IE84235B1 - Interative upsell advisor method and apparatus for internet applications - Google Patents
Interative upsell advisor method and apparatus for internet applications Download PDFInfo
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- IE84235B1 IE84235B1 IE2000/0204A IE20000204A IE84235B1 IE 84235 B1 IE84235 B1 IE 84235B1 IE 2000/0204 A IE2000/0204 A IE 2000/0204A IE 20000204 A IE20000204 A IE 20000204A IE 84235 B1 IE84235 B1 IE 84235B1
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- Prior art keywords
- computer system
- advisor
- recommendation
- user
- upsell
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- 230000002452 interceptive Effects 0.000 claims description 13
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 claims description 3
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 20
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 6
- 230000003068 static Effects 0.000 description 3
- 238000010200 validation analysis Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000004043 responsiveness Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000036528 appetite Effects 0.000 description 1
- 235000019789 appetite Nutrition 0.000 description 1
- 230000003247 decreasing Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000003111 delayed Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000002708 enhancing Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000007858 starting material Substances 0.000 description 1
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
-
- 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
- G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
-
- 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
- G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
- G06Q30/0601—Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
- G06Q30/0621—Item configuration or customization
-
- 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
- G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
- G06Q30/0601—Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
- G06Q30/0631—Item recommendations
-
- 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
- G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
- G06Q30/0601—Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
- G06Q30/0633—Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
-
- 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
- G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
- G06Q30/0601—Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
- G06Q30/0641—Shopping interfaces
- G06Q30/0643—Graphical representation of items or shoppers
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
- H04N21/254—Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server
Description
INTERACTIVE UPSELL ADVISOR METHOD AND APPARATUS
FOR INTERNET APPLICATIONS
fimgmund
The disclosures herein relate generally to built to order computer systems,
and more particularly, to an online store user interface for enabling custom
configuration, pricing, and ordering of a computer system via the Internet.
This application relates to co-pending United States Patent Application
Serial No. 09/009,401, filed on January 19, 1998, entitled “Method and Apparatus
For Providing And Accessing Data At An Internet Site”, naming Amy Van
Wyngarden as inventor. The co-pending application is incorporated herein by
reference in its entirety, and is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
This application relates to co-pending United States Patent Application
Serial No. 09/158,564, filed on September 22, 1998, entitled “Method and
Apparatus For Providing Customer Configured Machines At An Internet Site”,
naming Ken Henson as inventor. The co-pending application is incorporated
herein by reference in its entirety, and is assigned to the assignee of the present
invention.
With a first generation web based on-line store, a customer was given an
ability to select a base computer system (or chassis), customize the system, and
price it. Such an on-line store focused initially upon the bare necessities. That is,
build a system and get a price.
In the prior online store, a configurator allowed a customer to customize a
system and procure it online. The configurator allowed a customer to select a
given computer system model and to customize the computer system according to
the user selected options. Such a configurator was most well received by persons
in the know about a particular computer system, that is, those who were very self-
sufficient without the assistance of a sales representative. However, the earlier
generation online store was not user friendly in than it merely wet the appetite of
the less sales-sufficient computer customers. In the later instance, the previous
online store allowed such customers to answer one of their questions, but not all of
them. Those customers still needed be assistance of a sales representative. in
addition, with the prior online store, there was an assumption that in presenting all
available options, the options all work together and the customer wouldn't be
creating a system that could not be built by manufacturing. That assumption was
not always correct.
Further with respect to the previous generation on-line store, a
disadvantage was that a customer could place an order and find out only later,
after the order was taken off of the on-line system and entered into another order
management system, that the customer-configured system shipment would be
delayed (i.e., more than the typical build time and delivery). It was the order
management system which would inform a sales representative to communicate
with the customer. Typically, the sales representative who would inform the
customer of a final order amount and confirmation of the order. In addition, it was
only then that the customer would find out that, “oh by the way, the delivery time
for that system is five weeks.” At that, the customer would be highly inclined to
cancel the order, since the customer thought that the system would be shipped
within a typical delivery time (on the order of about a week).
The prior methods used for an online store included a web objects-based
application providing the capability to custom-configure and order a particular
computer system. The initial online store application offered customers the ability
to select and price key system options, the ability to include multiple systems on a
single order, and the ability to provide information necessary for the placement of a
standard computer system order.
