CN102959574B - Method and apparatus for providing tote delivery options - Google Patents

Abstract

The tote delivery service may provide a user interface that may provide a plurality of shipping options, including a tote delivery option to the consumer when the consumer orders an item provided by the website. The tote delivery option delivers items to the consumer in reusable totes on a tote delivery day. The totes are delivered to the delivery address on a tote delivery day and picked up from the delivery address on a subsequent tote delivery day. The consumer may place the items in totes that will be returned to the facility. Information including tote delivery data can be analyzed to determine recommendations that can be sent to particular customers via one or more communication channels. The tote management interface may provide virtual totes via which a customer may manage their upcoming tote deliveries to one or more addresses. Tote delivery data may be processed to generate bulk transfer data for fulfillment centers and regional delivery data for consolidation nodes.

Description

Method and apparatus for providing tote delivery options

background

Manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, distribution centers and other distributors of products or goods (which may collectively be referred to as distributors) generally maintain inventories of various items that can be ordered by and shipped to customers or consumers. This inventory may be maintained and processed at one or more material handling facilities, such as distribution centers, drop-shipping facilities, and order fulfillment facilities. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the operation of a conventional dealer. Multiple consumers 10 may submit orders 20 to a dealer, where each order 20 specifies one or more items from inventory 30 to be shipped to the consumer who submitted the order. At order fulfillment 40 , the order may be individually processed by the business to fulfill customer order 20 . One or more items specified in each order may be retrieved or "picked" from inventory 30 at the materials handling facility. The picked order may then be packaged and shipped ( 50 ) to the customer 10 . Note that an order for shipment does not necessarily include all items ordered by a customer; an order for shipment may include only a subset of the ordered items available for shipment from one inventory storage location at a time. Typically, the customer is billed for the items in the order and for shipping the order to the customer.

The increased scope of web-based commerce spurred by the ubiquity of personal computers, the Internet and the World Wide Web has resulted in dramatic changes to the way consumers can purchase and purchase products from distributors. Virtual storefronts (where consumers can browse product information, including features, specifications, appearance, pricing, availability) that may be referred to as websites or web sites, even at wholesalers and retailers that maintain a physical consumer presence (e.g., " “Brick and Mortar” storefronts) have also become commonplace. Much trade has been conducted exclusively through the web site by product dealers lacking any other consumer presence. Electronic commerce using virtual storefronts can offer many advantages, such as lower cost overhead (e.g. due to lack of sales staff, lack of physical storefronts, highly automated ordering process, etc.), and potential consumer base. Product resellers that exclusively provide a "storefront" to consumers through a website, or the portion of a product reseller that provides a website to consumers while the reseller maintains an actual consumer presence, may be referred to as a web business.

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary conventional web business that provides a "virtual storefront" to consumers via a website. Multiple consumers 110 may order one or more items from online business 102 by accessing Internet 100 via website 104 serving as a "virtual storefront" for a product distributor. Website 104 may generate orders 120 for customers, where each order 20 specifies one or more items from inventory 130 to be shipped to the customer submitting the order. The order may be processed ( 140 ) by the product distributor to fulfill the consumer order 120 . One or more items specified in each order may be retrieved or "picked" from inventory 130 at the materials handling facility. The picked order may then be packaged and shipped ( 150 ) to customer 110 . Typically, each individual customer order is individually picked, sorted, packed and shipped. The customer is billed separately for the items in each individual order and for costs associated with shipping each order to the customer (106).

In conventional order fulfillment systems, the items in an order are usually packaged and shipped in a cardboard box, shipping envelope, or other such shipping material, and often contain filler materials such as Styrofoam (polystyrene foam) "peanuts" or bubble wrap. wrapping paper for bubbles. After receiving the order, the customer must open the package and dispose of the package, for example by breaking and disposing of the box, throwing away the filler material, and the like.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the operation of a conventional dealer.

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary conventional web business that provides a "virtual storefront" to consumers via a website.

3 is a high-level flowchart of a method for implementing a tote delivery service, according to at least some embodiments.

Figure 4A illustrates an exemplary reusable tote, according to at least some embodiments.

Figure 4B illustrates a tote placed in a container for tote delivery, according to at least some embodiments.

5 is a block diagram of an exemplary tote delivery service, according to at least some embodiments.

6 is a flow diagram for placing items in a tote order via a tote ordering channel, according to at least some embodiments.

7 is a flow diagram for placing items into a tote order using a single-action user interface element, according to at least some embodiments.

8 illustrates an example web page of a website that provides one or more tote delivery service UI elements, according to some embodiments.

9A through 9D illustrate an example web page providing information about an example implementation of a tote delivery service, according to some implementations.

Figure 10 illustrates an exemplary web page via which a customer may log into a tote delivery service, according to some embodiments.

11 illustrates an example web page via which a customer may confirm that an item will be placed in a pending tote order, according to some embodiments.

Figure 12 illustrates an example web page confirming that a customer has placed a tote order, according to some embodiments.

13 illustrates an example item detail page that may be displayed to consumers who are not subscribed to a subscription-based shipping program offered by a network business, according to some embodiments.

14 illustrates an example item detail page that may be displayed to a customer who signs up for a subscription-based shipping program offered by a network business, according to some embodiments.

Figure 15 illustrates an example tote management page that may be displayed to a customer, according to some embodiments.

Figure 16 illustrates an example tote return page that may be displayed to a customer, according to some embodiments.

Figure 17 illustrates the physical layout and operation of an exemplary fulfillment center when fulfilling bulk transfer orders, according to some embodiments.

Figure 18 illustrates the operation of an exemplary tote delivery service sortation node, according to some embodiments.

19 is a flowchart of backend operations of a tote delivery service, according to at least some embodiments.

Figure 20 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computer system that may be used in at least some embodiments.

While embodiments are described herein as examples of several embodiments and illustrative figures, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the described embodiments or figures. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention covers all modifications, equivalents falling within the spirit and scope defined by the appended claims and optional forms. Headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the description or claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (ie, meaning having the potential to) rather than a mandatory sense (ie, meaning must). Similarly, the words "include," "including," and "includes" mean including, but not limited to.

Detailed description of the implementation

Various embodiments of methods and apparatus for product ordering and delivery are described that provide consolidated consumer delivery of items ordered via a website. Methods and apparatus for product ordering and delivery may use reusable totes to deliver items ordered from a network business to a consumer's shipping address. The method and apparatus may collectively be referred to as a tote delivery service. Rather than sending consumers individually boxed or otherwise packaged loads of goods for each order the consumer places via the site, embodiments of the tote delivery service may allow the web business's consumers to store in reusable containers Consolidate their orders into standing periodic (eg, weekly or bi-weekly) deliveries, which may be referred to as totes. In at least some embodiments, reusable totes can be returned to the network enterprise for reuse. In at least some embodiments, reusable totes can be retained by consumers.

In an exemplary implementation of a tote delivery service through a network enterprise, it is important to use reusable totes and thereby reduce or eliminate separate For delivery of at least some items of the order, the tote delivery service can be promoted as a free, fast and "green" delivery procedure. In at least some embodiments, a customer may be required to have an account with a network business to use the tote delivery service. In some embodiments, a customer may need to register or sign up for a tote delivery service to arrange for an order to be delivered by tote. In other embodiments, the customer may not need to register or sign up for the tote delivery service; the tote delivery service may become available to some or all of the network enterprise's customers without requiring the customer to specifically sign up to receive the service. In at least some embodiments, a customer may be required to log in (eg, by entering a password) when placing an item in a tote order to use the tote delivery service.

In some embodiments, each customer is assigned a scheduled tote delivery day based on the region in which the customer's shipping address is located, where each region corresponds to a day of the week (e.g., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.), Deliveries to the region are made on this day. The region may be based, for example, on the zip code of the delivery address. Thus, in at least some embodiments, a customer can provide a delivery address (or just a zip code) to view the customer's corresponding tote delivery date, or the customer's tote delivery date can be based on the customer's receipt date. The shipping address is automatically displayed for the consumer on the user interface. Note that two or more regions may have the same day of the week as a regional delivery day, and some regions or at least some customers in at least some regions may have more than one delivery day of the week. Additionally, a customer may have more than one shipping address, and thus may have more than one tote delivery day. In some embodiments, rather than assigning scheduled tote delivery dates to all customers, at least some customers may be allowed to select one or more preferred tote delivery dates, possibly with some restrictions (e.g., customers may Choose between Monday and Friday). In some embodiments, at least some customers may be offered, for example, two tote delivery days per week (eg, Thursday and Friday) to a given shipping address. For example, some customers may be members in a subscription-based shipping program where the customer pays all regular regular shipping costs for the period and/or offers a fixed period of reduced shipping costs for the period costs; these customers may be given two tote delivery days per week instead of one tote delivery day per week as an added benefit of membership in the contract-based shipping program.

After the customer registers for the tote delivery service, the tote delivery may be displayed to the customer as an option on at least some item detail pages of the website user interface, for example, as a single-action user interface element (eg, a button). Additionally, tote delivery can be displayed as an option in the order channel user interface. Other shipping options, such as next-day shipping options and two-day shipping options, may also be displayed to consumers on these or other pages of the website. In some embodiments, any conditionally selected item offered via the website up to a specified cut-off date (e.g., two days) before the customer's tote delivery date (or several tote delivery dates) may be selected by The consumer is added to the consumer's virtual tote. In some embodiments, the cut-off date may be strict; in other words, the customer must order an item for a tote delivery by the cut-off date for a given tote delivery in order for the item to be included in that delivery. In the consumer ton box order of the goods. In some embodiments, cut-off dates may be flexible for at least some customers and for at least some items; that is, items ordered for tote delivery after the cut-off date for a given tote delivery may be included in the In the customer tote order for this delivery, if possible. Some items offered via the Site may not be eligible for tote delivery; for example, some items may be too large or heavy for tote delivery. Other types of shipments can be seamlessly delivered to consumers via the tote delivery service. In some embodiments, rental items such as video games, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, tools, etc. may be delivered via a tote delivery service. In some embodiments, the customer may select via the user interface both pre-ordered items and backordered items to be delivered via the tote delivery service. The website system can automatically add these pre-ordered items and backordered items to the fastest feasible tote delivery date, if the customer so chooses.

At least some online businesses may not necessarily need to create new order fulfillment facilities to provide tote delivery services; tote delivery services may be integrated into existing facilities. However, at least some network players may need to add sortation nodes and tote delivery capabilities to their existing order fulfillment networks. In some implementations of the tote delivery service, inventory may reside in an order fulfillment network, as in a conventional order fulfillment network. In some embodiments, at least some items ordered by a customer in a given city for delivery via the tote delivery service may be at one or more fulfillment centers in the order fulfillment network under the direction of the network business logic are picked up in bulk and transferred in bulk within the order fulfillment network to a collating node that manages delivery to the corresponding city or region. Bulk pickup or bulk transfer to a particular sortation node may be performed at a given fulfillment center one or more times on a given day, but not necessarily every day. Also note that items that are bulk-collected on a given day are not necessarily bulk-transferred on the same day. In some embodiments, in addition to bulk transfers of items from fulfillment centers in the order fulfillment network to collating nodes, some items may also be transferred directly from one or more suppliers to collating nodes for fulfillment under the direction of the network enterprise logic. Tote delivery service delivery.

Collation nodes can be implemented in fulfillment centers, fulfillment centers for smaller transfer forwarding, or even as stand-alone "delivery warehouses". A collating node may be a node in the network enterprise's order fulfillment network that is owned and/or operated by the network enterprise. Alternatively, the sortation node may be owned and/or operated by another entity, such as a local carrier or trucking company that owns and/or operates a tote delivery service. At each collation node, bulk picked-up items received in bulk transfers from one or more fulfillment centers may be refilled into customer totes, which in some embodiments may be pre-assigned to specific Zip on the rolling shelf. On (or between) a scheduled tote delivery day, the tote for that tote delivery day may be loaded on an appropriate carrier vehicle for delivery. For example, the rack of totes of the pair tote delivery day may be rolled onto an appropriate carrier vehicle for delivery. Each of one or more delivery regions (e.g., each zip code) served by a collating node may be given a common day-of-the-week commitment (e.g., "delivery by 6 p.m. High delivery density on multiple routes; different tote delivery days can be given to different regions in the region served by the sorting node. In some embodiments, one or more regions served by a sortation node may be given more than one tote delivery day per week.

At each address to which the tote order will be delivered during the tote delivery process, the driver unloads and retrieves one or more totes including items delivered via the tote delivery service on the tote delivery day Any return totes, this can but does not necessarily include items returned from consumers. In some embodiments, two or more tote delivery processes to a given region may be completed in different time slots on a given tote delivery day, such as a morning tote delivery process and an evening tote delivery process. Box delivery process or "before 9 am" delivery process, "after 1 pm" delivery process and "after 6 pm" delivery process. In these embodiments, individual customers may be assigned specific time slots on tote delivery days, or alternatively, the customer may specify at which time slot on tote delivery days the customer would like to receive pairs Tote delivery for the day. In embodiments where the customer specifies which of two or more time slots the customer prefers for tote delivery days, the specification may be made as a default to the customer and/or may be made on a case-by-case basis. Made on a ton basis. For example, when a customer confirms a tote delivery or optionally via the tote management page, the user may be given the option of which time slot the customer prefers for tote deliveries, in addition to which tote delivery the customer would like Delivery Day Delivery of the tote and which tote delivery address the customer wants the tote to be delivered to (if the customer has more than one delivery address).

In some embodiments, a person may be required to be present at the tote delivery address to receive the tote order at the time the tote order is delivered in order for the delivery service to leave the tote at the delivery address. In some embodiments, the delivery service may leave totes "on the doorstep" at addresses where no one is present, or totes "on the doorstep" when no one is directly taking orders for totes. In some embodiments, the user interface may allow the customer to specify for a given tote order whether the customer is allowed to leave the tote order "on the doorstep" at the delivery address if no one takes the tote order directly. ”, or alternatively may allow the customer to specify on a given tote order that the customer wants the tote order to be received by a person at the delivery address. In some embodiments, the user interface may allow the customer to specify which person(s) are allowed to receive tote orders.

From a consumer perspective, embodiments of the tote delivery service can provide relatively fast shipments at low or no cost with less cardboard and other packaging material to be thrown away or reused. In exchange for quick, low-cost or free "greener" (more environmentally friendly) shipments, consumers may choose to aggregate their orders from online businesses into fewer deliveries to their home or other delivery addresses . In addition, the tote delivery service and the user interface of the tote delivery service may provide consumers with a tote-centric view of items ordered from the network business at different times than conventional systems provide A shipment or order-centric view of a customer's order. In a conventional order-centric system, a customer may place an order for one or more different items at different times, and an order for each item or items ordered at a given time is generated and shipped. In a tote delivery service, customers can arrange different items into the same tote (or into different totes) at different times. A given tote scheduled to be delivered to a specific delivery address on a specific tote delivery date can be viewed (and processed by the tote delivery service) as a single tote order, even if the different items in the tote can be Different times separated by hours, days, weeks or even longer are placed into totes, and even different items in a tote may be placed into totes by different customers sharing the same delivery address. In some embodiments, tote orders are given a single tote order number for tracking tote orders, even if tote orders include totes that are added to totes at different times during different consumer activity periods or by different consumers of multiple items. Thus, the tote delivery service may allow a customer to combine what would have been processed as many separate orders (each requiring separate shipping, handling, and paperwork) using conventional systems into a single combined tote order. Note that while a customer may be provided with a single virtual tote into which the customer places items for a given tote order, tote orders may be delivered to the customer's delivery facility in one, two, or more physical totes. delivery address.

As an example of a tote-centric view, a customer may request that backordered or pre-ordered items be delivered via a tote delivery service. Backordered or pre-ordered items may then be displayed in virtual totes that will be delivered on future tote delivery days, for example on tote management page 1100 as shown in FIG. 5 . This may make it easier for the consumer to remember what items the consumer has ordered in a conventional order-centric system, as the consumer can browse future scheduled tote deliveries to see what items the consumer has not decided to deliver and when is ordered to be delivered via the tote delivery service without the customer having to look back at past orders to try and figure out what item the customer has not decided to deliver, as in conventional order-centric systems.

Additionally, in some embodiments, due to the use of local sortation nodes in the tote delivery service, customers may be allowed to cancel much later than can be fulfilled for orders shipped via conventional shipping methods until the tote delivery date. items in the tote or cancel the entire tote order. For example, if a customer's scheduled tote delivery is at 6 pm, the customer may be allowed to cancel some or all of the tote order until noon on the tote delivery day. This provides consumers with greater flexibility in managing and scheduling their tote deliveries than conventional ordering and shipping methods provide.

