Patent Application
20180068374
This invention relates generally to self-checkout technologies, and more specifically to checking out using a mobile application. Shoppers fulfill orders at a physical retailer on behalf of customers, as part of an online shopping concierge service. Once a shopper has collected one or more items for purchase, the shopper must wait in line and purchase the items according to the traditional check-out process. This is a time-consuming process, and because shoppers use a mobile device to scan and record items each item picked up for purchase, involves redundant activity. A more efficient check-out process allows the shopper to complete purchase of selected items on his/her mobile device, thereby eliminating redundant actions and reducing the time required to fulfill an order.
Embodiments of the invention enable a shopper to bypass a physical check-out process at a retailer by completing his/her purchase via a mobile application on the shopper's phone. In one embodiment, the shopper is shopping at the retailer on behalf of a customer, who specified a list of items for the shopper to purchase via an online shopping concierge service. The customer places an order using a website or client application that communicates with the online shopping concierge service. The order specifies one or more items to be purchased at a retailer. The online shopping concierge service collects payment from the customer and transmits the order to a shopper. The shopper travels to one or more retailers to fulfill the order. While at a retailer, the shopper collects and scans each item using a shopper mobile application that runs on the shopper's mobile device. The shopper mobile application records quantitative and qualitative information describing each product and produces a basket of items for purchase. The shopper mobile application transmits information describing the basket to the online shopping concierge service, which determines a total value for the basket of goods. The online shopping concierge service transmits payment to a system associated with the retailer, thereby completing purchase of the basket of items. The shopper then leaves the store and delivers the purchased items to the customer.
In another embodiment, the shopper performs an accelerated check-out using his/her specialized mobile application. Once the shopper has collected all of the items requested in the order, the shopper mobile application encodes the basket details into a scannable image containing a machine-readable code, such as a QR code. The machine-readable code contains information that describes the items in the shopper's basket, or a link thereto. A cashier, employee, or automated scanner at the physical check-out scans the encoded image, causing the details of each item in the basket to be transmitted to the retailer without requiring that each item be individually scanned.
The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.
The system 102 is configured to transmit orders received from customers 104 to one or more shoppers 108. A shopper 108 may be a contractor, employee, or other person (or entity) who is enabled to fulfill orders received from the online shopping concierge service 102. The environment 100 also includes three retailers 110a, 110b, and 110c (only three are shown for the sake of simplicity; the environment could include hundreds of retailers). Each shopper 108 fulfills an order received from the online shopping concierge service 102 at one or more retailers 110 and delivers the order to the customer 104. In one embodiment, shoppers 108 make use of a shopper mobile application 112 which is configured to interact with the online shopping concierge service 102.
The online shopping concierge service 102 also includes an order fulfillment engine 206 which is configured to synthesize and display an ordering interface to each customer 104 (for example, via the customer mobile application 106). The engine 206 is also configured to access the inventory database 204 in order to determine which products are available at which retailers 110. The engine 206 determines a sale price for each item ordered by a customer 104. Prices set by the engine 206 may or may not be identical to in-store prices determined by retailers 110 (which is the price that customers 104 and shoppers 108 would pay at the retailer 110). The order fulfillment engine 206 also facilitates transactions associated with each order. In one embodiment, the engine 206 charges a payment instrument associated with a customer 104 when he/she places an order. The engine 206 may transmit payment information to an external payment gateway or payment processor. The engine 206 stores payment and transactional information associated with each order in a transaction records database 208.
In some embodiments, the order fulfillment engine 206 also shares order details with retailers 110. For example, after successful fulfillment of an order, the engine 206 may transmit a summary of the order to the appropriate retailer. The summary may indicate the items purchased, the total value of the items, and in some cases, an identity of the shopper 108 and customer 104 associated with the transaction. In one embodiment, the order fulfillment engine 206 pushes transaction and/or order details asynchronously to retailer systems. This may be accomplished via use of webhooks, which enable programmatic or system-driven transmission of information between web applications. In another embodiment, retailer systems may be configured to periodically poll the order fulfillment engine 206, which provides detail of all orders which have been processed since the last request.
The order fulfillment engine 210 may interact with a shopper management engine 210, which manages communication with and utilization of shoppers 108. In one embodiment, the shopper management engine 210 receives a new order from the order fulfillment engine 206. The shopper management engine 210 identifies the appropriate shopper 108 to fulfill the order based on one or more parameters, such as the shopper's proximity to the appropriate retailer 110 (and/or to the customer 104), his/her familiarity level with that particular retailer 110, and so on. Additionally, the shopper management engine 210 accesses a shopper database 212 which stores information describing each shopper 108, such as his/her name, gender, rating, previous shopping history, and so on.
