shopper submitted to intermediary merchant host server 20. In an alternate embodiment, only selected items of the archived purchase order information as selected by either of the Internet merchant or the customer management host are transmitted.
In addition to the archived purchase order information, the Internet merchant also submits, from time to time, information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order, as well as information such as the order tracking number and place of shipment, to the customer management host server 40 via the host communication link 70. The order status information 10~ includes inventory status information and whether the order has been processed, shipped or is on back order. The purchase order information and the order status information are sent automatically by Internet merchant computer 30 via host communication link 70 to customer management host server 40. In an alternate embodiment, the purchase order information and the order status information are sent at times specified by either of the Internet merchant or the customer management host or upon the happening of specified status-related events.
The archive purchase order information and the order status information is stored into the random access memory of customer management host server 40. In an alternate embodiment, the file is saved in read only memory of customer management host server 40. The purchase order information and the order status information are then loaded into a host relational database 42 that is running on customer management host server 40. Alternatively it may be stored into another type of database or storage means.
Internet shopper requests the status of her order An Internet shopper operating Internet shopper computer 10 logs on to the Internet via a shopper communication link SO that has been provided by an Internet service provider or other access provider. The Internet shopper locates the Internet merchant's online store that is hosted on intermediary merchant host server 20 and browses through at least a portion of the configuration information that is displayed on the screen. The Internet shopper places an order.
The Internet shopper clicks on to the embedded status link 22 located in intermediary merchant host server 20 in order to check on the status ofhis or her purchase order.
Customer management host server 40 receives this request for order status information via embedded inventory-status communication link 80. In an alternate embodiment, Internet shopper computer 10 transmits the order status request directly to customer management host server 40 directly via inventory-status communication link 90. Customer management host server 40 then queries host relational database 42 for order status information relating to the Internet shopper's purchase order. This order status information is retrieved from host relational database 42 and transmitted from customer management host server 40 to Internet shopper computer. 10 via inventory-status communication link 90.
Internet shopper requests the inventory status of one or more items An Internet shopper operating Internet shopper computer 10 logs on to the Internet via a shopper communication link 50 that has been provided by an Internet service provider or other access provider. The Internet shopper locates the Internet merchant's online store that is hosted on intermediary merchant host server 20 and browses through at least a portion of the configuration information that is displayed on the screen.
The Internet shoppex clicks on to the embedded inventory link 24 located in intermediary merchant host server 20 in order to check on the inventory status of one or more selected items.
Customer management host server 40 receives this request for inventory status information via embedded inventory-status communication link 80. In an alternate embodiment, Internet shopper computer 10 transmits the inventory status request directly to customer management host server 40 directly via inventory-status communication link 90. Customer management host server 40 then queries host relational database 42 for the inventory status information.
This inventory status information is retrieved from host relational database 42 and transmitted from customer management host server 40 to Internet shopper computer 10 via status communication link 90.
Targeted Marketing to potential Internet shoppers An Internet merchant operating Internet merchant computer 30 may wish to market its online store that is located on Intermediary merchant host server 20 to potential Internet shoppers.
In the preferred embodiment, the Internet merchant sends the target customer list query to customer management host server 40. In an alternate embodiment, the Internet merchant sends the target customer list query to the merchant relational database 32.
Customer management host server 40 receives a request from the Internet merchant for target customer lists that conforms to the specified criteria and query. Customer management host server 40 transmits the query to host relational database 42. In the preferred embodiment, the host relational database consists of purchase order information from at least one of the Internet merchant's that have submitted their respective purchase order information to the host relational database 42. The host relational database 42 generates a target list of potential Internet shoppers which is transmitted to the Internet merchant. The Internet merchant then sends marketing material to those potential Internet shoppers on the target customer list.
In an alternate embodiment, customer management host server 40 receives the request for customers matching the Internet merchant's specified criteria and also receives the Internet merchant's marketing material. Customer management host server 40 queries host relational database 42 for a target customer Iist that match the Internet merchant's request. The host relational database 42 generates a target list. Customer management host server 40 then transmits the Internet merchant's marketing material to those individuals on the generated target customer list.
A method for transfernng purchase order information between intemlediary host server 20 and Internet merchant computer 30 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 2 and system 5. In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 2 is commenced based on receiving the Internet merchant's online store configuration information. At step 2010, this information consists of the information that is to be displayed on the Internet merchant's online store, such as item descriptions and prices. At step 2015, this information also includes placing an embedded status link on the online store that will be used to direct an Internet shopper's request for the status of his or her order to the customer management host server 40 (a method that is outlined in Figure 4). At step 2016, this information also includes placing an embedded inventory link on the online store that will be used to direct an Internet shopper's request for the inventory status of one or more selected items to the customer management host server 40 (a method that is outlined in Figure 9).
At step 2020, the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide to complete a purchase of at least one available item from the Online Store is specified.
This consists of the Internet shopper's name, phone number, shipping address, and the like. Further information that is specified may include how the purchase order information is to be organized in the purchase order information file (step 2030) and the file format that is to be used for the purchase order information file (step 2040).
At step 2060, an Internet shopper operating Internet shopper computer 10 accesses the Internet merchant's online store and browses the displayed information, which is presented to the Internet shopper at step 2070. At step 2080, if the Internet shopper chooses an item from those that are available on the Internet merchant's online store, he or she sends a request to the intermediary merchant host server 20 to purchase or otherwise choose the selected item. The intermediary merchant host server 20, at step 2090, then prompts the Internet shopper to provide the purchase order information or set of information that was specified in step 2020.
At step 2100, the intermediary merchant host server 20 receives the specified purchase order information which is then organized (at step 2110) in the manner specified at step 2030. At step 2120, the organized purchase order information is saved in a file format specified in step 2040 and then at step 2130 the file is transmitted to the Internet merchant computer 30 via communication link 60. At step 2140 intermediary merchant host server 20 receives confirmation that said order has been accepted.
A method for processing an Internet shopper's purchase order and transferring the purchase order information between Internet merchant computer 30 and customer management host server 40 via communication link 70 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 3 and System 5. In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 3 is commenced at step 3010, where the information consists of the information that an Tnternet shopper must provide to complete a purchase of at least one available item from the Online Store is specified.
