WO2001006422A1

WO2001006422A1 - Computerised ordering system

Info

Publication number: WO2001006422A1
Application number: PCT/AU2000/000362
Authority: WO
Inventors: Joseph Ward; Nathan Sharad Gyaneshwar
Original assignee: Marketboomer Pty. Ltd.
Priority date: 1999-04-23
Filing date: 2000-04-26
Publication date: 2001-01-25
Also published as: AUPP996999A0

Abstract

A central location has a database of goods and/or services available, suppliers, supplier prices and registered purchasers. A purchaser places an order or a request for a quotation with the central location for one or more items. The purchaser may specify one or more specific suppliers for the order or for the specific items of the order or may request a 'best price' from all the suppliers. The supplier(s) may be specified before or after item selection. The central database is searched for the best price for each item and a list of items, suppliers and prices is returned to the prospective purchaser which represents the best price for all the specified items.

Description

COMPUTERISED ORDERING SYSTEM

Technical Field

This invention relates to computerised systems for matching buyers and sellers of goods or services or both. More particularly it relates to a system which in preferred forms enables a prospective purchaser to place a single order or request for quotation with a centralised location and for the centralised location to provide the prospective purchaser with quotations from one or more suppliers which represent the best available price.

Background Art

With the increasing popularity and accessibility of the Internet, many companies have made their catalogue of products or services available on the Internet. Many also provide on-line shopping systems whereby a purchaser may peruse items in the vendor's on-line catalogue and place an order electronically. However, this is functionally the equivalent of perusing a paper catalogue, selecting items and then placing an order. If one wishes to obtain the best price and/or availability for an item or items, it is still necessary to look at each vendor's electronic catalogue, select items and compare availability and prices.

A system has been proposed in which a prospective purchaser sends an order or request for quotation(s) to a central location. Based on criteria entered by the purchaser and/or suppliers, the order is passed to suppliers who meet the specified criteria. Those suppliers then prepare a quotation for the entire order and return it directly to the prospective purchaser or to the central location for forwarding to the prospective purchaser. Whilst such a system results in rapid provision of quotations, the purchaser must still review each quotation to determine the best price. Further, there is no provision for splitting of a single request for quotation. Disclosure of the Invention

In the present invention, in one form, a central location has a database of goods and/or services available, suppliers, supplier prices and registered purchasers. A purchaser places an order or a request for a quotation with the central location for one or more items. The purchaser may specify one or more specific suppliers for the order or for the specific items of the order or may request a "best price" from all the suppliers. The supplier(s) may be specified before or after item selection. The central database is searched for the best price for each item and a list of items, suppliers and prices is returned to the prospective purchaser which represents the best price for all the specified items.

In one broad form the invention provides a computerised method for processing orders including:

storing a master list of items, each of which represents a product or service;

storing supplier details;

storing item sale terms for at least one of the items for at least one of the suppliers;

extracting an available item sublist from the master list based on item selection criteria;

selecting desired items from the item sublist and providing desired quantities of said selected items;

selecting at least one supplier for each of the desired items based on supplier selection criteria, wherein said supplier selection criteria includes at least one of the following:

1) purchaser supplied criteria; 2) criteria extracted from item sale terms.

Orders may then be placed with the selected supplier or suppliers, who subsequently fulfil the order, supply the products to the purchaser and bill the purchaser.

The invention also provides a system for computerised processing of orders, the system including:

storage means for storing

a master list of items, each item representing a product or service; supplier details; item sales terms for at least one of the items for at least one of the suppliers; purchaser details, and purchaser terms for at least one of the purchasers for at least one of the suppliers;

receiving means for receiving a purchaser identifier uniquely corresponding to one of the purchasers stored on the storage means;

item selection criteria generating means for generating item selection criteria

extraction means for extracting an item sublist from the master list based on the generated item selection criteria;

display means for displaying said item sublist to said purchaser;

input means for selecting one or more desired items on the item sublist and for specifying desired quantities of said selected items; supplier selection criteria generating means for generating supplier selection criteria:

supplier selection means for receiving said desired item information and respective desired quantity information and said supplier selection criteria for selecting at least one supplier for each of the desired items, based on supplier selection criteria, said desired item information and respective desired quantity information,

wherein said supplier selection criteria includes at least one of the following:

1) purchaser supplied criteria;

2) criteria obtained from the stored item sales terms.

