[0001 ] The present invention relates to an improved electronic sales system. In particular, the present invention relates to an improved electronic sales system.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the roles of the buyer and seller are reversed. In a reverse auction, sellers compete to obtain business from a buyer by offering increasingly lower prices for goods or services.

[0003] In existing reverse auction applications, a buyer identifies a product or services that it wishes to purchase in an online marketplace and then multiple sellers are able to complete to offer progressively lower prices for the sale of the product or services to the buyer.

[0004] While existing reverse auction applications are convenient for buyers wishing to purchase services (because the scope of the service may be readily set out in the online marketplace), the purchase of products can be less straightforward. This is because, to obtain relevant offers, a buyer must clearly identify the exact product it wishes to purchase (including model numbers, product codes and the like). A failure to provide full details of the product can result in a situation in which the buyer does not receive the product it wishes to purchase.

[0005] In addition, existing reverse auction applications are Internet based, and typically do not support mobile users, location services or traditional retail outlets.

[0006] Some attempts to overcome these problems have been made. For example, International patent application no. PCT/AU2018/0001 19 describes a mobile electronic sales system that supports mobile users and also traditional retail outlets. However, the drawback of this system is that it does not take into account a number of factors, including supply and demand factors as well as buyer and seller behaviour factors. [0007] Thus, there would be an advantage if it were possible to provide a electronic sales system and method that allowed for rapid and accurate identification of products and services that a buyer (particularly mobile users) wishes to purchase, allowed additional sellers (including traditional retail outlets) to bid on the reverse auction, and also took into account one or more supply and demand factors, buyer behaviour factors and seller behaviour factors.

[0008] It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

[0009] The present invention is directed to an improved electronic sales system, which may at least partially overcome at least one of the abovementioned

disadvantages or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.

[0010] With the foregoing in view, the present invention in a first aspect, resides broadly in an electronic sales method including at least one server, the electronic sales method comprising the steps of:

a) entering, using an electronic device associated with a buyer, an identifier associated with a product;

b) sending, with the electronic device, the identifier and a preferred purchase price to an electronic sales system;

c) generating, with the electronic sales system, a purchase request for the product;

d) maintaining an electronic seller database of one or more sellers in association with the electronic sales system, the electronic seller database including one or more supply parameters associated with each of the one or more sellers; e) generating, with the electronic sales system, one or more sale offers from at least one of the one or more sellers in response to the purchase request, wherein the one or more sale offers are generated based on the one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters; and

f) accepting, with the electronic sales system, a preferred sale offer. [001 1 ] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the electronic sales system is a reverse auction sales system.

[0012] As stated above, a buyer enters an identifier associated with a product into an electronic device associated with the buyer. The electronic device may be of any suitable form, and may include a computer or the like. More preferably, however, the electronic device comprises a mobile electronic device, such as a mobile telephone, computer tablet or the like. Thus, in this embodiment of the invention, the electronic sales method comprises a mobile electronic sales method.

[0013] The identifier may be of any suitable form. For instance, the identifier may include a scan of an electronically readable element. Any suitable electronically readable element may be used. For instance, the electronically readable element may include a barcode, such as a one dimensional barcode or a two dimensional barcode. In some embodiments of the invention, the electronically readable element may be a Quick Response (QR) code, while in other embodiments of the invention the electronically readable element may comprise an RFID tag. It is envisaged that the scanning of the electronically readable element may be achieved using the electronic device, and particularly a camera associated with the electronic device.

[0014] In other embodiments of the invention, the identifier may include an image. In this embodiment of the invention, it is preferred that the image may be a digital image. More preferably, it is preferred that the image may be generated by a camera associated with the electronic device associated with the buyer. The image may be of any suitable subject. For instance, the image may be an image of the product, an image of a portion of a product (for instance, a portion of the product on which the brand is provided), an image of a serial number, manufacturer’s label or the like, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0015] In embodiments of the invention in which the image contains text, it is envisaged that the text may be converted to a machine readable format. For instance, the image may be an Optical Code Reader (OCR) image.

[0016] In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the identifier may be entered manually by the buyer. In this embodiment of the invention, the identifier may be entered (e.g. by typing, converted from handwriting to text, etc.) as text into the electronic device.

[0017] In some embodiments of the invention, the identifier sent to the electronic sales system may include sufficient information to clearly identify the product. For instance, a barcode, an image of a manufacturer’s label, model number or serial number, etc. may provide sufficient information to allow the electronic sales system to identify the product and generate a purchase request.

[0018] It is envisaged that there may be times when the identifier may not contain sufficient information to identify the product. For instance, if a buyer enters an incomplete serial number into the electronic sales system, or misspells a product name, it may not be possible to identify a single product associated with the incomplete information entered by the buyer.

[0019] In this embodiment of the invention, it is envisaged that the electronic sales system may maintain an electronic product database. It is envisaged that the electronic product database may include information on a plurality of products. Any suitable information may be included in the electronic product database, including, but not limited to, product brands, names, serial or catalogue numbers, technical specifications, dimensions, energy efficiency and/or safety ratings, wholesale and/or retail prices and so on, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0020] If the identifier sent to the electronic sales system does not include sufficient information to fully identify the product, the electronic sales system may consult the electronic product database to identify any products that match the incomplete information entered by the buyer. In this embodiment, it is envisaged that the buyer may be able to browse the electronic product database to identify and select the desired product, or the electronic sales system may provide the buyer with two or more products that match the incomplete information and request a selection from the buyer.

[0021 ] The product may be of any suitable form. For instance, the product may comprise food and beverages (including alcoholic beverages), electronic goods, tobacco products, furniture and furnishings, homewares, clothing and footwear, media (such as compact discs, DVDs, BluRay discs etc.), vehicles and accessories therefor, hardware and the like. In essence, it is envisaged that any product that carries an electronically readable element could be used in connection with the present method. In some embodiments of the invention, it is envisaged that the product could also include services with which an electronically readable element is associated. Any suitable services are envisaged, such as, but not limited to, utility supply (e.g. water, gas or electricity supply), telephone or internet supply or the like.

[0022] The buyer may be located at any suitable location when scanning the electronically readable element. However, in an embodiment of the invention, the buyer may be located in a retail store when scanning the electronically readable element. In this way, the buyer may readily identify the product it wishes to purchase with a high degree of accuracy, minimising or eliminating the risk of generating a purchase request for the wrong product.

[0023] In addition, by allowing the buyer to scan an electronically readable element using a mobile electronic device, the buyer may have access to more products that can be purchased than prior art reverse auction platforms. Further, the ability to access more products for purchase means that more sellers can participate in a sale than prior art sales platforms, and in particular reverse auction platforms.

