WO2001027834A2

WO2001027834A2 - Consumer purchasing system

Info

Publication number: WO2001027834A2
Application number: PCT/US2000/027818
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chris Burchett; Kevin Burchett
Original assignee: I2 Technologies, Inc.
Priority date: 1999-10-08
Filing date: 2000-10-09
Publication date: 2001-04-19
Also published as: AU7873600A; WO2001027834A8

Abstract

A system for marketing to on-line consumers includes a central repository of consumer information, and rules-based planning information. Consumer purchases and other on-line transactions, are made through an appliance which communicates with a central transaction server. The transaction server coordinates with retailers and manufacturers, both directly and through the central rules and information database, to enable personalized marketing campaigns directed at individuals and relatively small segments of consumers. The marketing campaign and interface with the consumer includes information from the manufacturing supply chain to both confirm product availability and provide input to retailer promotions. Elements of a targeted marketing campaign can be preloaded into the consumer interface appliance.

Description

CONSUMER PURCHASING SYSTEM

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to computerized ordering systems, and more specifically to an ordering system allowing a consumer to buy products over a distributed communication system such as the Internet.

Description of the Prior Art

With the advent of retailers who make sales over the Internet, home shopping is increasing at a growing rate. However, the overall level of consumer e-commerce which is performed is still relatively small. This is in part due to a slow rate of acceptance by consumers, and difficulties encountered by manufacturers and retailers in supporting such transactions. There are several factors contributing to the slow acceptance of e-commerce by consumers.

One factor is simply the low level of penetration into the consumer market. As more consumers adopt e-commerce for purchases, the market for providing such services will grow and will be provided to additional consumers. Factors which can be changed in a shorter term involve items such as cost of connecting to the Internet, complexity of the shopping process, and inconvenience. With respect to the latter, in particular, many types of consumer transactions are- not presently simple enough to make them attractive using traditional e-commerce approaches.

Some types of transactions are more easily performed, while others are more difficult. At the present time, relatively complex purchases, which may require feedback and selection of elements from the consumer, are becoming common internet purchases. For example, computers and other electronic appliances are commonly purchased from internet retailers. Generally, these are relatively complex, expensive, interactions which are not performed very often. In a similar manner, it is becoming more common for consumers to research automobile purchases over the Internet, with actual Internet purchases increasingly gaining acceptance. Again, these are one time, complex and expensive purchases for which it is not unreasonable for the consumer to spend a significant amount of time examining options and considering details of the purchase.

Computers and automobiles sold over the Internet can be customized to the individual consumers' taste. Other objects which are not customizable in this way, include entertainment materials such as books and CDs.

However, similar to more complex purchases, these are generally one-time purchases which are considered in some depth before the purchase is made.

Traditionally, consumer purchases of these types of items over the Intemet has been successful from a retailer's standpoint. It is less common for consumers to make inexpensive commodity purchases using Internet services. While some grocery stores, for example, accept orders off of the internet and deliver goods to customers routinely, this is much less common than sporadic purchases. While more sophisticated consumers do not find the complexity of typical Internet purchases overwhelming, even when used for simple purchases, most consumers find the complexity and cost unwarranted for simple, repetitive purchases such as grocery shopping.

However, as interface devices become simultaneously more sophisticated and simpler to use, there will be a growing demand for regular, simple commodity purchases using e-commerce. It will not be long before consumers will be able to make regular, commodity purchases over a distributed communications network such as the internet.

As consumers increasing buy commodity items over the internet, retailers will need to take advantage of knowledge and capabilities inherent in sophisticated systems to maximize both their relationship with their consumers, and their profit margins. Presently being advocated is the general concept of consumer profiling, in which marketing is directed to a specific consumer based upon his or her personal buying history. This allows a retailer to, theoretically, direct marketing at individual consumers rather than broad, general groups. However, the experience of on-line retailers recently has been that it is very difficult to make a profit in this medium.

It would be desirable to produce a system and method for e-commerce retailers and manufacturers to be able to market to individual consumers in a manner which both enhanced the relationship with their consumers and maintain profit margins.

