Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Electronic shopping
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-18
2001-07-31
Stamber, Eric (Department: 2165)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Electronic shopping
C705S037000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06269343
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to electronic commerce utilizing the internet and more particularly to a method and system for marketing products and services utilizing the intemet.
BACKGROUND
The world Wide Web has provided a convenient mechanism for marketing products. Many web sites offer products for sale. Generally a potential customer viewing such a web site indicates a desire to buy a particular product by “clicking” on a particular location on the display screen. Some sites require a user to “register” by giving a name, address and credit card information. Later when a customer desires to buy a product the information entered during registration is used for billing and shipping. Other sites allow a customer to enter billing and shipping information after the customer has indicated a desire to purchase a particular product.
Some web sites allow a buyer to bid on products that are offered in the internet's equivalent of an auction. Other web sites allow a user to made an offer to buy products at a price specified by the buyer, much as an individual might make an offer to buy a product at a particular price in a face to face situation.
Web sites such as those described above in essence utilize the internet to automate a conventional buying process. The process takes place at great speed and the parties may be remote, but the fundamental transaction is conventional.
The present invention provides a new paradigm for conducting a marketing transaction. Quantity pricing is conventional. However, in a conventional quantity pricing situation, one buyer is offered a series of prices depending upon the number of products purchased. The present invention utilizes the idea of quantity pricing in a new way. The present invention utilizes the internet to aggregate potentially unrelated and potentially totally independent buyers into a buying group. By aggregating the buyers, each buyer receives the advantage of quantity pricing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a marketing method and system that aggregates demand and provides demand based pricing. With the present invention sellers can communicate conditional offers to potential buyers. The conditions include prices that depend on the amount of goods or services that buyers collectively agree to purchase by a given time and date. The invention facilitates “demand aggregation”, that is, aggregating demand by potential buyers (who may or may not know each other), for products offered by sellers. This invention allows sellers to conveniently offer “Demand-Based Pricing”, that is, prices which go down as the volume of units sold in any given offer goes up. A seller can therefor offer volume discounts to buyers acting as a group, even when the buyers may not have any formal relationship with one another.
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Lee & Hayes PLLC
MobShop, Inc.
Stamber Eric
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