| Spatial marketplace system -> Monitor Keywords |
|
|
 
Spatial marketplace systemRelated Patent Categories: Data Processing: Financial, Business Practice, Management, Or Cost/price Determination, Automated Electrical Financial Or Business Practice Or Management ArrangementSpatial marketplace system description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060041435, Spatial marketplace system. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
FIELD OF INVENTION [0001] This invention relates to the spatially targeted delivery of offers from suppliers to potential customers. It relates particularly but not exclusively to a method and system for managing, the delivery of offers in response to requests for offers made by potential customers which are members of a spatial marketplace system. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Conventional marketing methods, which entail the distribution of promotional materials, generally involve a haphazard approach to determining the sector of the community to be targeted by a particular promotion. Advertising campaigns that rely on classified advertisements in newspapers and the placement of advertisements in magazines and periodicals are constrained in their geographic extent by predefined distribution routes and channels over which the advertiser has no control. [0003] Undoubtedly, in many cases advertisers inadvertently market goods and services to individuals and households, which do not even reside in the same state or city where the advertised goods and services are offered. Whilst this is not an issue for businesses dealing in products that have universal appeal and are easily and inexpensively dispatched by mail such as books or CDs, it is a major problem for businesses that are inherently reliant on a local client base due to the nature of the goods offered, in the case of a hardware store for example, or because the business provides locally based services such as a take away food outlet. [0004] The use of alternative advertising media such as catalogues distributed via mail drops and telemarketing, offers the advertiser a greater degree of control over the geographic extent of the distribution of promotional materials. However, the problem remains, that a large proportion of groups and individuals who are targeted in the random distribution of marketing materials, have little or no interest in the products or services on offer and are unlikely to turn out to be prospective customers. [0005] The introduction of the Internet has revolutionised the manner in which business is conducted. The Internet enables users to browse and access information regarding products and services and electronically place orders to purchase the same, without any geographic restrictions. Due to rapid growth in the popularity of the Internet as a means of communication, the use of the Internet as a marketing tool has also gained prevalence. [0006] The Internet makes it possible to transmit large quantities of information to a large number of people in a short time. These capabilities, combined with the low cost of communications over the Internet, make the Internet an attractive medium for advertisers. Electronic marketing via the Internet provides rapid and economical access to large numbers of prospective customers. However, a notable disadvantage of the Internet is that it does not provide a means for effectively identifying and targeting local customers and therefore does not provide a suitable marketing opportunity for businesses relying on a local customer base for trade. [0007] Some examples of forms of electronic advertising via the Internet include distribution of unsolicited commercial emails (otherwise known as spam) and pop-up advertisements or website banner advertisements which appear on unrelated websites and usually have a direct link to the advertiser's website. The recipients of such advertising messages are not specifically targeted. In the case of website banner advertising, any individual viewing a particular website will be targeted by the promotion. For Internet users, these forms of unsolicited advertising are a constant source of annoyance and are usually simply ignored. For these reasons, the success rate of electronic marketing in this form is doubtful. [0008] The randomized distribution of promotional material causes a high level of inefficiency at a significant cost to the advertiser. Advertisers are not able to successfully identify and target those sectors of the community that are most likely to respond to specific promotions. In addition, individuals and households have no influence over the advertising materials that they receive and may become exasperated at the amount of unsolicited junk mail delivered to them. [0009] The discussion of the background to the invention included herein is included to explain the context of the invention. This is not to be taken as an admission that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of the claims. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0010] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of managing the delivery of offers from suppliers to members via a spatial marketplace system including the steps of: [0011] (a) registering potential customers as members of the spatial marketplace system by recording their names and contact details in a database; [0012] (b) assigning a spatial identifier to each database record, the spatial identifier being sourced from the contact details supplied during a registration process; [0013] (c) each member nominating one or more attributes corresponding to a commodity in relation to which the member is interested in receiving offers; [0014] (d) each supplier defining a geographic region in which the supplier wishes to do business and nominating one or more attributes corresponding to commodities which the supplier wishes to sell; [0015] (e) using a spatial identifier location algorithm to identify the database records with spatial identifiers located within the geographical region defined by the supplier; [0016] wherein delivery of offers from a supplier is restricted to members associated with the identified database records which have nominated attributes matching the attributes nominated by the supplier. [0017] It is to be understood that a supplier may be any business or supplier wishing to promote or sell commodities. A potential customer having may be any individual, a household or a business wishing to buy or find out more about one or more commodities. Potential customers having their details registered in the database may be referred to as members. A commodity may be any good or service which is promoted or offered for sale using the system. [0018] In a preferred form, each supplier is advised of the number of identified database records associated with nominated attributes matching the attributes nominated by the supplier and the cost of delivering offers to members associated with each of those database records, wherein the supplier either agrees to deliver offers to each of the members thereby incurring the cost, or modifies the geographical region to increase or decrease the number of offers to be delivered. [0019] In one embodiment of the invention, each database record is accompanied by details of memberships to a third party organisation, wherein the third party organisation receives a percentage of revenue form the spatial marketplace system in return for introducing their members to the system. [0020] In another form of the invention, the supplier associates a numeric qualifier or range of numeric qualifiers with one or more attributes, wherein the delivery of offers is further restricted to members which have nominated a numeric qualifier for the relevant attribute which matches or falls within the range of the numeric qualifiers nominated by the supplier. This allows suppliers to selectively respond only to requests for offers from members which specify a quantity, size, length or the like that matches criteria nominated by the supplier. [0021] In yet another form of the invention, the member nominates a preferred settlement or payment option selected from a menu provided by the system, wherein the delivery of offers is further restricted to members which have nominated a settlement or payment option which matches the settlement or payment options utilised by the supplier. Examples of settlement or payment options may include credit card, cash, cheque, bank cheque, credit card or specific types of credit card such as American Express.TM., VISA.TM., MASTERCARD.TM. or any combination thereof. This enables buyers (members) to be matched with sellers (suppliers) offering their preferred settlement or payment options. [0022] In one arrangement, the member nominates a point in time and a time interval when a request for offers will be presented to suppliers. [0023] Preferably, the member nominates a mode via which the offers will be delivered from the supplier to the member. More preferably, the mode via which the offers will be delivered from the supplier to the member is selected from one or more of the following: [0024] (a) via a member's system control panel; [0025] (b) via the member's email; [0026] (c) via a nominated third party email; [0027] (d) via telephone; [0028] (e) via short message service (SMS); or [0029] (f) via post. [0030] A member's system control panel is preferably viewed via an Internet browser. However, it is to be understood that offers may be delivered to members by any suitable means including delivery via facsimile message. [0031] In one embodiment of the invention, the geographical region is an area within a distance from one or more geographical points nominated by the supplier. [0032] In another embodiment of the invention, the geographical region is an area displayed on a map presented to the supplier on an interface, whereby modification of the area displayed on the map results in a corresponding modification in the geographical region. [0033] Each attribute corresponding to a commodity may be defined by at least four levels, each consecutive level providing a refinement to a description of the commodity. Continue reading about Spatial marketplace system... Full patent description for Spatial marketplace system Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Spatial marketplace system patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Spatial marketplace system or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Project management systems and methods Next Patent Application: System and method for managing legal services Industry Class: Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or cost/price determination ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Spatial marketplace system patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.14416 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Canon USA , Celera Genomics , Cephalon, Inc. , Cingular Wireless , Clorox , Colgate-Palmolive , Corning , Cymer , 174 |
 * Protect your Inventions * US Patent Office filing 
PATENT INFO |
|