The capability to self-select system options and then price them was
afforded through the presence of an online configurator. This configurator enabled
customer selection of key, system—defining components from a display of available
system options for a chosen system. The display of available options included the
presentation of a "delta" price, wherein a change in system price was affected by
selection of an option. The configurator afforded the ability to update overall
system priced based upon selections made. The capability to include multiple
items in a single order was afforded by the presence of a "shopping cart", wherein
the shopping cart represents an equivalent to the traditional shopping cart. The
shopping cart enabled customers to group disparate systems together as an order,
as well as specify a quantity for each individual system to be included on the order.
Furthermore, the capability to provide customer-specific information required for
the placement of a standard order was afforded through the presence of an online
"checkout", the checkout including essentially a form for facilitating the capture of
requested and required information. The checkout form included simple logic rules
to assure entry of the required fields.
The prior generation web-based online store application was problematic in
that a responsiveness to customer requests was becoming unacceptable, for
example, on the order of upwards of fifty percent (50%) of requests were unmet
during peak business hours. Maintenance of a programming code for the online
store was more time intensive and less scalable than desired. The feature set of
the online store offered little to no point-of-sale merchandising capability. The
feature set of the online store still further offered no means for delivering more
detailed option information. Yet still further, the feature set of the online store
offered no means for warning customers as to known compatibility issues between
select system options. The feature set also offered no means for communicating
the effect selection of certain system options would have on the system's delivery
time. A customization of the online store for use by various business segments
within the online store vendor or computer system manufacturer was less than
optimal. The net effect of the problems with the prior online store included lost
business and decreased customer satisfaction with the online buying experience.
Selling on the Internet furthermore has some handicaps relative to other
sales channels, such as telephone sales. Primarily, with the absence of a live
sales representative, an online merchant has a harder challenge guiding potential
customers to particular products that are both suitable for the customer and
profitable for the online merchant. Prior methods have included “passive" sales
messaging, or the making of blind recommendations to potential customers. In
addition, interactive cross-selling has been used, wherein a customer is given
suggestions for additional products based upon the products that the customer has
already purchased.
In the on-line store, a customer accesses the on-line store as a specific
customer type (e.g., federal, home, business, etc.). The customer configures a
desired computer system using the configurator. The customer then decides
either to purchase the computer system just configured or add the configured
computer system to the shopping cart.
In the previous on-line store, the shopping cart was used for cross-selling.
For instance, a cross-sell might include a merchandising statement with respect to
a printer to go along with the computer system. The cross-sell may also include
reference to a tape drive to go along with the computer system just configured.
Essentially, upon reaching the shopping cart. messaging for cross-selling were
presented, based upon customer type and the configured computer system.
Other problems existed in the previous generation online store including a
lack of responsiveness to customer requests. In addition, the previous generation
online store suffered from an incompleteness of information delivery with respect
to a servicing of customer demand for computer system related information. Still
further, system incompatibility issues were not addressed. An improved accuracy,
reliability, and overall quality of the online store and buying experience for
overcoming the problems as discussed above is thus desired.
According to one embodiment, upselling includes the interactive suggesting
of a higher-grade product as a replacement to what a customer has already
selected as part of a custom configured computer system. More particularly, a
web-based online store having a user interface for enabling a custom configuration
of a computer system according to an identification of a user belonging to a
prescribed customer set is disclosed. A configurator is provided for configuring a
computer system with options selected according to a desired user input, the
options and a respective pricing for each option being presented on a configurator
web page. A database is provided for dynamically supplying configuration options
to the configurator in accordance with the identification of the user belonging to
the prescribed customer set. A cart temporarily stores a customer configured
computer system and presents the customer configured computer system on a
cart web page, the cart web page including at least one user selectable cart option.
Lastly, an interactive upsell advisor is operatively coupled to the configurator. the
database, and the cart for selectively providing an upsell recommendation to the
cart as a user selectable cart option on the cart web page. The upsell
recommendation is a function of the prescribed customer set, the customer
configured computer system. and prescribed upsell advisor business rules.
The embodiments of the present disclosure advantageously enable an
interactive and selective providing of upsell recommendations to a user with
respect to custom configurable computer systems obtainable via an online store.