The item sale terms may include whether a particular supplier supplies the respective item, price levels, stock levels and other information such as freight charges, geographic limitations on supply, etc.

The item selection criteria may return all available items, whether in stock or not.

Purchaser details and purchaser terms for at least some of the stored purchasers for at least some of the stored vendors may also be stored and used as selection criteria for items and/or suppliers.

The purchaser terms for each vendor/purchaser combination may include whether the supplier will supply the purchaser, minimum orders, freight charges, sales terms, price bands, etc.

The item selection criteria may further include restrictions retrieved from the purchaser's purchase terms so as to restrict the items on the available item sublist to those items available from suppliers who have indicated that they will supply the particular purchaser.

The supplier selection criteria may include restrictions retrieved from the purchaser terms. Preferably, the supplier selection criteria result in the selected supplier for a desired item being the supplier with the lowest price per unit of the item. The price may be the base price or it may be an effective price after allowing for freight, available discounts, bonuses, etc.

Where the supplier selection criteria includes purchaser supplied criteria, this may be a restriction to select a specific supplier, two or more suppliers, suppliers from geographic locations, delivery times, if this is provided for by the supplier's terms, etc.

The purchaser supplied criteria may also include criteria to obtain quotations from two or more suppliers for all items on the desired item list supplied by the respective supplier.

Again orders may then be placed with the selected supplier or suppliers, who subsequently fulfil the order, supply the products to the purchaser and bill the purchaser.

The invention also provides an on-line system which provides primary data to multiple users, the system including:

user identity means for storing user identity information relating to each of said users, at least part of which uniquely identifies each user from the other users;

primary data supply means for supplying one or more users with primary data; secondary data selection criteria generating means for generating secondary data selection criteria for at least one user;

secondary data supply means for receiving said secondary data selection criteria and for optionally supplying one or more of the users with secondary data concurrently or sequentially with the primary data;

recording means for recording data relating to the actions of at least one of the users supplied with said secondary data in the on-line system and for recording data relating to what secondary data was supplied to the or each of said respective users;

wherein said secondary data selection criteria includes information relating to the user identity information.

The invention also provides a method of obtaining information on users of an online system which provides primary data to users, the method including:

uniquely identifying users of the system with a unique identifier;

obtaining additional information relating to at least some of the users;

selecting and providing secondary data to users of the system concurrently or sequentially with the primary data;

recording information relating to actions of the users supplied with secondary data and information relating to what secondary data was supplied to each respective user;

wherein the secondary data supplied to each user is selected at least in part using the unique identifier and/or at least part of said additional information.

The system is preferably an on-line ordering system. The system may have multiple suppliers of goods and supplier details may be recorded in the system. Where supplier information is stored, preferably the secondary data supplied to each user is selected utilising the supplier information. For example, all users whose address is within NSW may be provided with an advertisement relating to a supplier in Brisbane, if the Brisbane supplier wishes to increase its out of State sales.

It is to be understood that the word "product" and its derivatives and the word "item" and its derivatives include within their scope both physical objects, such as goods, and non physical objects, such as services

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention shall be better understood from a non-limiting description of preferred forms of the invention and the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 schematically represents the database and network of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a flow diagram of the steps involved in the system.

Figure 3 is a screen shot of a supplier's item form.

Figure 4 is a supplier's purchaser profile form.

Figure 5 is a screen shot of a purchaser's supplier selection form.

Figure 6 is a screen shot of a purchaser's item entry form.

Figure 7 is a purchaser's order summary form, showing multiple orders.

Figure 8 is a screen shot of a item pricing form

Figure 9 is a screen shot of an item form (not screen shot supplied).

