Discounted Pricing
A system and method that facilitates e-commerce volume pricing is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system includes an offers and orders component that receives and aggregates orders for a product from a plurality of buyers. The system also includes a logistics component that determines a shipping price for the product for a subset of the plurality of buyers. The shipping price is determined at least in part upon the subset of buyers sharing a shipping method. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which buyers within an aggregated purchasing group may be subject to different pricing structures for the same product.
1 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for providing a discounted deal, the method comprising:
providing a merchant account on a third party website that:
stores contact information about the merchant;
enables the merchant to create a limited-time offer for delivery to potential buyers, wherein the offer includes a time period, a condition, and an instruction associated with the delivery of the offer to at least one identifiable classification of potential buyers; and
presents updated information associated with the offer;
storing information in a buyer profile, the information including an indication of interest from the user, the buyer profile maintained in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium;
storing financial account information with the buyer profile; and
updating the buyer profile with new information.
2 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , where updating the buyer profile with new information includes at least one of a new transaction, purchase, or payment made by the buyer.
3 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 2 , where a time associated with a payment is stored.
4 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 2 , the method further comprising determining whether the associated time of the payment is within a certain period of time.
5 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 4 , the method further comprising determining if the payment is received on-time.
6 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , the method further comprising updating the buyer profile a new indication of interest.
7 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the updating occurs in real-time.
8 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the classification refers to a particular segment, description, or category associated with potential buyers.
9 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the updated information available on the merchant account includes stored data associated with current and past offers and total revenues.
10 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein an average price paid is presented.
11 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the average price is calculated and updated throughout a given period.
12 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein information is updated and presented in the form of a chart or graph.
13 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the at least one identifiable classification of potential buyers includes a category or description.
14 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the financial account information includes a credit card associated with the buyer.
15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein additional points or rewards can be accumulated.
16 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the points or rewards are provided by a third party.
17 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , the method further comprising providing a mechanism that enables a user to share a stored interest or offer with at least one other user.
18 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the offer has an accrual function associated with it that tracks a total amount purchased by a particular buyer and determines whether a threshold amount has been reached that enables the buyer to receive the discount or incentive.
19 . A method for providing a discounted deal, the method comprising:
providing a merchant account on a third party website that:
stores contact information about the merchant;
enables the merchant to create a limited-time offer for delivery to potential buyers, wherein the offer includes a time period, a condition, and an instruction associated with the delivery of the offer to at least one identifiable classification of a group of potential buyers; and
presents updated information associated with the offer;
storing information in a buyer profile, the information including an indication of interest from the user, the buyer profile maintained in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium;
storing financial account information with the buyer profile; and
updating the buyer profile with new information.
20 . The method of claim 19 , where updating the buyer profile with new information includes at least one of a new transaction, purchase, or payment made by the buyer.
21 . The method of claim 20 , where a time associated with a payment is stored.
22 . The method of claim 20 , the method further comprising determining whether the associated time of the payment is within a certain period of time.
23 . The method of claim 22 , the method further comprising determining if the payment is received on-time.
24 . The method of claim 19 , the method further comprising updating the buyer profile a new indication of interest.
25 . A system for providing a discounted deal, the system comprising:
a processor;
a memory; and
one or more modules stored in memory and executable by the processor to perform a method including:
providing a merchant account on a third party website that:
stores contact information about the merchant;
enables the merchant to create a limited-time offer for delivery to potential buyers, wherein the offer includes a time period, a condition, and an instruction associated with the delivery of the offer to at least one identifiable classification of a segment of potential buyers; and
presents updated information associated with the offer;
storing information in a buyer profile, the information including an indication of interest from the user, the buyer profile maintained in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium;
storing financial account information with the buyer profile; and
updating the buyer profile with new information.
26 . The method of claim 25 , where updating the buyer profile with new information includes at least one of a new transaction, purchase, or payment made by the buyer.
27 . The method of claim 26 , where a time associated with a payment is stored.
28 . The method of claim 26 , the method further comprising determining whether the associated time of the payment is within a certain period of time.
29 . The method of claim 28 , the method further comprising determining if the payment is received on-time.
30 . The method of claim 25 , the method further comprising updating the buyer profile a new indication of interest.