[0024] As previously mentioned, the scan of the electronically readable element and the preferred purchase price is sent, using the electronic device associated with the buyer, to the electronic sales system. The scan may be sent to the electronic sales system using any suitable technique, such as, but not limited to, an SMS message, MMS message, messaging application message, social network post, email, video or the like, or any suitable combination thereof. In other embodiments of the invention, the electronic sales system may be accessed by the buyer through an application, such as an application downloaded to a mobile telephone, computing tablet or the like. In this way, the buyer may scan the electronically readable element directly into the electronic sales system through the application.

[0025] In some embodiments of the invention, one or more further pieces of information may be sent to the electronic sales system using the electronic device. Any suitable pieces of information may be sent, such as the buyer’s name, age, gender, credit rating or the like. In a specific embodiment of the invention, the buyer’s location may be sent to the electronic sales system. The buyer’s location may be the buyer’s home address, work address or the like. In another embodiment of the invention, the buyer’s location may be the location at which the buyer has scanned the electronically readable element.

[0026] The buyer’s location may be determined using any suitable technique. For instance, the electronic sales system may determine the buyer’s location via IP geolocation, GPS, peer-to-peer, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or the like, or any combination thereof. Preferably, the buyer’s location is determined from the electronic device associated with the buyer.

[0027] It is envisaged that the buyer’s location may be used to exclude sellers from the auction (for instance, sellers located too geographically remote from the buyer). Alternatively, the buyer’s location may be used to, for instance, allow sellers in close proximity to a buyer to intervene in an auction. In other embodiments, the buyer’s location may allow sellers to offer the buyer incentives or inducements based on the buyer’s presence in, or close proximity to, a seller’s store.

[0028] The preferred purchase price may be entered into the electronic sales system using any suitable technique. Preferably, however, the buyer manually enters preferred purchase price as text into the electronic device (e.g. by typing, converted from handwriting to text, etc.).

[0029] The preferred purchase price may be in the form of a minimum purchase price, a maximum purchase price, or both. In this way, the one or more sellers that receive the purchase request are aware of what minimum and/or maximum price the buyer would be happy to pay. In some embodiments of the invention, the buyer may select any preferred purchase price. In other embodiments, however, the buyer may be required to enter a preferred purchase price that is within predetermined limits. In this way, the buyer may be substantially precluded from entering an unrealistic or uneconomic purchase price, such as a price below the price at which the seller has purchased the item. [0030] The lower limit of the preferred purchase price may be set using any suitable technique. For instance, the buyer may be precluded from entering a preferred purchase price that is below a certain percentage of recommended retail price. Alternatively, the buyer may be precluded from entering a preferred purchase price that is below the price at which the seller purchased the item (optionally, with a margin included on top of this). In some embodiments of the invention, a seller may be able to set a minimum purchase price for an item such that, if the preferred purchase price is below the seller’s minimum purchase price, the seller may decline to take part in the reverse auction.

[0031 ] The electronic sales system may generate the purchase request based on the scan of the electronically readable element and the preferred purchase price alone, or the scan of the electronically readable element, the preferred purchase price and the one or more further pieces of information in combination. More preferably, however, in order to generate the purchase request, the electronic sales system may access one or more databases of electronically readable elements to identify the product that the user wishes to purchase.

[0032] The one or more electronic databases of electronically readable elements may include the electronic seller database of the one or more sellers, or may be a different electronic database. In some embodiments, the electronic database of electronically readable elements may be an external database, such as an electronic database maintained by a government authority, retail association or the like.

[0033] In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the electronic sales system may be associated with one or more application programming interfaces (APIs). In particular, the electronic sales system may be associated with one or more barcode APIs. In this embodiment of the invention, it is envisaged that, upon receipt of the scan of the electronically readable element by the electronic sales system, the electronic sales system may send the scan to a barcode API for identification of the product associated with the electronically readable element. Alternatively, the receipt of the scan of the electronically readable element by the electronic sales system may automatically actuate a barcode API associated with the electronic sales system to review the scan and identify the product associated with the electronically readable element.

[0034] In embodiments of the invention in which the electronic sales system is associated with a barcode API, it is envisaged that the purchase request may include an identification of the product associated with the electronically readable element.

In other embodiments, the purchase request may include a combination of an identification of the product associated with the electronically readable element, the preferred purchase price and the one or more further pieces of information. In one specific embodiment of the invention, the purchase request may include an

identification of the product associated with the electronically readable element, the preferred purchase price and the buyer’s location at the time of scanning the electronically readable element.

[0035] In another embodiment of the invention, the purchase request may include further information, such as whether the buyer wishes to collect the goods from the seller in person or whether the goods may be sent to the buyer (for instance, by post, courier, freight or the like). It is envisaged that the buyer may select whether it wishes to collect the goods or have them shipped to the buyer. Alternatively, the buyer may not have a preference about how the goods will be received.

[0036] In other embodiments, the buyer may include in the purchase request an indication of when it wishes to receive the goods. For instance, the buyer may require the goods urgently, or there may be no particular urgency in receiving the goods.

[0037] In another embodiment of the invention, the buyer may select a period of time for which the purchase request remains open (for instance, two minutes, one hour, one day, one week, etc., or any other suitable period of time). It is envisaged that, if the buyer does not select the length of time for which the purchase request will remain open, the electronic sales system may automatically set an end time for the purchase request. For instance, the electronic sales system may set an end time of 24 hours after the purchase request has been generated. In other embodiments of the invention, the purchase request may remain open until the buyer accepts a preferred sale offer. In further embodiments of the invention, the electronic sales system may close the purchase request when no new sale offers have been received for a particular length of time. For instance, if no new sale offers have been received for a period of time (i.e. one minute, one hour, one day etc., or any other suitable period of time), the electronic sales system may close the purchase request. Once the purchase request is closed, the buyer may be provided with an opportunity to accept a preferred sale offer. Alternatively, if the purchase request is closed without the acceptance of a preferred sale offer, no sale may be made.

[0038] It is envisaged that the one or more sellers may access the electronic sales system using any suitable device. For instance, the one or more sellers may access the electronic sales system using any suitable electronic device. Preferably, however, the device includes a processor, electronic memory and a display. Thus, the device may comprise a desktop computer, laptop computer, computing tablet, mobile telephone or the like, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0039] In some embodiments of the invention, the one or more sellers may access the electronic sales system through a website. Alternatively, the electronic sales system may be accessed by the one or more sellers through an application, such as an application downloaded to a mobile telephone, computing tablet or the like.

[0040] It is envisaged that the electronic sales system may be housed on a server (such as, but not limited to, a cloud-based server), and users (i.e. buyers and sellers) are able to gain access to the electronic sales system through an internet connection whereby the user remotely accesses the electronic sales system. Preferably, the electronic sales system is provided with one or more user interfaces that are displayed on the display of the electronic device the user uses to access the electronic sales system.

