Inventory management and distribution of physical products
Among other things, product data is repeatedly communicated from an application on a device associated with a retail location to a server of a platform controlled independently of the application on the device. The product data identifies (a) current numbers of units of products available for retail customers at the retail location and (b) purchasing behavior of retail customers of the retail location with respect to combinations of the products. The retail location is repeatedly restocked with additional units of products to maintain the products in an in-stock state, the additional units have been received in deliveries made from one or more upstream product distribution entities based on predictions facilitated by the server of future demand for the products by retail customers of the retail location.
1. A method comprising:
repeatedly receiving, by a server of a platform and from devices associated with retail locations, transaction records having elements including combinations of products purchased by individual customers in respective individual transactions with retail locations that are competitors, the transaction records having aspects confidential to the retail locations, the platform being controlled independently of the retail locations, the devices associated with the retail locations identifying products using varied and incompatible proprietary formats, and the transaction records being in multiple of the proprietary formats;
translating, by the server of the platform, the transaction records from the multiple proprietary formats that are associated with the devices of the retail locations into a canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform and that provides a respective universal representation for each of the products;
storing, by the server of the platform and in a database, the transaction records that are in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform, including storing the confidential aspects;
controlling, by the server of the platform, access to protect the confidential aspects of the transaction records that are in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform;
processing, by the server of the platform, the transaction records that are in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform to produce derived information that does not reveal at least some of the confidential aspects of the transaction records, the derived information comprising market basket information representing purchasing behavior of the retail customers with respect to combinations of the products purchased in respective individual transactions with the retail locations, the derived information being in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform and identifying products in each combination by their respective universal representation;
for a particular retail location, translating, by the server of the platform, the derived information from the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform to a particular proprietary format that is associated with devices of the particular retail locations; and
communicating, by the server of the platform, the derived information in the particular proprietary format that is associated with the devices of the retail locations to the particular retail location.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises predicting demand for the products.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises aggregating the data to produce aggregated data free of the confidential aspects.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises analyzing consumer demand behavior.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises analyzing supply.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling access to protect the confidential aspects of the transaction records comprises executing a confidentiality enforcement component at the server.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein producing the derived information comprises aggregating elements of the transaction records according to at least one of time periods, geographical areas, product categories, product manufacturers, and product numbers.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communicating the derived information comprises communicating through an authorized API.
9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a data processing apparatus and upon such execution cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
repeatedly receiving, by a server of a platform and from devices associated with retail locations, transaction records having elements including combinations of products purchased by individual customers in respective individual transactions with retail locations that are competitors, the transaction records having aspects confidential to the retail locations, the platform being controlled independently of the retail locations, the devices associated with the retail locations identifying products using varied and incompatible proprietary formats, and the transaction records being in multiple of the proprietary formats;
translating, by the server of the platform, the transaction records from the multiple proprietary formats that are associated with the devices of the retail locations into a canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform and that provides a respective universal representation for each of the products;
storing, by the server of the platform and in a database, the transaction records that are in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform, including storing the confidential aspects;
controlling, by the server of the platform, access to protect the confidential aspects of the transaction records that are in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform;
processing, by the server of the platform, the transaction records that are in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform to produce derived information that does not reveal at least some of the confidential aspects of the transaction records, the derived information comprising market basket information representing purchasing behavior of the retail customers with respect to combinations of the products purchased in respective individual transactions with the retail locations, the derived information being in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform and identifying products in each combination by their respective universal representation;
for a particular retail location, translating, by the server of the platform, the derived information from the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform to a particular proprietary format that is associated with devices of the particular retail locations; and
communicating, by the server of the platform, the derived information in the particular proprietary format that is associated with the devices of the retail locations to the particular retail location.
10. The medium of claim 9 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises predicting demand for the products.
11. The medium of claim 9 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises aggregating the data to produce aggregated data free of the confidential aspects.
12. The medium of claim 9 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises analyzing consumer demand behavior.
13. The medium of claim 9 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises analyzing supply.
14. The medium of claim 9 , wherein controlling access to protect the confidential aspects of the transaction records comprises executing a confidentiality enforcement component at the server.
15. The medium of claim 9 , wherein producing the derived information comprises aggregating elements of the transaction records according to at least one of time periods, geographical areas, product categories, product manufacturers, and product numbers.
16. The medium of claim 9 , wherein communicating the derived information comprises communicating through an authorized API.
17. A system comprising:
one or more processing devices; and
one or more storage devices storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:
repeatedly receiving, by a server of a platform and from devices associated with retail locations, transaction records having elements including combinations of products purchased by individual customers in respective individual transactions with retail locations that are competitors, the transaction records having aspects confidential to the retail locations, the platform being controlled independently of the retail locations, the devices associated with the retail locations identifying products using varied and incompatible proprietary formats, and the transaction records being in multiple of the proprietary formats;
translating, by the server of the platform, the transaction records from the multiple proprietary formats that are associated with the devices of the retail locations into a canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform and that provides a respective universal representation for each of the products;
storing, by the server of the platform and in a database, the transaction records that are in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform, including storing the confidential aspects;
controlling, by the server of the platform, access to protect the confidential aspects of the transaction records that are in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform;
processing, by the server of the platform, the transaction records that are in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform to produce derived information that does not reveal at least some of the confidential aspects of the transaction records, the derived information comprising market basket information representing purchasing behavior of the retail customers with respect to combinations of the products purchased in respective individual transactions with the retail locations, the derived information being in the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform and identifying products in each combination by their respective universal representation;
for a particular retail location, translating, by the server of the platform, the derived information from the canonical format that is in shared use by the server of the platform to a particular proprietary format that is associated with devices of the particular retail locations; and
communicating, by the server of the platform, the derived information in the particular proprietary format that is associated with the devices of the retail locations to the particular retail location.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises predicting demand for the products.
19. The system of claim 17 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises aggregating the data to produce aggregated data free of the confidential aspects.
20. The system of claim 17 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises analyzing consumer demand behavior.
21. The system of claim 17 , wherein processing the transaction records comprises analyzing supply.
22. The system of claim 17 , wherein controlling access to protect the confidential aspects of the transaction records comprises executing a confidentiality enforcement component at the server.
23. The system of claim 17 , wherein producing the derived information comprises aggregating elements of the transaction records according to at least one of time periods, geographical areas, product categories, product manufacturers, and product numbers.
24. The system of claim 17 , wherein communicating the derived information comprises communicating through an authorized API.