Summary of the Invention In accordance with the present invention, a system for marketing to online consumers includes a central repository of consumer information, and rules-based planning information. Consumer purchases and other on-line transactions, are made through an appliance which communicates with a central transaction server. The transaction server coordinates with retailers and manufacturers, both directly and through the central rules and information database, to enable personalized marketing campaigns directed at individuals and relatively small segments of consumers. The marketing campaign and interface with the consumer includes information from the manufacturing supply chain to both confirm product availability and provide input to retailer promotions. Elements of a targeted marketing campaign can be preloaded into the consumer interface appliance.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a high level block diagram of preferred system architecture in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a block diagram of the subsystems involved in consumer marketing campaigns;

Figure 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating typical transactions;

Figure 4 is a flow chart showing steps undertaken by a retailer in response to a consumer purchase request;

Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating data flows necessary to implement certain marketing campaigns; and

Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating data use for preloaded and responsive marketing campaigns. Description of the Preferred Embodiment

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, numerous variations can be made on the preferred system described below. Many of the individual pieces of the system are already widely known and available, and will not be discussed in detail. Only so much of known technology as is necessary for an understanding of the present invention will be discussed in the following description.

Referring to Figure 1 , a system for marketing to consumers is designated generally with reference numeral 10. The system includes an information appliance 12 which is connected to a web transaction service 14. Information is entered in information appliance 12 by the consumer. The system allows consumers to enter information, search for alternatives, perform order entry, and check on the status of orders which have been made.

Web transaction services 14 are provided by a transaction server as is discussed in more detail below. Preferably, information appliance 12 and Web transaction services 14 are transparent to the consumer as described below, and do not require that the consumer be knowledgeable about Internet transactions.

The block labeled Order Fulfillment 16 encompasses manufacturing, delivery, and other processes related to fulfilling an order. For the most part, such processes are the same as those which are understood in the art.

In accordance with the preferred embodiment, intelligent, profile based content management 18 is made available to the Web Transaction Service 14 for implementing consumer oriented marketing campaigns. Content Management 18 is not concerned with taking and fulfilling orders, so much as it is concerned with interacting with the consumer and providing targeted marketing campaigns. Content Management 18 is preferably a rules based system as will be described further below.

Information Appliance 12 can be any suitable interface for presenting information to a consumer, and receiving input and orders. In theory, this could be a personal computer such as is presently widely available. However, preferably Information Appliance 12 is a device which has a relatively simple consumer interface, and is not used in the manner of a general purpose personal computer. Although more sophisticated devices can be used, the Appliance 12 is a dedicated device, having a minimal number of input buttons or a touch screen. Typically, a keyboard and similar external attachments are not provided with Appliance 12. Appliance 12 may be permanently mounted in an appropriate location in the consumer's home, such as the kitchen, or may be a removable hand-held device. In the latter case, Appliance 12 may be docked in a cradle in order to communicate with remainder of the system, or it may be a radio-connected device that can be in constant communication with a local base station. In any case, the appliance 12 can be connected to web transaction services 14 in an always on mode, or via a dial up connection.

Such a portable device is also preferably of limited complexity as relates to the consumer interface itself. Devices similar in nature to PALM PILOT devices, available from PALM computing, are typical of the type of hardware which may be used. As the system of the present invention comes into more widespread use, dedicated devices are expected to be generated for it. Although more complex, hand-held computers can be used as the Information Appliance 12, it is believed that consumers will more readily accept a simple, dedicated interface for commodity shopping.

In a preferred embodiment, appliance 12 includes a bar code scanner attached to, or integral with, the device. Items can be added to a shopping list by merely scanning the UPC label for an item as is used. This ensures that all items which are used up are replenished. By default, the consumer can be assumed to be replacing an item with the same product. However, the consumer is able to edit the order list, as described below, and advertisements of similar products may be used to encourage the consumer to buy alternative products.

As described further below, marketing campaigns may vary somewhat depending on the nature of the Appliance 12. For a permanently mounted Appliance 12, it is preferable that it is connected to web transaction services 14 so that it always has a live connection. This allows promotions to be made instantly in response to consumer input. In addition, promotions and advertisements can be constantly compiled, generated and running in the background while the consumer is not directly accessing the device. Further, when Appliance 12 is attached in an always on mode, current prices and delivery schedules for any ordered items can be checked at the time of order entry rather than waiting until an order is entered in a batch.