[0041 ] In some embodiments, all users may access the same user interface. In other embodiments, the user interface that a user can access may be determined by the level of access granted to that user. It is envisaged that what an interface allows a user to do within the electronic sales system will be limited to only the relevant functionality for the user's level of access. [0042] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a user (whether a seller or buyer) may be required to register with the electronic sales system before access to the electronic sales system may be granted. A user may register by contacting an administrator and requesting registration. More preferably, however, registration is automated using the electronic sales system.

[0043] In embodiments of the invention in which registration is automated, registration as a user may be limited to users that can supply one or more

predetermined pieces of information. For instance, a buyer may need to supply one or more pieces of information such as name, date of birth or address. In some embodiments of the invention, a buyer may also be required to register one or more payment credentials (financial institution account, credit or debit card, an account with an online payment system, a gift card, or any other account in which money may be withdrawn or deposited) so that, upon acceptance of a preferred sale offer, the purchase price (and, optionally, any additional charges such as freight, postage, administrative charges etc.) associated with the preferred sale offer can be transferred to the seller that provided the preferred sale offer.

[0044] It is envisaged that, in order to register as a seller, a seller will need to supply one or more pieces of information, such as name, address, the type of business operated by the seller (for instance, what goods or services the seller offers for sale), one or more payment credentials to which payment from a buyer may be received and the like. In some embodiments, registration as a seller may be limited to sellers having a registered business number or company number, a local business address, a current licence to sell particular products (for instance, a motor vehicle dealer licence) or the like, or any suitable combination thereof. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the electronic sales system may be provided with a registration interface into which a user may enter their registration information.

[0045] It is envisaged that, once the user (and particularly a seller) has entered the required information into the registration interface, the electronic sales system may access one or more electronic databases to verify that the information supplied by the user is valid. The one or more electronic databases may include the electronic seller database of the one or more sellers, or may be a different electronic database. In some embodiments, the electronic database may be an external database, such as an electronic database maintained by a government authority (such as a government authority that issues motor vehicle dealer licences, an authority that maintains company and business registrations and the like).

[0046] If the electronic sales system is unable to verify that the information supplied by the user is valid, the user's application for registration may be refused. Alternatively, if the electronic sales system is able to verify that the information supplied by the user is valid, the user's registration may be accepted. If desired, a user may be required to pay a fee to the electronic sales system in order to complete the registration.

[0047] It is envisaged that, once a user has registered with the electronic sales system as a seller, the seller’s registration may be maintained in the electronic seller database of one or more sellers. The user may amend or cancel their registration as required.

[0048] In some embodiments of the invention, the purchase request may be sent to all of the sellers maintained in the electronic seller database. More preferably, the purchase request is only sent to sellers that sell products similar to the product associated with the electronically readable element. For instance, if the buyer scans an electronically readable element associated with a garment, the purchase request may only be sent to sellers of clothing. In other embodiments, more specific criteria may be used to determine which sellers receive the purchase request. For instance, the purchase request may only be sent to sellers of women’s clothing, or sellers of the specific brand of women’s clothing with which the electronically readable element is associated. Even more specifically, a seller may be required to provide its current stock list to the electronic sales system, such that the purchase request may only be sent to sellers that have the specific item associated with the electronically readable element in stock.

[0049] In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the purchase request may be sent to sellers that carry similar products to the specific item with which the electronically readable element is associated, so that a buyer may have access to a range of brands to select from. It is envisaged that a buyer may be able to select whether it wishes to receive sale offers from sellers that carry similar products to the specific item with which the electronically readable element is associated.

[0050] In other embodiments of the invention, the purchase request may only be sent to sellers that are located within a particular distance from the buyer. This may be particularly the case if the buyer wishes to collect the product from the seller. In embodiments of the invention in which the buyer would be happy to have the product shipped to them, it is envisaged that the seller could be located in a different city, state or even country to the buyer.

[0051 ] The purchase request may be sent to at least one of the one or more sellers using any suitable technique. For instance, the purchase request may be sent via SMS message, MMS message, email or the like. Alternatively, the one or more sellers may receive a notification (such as an SMS message, MMS message, email, push notification or the like) that a new purchase request has been received in the electronic sales system.

[0052] As previously stated, the one or more sale offers are generated based on one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters. The one or more supply parameters are included in the electronic seller database and are associated with each of the one or more sellers. Preferably, the one or more supply parameters are common to each of the one or more sellers, although the value prescribed to at least some of the one or more supply parameters may vary from seller to seller.

[0053] The one or more supply parameters may comprise any suitable

parameters relating to the supply of and/or demand for goods and services offered for sale by the one or more sellers. For instance, the supply parameters may include the available number of a desired product (or a similar/alternative product). The available number of product may relate to an individual seller’s inventory or products available in a geographic area (such as a city, state, region or country). The supply parameters may also include the available number of sellers participating in a particular reverse auction, the time of the year, the time of the day as well as any other suitable factors, such as, but not limited to, adverse conditions (market, climatic or otherwise), calamities (such as natural disasters, conflicts and so on), commodity prices and so on.

[0054] The one or more supply parameters may be provided to the electronic seller database using any suitable technique. Some supply parameters (such as the time of day or time of year) may be known to the electronic sales system. However, for others (such as a seller’s inventory) an input into the electronic seller database may be required. For instance, sellers may periodically enter at least some of the supply parameters into the electronic sales system via an app, website or the like.

[0055] Alternatively, the electronic sales system may interrogate a database associated with a seller in order to determine at least some of the supply parameters. For example, the electronic sales system may interrogate an inventory database associated with the seller. The electronic sales system may interrogate the inventory database continuously or periodically.

[0056] Preferably, the electronic sales system and the inventory database may be substantially synchronised at all times. In this way, not only will a seller’s sale offers be based on correct and up to date information, but this will reduce or eliminate the possibility of the seller offering for sale a product for which it has no stock or inventory.

[0057] It is envisaged that, in order to generate sale offers from a plurality of sellers, the electronic sales system may be required to interrogate a plurality of inventory databases (potentially one or more per seller). In this situation, it is envisaged that not only may the sources of data for the electronic sales system be of different formats to one another but may also be semi-structured and potentially inaccurate.

[0058] Thus, it is envisaged that the electronic sales system may include a data collection module. The data collection module may be of any suitable type, however it will be understood that the purpose of the data collection module may be to access and verify data obtained from a plurality of inventory databases. Preferably, the data collection module may automatically access and verify data obtained from a plurality of inventory databases. Thus the data collection module may perform a data scraping function.

[0059] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the data collection module may comprise one or more machine learning modules. The machine learning modules may use any suitable algorithm, although in a preferred embodiment of the invention the one or more machine learning modules may utilise natural language processing techniques in order to process data obtained from the plurality of inventory databases.

