Automatically presenting e-commerce offers based on browse history

Abstract

Techniques are described for automatically extracting items from a user's browse history on one or more e-commerce websites, and automatically searching other e-commerce websites and sources for offers (including coupons, deals, and/or promotions) for those items and/or related items and/or stores. Such automated techniques allow users to gain the benefit of online offers from various sources, without having to go through the effort of manually searching for such offers. Instead, the system and method automatically locate such offers based on the user's browse history, without requiring any action to be taken on the part of the user.

1 - 42 . (canceled) 
     
     
         43 . A computer-implemented method for automatically identifying and presenting e-commerce offers to a user based on browse history, comprising:
 at a processor, accessing a user's browse history in connection with a first e-commerce website visited by a browser operating on a user device associated with the user;   at the processor and based on the user's browse history, identifying an offer for at least one item that was previously browsed by the user;   at the processor, identifying at least one further offer for the at least one item on a second e-commerce website; and   at the processor, causing an electronic application to add the at least one further offer for the at least one item on the second e-commerce website to a universal shopping cart associated with the user.   
     
     
         44 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 43 , wherein at a time that the at least one further offer for the at least one item on the second e-commerce website is added to the universal shopping cart associated with the user, the browser operating on the user device has not browsed the at least one item on the second e-commerce website. 
     
     
         45 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 43 , further comprising:
 at the processor, causing the user device to generate an output that includes a visual presentation of the at least one further offer and an interface element; and   receiving an indication that the user has selected the interface element, wherein addition of the at least one further offer for the at least one item on the second e-commerce website to the universal shopping cart associated with the user is performed in response to receiving the indication.   
     
     
         46 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 43 , wherein addition of the at least one further offer for the at least one item on the second e-commerce website to the universal shopping cart associated with the user is performed automatically in response to the identifying of the at least one further offer. 
     
     
         47 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 46 , further comprising:
 in response to addition of the at least one further offer to the universal shopping cart, automatically completing a purchase of the at least one further offer on the second e-commerce website without navigating the browser to the second e-commerce website.   
     
     
         48 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 43 , further comprising:
 causing the user device to output a visual display of the universal shopping cart that includes an interface element that is operable to complete a purchase of the at least one further offer on the second e-commerce website without navigating the browser to the second e-commerce website.   
     
     
         49 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 43 , wherein accessing the user's browse history in connection with the first e-commerce website includes causing the user device, in a background operating context that is configured not to interrupt a current browsing session of the browser, to:
 obtain an identifier associated with the user that is stored on the user device and that corresponds to the first e-commerce website; and   provide the identifier to the first e-commerce website so as to access browse history data stored by the first e-commerce website, the browse history data including the user's browse history.   
     
     
         50 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 43 , wherein accessing the user's browse history in connection with the first e-commerce website includes causing the user device, in a background operating context that is configured not to interrupt a current browsing session of the browser, to access a local storage of the user device that stores the user's browse history. 
     
     
         51 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 43 , wherein the at least one further offer is identified based on a price of the at least one further offer being less than a price of the previously browsed offer from the first e-commerce website. 
     
     
         52 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 51 , further comprising:
 identifying at least one discount that is applicable to the at least one further offer on the second website, wherein the price of the at least one further offer takes into account the at least one discount.   
     
     
         53 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 52 , further comprising:
 automatically testing the at least one discount, wherein the identifying of the at least one further offer is further based on the automatic testing of the at least one discount being successful.   
     
     
         54 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 43 , further comprising:
 at the processor, accessing the user's browse history in connection with at least one further e-commerce website visited by the browser operating on the user device associated with the user;   at the processor and based on the user's browse history, identifying an offer for at least one further item that was previously browsed by the user;   at the processor, identifying at least one further offer for the at least one further item on a third e-commerce website; and   at the processor, causing the electronic application to add the at least one further offer for the at least one further item on the third e-commerce website to the universal shopping cart associated with the user, such that the universal shopping cart includes at least one offer from each of the second and the third e-commerce websites, wherein the universal shopping cart is operable to complete a single purchase the completes for the offers from the second and third e-commerce websites without navigating the browser to either of the second or third e-commerce websites.   
     