This consists of the Internet shopper's name, phone number, shipping address, and the like. Further information that is specified consists of the how the purchase order information is to be organized in the purchase order information file (step 3020), the file format that is to be used for the purchase order information file (step 3030) and the mode by which the purchase order information file is to be communicated to the Internet merchant (step 3040).
At step 3050, Internet merchant computer receives the organized and formatted purchase order information file from the intermediary merchant host server via the mode of communication specified in step 3040. At step 3060 the purchase order information is loaded into the merchant relational database 32 and at step 3070 the order processing software 34 directs the Internet merchant the steps of completing the order processing. Optionally, the purchase order information is archived at step 3080 and at step 3090 the archived data is transmitted to the customer management host server 40. Also, in a preferred embodiment at step 3100, the order status information is transmitted to the customer management host server 40.
A method for relaying an Internet shopper's request for the status of his or her order from the Internet merchant's online store from the Internet shopper computer 10 to the customer management host server 40 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 4 and System 5. In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 4 is commenced at step 4010, where embedded status link 22 is placed on the Internet merchant's online store that is being hosted on intermediary merchant host server 20. Embedded status link 22 directs the Internet shopper's request for order status information to the customer management host server 40 via embedded inventory-status communication link 80.
At step 4020, the Internet shopper requesting order status information accesses the intermediary merchant host server 20 and at step 4030 clicks on to the embedded status link 22. At step 4040, customer management host server receives the Internet shopper's request for status order information.
A method for relaying an Internet shopper's request for the inventory status of one or more selected items available on the Internet merchant's online store from the Internet shopper computer 10 to the .customer management host server 40 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 9 and System 5. In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 9 is commenced at step 9010, where embedded inventory link 24 is placed on the Internet merchant's online store that is being hosted on intermediary merchant host server 20.
Embedded inventory link 24 directs the Internet shopper's request for order status information to the customer management host server 40 via embedded inventory-status communication link 80.
At step 9020, the Internet shopper requesting the inventory status of one or more selected items accesses the intermediary merchant host server 20 and at step 9030 clicks on to the embedded inventory link 24. At step 9040, customer management host server 40 receives the Internet shopper's request for inventory status information.
A method for processing an Internet shopper's request for the status of his or her order from the Internet merchant's online store and transferring the status order information between the 1 S customer management host server 40 and the Internet shopper computer 10 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 5 and System S. In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 5 is commenced at step 5010, where the customer management host server 40 receives the Internet shopper's request for the status of his or her order from the intermediary merchant host server 20 via status communication link 80.
At step 5020 the customer management host server 40 queries the host relational datab ase 42 for information relating to the status of Internet shopper's order and retrieves the order status information at step 5030. At step 5040, the customer management host server 40 transmits the order status information to the Internet shopper computer 10 via status communication link 90.
A method for processing an Internet merchant's request for a list of potential Internet shoppers and transferring the Iist between customer management host server 40 and Internet merchant computer 30 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 6 and System 5.
In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 6 is commenced at step 6010 where customer information is sent from Internet merchant computer 30 to customer management host server 40 via host communication link 70 and then at step 6020 this customer information is loaded into the host relational database 42.
At step 6030, an Internet merchant wishing to market its online store sends a request to customer management host server 40 via host communication link 70 for a list of potential Internet shoppers that conform to a specified set of search criteria. At step 6040, the customer management host server 40 queries the host relational database 42 for a list of potential Internet customers that match the Internet merchant's search criteria and at step 6050, the matching list of potential Internet shoppers is retrieved.
At step 6060, the list of matching potential Internet customers is transmitted to the Internet merchant computer 30 via host communication link 70.
In a present embodiment, the execution of order processing software 34 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 8 and System 5 is commenced at step 8010, where order OBJ1 specifies the ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file. At step 8020, receiving OBJz receives the organised and formatted purchase order information file from the intermediarymerchant host server 20 via merchant communication link 60 and at step 8030 loading OBJ3 stores and loads the content of the purchase order information file into merchant relational database 32.
At step 8040, the stored and loaded purchase order information is processed byprocessing OBJ4 after which it is archived at step 8050 by archiving OBJS. At step 8060, transmitting OBJ6 transmits the archived purchase order information, along with the information relating to status of the Internet shopper's purchase order, to the customer management host server 40 via host communication link 70.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that there are many equivalent embodiments of the invention described above. The scope of the invention is defined in the claims, set out below.
Specifications for the platform of host relational database 42 can be found at Http://www.filemaker.con~/products/fin requirements html.
Customermanagementhostserver 40 is able to communicate directly with Computers 10 and 30 via host communications link 70 and status communication link 90, respectively.
Internet shopper computer 10 and an Internet merchant computer 30 are any suitable computers, as will occur to those of skill in the art, such as the IBM Aptiva 880 sold by IBM of Armonk, NY, and are generally operable to function as network computers or in a client-server or distributed computing mode. In an embodiment of the invention, Internet shopper computer 10 and an Internet merchant computer 30 are Windows-based and include a central processing unit (not shown), random access memory (not shown), a data storage means (not shown) and a communications means, such as a network interface card or other network interface means (not shown) to allow the servers to communicate with other computers aver a communication medium such as the Internet (not shown).
The softyvare running on Internet shopper computer 10 includes an Internet browser that is capable of displaying the information contained in web pages, such as those maintained by an Internet merchant. Internet shopper computer 10 also has softyvare necessary to maintain an Internet connection with a merchant's online store via shopper communication link 50. Internet shopper computer 10 is run by an Internet shopper who browses Internet Web sites, such as the Internet merchant's online store that is hosted on Intermediary merchant host server 20.
The software inside Internet merchant computer 30 includes a merchant relational database 32 that in the preferred embodiment is based on the File Maker Pro version 5.0 developer application. Specifications for the platform of merchant relational database 32 can be found at Http://www.filemaker.com/~roducts/fm requirements html. In an alternate embodiment, the merchant relational database 32 may be resident on one or more distant computers. The software running on Internet merchant computer 30 also includes order processing software 34 that can be customized to receive purchase order information from any of a variety of merchant software packages, such as the merchant software package that is running on Intermediary merchant host server 20. It is not dependant on, nor does it function exclusively with any one merchant software package.
