Systems and methods for providing automated customer order cross referencing

Abstract

An auto cross-referencing functionality related to an order number directed to a product within an electronic catalog hosted by a vendor system is presented on a client computing device in a page providing an access point for ordering an item. The system allows a customer to enter a manufacturer, competitor, or other non-vendor specific ordering number into an ordering system and have the provided number transformed in-situ to the vendor's ordering number, either in real-time and/or through a batch-like process.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A non-transient, computer readable media having stored thereon instructions for providing access to an automated cross referencing functionality related to a customer order within an electronic vendor system, the instructions performing steps comprising:
 storing in a data repository a listing of a plurality of products that are available for purchase, wherein each of the plurality of products is directly associated with a vendor item number and wherein each of the plurality of products is capable of being associated with at least one of a secondary item number or a description;   causing a page to be displayed on a client computing device, the page comprising an order access point in which an order number corresponding to a desired item is enterable;   in response to an entering of the order number in the order access point causing the vendor system to query the data repository to cross reference the entered order number with the vendor item number and to query the data repository to cross reference the entered order number with at least one of the secondary item number or the description of each of the plurality of products, and obtain a subset of relevant products associated with the entered order number when the entered order number does not correspond to a specific vendor item number stored in the data repository;   causing a plurality of user interface elements, each corresponding to one of the subset of relevant products to be presented on the client computing device; and   in response to a selection of one of the user interface elements from the presented plurality of user interface elements causing a performance by the vendor system to replace the entered order number in the order access point with the vendor item number associated with the one of the subset of relevant products corresponding to the selected one of user interface elements.   
     
     
         2 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the order access point is a text box. 
     
     
         3 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the text box is a parseable text box adapted to allow for input of a plurality of order numbers. 
     
     
         4 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 1 , wherein entering the order number comprises at least one of text input, voice response, barcode reading, or scanning 
     
     
         5 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 1 , wherein selection of the one of the user interface elements comprises at least one of an input device selection, a client computing device tap, a client computing device movement, or a client computing device touch. 
     
     
         6 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the obtained subset of relevant products associated with the entered order number includes information representative of each of the products. 
     
     
         7 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 6 , wherein the information includes at least one of an image, a description, a brand identifier, a manufacturer item number, an availability indicator, or a unit price. 
     
     
         8 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 1 , wherein each of the user interface elements comprises a link selectable to invoke a further user interface to provide additional information regarding the relevant product corresponding to the user interface element. 
     
     
         9 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 8 , wherein the additional information is a catalog page from a catalog on which resides the relevant product. 
     
     
         10 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 8 , wherein selection of the link causes the vendor system to redirect to a further page. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the further page is located within the vendor system. 
     
     
         12 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the further page is located within a system of a third party. 
     
     
         13 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the user interface elements are presented in a pop-up window within the client computing device. 
     
     
         14 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the user interface elements are presented in a portion of the displayed page. 
     
     
         15 . A computer-readable media as recited in  claim 1 , wherein causing the vendor system to query the data repository to cross reference the entered order number with the vendor item number is triggered in a substantially real-time basis. 
     
     
         16 . A non-transient, computer readable media having stored thereon instructions for providing access to an automated cross referencing functionality related to a customer order within an electronic vendor system, the instructions performing steps comprising:
 storing in a data repository a listing of a plurality of products that are available for purchase, wherein each of the plurality of products is directly associated with a vendor item number and wherein each of the plurality of products is capable of being associated with at least one of a secondary item number or a description;   causing a page to be displayed on a client computing device, the page comprising an order access point in which an order number corresponding to a desired item is enterable;   in response to an entering of the order number in the order access point causing the vendor system to query the data repository to cross reference the entered order number with the vendor item number and to query the data repository to cross reference the entered order number with at least one of the secondary item number or the description of each of the plurality of products, and obtain a subset of relevant products associated with the entered order number when the entered order number does not correspond to a specific vendor item number stored in the data repository;   causing at least one group of product attributes, each of the at least one group of product attributes corresponding to each of at least one returned product matches to be presented on the client computing device in a direct product comparison matrix window.