If Appliance 12 is portable, and not connected in an always on condition through a radio link, it may be desirable to preload portions of a marketing campaign. Based upon the consumer's past purchase history, current promotions related to goods most commonly purchased can be preloaded into Appliance 12, and displayed in interaction with the user when items are ordered off-line. If the proper elements of the marketing campaign are preloaded in this matter, the user will notice very little difference between operation when disconnected and operation when Appliance 12 is mounted in its cradle or otherwise attached to a server.

Various ad campaigns which vary based upon consumer's buying history can be made. Further approaches can be used with the preferred system. In particular, the use of campaigns and promotions which utilize supply chain availability and pricing information enables attractive promotions to be presented to the consumer. This is described in further detail below.

Referring to Figure 2, a structure diagram shows data and goods flows within the preferred system. Consumer 20 accesses a Transaction Server 22 through the consumer's information appliance as described above. Transaction Server 22 is the central contact point of contact for 20 in this purchasing system. Because a significant percentage of user interaction is routed through Transaction Server 22, consumer preferences and activity profiling can be performed. Data Link 24 between Consumer 20 and Transaction Server 22 is bi-directional, with orders and queries, consumer information and profile information, and other data such as to-do calendars, passing to Transaction Server 22. Product availability, order confirmation, dynamic pricing, advertisements, and marketing campaign material pass from Transaction Server 22 to Consumer 20.

Transaction Server 22 communicates with Decision Support Service Provider 26 over link 28. Decision support provider 26 is a central repository containing both consumer buying preferences and profiles, and rules based marketing campaign information provided by retailers, manufacturers, and advertisers. Retailer 30, Manufacturer 32, and Advertiser 34 are connected to decision support provider 26 by communication links 36, 38 and 40 respectively. Decision Support Provider 26, which may or may not be owned by the same entity as Transaction Server 22, provides marketing assistance services to the various parties in communication with it in return for either service fees, or service transaction overhead charges. Communication links labeled as Reference No. 42 represent data links between the various parties for optimizing business processes. This data includes, for example, supply chain pricing and availability information, and order status confirmation. Such information and communication links are used in, for example RHYTHM Business Process Optimization software available from i2 Technologies.

The directed arrows labeled 44 in Figure 2 represent the flow of actual goods from the manufacturer and retailer to the consumer. In Figure 2, hard goods flow is shown as traveling from the manufacturer to the distributor/retailer, and then on to the consumer. However, it will be appreciated that shipments may be made directly from a manufacturer, or other entity, to the consumer.

The boxes labeled "Transport 46" in Figure 2 represent numerous various techniques for shipping goods to consumers. These include consumer pick up, drive-through, and all forms of commercial delivery services, and delivery organizations which may be associated with a retailer 30 or other entity. Decision Support Service Provider 26 preferably uses a collection of rules, which can be provided by Retailer 30, Manufacturer 32, consumer 20, and Advertiser 34, to manage advertising campaigns presented to Consumer 20. Sophistication of the advertising campaigns will depend upon both the desires of the various advertising entities, and the capabilities of the hardware and software systems used to implement the described system. In general, the point of the advertising campaign is to present special offers and promotions to the consumer when orders are being made, while dynamically adjusting to prior consumer input and inferred preference. For example, when a consumer orders a box of cereal, if there is a campaign executing to promote a larger size box, information regarding a special sale or discount for the larger size is presented to the consumer while the order is being made. This gives the consumer the option of changing his order to a larger size to take advantage of the promotion.

Other campaign approaches are to present collateral items that are the subject of current promotions and are related to objects a consumer purchases.

1 For example, suggested dips which are the subject of a promotion may be presented to a consumer when potato chips are being ordered. This type of promotion management provides Retailer 30 an opportunity to enhance its relationship with Consumer 20. By providing the consumer with promotions of interest to the consumer, customer loyalty is enhanced. In addition, retailer 30 can tailor the promotions to take advantage of overstocked inventory, discounts available from manufacturers, and other dynamic situations.