' ' f he Dra in
The foregoing and other teachings and advantages of the present invention
will become more apparent upon a detailed description of the best mode for
carrying out the invention as rendered below. In the description to follow,
Brie
reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates an overview block diagram representation of the on-line
store according to the present disclosure;
FIG. 2 illustrates access to the on-line store via the Internet using a
computer system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;
FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary page of the on-line store including the active
upsell feature of the customer configured machine method and system apparatus
of the present disclosure;
FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary page of the on-line store subsequent to
acceptance of an active upsell upgrade recommendation according to the
embodiments of the present disclosure;
FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of active upsell advisor business rules in
accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a basketlcart flow chart including the active
upsell advisor according to the present disclosures, and
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary personal computer system
configured using the online store and active upsell advisor of the present
disclosure.
D ' ri i
In conjunction with the present embodiments, an on-line store is one
component of an Internet website for which a customer may go to configure a
particular computer system, for example, according to desired options of the
customer. The on-line store is typically a subset of a larger Internet website. At
the on-line store, a customer can select one or more products that the customer is
interested in. Upon selection of a particular product, the on-line store presents the
customer with the ability for the customer to go to the product information for the
particular product, customize the product, price the customized product, purchase
the product, and other actions as discussed herein. While shopping happens in
the website (i.e., selection of a particular kind of system (chassis) by a customer),
when the customer is ready to purchase a customized system, the customer is
then directed (invisibly) to that part of the website which the on-line store
application controls.
Referring now to FIG. 1, the present implementation of an online store 10
for use in generating customer configured machines, i.e., customer configured
computer systems. will be discussed herein below. The online store 10 includes a
welcome or introductory module 12, a commerce application module 14, and a
thank you module 16 (i.e., appreciation for your order). The present embodiments
further include an enhanced online store user interface which advantageously
enables the system configuration, pricing, and ordering of a computer system via
the Internet. The commerce application 14 includes a configurator 18, shopping
cart 20, checkout 22, and database 24. An active upsell advisor 21 is included
within shopping cart 20. The database 24 provides information to the configurator
18, shopping cart 20, and checkout 22, as illustrated by arrows 26. The
configurator 18 includes a pricing module 28, a view module 30, a lead time
warning module 32, a validation (or compatibility) warning module 34, and a
merchandising module 36. The various modules of the configurator 18 are being
driven by data from the database 24, as further discussed herein below.
The online store 10 includes welcome page 12, configurator page 18, cart
, checkout 22, and thank you page 16. The welcome page 12 includes a static
page and generally resides outside of the commerce application 14. The
configurator, cart, and checkout are within the commerce application and are
prone to be driven off the database, thus the configurator, shopping cart, and
checkout are each linked to the database as illustrated in FIG. 1. The cart
includes a cart merchandising message feature and active upsell advisor 21, each
of which are driven off of the database, further as discussed herein. Still further,
the checkout includes a payment feature, delivery feature, personal verses
business feature. and instructional ext features (i.e., how to fill out an online form).
The welcome page 12 is typically an introductory page and includes a link
into the online store 10. The welcome page is typically a static welcome page.
The online store 10 includes a smart process for the configurator 18, cart 20, and
checkout 22 which are all driven by the database 24. Upon completion of a
checkout, a customer would be linked to a static thank you page 16. The thank
you page 16 provides a message of gratitude to the customer for having placed
the order or for visiting the online store.
As discussed herein, the online store of the present disclosure includes a
smart process. The degree of smartness of the present online store is greater
than that of a prior online store, wherein a level of smartness in the prior online
store was focused on the configurator. The configurator of the prior online store
would present to the user the system selected off from the welcome page and
include all available options. The smartness of the prior online store was in
describing the choices for the system which the customer had selected. The
present online store takes into account that some choices are not as right as
others. Thus the configurator of the present online store has been made starter.
A level of smartness has also been added to the shopping cart and the checkout,
where such a level of smartness did not exist previously. Thus the smartness of
the configurator has been improved and smartness has been added to the cart
and checkout. Programming code for executing the improved smartness and the
added smartness can be included in a separate programming module or software
package or can be integral with the online store commerce application. The
database and the online commerce application that drives the database make up
the online store. The database can be included within the commerce application
of the online store, also. Programming code and the functions as described herein
may be implemented using programming techniques well known in the art.
