APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

1 . A system for analyzing social media messages for inventory management at retail product sales facilities, the system comprising:

a communication device configured to communicate with one or more social media services;

an item identifier database configured to store a plurality of item identifiers each associated with an item for sale and one or more identifying texts associated with each item identifier;

an inventory database configured to store inventory information for a plurality of store locations; and

a control circuit coupled to the communication device, the item identifier database, and the inventory database, wherein the control circuit is configured to:

aggregate a plurality of social media messages from the one or more social media services via the communication device;

identify a intent associated with each of the plurality of social media messages based on textual analysis;

identify, within the plurality of social media messages, a plurality of messages of interest associated with customers seeking items to purchase based on the intent associated with each of the plurality of social media messages;

for each message of interest of the plurality of messages of interest:

identify an item of interest based on comparing a text of the message of interest with identifying texts in the item identifier database; and

identify a customer location associated with the message of interest;

determine an item in demand for a geographic location based on items of interests and customer locations identified in the plurality of messages of interest;

determine a stock information of the item in demand in the geographic location based on the inventory database; and

in the event that the item in demand is not stocked at the geographic location, automatically generate an order for the item in demand to be stocked at the geographic location.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of messages of interest are identified based on one or more of a keyword and a key phrase associated with customers seeking items to purchase.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of messages of interest are identified based on a retail entity identifier.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of messages of interest comprises one or more of: directed social media messages and broadcasted social media messages.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the identifying texts associated with each item identifier comprises one or more of: item name, item brand, item descriptor, item Universal Product Code (UPC), and a link to an item page.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the customer location is identified based on one or more of a social media user profile, a geolocation tag, a user entered location descriptor, and a user entered store location identifier.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the item in demand for the geographic location is determined based on whether a number of messages of interest associated with the geographic location that mentions the item exceed a predetermined threshold.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to automatically generate a response to messages of interest, the response comprises one or more of: an alternative store location for purchasing the item of interest, an alternative method for purchasing the item of interest, and an expected in-stock date for the item of interest.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

determine that the item in demand has been stocked in the geographic location; and

automatically generate a notification to users associated with messages of interest mentioning the item in demand.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the geographic location comprises a plurality of stores.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein textual analysis comprises performing natural languag processing (NLP) on the plurality of social media messages to determine the intent associated with each of the plurality of social media messages.

12 . A method for analyzing social media messages for inventory management at retail product sales facilities, the method comprising:

aggregating a plurality of social media messages from one or more social media services via a communication device;

identifying, with a control circuit, an intent associated with each of the plurality of social media messages based on textual analysis;

identifying, with the control circuit and within the plurality of social media messages, a plurality of messages of interest associated with customers seeking items to purchase based on the intent associated with each of the plurality of social media messages;

for each message of interest of the plurality of messages of interest:

identifying an item of interest based on comparing a text of the message of interest with identifying texts in an item identifier database storing a plurality item identifiers each associated an item for sale and one or more identifying texts associated with each item identifier; and

identifying a customer location associated with the message of interest;

determining, with the control circuit, an item in demand for a geographic location based on items of interests and customer locations associated with the plurality of messages of interest;

determining, with the control circuit, a stock information associated with the item in demand in the geographic location based on an inventory database storing inventory information for a plurality of store locations; and

in the event that the item in demand is not stocked at the geographic location, automatically generating an order for the item in demand to be stocked at the geographic location.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of messages of interest are identified based on one or more of a keyword and key phrase associated with customers seeking items to purchase.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of messages of interest are identified based on a retail entity identifier.

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of messages of interest comprises one or more of: directed social media messages and broadcasted social media messages.

16 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the identifying texts associated with each item identifier comprises one or more of: item name, item brand, item descriptor, item Universal Product Code (UPC), and a link to an item page.

17 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the customer location is identified based on one or more of a social media user profile, a geolocation tag, a user entered location descriptor, and a user entered store location identifier.

18 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the item in demand for the geographic location is determined based on whether a number of messages of interest associated with the geographic location that mentions the item exceed a predetermined threshold.

19 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising: automatically generating, with the control circuit, a response to the message of interest, the response comprises one or more of: an alternative store location for purchasing the item of interest, an alternative method for purchasing the item of interest, and an expected in-stock date for the item of interest.

20 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining that the item in demand has been stocked in the geographic location; and

automatically generating a notification to users associated with messages of interest mentioning the item in demand.

21 . The method of claim 12 , wherein textual analysis comprises performing natural languag processing (NLP) on the plurality of social media messages to determine the intent associated with each of the plurality of social media messages.

22 . An apparatus for analyzing social media messages for inventory management at retail product sales facilities, the apparatus comprising:

a non-transitory storage medium storing a set of computer readable instructions; and

a control circuit configured to execute the set of computer readable instructions which causes to the control circuit to:

aggregate a plurality of social media messages from one or more social media services via a communication device;

identify an intent associated with each of the plurality of social media messages based on textual analysis;

identify, with the control circuit and within the plurality of social media messages, a plurality of messages of interest associated with customers seeking items to purchase based on the intent associated with each of the plurality of social media messages;

for each message of interest of the plurality of messages of interest:

identify an item of interest based on comparing a text of the message of interest with identifying texts in an item identifier database storing a plurality item identifiers each associated an item for sale and one or more identifying texts associated with each item identifier; and

identify a customer location associated with the message of interest;

determine, with the control circuit, an item in demand for a geographic location based on items of interests and customer locations associated with the plurality of messages of interest;

determine, with the control circuit, a stock information associated with the item in demand in the geographic location based on an inventory database storing inventory information for a plurality of store locations; and

in the event that the item in demand is not stocked at the geographic location, automatically generating an order for the item in demand to be stocked at the geographic location.