Methods and apparatus for enhanced product recommendations
Apparatus and methods are given for providing enhanced product recommendations. In one embodiment, products are recommended to a consumer based on information manually entered by the consumer and/or derived from data relating to the consumer obtained from a health-monitoring platform. The recommended products are provided from a recommendation engine to a human operator or curator at an item selection entity, the curator selects a predetermined number of the recommended products for delivery to the consumer. Such delivery is established by the consumer to occur periodically (such as monthly) as part of a subscription service. Product recommendations are adjusted over time to relate to customer activity and interest data accumulated from the health-monitoring platform. In one embodiment, a recommendation engine is configured to specifically tailor its recommendation algorithms based on feedback information received from the curator and/or the consumer.
1 . An apparatus configured to curate subscription boxes, the apparatus comprising:
a network interface;
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:
log-on to a curator account;
obtain a task list assigned to the curator account, where the task list is associated with a set of subscribers that are involved in a team activity; and
for a first subscriber of the set of subscribers that are involved in the team activity:
obtain real-time biometric data measured by a user device during workouts of the first subscriber;
compare the real-time biometric data to a workout goal threshold of the first subscriber;
responsive to the workout goal threshold being met, filter a plurality of product records based on the real-time biometric data and a first set of social media posts of the first subscriber to create a filtered set of product records;
obtain a recommended set of products associated with a friend of the first subscriber, where the first subscriber and the friend are involved in the team activity;
select a subset of the filtered set of product records based on the recommended set of products associated with the friend; and
order a subscription box for the first subscriber based on the subset of the filtered set of product records.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , where the recommended set of products comprise previously purchased products of the friend.
3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , where the recommended set of products comprise gift products for the first subscriber selected by the friend.
4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , where the subset of the filtered set of product records is selected based on a similarity to the recommended set of products associated with the friend.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , where the subset of the filtered set of product records is selected based on a diversity to the recommended set of products associated with the friend.
6 . A user apparatus, the user apparatus comprising:
a network interface;
a user interface;
a real-time biometric sensor;
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the user apparatus to:
obtain subscriber onboarding input from a subscriber via the user interface;
measure real-time biometric data during workouts of the subscriber via the real-time biometric sensor;
compare the real-time biometric data to a workout goal threshold of the subscriber;
enable social media activity associated with the workouts via the network interface;
obtain product records for a plurality of different workout activities via the network interface;
responsive to a lifestyle event determined from the social media activity or the workout goal threshold being met, filter the product records based on the real-time biometric data, and the subscriber onboarding input, to create a filtered set of product records;
obtain a recommended set of products associated with a friend of the subscriber;
select a subset of the filtered set of product records based on the recommended set of products associated with the friend;
order a subscription box from a product warehouse for the subscriber based on the subset of the filtered set of product records; and
cause the product warehouse to ship the subscription box to the subscriber.
7 . The user apparatus of claim 6 , where the instructions, when executed by the processor, further causes the user apparatus to generate a user profile comprising:
a static data structure based on the subscriber onboarding input; and
a dynamic data structure based on the real-time biometric data.
8 . The user apparatus of claim 7 , where the dynamic data structure comprises user activity scores for the plurality of different workout activities calculated based on the real-time biometric data.
9 . The user apparatus of claim 8 , where the instructions, when executed by the processor, further causes the user apparatus to filter the product records based on a similarity between the user activity scores and one or more product activity scores.
10 . The user apparatus of claim 6 , where the instructions, when executed by the processor, further causes the user apparatus to display the subset of the filtered set of product records to the subscriber to confirm the subscription box.
11 . The user apparatus of claim 6 , where the friend of the subscriber comprises a human stylist.
12 . A method for curating a subscription box for a subscriber, the method comprising:
obtaining subscription information associated with the subscriber;
obtaining real-time biometric data measured by a user device during workouts of the subscriber, where the real-time biometric data is compared to a workout goal threshold of the subscriber;
obtaining social media posts associated with the workouts, where the subscriber and a friend identified in the social media posts are involved in a team activity;
obtaining product records for a plurality of different workout activities; and
generating the subscription box for the subscriber via a two part recommendation system comprising:
responsive to the workout goal threshold being met, filtering the product records based on the social media posts and the subscription information to create a filtered set of product records;
obtaining a recommended set of products associated with the friend;
generating a curated set of products for the subscription box from the filtered set of product records and the recommended set of products associated with the friend;
ordering the subscription box for the subscriber from a product warehouse; and
causing the product warehouse to ship the subscription box to the subscriber.
13 . The method of claim 12 , where a recommendation engine generates the curated set of products for the subscription box.
14 . The method of claim 12 , where a human stylist generates the curated set of products for the subscription box.
15 . The method of claim 14 , where the social media posts are associated with a group of friends that includes the subscriber and the friend.
16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising ordering a second curated set of products for a second subscriber of the group of friends.
17 . The method of claim 15 , where the social media posts comprise a subscriber post that indicates interest in the workouts.
18 . The method of claim 15 , where the social media posts comprise a workout challenge for the subscriber.
19 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising updating a curator feedback based on a difference between the curated set of products and the filtered set of product records.
20 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising updating a curator feedback based on product returns of the subscriber.