Figure 7 shows order processing software 34 that is intended for execution on an Internet merchant computer 30 for processing an Internet shopper's purchase order and transmitting the Internet shopper's purchase order information to a customer management host 40. In an alternate embodiment, order processing 34 may be executed on the customer management host server 40 or any other computer to which the Internet merchant has access. Order processing software 34 is preferably written in an object-oriented language and structure known in the art, and contains six objects, order OBJ,, receiving OBJz, loading OBJ3, processing OBJ4, archiving OBJS, transmitting OBJ6 each of which interact with each other according to their function within the overall function of order processing software 34. (It will be appreciated that the six obj ects order OBJ~, receiving OBJ2, loading OBJ3, processing OBJ4, archiving OBJS, transmitting OBJ6 in the present embodiment are for purposes of simplifying the explanation of the embodiment only and that order processing software 34 can have a different number of objects.) In an embodiment of the present invention, objects OBJ1, OBJ2, OBJ3, OBJ4, OBJS and OBJ6 are proprietary File Maker Pro objects and the genics specifications for such objects are outlined at Http://www.filemaker.comldevelopers/index html.
System 5 functions generally as follows: An Internet merchant, operating Internet merchant computer 30, wishing to set up an online store, but lacking the software, hardware or resources to maintain a server to host the online store approaches the owner or operator, such as a bank, of an internlediary merchant host server 20 that hosts online stores, such as the one that the Internet merchant wishes to establish. The Internet merchant provides the online store configuration information to the intermediarymerchanthost server 20. This information includes information that will be displayed on the Internet merchant's store as well as specifications of the type of information that an Internet shopper, operating Internet shopper computer 10, must provide in order to complete an electronic transaction on the Internet merchant's online store.
Further specifications include the manner in which the purchase order information should be organized, the file format to be used to store the purchase order information as well the mode by which the purchase order information will be transmitted to the Internet merchant computer 30.
The Internet merchant then configures the order processing software that is resident on the Internet merchant computer 30 to match the configuration information provided to the intermediary merchant host server 20.
An Internet shopper wishing to make a purchase of an item configured to be available on the Internet merchant's online store, selects said item and submits a request to purchase the item.
The intermediary merchant host server prompts 20 the Internet shopper computer I O to provide the required purchase order information in order to complete the transaction.
Once the required purchase order information is received by the intermediary merchant host server 20, it is organized, formatted and transmitted, according to the configuration information, to the Internet merchant computer 30. In the preferred embodiment, the formatted purchase order information is then loaded into the merchant relational database 32 that is residing on the Internet merchant computer 30 and the order processing software 34 guides the Internet merchant through the order processing steps. It could also be loaded into other database or data storage formats. In an alternate embodiment, the merchant relational database may be distributed and resident on one or more distant computers. In addition to processing the order, the Internet merchant also sends in the preferred embodiment, the purchase order infornation as well as the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server 40. This information is loaded into the host relational database 42.
a. An Internet shopper wishing to check the status of his order from the Internet merchant's online store selects, typically by pointing a mouse and clicking, on the embedded status link 22 that is displayed on the web pages of the intermediary merchant host server 20.
This generates a request for order status information which is then transmitted to the customer management host server 40 which in turn queries the relational database 42 for information on the status of the Internet shopper's order. Information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's order is then transmitted to the Internet shopper computer 10. Examples of status information including shipping date, courier company, and courier transaction identifier number.
An Internet shopper wishing to check the inventory status of one or more items on the Internet merchant's online store selects, typically by pointing a mouse and clicking, on the embedded inventory link 24 that is displayed on the web pages of the intermediary merchant host server 20.
This request for inventory status information is then transmitted to the customer management host server 40 which in turn queries the relational database 42 for information on the inventory status of the selected items. Information relating to the inventory status of the selected items is then transmitted to the Internet shopper computer 10.
An Internet merchant that wishes to market its online store to potential Internet shoppers can either query the merchant r elational database 32 for a list of potential Internet shoppers or it may send a request to the host relational database 42 to generate such a list. The customer management host server, upon receiving the Internet merchant's request for a list of potential Internet shoppers, queries the host relational database and then compiles a list of potential Internet shoppers in response to this query which is then transmitted to the Internet merchant computer 30.
Configuration Information; setting up System 5 In a present embodiment, an Internet merchant, such as a small to medium "bricks and mortar"
store establishing an Internet presence, operating Internet merchant computer 30 transmits via merchant communication link 60 to an intermediary party, such as an online shopping mall established by a Large financial institution, operating intermediary merchant host server 20, configuration information that is to be displayed, at least in part, on the Internet merchant's online store. The configuration information in the case of products consists of information such as a product list, product information and product descriptions such as prices, delivery options, and the like. The configuration information in the case of services consists of information such as a service List, service information and service descriptions such as prices, location of performance options, etc. For both products and services, the information also includes whether the products or services that are displayed are available for sale, lease, licence, assignment, etc.
The Internet merchant also submits to intermediary merchant host server 20 the URL for an embedded status link 22 that is to be located on the Internet merchant's online store. The S embedded status link, which is displayed on the web site of intermediary merchant host server 20, via embedded communication link 80, will direct an Internet shopper's request for information on the status of her order from the Internet merchant's online store to customer management host server 40. This is done because the intermediary may not want to be responsible for such queries or may not have the resources necessary to support such queries.
The Internet merchant also submits to intermediary merchant host server 20 the URL for an embedded inventory link 24 that is to be located on the Internet merchant's online store. The embedded inventory link, which is displayed on the web site of intermediary merchant host server 20, via embedded inventory-status communication link 80, will direct an Internet shopper's request for information on the inventory status of the selected items on the Internet merchant's online store to customer management host server 40. This is done because the intermediary may not want to be responsible for such queries or may not have the resources necessary to support such queries.
The configuration information also includes the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide, that is required by the Internet merchant, in order to complete a commercial transaction on the Internet merchant's online store. This purchase order information may consist of an Internet shopper's name, address, shipping address, phone number, the item or service chosen, method of payment, credit card information, etc. In an alternate embodiment, the purchase order information is specified by the intermediary party such as a Bank or Financial Institution, operating Intermediary merchant host server 20 or the customer management host operating customer management host server 40.