Theoretically, marketing campaigns can be directed to a level of detail of the individual consumer. In many instances, it will not be practical to manage large enough amounts of data to completely separate and identify each consumer. Rather, consumers meeting certain target profiles will be eligible for a particular promotion. As technology and profile information become more robust, this will occur directly through the system. Because the consumer's profile is available from the decision support provider 26, promotions can be tailored as desired to improve sales and enhance customer loyalty. Referring to the latter aspect, advertising campaigns which promote customer loyalty can be quite sophisticated, based upon customer profiles and current buying patterns. For example, customers who regularly purchase greater numbers of targeted products can be provided with discounts, free merchandise, and other promotions. These promotions can be selective based upon a decision as what would appeal to certain types of consumers, and dynamically take into account product availability and pricing coming from the manufacturer and other sources.

Referring to Figure 3, typical transactions performed by the system are shown in a timeline. Each vertical line represents a function within the system, some of which are located in a particular place. Consumer Column 20 represents the individual consumer. The column labeled IA stands for Information Appliance 12, and represents the hand-held or other device used by the consumer to interface with the system. Transaction System 22 handles the details of sending information to the information appliance and taking orders. The columns labeled Retail OCS (Online Consumer Services) and Dynamic Marketing are provided generally by Manufacturer 32, Retailer 30 and Decisions Services Provider 26, respectively, but may be provided by other parties.

Pre-order content download 50 refers to downloading of information prior to a particular order being made by the consumer. As described above, advertising and other promotional information may be downloaded in advance. In addition, pricing for goods and services typically ordered by a particular consumer, based upon their buying habits, are preferably preloaded into Information Appliance 12. The actual process of downloading is handled by Transaction System 22, with targeted ads being provided by Decision Support Service Provider 26, and item and pricing information being provided by Retailer 30 and manufacturer 32.

Order entry 52 is illustrated for a single entry, and may be repeated a number of times as desired. This is an operation whereby the consumer builds and reuses multiple order lists, similar to an handwritten store shopping list used by many consumers, prior to committing to the order. This is an interactive process, by which the consumer selects items to be added to the list. At the times items are selected, details of the item are presented to the user, and discount coupons and other promotions may be offered. Once the selection is made as desired, it is edited if necessary, and confirmed to Information Appliance 12.

Order Entry 52 is shown as strictly a local transaction, which would be the case with a device 12 which is not connected in real time to Transaction Server 22. If the Information Appliance 12 is connected on line, additional information about the item, and its availability, may be made available from Transaction Server 22 through Retailer 30 and manufacturer 32. While this is the ultimate planned delivery of the system, it is likely that some type of remote or off line entry such as shown in Order Entry 52 will be utilized initially due to bandwidth limitations. In step 54, Order Review and Submission, the consumer is reminded that an order needs to be submitted, and edits may be made if desired. Once a shopping list is acceptable, the order containing the selected items is submitted. Because current item pricing and availability was made available to the consumer as items were added to the order list in an on-line mode, it should not be necessary at this point to inform the consumer that certain items are differently priced or not available. If an order list was created in an off-line mode, any price changes affecting the order will need to be communicated to the consumer before the list is finally accepted. The process of consumer interaction with information Appliance 12 is similar to that performed by a consumer who makes a shopping list and takes it with them to the store. Further, because of the interactive nature of the system, and its targeting to specific consumers based upon their unique logins, the consumer is presented with choices and promotions in a manner similar to a personal shopping assistant who accompanies the consumer around the store. The consumer is presented with general promotions that may be of interest, and can be presented with alternative promotions and marketing as each item is entered. When an order is transmitted, the system is presented with another opportunity to provide targeted consumer ads, and item pricing and description. The order is transferred from information Appliance 12 to Transaction System 22, which requests the selected items from retailer 30 or manufacturer 32. A promise is received in return, indicating that all of the selected items are available, the product is reserved by the system for a period of time, and detailing a delivery schedule. The order is forwarded to decision support service provider 26 to update the consumer's profile, which may result in additional targeted ads being generated. The status of the order, and any additional promotional material, is returned to information Appliance 12 as part of the order transaction.