Referring once again to FIG. 1, aspects of the configurator 18 which are
being driven by the database 24 are illustrated. In essence, the entire configurator
18 is being driven by the database. As mentioned, the configurator 18, shopping
cart 20, and checkout 22 are each part of the commerce application 14 and
subject to be driven by the database 24. For example, with the shopping cart 20,
there can be provided upsell information and/or merchandising information
coupled with a particular system which has been configured and placed in the
shopping cart by an online store customer, as will be discussed further herein
below.
Turning now to FIG. 2, a customer can access the online store 10 using any
suitable computer equipment 40, via the Internet 42. The computer equipment 40
may include a display 42, computer 44, keyboard 46, and pointing device 48.
Display 42 is used for displaying the various pages of the online store while a
customer is using the online store.
Referring briefly to FIG. 7, a system block diagram of a computer system 50
is shown having features thereof configured in accordance with the online store 10
as discussed herein. The computer system 50 includes a central processing unit
(CPU) 52, input/output (I/O) devices, such as a display, a keyboard, a mouse, and
associated controllers, collectively designated by a reference numeral 54, a hard
disk and drive 56, and other storage devices, such as a floppy disk and drive and
the like, collectively designated by a reference numeral 58, and various other
subsystems, collectively designated by a reference numeral 60, all interconnected
via one or more buses, shown collectively in FIG. 7 as a bus 62.
The present method and apparatus includes an intelligent “upsell advisor”
for use on a website, and more particularly, an online store. When a customer has
configured a computer system in the online store and added the configured system
to the virtual shopping cart, the upsell advisor of the present disclosure operates in
a prescribed manner to check the configuration for upgrade opportunities. When
the upsell advisor identifies a system option (for example, the hard disk drive
selection) that is an upsell opportunity, then the upsell advisor gives the customer
a special message that includes an option to upgrade to a higher selection and
further explains advantages of doing so. If the upsell is accepted, the customer’s
order is automatically updated. In addition, the upsell advisor keeps track of a
customer having already accepted a particular upgrade and will not persist to
upsell the given customer for that particular system.
The present embodiment further provides an interactive upsell, responsive
to a customer type and a configured computer system. The upsell advisor
acknowledges a particular configured computer system and where prescribed
upsell opportunities exist, presents the upsell opportunities to the potential
customer for consideration. The upsell advisor presents upgrades, when available
according to prescribed business rules, with respect to a particular customer
configuration. In addition to the upgrade information, a cost differential and
technical advantage information are provided to the potential customer for
consideration. The customer can then consider the upgrade and decide whether
or not the upsell is more desirable than the original configured computer system
without the upgrade. The upsell advisor provides a description of the proposed
upgrade, a price differential, and any technical advantages, as may be
appropriate. For example, an upsell message may include information
acknowledging a custom configured computer system with 32 MBytes of memory
and that a 64 Mbyte memory is available for a price differential of a prescribed
amount. Furthermore, the upsell message can include an indication that the
upgraded computer system will include a prescribed technical advantage, e.g., in
that it will be so much faster, so much better, etc. The upsell advisor provides an
upsell message based upon customer type, custom configured computer system,
and upsell availability for the customer type and customer configured computer
system. The upsell advisor takes into account as much as possible about the
given customer type, a custom configured computer system, available options for
the custom configured computer system, and what a customer of the given
customer type will most likely desire with a particular type of custom configured
computer system. The preceding attributes form a basis for the upsell advisor of
the present disclosure.
At a highest level, the upsell advisor first considers what type of customer a
given customer is (e.g., Are you a federal customer?; Are you a home customer?;
Are you a business customer?). There may be certain business rule reasons for
upselling a particular upgrade to one customer type while not upselling that same
upgrade to another customer type. For example, there may be a reason for not
providing a 32 Mbyte to 64 Mbyte memory upsell to a federal customer, however,
the memory upsell is appropriate for a home customer type. In addition, different
businesses may be assigned different business customer types, wherein a first
business type customer may have the 32 Mbyte to 64 Mbyte memory upsell
available to them and a second business type customer may not. The first
business type customer may include a large business organization having liberal
purchasing restrictions on its employees, thus allowing its employees wider
freedom to custom configure computer systems for purchase and use at their
respective place of business. On the other hand, the second business type
customer may include a small business organization having tight purchase
restrictions on its employees, allowing for only a few options to be available to its
employees for custom configuration of a computer system. The upsell advisor
may utilize any number of business rules to be applied for different customer
types.