[0060] The data collection module may process the data obtained from the plurality of inventory databases in any suitable manner. Preferably, however, the data collection module processes the data obtained from the plurality of inventory databases in order to identify and/or collect, for example, product data and/or product attributes. The data identified and/or collected by the data processing module may be processed in order to, for instance, re-sort, match and/or merge product categories, product attributes and/or product variations and the like. Preferably, the data collection module processes the data in such a manner as to reduce or eliminate data duplication.

[0061 ] It is envisaged that the data collection module may also generate one or more search indexes. In addition, it is envisaged that the data collection module may identify and/or match products having similar product attributes. Not only does this provide the buyer with greater choice (by identifying products having similar attributes to the buyer’s desired product), but also trains the data collection module (and, more specifically, the algorithms used by the data collection module) in order to improve the efficiency of the search, reduce latency and also improve the quality of the search results.

[0062] In other embodiments of the invention, the electronic sales system may interrogate one or more other electronic databases external to the electronic sales system. For instance, the electronic sales system may interrogate a manufacturer’s database, an importer’s database, a distributor’s database or the like. [0063] In a preferred embodiment, the electronic seller database may be used by a seller as the seller’s main inventory management tool. Thus, the seller may use the electronic seller database to manage their inventory not only for sale in the electronic sales system but also for sale in any other retail environment (such as, for instance, a bricks and mortar retail store). Thus, in this embodiment of the invention, it is envisaged that the seller’s point of sale equipment in all of its retail environments may be in electronic communication with the electronic seller database. Preferably, the electronic seller database is updated in real-time. This may be particularly advantageous during times of peak sales. However, it may be that electronic seller database may be updated periodically, for instance at regular intervals of time.

[0064] Preferably, a seller may configure their account with the electronic sales system such that, when a purchase request is received, a sale offer is automatically generated and received by the electronic sales system. Preferably, the sale offer contains a sale price, wherein the sale price is the price at which the seller is offering to sell the product to the buyer.

[0065] In the present invention, the sale offer is generated based on the one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters. In particular, the sale price contained in the sale offer may be generated based on the one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters.

[0066] The buyer behaviour parameters may be based on the behaviour of individual buyers, may be based on the behaviour of a plurality of buyers or may be based on a combination of the two.

[0067] As previously stated, it is preferred that a buyer may be required to register with the electronic sales system before being able to generate a purchase request. In this embodiment of the invention, the electronic sales system may be adapted to determine one or more buyer behaviour parameters from the information provided by the buyer when registering with the electronic sales system. These buyer behaviour parameters may include the buyer’s age, gender, geographic location, social media activity and so on. [0068] Other buyer behaviour parameters may be determined by the electronic sales system over a period of time. For instance, buyer behaviour parameters may include the regularity with which a buyer accesses the electronic sales system, the frequency of making purchases on the electronic sales system, the buyer’s loyalty to the electronic sales system (e.g. the number of purchases made), the buyer’s preference for the type of products bought, the buyer’s purchase history, the likelihood of the buyer to return purchase products, dispute transactions and the like. Thus, in this embodiment of the invention, it is envisaged that the electronic sale system may learn about the buyer’s behaviour over a period of time, and the buyer behaviour parameters may change over time in response to the buyer’s interactions with the electronic sales system.

[0069] In other embodiments of the invention, the buyer behaviour parameters may include the number of buyers looking for the same product at a point in time, or over a period of time.

[0070] While it is preferred that a buyer registers with the electronic sales system, it is envisaged that a buyer may be able to generate a purchase request without registering with the electronic sales system. In this embodiment of the invention, it may be more difficult to determine all of the buyer behaviour parameters that can be determined from a registered user. However, it is envisaged that available data (such as website activity data, cookie data on the IP address associated with the unregistered buyer etc.) could be used to determine at least some of the buyer behaviour parameters for an unregistered buyer.

[0071 ] The seller behaviour parameters may be based on the behaviour of individual sellers, may be based on the behaviour of a plurality of sellers or may be based on a combination of the two.

[0072] Preferably, the electronic sales system may be adapted to determine one or more seller behaviour parameters from the information provided by the seller when registering with the electronic sales system and/or from information contained in the electronic seller database. These seller behaviour parameters may include the number of available products (from the individual seller and/or from a plurality of sellers), the number of similar or alternative products available (from the individual seller and/or from a plurality of sellers), level of customisation of the sale offer (such as setting a price below which the seller will not sell the product, or ensuring that a sale offers will be generated that contain a lower sale price than sale offers generated by one or more competitors and so on), the seller’s geographic location, fulfilment options (such as whether the product will be delivered or collected by the buyer, the desired delivery time, the buyer’s location relative to the seller’s location and so on).

[0073] It will be understood that the purpose of the supply parameters may be to influence the sale price offered in the one or more sale offers. For instance, if large amounts of stock of a particular product are located in a geographic area (or that product is in low demand), the seller may be willing to offer a lower sale price than a product for which there is a shortage or high consumer demand. Similarly, at certain times of the year (such as after Christmas) a seller may be willing to offer products for sale at lower prices than at other times of the year. This may be to clear old stock to make way for new stock, to compete on price with competitors and so on.

[0074] In some embodiments, a ranking or weighting may be provided to at least one of the one or more supply parameters. More preferably, a ranking or weighting may be provided to each of the one or more supply parameters. It is envisaged that the ranking or weighting may be determined based on the seller’s stock levels, time of day and/or year, number of sellers holding the same or similar stock, the number of sellers generating sale offers in response to the purchase request and so on. It is envisaged that the sale price for the product that the seller offers to the buyer will be determined by the combination of the rankings or weightings given to the one or more supply parameters. For instance, the weightings or rankings given to the supply parameters for a seller with large amounts of stock of a product in a reverse auction with relatively large numbers of competing sellers during a sales period (such as following Christmas) may result in a lower sale price being offered than for a seller with only small amounts of stock of a product in a reverse auction with a small number of competing sellers during a non-sales period. [0001] Table 1 illustrates an example of a number of supply parameters and how weightings or rankings may be applied to each of the supply parameters in order to determine a sale price for a particular product.

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[0075] Table 1 illustrates an example of a number of supply parameters and how weightings or rankings may be applied to each of the supply parameters in order to determine a sale price for a particular product.

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[0076] The purpose of the buyer behaviour parameters may be to influence the sale price offered in the one or more sale offers. For instance, if the buyer has purchased products using the electronic sales system on numerous occasions, that buyer may be offered a lower sale price than a buyer that is new to the electronic sales system, is unregistered or has disputed numerous transactions within the electronic sales system. Similarly, a buyer who does not require express delivery of a purchased item may be offered a lower sale price than a buyer who requires same day delivery. Further, if only a small number of buyers are generating purchase requests for a particular product, a lower sale price may be offered than for products that are in high demand from large numbers of buyers.