At any time after an order is entered, its status may be reviewed 58. Also, the order may be cancelled entirely, or cancelled in order to submit a modified order if desired. The order or its delivery can also be postponed or rescheduled. The data flow for querying the status, or rescheduling or canceling an order passes from the consumer through his or her appliance to retailer 30 or manufacturer 32, with the status of the order being returned to a consumer as shown. Preferably, a unique order tracking number is used to aid this process.

Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating a high level outline of the order entry and confirmation process undertaken by Retailer 30. This is generally in the manner that such orders are currently fulfilled using i2 Technologies' RHYTHM suite and similar planning products. When a consumer purchase request is received 60, availability of the requested goods is confirmed 62 in the manner previously described. A promise 64 is returned to the consumer detailing when the goods will be available and any terms related to the order. The order may

I D be placed with the manufacturers 66 or delivered directly from inventory if it is available. In the case of perishable goods and similar items purchased at, for example, a grocery store, these items will usually be delivered out of local stock or by a delivery company. In this case, the impact of the order on inventory is recorded so that new inventory may be ordered immediately from the manufacturer as needed. Qas is known in the art, availability information and the promise step can occur at the beginning or the end of te transaction, depending upon the implementation desired.

The order status is monitored 68 until it is delivered to a consumer, with this information being available to the consumer via query as described above.

Figure 5 details data flows utilized by the system in order to support marketing campaigns. In general, a marketing campaign will be a set of promotions, discounts, or buying suggestions made in response to activity undertaken by the consumer. Although general, broadcast marketing techniques can and will be used, the benefits of this system are found in personal, contextual marketing.

For example, when a consumer is purchasing personal items such as toothpaste or deodorant, that may be an appropriate time to notify the consumer of a promotion for related items such as shampoo. Of course, if the consumer is already making a shampoo purchase, they should be notified about any campaign for that particular product or type of product. The system also knows that when products are already in the cart, a notice to purchase that specific product should not be made. Loyal consumers, who have purchased large volumes of goods over time, can be rewarded with discounts and special promotions at any time.

In many cases, consumable goods are replaced with the same product. For example, many consumers always use a single brand of toothpaste or mouthwash. For those consumers, when toothpaste is selected as an item to be ordered, the user will be presented with their previous selection as a default. Other consumers, who have shown by their buying habits to be cost conscious rather than brand conscious, could be presented initially with the least expensive brands of toothpaste presently available. Classification of consumers by their buying habits is discussed further in connection with Figure 6. As well as choosing brands or products, consumers may also select between retail providers for the same goods. In much the same manner that a consumer currently may shop at more than one grocery store, particularly for price and quality of perishable goods such as produce, consumers will be able to select from more than one retailer or manufacturer. Once a consumer has indicated a preference for one provider over another for a particular category of goods, selection of those types of goods can generate a default retailer or manufacturer from whom they will be purchased. Although, in general, retailers and manufacturers would like to entirely capture a consumer for sales of all goods which are provided by them, this is unlikely to happen regularly in a dynamic market place. For this reason, manufacturer store level data inputs are provided and matched to unique consumer profiles wherever possible.

Both manufacturer 32 and retailer 30 utilize as input information related specifically their business. This includes supply chain information, inventory, levels on aging, pricing and sales goals for each business. Sales goals such as establishing target profit margins or market share percentages will often have an influence on the purpose and conduct of marketing campaigns. Inventory levels and supply chain product availability will also have an impact on promotions. For example, overstocked items can be promoted at a discount to good customers to enhance their loyalty.

Figure 5 does not show the actual routing of data, but indicates the origin and destination of selected information. In this diagram, all consumer information is shown as going to the retailer. However, it will be understood than in many cases the retailer and the manufacturer may be one and the same. In such a case, information described as going to the retailer instead goes to the retailer/manufacturer.

For example, orders and preferences are communicated from the consumer to the retailer or manufacturer. As described in connection with Figure 2, orders are generally transferred directly to retailer 30 or manufacturer 32 through transaction server 22. Consumer preferences and profiles are made available to retailer 30 and manufacturer 32 through decision support service 26. However, the profile and preference information is eventually made available on a permission basis to retailer 30 and manufacturer 32, so data flow from consumer to retailer 30 is directly indicated in Figure 5.

