WO2003005252A1

WO2003005252A1 - Online management system and method for displaying the stock of goods in time

Info

Publication number: WO2003005252A1
Application number: PCT/CN2001/001157
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tenlee Chang
Original assignee: Books.Com Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2001-07-06
Filing date: 2001-07-06
Publication date: 2003-01-16

Abstract

An online management system and method for displaying the stock of foods in time, displays the supplying status of goods, such as being in/out of stock, on the webpage in combination with the web server supplying online shopping when a client clicks to select one article. The system includes: goods database for storing goods data, client database for recording and storing the client information, web server providing service interface of shopping webpage, goods stock management module for receiving the order form information from the web server, determining the amount of the goods being ordered or remained in the stock, and order form management module for managing the order form data of the client and sending message to inform the client who is waiting for the goods when the goods is remained in the stock.

Description

Real-time display management system and method for online product inventory

Technical field

The present invention relates to real-time display of inventory status online, and in particular, to online display of product inventory status on online shopping websites. Background technique

In general physical stores, customers pick up goods directly from the sales shelves. For customers, the items and quantities of goods on the shelves are clear at a glance. When a customer enters a physical store, he can directly know whether the product is in stock, including the current quantity of the product on the shelf, or some products have been sold out and are out of stock. Therefore, customers can know the current product items and quantity status on the shelf when consuming in general physical stores, and then decide the items and quantities purchased.

However, for online e-commerce transactions or online shopping, generally only the product item can be known, and from the client side, the quantity and status of the product cannot be seen. Taking online shopping as an example, there are usually two types of shopping processes in online stores: One is that the product inventory status is not linked to the shopping interface. After the customer sends an order for the product on the online shopping website, the online shopping website receives the order. At the order, check the content of the order and check the current product inventory status. If the product inventory is insufficient or out of stock, the customer will be notified by email, phone or fax based on the customer data. The problem with the above-mentioned online shopping is that the customer is completely unable to know whether the purchased product is in stock before placing an order, and must wait to receive the notification before confirming.

Another well-known online shopping situation is that after the customer determines the product order, the confirmed product order is transmitted. The system of the shopping website first checks and inventory the customer's product list. When the product inventory is insufficient or out of stock, At that time, an out-of-stock or out-of-stock message for the product is displayed on the shopping page for customer reference. Although this method provides the customer with final confirmation of the quantity of the product, the condition of the goods must be determined after the entire order is ready to be transmitted. If the customer has a limit on the total budget and the items to be consumed are diversified, the last confirmation of the inventory of the product often causes the customer to spend time reviewing the list of their product purchase portfolio when they learn that the number of products is insufficient. Reorder action.

You can understand from the two well-known online shopping methods, online e-commerce or online shopping and The difference between general physical stores is that consumers can see at a glance the real-time conditions of the goods and quantity produced by physical stores.

However, for online e-commerce, such as online shopping, the corresponding items of the product are not the instant information presented by the physical exchange. Summary of the Invention

In order to provide e-commerce, such as online shopping, transparent information on product items and quantities, an object of the present invention is to provide a real-time display system and method of online product inventory status, and provide customers with a virtual physical shopping method. Click on the item and quantity before and after to get the product status information immediately.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an instant display system and method for online product inventory status, which can provide customers with information about product status changes.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an instant display system and method for online product inventory status, which can display sales results in real time, and make the management of commodity inventory faster and more accurate.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects and advantages, the instant online product inventory status display system and method of the present invention, combined with a web server that provides online shopping, provides remote customers with product selection and ordering via a network link, and can be clicked by customers Before and after the product, the current goods status of the product can be known from the shopping webpage. In addition, when a customer cancels an order for an item, or an out-of-stock item is replenished into inventory, other customers waiting for the item can be notified immediately by the system and method of the present invention.

The real-time display system of the online product inventory status of the present invention includes: a web server for providing an online shopping web page for at least one customer to select a product item and quantity via the network; a product database for storing The data of the products provided on the online shopping webpage, the inventory quantity and the demanded quantity; a customer database for storing the online shopping customer data linked to the online shopping webpage; and a stock management module based on the selected products Item and quantity, to count the total demand of the selected product. When the total demand of the product does not exceed the inventory, the selected item and quantity of the selected product are set to be shipped. When the total demand of the product exceeds the inventory At the time, the excess quantity is set as a waiting state, and the status of the product selection result is displayed on the customer's shopping webpage.