In addition to the purchase order information that an intermediary party must collect in order to complete a commercial transaction on the Internet merchant's online store, the manner in which the purchase order information is ordered, the file format and the mode of communicating the purchase order information file to the Internet merchant are specified by the intermediary party.
lI
In an alternate embodiment, the order of the purchase order information may be specified by the Internet merchant or the customer management host. In an alternate embodiment the order of the purchase order information may be specified in the form of pre-determined data templates or fully customizable data sheets that are provided by the Internet merchant, intermediary party or the customer management host.
In the preferred embodiment the file format to be used for transmitting the purchase order information file is in the form of a text file. In an alternate embodiment, the purchase order information file may he saved as a spreadsheet file from a commercial, proprietary or open source product, etc. The format may be specified by the Internet merchant, intermediary party or the customer management host.
In a present embodiment the purchase order information file from intermediary merchant host server 20 to Internet merchant computer 30 transferred via merchant communication link 60 by e-mail. In an alternate embodiment, the purchase order information file may be sent by FTP or the Internet merchant may download the purchase order information file via HTTP. The mode of communication may be determined by the Internet merchant, intermediary party or the customer management host.
After all the configuration information has been specified, the Internet merchant then configures the software on Internet merchant computer 30, including merchant relational database 32 to receive the formatted purchase order information file from intermediary merchant host server 20 via merchant communication link 60 according to said configuration information.
Internet shopper makes a purchase An Internet shopper operating Internet shopper computer 10 logs on the Internet via a shopper communication link SO that has been provided by an Internet service provider or other access provider. The Internet shopper locates the Internet merchant's online store that is hosted on intermediary merchant host server 20 and browses through the configuration information that is displayed on the screen. The intennediaryparty, operating intermediarymerchanthost server 20, presents at least one available item, product or service, to the Internet shopper. The Internet shopper, having selected the available item or items, transmits to intermediary merchant host server 20 via shopper communication Link 50 a request to complete the transaction for the available item or items Intermediary merchant host server 20 receives this request to complete a transaction from the Internet shopper and through the same communication link prompts the Internet shopper to provide the previously specified purchase order information. The Internet shopper submits this purchase order information via shopper communication link S0.
Intermediary merchant host server 20, through the same communication link, receives the this purchase order information and then organises and stores in memory or saves purchase order information in a previously specified file format. The purchase order information file is then transmitted to Internet merchant computer 30 via merchant communication link 60.
The Internet merchant receives the purchase order information file at Internet merchant computer 30 which is then stored into Internet merchant computer 30, for example, in random access memory. In an alternate embodiment, the file is saved in read only memory of Internet merchant computer 30. The content of the purchase order information file is then loaded into a merchant relational database 32 that is running on Internet merchant computer 30. In an alternate embodiment, the merchant relational database maybe resident on one or more distant computers.
Once the purchase order information has been loaded into merchant relational database 32, it is accessed by the order processing software 34 which guides the Internet ~erchaxit through the order processing steps. These steps may include reviewing the purchase order information, conducting an inventory check (in the case of products) or time availability (in the case of services) and adjusting inventory to reflect the current purchase, billing, invoicing, preparing shipping materials and shipping the item or items to the Internet shopper.
Once the Internet shopper's orderhas been processed, the purchase order information is archived in the merchant relational database 32. In an alternate embodiment, the purchase order information is archived at any point during the order processing sequence. The archived purchase order information is then transmitted from Internet merchant computer 30 to customer management host server 40 via host communication link 70. In a preferred embodiment, the content of the archived purchase order information that is transmitted to customer management host server 40 consists of the purchase order information that the Internet shopper submitted to intermediary merchant host server 20. In an alternate embodiment, only selected items of the archived purchase order information as selected by either of the Internet merchant or the customer management host are transmitted.
In addition to the archived purchase order information, the Internet merchant also submits, from time to time, information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order, as well as information such as the order tracking number and place of shipment, to the customer management host server 40 via the host communication link 70. The order status information 10~ includes inventory status information and whether the order has been processed, shipped or is on back order. The purchase order information and the order status information are sent automatically by Internet merchant computer 30 via host communication link 70 to customer management host server 40. In an alternate embodiment, the purchase order information and the order status information are sent at times specified by either of the Internet merchant or the customer management host or upon the happening of specified status-related events.
The archive purchase order information and the order status information is stored into the random access memory of customer management host server 40. In an alternate embodiment, the file is saved in read only memory of customer management host server 40. The purchase order information and the order status information are then loaded into a host relational database 42 that is running on customer management host server 40. Alternatively it may be stored into another type of database or storage means.
Internet shopper requests the status of her order An Internet shopper operating Internet shopper computer 10 logs on to the Internet via a shopper communication link SO that has been provided by an Internet service provider or other access provider. The Internet shopper locates the Internet merchant's online store that is hosted on intermediary merchant host server 20 and browses through at least a portion of the configuration information that is displayed on the screen. The Internet shopper places an order.
The Internet shopper clicks on to the embedded status link 22 located in intermediary merchant host server 20 in order to check on the status ofhis or her purchase order.
Customer management host server 40 receives this request for order status information via embedded inventory-status communication link 80. In an alternate embodiment, Internet shopper computer 10 transmits the order status request directly to customer management host server 40 directly via inventory-status communication link 90. Customer management host server 40 then queries host relational database 42 for order status information relating to the Internet shopper's purchase order. This order status information is retrieved from host relational database 42 and transmitted from customer management host server 40 to Internet shopper computer. 10 via inventory-status communication link 90.
Internet shopper requests the inventory status of one or more items An Internet shopper operating Internet shopper computer 10 logs on to the Internet via a shopper communication link 50 that has been provided by an Internet service provider or other access provider. The Internet shopper locates the Internet merchant's online store that is hosted on intermediary merchant host server 20 and browses through at least a portion of the configuration information that is displayed on the screen.
The Internet shoppex clicks on to the embedded inventory link 24 located in intermediary merchant host server 20 in order to check on the inventory status of one or more selected items.
Customer management host server 40 receives this request for inventory status information via embedded inventory-status communication link 80. In an alternate embodiment, Internet shopper computer 10 transmits the inventory status request directly to customer management host server 40 directly via inventory-status communication link 90. Customer management host server 40 then queries host relational database 42 for the inventory status information.
This inventory status information is retrieved from host relational database 42 and transmitted from customer management host server 40 to Internet shopper computer 10 via status communication link 90.