\o Retailer 30 takes information about individual consumers, its own supply, inventory and sales information, and combines it with information available from its various manufacturers 32 to make decisions about marketing campaigns. If a manufacturer 32 is making special deals available to its retailer customers, retailer 30 can utilize this information in formulating its marketing campaigns for its consumers 20. Retailer 30 and manufacturer 32 must always exchange orders and current product availability information, but this relates to current processing of orders entered by the consumer. Of perhaps more interest is the ability for retailer 30 to communicate to manufacturer 32 product needs and future plans generated from express and inferred analytics in order to work with manufacturer 32 to generate marketing campaigns.

Various parts of advertising campaign collaborations can be made between manufacturer 32 and retailer 30 using the decision support service 26. Because of the comprehensive data on a large number of consumers contained within decision support service 26, both manufacturer 32 and retailer 30 will be able to direct marketing campaigns in a fine grain manner (one-to-one) to specific segments of the consumer population. Thus, decision support service 26 plays a key role in selecting and implanting marketing campaigns. However, it is ultimately up to retailer 30 and manufacturer 32, working together, to decide what collaborative campaigns will be executed.

In many cases, retailer 30 is able to define and implement marketing campaigns without any input from manufacturer 32. This is especially true in customer loyalty campaigns and promotions related to generic products which are regularly widely available. Retailer 30 can use its supply chain pricing and availability information to determine an appropriate selling price for most products. When a retailer is informed of upcoming deals to be offered by a manufacturer, a retailer can tailor a marketing campaign around future promised availability and deals.

Some types of campaigns may require collaboration between manufacturer 32 and retailer 30. This is, of course, required for many promotional items, such as may be made in connection with a popular movie or other well-known event. It may also be true in the case of standard products when the anticipated volume of sales will be significantly above normal, putting a strain on product availability from manufacturer 32. Various campaigns may have to be spaced in time in order to avoid overwhelming the resources of either manufacturer 32 or retailer 30.

Campaigns are implemented by sets of business rules and optimization algorithms contained within decision support service 26. Rules define types of ads and promotions to be made available to consumers in response to certain types of events. Some promotions may merely be general in nature, and presented to the consumer on a regular basis. More specific, targeted campaigns will generally be made in response to specific ordering or inquiry events performed by a consumer. For example, assume that a soft drink manufacturer and grocery retailer are collaborating to increase sales of a particular product line. By mining the wealth of data available in the decision support service 26, the particular manufacturer and retailer may have decided that a promotional "give-away" item is to be awarded to all good customers of the retailer who purchase a certain volume of the targeted drink group within a time period of one month. A set of rules is then implemented in decision support service 26 which defines the targeted class of consumers based upon previous buying patterns, and generates different type of reminders for these consumers based upon orders they make during the campaign. By referring to an individual consumers' historical purchase record, the campaign can even inform the consumer how close they are to qualifying for the promotional item. Various reminder ads can be sent to the consumer whenever drinks are ordered, in particular, with more general ads being made from time to time to target a consumer any time they are shopping for food items. By maintaining a central repository of both information and rules, both retailers and manufacturers can collaborate to market to any definable set of the consumer population.

Figure 6 is a diagram indicating data flows used to generate advertisements to be sent to individual consumers 20. An advertising router function 70 is provided within decision support services 26, and works with transaction server 22 to determine when advertisements are to be downloaded to the consumer via his or her information appliance 12. Responsive marketing refers to advertisements sent to the consumer in response to actions taken by the consumer, such as placing an order or making a product inquiry. Preloaded marketing refers to advertisements transferred to the consumer's information

IH appliance 12 other than in response to an event generated by the consumer. These advertisements may be preloaded at any convenient time, which can be when the consumer is not using his or her appliance, or even in the background during unrelated actions being undertaken by the consumer. The distinction is not whether the consumer is accessing the device at any particular time, but whether ads are being sent to the device for immediate display in response to consumer input. As described above, many of the advertisements and promotions which will be sent to the consumer can be preloaded into the device based upon previous buying patterns and marketing campaigns which are currently in effect.