Figure 10 is a screen shot of a supplier's delivery charges form. Figure 11 is a screen shot of a supplier's form for selecting purchasers.

Figure 12 is a screen shot of a supplier's form for entering purchaser terms.

Figure 13 is a screen shot of a form for purchasers to select product categories.

Figure 14 is a screen shot of a form for purchasers to select suppliers.

Figure 15 is a screen shot of a form for creating custom lists.

Figure 16 is a screen shot of a form for purchasers to select items.

Figure 17 is a screen shot of a form for purchasers to optionally select suppliers.

Figure 18 is a screen shot of a form for placing an order.

Figure 19 is a screen shot of a purchaser's order summary form, showing multiple orders.

Figure 20 shows the flow diagrams of the purchasing and supplier processes involved with the system of the second embodiment.

Best Mode of Carrying out the Invention

Referring to the drawings a central location has a database 10 which includes a master list of all items offered for sale 12 through the system, details of registered suppliers 14, details of registered purchasers 16, details 18 of which items on the master are supplied by each of the registered suppliers and the supplier's price or prices for the items and details 10 of purchasers to whom suppliers will supply goods to. Purchasers and suppliers access the database via a network, indicated at 13. In the preferred form suppliers 14 select whether to supply or not to supply each of the registered purchasers 16. However, it is within the scope of the invention for suppliers 14 to select whether to supply specific items to a purchaser. It is also within the scope of the invention for the system to include a generic "new purchaser", to which suppliers may choose to supply to or not.

The administrator of the system compiles the master list 12 of items which it intends to make available through the system.

Referring to Figures 1 and 3, the administrator 8 has entered basic details 22 of each item and has provided the ability to have three separate prices per item. These are Price A, Price B and Price C. Each supplier 14 may view each item and enter its own product code 24 and prices per unit at 26, 28 and 30. The price to the purchaser ultimately depends on global criteria set by the administrator and/or specific criteria set by the specific supplier, as will be discussed further. For instance, the administrator may charge a flat "processing fee" for each master order. These supplier/item details may be viewed and updated by the respective supplier.

Prospective purchasers 16 register and provide details such as company name, address and contact details 30. These details 30 are then made available to all suppliers via a supplier/purchaser term form, shown at Figure 4. Each supplier may review each potential purchaser and specify whether to supply the purchaser or not, at 32. The supplier may specify one or more price structures at 34, minimum order value 36, delivery charge 38 and payment terms 40, such as COD and a customer number 42. These details are also stored in the central database. It will be appreciated that other details may be recorded and that, if desired, supply on an item by item basis to a particular customer can be specified.

For registered purchasers, on logging on to the system (which identifies the purchaser) a query is run which presents a list of available suppliers to the specific purchaser, shown in Figure 5. Only those suppliers who have chosen to supply the purchaser are shown. The system allows for "competitive" ordering and/or "direct" ordering, which will be discussed later. The list of available suppliers is grouped by each broad category of goods derived from a query based on the purchaser's details and available suppliers. Suppliers who have chosen not to supply that particular purchaser are preferably not displayed.

Referring to Figure 5, the supplier selection screen is divided into "competitive liquor" 50, "competitive dry goods" 52, combined "beer" 54 and "direct ordering" 56 sections. The sections displayed depend on the items selected by the relevant suppliers. The "direct ordering" section includes all suppliers appearing in the other sections.

At this point the purchaser may choose one or more quotation paths, as detailed below.

Competitive

For each competitive category, suppliers available to the particular purchaser for the relevant group of items are displayed. The purchaser may select one or more of the suppliers using the "tick" boxes. In Figure 5 four potential suppliers of liquor are shown but only three are selected. In practice one would expect all suppliers to be selected in a competitive order.

A list of available items is then presented to the purchaser, without identification of the potential suppliers. If desired the list of items may be further divided by category to present manageable lists. For example, supplies for hotels may be divided into non-alcoholic beverages, white wines, red wines, beer, liquor, etc. Further sub-categories may be provided as needed.