From a network business perspective, implementation of a tote delivery service can provide competitively advantageous delivery options and an enterprise-wide platform for product delivery. With the potential realization of higher unit-per-shipment efficiencies that can arise from the implementation of product ordering and delivery methods, network businesses can justify operating their own last-mile delivery systems while delivering via reusable totes Offer lower cost or even free delivery to consumers.

At least some embodiments of the tote delivery service may provide a user interface to a web enterprise system that enables consumers to manage their tote deliveries. The tote management user interface may allow customers to specify tote deliveries for items ordered from the network business. The tote management user interface may also provide a display of virtual totes scheduled for delivery on future tote delivery days. The tote management user interface may also allow customers to view their tote delivery history, allowing customers to review the contents of previous totes that have been delivered. Via at least some embodiments of the tote management user interface, a customer can, for example, view what items are scheduled to be delivered in which totes, add items to one (or more) to be delivered to the customer on a particular tote delivery date ) delivery address, changing the quantity of a particular item in a tote (for example, specifying that two of a given item will be delivered in a tote instead of one), removing an item from a tote, removing an item from a tote Move to another tote, copy items from one tote (previously delivered tote or upcoming tote) to another tote, copy a previously delivered or upcoming tote to one or more upcoming tote delivery days, and schedule recurring delivery days for specific items to be delivered in totes (for example, monthly deliveries). Additionally, in at least some embodiments, the customer may specify via the user interface that backordered or pre-ordered items are to be delivered by tote. In some embodiments, the tote management user interface may be used to view projected future tote ship dates for items such as scheduled delivery items, back order items, and pre-order items. In some embodiments, the tote management user interface may allow customers to manage tote schedules, such as to schedule holidays or other times when the customer's tote deliveries are temporarily suspended. Items previously prepared for tote delivery during such a period may automatically be re-prepared for tote delivery after that period.

In some embodiments, a single customer may have multiple shipping addresses to which items may be delivered, and thus may, but need not, have multiple scheduled delivery days, with different delivery days for different addresses. For example, a customer may have a home shipping address and a business shipping address, and the two addresses may be in different zip codes, and thus may, but need not, have different scheduled tote delivery days. Additionally, in some embodiments, the customer may have other people's shipping addresses listed for the delivery. For example, a customer may have his or her parents' addresses, his children's addresses, and so on. Accordingly, some embodiments may allow consumers to use the tote delivery service to deliver items to other people's shipping addresses, as long as the other person's address is listed as the consumer's shipping address and tote delivery is valid for those addresses. usable. In some embodiments, two or more customers sharing the same tote delivery address may be allowed to combine customers to separately order items into a single tote to be delivered to the shared address.

At least some embodiments of the tote delivery service may offer tote delivery as a shipping option among two or more selectable shipping options. For example, the web business may offer a next day shipping option, a two day shipping option, and a tote shipping option via a user interface. Offering an optional shipping option may, for example, allow consumers to receive desired items as soon as possible via the faster regular drop shipping option, while arranging for less urgently needed items via tote on an upcoming tote delivery date in the future deliver.

At least some embodiments of the tote delivery service may provide reusable containers (totes) that may be returned by the customer to the network enterprise for reuse. In at least some embodiments, a customer may place one or more items to be returned to the network business in a return tote. The user interface may provide one or more user interface elements whereby the customer can notify the network business that an item will be returned on a given tote delivery (and pickup) day. Using this ability to easily return items to the network business in reusable totes, at least some embodiments may enable "order sorting," where a customer may order, for example, three pairs of the same shoe in different sizes, or in different colors , and return items that the consumer decides not to keep (for example, a pair of shoes that don't fit or an item that isn't the desired color). In some embodiments, only items previously delivered via the tote delivery service may be returned via the tote delivery service. However, in some embodiments, items shipped according to other shipping methods may also be returned to the network enterprise via the tote delivery service. Additionally, in some embodiments, items other than return items may be delivered from the customer to the network business or other entity via the return tote. For example, in various implementations, video game rentals, DVD/Blu-ray disc rentals, swaps, items for repair, items sent to network businesses for loan or resale, etc., can be returned via the return tote and ton The box delivery service delivers from the consumer to the network business or some other entity. Note also that in at least some embodiments, at least some items delivered to customers via the tote delivery service may be returned by other return methods rather than in a return tote.

In some embodiments, return totes may be used to deliver inventory from other entities, such as merchants or sellers, to the network business. For example, a merchant or seller may offer the web business one or more different items that may be placed in the web business' inventory, in some cases for sale via the website. The tote delivery service may be provided to the address of the merchant or seller. Merchants or sellers can place the items to be delivered to the network enterprise into the return tote, and the return tote is collected and delivered to the sorting node during the tote delivery process.

At least some embodiments of the tote delivery service may provide suggestions and reminders to consumers via the website's user interface and/or via alternative communication channels such as email and text messaging. The network business logic may examine the customer's purchase history and/or tote contents and, based on this examination, determine items that the customer may wish to have delivered via the tote delivery service. The network business logic can then provide recommendations to the consumer for this effect. A reminder could, for example, let the consumer know on which tote day the consumer should expect to have a tote on their doorstep, the deadline for placing an item in (or removing an item from a given tote) is What, and what will be delivered in the tote on those tote days. Via suggestions and reminders, consumers may be prompted, for example, to wait for a scheduled delivery of an item via a tote, or to add an item to a tote rather than going to a store to pick it up. As another example, the customer may be prompted to suggest that the customer consolidate items ordered via other shipping options (eg, items in a virtual "shopping cart") into an upcoming tote order.

At least some embodiments of the tote delivery service may implement an order fulfillment and consolidation method and system in which items to be delivered from a customer on a given tote day are picked up from one or more fulfillment centers and transferred in bulk to a Tote delivery areas are local stations. These stations may be referred to as collating nodes. A sortation node receives bulk transfers from one or more fulfillment centers and sorts the items into reusable totes according to one or more tote delivery regions scheduled for the upcoming tote delivery process. The totes destined for the corresponding tote delivery area may then be loaded into the delivery vehicle, which then proceeds to the delivery process to the corresponding tote delivery area. Tote delivery vehicle employees can drop totes containing items to addresses in the appropriate region and can pick up empty totes (and items with items to return ( if any) in totes). If there are any items in the returned tote, the item may be removed from the tote and restocked locally or returned to the appropriate fulfillment center (e.g., in a bulk return transfer) for restocking or other processing ( For example, return to the manufacturer). In some embodiments, items in returned totes can be handled in other ways; for example, items for exchange, items for repair, and items on loan can be returned in the tote and can be removed from the tote and handle it appropriately.

3 is a high-level flowchart of a method for enabling tote delivery services in accordance with at least some embodiments. As shown at 200, a customer via the website's user interface adds one or more items to a virtual tote for a particular delivery address and a particular delivery date. The customer, via the user interface, may effectively place one or more items offered through the website in a virtual tote as a consolidated tote order for the tote delivery region (e.g., determined by zip code) to include the specified address Delivery to the specified address on the indicated tote delivery day (eg, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.). The customer may then add other items to the virtual node, change the quantity of a given item in the tote, or remove items from the virtual tote until the deadline for the corresponding tote delivery day. In at least some embodiments, a customer may generate a tote order for a given tote delivery day by other methods, such as by duplicating another tote or by scheduling regular, recurring tote deliveries. 8 through 16 illustrate various user interface screens and screens that may be provided to customers in at least one embodiment and allow customers to add items to totes, manage totes, and perform other functions related to tote delivery services. UI elements.

As shown at 202 in FIG. 3 , one or more items in a tote order are placed at the corresponding sortation node prior to the delivery process to the customer's delivery region on a given tote delivery date in a tangible reusable tote. In some cases, tote orders may require two or more physical totes to hold all items in the order. Prior to scheduled tote delivery, items specified by the customer for delivery on the customer's tote delivery day may be picked up (along with other items ordered by the customer) and sorted at the sort node for delivery to In one or more totes at the customer's specified address. Figure 4A illustrates an exemplary reusable tote, according to at least some embodiments. Figure 18 illustrates the operation of an exemplary collating node, according to at least some embodiments.

As shown at 204 of FIG. 3 , the customer's tote may then be loaded onto a delivery vehicle at the sortation node along with other totes to be delivered to other addresses in the tote delivery region. As shown at 206, the customer's tote is delivered to and dropped off at the specific customer address on the tote delivery day of the tote delivery region. The customer (or some other person at that address) can then retrieve the tote, remove the item from the tote, and place the empty tote in an appropriate location (e.g., "on the doorstep") for delivery at Subsequent tote delivery days for this tote delivery region are charged. In at least some embodiments, if a customer has one or more items that are to be returned to the network business, the customer may place the one or more items in a tote to be picked up and place the tote In place for pickup on subsequent tote delivery days. At least some embodiments may provide one or more methods whereby a customer may notify a network business that an item is being returned via a tote.

Figure 4A illustrates an exemplary tangible reusable tote, according to at least some embodiments. The reusable tote 250 shown in this figure is given as an example and is not intended to be limiting. In some embodiments, each customer or each customer address may have at least one permanently or semi-permanently assigned tote 250 . In other embodiments, any randomly selected tote 250 may be temporarily assigned to a delivery address at the sortation node, eg, during a delivery process. Various sizes, shapes, materials, colors and configurations of totes are possible and contemplated. Tote 250 may be a rectangular box with substantially rigid sides, a bag with substantially flexible sides, or some other configuration. Tote 250 may be at least partially constructed of one or more substantially durable materials to facilitate reuse. In some embodiments, the totes may be constructed of one or more weatherproof materials. Any suitable substantially durable and/or weatherproof material (eg, plastic, metal, cloth, durable cardboard, etc.) may be used. At least some of the materials making up the totes 250 may be recyclable such that damaged or worn totes 250 may be recycled. Tote 250 may be solid or patterned; any desired color or palette may be used. The tote 250 may provide a resealable opening or “lid” 256 through which items may be placed in or removed from the tote 250 . In some embodiments, cover 256 may be lockable or otherwise fixable. Tote 250 may include one or more handles (not shown) via which tote 250 may be picked up and transported.

Tote 250 may include a logo and/or other information 254 displayed on or attached to one or more surfaces of the tote that identifies the network business and/or tote delivery service such as name, phone number, Web address, email Email addresses, instructions, return policies, etc. or in connection with such information. In some embodiments, the tote 250 may include other identifying information or indicia, such as information identifying the region to which the tote 250 was delivered or information identifying the particular sortation node to which the tote 250 belongs. In some embodiments, the tote 250 may include or display one or more advertisements for a web service or other entity (eg, a web service or tote delivery service may sell advertising space on the tote to other entities). While FIG. 4A illustrates information 254 as displayed on at least one exterior surface of tote 250, in some embodiments at least a portion of information 254 may be displayed on or attached to at least one interior surface of tote 250, or Also displayed on or attached to an exterior surface.

A tote 250 may, but need not, include a tote delivery indicator 252 that may identify at least a delivery address for a particular tote 250 to delivery personnel and/or sortation node personnel or automated sortation equipment. Tote delivery indicator 252 may be, for example, a printed label permanently affixed to tote 250, or a removable printed label. Although FIG. 4A shows the tote delivery indicator 252 as being attached to the exterior surface of the tote 250, in some embodiments, the tote delivery indicator 252 may be affixed using another method. For example, in some embodiments, the tote delivery indicator 252 may be a tag that may be attached to and removed from the tote; for example, the tag may resemble a luggage bag that may be attached to the handle of the tote 250 . In some embodiments, the tote delivery indicator 252 may be a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, or other type of electronic tag that delivery employees and/or sorting node employees or automated sorting equipment may scan, for example, using a hand-held scanner, to At least a delivery address for tote 250 is identified. In some embodiments, the electronic tags may be programmable at the collating node so that the delivery address (or other information) indicated on the tag on a given tote 250 may be changed at the collating node, if and when necessary. Time. In some embodiments, the tote delivery indicator 252 may include or may be a barcode that may be programmed to indicate a particular tote delivery and may be scanned by tote delivery employees and/or sortation node employees or automated sorting equipment .

In some embodiments, tote 250 does not include indicator 252 . For example, as shown in FIG. 4B , in some embodiments, totes 250 may be placed within receptacles 260 , such as open totes, at a sortation node, and the receptacles, including totes 250 , may be loaded into delivery vehicles. Rather than using indicators 252 on totes 250, the containers 260 into which totes 250 are placed may each include tote delivery indicators 262, similar to the delivery indicators that may be used by shipment delivery personnel to determine the totes 250 contained therein. The tote delivery indicator 252 of the shipping address. At the delivery address, the delivery employee identifies the corresponding container 260 destined for that address, removes one or more totes 250 from the container 260 , and drops the tote 250 .

In some embodiments, the reusable tote 250 can be returned to the network enterprise for reuse. In some embodiments, the reusable tote 250 may be retained by the customer. In some embodiments, the customer may return or keep the tote 250 . In some embodiments, at least some customers may be charged a nominal fee or a storage fee per tote 250 . In some embodiments, this tote fee or storage fee may be refunded to the customer upon return of the tote 250 .

In some embodiments, the network business may offer special or different totes to at least some customers. For example, seasonal and/or holiday totes may be provided that are patterned, colored, or otherwise decorated to indicate a season, holiday, or other occasion. As another example, a network business may offer a "gift wrap" service via which totes may be gift wrapped or otherwise decorated for delivery at the consumer's request, possibly for a fee. As another example, online businesses may offer luxury totes to some consumers, possibly for an upgrade fee. As another example, in some embodiments, customers who are members of a subscription-based shipping program may be offered different totes than the totes offered to non-subscribed customers.

5 is a block diagram of an exemplary tote delivery service, according to at least some embodiments. This figure illustrates the data flow and product flow within an exemplary tote delivery service. The tote delivery service can be shown as comprising two main components or subsystems - a front end 300 that provides tote booking and virtual tote management to consumers via the user interface 320 of the Web Enterprise Logic 330, and A backend 302 for tote order consolidation and delivery is provided to consumers under the direction of 330 . In at least some embodiments, the backend 302 can also provide a return service via a tote delivery service, whereby a customer can return or deliver an item to a web service or other entity, including for return in tote A method of refunding items to consumers, providing credit for used items delivered via return totes for resale, and the like.

Network enterprise logic 330 may be implemented on one or more computer systems, such as server computers. Figure 20 illustrates an example computer system that may be used to implement enterprise logic 330 or components thereof. Referring to FIG. 5 , enterprise logic 330 may store tote delivery data 336 in data store 334 . Tote delivery data 336 may include, but is not limited to, records of items previously delivered to a particular customer via the tote delivery service and records of items to be delivered to the particular customer via the tote delivery service. Data repository 334 may also store other information that may be used by the web business logic during front-end and/or back-end operations, including, but not limited to, one or more of the following: product information describing items that the web business offers for sale, Order information for other types of orders than tote delivery orders, inventory information indicating the quantity and location of the network business's inventory within the order fulfillment network, user interface elements such as web pages, and information including the customer's name, address, account number Customer account information such as billing information. Data repository 334 may be implemented as implemented on one or more independently configured storage devices or as a storage system. In general, data repository 334 may be implemented as one or more of any type of storage device and/or storage system suitable for storing data for use by server systems implementing network enterprise logic 330, including but not limited to inexpensive Redundant array of disks (RAID) devices, disk drives, or arrays of disk drives such as Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD) (used to refer to disks not configured according to RAID), optical storage devices, tape drives, RAM disks, storage area networks (SAN), Network Access Storage (NAS), or a combination thereof.

Tote delivery information 336 may, for example, be stored as or in a database. A database may be implemented as a single monolithic database or as a combination of two or more databases and/or data stored in other non-database formats, such as files stored in any of a variety of file formats. The database may be or may include a relational database, or may be or may include any other type of database, such as an object-oriented database, depending on implementation or a combination thereof. In at least some embodiments, the database can include a customer database configured to store information about customers who have accounts for accessing the website. In some embodiments, the database may include a subscription database for storing information about customers who subscribe to the subscription-based shipping program.