At a next level, the upsell advisor may consider the base configuration
which the customer of the given customer set selected. Did the customer select
and/or configure a notebook, a desktop, or a server, for example. Still further, the
upsell advisor may then consider what options did the customer select for
configuring the specific base configuration. For example, did the customer select
a 64 MByte memory, a 10 GByte hard disk drive, one year of service or three years
of service? Taking all of the options into account, the upsell advisor then returns
to a prescribed set of business rules for the given customer type and base
configuration pre-established in a database, what, if any, upsell should be
provided. If more than one upsell are available, then the upsell having a highest
rating is selected for being presented to the customer of the on-line store.
One example implementation of the upsell advisor may include a
determination that the on-line store user is a federal customer, the base
configuration is a notebook, and the selection of 128 MBytes RAM. In such an
instance, there might be three upsell options available. One upsell option could
include an increase from 128 MBytes RAM to 256 MBytes RAM. Another upsell
option could include an upgrade to three years of service. Yet another upsell
option may include an upgrade to a 15 GByte hard disk drive. At any given time,
the priority for each upsell option may be different. The on-line store merchant
may decide for a given period of time that service is to receive a highest priority of
the available upsell options, where service may provide a highest margin for the
given period of time. For another period of time, the upsell option to receive a
highest priority may include memory, for example, where the on-line store
merchant has a special deal on memory and desires to promote computer systems
with higher memory. The priority of the available upsell options is preferably
determined according to a given set of business rules established by the on-line
store merchant.
The upsell advisor of the present disclosure is a dynamic advisor, i.e.,
driven by a database. For instance, on any given date, business rules for the
upsell advisor may provide a first set of upsell recommendations whereas, the
upsell recommendations one day/week later may be different, as provided
according to upsell information stored in the database. The database can include
an Intranet connection or the like, for being updated by authorized personnel of the
online store merchant, for implementing a prescribed set of business rules in
conjunction with the upsell advisor.
Every configuration will have different modules, hard disk drives, per
customer configured machine. The present embodiments provide for analyzing
and/or processing base configuration and options of a customer configured
computer system and providing an upsell recommendation in response to the
analysis.
Referring now to FIG. 3, an exemplary shopping cart screen display 70 is
illustrated. The screen display is of the shopping cart or basket of the online store
subsequent to a customer configuring a desired computer system. A summary
view 72 of items in the shopping cart are illustrated. In this example, only one item
is shown, however more than one custom configurable item could be included.
With the upsell advisor 21, an active upsell 74 is provided for the last custom
configured computer system to be placed in the shopping cart 20. As shown in
FIG. 3, the last custom configured computer system to be placed in the shopping
cart includes a Dell Dimension XPS R MiniTower, Pentium ®l| processor, 450
MHZ with 512KB L2 Cache and a unit price 76. In this example, the active upsell
74 is available and presented on the display 70. As shown, the online store
customer has several options available for selection. The options include a
continue shopping option 78, a save my cart option 80, and a place order option
82. The options further include an active upsell upgrade now option 84. For each
option, there is a respective button, that if selected, will carry out the desired
opflon.
Acceptance of the upsell recommendation can be accomplished for
example, by clicking on the “upgrade now" button 84 displayed on the display
screen 70. Upon acceptance by the customer, the configuration is then changed
to incorporate the upsell recommendation of the upsell advisor. Thereafter, if the
customer were to go back to view his/her computer system configuration as if to
edit the same, then the configuration would have been changed to include the
upgraded option therein. The customer can thus actually see what has happened
to his/her upgraded configuration. The customer can advantageously review and
edit the upgraded configuration further as may be desired. FIG. 4 illustrates the
result of the customer's acceptance of the active upsell recommendation of FIG. 3.
As illustrated, the active upsell provides an updated price 86 which is displayed to
reflect the acceptance of the active upsell. Details of the upgraded configuration
can be reviewed, as desired, for example, by selecting EDIT 88 on the display
screen 70.
Once an upsell recommendation has been made, an additional upsell
recommendation is not made until the customer enters the shopping cart again.
Thus, a customer can go to another area of the online store and upon returning to
the shopping cart, an upsell recommendation, can be displayed if one exists.