The list of goods available depends on what items are supplied by the suppliers, whether the suppliers have chosen to supply to the specific purchaser and whether the purchaser has selected the supplier at the selection screen. Referring to Figure 6, the purchaser selects items 64 and unit or case quantities 68,66 and delivery requirements 70. The quantities may be case or unit quantities. Since the price per unit depends on the available supplier's price and other criteria such as location, freight charges, etc., no price is shown.

As seen in Figure 6, the purchaser is in a screen showing liquors, which have been further divided into sub-groups, such as "Aperitifs and Bitters" 72 and Bourbon 74. These sub-groups are derived from the sub-category field of the product information, shown in Figure 3.

Once the purchaser has completed the selection of items and quantities, the selection is sent to the central database and the database program selects and sorts each item so the purchaser obtains the best price per item and/or the best price for the entire order. A supplier may provide a low price per item but only on total orders over a certain value or quantity. The system may be enabled to calculate the best order total as well as the best item price, particularly if delivery charges are included.

Since only those items available from the selected suppliers will be displayed it is inherent that the purchaser will obtain prices for all desired items, even if only one supplier supplies one of the required items.

The system then returns this information to the purchaser for review and acceptance or rejection at Figure 7.

The information regarding a purchaser's various sent orders and pending quotations is shown in Figure 7. This information is preferably stored on the central database and may be viewed by various categories and each order or suborder may be expanded in detail by clicking on the relevant order. For recurring orders the purchaser may save details of the desired items on its local computer, or on the central database, so that orders/selected suppliers may be easily placed without the need to again select items and/or suppliers.

Referring to Figure 7, there are shown a number of orders and pending quotations, 80, ordered by date 82. The status of the order/quotation is indicated by the tick or cross in the sent column 84. Placed orders are marked by a tick and pending quotations by a cross. As can be seen, each sub order 86 has its own status and each individual sub order may be accepted independently of other sub orders in the master order. The third master order 88 includes two sub orders 90, 92 of which sub order 90 has been placed whilst order 92 has not been placed.

The returned information screen provides the purchaser with the ability to "drill down" to view details of each sub order and to input order numbers 94 for each supplier sub-order, as well as a master purchaser order number. Upon acceptance of the order or sub orders by the purchaser, this acceptance information is returned to the central database, which processes the order and generates final sub-order forms, one for each supplier with an appropriate list of items to be supplied by that supplier. Preferably the central database allocates supplier order numbers and returns the completed sub-order information to the purchaser.

Direct

In the case of direct ordering, the purchaser selects one or more of the available suppliers. The selection of suppliers for a "direct" order is independent of any "competitive" order. As seen in Figure 5 the supplier, Australian Independent Wholesalers has been selected at 58 for a direct order but not for a competitive dry goods order at 60. A further supplier - Concept Amenities 62 is also displayed and selected and is one which supplies goods in a category not shown on the screen.

When all desired "direct" suppliers have been selected, this information is returned to the central database. The database software obtains a list of available goods from all of the selected suppliers and an item selection screen similar to that shown in Figure 6 is presented. It is to be remembered that at the initial item selection stage all items available to the purchaser are made available for selection, irrespective of the supplier and availability. The selection of items is then returned to the database which compiles separate quotations for each of the selected "direct suppliers". Since any one supplier may not supply all the desired items, unavailable goods need to be marked.

The central database then returns order/quotation information to the purchaser for confirmation/amendment/rejection, etc., together with a list of unavailable items. In the example shown in Figure 5, at least eight direct suppliers have been selected, so at least eight complete and/or incomplete quotations will be returned to the purchaser. As with the competitive ordering system, there is provision for each order to be allocated a purchaser's order number, etc,. Upon acceptance of one or more of these quotations, this information is returned, supplier order numbers allocated and the completed order information returned to the purchaser and sent to the supplier.

In the preferred embodiment the purchaser is provided with a list of available suppliers, selects those suppliers and the order type, ie., direct or competitive. The purchaser is then presented with a list of items available from those suppliers. As an alternative, the purchaser may be provided with a list of items before selecting suppliers.