In operation of front end 300 , user interface 320 may display a tote delivery user interface (UI) to customer 310 on the customer's computing device via Internet 312 , eg, via web browser software. A consumer's computing device may include a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a mobile device such as a cell phone or smart phone, a television web platform, or any other device capable of displaying the user interface 320 . Tote delivery service UI elements 322 may include both control elements (e.g., buttons, menus, text boxes, radio buttons, etc.) and display elements displaying tote delivery information via which consumers 310 may provide information to businesses. Input to logic 330 to manage its tote deliveries. Tote delivery service logic 332 of enterprise logic 330 may display tote delivery information to customer 310 via tote delivery service UI element 322 of user interface 320 . Tote delivery service logic 332 of enterprise logic 330 may also receive tote management input (e.g., customer 310's order for items delivered via tote service, consumption modification of the content of the scheduled tote delivery by the operator 310, etc.). Enterprise logic 330 can process this tote management input to modify tote delivery data 336 appropriately.

In at least some embodiments, user interface 320 may also provide advice and reminders regarding tote delivery services to consumer 310 via a website via the Internet 312 or via alternative communication channels such as email and text messaging. To generate suggestions and/or prompts, enterprise logic 330 may examine enterprise data in data repository 334 , including but not limited to tote delivery data 336 . For example, business logic 330 may examine a customer's tote delivery history to determine that the customer periodically orders a particular item, and then send a recommendation to the customer via user interface 320 that the item is scheduled for regular tote deliveries. As an example of a reminder, the business logic 330 may examine a customer's upcoming tote orders to generate and send a reminder of one or more upcoming tote deliveries. In some embodiments, information other than enterprise data stored in data repository 334 may be obtained and analyzed to generate recommendations. For example, data indicative of consumer purchasing patterns or other consumer metrics may be obtained from one or more other external sources, such as other consumer goods businesses, consumer product providers, and/or consumer research entities, and generated for the consumer Use when recommended.

In operation of backend 302 , tote delivery service logic 332 of enterprise logic 330 may retrieve and process tote delivery data 336 to generate bulk transfer data 338 . Mass transfer data 338 is provided to fulfillment centers 350 of the network business' order fulfillment network. In at least some embodiments, bulk transfer data 338 directs fulfillment center 350 to pick from inventory and bulk transfer items for delivery at a particular tote at each sortation node 360 during one or more tote delivery processes Daily delivery to each of one or more tote delivery regions. Bulk picks and bulk transfers to a particular sortation node 360 may be performed at a given fulfillment center 350 one or more times on a given day, but not necessarily every day. Note also that items picked in bulk on a given day are not necessarily transferred in bulk on the same day. Figure 17 illustrates the operation of an exemplary fulfillment center 350, according to some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 5, note that a collation node 360 may be, but need not be, located within a fulfillment center 350; the transfer may thus be a transfer to a collation node 360 within a fulfillment center 350, a transfer from one fulfillment center 350 to another fulfillment center 350, Or a transfer from a fulfillment center 350 to a standalone collation node 360 . Collation node 360 may be a node in the network enterprise's order fulfillment network owned and operated by the network enterprise. Alternatively, sortation node 360 may be owned and/or operated by another entity, such as a local carrier or trucking company that owns and/or operates tote carrying vehicles.

Each fulfillment center 350 may send at least one individual bulk transfer 352 of items for tote delivery to at least one of the one or more sortation nodes 360 on a particular tote delivery day. Note that bulk transfers may be scheduled to arrive at sortation node 360 prior to or alternatively on the corresponding tote delivery date. In some embodiments, bulk transfer data 338 may not include specific customer order information indicating what item the customer ordered; may only describe the quantity of a specific item that will be picked up and transferred to a specific collation node 360 . In some embodiments, in addition to bulk transfers from fulfillment centers 350, sortation nodes 360 may receive bulk transfers or other shipments including items for tote delivery directly from one or more suppliers or merchants.

Tote delivery service logic 332 may also process tote delivery data 336 to generate regional delivery data 340 . The regional delivery data 340 may be provided to a collating node 360 of the network enterprise's order fulfillment network. In at least some embodiments, regional delivery data 340 directs collation node 360 to collate items received from fulfillment center 350 or from other sources in one or more bulk transfers 352 to available locations on or before the corresponding regional delivery date. The re-used totes are used for delivery to specific customer addresses 372 in specific delivery regions 370 on corresponding regional tote delivery days. Figure 18 illustrates the operation of an exemplary collating node, according to some embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 5 , each sortation node 360 may provide tote delivery services to one or more delivery regions 370 . In some embodiments, delivery region 370 may be determined by zip code. In other embodiments, other geographic information or other types of information may be used to determine the delivery region. Typically, collating nodes 360 will deliver to multiple regions 370, with different regions 370 scheduled for delivery on different days of the week. In some implementations, tote delivery services may be provided on days of the week, while in other implementations, tote delivery services may be provided on different days (eg, Monday through Saturday or Monday through Friday). In some embodiments, one or more regions served by a sortation node may be given more than one tote delivery day per week. Collating nodes 360 may, but are not required to, deliver to more than one region 370 on a given day. In some embodiments, for at least some of the regions 370, corresponding collating nodes 360 may be in the region on two or more days of the week. 370 to at least some of the consumers 310. Typically, only one collating node 360 serves each tote delivery region 370 ; however, in some implementations, two or more collating nodes 360 may serve the same region 370 . In some embodiments, two or more tote delivery sessions may occur on a given tote delivery day in different time slots, such as a morning tote delivery session and an evening tote delivery session. In these embodiments, individual customers can be assigned specific time slots on tote delivery days, or alternatively, customers can specify the time slots of the tote delivery days that the customer wants to receive tote deliveries. time slot.

Reusable totes containing items to be delivered to customer address 372 are loaded onto one or more delivery vehicles during delivery process 362 to designate a particular tote delivery region 370 . In some embodiments, the totes may be loaded onto rolling racks, and the racks may be loaded onto delivery vehicles. In some embodiments, the totes can be placed into containers, such as open boxes, and the containers, including the totes, can then be loaded into a delivery vehicle, such as on a mobile rack. See Figure 4B for an example of a tote in a container. In some embodiments, the container may already be in the delivery vehicle, and the tote may be placed in the container inside the delivery vehicle. In some embodiments, one or more totes may be placed into each container. In some embodiments, the containers into which the totes are placed may each include a tote delivery indicator 262 as shown in FIG. 4B , which may be used by tote delivery personnel to determine the delivery address of the totes contained therein. During delivery to the tote delivery area 370 , a delivery employee on the delivery vehicle places each tote at the corresponding customer address 372 . Typically, only one tote will be placed at a given address 372; however, in some cases, more than one tote may require delivery of all items that will be delivered to a given address 372 on a given delivery day . The delivery employee may also pick up one or more previously delivered totes from at least the same address 372 . In some embodiments, a given delivery vehicle may be delivered to more than one region 370 during a given delivery process or on a given delivery day.

The picked-up tote may be empty, or may include one or more previously delivered items that the corresponding customer returned to the network business. In some embodiments, items shipped according to other shipping methods may also be returned to the network enterprise via the tote delivery service. In some embodiments, items other than return items may be delivered from the consumer to the network business via the return tote. For example, in some embodiments, video game rentals, DVD/Blu-ray disc rentals, barters, items for repair, items sent to network businesses for loan or resale, etc. may be returned via the return tote and tote The box delivery service delivers from the consumer to the network business or some other entity. As another example, in some embodiments, a merchant or seller may deliver items to the network business via a return tote. The delivery vehicle may then return the picked totes to the corresponding sortation node 360 . At sortation node 360, any items in the returning totes may be removed and processed appropriately.

front-end operation

In front-end operations, a customer may access the user interface 320 of the tote delivery service logic 332 of the enterprise logic 330 to order items to be delivered under the tote delivery service and manage their tote orders. Embodiments of the user interface 320 may provide one or more methods by which a customer may place items into a tote order to be delivered according to the tote delivery service. Some examples of tote ordering methods and tote delivery service user interfaces are provided herein. These examples are not intended to be limiting.

6 is a high-level flow diagram for placing items into a tote order via a tote ordering channel, according to at least some embodiments. As shown at 220, the customer may select a tote delivery option for the item. For example, a customer may select a tote delivery service option from an item detail page. Exemplary item detail pages are shown in FIGS. 8 , 13 and 14 . As shown at 222, the customer may be prompted to log into the tote delivery service. In some embodiments, the customer may be required to provide at least a password each time the customer wants to add an item to the tote order. Figure 10 illustrates an exemplary tote delivery service landing page that may be displayed to a customer in some embodiments. As shown at 224, the customer may be prompted to confirm that the item will be placed in the tote order. In some embodiments, a confirmation page, such as page 700 of FIG. 11 , can be displayed via which the customer can confirm that the item will be added to the tote order. As shown at 226, the customer may be notified that an item has been placed in the tote order. In some embodiments, a web page may be displayed, such as page 800 of FIG. 12 , notifying the customer that an item has been added to the tote order. In some embodiments, the consumer may be notified via one or more other communication channels, such as email, text message, or telephone.

7 is a flow diagram for placing items into a tote order using a single-action user interface element, according to at least some embodiments. As shown at 230, a customer may select a single action tote delivery service UI element for an item. For example, element 442 of the item detail page 400 shown in FIG. 8 may be a single-action user interface element, as shown at 232, and the item may be automatically added to an upcoming tote order in response to the customer selecting the single-action element. . As shown at 234, the customer may be notified that an item has been placed into the tote order. In some embodiments, a web page may be displayed, such as web page 800 of FIG. 12 , notifying the customer that an item has been added to the tote order. In some embodiments, the consumer may be notified via one or more other communication channels, such as email, text message, or telephone.

Exemplary tote delivery service user interface

8 to 16 illustrate various user interface (UI) screens and UIs that may be used in at least some embodiments of the tote delivery service as part of the front end 300 subsystem of the tote delivery service as shown in FIG. Element example. These UI screens and UI elements are given as examples and are not intended to be limiting. In at least some embodiments, the exemplary UI screens shown in FIGS. 8-16 , variations thereof, and/or other UI screens may be provided as web pages by a network enterprise's website to implement various aspects of the tote delivery service according to various embodiments. functions and features. Note that in some embodiments, other UI screens than the exemplary UI screens shown in the figures may be provided by the website; at least some of these other UI screens may include one or more UI screens related to the tote delivery service element.

In the example UI screens of FIGS. 8-16 , the customer interface for the tote delivery service is shown as a graphical user interface (GUI) suitable for display on a personal computer or other similar device with a relatively large display device. In some embodiments, implementations of the tote delivery service user interface may be displayed on any suitable device, such as on a personal digital assistant (PDA), using any of a variety of other display methods, UI screens, UI elements, etc. or other handheld devices, on cell phones using audio prompts, etc.

In at least some embodiments, consumers may need to already have or establish (if they do not already have) a user account on the website in order to receive and/or access at least some of the UI screens and UI elements shown in FIGS. 8-16 , and use the tote delivery service described herein. Consumer information may be provided by consumers in the course of establishing a user account using the Site, including but not limited to delivery/shipping address, billing address and payment method information.

In some embodiments, the tote delivery service may not be available to all consumers of the website; for example, in some embodiments, the tote delivery service may only be available in areas with relatively high population densities, such as cities or towns, and therefore at least some rural consumer addresses may not be eligible for the service. However, in some embodiments, a customer may have multiple shipping addresses associated with their account; thus, for a given customer, one or more shipping addresses may be eligible for the tote delivery service, while one or multiple other shipping addresses may not be eligible.

In some embodiments, the tote delivery service may be provided to other businesses, eg, customers of other network businesses other than the network business providing the tote delivery service. Items delivered by tote by a customer of another business (eg, via the web business's website or through some other method, such as the other business's website) may be transferred into the web business's order fulfillment network via one or more absorption channels. Other businesses' items may be stored into outgoing totes at sortation nodes to fulfill their customers' tote orders. Note that in some embodiments, items from other businesses may be placed into the tote along with items from the network business that provides the tote delivery service.

In some embodiments, a customer with an account may also need to register or log in to the tote delivery service to use the tote delivery service and access at least some of the UI screens and UI elements shown in FIGS. 8-16 . In other embodiments, the tote delivery service may be provided to all eligible customers with an account without requiring customers to register or log in. In some embodiments, the Site may not charge any registration or delivery fees for the tote delivery service; the tote delivery service may be offered as a free delivery service to all eligible consumers. In some embodiments, the network business may charge a fee for the registered tote delivery service, and/or may charge a delivery fee for each delivery. Generally, however, any fees charged by network businesses for tote delivery services may be less than regular shipping fees.

In some embodiments, the tote delivery service may be provided at a lower cost or at no cost to some customers, while being provided at a higher cost to other customers. For example, in some embodiments, customers who are members of a contract-based shipping program may be offered tote delivery services at a reduced or no cost. As another example, in some embodiments, consumers in areas with relatively high population densities, such as cities or towns, may be offered tote delivery services at low or no cost, while in areas with relatively low Consumers in areas of higher population density (eg, rural areas) may be offered tote delivery services at a higher cost. In some embodiments, the customer may be charged a nominal fee or a per-tote deposit fee. In some embodiments, this tote fee or storage fee may be refunded to the customer when the tote is returned.

At least some embodiments of the tote delivery service user interface may provide, for example, one or more single-action user interface elements on an item detail page via which a customer may initiate a request to a website for an item that will be delivered under the tote delivery service. orders for items. In some embodiments, the tote delivery service user interface may also provide one or more single-action user interface elements via which the customer may select one or more other shipping options provided to the customer by the website, for example, according to An order for items offered by the website is initiated based on a contracted shipping plan, where each shipping option is associated with a specific one of the single action user interface elements. In some embodiments, one or more of these single-action shipping options may only be displayed to customers who are current users of the subscription-based shipping program, and not to non-subscribed customers. In an embodiment using a single-action user interface element for shipping options (including but not limited to tote delivery options), the customer selects a specific one of the shipping options provided by the website on the user interface provided by the website. A single action can automatically initiate a purchase order, processing, and shipment or delivery of an item offered by the website according to a selected shipping option, such as a tote delivery service option. Customer-related information, including but not limited to shipping address, billing address, and payment method information, may be used in the automated processing of orders in response to single-action options for shipping options.

In some embodiments, one or more other single-action items that initiate other services offered by the website may be provided to consumers of the website. For example, in some embodiments, all customers who have an account with the website (whether they sign up for a shipping plan offered by a web business or sign up for a tote delivery service) can be provided with at least one single-action user interface element Used to initiate a purchase order on the item detail page of an item offered for sale by the site.

A method and system for single-action initiation of purchase orders is described in U.S. Patent No. 5,960,411, entitled "Method and System for Placing a Purchase Order via a Communications Nwtwork," issued September 28, 1999, which is hereby adopted References are incorporated.

A method and system for contract-based shipping planning is described in US Patent No. 7,590,565, entitled "METHOD AND APPATATUSFOR SUBSCRIPTION-BASED SHIPPING," issued September 15, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Exemplary Tote Delivery Service User Interface Ordering Process

8-12 illustrate exemplary web pages that may be displayed when ordering one or more items delivered by tote according to an embodiment of a tote delivery service, such as according to the method shown in FIG. 6 . These web pages are given as examples and are not intended to be limiting.

8 illustrates an example web page of a website that provides one or more tote delivery service UI elements, according to some embodiments. This exemplary web page 400 is an item detail page via which a customer may order one or more units of a particular item, but note that the tote delivery service UI elements may be located on one or more other web pages of the website such as the "Home Page "superior. Website navigation 402 may include one or more UI elements, such as buttons, tab menus, etc., via which consumers may navigate to other pages on the website and/or perform other functions, such as searching. In at least some embodiments, the website navigation 402 can include a tote 404 user interface element and/or a shopping cart 406 user interface element. Selecting tote 404 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current tote order. Selecting the shopping cart 406 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current shopping cart order. A shopping cart may be defined as a virtual address that holds items that have been ordered or are being ordered by a customer via some other shipping option or options other than the tote shipping option. The item detail area 420 may provide relevant graphical and/or textual information about the particular item associated with the item detail web page, such as an item description, price, availability of the item, and other item information such as a picture of the item. User interface area 430 may include one or more user interface elements for selecting standard options for the website, such as allowing a user to add an item displayed on a web page to a collection or shopping cart of items that a consumer can purchase when making an item selection "Add to Cart" button 432. Area 430 may also include user interface elements, such as pop-up menus or text boxes, via which the customer may select a shipping address for the item, if the item is ordered. The address selection user interface element may default to the default shipping address for the current customer's account.

Web page 400 may include a banner, bar, or other UI element, shown here as element 410, that may display information about the tote delivery service. This element 410 may include a user-selectable UI element 412, such as a hot link or button, which, when selected, may take the customer to a web page that provides additional information about the tote delivery service. Examples of such web pages are shown in Figures 9A to 9D. Element 410 may also include an indication of the customer's upcoming tote delivery day (e.g., Friday) and a cut-off time for ordering items that will be delivered on the indicated tote delivery day (e.g., one day, 12 hours and 13 minutes and counts up) with a countdown timer. In some embodiments, element 410 may not be displayed to customers who are known to have logged into the tote delivery service.