Targeted Marketing to potential Internet shoppers An Internet merchant operating Internet merchant computer 30 may wish to market its online store that is located on Intermediary merchant host server 20 to potential Internet shoppers.
In the preferred embodiment, the Internet merchant sends the target customer list query to customer management host server 40. In an alternate embodiment, the Internet merchant sends the target customer list query to the merchant relational database 32.
Customer management host server 40 receives a request from the Internet merchant for target customer lists that conforms to the specified criteria and query. Customer management host server 40 transmits the query to host relational database 42. In the preferred embodiment, the host relational database consists of purchase order information from at least one of the Internet merchant's that have submitted their respective purchase order information to the host relational database 42. The host relational database 42 generates a target list of potential Internet shoppers which is transmitted to the Internet merchant. The Internet merchant then sends marketing material to those potential Internet shoppers on the target customer list.
In an alternate embodiment, customer management host server 40 receives the request for customers matching the Internet merchant's specified criteria and also receives the Internet merchant's marketing material. Customer management host server 40 queries host relational database 42 for a target customer Iist that match the Internet merchant's request. The host relational database 42 generates a target list. Customer management host server 40 then transmits the Internet merchant's marketing material to those individuals on the generated target customer list.
A method for transfernng purchase order information between intemlediary host server 20 and Internet merchant computer 30 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 2 and system 5. In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 2 is commenced based on receiving the Internet merchant's online store configuration information. At step 2010, this information consists of the information that is to be displayed on the Internet merchant's online store, such as item descriptions and prices. At step 2015, this information also includes placing an embedded status link on the online store that will be used to direct an Internet shopper's request for the status of his or her order to the customer management host server 40 (a method that is outlined in Figure 4). At step 2016, this information also includes placing an embedded inventory link on the online store that will be used to direct an Internet shopper's request for the inventory status of one or more selected items to the customer management host server 40 (a method that is outlined in Figure 9).
At step 2020, the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide to complete a purchase of at least one available item from the Online Store is specified.
This consists of the Internet shopper's name, phone number, shipping address, and the like. Further information that is specified may include how the purchase order information is to be organized in the purchase order information file (step 2030) and the file format that is to be used for the purchase order information file (step 2040).
At step 2060, an Internet shopper operating Internet shopper computer 10 accesses the Internet merchant's online store and browses the displayed information, which is presented to the Internet shopper at step 2070. At step 2080, if the Internet shopper chooses an item from those that are available on the Internet merchant's online store, he or she sends a request to the intermediary merchant host server 20 to purchase or otherwise choose the selected item. The intermediary merchant host server 20, at step 2090, then prompts the Internet shopper to provide the purchase order information or set of information that was specified in step 2020.
At step 2100, the intermediary merchant host server 20 receives the specified purchase order information which is then organized (at step 2110) in the manner specified at step 2030. At step 2120, the organized purchase order information is saved in a file format specified in step 2040 and then at step 2130 the file is transmitted to the Internet merchant computer 30 via communication link 60. At step 2140 intermediary merchant host server 20 receives confirmation that said order has been accepted.
A method for processing an Internet shopper's purchase order and transferring the purchase order information between Internet merchant computer 30 and customer management host server 40 via communication link 70 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 3 and System 5. In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 3 is commenced at step 3010, where the information consists of the information that an Tnternet shopper must provide to complete a purchase of at least one available item from the Online Store is specified.
This consists of the Internet shopper's name, phone number, shipping address, and the like. Further information that is specified consists of the how the purchase order information is to be organized in the purchase order information file (step 3020), the file format that is to be used for the purchase order information file (step 3030) and the mode by which the purchase order information file is to be communicated to the Internet merchant (step 3040).
At step 3050, Internet merchant computer receives the organized and formatted purchase order information file from the intermediary merchant host server via the mode of communication specified in step 3040. At step 3060 the purchase order information is loaded into the merchant relational database 32 and at step 3070 the order processing software 34 directs the Internet merchant the steps of completing the order processing. Optionally, the purchase order information is archived at step 3080 and at step 3090 the archived data is transmitted to the customer management host server 40. Also, in a preferred embodiment at step 3100, the order status information is transmitted to the customer management host server 40.
A method for relaying an Internet shopper's request for the status of his or her order from the Internet merchant's online store from the Internet shopper computer 10 to the customer management host server 40 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 4 and System 5. In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 4 is commenced at step 4010, where embedded status link 22 is placed on the Internet merchant's online store that is being hosted on intermediary merchant host server 20. Embedded status link 22 directs the Internet shopper's request for order status information to the customer management host server 40 via embedded inventory-status communication link 80.
At step 4020, the Internet shopper requesting order status information accesses the intermediary merchant host server 20 and at step 4030 clicks on to the embedded status link 22. At step 4040, customer management host server receives the Internet shopper's request for status order information.
A method for relaying an Internet shopper's request for the inventory status of one or more selected items available on the Internet merchant's online store from the Internet shopper computer 10 to the .customer management host server 40 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 9 and System 5. In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 9 is commenced at step 9010, where embedded inventory link 24 is placed on the Internet merchant's online store that is being hosted on intermediary merchant host server 20.
Embedded inventory link 24 directs the Internet shopper's request for order status information to the customer management host server 40 via embedded inventory-status communication link 80.
At step 9020, the Internet shopper requesting the inventory status of one or more selected items accesses the intermediary merchant host server 20 and at step 9030 clicks on to the embedded inventory link 24. At step 9040, customer management host server 40 receives the Internet shopper's request for inventory status information.
A method for processing an Internet shopper's request for the status of his or her order from the Internet merchant's online store and transferring the status order information between the 1 S customer management host server 40 and the Internet shopper computer 10 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 5 and System S. In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 5 is commenced at step 5010, where the customer management host server 40 receives the Internet shopper's request for the status of his or her order from the intermediary merchant host server 20 via status communication link 80.
At step 5020 the customer management host server 40 queries the host relational datab ase 42 for information relating to the status of Internet shopper's order and retrieves the order status information at step 5030. At step 5040, the customer management host server 40 transmits the order status information to the Internet shopper computer 10 via status communication link 90.
A method for processing an Internet merchant's request for a list of potential Internet shoppers and transferring the Iist between customer management host server 40 and Internet merchant computer 30 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 6 and System 5.