For the purchaser, once they have registered and been selected by one or more suppliers, on logging on to the system, a list of available items is presented to the purchaser, without identification of the potential suppliers. The list of items available depends on what items are supplied by the suppliers and whether the suppliers have chosen to supply to the specific purchaser. Once the items and quantities required have been selected, the purchaser proceeds to a supplier selection screen similar to that shown in Figure 5. A list of available suppliers for each broad category of goods is provided, again derived from a query based on the purchaser's details, the items requested and available suppliers. Suppliers who have chosen not to supply to that particular purchaser are preferably not displayed. Similarly, those who have chosen to supply to the particular purchaser but who do not supply any of the items requested would also preferably not be displayed.

Competitive

For each competitive category, suppliers available to the particular purchaser for the items selected are displayed in a similar manner to that shown in Figure 5. The purchaser may select one or more of the suppliers again using the "tick" boxes.

This selection is sent to the central database and the database program selects and sorts each item so the purchaser obtains the best price per item and/or the best price for the entire order. A supplier may provide a low price per item but only on total orders over a certain value. The system may be enabled to calculate the best order total as well as the best item price, particularly if delivery charges are included.

Since only those suppliers who have items available are available for selection, it is inherent that if all suppliers are selected, the purchaser will obtain prices for all desired items. Since an item may only be available from a supplier who is not selected at the supplier selection stage, it is possible for a selected item to be unavailable from the selected suppliers and there is provision for unavailable items to be so marked. The system then returns this information to the purchaser for review and acceptance or rejection as per Figure 7.

Direct

Selection of "direct" suppliers is also made using a screen similar to Figure 5.

When all desired "direct" suppliers have been selected, this information is returned to the central database. For each supplier the database obtains a list of available goods and unavailable goods for that supplier/purchaser/item combination. It is to be remembered that at the initial item selection stage all items available to the purchaser are made available for selection, irrespective of the particular supplier.

The central database then returns order/quotation information for each selected "direct" supplier to the purchaser for confirmation/amendment/rejection, etc., together with a list of items from each supplier unavailable. The acceptance/ rejection and subsequent ordering is as previously described.

The invention includes within its scope the ability for a master purchaser to represent a group of sub-purchasers to increase the buying power of the group. Each master purchaser would be entered in the central database with multiple "child" sub-purchasers, together with details of those sub-purchasers. When compiling an order, the master purchaser can specify who the true sub-purchaser is to enable delivery directly to the relevant sub-purchasers.

The system also includes within its scope an option for suppliers to obtain automatic feedback from known purchasers using the system. For example, a supplier may select one or more particular purchasers to target. Whenever the purchaser logs onto the system, an advertisement referring to that supplier is presented to the customer. The supplier can get information - perhaps in the form of a graph - of that particular customer's buying pattern with the supplier, with an indication of the change which may have occurred when the customer was targeted. Consequently, the supplier is given feedback as to the effectiveness of targeting the purchaser and how the purchaser's buying patten with the supplier has changed.

A modified version of the system will now be discussed with reference to Figures 8 to 20.

The system of the second embodiment operates in substantially the same manner as the first embodiment but with a number of extra features to provide better functionality. The second embodiment provides the ability for each supplier to set unlimited prices for products, as opposed to only 3 in the first embodiment. Referring to Figure 8 there is shown a summary screen for a supplier. This screen shows a subset of products 100. The subset is restricted by optionally using any of combo boxes 102, 104 and 106 for product category, subcategory and brand respectively. For each product the supplier may enter a unit price at 108 for each item. There are also price change boxes 110 and 112 for updating the price and an update check box 114 to confirm changes. The text box 110 allows one to enter a currency amount to change the price whilst text box 112 allows a percentage change. Obviously only one of the two text boxes per item can be used to update the price. Once all price changes have been made they may be confirmed by checking the check box 114.

For each product there is a hyperlink labelled "Volume Breaks" which takes the supplier to a form which allows the supplier to enter multiple volumes and associated prices for each product.