Web page 400 may include an area 440 that may allow the customer to place items related to the item detail page into the customer's virtual tote for delivery via the tote delivery service, and may display the tote via the tote delivery service delivery information. This area 440 may include a user-selectable UI element 442, such as a button, which, when selected, may place an item in the customer's virtual tote for delivery on the tote delivery day displayed in UI element 444 to the The address specified in area 430. Area 440 may also include an indication of the customer's upcoming tote delivery day (eg, Friday) and a countdown timer for ordering items that will be delivered on the indicated tote delivery day.

In some embodiments, UI element 442 may be a single action user interface element. In these embodiments, selecting the UI element 442 may automatically initiate a purchase order, processing, and delivery of the item according to the tote delivery service. Information related to the customer, including but not limited to shipping address, billing address, and payment method information, may be used in the automated processing of the order in response to the single action option of UI element 442 .

In some embodiments, the UI element 442 may open a different web page via which the customer may proceed to place an order for the item via the tote delivery service. For example, in an embodiment where a customer needs to log into a tote delivery service, if the customer is not currently logged in, selecting UI element 442 may open a web page, such as web page 600 shown in FIG. box ordering service. As another example, in some embodiments, selecting UI element 442 may open a web page, such as web page 700 shown in FIG. 11 , through which a customer may confirm or complete an order delivered via the tote ordering service.

Although FIG. 8 shows regions 430 and 440 as separate regions, in some embodiments, the UI elements shown in regions 430 and 440 may form one region.

In some embodiments, web page 400 may include a link (not shown) to a "login" web page, such as web page 600 of FIG. 10 , via which a customer may log in to the tote delivery service. In some embodiments, the customer may need to log into the tote delivery service each time the customer adds an item to the tote. In other embodiments, the customer may only need to log into the tote delivery service once per campaign period.

9A through 9D illustrate examples of web pages that may provide additional information about an embodiment of a tote delivery service. Note that these web pages or their contents are given as examples and are not intended to be limiting.

Figure 9A illustrates an example web page providing information about an example embodiment of a tote delivery service. Web page 500 may be reached, for example, by selecting a UI element on another web page, such as UI element 412 of item detail page 400 shown in FIG. 8 . Website navigation 402 may include one or more UI elements, such as buttons, tab menus, etc., via which a customer may navigate to other pages on the website and/or perform other functions, such as searching. In at least some embodiments, the website navigation 402 can include a tote 404 user interface element and/or a shopping cart 406 user interface element. Selecting tote 404 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current tote order. Selecting the shopping cart 406 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current shopping cart order. Web page 500 may, for example, include a general description of the tote delivery service, instructions on how to use the tote delivery service, and an indication of the specific customer's tote delivery day (in this example, Friday), as well as instructions on how to use the tote delivery service. The order cut-off time for placing items in totes for delivery on the tote delivery day (in this example, Tuesday, two days, or 48 hours before the scheduled tote delivery day (Friday)).

Web page 500 may also include one or more links to other web pages, such as a link to a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) web page and a link to a Terms and Conditions web page for tote delivery service, and/or to a "login A link to a webpage, such as the webpage 600 of FIG. Web page 500 may also include information and/or UI elements via which a customer may contact the web business with questions or concerns about the tote delivery service, such as opening an email to the web business's email address UI elements for messages, or phone numbers that consumers can call.

Figure 9B illustrates another example of a web page providing information about an exemplary embodiment of a tote delivery service. In some embodiments, the customer may need to log into the tote delivery service. Figure 9B shows a web page including a delivery information area, which may, for example, include a UI element via which the customer may enter the customer's email address. The email address may be used to identify the customer and/or send the customer notifications and reminders related to the tote delivery service. The delivery information area may also include a UI element via which the customer may enter their password. The delivery information area may also include UI elements such as a login button 512 via which the customer may complete the login process after entering their email address and password.

In some embodiments, some customers may be given more tote delivery days per week than other customers. For example, a network business may offer a subscription-based shipping program; subscribers to the shipping program may be offered one or more shipping options and possibly other options not offered to non-subscribed customers. Additional tote delivery days may be given to customers who sign up for the shipping plan as a benefit of being a signatory. In some embodiments, there may be benefits for customers who sign up for a shipping plan, such as a shorter cut-off time for ordering items that will be delivered by tote. Thus, in some embodiments, the web pages providing information about the tote delivery service may be different for some customers, such as those who sign up for a shipping plan, than the web pages providing information for non-subscribing customers. 9C shows an example of a web page that provides information about an exemplary embodiment of a tote delivery service to customers who have an assigned tote day each week (Wednesday in this example). FIG. 9D illustrates an exemplary embodiment of providing service on tote delivery to customers who have two assigned tote days per week (Wednesday and Saturday in this example), such as customers who sign up for a contract-based shipping plan. Examples of informational pages.

Figure 10 illustrates an exemplary web page via which a customer may log into a tote delivery service, according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the customer may need to log into the tote delivery service whenever the customer adds an item to the tote or at least provides the tote delivery service password. If the customer is not currently logged into the tote delivery service, or if the tote delivery service requires the customer to log in whenever an item is ordered to be delivered via tote delivery, the web page 600 can be accessed, such as by selecting UI elements such as UI element 442 of item detail page 400 shown in FIG. 8, UI element 930 of item detail page 900 shown in FIG. In some embodiments, the web page 600 is reachable from the "login" UI element on the home page of the website or from a menu item or button in the area of the website navigation 402 of another web page. Website navigation 402 may include one or more UI elements, such as buttons, tab menus, etc., via which a customer may navigate to other pages on the website and/or perform other functions, such as searching. In at least some embodiments, the website navigation 402 can include a tote 404 user interface element and/or a shopping cart 406 user interface element. Selecting tote 404 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current tote order. Selecting the shopping cart 406 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current shopping cart order.

Web page 600 may include a login area 610 via which a customer may log in to the tote delivery service. Login area 610 may, for example, include a UI element via which the customer may enter the customer's email address. The email address may be used to identify the customer and/or send the customer notifications and reminders related to the tote delivery service. The login area 610 may also include one or more UI elements via which the customer may indicate whether the customer is a new customer or a current customer. In this example, radio buttons are used. If the customer indicates that he or she is a new customer, one or more UI elements may be displayed on the web page 600 via which the customer may "register" for the tote delivery service and receive or specify a password. Alternatively, the customer may be taken to another web page to sign up for the tote delivery service. If the customer indicates that he or she is already logged in (ie, already has a password), as shown in Figure 10, a UI element can be displayed via which the customer can enter their password. The login area 610 may also include UI elements such as a login button 612 via which the customer may complete the login process after entering their email and password.

Web page 600 may, but does not necessarily include, an area where the customer's current (virtual) tote content, if any, may be displayed. Note that items may or may not actually be physically present in a physical tote. Each item shown may include item information such as a brief item description, quantity, and price.

11 illustrates an example web page via which a customer may confirm that an item will be placed in a pending tote order according to some embodiments. Web page 700 can be accessed, for example, by selecting a UI element on another web page such as UI element 442 of item detail page 400 shown in FIG. 8 , UI element 930 of item detail page 900 shown in FIG. UI element 1030 of page 1000 arrives. Website navigation 402 may include one or more UI elements, such as buttons, tab menus, etc., via which a customer may navigate to other web pages on the website and/or perform other functions, such as searching. In at least some embodiments, the website navigation 402 can include a tote 404 user interface element and/or a shopping cart 406 user interface element. Selecting tote 404 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current tote order. Selecting the shopping cart 406 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current shopping cart order.

Web page 700 may include an area 710 via which a customer may deliver in totes from one or more items currently being purchased to multiple shipping addresses and/or one or more items currently being purchased Select among the tote delivery days that will be delivered in the tote. A customer may have one, two or more different shipping addresses that are eligible for the tote delivery service. The different shipping addresses of the customer may be, but are not necessarily in different delivery regions. Thus, a customer may have one shipping address as the tote delivery day on one day (eg, Wednesday) and another shipping address on another day (eg, Friday) as the tote delivery day. In the example shown in Figure 10, the customer has two different tote delivery dates (delivery day 1 and delivery day 2) to two different shipping addresses (address 1 and address 2), and The customer can select one or the other (eg, via radio buttons as shown in this example) as the current tote delivery date for one or more items. Note, however, that the delivery date to two different delivery addresses may be the same delivery date. Note also that a customer may only have one delivery address, and therefore only one delivery date, and therefore may not be given an option. In the latter case, however, the consumer may be given the option to select a future delivery date (e.g., Friday of the next week, rather than Friday of this week, to a given delivery address).

In some embodiments, a customer may have multiple tote delivery days during the week to the same shipping address, such as Tuesday and Friday to a given address. In some embodiments, all customers may be given two (or more) tote delivery days per week. In some embodiments, a subset of delivery addresses may be given two (or more) tote delivery days per week; for example, delivery addresses in some but not all delivery regions may be given two (or more) tote delivery days per week; Ton box delivery day. As another example, in some embodiments, signatories to a contract-based shipping program may be given two (or more) tote delivery days per week instead of the standard one per week offered to non-contract customers Tote delivery date as a benefit of signing the shipment plan. Area 710 may thus allow the customer to specify on which upcoming tote delivery day the customer would like the item delivered.

Web page 700 may also include payment and billing area 730 . Payment and billing area 730 may display the current payment method used to bill the customer, such as a Visa or other credit card account. Payment and billing area 730 may include user interface elements that allow the signatory to change the payment method, if desired. The payment and billing area 730 may also display the current billing address paid to the customer, and the billing area 730 may include user interface elements that allow the signatory to change the billing address, if desired.

Web page 700 may, but need not, include an area 720 in which the customer's current (virtual) tote content, if any, may be displayed. This example shows that this customer has two items (item 1 and item 2). Note that items in a virtual tote may or may not actually physically exist in a physical tote. Note also that the displayed tote contents for a given tote represent a tote order. Each item shown may include item information such as a brief item description, quantity, and price. In some embodiments, area 720 may include, for each item, a UI element (e.g., a link to another web page, such as " Change " in this example) via which the customer may choose to change the order in the tote. Item or number of items in . Note that changes may include removing an item from a tote order, moving an item to a different tote order, or changing the quantity of an item in a tote order. For example, in some embodiments, selecting the "Change" UI element may open a web page via which the customer may manage the current content of one or more virtual totes; an example of such a web page is shown in FIG. 15 as web page 1100 .

Web page 700 may, but does not necessarily include, a tote order summary area 740, which may display summary information for an item in a virtual area, such as the item's price, shipping (in this example free, ), the total pre-tax cost of the item, any associated taxes or estimates thereon, the total cost of the item, discounts, and possibly other relevant information about the tote order. Note that tote order summary 740 is specific to tote orders to a given tote delivery address on a given tote delivery date. Items in corresponding virtual totes are processed as one tote order, even though items in totes may be ordered at different times hours, days, or even weeks apart.

Web page 700 may include a UI element 742, such as a button, via which a customer may confirm that an item is added to a specified tote order. Selection of this UI element 742 causes the current item, as specified by the customer, to be placed into the specified virtual tote and corresponding tote order. Web page 700 may also include a UI element via which the customer may cancel the order confirmation shown on the page, if desired. Selection of UI element 742 may cause the network enterprise logic to enter or modify a tote order in the system for by-tote processing, collection and delivery to the indicated customer address on the indicated tote delivery date. Selecting this UI element 742 may also open a web page, such as web page 800 shown in FIG. 12 , confirming that the tote order has been scheduled or modified. Selection of this UI element 742 may cause the network enterprise logic to perform other actions being processed, such as notifying the customer via email or some other communication channel, to confirm that the tote order is scheduled or amended, and to deliver it at the scheduled tote delivery The goods are delivered to the corresponding consumer address by ton box on a daily basis.

Figure 12 illustrates an example web page where a customer places a confirmation tote order, according to some embodiments. Web page 800 may be reached, for example, by selecting UI element 742 of web page 700 shown in FIG. 11 . Website navigation 402 may include one or more UI elements, such as buttons, tabs, etc., via which consumers may navigate to other pages on the website and/or perform other actions, such as searching. In at least some embodiments, the website navigation 402 can include a tote 404 user interface element and/or a shopping cart 406 user interface element. Selecting tote 404 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current tote order. Selecting the shopping cart 406 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current shopping cart order.

Web page 800 may, but does not necessarily include, a tote order summary area 840, which may display summary information about the tote order, such as the tote order number, tote delivery address and tote delivery date, the number of items in the tote order A summary, the total cost of the tote order, and possibly other relevant information about the tote order such as discounts. Note that the tote order profile 740 is specific to tote orders to a given tote order address on a given tote delivery date. The items in the corresponding totes are processed as one tote order even though the items in the totes may be ordered at different times which may be hours, days or even weeks apart.

Web page 800 may also include an indication of a tote order number via which the customer may track the tote order, the quantity of items and/or a description of the items that will be in the delivered tote, and the tote will be The delivery day or date for delivery to the consumer's address. Web page 800 may also notify the consumer that a confirmation has been sent to the consumer via another channel, such as email.

Web page 800 may also include a UI element 812 via which the customer may open another web page where the customer may view or edit the contents of one or more virtual totes; an example of such a web page is shown in FIG. 15 Page 1100 in . Web page 800 may also include a UI element 810 via which a customer may open or return to another web page to continue shopping.

In some embodiments, the web page 800 may also include an item suggestion area 820 that may display recommendations for one or more other items that the customer may wish to order using the tote delivery service, or possibly some other shipping option. Area 820 may list information about these one or more recommended items, such as images, brief descriptions, prices, and possibly special purchasing information, where applicable. In some embodiments, the listed recommended items may be determined by enterprise logic based on the consumer's current and past purchase history, including but not limited to items purchased by the consumer in current tote orders. Note that similar or identical displays of recommended items may be displayed on other web pages of the website, including but not limited to one or more of the other exemplary web pages shown in FIGS. 8-16 . Note also that the recommended items may be included in a confirmation email sent to the customer for the current order, or may be sent to the customer via some other communication channel. In some implementations, selecting one of the recommended items in area 820 may open an item detail page for that item. Exemplary item detail pages are shown in FIGS. 8 , 13 and 14 . Optionally, in some embodiments, selecting one of the recommended items in area 820 may automatically add the item to the current tote order and may open web page 700 shown in FIG. 11 so that the customer may reconfirm Modified order. In some embodiments, the customer may be given a choice as to whether the selected recommended item will be placed into the current tote (thus modifying the current order, for example, by taking the customer back to the web page 700 of FIG. 11 ) or are ordered individually (thereby taking the consumer to the item detail page for the recommended item).

Combining tote delivery services with contract-based shipment planning

As mentioned earlier, online businesses may offer contract-based shipping programs. In a subscription-based shipping program, a subscriber to the shipping program may be offered one or more shipping options, and possibly other options, that are not offered to non-subscribing customers. Additionally, in some embodiments where the network business also offers tote delivery services based on a contracted shipping plan, customers who sign up for a shipping plan may be given additional tote delivery days as a benefit of being a signatory. In some embodiments, customers who sign up for a shipping plan may be given other shipping delivery service benefits, such as a shorter cut-off time for ordering items delivered by tote on an upcoming tote delivery day. Thus, in some embodiments, the item detail page and possibly other web pages displayed to customers who sign up for a shipping plan may be different from the item detail page or other web pages displayed to non-subscribed customers. Figure 13 illustrates an exemplary item detail page that may be displayed to a non-signed customer, according to some embodiments, while Figure 14 illustrates an exemplary item detail page that may be displayed to a customer who signs up for such a shipping plan, according to some embodiments .

Figure 13 illustrates an example item detail page that may be displayed to a non-signed customer, according to some embodiments. Web page 900 is an item detail page through which a non-subscriber (who is one who is not currently subscribed to a subscription-based shipping program offered by a network business) can order to ship by standard (non-subscriber) shipping option or by tote One or more units of a specific item delivered by a delivery service. Website navigation 402 may include one or more UI elements, such as buttons, tab menus, etc., via which a customer may navigate to other pages on the website and/or perform other functions, such as searching. In at least some embodiments, the website navigation 402 can include a tote 404 user interface element and/or a shopping cart 406 user interface element. Selecting tote 404 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current tote order. Selecting the shopping cart 406 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current shopping cart order.