In a present embodiment, the method of Figure 6 is commenced at step 6010 where customer information is sent from Internet merchant computer 30 to customer management host server 40 via host communication link 70 and then at step 6020 this customer information is loaded into the host relational database 42.
At step 6030, an Internet merchant wishing to market its online store sends a request to customer management host server 40 via host communication link 70 for a list of potential Internet shoppers that conform to a specified set of search criteria. At step 6040, the customer management host server 40 queries the host relational database 42 for a list of potential Internet customers that match the Internet merchant's search criteria and at step 6050, the matching list of potential Internet shoppers is retrieved.
At step 6060, the list of matching potential Internet customers is transmitted to the Internet merchant computer 30 via host communication link 70.
In a present embodiment, the execution of order processing software 34 will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart of Figure 8 and System 5 is commenced at step 8010, where order OBJ1 specifies the ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file. At step 8020, receiving OBJz receives the organised and formatted purchase order information file from the intermediarymerchant host server 20 via merchant communication link 60 and at step 8030 loading OBJ3 stores and loads the content of the purchase order information file into merchant relational database 32.
At step 8040, the stored and loaded purchase order information is processed byprocessing OBJ4 after which it is archived at step 8050 by archiving OBJS. At step 8060, transmitting OBJ6 transmits the archived purchase order information, along with the information relating to status of the Internet shopper's purchase order, to the customer management host server 40 via host communication link 70.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that there are many equivalent embodiments of the invention described above. The scope of the invention is defined in the claims, set out below.
Claims (44)
1. A method for facilitating electronic commercial transactions at an intermediary merchant host comprising the steps of:
a. receiving online store configuration information from an Internet merchant computer;
b. specifying the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide to complete a purchase of at least one available item from the Internet merchant's online store;
c. specifying an ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file;
d. providing an Internet shopper with access the Internet merchant's online store;
e. presenting said at least one item that is available for sale to the Internet shopper;
f. receiving a request from the Internet shopper to purchase an available item for sale;
g. prompting Internet shopper to provide the purchase order information;
h. receiving the purchase order information from the Internet shopper; and, i. transmitting the organised and formatted purchase order information file to the Internet merchant.
a. receiving online store configuration information from an Internet merchant computer;
b. specifying the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide to complete a purchase of at least one available item from the Internet merchant's online store;
c. specifying an ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file;
d. providing an Internet shopper with access the Internet merchant's online store;
e. presenting said at least one item that is available for sale to the Internet shopper;
f. receiving a request from the Internet shopper to purchase an available item for sale;
g. prompting Internet shopper to provide the purchase order information;
h. receiving the purchase order information from the Internet shopper; and, i. transmitting the organised and formatted purchase order information file to the Internet merchant.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the online store configuration information consists of information that is to be displayed on the Internet merchant's online store.
3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the online store configuration information includes whether the products or services that are displayed are available for sale, lease, rent, licence or assignment.
4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the online store configuration information for a product consists of at least one of a product list, a product description, a product image, a product price, a product availability date or a product delivery option.
5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the online store configuration information for a service consists of at least one of a service description, a service price or a location of service performance.
6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the order of the purchase order information is specified by at least one of the Internet merchant, the intermediary merchant host or the customer merchant host.
7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the order of the purchase order information is specified in a pre-defined purchase order information data template.
8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the pre-defined purchase order information is provided by at least one of the Internet merchant, the intermediary merchant host or the customer merchant host.
9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the file format for the purchase order information file is at least one of a text format, a spreadsheet file or text in an e-mail file.
10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the file format for the purchase order information file is specified by at least one of the Internet merchant, the intermediary merchant host or the customer merchant host.
11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the mode of communicating the formatted purchase order information file is at least one of e-mail, FTP or HTTP.
12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the mode of communicating the formatted purchase order information file may be specified by at least one of the Internet merchant, the intermediary merchant host or the customer merchant host.
13. A system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions at an intermediary merchant host consisting of a:
a. means for receiving online store configuration information from an Internet merchant computer;
b. means for specifying the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide to complete a purchase of at least one available item from the Internet merchant's online store;
c. means for specifying an ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file;
d. means for providing an Internet shopper with access the Internet merchant's online store;
e. means for presenting said at least one item that is available for sale to the Internet shopper;
f. means for receiving a request from the Internet shopper to an available item for sale;
g. means for prompting Internet shopper to provide the purchase order information;
h. means for receiving the purchase order information from the Internet shopper; and, i. means for transmitting the organised and formatted purchase order information file to the Internet merchant.
a. means for receiving online store configuration information from an Internet merchant computer;
b. means for specifying the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide to complete a purchase of at least one available item from the Internet merchant's online store;
c. means for specifying an ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file;
d. means for providing an Internet shopper with access the Internet merchant's online store;
e. means for presenting said at least one item that is available for sale to the Internet shopper;
f. means for receiving a request from the Internet shopper to an available item for sale;
g. means for prompting Internet shopper to provide the purchase order information;
h. means for receiving the purchase order information from the Internet shopper; and, i. means for transmitting the organised and formatted purchase order information file to the Internet merchant.
14. A method for processing an Internet shopper's purchase order at an Internet merchant computer comprising the steps of:
a. specifying the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide to complete a purchase on the online store;
b. specifying the ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file;
c. receiving the organised and formatted purchase order information file from the intermediary merchant host server;
d. storing and loading the content of the purchase order information file into a merchant relational database;
e. processing the Internet shopper's purchase order.
a. specifying the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide to complete a purchase on the online store;
b. specifying the ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file;
c. receiving the organised and formatted purchase order information file from the intermediary merchant host server;
d. storing and loading the content of the purchase order information file into a merchant relational database;
e. processing the Internet shopper's purchase order.
15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the online store configuration information for a product consists of at least one of a product list, a product description, a product image, a product price, a product availability date or a product delivery option.
16. The method according to claim 14 wherein the purchase order information is archived.
17. The method according to claim 14 wherein the online store configuration information for a service consists of at least one of a service description, a service price or a location of service performance.
18. The method according to claim 14 wherein the order of the purchase order information is specified by at least one of the Internet merchant, the intermediary merchant host or the customer merchant host.
19. The method according to claim 14 wherein the order of the purchase order information is specified in the form of a pre-defined purchase order information data template.