Figure 9 shows the form for entering the volume break pricing structure for each item. The product name, unit size and package size are shown at 120, 122 and 124 respectively. A Product is typically supplied individually or in bulk packs. For example, beer may be sold by the bottle or by the case and so for each product one may specify unit prices and package prices. The form of figure 9 shows unit volume breaks at 126 and package volume breaks at 128. For each group of volume breaks there may be an unlimited number of breaks but for practical purposes one would not usually need more than 20. The minimum quantity required to "qualify" for a volume break is shown at 130 for units and 132 for packages. The maximum quantities for each volume break are set at 134 for units and 136 for packages. The maximum value for one volume break should be set one integer less than the minimum value of the next volume break so ensure there are no gaps or overlaps in the pricing structure.

The price per unit or package for each volume break is set using text boxes 138, 140 and 142 for units and 144, 146 and 148 for packages. The price for subsequent breaks can be a fixed price also or it may be based on the base price fixed for volume break one. The price may be set as a fixed price by inputting a value into text box 138 or 144, as appropriate. The price may be set as a percentage of the base price where the base price is a fixed price set using base prices or contract prices by inputting a value into text box 140 or 146, as appropriate. Preferably the percent reduction is entered. Thus entering a value of 2% results in the price being 98% of the base price. The price may be set as a currency reduction of the base price by inputting a value into text box 142 or 148, as appropriate. Thus if the base price is $1.50 and an amount of $0.10 is input in the break's respective text box, the selling price will be reduced to $ 1.40.

The system also allows multi-level pricing of delivery charges and the appropriate form is shown at Figure 10.

As can be seen in Figure 10 there are five total order delivery charge bands available at 150, but an unlimited number may be allowed. The delivery bands may have maximum and minimum quantities set at 152, 154. The quantities may be currency, units or packages and may be selected by the "Measure" option box 156 for each band. The charge applied for each band may be set as a currency value or a percentage, at 158 or 160 respectively. There is scope for the system to allow entry of both currency and percentage values for each band and to select the currency greater value.

There is also the ability to set delivery charges against line items of an order. Three 5 options are provided. At 162 one may apply a currency charge or a percent of value charge against units or packages. Currency charges are entered at 164 against units and 166 against packages. Percent of value amounts are entered at 168 against units and 170 against packages. Charges may be applied against units, packages or both.

ιo At 172 one may set currency charges per unit at 174 or per package at 176. At 178 one may enter a percentage amount in text box 180 which is applied to the value of all line items, whether units or packages.

The system allows suppliers to select customers to supply and also price bands and delivery times. Referring to Figure 11, there is shown a summary of customers 15 182, whether the particular supplier will supply each of the customers, shown by use of a tick or cross at 184 and the price structure 186. By selecting each customer, the supplier may set specific terms on a subsequent form, shown at Figure 12.

The form shown in Figure 12 allows the supplier to select whether to supply the 20 customer, at option group 188, and to grant any special price structure at combo box 190 by selecting any one of an potentially unlimited number price structures. For example a good customer may receive the unit price corresponding to an order of 100 units even if only ordering one unit. At combo box 192 the supplier may set a delivery charge structure for the customer by selecting any one of a potentially 25 unlimited number of charge structures. At text box 194 and text box 196 the supplier may set a minimum order value. The value set at text box 194 may be currency, units or packages, as set at combo box 196. Finally at 198 delivery cut off times and cut off days are set using text and combo boxes 200, 202 and 204 respectively.

Ordering by purchaser will now be described with reference to Figures 13 through to 19.

Referring to Figure 13 the purchaser may select multiple product categories, via appropriate check boxes 210.

Referring to Figure 14 the purchaser has the option of selecting one or more supplier for each product category. Suppliers available to the particular purchaser are grouped by category and may be selected via check boxes 212. Available suppliers are determined by using an "opt in" or an "opt out" selection method. In an "opt in" system only suppliers who have explicitly chosen to supply the purchaser are displayed whilst in an "opt out" system all suppliers except those who have chosen not to supply the purchaser are shown. Whereas the first embodiment requires the purchaser to select "competitive" or "direct" order query, the system automatically determines this. If only one supplier is selected for a product category the "direct" route is taken whilst selection of two or more suppliers per category automatically results in the competitive route being taken.