Item detail area 920 may provide relevant graphical and/or textual information about a particular item associated with the item detail web page, such as an item description, price, availability of the item, and other item information such as a picture of the item. User interface area 910 may include one or more user interface elements for selecting standard options displayed on the website to non-subscribing consumers, such as allowing the consumer to add items displayed on the web page to the list of items that the consumer may select while making selections. A collection of items purchased at the time or an "Add to Cart" button 912 and a "Buy Now" button 914 for a shopping cart. In some implementations, UI element 914 may be a single action user interface element. In these embodiments, selection of the UI element 914 may automatically initiate a purchase order, processing, and delivery of the item according to the standard shipping options offered by the network business. Information related to the customer, including but not limited to shipping address, billing address, and payment method information, may be used in the automated processing of the order in response to a single action selection of UI element 914 . Area 910 may also include user interface elements, such as pop-up menus or text boxes, via which the customer may select a shipping address for the item, if the item is ordered. The address selection user interface element may default to the default shipping address for the current customer's account.

Web page 900 may include a banner, banner, or other UI element (not shown) that may display information about the tote delivery service. Web page 900 may also include user-selectable UI elements, such as hot links or buttons, which, when selected, may take the customer to a web page that provides additional information about the tote delivery service. Examples of such web pages are shown in Figures 9A to 9D. In some embodiments, these elements may not be displayed to customers who are known to have logged into the tote delivery service.

Web page 900 may include a UI element 930, such as a button, which, when selected, may place an item in the customer's virtual tote for delivery to the address specified in field 910 on the displayed tote delivery date, if the item To be ordered by the times shown. In some embodiments, UI element 930 may be a single action user interface element. In these embodiments, selection of the UI element 930 may automatically initiate a purchase order, processing, and delivery of the item according to the tote delivery service. Information related to the customer, including but not limited to shipping address, billing address, and payment method information, may be used in the automated processing of the order in response to a single action selection of UI element 930 .

In some embodiments, the UI element 930 may open a different webpage via which the customer may proceed to place an order for the item via the tote delivery service. For example, in an embodiment where a customer needs to log in to a tote delivery service, if the customer is not currently logged in, selecting UI element 930 may open a web page, such as web page 600 shown in FIG. box ordering service. As another example, in some embodiments, selecting UI element 930 may open a web page, such as web page 700 shown in FIG. 11 , via which a customer may confirm or complete an order to be delivered via the tote ordering service.

In some embodiments, web page 900 may include a link (not shown) to a "login" web page, such as web page 600 of FIG. 10 , via which a customer may log in to the tote delivery service.

Figure 14 illustrates an exemplary item detail page that may be displayed to a customer who signs up for such a shipping plan, according to some embodiments. Web page 1000 is an item detail page through which a customer who subscribes to a subscription-based shipping plan offered by a network business can order a 1000 that is shipped according to the shipping options offered to the signatory on the shipping plan or delivered according to the tote delivery service. or multiple units of a specific item. Website navigation 402 may include one or more UI elements, such as buttons, tab menus, etc., via which a customer may navigate to other pages on the website and/or perform other functions, such as searching. In at least some embodiments, the website navigation 402 can include a tote 404 user interface element and/or a shopping cart 406 user interface element. Selecting tote 404 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current tote order. Selecting the shopping cart 406 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current shopping cart order.

Item detail area 1020 may provide relevant graphical and/or textual information about a particular item associated with the item detail web page, such as an item description, price, availability of the item, and other item information such as a picture of the item. User interface area 1010 may include one or more user interface elements for selecting options displayed on the website to the non-subscribing customer, such as allowing the user to add items displayed on the web page to the items that the consumer may purchase when making the selection. "Add to Cart" button 1012 and "Buy Now" button 1014 for a collection of items or shopping cart. In some implementations, UI element 1014 may be a single action user interface element. In these embodiments, selecting the UI element 1014 may automatically initiate a purchase order, processing, and delivery of the item based on shipping options that the network business offers only to subscribed customers. Information related to the customer, including but not limited to shipping address, billing address, and payment method information, may be used in the automated processing of the order in response to a single action selection of UI element 1014 . Region 1010 may also include user interface elements, such as pop-up menus or text boxes, via which the customer may select a shipping address for the item, if the item is ordered. The address selection user interface element may default to the default shipping address for the current customer's account.

Web page 1000 may include a banner, banner, or other UI element (not shown) that may display information about the tote delivery service. Web page 1000 may also include user-selectable UI elements, such as hot links or buttons, which, when selected, may take the customer to a web page that provides additional information about the tote delivery service. Examples of such web pages are shown in Figures 9A to 9D. In some embodiments, these elements may not be displayed to customers who are known to have logged into the tote delivery service.

Web page 1000 may include a UI element 1030, such as a button, which, when selected, may place an item in the customer's virtual tote for delivery to the address specified in field 1010 on the displayed tote delivery date, if the item To be ordered by the times shown. In addition to UI element 1030 via which a customer may order items delivered via the tote delivery service, web page 1000 may also include one or more other UI elements via which the customer may choose to order via one or An item delivered by one of a number of other shipping options offered to a contracted customer via a contract-based shipping program. In the example shown in FIG. 14, web page 1000 includes UI element 1040 (via UI element 1040, the customer may choose to have the item shipped via a one-day shipping option at a lower shipping cost than offered to non-subscribing customers. ) and UI element 1050 (via UI element 1050, the customer may choose to have the item shipped via the free two-day shipping option, while non-subscribing consumers are charged some shipping fees for two-day shipping).

In some embodiments, one or more of these UI elements (in this example, UI elements 1030, 1040, and 1050) that provide various shipping options may be single-action user interface elements. In these embodiments, selecting one of the UI elements, such as element 1030, can automatically initiate a purchase order, processing, and delivery of the item according to the corresponding shipping option. Information related to the customer, including but not limited to shipping address, billing address, and payment method information, may be used in the automated processing of the order in response to single-action selection of the shipping option UI element.

In some embodiments, the options UI element 1030 may open a different web page via which the customer may proceed to place an order for the item via the tote delivery service. For example, in an embodiment where a customer needs to log into a tote delivery service, if the customer is not currently logged in, selecting UI element 1030 may open a web page, such as web page 600 shown in FIG. box ordering service. As another example, in some embodiments, selecting UI element 1030 may open a web page, such as web page 700 shown in FIG. 11 , via which a customer may confirm or complete an order delivered via the tote ordering service.

Web page 1000 may also display information about the various shipping options offered to subscribing customers. In this example, web page 1000 displays the date the customer should receive the item if the item was ordered via the various shipping options. Web page 1000 may also display deadlines by which items must be ordered in response to each of the two or more shipping options in order to receive the items by the indicated dates.

In some embodiments, web page 1000 may include a link (not shown) to a "login" web page, such as web page 600 of FIG. 10 , via which a customer may log in to the tote delivery service.

In some embodiments, as shown on web page 1000 of FIG. supply. For example, in some embodiments, the user interface may provide one or more UI elements on one or more web pages, such as in the website navigation area 402, via which the customer may select to complete the shopping cart currently in the customer's shopping cart. (See, eg, UI element 432 of FIG. 8, UI element 912 of FIG. 13, and UI element 1012 of FIG. 14). A shopping cart may be defined as a virtual store that holds items that have been ordered or are being ordered by a customer via some other shipping option or options other than D.O.B. Items in a shopping cart are typically processed through a "checkout" process in which a customer confirms or completes a shopping cart order. Selecting such a UI element opens the shopping cart's order confirmation or completion web page. UI elements that provide consumers with multiple shipping options, including tote delivery shipping options, may be displayed on the order confirmation or completion web page of the shopping cart, or some other web page displayed during the checkout process, and may be configurable To perform actions similar to those described for the shipping options UI element, which is described for FIG. 14 . Note that selecting the tote delivery service shipping option during the shopping cart checkout process may result in one or more items in the virtual shopping cart being moved into the virtual tote order.

Furthermore, while web page 1000 of FIG. 14 is presented as an example of an item detail page specific to a customer who subscribes to a contract-based shipping plan, in some embodiments (including but not limited to embodiments that offer such a contract-based shipping plan and embodiments that do not provide such a contract-based shipping plan), a similar item detail page may be displayed to the non-contracted customer, which provides the customer with multiple shipping options including a delivery tote service shipping option.

Ton management

As previously described, at least some embodiments of the tote delivery service may provide a user interface to a web enterprise system that enables customers to manage their own tote deliveries. The tote management user interface may allow customers to specify tote deliveries for items ordered from the network business. The tote management user interface may also, for example, provide a display of virtual totes scheduled for delivery on future tote delivery days. In at least some embodiments, instead of or in addition to future tote deliveries, the tote management user interface may also display previously delivered totes and their contents, allowing customers to review their tote order history. Via the tote management user interface, the customer can, for example, view what items are scheduled to be delivered in which totes, add items to a shipping address (or multiple shipping addresses) that will be delivered to the customer on a particular tote delivery day address), remove or delete items from a tote, move or copy items from one tote to another, copy an entire tote order from one tote delivery date or delivery address to another tote delivery delivery date or delivery address, as well as scheduling recurring deliveries (e.g. monthly deliveries) of specific items to be delivered in totes or of entire tote orders. Additionally, in at least some embodiments, the customer can specify via the user interface that backordered or pre-ordered items are to be delivered by tote; Estimated tote ship date for delivered items, backordered items, and pre-ordered items for .

Figure 15 illustrates an example tote management page that may be displayed to a customer, according to some embodiments. The tote management page 1100 can be accessed, for example, by selecting the "Change" user interface element as shown in region 720 of web page 700 as shown in FIG. 11 or by selecting UI element 812 on web page 800 as shown in FIG. come to arrive. In some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 is reachable from a "manage your totes" UI element on the home page of the website or from a menu item or button in the site navigation 402 of another web page. Site navigation 402 on this and other web pages may include one or more UI elements, such as buttons, tab menus, etc., via which consumers can navigate to other pages on the web site and/or perform other functions, such as searching . In at least some embodiments, the website navigation 402 can include a tote 404 user interface element and/or a shopping cart 406 user interface element. Selecting tote 404 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current tote order. Selecting the shopping cart 406 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current shopping cart order.

The tote management page 1100 may display one or more virtual tote UI elements 1112 in the tote management area 1110, each virtual tote UI element corresponding to an upcoming tote delivery date for the customer. In some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 or similar page may display previously delivered totes 1112 and their contents instead of or in addition to upcoming tote deliveries. In this example, the customer has one tote delivery day per week (Friday), and totes 1112 for four upcoming Friday deliveries are shown. In some embodiments, a given customer may have more than one tote delivery day per week (e.g., two days, such as Wednesday and Friday), and the tote management page 1100 may thus display for the customer the delivery days for each week. Totes 1112 for more than one delivery day.

This example also assumes that the customer has only one shipping address, or that totes 1112 destined for only one shipping address of the customer are shown. However, a customer may have one, two or more different shipping addresses that are eligible for the tote delivery service. The different shipping addresses of the customer may be, but are not necessarily in different delivery regions. So a customer could have one shipping address with one day (eg Wednesday) as the tote delivery date, and another shipping address with another day (eg Friday) as the tote delivery day, or the customer could There are two or more different shipping addresses with the same tote delivery date. In some embodiments, if the customer has two or more different shipping addresses, the tote management page 1100 can display the totes 1112 corresponding to each shipping Totes 1112 on one delivery day, or may show more than one tote 1112 per delivery day (e.g. two totes 1112 for Friday deliveries, each to a different delivery address ). Alternatively, in some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 may be specific to a customer's particular tote shipping address, and the customer may have to navigate to the tote management page 1100 corresponding to each different shipping address. Page 1100 to view upcoming totes 1112 for this address. In some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 may provide one or more UI elements via which a user may choose to view on a single tote management page 1100 to a selected one of multiple shipping addresses or to Tote 1112 to more than one shipping address or to all shipping addresses.

One or more of the displayed virtual totes 1112 may include one or more item 1114 UI elements that the customer has previously added to the tote 1112 corresponding to the delivery date and may also correspond to a particular delivery address if the customer There is more than one shipping address eligible for the tote delivery plan. Note that the totes 1112 shown may be empty. Each item 1114 UI element may be displayed graphically, eg, as a thumbnail image representing a particular item 1114, and/or textually, eg, as a textual link to an item detail page corresponding to the item. In some embodiments, selecting an item 1114 UI element may open an item detail page for the item. Note that the customer may then add another or more units of the item to the upcoming tote; when returning to the tote management page 1100, the added item will be displayed in the appropriate tote 1112.

In some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 may provide one or more UI elements or methods via which a customer may modify the content of an upcoming tote 1112 . In some embodiments, the customer can click and drag the item 1114 out of the tote 1112, for example, by using a cursor control device such as a mouse, by right-clicking on the item 1114 with a mouse and selecting the "Remove Item" option from a pop-up menu, or by selecting the item 1114 and select the "Remove Item" or "Delete Item" option from a menu or other UI element provided elsewhere on the tote management page 1100 to remove or delete an item 1114 from an upcoming tote 1112. In some embodiments, each item 1114 may have a "delete item" or "cancel item" UI element, such as a checkbox, displayed adjacent to the item. The consumer may select this UI element to delete or cancel the corresponding item 1114, or alternatively may select this UI element for one or more items 1114 and then select a "delete" UI element (e.g., element 1122) to delete or One or more selected items 1114 are canceled. In some embodiments, a customer can move one or more items 1114 from one upcoming tote 1112 to another, such as by clicking and dragging the items 1114 from one tote 1112 to another tote 1112. The ton box 1112. In some embodiments, a customer may copy one or more items 1114 from a previously delivered or upcoming tote 1112 to another tote 1112 , such as by clicking and dragging the item 1114 from one tote 1112 to another tote 1112 . An upcoming ton 1112. In some embodiments, the customer may be asked if the customer would like to copy or move one or more click-and-drag items. In some embodiments, one or more items 1114 in a previously delivered or upcoming tote 1112 can be selected, and the user interface can allow the customer to specify via one or more user interface elements that the item 1114 will be shipped through the tote. Boxes 1112 are delivered on a regular schedule, such as once a week, once a month, etc.

In some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 may provide one or more UI elements or methods via which a customer may manage the entire tote 1112 . In some embodiments, totes 1112 on one delivery day may be moved to another delivery day. In some embodiments, totes 1112 on one delivery day can be copied to another delivery day, or totes 1112 destined for one delivery address can be copied to another delivery address. In some embodiments, previously delivered totes 1112 as well as upcoming totes 1112 may be replicated. In some embodiments, a tote 1112 may be selected and deleted, thereby canceling the order for all items 1114 in the tote 1112 . In some embodiments, a tote 1112 may be selected, and the user interface may allow the customer to specify via one or more user interface elements that the contents of the current tote 1112 will pass through the tote on a regular schedule, such as once a week, Delivered every two weeks, once a month, etc. In some embodiments, previously delivered totes 1112 as well as upcoming totes 1112 may be scheduled for regular deliveries. Some embodiments may provide one or more UI elements, such as pop-up menus or buttons, whereby a customer can select an entire tote and specify a specific action to be performed on the tote 1112, such as "copy," "delete," " One or more of the actions "Move" and "Schedule Regular Delivery".

The exemplary shipment management page 1100 in FIG. 15 illustrates four user interface elements (copy 1120, delete 1122, move 1124, and arrange 1126), such as buttons, which, according to some embodiments, can be used to copy selected items and/or Used when totes, deleting selected items and/or totes, moving selected items and/or totes, and scheduling selected items and/or totes for regular deliveries.

The tote management page 1100 thus allows a customer to move or copy, for example, one or more items or an entire tote 1112 from one tote delivery day to another. Because a customer may have multiple delivery addresses, the tote management page 1100 may also allow the customer to move or copy one or more items or an entire tote 1112 from one delivery address to another. Accordingly, embodiments of the tote delivery service may allow a consumer to manage his or her tote deliveries across time and across locations via a user interface and web business logic.

A customer action on the tote management page 1100 that modifies the content of one or more displayed totes 1112 may cause network enterprise logic (e.g., enterprise logic 330 of FIG. 5 ) to modify the corresponding tote delivery under the customer. An electronic record of the order (eg, tote delivery data 336 of FIG. 5). The network enterprise logic may also send the modification to the customer, eg, via email or some other communication channel, notifying the customer of the upcoming tote 1112 modification. In some embodiments, the web business logic may not apply changes to the electronic record until the customer logs out or closes the tote management page 1100 . In some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 may provide an "apply change" or similar UI element that the customer may choose to apply any changes the customer may have made to the totes 1112 during the current campaign session (in FIG. 15 not shown); in these embodiments, the network enterprise logic may not apply the change to the electronic record until the consumer indicates that the change should be applied.