[0077] In some embodiments, a ranking or weighting may be provided to at least one of the one or more buyer behaviour parameters. More preferably, a ranking or weighting may be provided to each of the one or more buyer behaviour parameters.

It is envisaged that the ranking or weighting may be determined based on the buyer’s demographic, purchase history, loyalty, location, the number of buyers for the same or similar product and so on. It is envisaged that the sale price for the product that the seller offers to the buyer will be determined by the combination of the rankings or weightings given to the one or more buyer behaviour parameters. For instance, the weightings or rankings given to the buyer behaviour parameters for a buyer with high loyalty and a flawless purchase history may result in a lower sale price being offered than to a first-time buyer.

[0078] Table 2 illustrates an example of a number of buyer behaviour parameters and how weightings or rankings may be applied to each of the buyer behaviour parameters in order to determine a sale price for a particular product. 20

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[0079] The purpose of the seller behaviour parameters may be to influence the sale price offered in the one or more sale offers. For instance, if a seller has large amounts of stock of a particular product (or that product is in low demand), the seller may be willing to offer a lower sale price than a product for which there is a shortage or high consumer demand. Similarly, if a buyer is located relatively close

geographically to a seller (or does not require urgent delivery of a product) the seller may be willing to offer a lower sale price.

[0080] In some embodiments, a ranking or weighting may be provided to at least one of the one or more seller behaviour parameters. More preferably, a ranking or weighting may be provided to each of the one or more seller behaviour parameters.

It is envisaged that the ranking or weighting may be determined based on the seller’s stock levels, time of day and/or year, number of sellers holding the same or similar stock, the seller’s location, the available number of similar or alternative products, the delivery or fulfilment options and so on. It is envisaged that the sale price for the product that the seller offers to the buyer will be determined by the combination of the rankings or weightings given to the one or more seller behaviour parameters. For instance, the weightings or rankings given to the seller behaviour parameters for a seller with large amounts of stock of a product for a buyer who does not require the product urgently may result in a lower sale price being offered than for a seller with only small amounts of stock of a product where the buyer wishes same day delivery of the product.

[0081 ] Table 3 illustrates an example of a number of seller behaviour parameters and how weightings or rankings may be applied to each of the seller behaviour parameters in order to determine a sale price for a particular product. 22

S T _{bl 3ll bhi} ^didkiihittt aeee _r eao _{r p} a _r amee ^r s an assocae ^r ann ^g s o ^r e ^g n ^g s _: vu w

23

[0082] It is envisaged that each of the supply parameters, buyer behaviour parameters and seller behaviour parameters may be provided with a weighting. The weighting may be determined by the electronic sales system. Preferably, the weighting for each of the supply parameters, buyer behaviour parameters and seller behaviour parameters may be assigned by the electronic sales system based on the nature of each purchase request. For example, it is envisaged that the relevant parameters may receive different weightings for a purchase request generated by a first buyer in close geographical proximity to the seller with an extensive purchase history who requires delivery within 7 days compared to a purchase request generated by a second buyer located in a different city to the seller who requires urgent delivery and who is a first time user of the electronic sales system. In this example, it is envisaged that the first buyer may be offered a lower sale price for the same product than would be offered to the second buyer. Thus, a buyer’s loyalty to the electronic sales system (generated through extensive use thereof) may be rewarded with lower sale prices than those offered to less frequent users of the electronic sales system.

[0083] In some embodiments of the invention, the sale offer may be generated based on one of the supply parameters, the buyer behaviour parameters or the seller behaviour parameters. More preferably, the sale offer may be generated based on a combination of two of the supply parameters, the buyer behaviour parameters or the seller behaviour parameters. Even more preferably, the sale offer may be generated based on a combination of all three of the supply parameters, the buyer behaviour parameters or the seller behaviour parameters.

[0084] In some embodiments of the invention, the one or more sellers may be able to set or change the importance of one or more of the supply parameters, the buyer behaviour parameters or the seller parameter behaviours. For instance, a seller may decide that it is prepared to sell products at relatively low prices during non-peak periods (either during a day or during seasonal peak periods). Conversely, a seller may not wish to sell products at relatively low prices during peak periods. Thus, it is envisaged that the one or more sellers may be able to customise the one or more supply parameters, buyer behaviour parameters or seller parameter behaviours. In this embodiment, the seller may be able to remove or deselect one or 24 more of the supply parameters, buyer behaviour parameters or seller parameter behaviours when generating a sale offer, or a user may be able to provide the one or more supply parameters, buyer behaviour parameters or seller parameter behaviours with weightings based on the importance of particular parameters to the seller.

[0085] Preferably, a seller may be provided with an opportunity to generate one or more sale offers for the product. For instance, if a first seller generates an initial sale offer including a sale price that is subsequently beaten by a sale offer including a lower sale price submitted by a second seller, the first seller may generate a further sale offer including a sale price that is lower than the sale price offered by the second seller. It is envisaged that sellers may continue to generate sale offers until a preferred sale offer is accepted by the buyer, or the period of time for which the purchase request is open expires. In other embodiments of the invention, a seller may elect to stop generating sale offers when the sale price offered by another seller reaches a price below which the seller does not wish to sell the product. In these embodiments of the invention, a seller may generate further sale offers based on predetermined criteria (such as, for instance, beating rival sale prices by offering a sale price that is a predetermined amount or percentage lower than the rival sale price until a sale price is reached below which the seller does not wish to generate further sale offers). In this embodiment of the invention, each of the one or more sellers may be able to view all sale offers generated by all of the one or more sellers. In other embodiments of the invention, a seller may only be able to view the current lowest sale offer. In other embodiments, a seller may not be able to view any sale offers other than their own, such that the reverse auction is in the form of a silent reverse auction.

[0086] In other embodiments of the invention, the generation of sale offers may be entirely automated. In this embodiment, the purchase request may be sent to the electronic seller database and the sale offers may be generated based on the one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters. In this embodiment, it is envisaged that other than the seller optionally entering one or more customised parameters as part of the seller behaviour parameters, the electronic sales system may automatically generate sale offers (including subsequent sale offers) on behalf of one or more sellers until 25 such time as a preferred sale offer is accepted by the buyer or the purchase request expires.

[0087] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a seller may be precluded from generating a sale offer if the seller does not have the product (or a similar product) in stock, or will not have the product (or a similar product) in stock by the time at which the purchase request will expire or conclude. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, a seller may be provided with an opportunity to withdraw the preferred sale offer if the product is no longer in stock (for instance, if the product sold out between the generation of the sale offer and the acceptance of the preferred sale offer).