Thus, if a first upsell recommendation included a service oriented upgrade, a
second upsell recommendation might include a memory oriented upgrade. In
addition to the above, various other combinations for presenting the upsell
recommendations to a customer are possible. For instance, upon acceptance of a
first upsell recommendation, a subsequent upsell recommendation could be
presented immediately following acceptance of a first recommendation. This could
be repeated until a last upsell recommendation for a given customer configured
computer system had been displayed.
If a customer does not wish to select the upsell recommendation, then upon
exiting the shopping cart and re-entering the shopping cart, so long as last entered
custom configurated computer system remained the same, the upsell
recommendation would be the same.
In another embodiment, if a customer exits the shopping cart without
selecting the upsell recommendation and later re—enters the shopping cart with the
same custom configured computer system, then a next upsell recommendation in
a given priority order can be displayed. The same customer configured computer
system means that nothing in the configuration has been changed from the
previous time in the cart.
The target configuration of the upsell advisor is preferably the last
configurable item in the shopping cart. The shopping cart may contain more than
one configurable item at any given time. As items are added to the shopping cart,
they are entered first to last, thus the last item is the most recently added item in
the shopping cart. The upsell advisor thus provides upsell recommendations (if
any) with respect to the last configurable item in the shopping cart. A computer
system is an example of a configurable item, whereas a printer is not a
configurable item.
The shopping cart online screen display includes a prescribed area, which
can have a shared usage as a merchandising area or an active upsell area on a
screen display. The prescribed area is a prominent area of the online shopping
cart screen display, and can include graphic and text areas, the text including a
large font, larger than other fonts used on the online shopping cart screen display.
Certain shopping cart business rules provide directive for whether or not an
active upsell is available for a given customer and the custom configured computer
system. The business rules are generally as follows, however, may be modified
as appropriate for carrying out a desired upsell and implementation of the active
upsell advisor.
When the cart loads upon access by an online store customer, the upsell
advisor is activated to display upsell recommendations as permitted per respective
business rules. Exemplary business rules may include the following. A first
business rule might include that the store that the customer is using must allow the
upsell advisor. This is part of a customization of each store (e.g., home, business,
government (Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines), etc.) and allows for each
business segment of the online store merchant to determine how a respective
store will appear. Another business rule might include that the cart must contain at
least one configurable item, i.e., an item that the user created and/or modified in
the configurator. Only configurable items, i.e., computer systems added to the cart
from the configurator, are allowed for upsell recommendations. Non-configurable
items, such as printers, scanners, etc. are not eligible for an upsell
recommendation.
If the prescribed business rule conditions are met, then the upsell
recommendations are loaded from the database. The recommendations are given
a prescribed priority or sequenced by authorized business personnel of the online
store merchant. The prescribed priority or sequence is used to determine the
order of active upsell recommendations presented to and that an online store
customer will see.
Each active upsell recommendation is validated prior to being displayed to a
customer. Validation includes making sure that a given active upsell
recommendation matches the configuration brand, and option selected for the
recommended module (e.g., service, memory, HD, etc). Each active upsell
recommendation is also validated to make sure that the configuration will continue
to be a valid configuration with the upgrade recommendation. If an upsell
recommendation is valid, then a differential price is calculated for the given
configuration and incorporated into an active upsell message which is displayed on
the cart display to the user by the upsell advisor. A graphic representing the
module being recommended for the active upsell upgrade can also be retrieved
from the database and incorporated into the active upsell recommendation
message.
If an upsell recommendation is accepted, the customer’s configuration is
then changed to reflect the new option for the module. If the user edits the
configuration, the user will see the changes that the upsell advisor made. A
separate processing page is used for implementing changes to the customer's
custom configuration. Such a processing page allows for tracking upsell
recommendations which are accepted by customers. In combination with the cart
page, statistics can be created for evaluating how many active upsell
recommendations and which type were show, taken and rejected for any number
of situations (by store, by customer, by recommendation).
Once a custom configuration has been updated, the customer can be
returned to the cart to start the process again. Recommendations can appear
constantly when valid (that is, if after accepting an upsell recommendation another
recommendation is valid, the next in order active upsell recommendation can be
made to appear) orjust one recommendation per visit to the cart (that is, after
accepting an upsell recommendation, another recommendation will not appear
until the customer reenters the cart).