The tote management page 1100 may provide one or more UI elements via which a customer may scroll, page through, or otherwise view other totes 1112 in addition to the currently displayed totes. For example, the tote management area 1110 may include left and right arrow UI elements that allow the customer to advance or page through the customer's upcoming and/or previously delivered totes 1112 . As another example, the tote management area 1110 may include horizontal and/or vertical scroll bars that allow a user to scroll through the customer's upcoming and/or previously delivered totes 1112 . In some embodiments, a pop-up or toolbar menu may textually display a list of the customer's upcoming and/or previous delivered tote days; the customer may select a tote day from the menu to display that tote 1112. In some embodiments, the tote management area 1110 may include UI elements through which the customer may enter future or past tote days, and a "go to" UI element that the customer selects to go to (display) the corresponding tote.

The tote management page 1100 provides a way for the customer to keep track of the items the customer has ordered, as the customer can browse future scheduled tote deliveries to see what items the customer has not yet decided to deliver and when the items are scheduled for delivery via tote Instead of the customer having to go back to past orders to try to figure out what item the customer has not decided to deliver, as in conventional systems. The tote management page 1100 may also provide a method for the customer to review previously delivered totes.

In at least some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 can also provide other user interface elements in addition to the virtual totes 1112 into which customers can move items and from which users can move items. Add to tote 1112. In some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 may include a "cart" user interface element (not shown in FIG. 15 ) that displays the current contents of the customer's Items that have been ordered or are being ordered with some other shipping option than the box delivery shopping option. The tote management page 1100 may allow the customer to move items from the shopping cart into the tote 1112, and may also allow the customer to move items from the tote 1112 into the shopping cart. In some embodiments, moving an item from a shopping cart into a tote 1112 or moving an item from a tote 1112 into a shopping cart can result in an appropriate web page being displayed, via which order/shipping method details can be accessed by the customer and/or or in an appropriate notice to the consumer to specify.

In some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 may include an "organize totes" user interface element (not shown in FIG. 15 ). In at least some embodiments, the business logic and user interface can provide an "organization tote"; an organization tote can be a virtual location where a customer can store what the customer is considering for tote delivery (or some other shipping option ), but the customer has not added the item to a particular tote 1112 or assigned it to ship via some other shipping option. In some embodiments, in addition to the "Add to Tote Order" user interface element, an item detail page such as item detail page 400 shown in FIG. 8 and item detail pages 900 and 1000 shown in FIGS. Add to Organization Tote” user interface element; other web pages may also include an “Add to Organization Tote” user interface element. Tote management page 1100 may allow customers to move items from organization totes into totes 1112, move items from totes 1112 to organization totes, and delete items from organization totes. If the tote management page 1100 includes other user interface elements that may include items, such as the shopping cart user interface element described above, the tote management page 1112 may allow the customer to move items from an organization tote to the other user interface elements, and vice versa.

In at least some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 may include one or more user interface elements that allow a customer to return one or more items in a tote or an entire tote order. As another example, in some embodiments, a customer may select one or more items in a tote or an entire tote order and select the "return item" or "return tote order" option. In at least some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 may include return totes (not shown) and delivery totes 1112 . Return totes may allow customers to view and manage items that will be returned in totes via the tote delivery service. The user interface may provide one or more user interface elements whereby a customer may add items to, or remove items from, a return tote that the customer wishes to return. In some embodiments, instead of displaying individual return totes, return items may be added to or removed from totes 1112; the user interface may display which items in the shopping cart 1112 will be delivered in the corresponding totes One or more indications of which items will be delivered on the corresponding tote delivery day and which items will be returned in the return cart on the corresponding tote delivery day.

In some embodiments, the tote management page 1100 can be displayed in various modes. Modes may, for example, be selectable via one or more user interface elements such as menus, checkboxes or radio buttons. The display modes of the tote management page 1100 may include one or more of the following items, but are not limited to the following items:

● "Upcoming Tote Delivery" mode, where only totes 1112 on the upcoming delivery date are shown;

● "Previously delivered totes" mode, where only previously delivered totes are shown;

● "Return Totes" mode, where only the totes containing the items to be returned are shown;

● "Scheduled totes" mode, where only regularly scheduled totes are shown;

● "Address" mode, where only totes going to a specific delivery address are shown;

● "Delivery days" mode, where only totes are shown on one or more specific delivery days (eg, Fridays);

● "Combined" mode, where two or more of the above items are shown; and

• "Show All" mode, where all tote management user interface elements are shown.

While the exemplary tote management page 1100 in FIG. 15 shows totes and items as graphical representations of tote orders, in some embodiments, the tote management page may display tote orders textually, or use both text and graphical representations. The combination. In some embodiments, the customer may be allowed to select the display mode (graphical or textual) of the tote management page. In some embodiments, a page may be provided through which the customer can view the tote order graphically or textually, but on which the customer is not allowed to modify the tote order, or is only allowed to perform the operations described above. A subset of tote management actions.

16 illustrates an example tote return page that may be displayed to a customer and via which the customer may specify the items that will be delivered to the network business in the return tote and when and from where the items will be delivered, according to some embodiments is returned as such. The tote return page 1150 may be reached, for example, by selecting "Return Items by Tote" on one or more other web pages. For example, in some embodiments, the tote return page 1150 can be accessed from the home page of the website, from the "Return Items by Tote" UI element on the customer's account management page or the tote management page 1100, or from another web page. A menu item or button arrives in the site navigation 402 area. Site navigation 402 on this and other web pages may include one or more UI elements, such as buttons, tab menus, etc., via which consumers can navigate to other pages on the web site and/or perform other functions, such as searching . In at least some embodiments, the website navigation 402 can include a tote 404 user interface element and/or a shopping cart 406 user interface element. Selecting tote 404 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current tote order. Selecting the shopping cart 406 may display a web page indicating the contents of the customer's current shopping cart order.

The tote return page 1150 may include an area 1160 via which the customer may select from among a plurality of shipping addresses and/or tote delivery days to which one or more items will be returned in the tote address or to be returned on the tote delivery date. A customer may have one, two or more different shipping addresses that are eligible for the tote delivery service. The different shipping addresses of the customer may, but need not be, be in different delivery regions. So a customer can have a shipping address with one day (e.g. Wednesday) as the tote delivery and collection day, and another shipping address with another day (e.g. Friday) as the tote delivery day and collection date. In the example shown in Figure 16, the customer has two different tote collection days (Pickup Day 1 and Pickup Day 2) with two different shipping addresses, and the customer can select one or the other collection date ( For example, via radio buttons as shown in this example) as the tote pick-up date for one or more specified items to be returned.

The tote return page 1150 may include an area 1170 via which the customer may specify one or more items to be returned to the network business from the specified address on the specified tote pickup day. This area 1170 may, for example, include one or more user interface elements via which a user may specify the item to be returned, the quantity of the item to be returned, and the reason for the return. These user interface elements may include popup menus, text entry boxes, or other suitable user interface elements, or combinations thereof.

The tote return page 1150 may also include an area 1190 where the customer's current (virtual) tote return items, if any, for the specified pickup day and delivery address may be displayed. This example shows that the customer has an item in its virtual return tote that is undecided for pickup on the selected upcoming tote pickup day (the next day, in this example). Each item shown may include item information, such as a brief item description and quantity. In some embodiments, area 1190 may include UI elements (e.g., a link to another webpage, shown as "Change" in this example) for each item that the customer may select to change in the return tote of items or quantities of items. Note that changes may include removing items from a return tote, moving return items to a different tote, or changing the quantity of return items. For example, in some embodiments, selecting the "Change" UI element may open a web page via which the consumer may manage the current content of one or more virtual totes (including return totes); an example of such a web page is shown in Figure 15 is shown as web page 1100 in .

The tote return page 1150 may also include a return information area 1180 which, when the item is currently displayed in area 1190, may display a summary of the item returned in the tote, such as the item's refund amount, shipping charges to be refunded (0, In this example), the total pre-tax refund amount for the item, any associated taxes to be refunded, and the total refund amount, and possibly other relevant information regarding the tote return.

The tote return page 1150 may also include a UI element 1192, such as a button, via which a customer may place a specified item in a specified return tote. Selection of UI element 1192 may cause the network enterprise logic to enter the specified item into the system for pickup by tote from the indicated customer address on the indicated tote pickup day. Selection of this UI element 1192 may cause the network enterprise logic to perform other actions, such as notifying the customer via email or some other communication channel to confirm that the item will be picked up by tote from the corresponding customer address on the scheduled tote pick-up date.

Although not shown, the tote return page 1150 may also include one or more user interface elements whereby the customer may specify how any payment due to the customer is to be provided to the customer; for example, by check, by An account such as a credit card account or an account with an online business is credited, or by adding an amount to a "return slip" account with the online business through which the consumer can at least partially pay for future purchases.

In some embodiments, items other than items returned to the web business by the consumer may be delivered to the web business or other entity via return tote and tote delivery services from the consumer or from a seller or merchant. A web page similar to tote return page 1150 may be provided to facilitate delivery of such items or inventory to the network enterprise via return tote.

Manage Multiple Shipping Options

A website may offer a tote delivery service as one shipping option among two or more shipping options. For example, a website may offer a less expensive two-day shipping option and a more expensive one-day (overnight) shipping option. Additionally, as an alternative to virtual totes where items can be placed into tote deliveries, the website may offer a "shopping cart" into which the customer can later place the ordered items via the checkout process. "middle.

In some embodiments, the website user interface may provide UI elements that allow consumers to move items between shipping options and/or between virtual totes and shopping carts. For example, tote management page 1100 may display, in addition to virtual totes 1112, a virtual "shopping cart" UI element, which may contain one or more items. A shopping cart may be defined as a virtual location that holds items that have been or are being ordered by a customer via some other shipping option or options other than the tote delivery option. Items in a shopping cart are typically processed through a "checkout" process in which a customer confirms or completes a shopping cart order. The user interface may allow the customer, for example, to drag items from the virtual tote 1112 into a shopping cart, and vice versa. As another example, the tote management page 1100 may include one or more UI elements representing one or more other shipping options, such as one-day and two-day shipping options. The user interface may allow the customer, for example, to drag items from the virtual tote 1112 into the UI element corresponding to a particular shipping option, and vice versa.

In some embodiments, one or more user interface elements that provide tote delivery service shipping options may be displayed on one or more web pages displayed during the shopping cart checkout process, such as an order complete displayed during the shopping cart checkout process. on page. Selecting the tote delivery service shipping option from the web page of the shopping cart checkout process may cause one or more items in the virtual shopping cart to be moved into the virtual tote order.

As an example of an application of this ability to move items between shipping options, a customer's tote delivery day to a given address could be Friday. On Monday, the customer may decide that he or she needs the item currently in the virtual tote scheduled for delivery on the upcoming Friday sooner than expected. The customer can go to the tote management page 1100 and move the item from the tote into some other shipping option or into the shopping cart so that the item is shipped via the standard shipping method instead of via the tote delivery service. As another example, a customer may decide that he or she does not need an item scheduled for one-day delivery that soon, so the item may be moved from the one-day delivery option to a virtual tote scheduled for delivery later this week or next week , thus saving shipping costs.

Tote delivery of pre-ordered and backordered items

A web business may allow consumers to pre-order items. For example, books, DVDs, video games, and similar items may be scheduled for release on dates that may be months in the future. The website may allow consumers to pre-order such items via a user interface for distribution and shipment of the items to the consumer when they are finally released. In some implementations, the user interface may allow the customer to select tote delivery as a shipping option for pre-ordered items via the tote delivery service. For example, on a web page where a consumer pre-orders an item (which may be similar to an item detail page such as that shown in FIGS. The UI element places the pre-ordered item in a virtual tote for delivery on a future tote delivery date that is on or after the item's scheduled release date.

Similarly, a web business may allow consumers to reorder items that did not arrive at the time the original order was made. For example, a given item may not be in stock, but shipments of the item may be expected to be received days or weeks in the future. The website may allow the customer to reorder such items that did not arrive at the time of the original order via the user interface, so that the item is allocated and shipped to the customer after the item is received. In some implementations, the user interface may allow the customer to select tote delivery as a shipping option for backordered items via the tote delivery service. For example, on a web page where a customer reorders an item that did not arrive at the original order time (which could be similar to an item detail page such as that shown in Figures 8, 13, and 14), the web page could include "Schedule Tote Delivery" A UI element via which a user may place a backordered item in a virtual tote for delivery on a future tote delivery date that is on or after the item's scheduled receipt date.

Pre-ordered and backordered items can be viewed by the customer, for example on the tote management page 1100 shown in FIG. 15 , in virtual totes that will be delivered on future tote delivery days. This enables the customer to record pre-ordered and backordered items as the customer can browse future scheduled tote deliveries to see what items the customer has not decided to deliver and when the items are scheduled to be delivered via the tote delivery service .

Arrange regular tote delivery

For at least some items, such as consumer products such as pet food, paper, etc., a consumer may wish to have a certain quantity of the item (e.g., a bag of dog food, five rolls of paper towels, a box of printer paper, etc.) once, bimonthly, monthly, or every three months) to a given consumer address. The website may thus allow consumers via the user interface to schedule automatic order fulfillment and tote delivery on regular tote days for at least some items such that specified quantities of items are delivered to specified customer addresses. In some embodiments, an item detail page (which may be similar to, for example, the item detail pages shown in FIGS. 8, 13, and 14) may provide one or more UI elements via which a customer may specify that the The interval is the number of units of the item that is automatically ordered and delivered via tote to the specified address. For example, a customer may specify that a bag of dog food will be delivered to the customer's home address by tote every two weeks. As another example, a customer may specify that four packages of printing paper are to be delivered once a month to the customer's business address via tote. As another example, a customer may specify that one or more units of the item are to be delivered weekly to the customer's home address via tote. Prior to the scheduled scheduled tote delivery date, the tote delivery service backend automatically picks up the specified quantity of items and transfers the items to the appropriate sortation node; Box delivery day delivery.

In at least some embodiments, items scheduled for automatic tote deliveries on a regular basis may be selected in virtual totes to be delivered on future tote delivery dates, for example, on the tote management page 1100 as shown in FIG. Consumers view. This enables the customer to see what items the customer has scheduled to be automatically delivered via the tote and when the items are scheduled to be delivered via the tote delivery service. Additionally, the tote management page may provide one or more methods by which a customer may schedule items or entire tote orders for regular tote deliveries, cancel scheduled tote deliveries, or otherwise modify Ton box delivery.

advice and tips

At least some embodiments of the tote delivery service may provide suggestions and reminders to consumers via the website's user interface and/or via alternative communication channels such as email and text messaging. To generate suggestions and/or prompts, the network enterprise logic may examine information stored in enterprise data, including but not limited to tote delivery data. Tote delivery data includes customer tote order history (a record of previous tote orders) as well as information about upcoming customer tote orders. Other information stored in enterprise data such as product data and inventory data may also be checked when generating suggestions and/or reminders. In some embodiments, information other than that stored in enterprise data may be obtained and analyzed to generate recommendations and/or prompts. For example, data indicative of consumer purchasing patterns or other consumer metrics, statistics, and demographic data may be obtained from one or more other external sources, such as other consumer goods businesses and consumer research entities, and used in generating consumer data Use when recommended.

As a suggested example, the network business logic may detect that a consumer orders a certain item periodically, such as once a month or three months, via regular ordering methods. Web business logic can generate and provide a statement to the consumer something like "You appear to be ordering N units of item X once a month. You would like to arrange N units of item X in reusable totes at monthly First Friday delivery to your doorstep to save you time and shopping costs?" suggested. Optionally, the web business logic can generate and provide advice to the consumer stating something like "You may be running low on item X. Would you like to add item X to the tote scheduled for delivery this Saturday?"

As another example of a suggestion, network enterprise logic may examine the contents of a given customer's tote and, based on that examination, determine one or more other items related to the item in the tote. The web business logic can generate and provide a statement to the consumer something like "These items (A, B, and C) are in the tote scheduled for delivery this Friday. Do you also want to include this item D in the tote?" " suggestion.

As another example of suggestions, the web business logic may examine consumer information obtained from web business data and/or from one or more external sources to determine purchasing trends, such as product X in a particular consumer region, age group, or other Popular among demographic groups. The network business logic may generate and provide a suggestion to the consumer to advertise Product X and ask the consumer whether to add the product to an upcoming tote, and arrange for the product to be scheduled for delivery via the tote.