The method for real-time display of the online product inventory status of the present invention is applicable to at least one product with a predetermined inventory quantity, including: providing a shopping interface for at least one customer to connect via a network to select a product item and a reservation amount; To the original total demand of the product to generate a new total demand; when the new total demand is less than or equal to the predetermined inventory quantity, order the product The quantity is set to be shipped and displayed on the customer's shopping interface; when the original total demand is greater than or equal to the predetermined inventory quantity, the reserved quantity of the product is set to wait and displayed on the customer's shopping interface And when the predetermined inventory quantity is less than the new total demand quantity, a first difference representing a shortfall is formed, and the predetermined inventory quantity is greater than the original total demand quantity to form a second deliverable difference, The first difference amount is set to wait and the second difference amount is set to be shipped, and displayed on the customer's shopping interface.

In one embodiment, the system of the present invention includes a commodity database storing various product data such as items and inventory quantities of a commodity, a customer database record storing various customer information, and a web server for providing a shopping web page. A service interface for customers via a network link and a goods inventory management module to receive booking and / or ordering information from the shopping webpage and manage the inventory of goods in real time to confirm the status of goods in stock, such as the number of orders, the reservation Number, out of stock, etc., and an order management module to manage customer order data. At the same time, after a customer cancels an order or replenishes inventory, a message can be sent to notify other customers waiting for the product.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the customer can first see the condition of the goods on the shopping webpage, if there is any spot or out of stock. When the customer clicks the product on the shopping webpage to add it to the shopping list, he can immediately display the goods status of the product on the shopping list webpage, such as: in stock, or insufficient quantity of the product. The present invention can simulate the status of a physical store, and provides customers with immediate information on the status of product inventory on the shopping webpage when they click the product immediately, and the customer can change their shopping list at any time based on the real-time display of the status of the goods.

In another embodiment of the present invention, through the management between the instant order and the inventory, when a shortage of the product occurs, if a client cancels the reservation or order of the product, or the logistics side replenishes the product The inventory makes the product generate an excess quantity, and the order management module of the present invention can immediately provide a notification message to inform other waiting clients. In this way, the best management of commodity inventory can be achieved while providing immediate customer service.

In order to make the foregoing objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the following describes in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a system structure diagram according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows an inventory management form according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a customer order status form according to an embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a flowchart of a method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

5a-5c in FIG. 5 are diagrams showing changes in the order quantity of commodities according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Symbol description:

102A ~ B ~ client; 104 ~ web server;

106 ~ Order management module 108 ~ Stock management module;

112 ~ product database; 114 ~ customer database;

220 ~ Title column; 240 ~ Inventory;

260 ~ shopping list column; 262 ~ confirmation column;

264 ~ waiting bar; 280 ~ confirm order bar;

282 ~ confirmation bar; 284 ~ waiting bar;

320 ~ customer name column; 340 ~ status column;

342 ~ Shopping list column; 344 ~ Confirm order column;

360 ~ Book Title column; 382 ~ Confirmation column;

384 ~ waiting bar; 52 ~ first difference;

54 to the second difference. detailed description

Referring to FIG. 1, in a preferred embodiment, an online book ordering system is used as an example to illustrate the instant display system of the online product inventory status of the present invention. The online book borrowing shopping website includes a web server 104, thereby providing a book shopping web interface for customers 102A to 102C to connect via a terminal computer via the Internet. However, the present invention is not limited to the Internet, and is also applicable to online shopping such as a wireless application protocol (Wireless Application Protocol, WAP). The web server 104 is used to provide shopping web services, such as searching for books, introducing book contents, etc. Therefore, the web server is also linked to a database of related information, such as a commodity database 112 and a customer database 114. The commodity database 112 is used to store commodity information, such as the names of books sold on the book purchase page, the author, the price, and the current inventory (the number of goods that are not yet shipped in the warehouse). The customer database 114 records information about the client, such as: customer name (account number and password), shipping address, consumption records, payment records, and customer orders, etc., and records customer data that has been registered on this shopping website.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the instant display system of the online product inventory status of the present invention utilizes an inventory management module 108 to manage the current inventory status of the products in real time. The inventory management module can be performed on at least one computer host or server. For example, when a client 102A is connected via the Internet When the shopping webpage is reached, when a book A on the webpage is selected and put into the shopping list, the inventory management module 108 searches the goods status of the book A in the commodity database 112 to confirm whether there is stock and the current stock quantity. In another embodiment, the inventory management module can also immediately display the goods status of each product on the shopping webpage, such as Book A is currently in stock, out of stock, or sold out.

