System for the Acquisition of Local Goods and Services

Abstract

A system for the acquisition of local goods and services is presented. The system is an Internet website that advertises and promotes local commerce. The website includes functionalities and features that allow local organizations, such as businesses, charities, and non-profit organizations to manage their web presence. The organizations can issue coupons, display information, and communicate directly with other organizations. The system can be offered as software as a service and can act as a portal to the local business community that is hosted by a hosting organization.

We claim: 
     
         1 . An Internet-based computer system for providing goods or services to local consumers, the Internet-based computer system comprising:
 a series of instructions executed on a computer that cause the computer to provide: a website that facilitates the purchasing of local goods or services within a community, where the website is administrated by a hosting organization within a community and is accessible by consumers and organizations within the community; account registration processes that allow the consumers and organizations to register accounts with the website; means for the consumers to locate desired local goods or services; a coupon create function that allows the organizations to create coupons that are displayed within the website; an advertisement create function that allows the organizations to create advertisements that are displayed within the website; means for the consumers to store the coupons or advertisements; a forum that allows the organizations to communicate with each other, the forum not being viewable by the consumers; and subsystems that allow the system to be sold to a hosting organization as a Software as a Service product.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the hosting organization is a community's Chamber of Commerce, a business within the community, an interested individual within the community, or a community's Downtown Association. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the organizations are businesses, charities, or non-profit organizations. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the means for the consumers to locate desired local goods or services is one of: a search tool that accepts search queries entered by the consumers, or a business menu with links that direct consumers to corresponding organization pages within the system. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the coupon create and advertisement create functions further allow the organizations to create text-only coupons and advertisements, or coupons and advertisements with text and images. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the means for the consumers to store the coupons or advertisements is a wallet page within the system that allows consumers to print, delete, or manage their stored coupons and advertisements. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the subsystems that allow the system to be sold as a Software as a Service comprise: a marketing subsystem, a billing & accounting subsystem, a tracking & reporting subsystem, and a service installation subsystem. 
     
     
         8 . A system for monitoring and managing the use of a plurality of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications through the Internet, the system comprising:
 an Internet-based interface that connects a system provider server to the Internet wherein the interface is configured to display, select, and access the information and attributes related to the plurality of SaaS applications;   a set of system provider subsystems that include: a marketing subsystem, a billing & accounting subsystem, a tracking & reporting subsystem, and a service installation subsystem;   computer-implemented tools that cause a computer to gather information about users by recording search words or phrases that are entered into the system by the users in a community, the search words or phrases being analyzed as a part of an analytical process that allows a community's business to discover what shoppers are interested in purchasing; and   a system for the acquisition of local goods and services that is executed on one or more computers by each of the plurality of SaaS applications wherein the system for the acquisition of local goods and services is administered by a hosting organization within a community and facilitates the purchasing of local goods or services by consumers within the community.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the information and attributes related to the plurality of SaaS applications includes: the hosting organization identification, the number of businesses within a community using the SaaS application, payment status, ping time, linkback information, ticket status, and the overall health of the SaaS application. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the marketing subsystem demonstrates and sells the SaaS application to hosting organizations. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the billing & accounting subsystem tracks payment information related to the users of the SaaS application and generates invoices. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the tracking & reporting subsystem tracks released SaaS applications and collects high level information about each application including: activity of the applications, the number of users using each system, and the number of hits for each system; wherein the tracking & reporting subsystem also generates a dashboard of system metrics for each application. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the service installation subsystem installs the SaaS application when the hosting organization completes a purchase process. 
     
     
         14 . A method for acquiring local goods or services within a community, the method comprising:
 providing a software product that is administered by a hosting organization within a community, providing user accounts for consumers and organizations within the community, allowing the organizations to create coupons that are displayed within the software product, allowing the organizations to display advertisements within the software product, providing means within the software product for consumers to locate local goods or services, allowing the consumers to store the organizations' coupons or advertisements, providing means within the software product for attracting consumers' attention to special offers offered by the organizations, and providing subsystems that allow the software product to be sold to the hosting organization as a Software as a Service.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the hosting organization is a community's Chamber of Commerce, a business within the community, an interested individual within the community, or a community's Downtown Association. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the organizations are businesses or charities. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein allowing the organizations to create coupons comprises providing a coupon create function that includes selecting the format of the coupon, the coupon's offer, and the start and end dates of the coupon. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein allowing the organizations to display advertisements within the software product comprises providing a business details page where detailed information about the organization and the organization's advertisement is displayed to the consumer. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the means within the software product for consumers to locate local goods or services is a search tool that accepts search queries from the consumer. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the means within the software product for attracting consumers' attention to special offers offered by the organizations is a character that can appear as a still image or an animation.