In addition to recommendations, the customer may be provided with reminders of what items the customer has scheduled for tote delivery on an upcoming tote delivery day. Reminders may, for example, let consumers know on which tote days consumers should expect totes to be placed on their doorstep, deadlines for placing items into (or removing items from) a given tote What the days are and what will be delivered in the tote on those tote days. For example, the prompt might state something like "Item Y is arranged in a reusable tote for delivery to your doorstep this coming Wednesday" or "M units of item Z are arranged in a reusable tote Boxes delivered to your doorstep on Thursday, June 17." Another example of a prompt might be something like "Your tote delivery on Thursday 17th June will include 1 unit of item Y and 3 units of item Z. If you wish to make changes to this tote delivery, please be completed by Tuesday, June 15". The reminder message may also mention that the customer may go to their tote management page to add or remove items to or from a given tote, or to change the quantity of an item to be delivered.

Via suggestions and reminders, consumers may be prompted, for example, to wait for a scheduled delivery of an item via a tote rather than going to a store to pick it up. As another example, a customer may be prompted to consolidate a shipping cart order (ie, items ordered under other shipping options other than tote delivery) into an upcoming tote order. For example, a customer may have a tote order scheduled to be delivered on a Wednesday. On Tuesday, the consumer may order item Z under the two-day shipping option. A suggestion stating something like "You ordered item X for delivery via FedEx on Thursday. Would you like to incorporate this item into your tote order tomorrow?" can be generated and sent to the customer.

Return the items in the tote

At least some embodiments of the tote delivery service may allow customers to return previously delivered items in totes. In at least some embodiments, a customer may place one or more items to be returned to the network business into a tote to be returned. The user interface may provide one or more user interface elements whereby the customer can notify the network business that an item is returning via the tote on the tote delivery day (and pickup) day. For example, in some embodiments, the user interface may provide a tote return page, such as tote return page 1150 shown in FIG. interface elements to arrive at. As another example, in some embodiments, an item detail page such as item detail page 400 shown in FIG. 8, item detail page 900 shown in FIG. 13, or item detail page 1000 shown in FIG. The illustrated tote order confirmation page 800 may include a "return item by tote" user interface element that, when selected, records that the customer will return at least one unit of the corresponding item in the specified tote. As another example, in some embodiments, a tote management page, such as the tote management page 1100, may include a "return item by tote" user interface element. In some embodiments, a tote management page such as tote management page 1100 may display "return totes" that will be picked up on the next tote delivery date in addition to totes 1112 that will be delivered on the tote delivery date, and At least one user interface element may also be included that allows a customer to place an item to be returned into a return tote or remove an item from a return tote or otherwise specify that an item is to be returned via a return tote.

In addition to allowing the customer to return individual items, in at least some embodiments, the user interface may also provide one or more user interface elements that allow the customer to return an entire tote order. For example, in some embodiments, a tote management page such as tote management page 1100 may include one or more "return tote" user interfaces that allow a customer to select an entire tote order and specify that the tote order is to be returned by tote element.

Using this ability to easily return items to the network business in reusable totes, at least some embodiments may enable "order sorting," where a customer may order, for example, three pairs of the same shoe in different sizes, or in different colors , and return items that the consumer decides not to keep (for example, a pair of shoes that don't fit or an item that isn't the desired color).

In some embodiments, only items previously delivered via the tote delivery service may be returned via the tote delivery service. However, in some embodiments, items shipped according to other shipping methods may also be returned to the network enterprise via the tote delivery service.

While the above describes return items delivered in accordance with the tote delivery service in return totes, note that in at least some embodiments, at least some items delivered to consumers via the tote delivery service may be delivered via a Other return methods other than are returned.

Inventory absorption via return totes

In some embodiments, items other than items returned to the network business may be delivered to the network business or other entity via return tote and tote delivery services from consumers or from sellers or merchants. For example, in various implementations, rentals, such as video game rentals, DVD/Blu-ray disc rentals, tool rentals, etc., can be delivered to consumers in totes (or via some other delivery method) and returned via return The tote and tote delivery service returns to the network business (or rental business).

As another example, an exchange method may be offered via a tote delivery service, whereby a customer may return damaged items and wrong items for exchange. In some embodiments, the user interface can provide one or more user interface elements whereby the customer can notify the network business that the customer has received a damaged or incorrect item that needs to be replaced. Alternatively, other communication channels may be used to notify the network enterprise that an item needs to be exchanged. Replacement items may be delivered to the customer via tote delivery or via conventional shipping methods, and damaged or faulty items may be placed into return totes for delivery to the network business. Items may be placed into the tote for pickup before, on the same day, or after the day the replacement item is delivered to the customer.

In various embodiments, items (including, but not limited to, items for repair, items sent to network businesses for loan or resale, and other types of items) are available via return tote and tote delivery services Delivery from the consumer to the web business or some other entity.

In some embodiments, return totes may be used to deliver inventory from other entities, such as merchants or sellers, to the network business. For example, a merchant or seller may offer a network entity one or more different items that may be placed into the network business' inventory, in some cases for sale via the website. The tote delivery service may be provided to the address of the merchant or seller. Merchants or sellers may place items to be delivered to the network enterprise into return totes that are picked up and delivered to sortation nodes during the tote delivery process. At the collation node, items may be processed into inventory, or may be transferred to some other facility or facilities, such as a fulfillment center, for processing. In some embodiments, items received from merchants or sellers at a sortation node may be stored at the sortation node for fulfillment of tote orders.

In some embodiments, the tote delivery service may be provided to other businesses, such as customers of other network businesses other than the network business that provide tote delivery services. As another example for return totes, other businesses may deliver ordered items to the sortation node via return totes. Other businesses' items may then be sorted into outbound totes to fulfill their customers' tote orders. Note that in some embodiments, items from other businesses may be placed in the tote along with items from the network business offering the tote delivery service.

Backend Operations - Tote Order Fulfillment and Tote Order Delivery

In back-end operations, the tote delivery service logic of the enterprise logic may retrieve and process tote delivery data to generate bulk transfer data. In some embodiments, this retrieval and processing may be performed after the cut-off time for a given tote delivery day. For example, the deadline for Friday tote deliveries may be Tuesday night, so tote delivery data may be retrieved and processed sometime Wednesday morning. In some embodiments, at least some retrieval and processing of tote delivery data for a given tote delivery day may be performed prior to the cutoff time for the tote delivery day. The bulk transfer data may be provided to one or more fulfillment centers of the network enterprise's order fulfillment network as bulk transfer orders. In at least some embodiments, the bulk transfer order directs the fulfillment center to a bulk transfer item for delivery to at least one of the one or more tote delivery service sortation nodes on a particular tote delivery day. In some embodiments, a bulk transfer order may direct a fulfillment center to bulk transfer items for delivery to a collation node on two or more tote delivery days.

While the following generally describes a fulfillment center processing a bulk transfer order to generate a bulk transfer to a specific sortation node on a specific tote delivery date, in some embodiments, the fulfillment center may perform multiple transfers on two or more delivery days A particular sortation node processes bulk transfer orders to generate a bulk transfer comprising at least some of the items required for two or more delivery days. For example, a fulfillment center may receive large transfer orders on Thursday and Friday tote delivery days at specific sortation points. Bulk transfer orders can be selected and combined into one bulk transfer to a collation node.

Figure 17 illustrates the physical layout and operation of an exemplary fulfillment center when fulfilling a large number of transfer orders, according to some embodiments. Note that FIG. 17 and its description are given as an example and are not intended to be limiting. Control system 1250 of fulfillment center 350 may receive bulk transfer data 338 , such as bulk transfer orders, from a networked enterprise system implementing enterprise logic, such as enterprise logic 330 shown in FIG. 5 . One or more agents 1242 may each pick items from inventory 1230 to fulfill part or all of bulk transfer order 338 . In some embodiments, the agent 1242 may select instructions from the control system 1250 on a device, such as an RF-connected wireless terminal or a handheld scanner, to go to locations in the inventory 1230 to pick items from those locations for the bulk transfer order 338 list of. This may result in a train and/or batch of picked items for the bulk transfer order, which may then be delivered to at least one station 1260 in the fulfillment center 350, such as a packing station, for processing prior to shipment (1270). A train may be a continuous or near-continuous stream of picked items arriving at a station, while an array of items arriving at a station periodically or aperiodically may be referred to as a batch.

A stream or batch of incoming picked items for bulk transfer may be processed at station 1260. In some embodiments, the tote delivery service sortation node may be located within a fulfillment center such as fulfillment center 350; in these embodiments, station 1260 for picking items for bulk transfer order 338 may be, for example, a tote as shown in FIG. The delivery service sortation node, and thus items for bulk transfer orders, may be sorted into physical totes that are processed for delivery according to the tote delivery service sortation node, for example as described with respect to FIG. 18 . Referring to FIG. 17, if the bulk transfer order is for a tote delivery service sortation node that is not in the fulfillment center 350, i.e., in another fulfillment center or at a separate sortation node location, the picked items for the bulk transfer can be Packaged and filled into one or more bulk transfer containers. A bulk transfer container can be a relatively large container, such as a shipping box or box, that can be loaded onto a truck, large metal shipping container, or other suitable type of container. Once all items for the bulk transfer order are loaded, the bulk transfer container is shipped to the corresponding tote delivery service sortation node as an outgoing bulk transfer 352 .

Fulfillment center 350 may also include a receiving station 1280 for receiving new inventory 1290 from various suppliers, merchants, or other sources. The received inventory 1290 may then be placed into an inventory repository. The receiving station 1280 may also receive and process returned, purchased or rented items 1292 from consumers. At least some of these returned items 1292 are typically returned to inventory 1230. If the fulfillment center includes a tote delivery service sortation node, the receiving station 1280 may also receive bulk transfers 352 from other fulfillment centers and return totes from the tote delivery process, some of which may include returned items, which The returned totes may be pulled and handled by staff at receiving station 1280 or alternatively by staff at the tote delivery service sortation node or at some other station 1260. In some embodiments, processing the returned items may include scanning the items and the tote from which the items were pulled such that the corresponding customer's account may be credited. Processing returned items may also include processing items returned to the network enterprise's inventory or processing items returned to the network enterprise's product supplier, such as a supplier, merchant, or manufacturer. In some embodiments, rather than being placed into inventory 1230, some items received at receiving station 1280 may be transferred directly to station 1260 for order fulfillment, such as for processing according to the tote delivery service process as described herein .

Note that the various operations and stations of fulfillment center 350 may be located in one building or facility, or alternatively may be spread or subdivided among two or more buildings or facilities.

The tote delivery service logic of the enterprise logic may also process the tote delivery data to generate regional delivery data. Regional delivery data may be provided to one or more tote delivery service collating nodes. A collating node may be a node in the network enterprise's order fulfillment network that is owned and operated by the network enterprise. Alternatively, the sortation node may be owned and/or operated by another entity, such as a local carrier or trucking company that owns and/or operates the tote carrying vehicles. In at least some embodiments, the regional delivery data, when collating items received in one or more bulk transfers 352, directs the tote delivery service sortation node into reusable totes for use in the corresponding regional totes. Box delivery day delivery to a specific customer address in a specific delivery region.

Figure 18 illustrates the operation of an exemplary tote delivery service sortation node, according to some embodiments. Tote delivery service collating node 360 may provide tote delivery service to one or more delivery regions. For simplicity, FIG. 18 shows only one delivery area (delivery area 370A). In some embodiments, the delivery region may be determined by zip code. In other embodiments, other geographic information or other types of information may be used to determine the delivery region. Typically, collating nodes 360 will deliver to multiple regions, with different ones of the regions scheduled to deliver on different days of the week. Note that in some implementations, the tote delivery service may be provided on days of the week, while in other implementations, the tote delivery service may not be provided on certain days (e.g., Monday through Saturday or Monday through Friday). supply. A collating node 360 may, but need not, deliver to more than one region on a given day. In some embodiments, for at least some regions, corresponding collating nodes 360 may be delivered to at least some customers in the region on two or more days of the week. Typically, only one sortation node 360 serves each tote delivery region; however, in some implementations, two or more sortation nodes 360 may serve the same region.

The finishing node 360 may include a receiving station 1380 that receives a bulk transfer 352 of items from one or more fulfillment centers 350 in one or more regional delivery processes. In some embodiments, in addition to bulk transfers from fulfillment centers 350, collation nodes may receive bulk transfers or other shipments directly from one or more other sources, such as suppliers, manufacturers, and merchants, included in one or more Items in process of delivery for each region. Control system 1350 of collation node 360 may receive regional delivery data 340 from a network enterprise system implementing enterprise logic, such as enterprise logic 330 shown in FIG. 5 . In some implementations, collation node 360 may include or be related to a local inventory of items. For example, in some embodiments, collation node 360 may be located within fulfillment center 350 . Accordingly, control system 1350 may also receive information directing collation node 360 (or fulfillment center 350 including collation node 360 ) to pick at least some items from local inventory during the regional delivery process.

The received bulk transfer 352 items and locally picked items 1310 , if any, may be delivered serially or in batches to one or more sortation stations 1360 of a sortation node 360 . At sortation station 1360, received items may be manually and/or automatically sorted into customer totes. For example, in some embodiments, collating station employees and/or automated collating equipment may electronically scan each item and place the item at the appropriate customer under the direction of control system 1350 and based on received regional delivery data 340. in the ton box. In some embodiments, under the direction of the control system 1350 and based on the received regional delivery data 340, items ordered by two or more customers sharing the same tote delivery address may be consolidated into the into a single tote order to a shared address. Once the appropriate items are sorted into corresponding customer totes, the totes may be transferred to a shipping station 1370 and loaded onto one or more delivery vehicles during delivery. In some embodiments, the totes may be mounted on rolling racks, and the racks may be mounted on delivery vehicles.

In some embodiments, each customer tote can include a tote delivery indicator that can identify at least the delivery address for a particular tote to the sorting station staff, the automated sorting equipment, and the delivery staff. FIG. 4A shows an example tote 250 with an example tote delivery indicator 252 . The tote delivery indicator may, for example, be a printed label permanently affixed to the tote or a removable printed label. In some embodiments, the tote delivery indicator can be a tag that can be attached to and removed from the tote, for example, the tag can be attached to the handle of the tote. In some embodiments, the tote delivery indicator may be a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag or other type of electronic tag that may be scanned electronically, for example, using a hand-held scanner, to identify at least the delivery address of the tote. In some embodiments, the electronic tags may be programmable at the collation node 360 so that the delivery address (or other information) indicated by the tag on a given tote can be changed if and when necessary. In some embodiments, the tote delivery indicator may include or be a barcode that may be programmed to indicate a particular tote delivery and may be scanned by tote delivery employees and/or sorting node employees or automated sorting equipment.

As an example of a tote delivery indicator, in some embodiments, the tote delivery indicator may be a label that can be attached to and removed from the tote. The label may include a barcode corresponding to the tote order. Business logic can associate a specific barcode on a given label with a specific tote order. The tags can be attached to the corresponding totes and delivered to the customer delivery address. Consumers can return the tote with the tag attached, or remove the tag if they want to keep the tote. Additionally, if the customer wishes to return one or more items in the tote order, the customer may attach a tag to the return tote or include the tag along with the items in the return tote. At the collation node, the barcode can then be scanned to correlate the returned items with the original tote order.

In some embodiments, the totes can be placed into containers such as open boxes as shown in Figure 4B, and the containers (including the totes) can then be loaded into a delivery vehicle. In some embodiments, the container may already be in the delivery vehicle, and the tote may be placed into the container inside the delivery vehicle. In some embodiments, one or more totes may be placed in each container. In some embodiments, the containers into which the totes are placed may each include a tote delivery indicator 262 as shown in FIG. 4B , which may be used by tote delivery personnel to determine the delivery delivery address for the totes contained therein. In at least these embodiments, the tote itself may not include a tote delivery indicator.

Referring to Figure 18, during delivery to the tote delivery area 370A, delivery employees on the delivery vehicle place each tote at the corresponding customer address. Typically, only one tote will be placed at a given customer address; however, in some cases more than one tote may require all items in the tote order to be delivered on a given delivery day Delivery to the given consumer address. Delivery employees may also pick up one or more previously delivered totes from at least some of the customer addresses. The picked-up tote may be empty, or may include one or more previously delivered items that the corresponding customer returned to the network business. The delivery vehicle may then return the picked totes to the sortation node 360 . At sortation node 360, any returned items in the returning tote may be pulled from the tote and processed. In some embodiments, processing the returned item may include scanning the item and the tote it was pulled from so that the corresponding customer's account may be credited. Processing returned items may also include processing items returned to the network business' inventory or processing items returned to the network business' product suppliers, such as suppliers, merchants, or manufacturers.