Referring to FIG. 2, the figure shows the inventory status of the commodities recorded by the inventory management module 108. In the shopping webpage that provides customers with a shopping list or shopping cart, the goods managed by the inventory management module 108 refers to the quantity of [inventory 240], which refers to the total number of goods that are still in storage but have not yet been shipped. In addition, the status of the product is divided into two stages, one is [shopping list 260] is the product reservation status, and the other is [confirm order 280] is the product order status. [Shopping list 260] indicates that the customer clicked the item to add to the shopping list, but did not send a confirmation order. [Confirm Order 280] indicates that the customer has confirmed that the shopping list is correct, and transmitted the order instruction, but the logistics side has not shipped from the warehouse.

Still referring to FIG. 2, in an embodiment, the current inventory of book A selected by customer 102A is 10 books. When customer 102A is the first person to add book A to the shopping list, the inventory management module 108 is in the management column of book A. Among the bits, the [Confirmation column 262] in [Shopping list 260] is recorded as 1 (order quantity 1), and the fields [Waiting 264], [Confirmation 282], and [Waiting 284] are all recorded as 0. After completing the inventory confirmation, the inventory management module 108 sends this information to the customer's shopping list on the shopping webpage, and the customer 102A can see from the shopping webpage that the selected book A is available from stock. If the customer 102A confirms the purchase order, after the transfer order is completed, the inventory management module 108 transfers an order record in book A [confirmation column 262] to [confirmation 282], and displays the order from the shopping list status Switch to confirm order status. At this point, the fields [Confirm 262], [Waiting 264], and [Waiting 284] are all recorded as 0. After the inventory management is completed, the inventory management module 108 sends the information to the order confirmation screen of the customer 102A on the shopping webpage, that is, the customer 102A confirms that the book A is in stock.

When the total number of products in the fields of [Confirmation 262] and [Confirmation 282] exceeds the existing quantity in [Inventory 240], the products selected by the customer will be listed in the field [Waiting 264] or [Waiting 284]. Referring to Figure 2, the quantity in Book B [inventory 240] is 10, and it is recorded as 9 in the stop [Confirmation 282], which means that nine books B have been confirmed to be ordered. When the customer 102A selects 2 on the shopping page When this book B is added to the shopping list, the inventory management module 108 records the [confirmation column 262] in [shopping list 260] as 1, and the field [waiting 264] records 1. In the inventory management module 108, at this time, 10 books with a total amount of book B are reserved, and one book is yet to be replenished. After the inventory confirmation is completed, the inventory management module 108 sends this information to the shopping list of the customer 102A on the shopping webpage, showing that there is currently only one copy of book B, and the other needs to wait. Therefore, Customer 102A can The inventory status at that time shows that considering whether to change the order number of Book B, ordering only one book, or willing to wait, or canceling the entire order of Book B.

In another embodiment, the inventory management module 108 may display the result of the condition of the goods on the shopping webpage in advance. For example, book A currently has only one book, so there are still 9 in stock, so on this shopping page, book A shows the availability status. In addition, the inventory management module 108 can also provide further product information on the purchase webpage, such as: the quantity that has been booked, the quantity that has been ordered, the stock that is out of stock, or the quantity that is waiting for an appointment, etc., to provide customers with a reference before booking.

In addition, through the above-mentioned inventory management module 108, the quantity of inventory goods and the customer's order status can be managed in real time, and the inventory management form can be obtained immediately. For the status of book B, it can be understood that book B is quite popular. Or it can be adjusted by other logistics end. These real-time data can be used as management inventory and commodity flow estimates.