20. The method according to claim 19 wherein the pre-defined purchase order information data template is provided by at least one of the Internet merchant, the intermediary merchant host or the customer merchant host.
21. The method according to claim 14 wherein the file format for the purchase order information file is at least one of a text format, a spreadsheet file or text in an e-mail file.
22. The method according to claim 14 wherein the file format for the purchase order information file is specified by at least one of the Internet merchant, the intermediary merchant host or the customer merchant host.
23. The method according to claim 14 wherein the mode of communicating the formatted purchase order information file is at least one of e-mail, FTP or HTTP.
24. The method according to claim 14 wherein the mode of communicating the formatted purchase order information file may be specified by at least one of the Internet merchant, the intermediary merchant host or the customer merchant host.
25. The method according to claim 14 wherein the purchase order information file is stored in at least one of random access memory or read only memory.
26. The method according to claim 14 wherein processing of the Internet shopper's purchase order comprises at least one of reviewing the purchase order information, conducting an inventory check, preparing shipping materials or shipping the item to the Internet shopper.
27. The method according to claim 14 wherein only selected items of the archived purchase order information, as selected by at least one of the Internet merchant or the customer management host, are transmitted to the customer management host server.
28. The method according to claim 14 wherein the information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order comprises at least one of an indication of whether the order has been processed, shipped or is on back order.
29. The method according to claim 14 wherein the information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order is sent automatically to the customer management host server.
30. A system for processing an Internet shopper's purchase order at an Internet merchant computer consisting of a:
a. means for specifying the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide to complete a purchase on the online store;
b. means for specifying the ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file;
c. means for receiving the organised and formatted purchase order information file from the intermediary merchant host server;
d. means for storing and loading the content of the purchase order information file;
e. means for processing the Internet shopper's purchase order;
a. means for specifying the purchase order information that an Internet shopper must provide to complete a purchase on the online store;
b. means for specifying the ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file;
c. means for receiving the organised and formatted purchase order information file from the intermediary merchant host server;
d. means for storing and loading the content of the purchase order information file;
e. means for processing the Internet shopper's purchase order;
31. A method for transmitting an Internet shopper's purchase order information to a customer management host comprising the steps of:
a. selecting a portion of the purchase order information for archiving;
b. archiving the purchase order information c. transmitting the archived purchase order information to the customer management host server; and, d. transmitting information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server.
a. selecting a portion of the purchase order information for archiving;
b. archiving the purchase order information c. transmitting the archived purchase order information to the customer management host server; and, d. transmitting information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server.
32. A system for transmitting an Internet shopper's purchase order information to a customer management host consisting of a:
a. means for selecting the purchase order information for archiving b. means for archiving the purchase order information c. means for transmitting the archived purchase order information to the customer management host server; and, d. means for transmitting the information relating to status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server.
a. means for selecting the purchase order information for archiving b. means for archiving the purchase order information c. means for transmitting the archived purchase order information to the customer management host server; and, d. means for transmitting the information relating to status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server.
33. A method for p processing an Internet shopper's request for information relating to the status of his or her order at an intermediary merchant host comprising the steps of:
a. placing an embedded status link in an Internet merchant's online store;
b. providing an Internet shopper with access to the Internet merchant's online store;
c. receiving a request for status of Internet shopper's purchase order via the embedded status link;
d. relaying the Internet shopper's request for the status of the purchase order to the customer management host server;
a. placing an embedded status link in an Internet merchant's online store;
b. providing an Internet shopper with access to the Internet merchant's online store;
c. receiving a request for status of Internet shopper's purchase order via the embedded status link;
d. relaying the Internet shopper's request for the status of the purchase order to the customer management host server;
34. A system for processing an Internet shopper's request for information relating to the status of his or her order at an intermediary merchant host consisting of a:
a. means for placing an embedded status link in an Internet merchant's online store;
b. means for providing an Internet shopper with access to the Internet merchant's online store;
c. means for receiving a request for status of Internet shopper's purchase order via the embedded status link;
d. means for relaying the Internet shopper's request for the status of the purchase order to the customer management host server;
a. means for placing an embedded status link in an Internet merchant's online store;
b. means for providing an Internet shopper with access to the Internet merchant's online store;
c. means for receiving a request for status of Internet shopper's purchase order via the embedded status link;
d. means for relaying the Internet shopper's request for the status of the purchase order to the customer management host server;
35. A method for processing an Internet shopper's request for information relating to the status of his or her order at a customer management host comprising the steps of:
a. receiving the Internet shopper's request for the status of the purchase order from the intermediary merchant host;
b. querying a host relational database residing on the customer management host server for information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order;
c. retrieving the order status information from the host relational database;
and, d. transmitting the order status information to the Internet shopper.
a. receiving the Internet shopper's request for the status of the purchase order from the intermediary merchant host;
b. querying a host relational database residing on the customer management host server for information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order;
c. retrieving the order status information from the host relational database;
and, d. transmitting the order status information to the Internet shopper.
36. A system for processing an Internet shopper's request for information relating to the status of his or her order at a customer management host consisting of a:
a. means for receiving the Internet shopper's request for the status of the purchase order to the customer management host server;
b. means for querying a host relational database residing on the customer management host server for information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order;
c. means for retrieving the order status information from the host relational database; and, d. means for transmitting the order status information to the Internet shopper.
a. means for receiving the Internet shopper's request for the status of the purchase order to the customer management host server;
b. means for querying a host relational database residing on the customer management host server for information relating to the status of the Internet shopper's purchase order;
c. means for retrieving the order status information from the host relational database; and, d. means for transmitting the order status information to the Internet shopper.
