Integrated dynamic pricing and procurement support for e-commerce advertising channels

Abstract

The present invention provides a virtual system that assists in the procurement of advertising on an Internet vendor site for the sale of products or services. The system links to a user's financial package to get data on the products or services and allows the user to set financial parameters based on the desired financial goals related to the product and advertising. Performance data regarding advertising is accessed and financial rules generated which are applied to generate a target price for advertising or one or more products. The system can acquire advertising automatically or assist in the auction of advertising. In a preferred embodiment, keywords are purchased on a search engine in an auction.

Having described our invention above, we claim:  
     
         1 . A method for assisting a user in the procurement of a advertisement for placement on at least one vendor Internet site including: 
 calculating a gross margin for said at least one product based on said desired margin;    accessing performance data, said performance data related to said at least one vendor Internet site;    determining the relative cost of a successful advertising event for said at least one product; and    providing a advertisement price target.    
     
     
         2 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein said determining step includes the following acts: 
 retrieving a desired margin for a sale of a set of at least one product; and    applying a set of criteria in order to perform said providing of said advertisement price target based on said desired margin, said applying including evaluating said performance data.    
     
     
         3 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said vendor Internet site is a search engine, said advertisement is in response to a keyword search on said search engine and said successful advertising event is a click-through.  
     
     
         4 . The method as recited in  claim 3 , desired margin is based on a percentage of a cost of a click-through.  
     
     
         5 . The method as recited in  claim 3 , wherein said desired margin is based on a net margin of said at least one product.  
     
     
         6 . The method as recited in  claim 3 , wherein said set of criteria includes at least one of: 
 shipping cost of said at least one product, tax information, geographical information, preferred customer discounts and volume discounts.    
     
     
         7 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said applying a set of criteria includes the act of linking with a financial software package.  
     
     
         8 . The method recited in  claim 3 , wherein said method is automatically activated by a keyword auction alert.  
     
     
         9 . The method as recited in  claim 8 , wherein said keyword auction alert monitors said at least one search engine.  
     
     
         10 . The method as recited in  claim 3 , further including the act of monitoring said user's keyword bid.  
     
     
         11 . The method as recited in  claim 3 , wherein said performance data includes at least data regarding keyword to click-through ratios.  
     
     
         12 . The method as recited in  claim 3 , wherein said performance data includes click-through rates of one of more keywords of said at least one search engine.  
     
     
         13 . The method recited in  claim 3 , further including the act of generating a list of alternate keywords.  
     
     
         14 . The method as recited in  claim 12 , wherein the act of generating a list of alternate keywords includes generating common misspellings of said keyword.  
     
     
         15 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further including the act of recording the results of said bidding and storing in a central location.  
     
     
         16 . The method as recited in  claim 15 , further including the act of providing permission, said access to said central location contingent on said permission being provided to said user.  
     
     
         17 . A method for purchasing an advertising tool in order to generate sales for an e-commerce site that sells at least one product or service, and accessible through the Internet, wherein said advertising tool is placed on a advertising site in response to an action from a potential customer, and said advertising tool is sold by means of an electronic auction; and 
 wherein the improvement includes automatically providing a bidder with a target range for the purchase of said advertisement based on financial information regarding at least one product or service, a set of financial goals of seller of said at least one product or service, and, if available, data relating to the performance of said advertising site.    
     
     
         18 . The method as recited in  claim 17 , wherein said advertising tool is a keyword place on a search engine site.  
     
     
         19 . The method as recited in  claim 17 , further including the act of placing said bid in said electronic auction.  
     
     
         20 . The method as recited in  claim 17 , wherein said financial information is generated from said seller's financial or accounting software.  
     
     
         21 . The method as recited in  claim 17 , wherein said financial goals include a target margin for one of said at least one product or service.  
     
     
         22 . The method as recited in  claim 17 , wherein said financial goals include a target rate of return based on the cost of said advertising tool.