In a preferred embodiment, the system of the present invention further includes an order management module 106, which is connected to the inventory management module 108, and is used to manage the customer's order data and provide a notification function of the latest status of the product. The order management module 106 can be performed on at least one computer host or server. Refer to Figure 3, which shows an example of a customer order management form, which shows the order status of a customer 102A (320), including the book book title 360 has A, B, and C; the current status 340 is under confirmation Order 344 indicates that the customer 102A has confirmed this order and has completed the ordering action for this order. Unlike the inventory management module 108, which manages the total quantity of goods in stock, the order management module 106 can manage the orders of each customer and track the order status of each customer in real time.

As can be seen from Figure 3, only one of the two books B ordered by the customer 102A is in stock and the other is waiting. However, when another customer cancels a book B booked in the shopping list, the inventory management module 108 counts one more book B that can be shipped. At this time, the order management module 106 finds that the customer 102A is waiting. For book B—book, the client 102A will be notified of this message by e-mail, fax, or telephone, and both books B in waiting will be available from stock. This function is particularly applicable to limited merchandise. In one embodiment, when an online book purchase website provides 20 limited edition books for sale, and when all 20 are booked, the aforementioned order management module can provide more flexible opportunities for online consumers. When someone cancels a booking, the opportunity is immediately transferred to other waiting consumers.

In another embodiment, the inventory of Book B may be increased due to the additional purchase of Book B in the warehouse, which can meet the needs of the waiting customer. Therefore, after the order management module 106 confirms that there is excess inventory, it may also send a message to notify the waiting Customers, notice that there are currently books. In another preferred embodiment, the above-mentioned order management module 106 may notify the waiting customers according to a specific rule, such as: order time sequence, customer VIP level or consumption record level, and the like. Taking the above situation as an example, when a customer cancels the order of a book B, and two customers are still waiting for the book B inch, according to the order of the order of the two customers, the customer who ordered first will be notified first that the book can be shipped. . Or according to the customer level of two customers, for example, if one of the customers is a VIP member, the customer will be notified first.

In another preferred embodiment, the order management module 106 further includes a restriction mechanism, such as time, to limit the status of the customer's shopping list. For example, when the customer's shopping list exceeds 5 hours and the order is not confirmed, if When a customer with a confirmed order is in a waiting state, the item is preferentially transferred to the name of the waiting customer for the confirmed order. Through this restriction mechanism, customers can be prevented from staying in the shopping list for a long time without confirming the order, which will affect subsequent customers' ordering benefits.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a flow of a method for displaying an online product inventory status in real time according to an embodiment of the present invention. Let's take the inventory of Book A as 10 for the situation. In step 420, first, a shopping interface is provided for at least one customer to select a product item and a reservation amount via an Internet link. The customer may click the desired product item and reservation amount on the shopping webpage, such as Book A, 3 books. Next, in step 440, the predetermined quantity of the commodity is added to the original total demand of the commodity to generate a new total demand of the commodity.

Referring next to FIG. 5, steps 462 to 466 are used to describe the possible situations.

As shown at 5a in Figure 5, when the inventory of Book A is 10 books, the original total demand is 6 books, and the new reservation is 3 books, so the new total demand is 3 + 6 = 9 books, which is still in stock. If there are 10 books, go to step 462, and set the pre-order quantity of this product and 3 books to be ready for shipment.

As shown in 5b in FIG. 5, when the newly added total demand is greater than the predetermined inventory quantity, step 464 is performed, and the selection of the item is set to wait. When the inventory of book A is 10 books, and the original total demand has reached 10 books, the 3 books A booked by the customer are out of stock, so all 3 books are set as waiting.

As shown by 5c in FIG. 5, when the predetermined inventory quantity is less than the newly added total demand quantity, a first difference value 52 representing a shortfall is formed; and the predetermined inventory quantity is greater than the original existing total demand quantity to form a possible If the second difference value 54 is shipped, go to step 466: Set the second difference value 54 of the number of pre-ordered goods to be shipped, and set the amount of the first difference 52 that is insufficient to wait. As shown in 5c in Figure 5, when the inventory of Book A is 10 books, and the original total demand is 8 books, plus 3 books booked by the customer, the new total demand is 11 books at this time. The difference between the inventory and the total demand is 11-10 = 1, which is the first difference of the shortfall 52, and the difference between the inventory and the original total demand is 10-8 = 2, which is shippable Second difference 54.

Therefore, 3 books A ordered by the customer, 1 book with a first difference of 52 is set to wait, and 2 books with a second difference of 54 are set to be shipped.

