System and method for providing localized product offerings publications
A retailer system responds to a request to view an electronic product offerings publication by using data indicative of a geographic location to select from a plurality of retailer locations at least one retailer location and by retrieving inventory related information for the selected at least one retailer location. The retrieved inventory related information is then used to select product offerings from a repository of product offerings whereupon an electronic product offerings publication container is populated with the product offerings selected from the repository of product offerings. The populated electronic product offerings publications container is then returned to the requester as the requested product offerings publication.
1. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a retailer computing system of a merchant having a plurality of locations, the instructions causing the retailer computing system to perform steps, comprising:
providing a software application to terminal devices of the plurality of consumers, wherein the terminal devices comprise mobile devices that comprise processors, location determining systems, wireless communication interfaces, and graphical user interfaces, wherein the location determining systems comprise GPS systems, wherein selections of graphical elements of the graphical user interfaces allow the consumers to manipulate presentations of information including providing side-by-side product comparisons with competitor product offerings, and to optimize one or more processes of an engine that is configured to select product offerings for inclusion in product offerings publications;
providing cookies to the mobile devices to enable the retailer computing system to optimize the one or more processes of the engine that is configured to select the product offerings for inclusion in the product offerings publications, wherein the cookies enable the retailer computing system to track products viewed and products purchased via the mobile devices;
receiving location information from the wireless interfaces of the mobile devices that is based on the information received by the GPS systems of the mobile devices;
receiving, via selections of graphical elements of the graphical user interfaces, information representative of retail product transactions of the plurality of consumers at a retailer computing system configured to interact with terminal devices of the plurality of consumers via a network, the retailer computing system comprising one or both of a processor and a memory that store a plurality of templates for electronic product offering publications, information identifying product items available in inventory of the merchant, data representative of geographic locations received from corresponding terminal devices of the plurality of consumers, and personal preferences corresponding to each of the plurality of consumers including when notifications are to be sent to the consumer and product filters that have been selected by the consumer, and wherein the retailer computing system:
includes an engine that is optimized based on responses of the consumers, via selections of graphical elements of the graphical user interfaces, to personalized electronic product offerings publications and location coordinates received from the location determining systems of the terminal devices;
adjusts the information identifying product items in inventory of each merchant location according to the information representative of the retail product transactions of the plurality of consumers;
sends a notification of an available electronic product offering publication to the software application of the terminal device of a particular consumer, in accordance with a personal preference of when notifications are to be sent to the particular consumer;
receives, from the software application in the terminal device of the particular consumer, data representative of a current geographic location of the particular consumer and an explicit user request to view an electronic product offerings publication;
in response to receipt of the user request:
filters the information identifying product items available in inventory of a particular location of the plurality of merchant locations according to the personal preferences, the product filters, and the data representative of a geographic location, of the particular consumer, to identify one or more product items for publication to the particular consumer;
constructs a personalized electronic product offerings publication for the particular consumer by populating the one or more product items for publication into a template from the plurality of templates corresponding to the particular location of the plurality of merchant locations, wherein the pricing of the one or more items in the personalized electronic product offerings publication is based on weightings of a plurality of factors including inventory, competitive pricing, and price elasticity, wherein the product items selected for population within the personalized electronic product offerings publication are filterable by the retailer computer system according to popularity, and wherein the product items selected for population within the personalized electronic product offerings publication are determined based on real-time inventory information when the particular consumer requests access to the personalized product offerings publication; and
transmits the personalized electronic product offerings publication to the software application in the terminal device of the particular consumer, for display; and
selecting one or more graphical elements of the graphical user interface to designate a particular product item for following and inclusion in a future product offerings publication, wherein the particular product item is based on a wish list and a life event of the particular consumer, and wherein the particular product item is associated with an expiration date.
2. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the engine is optimized based on responses of the consumers to personalized electronic product offerings publications, the location coordinates received from the location determining systems of the terminal devices, and predicted weather conditions for the received location coordinates.
3. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein information identifying product items available in inventory of the merchant is retrieved from an inventory management system in real-time, and wherein the request to view the electronic product offerings publication is received from a mobile application (app).
4. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the request to view the electronic product offerings publication is received from a browser application or an email application.
5. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the terminal devices include location determining systems and graphical user interfaces, and comprising:
determining locations of the terminal devices from location coordinates provided by the location determining systems of the terminal devices.
6. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , comprising:
receiving information indicative of shopping behavior of the user comprising viewing of product information, wherein the information indicative of the shopping behavior of the user is also used to select product offerings from the information identifying product items available in inventory of the merchant.
7. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , comprising:
receiving information indicative of a condition associated with the geographic location of the particular consumer, wherein the information indicative of the condition is also used to select product offerings from the information identifying product items available in inventory of the merchant.
8. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 7 , wherein the condition associated with the geographic location of the particular consumer comprises at least one of a current weather condition and a forecast weather condition.
9. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , comprising:
receiving competitive pricing information associated with the geographic location of the particular consumer, wherein the competitive pricing information is used to dynamically alter product pricing within the personalized electronic product offerings publication.
10. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , comprising:
receiving data indicative of one or more actions by the particular consumer regarding product items within a previously published electronic product offerings publication transmitted to the particular consumer, wherein the data indicative of the one or more actions is also used to select product items from the information identifying product items available in inventory of the merchant for use in constructing the personalized electronic product offerings publication.
11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the product items selected for population within the personalized electronic product offerings publication are filterable according to popularity of the product items with members of a social networking system.
12. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the product items selected for population within the personalized electronic product offerings publication are filterable by brand.
13. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the product items selected for population within the personalized electronic product offerings publication are filterable by price.
14. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the product items selected for population within the personalized electronic product offerings publication are filterable by product category.
15. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the personalized electronic product offerings publication includes one or more links for sharing information related to one or more product items within the personalized electronic product offerings publication.
16. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 15 , wherein the one or more links include a link to a social networking system.
17. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 15 , wherein the one or more links include a link to an email system.
18. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the personalized electronic product offerings publication includes one or more links for facilitating a purchase of a product associated with a product item populated within the personalized electronic product offerings publication.
19. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data indicative of a geographic location comprises a user provided zip code.
20. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data representative of a geographic location comprises location data generated by the terminal device of the particular consumer.