Target marketing engine 70 uses individual consumer profiles 72 to determine which ads to send to which consumer. These profiles are based upon buying histories of individual consumers, or at least a household of consumers using a single appliance. Determination of which ads to send is made in conjunction with campaigns and goals 73.

Profile 72 also includes specific preferences that have been entered by the consumer in response to preference questions. For example, it is not necessary for the system to obtain an order history prior to knowing anything about the consumer. At any time, and in particular when a consumer is first added into the system, having the consumer answer a series of basic questions will immediately establish a significant amount of profile information. These preferences, taken in conjunction with actual buying habits over time, constitute the individual consumer profile 72. Companies already having loyalty programs can provide additional information and possibly historical purchase data. In some instances, again in particular when a consumer is newly added to the system, an individual consumer profile will not be complete. Rather than miss opportunities to include such consumers and target marketing campaigns, it is preferable to supply a set of templates 74 containing default profile information for use until actual information is obtained from a consumer. When a consumer first enters the system, and answers a series of initial preference questions, the closest matching template 74 is used to assign inferred preferences to that consumer. As additional data is acquired, different templates may be identified as more accurately representing that consumer, changing some of the inferred preferences. The point of using these templates is to allow specific directed marketing campaigns to be directed to consumers who do not yet have a complete profile. Templates include, but are not limited to, identifying classes of consumers as brand loyal, bargain shopper, retailer loyal, and so forth. Individual consumer profiles, enhanced by inferred preferences through the use of templates where necessary, are preferably used to provide services other than simply directing advertising to the consumer. For example, the type of interface presented to the consumer over the information appliance 12 can be varied to better suit an individual consumer's needs and desires. The data presented can be simpler or more complex depending upon the consumer's desires and abilities, and the nature of the advertisements, as well as simply their existence, can vary depending upon details of the consumer.

For example, consumers can be divided into different types of purchasers. Routine home user consumers can be differentiated from sporadic home purchasers and regular business users. Each of these types can further be broken down into sub-categories.

For example, a routine home purchaser could be categorized as a convenient shopper, a bargain shopper, or a brand loyal shopper. A brand loyal shopper is generally presented with more information related to their particular desired brands, and marketing campaigns are directed to them to maintain and enhance their brand loyalty. Bargain shoppers are generally looking for the cheapest product, and discount advertising, in particular, is directed to this type of consumer.

A convenience shopper could be defined as one who uses the order entry system to simplify his or her shopping tasks, but otherwise wants it to correspond as much as possible to handwritten shopping lists and a trip to the grocery store. For this type of consumer, the order entry and confirmation interface must be made as simple as possible to encourage use. The interface used for these shoppers could be categorized as one that supports guided buying. More sophisticated consumers in a similar role can be presented with additional details or choices if they so desire. An interface more suitable for expert buying could be used. Much of this distinction will be made based upon preferences indicated by the consumer, but may change over time based upon selections to show or hide detail made over time by that consumer.

\\c The described system provides a number of advantages over electronic commerce shopping systems currently available. Retailers can now direct marketing campaigns to individual consumers based upon profiles which include both buying history and selected preferences. Whenever this does not generate a complete profile, a template profile can be used to infer missing elements of the profile.

By preloading advertising to the consumer, promotions and other ads can be made instantaneously in response to consumer activity with the information appliance. This is especially useful in situations which have bandwidth limitations anywhere in the system, or in which the appliance may be disconnected from a communication source temporarily and carried by the consumer.

By utilizing supply chain information, a retailer can better plan its marketing campaigns and promotions to correspond with what will actually be available from manufacturers. This can be taken further to allow collaborative marketing campaigns to be made between manufacturers and retailers. By allowing both of these groups of companies to access a large knowledge base of information regarding consumer buying habits and responses to previous campaigns, manufacturers and retailers can collaborate to implement extremely effective marketing campaigns. This is an improvement over current situations in which one or both sets of companies has incomplete consumer data, and allows effective campaigns to be targeted to very specific groups of individual consumers.

