Beverage product acquisition and inventory management system

Abstract

A method of optimizing computerized inventory orders over a distributed network is disclosed. The method includes receiving, from a first user device connected to the distributed network, a list of products, the list including a par value and an inventory value associated with each of the products, determining, an inventory order based, on the associated par value and the associated inventory value of each of the products, receiving, from a second user device connected to the distributed network, a set of available promotions, transmitting, the set of available promotions associated with at least one of the products to the first user device, receiving, from the first user device, a selection of at least one promotion of the set of available promotions, and automatically adjusting, a price of at least one of the products associated with the at least one promotion to the inventory order.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of product inventory management of inventory systems dispersed over a network for access to the product inventory comprising:
 receiving, from a buyer device connected to the network, an order request selecting one or more products from a list of products;   retrieving, from a database connected to the network, product provider information associated with the selected one or more products indicating the respective one or more product providers providing the selected one or more products, wherein each of the selected one or more products is associated with a single product provider;   translating, by one or more processors, the order request into one or more product provider specific sub-orders based on the product provider information associated with the selected one or more products; and   transmitting, over the network, the one or more product provider specific sub-orders to one or more product provider devices associated with the respective one or more product providers.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the list of products is the buyer's inventory stored in the database. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the list of products comprises previously ordered products. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving, from the buyer device, a selection of one or more approved product providers, wherein at least part of the order request is associated with the one or more approved product providers. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the list of products is configured for display on a user device as product provider sub lists based on associated product provider information, wherein each of the selected one or more products is associated with a single sub list. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, over the network to the buyer device, status information for each of the one or more product provider specific sub-orders. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the buyer device, a search query for a desired product;   determining, by the one or more processors, at least one product from the list of the products that corresponds to the desired product, wherein the at least one corresponding product has associated product information; and   transmitting the associated product information for the at least one corresponding product, over the network, to the buyer device for display.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the one or more product provider devices, one or more order confirmations; and   transmitting the one or more order confirmations to the buyer device.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the product provider is a beverage distributor. 
     
     
         10 . A method of organizing a plurality of distributor inventory systems over a network to facilitate access to the plurality of distributor computer inventory systems by customers comprising:
 storing, in a database, a list of beverage products, the beverage products associated with a plurality of distributors;   receiving, from a customer device over the centralized network, a request for one or more beverage products;   determining, by one or more processors, one or more distributors associated with the one or more beverage products based on the stored association of beverage products to distributors, wherein each of the one or more beverage products is associated with a single distributor;   organizing, by the one or more processors, the request into a plurality of requests when more than one of the requested one or more beverage products is associated with more than one distributor, wherein each of the plurality of requests is specific to the respective distributor and comprises at least one beverage product associated with the respective distributor; and   transmitting, over the centralized network, each of the plurality of requests to a distributor device associated with the respective distributor.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising receiving, over the centralized network, from a distributor device associated with one of the plurality of distributors, a modification of the beverage products associated with the distributor. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein:
 the request is for two or more beverage products;   the determining step comprises:
 determining a first distributor associated with at least one first beverage product of the two or more beverage products, and 
 determining a second distributor associated with at least one second beverage product of the two or more beverage products; and 
   the organizing step comprises dividing the request into a first request to the first distributor comprising the at least one first beverage product and a second request to the second distributor comprising the at least one second beverage product.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising
 retrieving, from the database, distributor information specific to each respective distributor, wherein the distributor information comprises information on order software used by the respective distributor; and   converting, by the one or more processors, each request of the plurality of requests into a format compatible with the order software of the respective distributor receiving the request based on the distributor information.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the distributor information comprises order templates for each respective distributor, and the converting step comprises using the order template of the respective distributor to convert the request into a format compatible with the respective distributor system. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising receiving electronic location information from the customer device, wherein determining the one or more distributors is based, at least in part, on the location information associated with the customer device. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein determining the one or more distributors is based, at least in part, on a pre-existing list of one or more approved distributors for each of the one or more beverage products. 
     
     
         17 . A centralized beverage product inventory management and acquisition system, comprising:
 a database storing product information for a plurality of beverage products, wherein the product information comprises information identifying a distributor associated with the plurality of beverage products;   a processing device; and   a computer readable medium containing programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
 receive, from a first user device connected to the processing device over a network, a single order for a plurality of beverage products; 
 retrieve, from the database, product information for the plurality of beverage products in the order; 
 determine, based on the retrieved product information, a distributor associated with the plurality of beverage products in the order, wherein at least two different distributors are associated with the plurality of beverage products in the order and each beverage product of the plurality of beverage products is associated with a single distributor; 
 separate the single order into at least two sub orders associated with the at least two distributors, wherein the at least two sub orders have order specifications compatible with the respective distributor's internal order system; and 
 transmit, over the network to at least two distributor devices associated with the at least two distributors, the at least two sub orders. 
   
     
     
         18 . The centralized beverage product inventory management and acquisition system of  claim 17 , wherein the processing device comprises communications fabric enabling direct communication between the first user device and a distributor device coupled to the network. 
     
     
         19 . The centralized beverage product inventory management and acquisition system of  claim 17 , wherein
 the database further stores a user's product order history; and   the single order for the plurality of beverage products comprises a selection of one or more previously ordered beverage products from the user's product order history.   
     
     
         20 . The centralized beverage product inventory management and acquisition system of  claim 17 , wherein the product information further comprises information on one or more approved distributors for at least one of the plurality of beverage products, wherein at least one distributor determined to be associated with at least one of the plurality of beverage products in the order is an approved distributor.