Systems and methods for servicing curb-side deliveries

Abstract

Systems and methods of processing orders are provided. In some embodiments, a retailer for fulfilling an order is chosen, and a predicted time of arrival for the customer to arrive at the retailer is determined. An order notification is transmitted to the retailer, which inserts the order into a preparation queue to be prepared and delivered to a pickup location by the predicted time of arrival. In some embodiments, the location of the customer is monitored and the predicted time of arrival may be updated if the location of the customer deviates from an expected location. In some embodiments, wearable employee devices are used to coordinate delivery of the order to the pickup location by an employee of the retailer.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 
     
         1 . A wearable employee device for use with a pickup management system by an employee of a retailer, the device comprising:
 at least one processor;   a wireless interface;   an input device; and   a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the at least one processor, cause the wearable employee device to perform actions comprising:
 receiving, via the wireless interface from a pickup management system, a notice about an order to be delivered from the retailer to a customer at a pickup location; 
 presenting a first alert to attract the attention of the employee; 
 receiving, via the input device, an input indicating that the employee intends to deliver the order; and 
 transmitting, via the wireless interface, an acknowledgement response to the notice. 
   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , further comprising a display, and wherein the actions further comprise:
 presenting, via the display, information regarding at least one of the order, the customer, and the pickup location.   
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , further comprising a vibration motor, and wherein presenting the first alert includes activating the vibration motor. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the actions further comprise:
 receiving, via the input device, an input indicating that the employee can no longer deliver the order; and   transmitting, via the wireless interface, an opt-out response indicating that the employee will not be able to deliver the order.   
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the actions further comprise:
 receiving, via the wireless interface, an escalation notice for the order; and   presenting a second alert to attract the attention of the employee, wherein the second alert is different from the first alert.   
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the actions further comprise interacting with a device of the customer to verify completion of the delivery. 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 6 , further comprising a bar code scanner, and wherein interacting with the device of the customer to verify completion of the delivery includes scanning a bar code displayed by the device of the customer. 
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 6 , further comprising a near-field communication (NFC) device, and wherein interacting with the device of the customer to verify completion of the delivery includes obtaining information from the device of the customer via the NFC device. 
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the input device includes at least one of a push button, an accelerometer, and a touchscreen. 
     
     
         10 . A computer-implemented method of coordinating a product delivery from a retailer, the method comprising:
 transmitting, by a pickup management system, a first notification indicating an order for delivery to a customer at a pickup location;   receiving, by the pickup management system from a wearable employee device, an acknowledgement response to the first notification; and   transmitting, by the pickup management system, information relating to the order to the wearable employee device for presentation by the wearable employee device.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , further comprising receiving, by the pickup management system from the wearable employee device, a confirmation that the order was delivered to the customer at the pickup location. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the pickup management system, an opt-out notification indicating that an employee associated with the wearable employee device can no longer delivery the order;   transmitting, by the pickup management system, a second notification indicating the order for delivery to the customer at the pickup location; and   receiving, by the pickup management system from a second wearable employee device, a second acknowledgement response to the second notification.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 in response to determining that greater than a threshold amount of time has passed before receiving the acknowledgement response, transmitting, by the pickup management system, an escalated notification indicating the order for deliver to the customer at the pickup location.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , wherein the escalated notification is transmitted to more wearable employee devices than the first notification. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 determining, by the pickup management system, that the customer has arrived at the pickup location before receiving the acknowledgement response from the wearable employee device; and   transmitting, by the pickup management system, a message to a customer computing device indicating that delivery of the order will be delayed.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , wherein the information related to the order includes one or more of identifying information for the customer, identifying information for a vehicle of the customer, identifying information for the order, and directions to the pickup location. 
     
     
         17 . A system for coordinating curb-side deliveries, the system comprising:
 one or more wearable employee devices; and   a pickup management system that includes one or more computing devices configured to:
 transmit a first notification to a first subset of the one or more wearable employee devices, the first notification indicating an order for delivery to a customer at a pickup location; 
 receive, from an accepting wearable employee device of the one or more wearable employee devices, an acknowledgement response to assign the order for delivery to the accepting wearable employee device; and 
 transmit order information to the accepting wearable employee device. 
   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more computing devices of the pickup management system are further configured to:
 transmit a second notification to a second subset of the one or more wearable employee devices upon determining that the acknowledgement response has not been received within a predetermined amount of time after transmitting the first notification.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more wearable employee devices are configured to present a first alert upon receiving the first notification, and to present a second alert different from the first alert upon receiving the second notification. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the pickup management system is further configured to receive a delivery confirmation from the accepting wearable employee device upon completion of the delivery of the order to the customer at the pickup location.