[0088] If a seller withdraws an accepted sale offer, it is envisaged that the purchase request may remain active until such time as an alternative preferred sale offer is accepted, or the purchase request expires at the end of the period of time for which the purchase request was active. In some embodiments of the invention, the buyer may be required to accept an alternative preferred sale offer, or an alternative preferred sale offer may be automatically accepted. The alternative preferred sale offer may be automatically accepted if, for instance, a second sale offer complied with the buyer’s predetermined criteria for accepting a preferred sale offer (such as the sale price and the delivery timeframe).

[0089] In another embodiment of the invention, the buyer may, upon generating a purchase request, be provided with a list of sellers that stock the product and/or similar products. The list of sellers may also include the price at which each seller is currently offering the product for sale. Thus, in some embodiments of the invention, the sale offer may simply comprise the current price at which the seller is offering the product (or a similar product) for sale. If the buyer is happy with a sale offer, the buyer may accept the sale offer as the preferred sale offer. Thus, in this embodiment of the invention, no reverse auction takes place.

[0090] If the buyer elects not to accept any of the sale offers, the buyer may then convert the purchase request into a purchase request for which a reverse auction takes place. At this point, at least one of the one or more sellers may generate a 26 sale offer that is lower than the price at which the seller usually offers the product for sale.

[0091 ] The sale offers may be sent to the buyer using any suitable technique.

For instance, the sale offers may be sent via SMS message, MMS message, app notification service, email or the like. Alternatively, the buyer may receive a notification (such as an SMS message, MMS message, email, push notification or the like) that a new sale offer has been received in the electronic sales system.

Preferably, the buyer is able to view all sale offers, although in other embodiments of the invention, the buyer may only be able to view the current lowest sale offer.

[0092] It is envisaged that a sale offer will include certain pieces of information.

At a minimum, the sale offer will include a price at which a product is offered for sale to the buyer. However, in some embodiments of the invention, the sale offer will also include the location of the product being offered for sale. This may be identified as a name of a retail store, a city, suburb, postcode, country, state, address, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments of the invention, a seller may elect to provide a geographic location of the product (such as a city, suburb, postcode etc.) but may elect to withhold the identity of the seller from the buyer (i.e. the name of the retail store or the like).

[0093] The buyer may reject or delete, or may simply ignore, sale offers it does not intend to accept. A buyer may manually accept a preferred sale offer with the electronic sales system, or a preferred sale offer may be automatically accepted with the electronic sales system based on certain predetermined criteria entered by the buyer (such as a sale price at which the buyer would be happy to accept a sale offer).

[0094] In some embodiments of the invention, the preferred sale offer need not be the sale offer including the lowest sale price. In this embodiment, it is envisaged that the buyer may accept a sale offer based on criteria other than sale price, such as a sale offer from a preferred seller, a sale offer where the product is located nearest to the buyer, a sale offer where the product is available for immediate collection and the like, or any suitable combination thereof. 27

[0095] In other embodiments of the invention, the acceptance of the preferred sale offer may be carried out automatically by the electronic sales system. In this embodiment, it is envisaged that the electronic sales system may accept any sale offer that complies with the buyer’s predetermined criteria (such as sale price, delivery timeframe etc.), or substantially complies with the buyer’s predetermined criteria (for instance, the sale price is within a certain range of the preferred purchase price, such as 10%).

[0096] In an alternative embodiment, the electronic sales system may accept as the preferred sale offer the sale offer that best matches the buyer’s predetermined criteria at the expiry of the purchase request.

[0097] Upon acceptance of the preferred sale offer, it is preferred that the seller associated with the preferred sale offer will receive a notification that its sale offer has been accepted as the preferred sale offer. The notification may be sent via SMS message, MMS message, email or the like. Alternatively, the seller may receive a notification (such as an SMS message, MMS message, email, push notification or the like) that its sale offer is the preferred sale offer in the electronic sales system. Upon receipt of the notification that its sale offer is the preferred sale offer, the seller may make the product available for collection by the buyer, or may prepare the product for shipping to the buyer.

[0098] In some embodiments of the invention, a buyer may be required to transfer an amount of money equal to the sale price (including any taxes,

administration fees, shipping costs or the like) to the seller that generated the preferred sale offer prior to collection or shipping of the product. The transfer of the sale price may be achieved with the electronic sales system (such as through transfer from a payment credential of the buyer registered with the electronic sales system to a payment credential of the seller registered with the electronic sales system).

[0099] Alternatively, the transfer of the sale price may be conducted when the buyer collects the product from the seller using any suitable transaction (such as a cash transaction, credit or debit card transaction, electronic funds transfer or the like, or a combination thereof). In this way, when a buyer accepts a preferred sale offer 28 from a retail store (or similar), the buyer may pay for the product at the retail store using conventional payment methods.

[0100] In embodiments of the invention in which the product is to be delivered to the buyer, the progress of the delivery may be tracked. In a specific embodiment of the invention, the progress of the delivery may be tracked in real-time, such that the buyer is aware of the geographic location of the product at all times (or at intervals of time) between the purchase of the products and the delivery of the product.

[0101 ] Optionally, notifications regarding the non-acceptance or rejection of sale offers may also be sent to any unsuccessful sellers.

[0102] It is envisaged that, in some embodiments of the invention, the electronic sales system may track the buying habits of a buyer. By“buying habits” it will be understood that this is intended to include one or more of the type of products that the buyer purchases, the frequency with which the buyer purchases products using the electronic sales system, the locations at which the buyer scans the electronically readable elements, the price of the products that the buyer purchases and so on. By tracking the buyer’s buying habits in this way, the electronic sales system may send to the buyer information regarding, for instance, new products in which the buyer has an interest, sales on products in which the buyer has an interest (particularly products located in a geographic area close to the buyer) and so on. Alternatively, information regarding the buyer’s buying habits may be provided to at least one of the one or more sellers, such that the seller may directly provide the buyer with product information, sales information, vouchers, discount codes, loyalty rewards and the like, and particularly information related to products in which the buyer has an interest.

[0103] In these embodiments, it is envisaged that the buyer may receive such information in any suitable form, such as an SMS message, MMS message, email or the like. Alternatively, the buyer may receive a notification (such as an SMS message, MMS message, email, push notification or the like) that information is available for the buyer to review in the electronic sales system. 29

[0104] In some embodiments of the invention, the buyer and/or one or more sellers may invite one or more further buyers to join the auction. The one or more further buyers may be invited using any suitable technique. For instance, the one or more further buyers may be existing users of the electronic sales system. The invitations may be sent randomly, may be sent to people known to the buyer who are also users of the electronic sales system, or may be sent to users of the system that have previously indicated an interest in purchasing products the same as, or similar to, the product that is the subject of the auction. In other embodiments of the invention, the electronic sales system may allow a buyer to link an account to the accounts of one or more other users of the electronic sales system so that linked users may be invited to join a buyer’s auction, or the buyer may share an auction with the linked users.

