Peer-to-peer delivery for sales consultant users

Abstract

A mobile application may be used to track sales consultants' businesses, such as by tracking a local inventory maintained by the consultant. Determining whether local inventory is sufficient for fulfilling a sales order may be assisted by updating a database of the application with restocking information. The local inventory may be insufficient for fulfilling some sales orders. However, other sales consultants' inventory may be checked to identify peer consultants who may be able to assist in completing the sales order by performing peer-to-peer delivery of some or all items in a sales order.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by a server from a first device, first local stock information for goods stocked by a first sales consultant user;   receiving, by the server from the first device, an indication of goods in a sales order for a customer of the first sales consultant user that cannot be fulfilled by the first sales consultant user according to the first lock stock information;   determining, by the server, whether the sales order can be fulfilled at least in part from a second local stock information for goods stocked by a second sales consultant user; and   transmitting, by the server to a second device, a request for the second sales consultant user to deliver the goods to the customer when the sales order can be fulfilled at least in part by the second sales consultant user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the request for the second sales consultant user comprises a request for all items of the received sales order. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the server from the second device, an acceptance of the request by the second sales consultant;   receiving, by the server from the second device, a confirmation of delivery in completion of the request by the second sales consultant; and   transmitting, by the server to the first device, a confirmation of the delivery for the first sales consultant.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising deducting, by the server, modifying the second local stock information to deduct the delivered goods after receiving the acceptance of the request from the second device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of determining whether the sales order can be fulfilled from the second local stock information comprises:
 filtering, by the server, a plurality of consultants based, at least in part, on at least one of whether a consultant has agreed to accept fulfillment requests and whether a consultant is a geographic match to the customer of the first sales consultant;   determining, by the server, whether the sales order can be fulfilled from a local stock of one of the filtered plurality of consultants; and   selecting, by the server, the second sales consultant from the filtered plurality of consultants when the second local stock information indicates the sales order can be fulfilled at least in part from a second local stock information for goods stocked by a second sales consultant user.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the server from the first device, a stock replenishment package identifier for a package containing goods shipped from a central warehouse; and   updating, by the server, the first local stock information for the first sales consultant user based, at least in part, on the received stock replenishment package identifier.   
     
     
         7 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a memory;   a network communications adapter;   a processor coupled to the memory and to the network communications adapter,
 wherein the processor is configured to perform steps comprising:
 receiving, from a first device through the network communications adapter, first local stock information for goods stocked by a first sales consultant user; 
 receiving, from the first device through the network communications adapter, an indication of goods in a sales order for a customer of the first sales consultant user that cannot be fulfilled by the first sales consultant user according to the first lock stock information; 
 determining, by the processor, whether the sales order can be fulfilled at least in part from a second local stock information for goods stocked by a second sales consultant user; and 
 transmitting, to a second device through the network communications adapter, a request for the second sales consultant user to deliver the goods to the customer when the sales order can be fulfilled at least in part by the second sales consultant user. 
 
   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the request for the second sales consultant user comprises a request for all items of the received sales order. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform steps comprising:
 receiving, from the second device through the network communications adapter, an acceptance of the request by the second sales consultant;   receiving, from the second device through the network communications adapter, a confirmation of delivery in completion of the request by the second sales consultant; and   transmitting, to the first device through the network communications adapter, a confirmation of the delivery for the first sales consultant.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform steps comprising deducting, by the server, modifying the second local stock information to deduct the delivered goods after receiving the acceptance of the request from the second device. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the step of determining whether the sales order can be fulfilled from the second local stock information comprises:
 filtering, by the processor, a plurality of consultants based, at least in part, on at least one of whether a consultant has agreed to accept fulfillment requests and whether a consultant is a geographic match to the customer of the first sales consultant;   determining, by the processor, whether the sales order can be fulfilled from a local stock of one of the filtered plurality of consultants; and   selecting, by the processor, the second sales consultant from the filtered plurality of consultants when the second local stock information indicates the sales order can be fulfilled at least in part from a second local stock information for goods stocked by a second sales consultant user.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform steps comprising:
 receiving, from the first device through the network communications adapter, a stock replenishment package identifier for a package containing goods shipped from a central warehouse; and   updating, by the processor, the first local stock information for the first sales consultant user based, at least in part, on the received stock replenishment package identifier.   
     
     
         13 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by a first device, customer information for a plurality of customers associated with a first sales consultant user;   receiving, by the first device, local stock information for goods stocked by the first sales consultant user;   receiving, by the first device, a sales order for a customer of the plurality of customers, wherein the sales order lists one or more sold items;   determining, by the first device, whether the goods stocked by the first sales consultant user listed in the local stock information are sufficient to fulfill the received sales order;   transmitting, by the first device, a request for at least one of the one or more sold items from a second sales consultant user when the goods stocked by the first sales consultant user are determined insufficient to fulfill the received sales order.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the step of transmitting the request comprises the first device transmitting the request to a server, and wherein the method further comprises receiving a delivery confirmation from the server indicating that the request was fulfilled. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the step of transmitting the request comprises the first device transmitting the request to a plurality of devices, and wherein the method further comprises receiving a delivery confirmation from a second device of the plurality of devices indicating that the request was fulfilled. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the step of transmitting the request comprises the first device transmitting the request to a second device for distribution to at least one other device, and wherein the method further comprises receiving a delivery confirmation from the second device indicating that the request was fulfilled. 
     
     
         17 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a first device, comprising:
 a memory; 
 a network communications adapter; and 
 a processor coupled to the memory and to the network communications adapter, wherein the processor is configured to perform steps comprising:
 receiving, by the processor of the first device, customer information for a plurality of customers associated with a first sales consultant user; 
 receiving, by the processor of the first device, local stock information for goods stocked by the first sales consultant user; 
 receiving, by the processor of the first device, a sales order for a customer of the plurality of customers, wherein the sales order lists one or more sold items; 
 determining, by the processor of the first device, whether the goods stocked by the first sales consultant user listed in the local stock information are sufficient to fulfill the received sales order; 
 transmitting, through the network communications adapter of the first device, a request for at least one of the one or more sold items from a second sales consultant user when the goods stocked by the first sales consultant user are determined insufficient to fulfill the received sales order. 
 
   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the processor of the first device is configured to transmit the request by transmitting the request to a server, and wherein the processor of the first device is further configured to receive a delivery confirmation from the server indicating that the request was fulfilled. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the processor of the first device is configured to transmit the request by transmitting the request to a plurality of devices, and wherein the processor of the first device is further configured to receive a delivery confirmation from a second device of the plurality of devices indicating that the request was fulfilled. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the processor of the first device is configured to transmit the request by transmitting the request to a second device for distribution to at least one other device, and wherein the processor of the first device is further configured to receive a delivery confirmation from the second device indicating that the request was fulfilled.