19 is a flowchart of backend operations of a tote delivery service, according to at least some embodiments. This flowchart assumes, as an example, that a city has a single collating node. Note that a city or other geographic area may have more than one collating node. In addition, the flow diagram represents the backend operations for one delivery day; elements of the flow diagram may be for each delivery day (e.g., Monday through Friday, or Monday through Saturday , or every day of the week) repeats.

As shown at 1400, items scheduled for tote delivery in a given city on a given delivery day are bulk picked at one or more fulfillment centers. In some embodiments, tote delivery data may be received and processed after a cut-off time for a given delivery day to generate bulk transfer orders and regional delivery data. In some embodiments, at least some retrieval and processing of tote delivery data for a given tote delivery day may be performed prior to the cutoff time for the tote delivery day. The bulk transfer order is provided to one or more fulfillment centers and each fulfillment center is directed to a bulk transfer item for delivery to the city's tote delivery service sortation node on the delivery day. As shown at 1402, bulk picked-up items are bulk diverted to the city's tote delivery service sortation node. The bulk transfer may be shipped from the fulfillment center one, two, or more days before, and in some cases on, the delivery date, and may be received at the collation node on or before the delivery date. At the collation node, the bulk picked-up items are put back into reusable customer totes, as shown at 1404 . In some embodiments, regional delivery data is provided to a city's tote delivery service sortation node, and the tote delivery service sortation node is directed to reusable totes when sorting items received in bulk transfers in for delivery to a specific consumer address. The customer totes are loaded onto one or more delivery vehicles at the sortation node, as shown at 1406 . Typically, refilling the tote and loading the tote onto the delivery vehicle may be performed on the delivery date, but in some implementations may be performed prior to the delivery date. As shown at 1408, on the delivery day, the customer tote is delivered to the corresponding customer address. As shown at 1410, empty totes and totes including returned items may be retrieved by delivery employees and returned to the sortation node.

The above method describes the bulk pick and consolidate, bulk shipment of items of tote orders from multiple customers from fulfillment centers to sortation nodes for repacking and delivery according to the tote delivery service. However, in some embodiments, at least some customer tote orders may be processed individually. That is, items of a customer's tote order may be picked up at a fulfillment center and transferred to a sortation node as a single, separate order shipment for placement into a customer's physical tote.

illustrative system

In at least some embodiments, a server implementing some or all of the network enterprise logic (including, but not limited to, the tote delivery service logic used to implement the tote delivery service) may comprise a general purpose computer system comprising one or A plurality of computer-accessible media or configured to access one or more computer-accessible media, such as computer system 2000 shown in FIG. 20 . In the illustrated embodiment, computer system 2000 includes one or more processors 2010 coupled to system memory 2020 via an input/output (I/O) interface 2030 . Computer system 2000 also includes network interface 2040 coupled to I/O interface 2030 .

In various embodiments, computer system 2000 may be a single processor system including one processor 2010 or a multiprocessing system including several processors 2010 (e.g., two, four, eight, or another suitable number). device system. Processor 2010 may be any suitable processor capable of executing instructions. For example, in various embodiments, processor 2010 may be a general-purpose or embedded processor implementing any of various instruction set architectures (ISAs), such as the x86, PowerPC, SPARC, or MIPS ISAs, or any other suitable ISA . In a multiprocessor system, each of processors 2010 may typically, but not necessarily, implement the same ISA.

System memory 2020 may be configured to store instructions and data accessible by processor 2010 . In various embodiments, system memory 2020 may be implemented using any suitable storage technology, such as static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), non-volatile/flash-type memory, or any other type of memory. In the illustrated embodiment, methods and techniques for implementing one or more desired functions, such as those described above for implementing an embodiment of a tote delivery service, are shown stored in system memory 2020 as code 2025 .

In one embodiment, I/O interface 2030 may be configured to coordinate I/O traffic between processor 2010, system memory 2020, and any peripherals in the device, including network interface 2040 or other peripheral interfaces. In some embodiments, I/O interface 2030 may perform any necessary protocol, timing, or other data conversions to convert data signals from one component (e.g., system memory 2020) to a data signal suitable for use by another component (e.g., processor) 2010) format used. In some embodiments, I/O interface 2030 may include support for devices connected through various types of peripheral buses, such as variants of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard. In some embodiments, the functionality of I/O interface 2030 may be split into two or more separate components, such as a north bridge and a south bridge. Furthermore, some or all of the functionality of I/O interface 2030 , such as the interface to system memory 2020 , may be incorporated directly into processor 2010 in some embodiments.

Network interface 2040 may be configured to allow data to be exchanged between computer system 2000 and other devices 2060 connected to one or more networks 2050 , such as other computer systems or devices shown in FIGS. 5 , 17 and 18 . In various embodiments, network interface 2040 may support communication via any suitable wired or wireless general purpose data network, such as various Ethernet networks. Additionally, network interface 2040 may support communication via a telecommunications/telephone network such as an analog voice network or a digital fiber optic communication network, via a storage area network such as a Fiber Channel SAN, or via any other suitable type of network and/or protocol.

In some embodiments, system memory 2020 may be one embodiment of a computer-accessible medium configured to store program instructions and data as described above with respect to FIGS. 3-19 for implementing embodiments of the tote delivery service. However, in other embodiments, program instructions and/or data may be received, transmitted or stored on different types of computer-accessible media. In general, computer-accessible media may include storage or memory media, such as magnetic or optical media, such as magnetic disks or DVD/CDs coupled to computer system 2000 via I/O interface 2030 . Computer-accessible media may also include volatile or non-volatile media such as RAM (e.g., SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM, SRAM, etc.), ROM, etc., which may serve as system memory 2020 in some embodiments of computer system 2000 or another type of memory is included. Furthermore, computer-accessible media may include transmission media or signals such as electrical, electromagnetic or digital signals communicated via communication media such as networks and/or wireless links, which may be implemented via network interface 2040, for example.

in conclusion

Various embodiments may also include receiving, sending, or storing instructions and/or data embodied on computer-accessible media according to the foregoing description. In general, computer-accessible media may include storage media or memory media such as magnetic or optical media, such as magnetic disks or DVD/CD-ROMs, volatile or non-volatile media such as RAM (e.g., SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM , SRAM, etc.), ROM, etc., and transmission media or signals transmitted via communication media such as networks and/or wireless links, such as electrical, electromagnetic or digital signals.

The various methods shown in the figures and described herein represent exemplary embodiments of methods. Methods can be implemented in software, hardware or a combination thereof. The order of the methods may be changed and various elements may be added, reordered, combined, omitted, modified, etc.

Various modifications and changes may be made as will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. It is the intention to embrace all such modifications and alterations, and accordingly, the above description will be considered in an illustrative rather than restrictive sense.

Claims (15)

1. for providing a ton system for case delivery options, including:

One or more data storage devices, the data of its storage enterprise；And

One or more servers, are configured to:

Input is received to access article in multiple article of being provided by described enterprise by network The user interface of article detail page；

Described user interface shows multiple shipping options user interface element, wherein said many Individual shipping options user interface element each corresponds in multiple shipping option, Qi Zhongsuo Stating at least one in multiple shipping option is a ton case delivery options, and described ton case delivery options is drawn Lead article friendship at predetermined ton case delivery day to the consumer corresponding to described enterprise in ton case The payment of goods address；

Receiving input via described user interface, described input selects the plurality of shipping option to use In the interface element of family one thinks that described article specify in the plurality of shipping option；

Determine that specified shipping option is described ton case delivery options, and determine in response to described, Display may operate to the ton case in the multiple futures from the ton case delivery day of one or more circulations and hands over Goods day selects the ton case delivery day of described article；And

Receiving input via described ton case delivery user interface, described input is from one or many The ton case delivery day in the plurality of future in the ton case delivery day of individual circulation selects described article Ton case delivery day.

2. the system as claimed in claim 1, the shipping options user interface unit selected in it Element is single mobile users interface element, and wherein said one or more servers are configured to respond to In the described input described single mobile users interface element of selection according to specified shipping option certainly The order of the raw described article of movable property, wherein said order instructs described article to be transported to consumer The position specified according to specified shipping option.

3. the system as claimed in claim 1, the shipping options user interface unit selected in it Element is single mobile users interface element, and wherein said one or more servers are configured to respond to Described single mobile users interface element is selected automatically to arrange described article at ton case in described input In be delivered to the appointment delivery address of consumer at predetermined ton case delivery day.

4. system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said ton case delivery user interface also can be grasped Make to select ton case delivery address from two or more ton of case delivery address of consumer, its Described in one or more servers be additionally configured to via described ton case delivery user interface receive Input, described input delivers goods ground from said two or the more ton case of corresponding consumer Location selects the ton case delivery address of described article, wherein selects described ton case delivery address to specify The described position of corresponding order.

5. the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one or more servers are configured For in response to described input select described shipping options user interface element and in described user interface Upper display log in page, wherein said log in page includes one or more user interface element, in institute Stating before article are added to ton case order, consumer needs via the one or more user Interface Element usually logs in.

6. the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one or more servers are configured For:

Determine that consumer is the current contractor of delivery plan based on signing, described based on signing Delivery plan signing persistent period in provide on website provide at least some article in Each multiple contractor's shipping options；And

Determine that described consumer is the current label of described delivery plan based on signing in response to described About, show that two or more described shipping options user interface elements are as based on signing Forwarding plan user interface element, two or more forwarding plans based on signing wherein said User interface element each corresponds in the plurality of contractor's shipping option；

Wherein said forwarding plan user interface element based on signing is only in described user interface It is shown to currently sign the consumer of described forwarding plan.

7. the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ton case is the container that can reuse, Wherein said one or more server is configured to:

Instruct include at least one ton of case of one or more article ton case delivery day be delivered to A few described delivery address；And

The ton case paid before instructing at least one is delivered goods from least one at described ton case delivery day Address is fetched.

8. the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one or more servers are configured By each in the described delivery address at least a day of a week is assigned as distributed ton case Delivery day, at least two in wherein said delivery address has different ton case delivery days.

9. system as claimed in claim 8, wherein said one or more servers are also joined It is set to the postcode according to described delivery address and distributes described ton case delivery day.

10. the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one or more servers also by It is configured that

The ton case management of the ton case order that display is paid according to described ton case delivery options for management Interface, wherein said ton case administration interface includes multiple virtual ton case, and each virtual ton case represents In multiple tons of case orders one, each corresponding in wherein said multiple tons of case orders is corresponding Consumer one or more delivery addresses in one and corresponding delivery address Ton case delivery day；And

Receiving input, described input is revised in described virtual ton case on described ton case administration interface The content of at least one；And

In response to described input revise in described virtual ton case described at least one described Hold, instructed corresponding before described at least one ton of case order is delivered to corresponding consumer The content of at least one in the plurality of ton case order of at least one virtual ton case described Described amendment.

11. the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one or more servers also by It is configured that

Display is for the return interface returned according to the management of described ton case delivery options；

Receiving input via described return interface, described input instruction is by predetermined ton case delivery At least one article being returned in the ton case of day former payment；

Instruct the one or more tons of casees that former ton case delivery day is paid from one or more friendships Goods address is fetched and described ton case returns to a ton case delivery facility, wherein returns to described ton case At least one in the described ton case of delivery facility comprises at least one article described；And

The article removed from the ton case returned are instructed to be delivered to one or more entity.

12. the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one or more servers also by It is configured that

Ton case delivery data is stored the one or more data storage device, wherein said Ton case delivery data instruction is former is delivered to disappearing of described enterprise via described ton case delivery options Article in the ton case order of expense person and will be delivered to via described ton case delivery options described Article in the ton case order of the consumer of enterprise；

Analyze in response to consumer at least one described and include a ton information for case delivery data, with really The fixed one or more article provided by described enterprise, the one or more article with described extremely Other article one or more that a few consumer orders via described ton case delivery options have Close；And

By at least one communications conduit at least one consumer described send instruction with described extremely The one or more other article that a few consumer orders via described ton case delivery options The suggestion of the one or more relevant article.

13. the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one or more servers also by It is configured that

Ton case delivery data is stored the one or more data storage device, wherein said Ton case delivery data instruction will via described ton case delivery options from arrange node be delivered to one or The article of the delivery address in multiple areas, described arrangement node serve is in the one or more Area；

Process described ton case delivery data to produce a large amount of transfers of two or more performance centers Data and the regional delivery data of described arrangement node；

Each place in said two or more performance center is according to corresponding in described fulfiling The selection of described a large amount of transfer data-guiding article of the heart, at least some in wherein said article The single unit as corresponding article it is chosen at said two or more performance center；

Instruct each a large amount of turns from said two or more performance center of the article chosen Move on to described arrangement node, the wherein each institute from said two or more performance center Stating a large amount of transfer is the unfinished collection of the described article of selection at corresponding performance center Closing, wherein the article chosen in described unfinished set are not according to the friendship of delivery address Goods order arranges；And

Instructing at described arrangement node will be from described a large amount of turn according to described area delivery data The described unfinished set of the article moved arranges to corresponding in the ton case of described delivery address.

14. 1 kinds are used for providing a ton method for case delivery options, including:

The website offer realized on one or more computer equipments is used for will on the web The article provided are shipped to multiple shipping options of the consumer of described website, wherein said multiple At least one in shipping option is a ton case delivery service, described ton case delivery service instruct via The article of described ordering site are delivered to corresponding to institute in ton case at the ton case delivery day distributed State the delivery address of the described consumer of website；

Ton case delivery day is distributed to described consumer in described website, wherein gives in described consumer At least some distributes the ton case delivery day of one or more circulations；

Described website receives input from consumer and is configured to what acceptance was provided by described website to access The user interface of the customer order of article；

Described website shows two or more shipping options user interface in described user interface Element, two or more shipping options user interface element arrangements wherein said become at described thing Select in the middle of two or more in the plurality of shipping option of product, wherein said two or At least one in more shipping options is described ton case delivery service；

Described website via described user interface receive input, described input select said two or In more shipping options user interface elements one with specify described article said two or In more shipping options one；

In response to determining that specified shipping option is described ton case delivery service, described website shows Show the ton case that may operate to from the one or more circulation distributing to corresponding consumer The ton case delivery day of described article is selected in the middle of the ton case delivery day in the multiple futures in delivery day；

Described website receives input via described ton case delivery user interface, and described input is from distribution To corresponding consumer the one or more circulation ton case delivery day in described many The ton case delivery day of described article is selected in the middle of the ton case delivery day in individual future；

The order producing described article and guides described article according to described ton case delivery service in institute The ton case delivery day selected is delivered to the place specified by described consumer；And

The ton case paid before instructing at least one is delivered goods from least one at described ton case delivery day Address is fetched.

15. 1 kinds are used for providing a ton equipment for case delivery options, including:

For being provided for will be described by the website realized on one or more computer equipments The article provided on website are shipped to the device of multiple shipping options of the consumer of described website, At least one in wherein said multiple shipping option is a ton case delivery service, and described ton case is delivered goods Service direction is handed at the ton case delivery day distributed via the article of described ordering site in ton case Pay the delivery address of the described consumer corresponding to described website；

For being distributed the device of ton case delivery day to described consumer by described website, wherein give institute State at least some in consumer and distribute the ton case delivery day of one or more circulations；

It is configured to accept by described website to access for being received input by described website from consumer The device of the user interface of the customer order of the article provided；

For being shown that in described user interface two or more shipping options are used by described website The device of family interface element, two or more shipping options user interface elements wherein said are joined Be set in the plurality of shipping option of described article two or more in the middle of select, its Described at least one in two or more shipping options be described ton case delivery service；

For being received the device of input via described user interface by described website, described input is selected Select in said two or more shipping options user interface element to specify described article Said two or more shipping option in one；

For in response to determining that specified shipping option is described ton case delivery service, by described Website shows the one or more circulation that may operate to from distributing to corresponding consumer Ton case delivery day in multiple futures ton case delivery day in the middle of select described article ton case hand over The device of goods day；

For being received the device of input, institute via described ton case delivery user interface by described website State the ton case delivery inputted from the one or more circulation distributing to corresponding consumer The ton case delivery day of described article is selected in the middle of the ton case delivery day in the plurality of future in；

And guide described article according to described ton case delivery service for producing the order of described article The device in the place specified by described consumer it is delivered at selected ton case delivery day；And

Before instructing at least one pay ton case at described ton case delivery day from least one The device that delivery address is fetched.