[0105] In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the one or more further buyers may be invited through one or more social media accounts, through email, SMS or MMS message, push notification or the like, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0106] In some embodiments, the one or more further buyers may be known to the buyer. For instance, the buyer may choose to invite one or more friends or family members (for example) to join the auction.

[0107] In embodiments of the invention in which one or more further buyers join an auction, it is envisaged that each of the buyer and the one or more further buyers may wish to purchase one or more of the product. In this way, the seller may be able to offer multiple products for sale at the same time to multiple buyers. It is envisaged that selling multiple products simultaneously may allow the seller to offer a lower price per product to each of the buyers.

[0108] In some embodiments of the invention, an auction may be initiated by a seller. It is envisaged that these may be conventional auctions in which a plurality of buyers may place bids of increasing monetary value on a particular item offered for sale by a seller. The seller may commence an auction at any suitable time, or may schedule an auction to take place at a particular time (for instance, of an evening when more potential buyers are likely to be online). 30

[0109] In some embodiments of the invention, a buyer may use one or more vouchers as at least part payment for a purchased product. The one or more vouchers may be physical vouchers (e.g. gift cards or the like) or may be electronic vouchers (including discount codes, promotional codes and so on). It is envisaged that the buyer may enter details of the voucher (such as the code, serial number or the like) into the electronic sales system when transferring payment to the seller. Alternatively, a buyer may be required to attend the premises of a seller in order to utilise a voucher.

[01 10] In a second aspect, the invention resides broadly in an electronic sales system including at least one processor and at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon, that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: a) Receive, from an electronic device associated with a buyer, an identifier associated with a product and a preferred purchase price;

b) Generate a purchase request for the product, the purchase request being generated based on the identifier and the preferred purchase price;

c) Maintain an electronic seller database of one or more sellers, the electronic seller database including one or more supply parameters associated with each of the one or more sellers;

d) Generate one or more sale offers from at least one of the one or more sellers in response to the purchase request, the one or more sale offers being generated based on the one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters; and e) Accept a preferred sale offer.

[01 1 1 ] In a third aspect, the invention resides broadly in an electronic sales system including at least one processor and at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon, that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

a) Generate a purchase request for a product; 31 b) Maintain an electronic seller database of one or more sellers, the electronic seller database including one or more supply parameters associated with each of the one or more sellers;

c) Generate one or more sale offers from at least one of the one or more sellers in response to the purchase request, the one or more sale offers being generated based on the one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters; and d) Allow one or more buyers to access the one or more sale offers and, optionally, accept a preferred sale offer.

[01 12] In a fourth aspect, the invention resides broadly in an electronic sales method including at least one server, the electronic sales method comprising the steps of:

a) generating, with an electronic sales system, a purchase request for a product;

b) maintaining an electronic seller database of one or more sellers in association with the electronic sales system, the electronic seller database including one or more supply parameters associated with each of the one or more sellers; c) generating, with the electronic sales system, one or more sale offers from at least one of the one or more sellers in response to the purchase request, wherein the one or more sale offers are generated based on the one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters; and

d) allowing one or more buyers to access, with the electronic sales system, the one or more sale offers and, optionally, accept a preferred sale offer.

[01 13] In another aspect, the invention resides broadly in a method, in a communication environment including a third-party transaction server comprising a processor and a memory, for importing and sorting inventory data to an electronic sales system, the method comprising:

receiving, by the third-party transaction server, the inventory data from one or more inventory databases associated with one or more sellers;

sorting, by the third-party transaction server, the inventory data into a plurality of product categories based on one or more product attributes; 32 generating, by the third-party transaction server, one or more supply parameters associated with each of the plurality of product categories based on the inventory data;

receiving, by the third-party transaction server, a purchase request from an electronic device associated with a buyer to purchase a product from at least one or more one or more sellers;

creating, by the third-party transaction server, one or more sale offers from at least one of the one or more sellers in response to the purchase request, the one or more sale offers being generated based on the one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour

parameters;

sending, by the third-party transaction server, the one or more sale offers to the electronic device associated with the buyer;

allowing the buyer to select, by accessing the one or more sale offers, a preferred sale offer from the one or more sale offers;

receiving, by the third-party transaction server, the preferred sale offer selected by the buyer; and

accepting, by the third-party transaction server, the preferred sale offer.

[01 14] In another aspect, the invention resides broadly in a third-party transaction server for importing and sorting inventory data to an electronic sales system, the third-party transaction server comprising:

A file server configured to receive inventory data from one or more inventory databases associated with one or more sellers;

A database that stores the received inventory data;

A data backend communicatively coupled to the database, the data backend managing access and retrieval of the inventory data;

A data collection module associated with the data backend, the data collection device configured to collect and sort the inventory data into a plurality of product categories based on one or more product attributes;

A buyer interface communicatively couple to the data backend and to a buyer client device, the buyer interface configured to send a purchase request to the data backend from the buyer client device, receive one or more sale offers from the data backend and send a preferred sale offer to the data backend; 33

A seller interface communicatively coupled to the data backend that communicates to the one or more sellers a purchase request received from the buyer interface by the data backend and sends one or more sale offers to the data backend in response to the purchase request; and

Wherein when the data backend receives a preferred sale offer from the buyer interface, the data backend communicates the preferred sale offer to the seller interface of the seller that generated the preferred sale offer for completion of the transaction.

[01 15] In a preferred embodiment of the invention the buyer client device comprises an electronic device. The electronic device may be of any suitable form, such as a computer, computing tablet, smart watch, mobile telephone or the like.

[01 16] Any of the features described herein can be combined in any combination with any one or more of the other features described herein within the scope of the invention.

[01 17] The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[01 18] Preferred features, embodiments and variations of the invention may be discerned from the following Detailed Description which provides sufficient

information for those skilled in the art to perform the invention. The Detailed

Description is not to be regarded as limiting the scope of the preceding Summary of the Invention in any way. The Detailed Description will make reference to a number of drawings as follows:

[01 19] Figure 1 illustrates a schematic view of an electronic sales method and system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0120] Figure 2 illustrates the operation of the electronic sales method and system according to an embodiment of the present invention once a purchase request has been received. 34

[0121 ] Figure 3 illustrates a schematic view of an electronic sales method and system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0122] Figures 4 and 5 illustrates steps in the electronic sales method and system according to embodiments of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0123] Figure 1 illustrates a schematic view of an electronic sales system 10 and method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0124] In the present invention, a buyer 1 1 is registered with the electronic sales system 10 such that the buyer 1 1 has a personal profile 12 with the system 10. The profile contains information regarding the buyer 1 1 , including their name, address (or at least general location, such as a postcode or zip code), age, gender and so on.

The profile 12 may also include the details of a payment credential, such as a credit card, bank account and so on.

