Granted Patent B2

US 8,650,066 · App. 11/507,025 · Granted Feb 11, 2014

Inventors: Niraj Shah (Boston, MA); Steven Conine (Boston, MA)

Assignee: CSN Stores, Inc.

Abstract

Claims (98)

1. A computer-implemented method for maximizing profits from the sale of a product by a seller to consumers through a seller venue, the product being advertised with at least one advertisement through at least one advertising venue, the method comprising:

identifying, via one or more processors, a plurality of differing sales prices;

submitting, via the one or more processors, a plurality of differing bid prices to the at least one advertising venue, each of said plurality of differing bid prices being at corresponding ones of said plurality of differing sales prices, such that each of said plurality of differing bid prices facilitates buying the at least one advertisement through the at least one advertising venue;

collecting, via one or more processors, data, said data comprising advertising data associated with each of said plurality of differing bid prices from advertising with the at least one advertisement and sales transaction data processed through the seller venue when selling the product at each of the plurality of differing sale prices and at each of the plurality of differing bid prices, such that said sales transaction data includes a combination of bid prices associated with the at least one advertisement at each of the plurality of sale prices;

determining, via the one or more processors, from the collected data, a non-linear model, said non-linear model being based at least in part upon an interdependence between each of the plurality of differing sale prices and each of the plurality of differing bid prices; and

determining, via the one or more processors and based at least in part upon said non-linear model, an interrelated optimal price for the product and optimal advertising bid for the at least one advertisement, said determination comprising an iterative process, whereby successive ones of each of said plurality of differing bid prices and successive ones of each of said plurality of differing sale prices are jointly and concurrently selected until a combined selection thereof operates to maximize total profit for the product.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein collecting data from advertising with each of the at least one advertisement comprises collecting, for each combination of bid prices for the at least one advertisement, at each of the plurality of sale prices: a total number of consumers exposed to each of the at least one advertisement, a subset number of consumers purchasing the product after being exposed to each of the at least one advertisement, and an actual cost per consumer exposure for each of the at least one advertisement.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 2 , wherein determining a non-linear model for pricing and bidding comprises, for each combination of bid prices for the at least one advertisement, at each of the plurality of sale prices:

determining, via the one or more processors, a direct non-advertisement cost per unit of the product, the direct non-advertisement cost excluding the cost of advertising at the at least one advertisement;

determining, via the one or more processors, a margin per unit for the product by subtracting the direct non-advertisement cost per unit from the sale price;

determining, for each of the at least one advertisement venue, a first total profit for all products purchased, excluding advertisement costs, by multiplying the margin per unit with the subset number of consumers purchasing the product;

determining, for each of the at least one advertisement venue, a total advertising cost, by multiplying the total number of consumers exposed with the actual cost per consumer exposure;

determining, for each of the at least one advertisement venue, a second total profit accounting for advertisement costs, by subtracting the total advertising cost from the first total profit; and

determining, via the one or more processors, the combination total profit for all of the at least one advertisement venue by aggregating the second total profits from each of the at least one advertisement venue.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein collecting data from advertising with the at least one advertisement comprises collecting data on activity by traceable consumers, the traceable consumers being associated with exposure to the at least one advertisement.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4 , wherein the traceable consumers are associated with exposure to the at least one advertisement through a tracking number.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 5 , further comprising collecting data activity by untraceable consumers, the untraceable consumers being unassociated with exposure to the at least one advertisement.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 6 , further comprising aggregating the data collected for the untraceable consumers with the data collected for the traceable consumers.

8. The computer-implemented method according to claim 7 , wherein the aggregated data includes at least one of: units sold, sales volume, and profit margins.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 7 , wherein aggregating the data collected for the untraceable consumers to the data collected for the traceable consumers comprises:

determining, via the one or more processors, a total number of traceable consumers from all of the at least one advertisement;

determining, via the one or more processors, a respective per-advertisement number of traceable consumers for each of the at least one advertisement, the respective per-advertisement number corresponding to traceable consumers presented with the respective advertisement;

determining, via the one or more processors, a respective distribution factor for each of the at least one advertisement by dividing the respective per-advertisement number by the total number of traceable consumers;

determining, via the one or more processors, a respective distributed data for each of the at least one advertisement by multiplying the data collected for the untraceable consumers by the respective distribution factor; and

including the respective distributed data for each of the at least one advertisement with the data collected for the traceable consumers for each of the at least one advertisement.

10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one advertising venue sells the at least one advertisement to a highest bidder.

11. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one advertising venue sells the at least one advertisement according to at least one bid in a bidding system charging on a cost per impression (CPI) basis.

12. The computer-implemented method according to claim 10 , wherein the seller buys the at least one advertisement according to at least one bid in a straight-auction bidding system.

13. The computer-implemented method according to claim 10 , wherein the seller buys the at least one advertisement according to at least one bid in a blind-bid system.

14. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one advertising venue accepts more than one prospective bids and the at least one advertisement is presented with a frequency according to a comparison of the seller's bid to the more than one prospective bids.

15. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one advertising venue accepts a plurality of prospective bids and the at least one advertisement is presented with a prominence according to a comparison of the seller's bid to the plurality of prospective bids.

16. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the product is associated with at least one keyword and the at least one advertising venue presents the at least one advertisement as an entry in a listing associated with the at least one keyword.

17. The computer-implemented method according to claim 16 , wherein the at least one advertising venue accepts a plurality of prospective bids for the at least one keyword and the at least one advertising venue presents the entry in the listing according to a comparison of the seller's bid to the plurality of prospective bids.

18. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , further comprising updating a product database with the optimal price for the product.

19. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , further comprising submitting updated bids to the at least one advertising venue.

20. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , further comprising storing the collected data in a database.

21. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one advertising venue presents the at least one advertisement over an electronic network.

22. The computer-implemented method according to claim 21 , wherein the at least one advertisement directs consumers over the electronic network to the seller's venue.

23. A system for maximizing profits from the sale of a product by a seller to consumers through a seller venue, the product being advertised with at least one advertisement directing consumers to the seller venue provided by at least one advertising venue, the system comprising one or more memory storage areas and one or more processors, the one or more processors configured to:

execute a logging engine configured to:

identify a plurality of differing sales prices;

submit a plurality of differing bid prices to the at least one advertising venue, each of said plurality of differing bid prices being at corresponding ones of said plurality of differing sales prices, such that each of said plurality of differing bid prices facilitates buying the at least one advertisement through the at least one advertising venue; and

collect, data, said data comprising advertising data associated with each of said plurality of differing bid prices from advertising with the at least one advertisement and sales transaction data processed through the seller venue when selling the product at each of the plurality of differing sale prices and at each of the plurality of differing bid prices, such that said sales transaction data includes a combination of bid prices associated with the at least one advertisement at each of the plurality of sale prices; and

execute an optimization engine configured to:

determine, from the collected data, a non-linear model, said non-linear model being based at least in part upon an interdependence between each of the plurality of differing sale prices and each of the plurality of differing bid prices; and

determine, from the non-linear model, an interrelated optimal price for the product and optimal advertising bid for the at least one advertisement, said determination comprising an iterative process, whereby successive ones of each of said plurality of differing bid prices and successive ones of each of said plurality of differing sale prices are jointly and concurrently selected until a combined selection thereof operates to maximize total profit for the product.

24. The system according to claim 23 , wherein, to collect data from advertising with each of the at least one advertisement, the logging engine is configured to collect, for each combination of bid prices for each of the at least one advertisement, at each of the plurality of sale prices: a total number of consumers exposed to each of the at least one advertisement, a subset number of consumers purchasing the product after being exposed to each of the at least one advertisement, and an actual cost per consumer exposure for each of the at least one advertisement.

25. The system according to claim 24 , wherein, to determine a non-linear model for pricing and bidding, the optimization engine, for each combination of bid prices for each of the at least one advertisement, at each of the plurality of sale prices is configured to:

determine a direct non-advertisement cost per unit of the product, the direct non-advertisement cost excluding the cost of advertising at the at least one advertisement,

determine a margin per unit for the product by subtracting the direct non-advertisement cost per unit from the sale price,

determine, for each of the at least one advertisement venue, a first total profit for all products purchased, excluding advertisement costs, by multiplying the margin per unit with the subset number of consumers purchasing the product,

determine, for each of the at least one advertisement venue, a total advertising cost, by multiplying the total number of consumers exposed with the actual cost per consumer exposure,

determine, for each of the at least one advertisement venue, a second total profit accounting for advertisement costs, by subtracting the total advertising cost from the first total profit, and

determine the combination total profit for all of the at least one advertisement venue by aggregating the second total profits from each of the at least one advertisement venue.

26. The system according to claim 23 , wherein, to collect data from advertising with each of the at least one advertisement, the logging engine is configured to collect data on activity by traceable consumers, the traceable consumers being associated with exposure to the at least one advertisement.

27. The system according to claim 26 , wherein the traceable consumers are associated with exposure to the at least one advertisement through a tracking code.

28. The system according to claim 26 , wherein the logging engine is further configured to collect data on activity by untraceable consumers, the untraceable consumers being unassociated with exposure to the at least one advertisement.

29. The system according to claim 28 , further comprising a data distributor configured to aggregate the data collected for the untraceable consumers with the data collected for the traceable consumers.

30. The system according to claim 29 , wherein the aggregated data includes at least one of: units sold, sales volume, and profit margins.

31. The system according to claim 29 , wherein, to aggregate the data collected for the untraceable consumers with the data collected for the traceable consumers, the data distributor is further configured to:

determine a total number of traceable consumers from all of the at least one advertisement,

determine a respective per-advertisement number of traceable consumers for each of the at least one advertisement, the respective per-advertisement number corresponding to traceable consumers presented with the respective advertisement,

determine a respective distribution factor for each of the at least one advertisement by dividing the respective per-advertisement number by the total number of traceable consumers,

determine a respective distributed data for each of the at least one advertisement by multiplying the data collected for the untraceable consumers by the respective distribution factor, and

include the respective distributed data for each of the at least one advertisement with the data collected for the traceable consumers for each of the at least one advertisement.