Finally, step 480 is performed: displaying the product setting status on the customer's shopping interface. The above-mentioned customer's selection of each product item and reservation amount, after the above current cargo status setting, the current status of the product is displayed on the customer's shopping interface in real time, and the customer can know immediately whether the reserved goods are in stock Or have to wait.

Through the above method, the customer can immediately know the result of the individual booking of the product. In another embodiment, the result of the goods status after the product is booked may also be displayed on the shopping webpage, such as: currently booked quantity, remaining quantity, and the like. Then other customers can understand the current status of the product before using the product as a reference for booking or purchase.

Through the above-mentioned system and method of the present invention, a virtual environment like an entity can be provided, and customers of a shopping website can immediately know on the shopping webpage whether the purchased goods are available from stock. For consumers, it can be compared with The shopping methods in the physical store are flexible and manage the combined personal shopping list in real time. In addition, through the present invention, the management of goods is more accurate for the server providing the e-commerce, and the promise to the customer is achieved.

From the perspective of inventory management, through the present invention, it is possible to instantly understand the degree of customer demand for various products, which products are pre-purchased or sold quickly, and respond instantly, reducing the management costs of online shopping companies and logistics terminals.

At the same time, the system of the present invention further provides a notification of the customer's goods availability, so that the customer can make further order selections.

Although the present invention is disclosed in the preferred embodiment as above, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can make various modifications and retouches without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection of the present invention The scope should be defined by the scope of the attached requirements.

Claims

Profit requirements

1. A real-time display system for online product inventory status, including:

A web server for providing an online shopping webpage for at least one customer to select a product item and quantity via the network;

A product database for storing data, inventory quantities and demand quantities of the products provided by the online shopping webpage;

A customer database for storing online shopping customer data linked to the online shopping webpage; and

An inventory management module calculates the total demand of the selected commodities according to the selected commodity items and quantities. When the total commodity demand does not exceed the inventory quantity, the selected commodity items and quantities are set to be available When the total demand of the product exceeds the inventory, the excess quantity is set as a waiting state, and the status of the product selection result is displayed on the customer's shopping webpage.

2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an order management module for managing customer order data, and sending a message to notify customers waiting for the product when the inventory of the product is greater than the total demand.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the message is an email, fax, or telephone call.

4. The system according to claim 2, wherein the order management module further includes a restriction mechanism to cancel orders of customers for deliverable products that exceed a time limit, and send a message to notify others waiting for the product in accordance with a specific rule. customer of.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the message is an email, fax, or telephone call.

6. The system according to claim 4, wherein the specific rule is one of a chronological order, a customer level, or a customer consumption record of a customer waiting for the product.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the inventory management module further includes displaying the status of the goods on the shopping webpage.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the online shopping webpage provides a customer's product item and quantity selection status including a shopping list status and a confirmed order status.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the customer database stores the customer name, Shipment address, consumption record, payment record and customer order data.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the commodity database stores data on commodity items, manufacturers, commodity prices, commodity introductions, commodity inventory and demand.

11. An instant display method for online product inventory status, applicable to at least one product with a predetermined inventory quantity, including:

Provide a shopping interface for at least one customer to select a product item and reservation via a network connection; add the reservation of the product to the original total demand of the product to generate a new total demand; when the new total demand is less than Or is equal to the predetermined inventory quantity, the reservation quantity of the product is set to be shipped and displayed on the customer's shopping interface;

When the original total demand is greater than or equal to the predetermined inventory quantity, setting the reserved amount of the product to wait and display on the customer's shopping interface; and

When the predetermined inventory quantity is less than the new total demand quantity, a first difference value representing an insufficient amount is formed, and the predetermined inventory quantity is greater than the original total demand quantity to form a second difference value that can be shipped, and the first The difference amount is set to wait and the second difference amount is set to be shipable, and displayed on the shopping interface of the customer.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: displaying a reservation result of the product on the shopping interface.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: when a predetermined inventory quantity of the product increases, sending a message to notify customers waiting for the product.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the message is one of email, fax, and phone.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: when the customer has not confirmed the order of the in-stock item after a certain period of time, cancel the in-stock state of the item, and A specific rule sends a message to notify other customers waiting for the item.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the specific rule is one of a chronological order, a customer level, or a customer consumption record of a customer waiting for the product.