     
         55 . A computer-implemented method for automatically identifying and presenting e-commerce offers to a user based on browse history, comprising:
 at a processor, accessing a user's browse history in connection with a first e-commerce source visited by a browser or a first electronic application operating on a user device associated with the user;   at the processor and based on the user's browse history, identifying an offer for at least one item that was previously browsed by the user;   at the processor, identifying at least one further offer for the at least one item on a second e-commerce source; and   at the processor, causing a second electronic application to add the at least one further offer for the at least one item on the second e-commerce source to a universal shopping cart associated with the user.   
     
     
         56 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 55 , further comprising:
 at the processor, causing the user device to generate an output that includes a visual presentation of the at least one further offer and an interface element; and   receiving an indication that the user has selected the interface element, wherein addition of the at least one further offer for the at least one item on the second e-commerce source to the universal shopping cart associated with the user is performed in response to receiving the indication.   
     
     
         57 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 55 , wherein:
 addition of the at least one further offer for the at least one item on the second e-commerce source to the universal shopping cart associated with the user is performed automatically in response to the identifying of the at least one further offer; and   the computer-implemented method further comprises, in response to addition of the at least one further offer to the universal shopping cart, automatically completing a purchase of the at least one further offer on the second e-commerce source without navigating the browser or the first electronic application to the second e-commerce source.   
     
     
         58 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 55 , further comprising:
 causing the user device to output a visual display of the universal shopping cart that includes an interface element that is operable to complete a purchase of the at least one further offer on the second e-commerce source without navigating the browser to the second e-commerce source.   
     
     
         59 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 55 , wherein accessing the user's browse history in connection with the first e-commerce source includes causing the user device, in a background operating context that is configured not to interrupt a current browsing session of the browser or the first electronic application, to:
 obtain an identifier associated with the user that is stored on the user device and that corresponds to the first e-commerce source; and   provide the identifier to the first e-commerce source so as to access browse history data stored by the first e-commerce source, the browse history data including the user's browse history.   
     
     
         60 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 55 , wherein accessing the user's browse history in connection with the first e-commerce source includes causing the user device, in a background operating context that is configured not to interrupt a current browsing session of the browser, to access a local storage of the user device that stores the user's browse history. 
     
     
         61 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 55 , further comprising:
 at the processor, accessing the user's browse history in connection with at least one further e-commerce source visited by the browser or the first electronic application operating on the user device associated with the user;   at the processor and based on the user's browse history, identifying an offer for at least one further item that was previously browsed by the user;   at the processor, identifying at least one further offer for the at least one further item on a third e-commerce source; and   at the processor, causing the first electronic application to add the at least one further offer for the at least one further item on the third e-commerce source to the universal shopping cart associated with the user, such that the universal shopping cart includes at least one offer from each of the second and the third e-commerce source, wherein the universal shopping cart is operable to complete a single purchase the completes for the offers from the second and third e-commerce source without navigating the browser or the first electronic application to either of the second or third e-commerce sources.   
     
     
         62 . A system for automatically identifying and presenting e-commerce offers to a user based on browse history, comprising:
 at least one memory storing instructions; and   at least one processor operatively connected to the memory, and configured to execute the instructions to perform operations, including:
 accessing a user's browse history in connection with a first e-commerce website visited by a browser operating on a user device associated with the user; 
 based on the user's browse history, identifying an offer for at least one item that was previously browsed by the user; 
 identifying at least one further offer for the at least one item on a second e-commerce website, wherein at least one further offer is identified based on a price of the at least one further offer being less than a price of the previously browsed offer from the first e-commerce website; and 
 causing an electronic application to add the at least one further offer for the at least one item on the second e-commerce website to a universal shopping cart associated with the user.