[0125] In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 1 , the buyer 11 accesses the electronic sales system 10 via an electronic interface 13 in an application downloaded to an electronic device 14 (such as a mobile phone, computer tablet etc.) associated with the user. The buyer 11 enters an identifier associated with a product 15 into the interface 13 via the electronic device 14 along with a preferred purchase price 16.

[0126] The identifier and the preferred purchase price 16 are sent via the internet from the electronic device 14 to the electronic sales system 10. The electronic sales system 10 then generates a purchase request 17 for the product 15.

[0127] the purchase request 17 is sent by the electronic sales system 10 to a seller database 18 associated with the electronic sales system 10. The seller database includes information (including inventory information) associated with a plurality of sellers 19. One or more sale offers 20 are generated automatically by the electronic sales system 10 on behalf of at least one of the sellers 19, with each of the sale offers 20 including a sale price that a seller 19 is prepared to offer to the buyer 1 1 for the product 15. 35

[0128] If sale offers 20 are generated by a plurality of sellers 19, sellers may generate further sale offers 20 containing a lower sale price than the seller’s previous sale offer 20 until the buyer 1 1 selects a preferred sale offer 21 or the purchase request expires.

[0129] In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figure 1 , the sale offers 20 are generated based on one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters (examples of which are set out in Table 1 , Table 2 and Table 3, respectively). The sale price offered in each sale offer 20 is therefore influenced by the one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters. Thus, when the electronic sales system 10 automatically generates the sale offers 20 on behalf of the one or more sellers 19, the electronic sales system interrogates the seller database 18 to determine information about each of the one or more sellers 19, such as the physical location of the seller 19 relative to the buyer 11 , the seller’s stock levels of the product 15 and so on. Thus, the sale price contained in the sale offer 20 for a particular seller 19 will be influenced by the information obtained from the seller database 18 by the electronic sales system 10.

[0130] Figure 2 illustrates the operation of the electronic sales method and system according to an embodiment of the present invention once a purchase request has been received.

[0131 ] In Figure 2, the generation of sale offers 20 over different time periods 22 following the receipt of a purchase request is shown. For instance, an“instant” win 23 (i.e. within 5 seconds of a purchase request being received by the electronic sales system) may occur when the combination of one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters allows the electronic sales system to immediately generate a sale offer including a sale price equal to the preferred purchase price on behalf of a seller. This situation may arise when a particular combination of parameters presents itself, such as the buyer 11 being a loyal customer with no returns in their purchase history, the buyer 1 1 seeking to purchase a product for which there are very high stock levels that have been selling slowly. 36

[0132] In a scenario 24 in which a different combination of parameters exist (such as the buyer 11 having a less extensive purchase history and/or the seller having less stock of the product available than in the“instant” win scenario 23), the time taken for the sale price contained in the sale offers to reach its lowest point is longer (approximately 20 seconds). The final sale price may be the buyer’s preferred sale price or may be higher than this.

[0133] As the combination of one or more supply parameters, one or more buyer behaviour parameters and/or one or more seller behaviour parameters becomes less favourable (i.e. less available stock of the product, buyers with less extensive purchase histories, buyers located relatively remote to the seller, non-sales periods, the value of the product being relatively high and so on), the time taken for the electronic sales system 10 to generate sales offers may increase until, in the least favourable scenario 25 illustrated in Figure 2, a period of 120 seconds has elapsed before the final sale offer is generated. It is envisaged that, in this scenario, the lowest sale price will be higher than the lowest sale price offered in other scenarios.

[0134] Figure 3 illustrates a schematic view of an electronic sales method and system 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0135] In Figure 30, a plurality of sellers 31 are associated with the electronic sales system 30, with each seller using a different inventory database 32. The electronic sales system 30 includes an electronic sales system database 33 in which data from the inventory databases 32 is received and stored. The electronic sales system 30 accesses the electronic sales system database 33 in order to determine the availability of products such that sales offers may be generated on behalf of the sellers 31.

[0136] It is envisaged that the data received by the electronic sales system database 33 from the inventory databases 32 may be inaccurate (in terms of product availability and the like). In addition, thee fact that each inventory database 32 is of a different format may make the collection and sorting of data so as to generate accurate sale offers difficult. 37

[0137] In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figure 3, the electronic sales system 30 comprises a data collection module 34. The data collection module 34 is in the form of one or more machine learning modules using natural language learning techniques.

[0138] The data collection module 34 acts as a data scraping tool, interrogating each of the inventory databases 32 so as to collect data on the inventory of each seller 31. In addition, it is envisaged that product information in each of the inventory databases 32 may be categorised or sorted based on different criteria. Thus, it is envisaged that the data collection module 34 will sort data collected from the inventory databases 32 so as to categorise products with similar product attributes together. In this way, sale offers generated by the electronic sales system 30 may be more accurately based on inventory information from different sources.

[0139] Figures 4 and 5 illustrates steps in the electronic sales method and system

40 according to embodiments of the present invention.

[0140] Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which a buyer 41 conducts a search 42 of the electronic sales system 40 for a particular product 43. The buyer 41 may choose to buy 44 the product 43 outright at the price offered by a seller or may elect to send the product 43 to an auction 45 in order to attempt to obtain a lower price for the product 43.

[0141 ] In these instances, once the purchase or auction 45 is complete, the buyer

41 uses an online payment system 46 to pay for the product 43. The product 43 may then be dispatched for delivery 47. In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 4, the buyer 41 may nominate a charity 48 to receive a payment in the form of a portion of the commission for the sale collected by the electronic sales system 40.

[0142] Alternatively, the buyer 41 may have a voucher 49 that may be used as at least part payment for the product 43. In this embodiment, the buyer 41 may pay for the product 43 using the voucher 49 at the seller’s point of sale 50.

[0143] In Figure 5, a buyer 41 scans an identifier 51 in the form of a barcode associated with a desired product 43 which is sent to the electronic sales system 40. 38

A purchase offer 52 including the product 43 and a preferred purchase price 53 is generated by the electronic sales system 40.

[0144] A plurality of sales offers 54 are generated by a plurality of sellers, and the buyer 41 then selects their preferred sale offer. Payment is made using an online payment system 46, and the product 43 may then be dispatched for delivery 47.

[0145] In the present specification and claims (if any), the word‘comprising’ and its derivatives including‘comprises’ and‘comprise’ include each of the stated integers but does not exclude the inclusion of one or more further integers.

[0146] Reference throughout this specification to‘one embodiment’ or‘an embodiment’ means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearance of the phrases‘in one embodiment’ or‘in an embodiment’ in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more

combinations.

[0147] In compliance with the statute, the invention has been described in language more or less specific to structural or methodical features. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to specific features shown or described since the means herein described comprises preferred forms of putting the invention into effect. The invention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims (if any) appropriately interpreted by those skilled in the art.