At Figure 15 there is shown a selection screen for suppliers selected at Figure 14. The user may input the maximum splitting of orders per product category, by inputting a number in the text box 220. If the purchaser has selected, say, five suppliers for beer, then potentially an order could be split into five separate suborders, one to each supplier. Whilst this may result in a nominally lower cost, the costs incurred with receiving multiple orders may result in the effective cost being higher than with fewer sub-orders. Thus the purchaser may limit the number of sub-orders. Figure 16 shows the product selection screen for product lists determined by the purchaser's nominated criteria. Products displayed may be limited by the product category filter combo box 230 and the subcategory filter combo box 232. Quantities of each product required are input into text boxes 234. The check boxes 5 236, 238 and 240 indicate whether a product has been selected to appear on the given order sheet. A product may appear on zero or more order sheets.

Figure 17 shows a form where a purchaser may optionally select suppliers for a product. All suppliers available to the purchaser are shown at 250. Again this list is based on an "opt in" or "opt out" selection criteria. To limit the purchase of the ιo particular item to one or more specific suppliers, the user merely selects the desired supplier via the check boxes 252. These selections may be saved for future orders.

After all items have been selected a summary of the proposed purchase is produced and shown at Figure 18.

The form includes buttons to add products 254, save the order for later processing 15 256, process the order 258, print the order 260, or abort 262.

If the process order button 258 is selected the system processes the order to determine the best price based on all relevant criteria and displays the end result at a form shown at Figure 19. Each supplier selected by the system is shown at 264, with the suborder total 266 and order total at 268. Each suborder may be sent to the 20 supplier separately. Confirmation of order dispatch is shown at 270.

It will be appreciated that many modifications and variations may be made to the embodiment described herein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Industrial Applicability

The invention has applicability in the field of ordering, purchasing and supplying products to purchasers.

Claims

The Claims

1. A system for computerised processing of orders, the system including:

a) storage means for storing

i) a master list of items, each item representing a product or service; ii) supplier details; iii) item sales terms for at least one of the items for at least one of the suppliers; iv) purchaser details, and v) purchaser terms for at least one of the purchasers for at least one of the suppliers;

b) receiving means for receiving a purchaser identifier uniquely corresponding to one of the purchasers stored on the storage means;

c) item selection criteria generating means for generating item selection criteria;

d) extraction means for extracting an item sublist from the master list based on the generated item selection criteria;

e) display means for displaying said item sublist to said purchaser;

f) input means for selecting one or more desired items on the item sublist and for specifying desired quantities of said selected items;

g) supplier selection criteria generating means for generating supplier selection criteria;

h) supplier selection means for receiving said desired item information and respective desired quantity information and said supplier selection criteria for selecting at least one supplier for each of the desired items, based on supplier selection criteria, said desired item information and respective desired quantity information,

i) wherein said supplier selection criteria includes at least one of the following:

i) purchaser supplied criteria;

ii) criteria obtained from the stored item sales terms.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the item sale terms include any, or all of: whether a particular supplier supplies the respective item, price levels, stock levels, freight charges, geographic limitations on supply.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the item selection criteria return all available items, whether in stock or not.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the item selection criteria includes the purchaser details or purchaser terms for at least some of the stored vendors.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the supplier selection criteria includes purchase details or purchase terms or both.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the purchaser terms for each supplier/purchaser combination includes any or all of: whether the supplier will supply the purchaser, minimum orders, freight charges, sales terms, price bands.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the item selection criteria further include restrictions retrieved from the purchaser's. purchase terms so as to restrict the items on the available item sublist to those items available from suppliers who have indicated that they will supply the particular purchaser.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the supplier selection criteria include restrictions retrieved from the purchaser terms.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the supplier selection criteria result in the selected supplier for a desired item being the supplier with the lowest price per unit of the item.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the lowest price is the base price or it may be an effective price after allowing for any of the following: freight, available discounts, bonuses.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the supplier selection criteria includes purchaser supplied criteria and said purchaser supplied criteria includes any or all of the following: a selected supplier, two or more suppliers, suppliers from a specified geographic location or locations, and delivery times.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the purchaser supplied criteria includes criteria to obtain quotations from two or more suppliers for all items on the desired item list supplied by the respective supplier.

