Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q30/00—Commerce
  • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method related to the vending of goods or services to a customer through the homepage(s) of a net shop, with the use of a computer system, as well as a computer system for performing such a method, for the acquisition of new customers.
• net-based stores or so-called net shops
• net shops Instead of sending catalogues and advertising using conventional mail, as is normal for mail-order firms, for instance, net shops use direct mailing to a large extent, with the use of e-mail.
• e-mail with advertisements or offers, are commonly called “spam”, and are generally not wanted by the recipients. Therefore, so-called “spam- filters”, which prevent this type of e-mail from reaching a person's e-mail terminal, have become common. Hence, only little of this e-mail reaches the recipients, and e-mail that does, is seldom read.
• Net shops also often advertise with advertisements on the net sites of others, with a direct link to the home page of the net shop for which it is advertised. This is expensive, and it is accordingly desirable to employ other means for acquiring new customers.
• US patent application 2002/0049646 describes a method and means for using the support of existing customers to acquire new customers with the use of e-mail, where the sender address of an e-mail is the e-mail address of an existing customer.
• an e-mail is sent to an existing customer of a net shop or another kind of store having a home page, request to introduce the net shop or the store to acquaintances of the customer. If the customer agrees, he will be presented to a home page with information about an introduction system. The customer will then enter personalia, such as name and e-mail address, of his acquaintances, to whom he wants to introduce the net shop. A new e-mail, with an introduction of the net shop, is then sent to the existing customer. The customer must then, for instance by means of a forwarding-function of his e-mail program, forward this e-mail to his acquaintances.
• the acquaintances then receive e-mail from the existing customer, with an introduction of the net shop. Because the e-mail has the customer's e-mail address as sender address, it is not halted by the spam filter. If one or more of these acquaintances (potential customers) trade with the net shop (or another store with a home page), the existing customer will be rewarded with a recruitment price or a discount on a future purchase. This reward may be in accordance with the number of acquired new customers.
• the main object of the present invention is to provide a method, with the use of a computer system, and a computer system, for acquiring new customers for a net shop or another store with a home page, in an easy and efficient manner.
• a special object of the invention is to motivate a customer of a net shop or a store with a home page to submit the e-mail addresses of his acquaintances.
• a customer is connected to a home page by means of a terminal connected to a network, for instance a computer connected to the Internet, or a cellular phone.
• a terminal connected to a network
• the term "home page” means a machine-readable information source connected to the network, having store or net shop specific information, such as information concerning offered goods and/or services of a store or net shop.
• the home page is preferably an Internet-based home page.
• the customer will preferably be informed about the amount of discount before he must decide if he is to accept the offer. If he accepts the offer, and submits contact information for one or more of his acquaintances, he will be offered a new, discounted price. Thereafter he may complete the purchase with this lower price.
• the term "acquaintances of the customer” means persons or legal persons, of whom the customer has contact information.
• the term “contact information” of acquaintances means info ⁇ nation about the acquaintances of the customer, which, with the aid of the computer system, makes it is possible to contact the acquaintances through a network.
• Such contact information will preferably be e-mail addresses or phone numbers for cellular phones, or the like.
• the contact information of the customer means corresponding information about the customer.
• an information package in electronic form can be automatically generated and sent over the network, preferably as an e-mail over the Internet, to the terminals of the acquaintances for whom the customer has submitted contact information.
• the contact information of the acquaintances of the customer is used as target address for the information package, i.e. the address to which the information package shall be sent.
• At least one of the terminals and at least one software program is supervised or is controlled by the vendor.
• the information package preferably comprises net shop or store specific information, such as a general introduction to the net shop and/or offers on selected goods, for instance.
• the information package also comprises contact information of the existing customer, preferably the customer's e-mail address, so that it seemingly appears that the information package has been sent by the customer. Since the computer system provides for the automatic sending of information packages to those of the customer's acquaintances for whom he has submitted contact information, the customer himself does not need to forward e-mails to his acquaintances, for instance by using the forward function of an e-mail program.
• automatic sending means that the information package is sent by the system, without intervention of the customer or the vendor (the net shop /store) after the customer has submitted the contact information of his acquaintances.
• the sending of the info ⁇ nation package may possibly be manually confirmed by a person, before or after the generation of the information package by the computer system.
• the existing customer receives an e-mail from the homepage of the net shop or another store, with a request to introduce the homepage to his acquaintances, the customer may perceive the e- mail as spam or unwanted, and delete it without reading it.
• the object is acheived without the existing customer receiving any such e-mail.
• info ⁇ nation package preferably an e-mail, which is sent to the acquaintances of the customer, and hence potentially new customers, it may advantageously appear that the customer has purchased from the homepage in question. A potential new customer will then see that an acquaintance has performed a purchase, and will then have more confidence with the homepage and be more willing to pay.
• a substantial feature of the present invention is that the acquaintances of the customer, who receive information packages on their network-connected terminals, will see that the information package (seemingly) is sent from the customer, i.e. an acquaintance. Firstly, this will ensure that the information package is not filtered by a so-called spam filter. Secondly, it will yield a greater interest in the information package, as the sender name is a familiar name.