The described system allows for "same-type" purchases to be easily handled. Multiple manufacturers and retailers can provide consumers with joint offerings that are "packaged" for purchasing convenience. These can be repurchased by the consumer with a simple selection process consisting of one or two selections. The convenience of single selection purchasing of a heterogeneous mix of products may encourage consumers to stay with that mix rather than change to substitute products.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

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Claims

1. A method for marketing products and services to a plurality of consumers having consumer interface devices, comprising the steps of: obtaining from the consumer interface devices information regarding each consumer; building a profile of each consumer using the obtained information; determining future availability of a selected product from a manufacturer; selecting a set of consumers, using the consumer profiles and the future availability of the selected product, to receive product promotions for the selected product; and making a sales promotion to the selected group of consumers to influence them to buy the selected product.

2. The method of Claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: receiving an order for the selected product from one of the selected consumers; and shipping one of the selected products to the consumer making the order.

3. The method of Claim 1 , wherein the step of selecting a set of consumers comprises the steps of: choosing a set of consumer profile characteristics that are suitable for receiving the product promotion; and selecting as the set of consumers those having profile characteristics matching the chosen set.

4. The method of Claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: in response to the future availability determination, defining a first time period during which a promotion for the product will occur which is consistent with the determination of availability of product from the manufacturer; and selecting a price for the product that reflects a discount being offered by the manufacturer; wherein the sales promotion is made during the defined time period.

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5. A method for marketing products to selected sets of consumers, comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of templates identifying a plurality of classes of consumers, each template having a plurality of defined characteristics; obtaining a partial profile from an identified consumer, such partial profile having a subset of the defined characteristics provided by the templates; selecting a first template providing a best match to the identified consumer's partial profile, and assigning to the identified consumer defined characteristics of the first template missing from the identified consumer's partial profile; and promoting a product to a plurality of consumers having a first set of defined characteristics, wherein the first set of defined characteristics includes at least one defined characteristic that was assigned to the identified consumer from the first template; wherein the product is promoted to the identified consumer even though the partial profile does not include all defined characteristics in the first set.

6. The method of Claim 5, further comprising the steps of: obtaining additional profile characteristics for the identified customer to provide an updated partial profile; and selecting a second template, different from the first template, which provides a best match to the identified customer's updated partial profile.

7. The method of Claim 5, wherein the first set of defined characteristics includes at least one characteristic that is included in the identified customer's partial profile.

8. A method for providing promotional information to a consumer, comprising the steps of: generating a profile of the consumer; selecting a set of items containing promotional information based upon the consumer profile; downloading the set of selected items to a consumer interface device, and storing the downloaded items in a memory on the consumer interface device; and in response to consumer use of the interface device, displaying items on the consumer interface device chosen from the set of selected items.

9. The method of Claim 8, further comprising the step of: displaying items from the set of selected items on the user interface device in a predetermined order not responsive to consumer use of the device.

10. The method of Claim 9, wherein the selected items are displayed in a random order.

11. The method of Claim 8, further comprising the steps of: in response to consumer use of the interface device, downloading additional items containing promotional information for immediate display on the interface device.

12. A system for selling products to a consumer, comprising: a consumer interface device for displaying information and receiving input from the consumer; interface software running on the consumer interface device for accepting orders for products to be purchased, and for displaying advertising of products available to be purchased; a communication link connected to a product supplier for communicating orders from the consumer interface device to the product supplier; a storage subsystem for maintaining a record of consumer purchases made using the consumer interface device, wherein the record of consumer purchases is incorporated into a consumer profile of purchasing patterns;

£X> a set of rules for defining consumer categories based upon content of consumer profiles; a set of promotional items containing information about products available for purchase through the consumer interface device, wherein each promotional item is associated with at least one of the consumer categories; and a system for transmitting promotional items over the communication link to the consumer interface device; wherein the transmitted promotional items are selected from those associated with a consumer category corresponding to the consumer profile.

13. The system of Claim 12, wherein the product supplier is a manufacturer.

14. The system of Claim 12, wherein the product supplier is a retailer.

15. The system of Claim 12, wherein the storage subsystem further includes purchasing preferences entered by the consumer through the consumer interface device, and wherein the consumer profile includes patterns based upon both entered purchasing preferences and the record of consumer purchases.

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