37. A method for processing an Internet shopper's request for information relating to the inventory status of one or more selected items available at an Internet Merchant's online store comprising the steps of:
a. placing an embedded inventory link in an Internet merchant's online store;
b. providing an Internet shopper with access to the Internet merchant's online store;
c. receiving a request for inventory status of one or more selected items via the embedded inventory link;
d. relaying the Internet shopper's request for the inventory status of one or more selected items to the customer management host server;
a. placing an embedded inventory link in an Internet merchant's online store;
b. providing an Internet shopper with access to the Internet merchant's online store;
c. receiving a request for inventory status of one or more selected items via the embedded inventory link;
d. relaying the Internet shopper's request for the inventory status of one or more selected items to the customer management host server;
38. A system for processing an Internet shopper's request for information relating to the inventory status of one or more selected items available at an Internet Merchant's online store consisting of a:
a: means for placing an embedded inventory link in an Internet merchant's online store;
b. means for providing an Internet shopper with access to the Internet merchant's online store;
c. means for receiving a request for inventory status of one or more selected items via the embedded inventory link;
d. means for relaying the Internet shopper's request for the status of the purchase order to the customer management host server;
a: means for placing an embedded inventory link in an Internet merchant's online store;
b. means for providing an Internet shopper with access to the Internet merchant's online store;
c. means for receiving a request for inventory status of one or more selected items via the embedded inventory link;
d. means for relaying the Internet shopper's request for the status of the purchase order to the customer management host server;
39. A method for processing an Internet shopper's request for information relating to the inventory status of one or more selected items available at a customer management host comprising the steps of:
a. receiving the Internet shopper's request for the inventory status of one or more selected items from the intermediary merchant host;
b. querying a host relational database residing on the customer management host server for information relating to the inventory status of one or more selected items;
c. retrieving the inventory status information from the host relational database;
and, d. transmitting the inventory status information to the Internet shopper.
a. receiving the Internet shopper's request for the inventory status of one or more selected items from the intermediary merchant host;
b. querying a host relational database residing on the customer management host server for information relating to the inventory status of one or more selected items;
c. retrieving the inventory status information from the host relational database;
and, d. transmitting the inventory status information to the Internet shopper.
40. A system for processing an Internet shopper's request for information relating to the inventory status of one or more selected items at a customer management host consisting of a:
a. means for receiving the Internet shopper's request for the inventory status of one or more selected items to the customer management host server;
b. means for querying a host relational database residing on the customer management host server for information relating to the inventory status of one or more selected items;
c. means for retrieving the inventory status information from the host relational database; and, d. means for transmitting the inventory status information to the Internet shopper.
a. means for receiving the Internet shopper's request for the inventory status of one or more selected items to the customer management host server;
b. means for querying a host relational database residing on the customer management host server for information relating to the inventory status of one or more selected items;
c. means for retrieving the inventory status information from the host relational database; and, d. means for transmitting the inventory status information to the Internet shopper.
41. A method for processing an Internet merchant's request for a list of potential Internet shoppers at a customer management host server Internet comprising the steps of:
a. receiving customer information from Internet merchant computer;
b. storing and loading the customer information into a host relational database residing on the customer management host server;
c. receiving a request for a list of potential Internet shoppers from an Internet merchant;
d. querying the host relational database for a list of potential Internet shoppers;
e. retrieving the list of potential Internet shoppers; and, f. transmitting the list of potential Internet shoppers to the Internet merchant.
a. receiving customer information from Internet merchant computer;
b. storing and loading the customer information into a host relational database residing on the customer management host server;
c. receiving a request for a list of potential Internet shoppers from an Internet merchant;
d. querying the host relational database for a list of potential Internet shoppers;
e. retrieving the list of potential Internet shoppers; and, f. transmitting the list of potential Internet shoppers to the Internet merchant.
42. A system for processing an Internet merchant's request for a list of potential Internet shoppers at a customer management host server Internet consisting of a:
a. means for receiving customer information from Internet merchant computer;
b. means for storing and loading the customer information into a host relational database residing on the customer management host server;
c. means for receiving a request for a list of potential Internet shoppers from an Internet merchant;
d. means for querying the host relational database for a list of potential Internet shoppers;
e. means for retrieving the list of potential Internet shoppers; and, f. means for transmitting the list of potential Internet shoppers to the Internet merchant.
a. means for receiving customer information from Internet merchant computer;
b. means for storing and loading the customer information into a host relational database residing on the customer management host server;
c. means for receiving a request for a list of potential Internet shoppers from an Internet merchant;
d. means for querying the host relational database for a list of potential Internet shoppers;
e. means for retrieving the list of potential Internet shoppers; and, f. means for transmitting the list of potential Internet shoppers to the Internet merchant.
43. A purchase order information data file comprising purchase order information wherein the information, order and file format of the purchase order information is specified by at least one of an Internet merchant, an intermediary merchant host or a customer management host.
44. A software application for execution on an Internet merchant computer for processing an Internet shopper's purchase order and transmitting the Internet shopper's purchase order information to a customer management host, comprising:
a. an object for specifying the ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file;
b. an object for receiving the organised and formatted purchase order information file from the intermediary merchant host server;
c. an object for storing and loading the content of the purchase order information file;
d. an object for processing the Internet shopper's purchase order;
e. an object for selecting and archiving the purchase order information; and, f. an object for transmitting the archived purchase order information and the information relating to status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server.
a. an object for specifying the ordering of the purchase order information in the purchase order information file;
b. an object for receiving the organised and formatted purchase order information file from the intermediary merchant host server;
c. an object for storing and loading the content of the purchase order information file;
d. an object for processing the Internet shopper's purchase order;
e. an object for selecting and archiving the purchase order information; and, f. an object for transmitting the archived purchase order information and the information relating to status of the Internet shopper's purchase order to the customer management host server.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US69712700A | 2000-10-27 | 2000-10-27 | |
| US09/697,127 | 2000-10-27 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2360221A1 true CA2360221A1 (en) | 2002-04-27 |
Family
ID=24799905
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2360221 Abandoned CA2360221A1 (en) | 2000-10-27 | 2001-10-26 | Method and system for facilitating electronic commercial transactions |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2360221A1 (en) |
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN100334570C (en) * | 2002-07-12 | 2007-08-29 | 鸿富锦精密工业（深圳）有限公司 | Production capability forecasting and ordering system and method between enterprise systems |
| CN100394441C (en) * | 2002-06-06 | 2008-06-11 | 英业达股份有限公司 | System and method for online purchase processing |
-
2001
- 2001-10-26 CA CA 2360221 patent/CA2360221A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN100394441C (en) * | 2002-06-06 | 2008-06-11 | 英业达股份有限公司 | System and method for online purchase processing |
| CN100334570C (en) * | 2002-07-12 | 2007-08-29 | 鸿富锦精密工业（深圳）有限公司 | Production capability forecasting and ordering system and method between enterprise systems |
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