32. The system according to claim 23 , wherein the at least one advertising venue sells the at least one advertisement to a highest bidder.

33. The system according to claim 23 , wherein the at least one advertising venue sells the at least one advertisement according to at least one bid in a bidding system charging on a cost per impression (CPI) basis.

34. The system according to claim 23 , wherein the seller buys the at least one advertisement according to at least one bid in a straight-auction bidding system.

35. The system according to claim 23 , wherein the seller buys the at least one advertisement according to at least one bid in a blind-bid system.

36. The system according to claim 23 , wherein the at least one advertising venue accepts a plurality of prospective bids and the at least one advertisement is presented to consumers with a frequency according to a comparison of the seller's bid to the more than one prospective bids.

37. The system according to claim 23 , wherein the at least one advertising venue accepts a plurality of prospective bids and the at least one advertisement is presented with a prominence according to a comparison of the seller's bid to the plurality of prospective bids.

38. The system according to claim 23 , wherein the product is associated with at least one keyword and the at least one advertising venue presents the at least one advertisement as an entry in a listing associated with the at least one keyword.

39. The system according to claim 38 , wherein the at least one advertising venue accepts a plurality of prospective bids for the at least one keyword and the at least one advertising venue presents the entry in the listing according to a comparison of the seller's bid to the plurality of prospective bids.

40. The system according to claim 23 , further comprising:

a product database with a current sale price for the product, the product database supplying the current sale price for the sale of the product by a seller to consumers; and

a product repricing trigger configured to update the product database with the optimal price for the product determined by the optimization engine.

41. The system according to claim 23 , further comprising:

an advertisement database with the bid prices for buying the at least one advertisement;

an advertisement spending trigger configured to update the bid prices in the advertisement database; and

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute a bid management engine configured to submit the bid prices from the advertisement database to the at least one advertising venue.

42. The system according to claim 23 , further comprising a log database configured to store the collected data.

43. The system according to claim 23 , wherein the at least one advertising venue presents the at least one advertisement over an electronic network.

44. The system according to claim 43 , wherein the at least one advertisement directs consumers over the electronic network to the seller's venue.

45. A computer program product for maximizing profits from the sale of a product by a seller to consumers at a product price, the product being advertised with an advertisement provided by an advertising venue, and the seller buying the advertisement by submitting a bid price to the advertising venue, the computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

an executable portion configured to:

identify a plurality of differing sales prices;

submit a plurality of differing bid prices to the at least one advertising venue, each of said plurality of differing bid prices being at corresponding ones of said plurality of differing sales prices, such that each of said plurality of differing bid prices facilitates buying the at least one advertisement through the at least one advertising venue; and

collect, data, said data comprising advertising data associated with each of said plurality of differing bid prices from advertising with the at least one advertisement and sales transaction data processed through the seller venue when selling the product at each of the plurality of differing sale prices and at each of the plurality of differing bid prices, such that said sales transaction data includes a combination of bid prices associated with the at least one advertisement at each of the plurality of sale prices; and

an executable portion configured to determine, from the collected data, a non-linear model, said non-linear model being based at least in part upon an interdependence between each of the plurality of differing sale prices and each of the plurality of differing bid prices; and

an executable portion configured to determine, from the non-linear model, an interrelated optimal price for the product and optimal advertising bid for the at least one advertisement, said determination comprising an iterative process, whereby successive ones of each of said plurality of differing bid prices and successive ones of each of said plurality of differing sale prices are jointly and concurrently selected until a combined selection thereof operates to maximize total profit for the product.

46. The computer program product according to claim 45 , wherein collecting data from advertising with each of the at least one advertisement comprises collecting, for each combination of bid prices for the at least one advertisement, at each of the plurality of sale prices: a total number of consumers exposed to each of the at least one advertisement, a subset number of consumers purchasing the product after being exposed to each of the at least one advertisement, and an actual cost per consumer exposure for each of the at least one advertisement.

47. The computer program product according to claim 46 , wherein the executable portion configured to determine a non-linear model for pricing and bidding is further configured to, for each combination of bid prices for the at least one advertisement, at each of the plurality of sale prices:

determine a direct non-advertisement cost per unit of the product, the direct non-advertisement cost excluding the cost of advertising at the at least one advertisement;

determine a margin per unit for the product by subtracting the direct non-advertisement cost per unit from the sale price;

determine, for each of the at least one advertisement venue, a first total profit for all products purchased, excluding advertisement costs, by multiplying the margin per unit with the subset number of consumers purchasing the product;

determine, for each of the at least one advertisement venue, a total advertising cost, by multiplying the total number of consumers exposed with the actual cost per consumer exposure;

determine, for each of the at least one advertisement venue, a second total profit accounting for advertisement costs, by subtracting the total advertising cost from the first total profit; and

determine a combination total profit for all of the at least one advertisement venue by aggregating the second total profits from each of the at least one advertisement venue.

Assignments (10)

Continuity (1)