• Figure 1 shows a simplified structure for the computer system according to the invention
• Figure 2 shows a flow chart for a method according to the invention
• Figure 3 schematically shows an example of the calculation of a discounted price, as well as the generation and sending of e-mails, and
• Figure 4 shows the simplified structure in Figure 1, but with a database attached to the network, for a particular embodiment according to the invention.
• FIG. 1 shows an example of a simple structure of the computer system according to the invention.
• the structure comprises terminals Tl, Tl, T3, T4 and NS.
• Terminal Tl represents a customer's computer.
• Terminals T2, T3, and T4 represent the computers of acquaintances of the customer, and terminal NS represents the te ⁇ ninal of a net shop.
• Tl, T2, T3 and/or T4 can also be other types of units connected to a network, such as cellular phones or PDAs.
• the computer system further comprises software, comprising a software program SP in connection with the net shop terminal NS.
• FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart for the execution of a method according to the invention.
• the customer with terminal Tl chooses, in step 101, to purchase an item or a service for a fixed price through the home page of a net shop.
• step 102 he is offered to purchase with a discounted price, in exchange for submitting the e-mail addresses of some of his acquaintances.
• the offer he gets information about how much discount he may obtain. If he does not want to make use of the offer, he chooses "no". He will then get on to step 103, where he can confirm and complete the purchase, with the original price. If on the other hand, he wants to make use of the offer, he chooses "yes".
• He will then, in step 104, be requested to enter e-mail addresses of some of his acquaintances. Preferably he will be requested to enter the e-mail addresses of acquaintances, which he believes may be interested in the net shop. He may for instance choose to enter three e-mail addresses.
• the computer system then calculates a discounted price by means of the software program SP, on the basis of the original price and how many e-mail addresses the customer has entered.
• step 106 the discounted price is then presented to the customer, and he or she completes the purchase by confirming the purchase with the new price.
• e-mails E2, E3 and E4 in Figure 1
• the e-mails are automatically generated by means of the software program SP.
• the e-mails have the e-mail address of the acquaintances of the customer in the "to" address field, and the e-mail address of the customer in the "from" address field, and comprise preferably information about the net shop and that the customer has performed a purchase there.
• the e-mails will in this manner avoid being filtered away by any spam filtres, and will moreover arouse interest from the recipients.
• the generation and the sending of e-mails to the acquaintances of the customer can also be performed before the customer has completed the purchase, and possibly also independent of whether the customer completes the purchase or not.
• Figure 3 shows a calculation example for the calculation of the discounted price, and the generation and sending of e-mails.
• the customer has chosen goods and/or services for the price 1 with a face value of $ 21, and wants to submit e-mail addresses of his acquaintances to obtain a discounted price 3.
• the customer obtains a discount 3 of $ 2 per address.
• the computer system calculates a discounted price 4 with a face value of $ 15 ($ 21 - $ 2 - $ 2 - $ 2), by means of the software program SP.
• This discounted price 4 is then automatically forwarded to a payment page 5, where it is presented to the customer, so that the customer can complete the purchase.
• the e-mails E2, E3, E4, which shall be sent to the e-mail addresses the customer has submitted are generated. This is automatically done by means of the software program SP and the computer system.
• the discounted price can also be calculated in such a way that a percentual discount is given, independent of the original price, for instance 3 % discount for each of the first ten e-mail addresses that are submitted.
• the contact information (the e-mail addresses) are in fact real addresses. If the contact information is not genuine, i.e. the e-mail address does not really exist, the customer can be notified about this at once, and be requested to enter genuine contact information.
• Figure 4 illustrates a particular embodiment according to the invention.
• the computer system comprises a database DB for the storage of purchase specific information from the purchases of goods and/or services of various customers, through different home pages.
• purchase specific information from a plurality of purchases/sales through various home pages, is automatically stored in the database DB.
• the contact information which a customer submits in order to obtain a discounted price, is also stored in the database DB.
• the automatic storage in the database DB can advantageously be provided for by the software program SP, as indicated with a broken line in Figure 4.
• the transmission of the information occurs preferably through the network N.
• the contact information of the acquaintances, which the customer submits during a purchase may also be used later, and by others than just the net shop or store in question, from which the customer is purchasing.
• the purchase specific information can advantageously contain contact info ⁇ nation for the one who has purchased, what he has purchased, when he has purchased, price of the goods/service, where
• the database will hence contain valuable information for stores that want to advertise their goods or services. It will, for instance, be possible to produce, from the database DB, a list of contact information for persons or legal persons, who previously have purchased something from a certain group of goods.

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• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Strategic Management (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
• Development Economics (AREA)
• Finance (AREA)
• Economics (AREA)
• Game Theory and Decision Science (AREA)
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
• Marketing (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
• Hardware Redundancy (AREA)
• Financial Or Insurance-Related Operations Such As Payment And Settlement (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=35057712

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (1)

• 2004
  • 2004-10-19 NO NO20044419A patent/NO322440B1/no unknown
• 2005
  • 2005-10-18 WO PCT/NO2005/000389 patent/WO2006043822A2/fr active Application Filing

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