Data Distribution Method and System

Abstract

A method for distributing data among automotive dealers, including selecting the data from the dealers, processing the data, and providing the processed data to the dealers while maintaining confidentiality of individual data of each dealer. The selecting of the data further includes collecting data indicating which vehicles are in demand. The data includes at least one of a number of a vehicle's make a dealer has in stock, a vehicle identification number, a vehicle's year, a vehicle's make, a vehicle's model, a vehicle's body style, a vehicle's exterior color, a vehicle's interior color, a vehicle's mileage, a vehicle's retail asking price, a vehicle's transactions cost, a vehicle's reconditioning cost, a vehicle's age, a vehicle's selling price, a vehicle's gross profit, an acquisition need of a vehicle, a selling need of a vehicle, a vehicle's image, a vehicle's turnover rate, or an aggregate of any of the above-listed data. The distributed data may provide optimization on return on investments to the dealers.

1 . A method of ranking potential buyers within a network of competitive dealers, the method comprising:
 (a) obtaining sales history data for each of the buyers in the network corresponding to vehicles comparable to a vehicle for sale, the sales history data including a plurality of sales indicators corresponding to sales made by the respective buyers;   (b) assigning a score to each of the sales indicators for each potential buyer based on the sales history; and   (c) generating a smart score for each potential buyer by aggregating the assigned scores for the sales indicators, wherein the smart score indicates the likelihood that each buyer will make a bid for the vehicle for sale.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sales indicators are weighted. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the scores assigned to the sales indicators are assigned according to a normalized scale. 
     
     
         4 . The method of claim,  1  wherein the scores assigned to the sales indicators for one of the buyers are relative to the sales history of the other buyers in the network. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sales history data of each individual buyer is confidential to the other buyers. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identity of each potential buyer is confidential to the other buyers. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , where in the sales indicator scores for each potential buyer is confidential to the other buyers. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the smart score for each potential buyer is confidential to the other buyers. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sales indicators used to calculate a smart score includes the number of bids a potential buyer made in the last predetermined number of days. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sales indicators used to calculate the smart score includes a current day supply of a make and model of a vehicle for the potential buyer. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sales indicators used to calculate the smart score includes a current day supply of a make, model, and year of a vehicle for the potential buyer. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sales indicators used to calculate a smart score includes the number of the same make and model the buying dealer sold over a predetermined number of days. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sales indicators used to calculate a smart score includes the buying dealer's return on investment for the make and model vehicle purchased over a predetermined number of days, for the vehicle for sale. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a potential buyer with a higher smart score is recommended to a selling dealer over a potential buyer with a lower smart score. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a selling dealer selects at least one of the sales indicators used to generate the smart score for a potential buyer. 
     
     
         16 . A method of making a recommendation to a dealer within a network of competitive dealers, the method comprising:
 (a) monitoring the current inventories of the dealer and a plurality of other dealers in the network;   (b) obtaining a sales history of the dealer;   (c) obtaining the dealer's desired target day supply; and   (d) recommending an inventory adjustment to the dealer based on the current inventory of the dealer and other dealers to achieve the dealer's desired target day supply.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the plurality of other dealer's sales history is monitored. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the plurality of other dealer's current inventory is monitored. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the identity of each potential buyer is confidential. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the target day score of each potential buyer is confidential to the other buyers.