Finally, as part of fulfilling an order, the order fulfillment engine 206 may access a customer database 214 which stores information describing each customer. This information could include each customer's name, address, gender, shopping preferences, favorite items, stored payment instruments, and so on.
As described with reference to
If the shopper mobile application determines that special restrictions do not apply, it simply adds 412 the item to a digital basket which lists all items currently marked for purchase.
If the shopper mobile application determines that special restrictions do apply, it then determines 410 if the purchase is allowable. This could include looking up the age of the customer (to see if he/she is old enough to purchase alcohol) or counting how many instances of the item have already been collected for purchase (in the case where a retailer institutes a purchase limit for each customer).
In one embodiment, the shopper mobile application determines allowability by requesting information from the online shopping concierge service. For example, the inventory management engine extracts purchasing rules from the inventory database and transmits them to the shopper mobile application. In another embodiment, the shopper mobile application maintains a local record of purchasing rules and accesses or references it as required.
Returning to
If the shopper mobile application determines that purchase of the item is not allowable, then the application determines 414 if any items are remaining on the order. If there are, the shopper proceeds to locate 404 the item (and continue as previously described). If not, the shopper mobile application, responding to input from the shopper, tokenizes 416 the basket. Tokenization involves determining a final list of items for purchase. In one embodiment, the shopper mobile application transmits an identification of each item to the shopping assistance platform, which matches each item against the customer order and verifies that the order has been fulfilled.
Subsequently, the shopper mobile application determines 418 a total gross merchandise value (GMV) for the basket of items. The GMV reflects the price that a customer would pay at a physical point of sale within the store. Tokenization may also involve determining whether one or more discounts, promotions, or other price changes apply, and adjusting the GMV accordingly. The shopper mobile application then directs the online shopping concierge service to execute 420 a credit card payment to the retailer in the amount of the GMV. At this time or some time thereafter, the online shopping concierge service transmits 422 details of the transaction to the retailer. The details include which items were purchased and how much was paid for each. Asynchronously, the shopper delivers 424 the order to the customer.
In a traditional transaction flow, the online shopping concierge service 102 charges a customer payment instrument at the time an order is placed. The service 102, based on an estimation of the funds required to purchase the order items, transfers funds to a stored value or prepaid card in the possession of a shopper 108. The shopper 108 then fulfills the order, and pays for the items using the card. Consequently, in order to collect payment from a customer 104 and enable a shopper 108 to pay for the ordered items, the service 102 must bear processing costs and feeds associated with two separate card transactions.
The process described above with reference to
In another embodiment, the shopper 108 passes through the same check-out process as any other customer at the store. The shopper must therefore present an identification of the items for purchase as well as a payment instrument with which he/she will pay for the items. Typically, check-out cashiers scan each item individually and a point-of-sale (POS) system determines and displays a total sale price. The process of scanning each item individually is time-consuming.
In some embodiments, a shopper 108 utilizes the shopper mobile application 112 to accelerate the traditional checkout process at a retailer 110. As described with reference to
It should be noted that one or more aspects of the previously described process may vary. For example, in some embodiments, the shopper 108 may use a self-service automated machine which is configured to read the encoded image. Additionally, instead of encoding basket details into an encoded image, the SMA 112 may instead transmit the basket data via one of multiple communications technologies or protocols, including but not limited to: RFID, Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi, and so on. In one embodiment, the shopper 108 is able to tap his/her mobile device to a device at the physical check-out, whereby the SMA 112 transmits the basket details to the device. The shopper can then pay for the items using one of multiple possible payment methods (debit/credit card, cash, etc.).
The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure.
Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of the invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations, while described functionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, without loss of generality. The described operations and their associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.
Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may be performed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, a software module is implemented with a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code, which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described.
Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a tangible computer readable storage medium, which include any type of tangible media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification may include a single processor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased computing capability.
Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave, where the computer data signal includes any embodiment of a computer program product or other data combination described herein. The computer data signal is a product that is presented in a tangible medium or carrier wave and modulated or otherwise encoded in the carrier wave, which is tangible, and transmitted according to any suitable transmission method.
Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