Recommendations are preferably dynamic, wherein authorized business
personnel of the online store merchant can add/change/delete active upsell
recommendations at any time during any given day. Sequencing of the active
upsell recommendations is used for advantageously enhancing business sales. If
a given business segment of the online store merchant wants to place more
emphasis on service, then an active upsell recommendation regarding service is
placed at the top of the active upsell recommendation sequence, thus appearing
as a first upsell recommendation when valid. The dynamic recommendations
feature can be advantageously used by the business segments of the online store
merchant to assist in providing maximized margins, advertising a new item, etc.
The active upsell advisor and business rules shall be further discussed in
conjunction with the flow chart of FIG. 5, beginning with step 100. In step 102, the
upsell advisor operates to obtain at least the customer type, configuration brand,
and an order code from the last configurable item in the shopping cart. In step
104, the upsell advisor business rules from the database 24. In step 106, an
inquiry is made as to whether or not the given customer store allows for the upsell
advisor. If the store does not allow for the upsell advisor, then the process
proceeds with no upsell recommendation (step 108) and ends at step 110. If the
store does allow for the upsell advisor in step 106, then the process proceeds to
step 112. In step 112, an inquiry is made as to whether or not there are any upsell
recommendations for the given brand of the last configurable item in the shopping
cart. If there are no upsell recommendations for the given brand, then the process
proceeds with no upsell recommendation (step 108) and ends at step 110. if
upsell recommendations exist for the given brand of the last configurable item in
the shopping cart, then in step 114, an inquiry is made as to whether or not a last
upsell recommendation in a prescribed sequence or list of upsell
recommendations has been presented. If the last upsell recommendation has
been presented, then the process ends at step 110. If the last upsell
recommendation has not been presented, then the process continues at step 116.
In step 116, an inquiry is made to determine if a given upsell recommendation
module/option match exists in the last configurable item of the shopping cart. if no
match exists, then the process continues with step 118 and a next upsell
recommendation is obtained from the prescribed sequence of upsell
recommendations (if any). if a match exists, then in step 120, a validation inquiry
is carried out. That is, a determination is made as to whether or not the upsell
recommendation for the prescribed option of the given configuration is valid. if not
then the process continues at step 118.
If the upsell recommendation is valid,
then in step 122, a differential price as a result of the upsell recommendation is
calculated. in step 124, the upsell recommendation is displayed. The process
then ends at step 110.
The basket/shopping cart process including the active upsell advisor of the
present embodiments shall now be further discussed in conjunction with the flow
diagram of FIG. 6, beginning with step 120. In step 122, an online customer
enters the cart. In step 124, the process as discussed with respect to FIG. 5 is
carried out. In particular, in step 124, an inquiry is made as to whether or not an
upsell advisor recommendation is available. If the upsell advisor recommendation
is available, then in step 126, the upsell recommendation is displayed. In step
128, an upgrade now button for use by a customer in selecting the upsell
recommendation is added to the cart options. In step 130, the cart options are
displayed. Referring back to step 124, if an upsell advisor recommendation is not
available, then in step, a merchandising message is displayed on the cart screen
and the process continues at step 130. In step 134, the process awaits selection
of a cart option by the customer. Upon selection of a cart option, the process
continues with step 136. In step 136, an inquiry is made to determine if the option
selected was the upsell recommendation option (when available). If the upsell
recommendation option was selected, then in step 138, the configuration is
updated with the upsell recommendation and the process returns to the entrance
of the cart at step 122. Otherwise, if in step 136, the upsell recommendation was
not selected, then in step 140, the selected option other than the upsell is pursued.
The process then ends at step 142.
In operation, a customer desiring to configure and purchase a custom
computer system would enter the online store at the given merchant’s website.
Upon reviewing a welcome page, the customer can then enter the configurator to
configure a custom configured computer system. Upon configuring a desired
system, the customer then places the configured computer system order into the
shopping cart or basket. At that point in time, while at the shopping cart page, the
shopping cart upsell advisor process as discussed herein is carried out.
While the method and apparatus of the present disclosure have been
particularly shown and described with reference to the various embodiments
thereof, 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
method and apparatus, as set forth in the following claims.
