Location assignment system and method
A location assignment system and method assigns and stores a location to each item in a retail system product line, across one or more store venues, that otherwise do not include location information, e.g., is not included in planogram data. Specific rules and algorithms assign a location for each product by inferring a location of each product lacking location information from other items that do have a location, and assigning the location of a most popularly sold item in a weighted grouping of given attributes of the item. Thus, given a complete catalog of every product sold in a given retail store system (which often runs in the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of individual products—up to 40% of more of which have no location information within a planogram), the location assignment system assigns a location to every product sold.
1. A method of building a product location assignment database for use by a location assignment system, the method comprising:
associating a physical location to fixtures in at least one venue;
receiving as input a unique identifier associated with each of a plurality of items in a catalog;
spatially matching a sub-plurality of the plurality of items in the catalog to a physical location in the at least one venue, forming spatially matched items;
storing the spatially matched items in a product location assignment database;
assigning, for each non-spatially matched item from among the plurality of items in the catalog, a physical location in the at least one venue based on a most popular purchased item in a given group of the spatially matched items, and
storing, in the product location assignment database, the non-spatially matched items as group matched items together with an assigned location;
wherein the given group of the spatially matched items are grouped based on a commonality of at least one product attribute associated with each of the spatially matched items.
2. The method of building a product location assignment database for use by a location assignment system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one product attribute associated with each of the spatially matched items includes a brand of the spatially matched items.
3. The method of building a product location assignment database for use by a location assignment system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the product location assignment database includes at least one product attribute of each of the plurality of items stored therein.
4. The method of building a product location assignment database for use by a location assignment system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the given group of spatially matched items is grouped based on a common brand attribute associated with each of the plurality of items.
5. The method of building a product location assignment database for use by a location assignment system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the given group of spatially matched items is grouped based on a common price attribute associated with each of the plurality of items.
6. The method of building a product location assignment database for use by a location assignment system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the given group of spatially matched items is grouped based on a common size attribute associated with each of the plurality of items.
7. The method of building a product location assignment database for use by a location assignment system according to claim 1 , wherein the associating the physical location to fixtures in at least one venue comprises:
matching naming data for at least one planogram to a fixture in at least one CAD floor plan for the at least one venue.
8. A method of building a product location assignment database using RFID tag detection, for use by a location assignment system, the method comprising:
associating a physical location to fixtures in at least one venue;
receiving as input a unique identifier associated with each of a plurality of items in a catalog;
spatially matching, by a location assignment system operating on a processor, a sub-plurality of the plurality of items in the catalog to a physical location in the at least one venue, based at least in part on a detection of an RFID tag attached to the respective spatially matched items, to generate spatially matched RFID items;
storing the spatially matched RFID items in a product location assignment database;
assigning, for each non-spatially matched item in the catalog, a physical location in the at least one venue based on a most popular purchased item in a given group of the spatially matched RFID items, and
storing, in the product location assignment database, the non-spatially matched items as group matched items with an assigned location;
wherein the given group of the spatially matched RFID items are grouped based on a commonality of at least one product attribute associated with each of the spatially matched items.
9. The method of building a product location assignment database using RFID tag detection, for use by a location assignment system according to claim 8 , further comprising:
spatially matching the spatially matched RFID items further based on a planogram associated with the at least one venue.
10. The method of building a product location assignment database using RFID tag detection, for use by a location assignment system according to claim 8 , wherein:
the at least one product attribute associated with each of the spatially matched RFID items includes a brand of the spatially matched items.
11. The method of building a product location assignment database using RFID tag detection, for use by a location assignment system according to claim 8 , wherein:
the product location assignment database includes at least one product attribute associated with each of the plurality of items stored therein.
12. The method of building a product location assignment database using RFID tag detection, for use by a location assignment system according to claim 8 , wherein:
the given group of spatially matched RFID items is grouped based on a common brand attribute associated with each of the plurality of items.
13. The method of building a product location assignment database using RFID tag detection, for use by a location assignment system according to claim 8 , wherein:
the given group of spatially matched RFID items is grouped based on a common price attribute associated with each of the plurality of items.
14. The method of building a product location assignment database using RFID tag detection, for use by a location assignment system according to claim 8 , wherein:
the given group of spatially matched RFID items is grouped based on a common size attribute associated with each of the plurality of items.
15. A location assignment system for building a product location assignment database, comprising:
means for associating a physical location to fixtures in at least one venue;
means for receiving as input a unique identifier associated with each of a plurality of items in a catalog;
means for spatially matching a sub-plurality of the plurality of items in the catalog to a physical location in the at least one venue, forming spatially matched items;
means for storing the spatially matched items in a product location assignment database;
means for assigning, for each non-spatially matched item from among the plurality of items in the catalog, a physical location in the at least one venue based on a most popular purchased item in a given group of the spatially matched items, and
means for storing the non-spatially matched items as group matched items together with an assigned location;
wherein the given group of the spatially matched items are grouped based on a commonality of at least one product attribute associated with each of the spatially matched items.
16. The location assignment system for building a product location assignment database according to claim 15 , wherein:
the at least one product attribute of the grouped associated with each of the spatially matched items includes a brand of the spatially matched items.
17. The location assignment system for building a product location assignment database according to claim 15 , wherein:
the product location assignment database includes at least one product attribute of each of the plurality of items stored therein.
18. The location assignment system for building a product location assignment database according to claim 15 , wherein:
the given group of spatially matched items is grouped based on a common brand attribute associated with each of the plurality of items.
19. The location assignment system for building a product location assignment database according to claim 15 , wherein:
the given group of spatially matched items is grouped based on a common price attribute associated with each of the plurality of items.
20. The location assignment system for building a product location assignment database according to claim 15 , wherein:
the given group of spatially matched items is grouped based on a common size attribute associated with each of the plurality of items.
21. The location assignment system for building a product location assignment database according to claim 15 , wherein the associating the physical location to fixtures in at least one venue comprises:
means for matching naming data for at least one planogram to a fixture in at least one CAD floor plan for the at least one venue.