13. The system of claim 1 including means to transmit orders to a selected supplier or suppliers for provision of ordered items.

14. A computerised method for processing orders including:

a) storing a master list of items, each of which represents a product or service;

b) storing supplier details;

c) storing item sale terms for at least one of the items for at least one of the suppliers; d) extracting a available item sublist from the master list based on item selection criteria;

e) selecting desired items from the item sublist and providing desired quantities of said selected items;

f) selecting at least one supplier for each of the desired items based on supplier selection criteria, wherein said supplier selection criteria includes at least one of the following:

i) purchaser supplied criteria;

ii) criteria extracted from items sale terms.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the item sale terms include any or all of: whether a particular supplier supplies the respective item, price levels, stock levels, freight charges, geographic limitations on supply.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the item selection criteria return all available items, whether in stock or not.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the item selection criteria includes the purchaser details or purchaser terms for at least some of the stored vendors.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the supplier selection criteria includes purchase details or purchase terms or both.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the purchaser terms for each supplier/purchaser combination includes any or all of: whether the supplier will supply the purchaser, minimum orders, freight charges, sales terms, price bands.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the item selection criteria further include restrictions retrieved from the purchaser's purchase terms so as to restrict the items on the available item sublist to those items available from suppliers who have indicated that they will supply the particular purchaser.

21. The method of claim 14 wherein the supplier selection criteria include restrictions retrieved from the purchaser terms.

5 22. The method of claim 14 wherein the supplier selection criteria result in the selected supplier for a desired item being the supplier with the lowest price per unit of the item.

23. The method of claim 14 wherein the lowest price is the base price or it may be an effective price after allowing for any of the following: freight, ιo available discounts, bonuses.

24. The method of claim 14 wherein the supplier selection criteria includes purchaser supplied criteria and said purchaser supplied criteria includes any or all of the following: a selected supplier, two or more suppliers, suppliers from a specified geographic location or locations, and delivery times.

15 25. The method of claim 14 wherein the purchaser supplied criteria includes criteria to obtain quotations from two or more suppliers for all items on the desired item list supplied by the respective supplier.

26. The method of claim 14 including means to transmit orders to a selected supplier or suppliers for provision of ordered items.

20 27. The method of claim 14 including the step of transmitting orders to a selected supplier or suppliers for provision of ordered items.

28. An on-line system which provides primary data to multiple users, the system including: a) user identity means for storing user identity information relating to each of said users, at least part of which uniquely identifies each user from the other users;

b) primary data supply means for supplying one or more users with primary data;

c) secondary data selection criteria generating means for generating secondary data selection criteria for at least one user;

d) secondary data supply means for receiving said secondary data selection criteria and for optionally supplying one or more of the users with secondary data concurrently or sequentially with the primary data;

e) recording means for recording data relating to the actions of at least one of the users supplied with said secondary data in the on-line system and for recording data relating to what secondary data was supplied to the user or each of said respective users;

f) wherein said secondary data selection criteria includes information relating to the user identity information.

29. A method of obtaining information on users of an on-line system which provides primary data to users, the method including:

a) uniquely identifying users of the system with a unique identifier;

b) obtaining additional information relating to at least some of the users;

c) selecting and providing secondary data to users of the system concurrently or sequentially with the primary data; d) recording information relating to actions of the users supplied with secondary data and information relating to what secondary data was supplied to each respective user;

e) wherein the secondary data supplied to each user is selected at least in part using the unique identifier and/or at least part of said additional information.