Claims (16)
1. A system for the on-line configuration of a user configured computer system comprising: an existing computer system operated by a user; and a web-based on-line user interface being accessed by the existing computer system via the Internet, comprising: means for determining which of a number of prescribed sets the user operating the existing computer system belongs to; a configurator enabling the user to on—line build a user configured computer system from options listed on a configuration screen displayed by the existing computer system; a database for _dynamically supplying configuration options to the configurator in accordance with the identification of the user belonging to the prescribed customer set; a storing means for temporarily storing a customer configured computer system; an interactive advisor means operatively coupled to the configurator, the database, and the storing means, wherein the interactive advisor means checks the customer configured computer system and sends a recommendation to the existing computer system to improve the configured computer system, the recommendation being a function of the prescribed customer set, the user configured computer system and prescribed advisor rules; and wherein the interactive advisor means automatically updates the configuration of the user configurator computer system in response to an operation of the existing computer system by the user.
2. A system according to Claim 1, wherein the database is further for dynamically supplying the prescribed advisor rules to the advisor, the advisor utilising the dynamically supplied prescribed rules in selectively providing recommendations to the existing computer system.
3. A system according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the advisor means calculates a differential price between the user configured computer system with the recommendation and the user configured computer system without the recommendation, the advisor means further providing the differential price to the existing computer system.
4. A system according to Claim 3, wherein a description of the recommendation, the differential price, and an upgrade now user selectable option are each displayed on the existing computer system.
5. A system according to Claim 4, wherein the description of the upsell recommendation, the differential price, and the upgrade now user selectable option are further displayed in a prominent area of the display of the existing computer system.
6. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein recommendations for available options and their respective option details, the recommendations being presented to the existing computer system in the event a recommendation by the advisor means is unavailable, and wherein the database is further for dynamically supplying the recommendations to the user in accordance with a prescribed user set.
7. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the upsell advisor validates an upsell recommendation for the given customer configured computer system prior to providing the upsell recommendation to the cart.
8. A method for the on-line configuration of a build-to-order computer system, comprising: providing an on-line user interface to be accessed via the Internet from a user operating an existing computer system; determining which of a number of prescribed sets the user operating the existing computer system belongs to; providing a configurator for configuring a user configured computer system with options selected from options listed on a configuration screen displayed by the existing computer system; providing a database for dynamically supplying configuration options to the configurator in accordance with the identification of the user belonging to the prescribed set; 2O providing a storing means for temporarily storing the user configured computer system; providing an interactive advisor means operatively coupled to the configurator, the database, and the storing means for checking the user configured computer system and sending a recommendation to the existing computer system to improve the configured computer system, the recommendation being a function of the prescribed set, the user configured computer system and prescribed advisor rules; and, automatically updating the configuration of the user configured computer system by the interactive advisor in response to an operation of the existing computer system by the user.
9. The method of Claim 8, wherein the database dynamically supplies the prescribed rules to the interactive advisor, the interactive advisor utilising the supplied rules in selectively providing dynamically prescribed recommendations.
10. The method of Claim 8 or Claim 9, wherein the advisor calculates a differential price between the user configured computer system with the recommendation and the user configured computer system without the recommendation, the advisor further providing the differential price.
11. The method of Claim 10, wherein a description of the recommendation, the differential price, and an upgrade now user selectable option are each displayed at the existing computer system.
12. The method of Claim 11, wherein a description of the recommendation, the differential price, and an upgrade now user selectable option are further displayed in a prominent area of a display at the existing computer system.
13. The method of any one of Claims 8 to 12, wherein recommendations for available options and their respective option details are presented in the event a recommendation by the advisor means is unavailable, and wherein the database dynamically supplies the recommendations in accordance with a prescribed customer set.
14. The method of any one of Claims 8 to 13, wherein the advisor validates a recommendation for the given user configured computer system prior to providing the upsell recommendation.
15. A web-based on-line store, substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
16. A method for enabling a custom configuration of a computer system, substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings. F. R. KELLY & co., AGENTS FOR THE APPLICANTS
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
USUNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA09/04/19990 | |||
US09/290,027 US7016864B1 (en) | 1999-04-09 | 1999-04-09 | Interactive upsell advisor method and apparatus for internet applications |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
IE20000204A1 IE20000204A1 (en) | 2000-11-15 |
IE84235B1 true IE84235B1 (en) | 2006-05-31 |
Family
ID=
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