WO2001088824A2

WO2001088824A2 - Method and system for online custom footwear preparation

Info

Publication number: WO2001088824A2
Application number: PCT/US2001/040742
Authority: WO
Inventors: Nathan Lee Gorman; Jonathan Bobbett; Phillippe Wald
Original assignee: Imakit, Ltd.
Priority date: 2000-05-15
Filing date: 2001-05-15
Publication date: 2001-11-22
Also published as: AU2001259862A1

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ONLINE CUSTOM FOOTWEAR PREPARATION

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to footwear manufacturing systems and techniques; more particularly, the invention is directed to systems and techniques for designing, selling and manufacturing custom footwear. 2. Background of the Related Art In the past, a consumer who wished to purchase footwear had significantly restricted options. At a shoe store, for example, the consumer might be presented with a number of different styles to choose from, but within each style choices were limited. For example, someone choosing a penny loafer might be limited to three colors — brown, cordovan and black. While this may be acceptable for some consumers, others would prefer to have a greater degree of customizability when purchasing footwear.

The Nike iD system by Nike, Incorporated of Beaverton, Oregon (www.nike.com/nike_id) represents a partial solution to this problem. Nike iD lets the consumer choose from a number of different athletic shoe styles. Once the style is chosen, the consumer may assign colors for the shoe base or sole, material accent and logo accent from a limited palette. Also, the consumer may select a nickname or the like which is imprinted on the rear of the shoe. While the shoe is being configured, it may be viewed from several different angles.

Although the Nike iD system provides a limited level of flexibility for consumers who wish to purchase shoes, it does not go far enough. Given the choice, consumers would not doubt prefer additional customization choices when selecting merchandise. Additionally, while Nike iD does provide a shoe customization facility to a limited degree, it can do so only for Nike shoes. There is a great need for a customization facility which is not limited to a single brand, and one which can service several different brands simultaneously. Further, while larger brands may use the customization system for shoe customization only and handle associated tasks such as check-out and billing themselves, smaller brands may desire to have such functions as well handled by the customization facility. Additionally, it would be advantageous for such a customization system to be consumer-accessible not only through brand portals, but also directly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a footwear configuration, sales system and supply chain management tool which allows for a great deal of flexibility and customization in configuring footwear to be purchased by consumers, brands and retailers.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a footwear configuration and sales system which requires minimal effort on the part of consumers to select various options for the footwear and minimal effort to purchase the configured footwear.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a footwear configuration and sales system which is easily usable in a horizontal market structure.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a footwear configuration and sales system which allows consumers to design and purchase footwear without visiting a retailer or brand store.

It is an even further object of the present invention to provide a footwear configuration and sales system which permits customization and sales of footwear over a distributed communication system such as the Internet.

The above objects are achieved according to a first aspect of the present invention by providing a system for configuring and purchasing customized footwear. To design a pair of shoes, a consumer selects the type of shoe she desires by browsing a client's web site. The consumer can browse or surf through a variety of different categories until finally deciding to customize a shoe in his category of choice. The consumer selects materials, colors, textures and the like for a number of shoe components such as soles, uppers, logo, tongue, sock liner and laces, and can see the appearance of the shoe throughout the configuration process. Once the shoe is configured, the user may view it in its finished form in a three-dimensional display environment and, after the system checks its inventory to confirm that all necessary components are available, then purchase it. The system permits a wide variety of configurable footwear components, and is designed to accommodate an outsourced marketing structure where the user's interaction with the shoe manufacturer for configuration purposes is transparent within the user-brand or user-retailer experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention are better understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention operating over a distributed digital communication network;

FIGS. 2A-2D is a flowchart showing operation of the preferred embodiment; and FIGS. 3A-3I show sample shoe components used in the preferred embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PRESENTLY PREFERRED EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 1 permits a consumer to use his computer system 10 to access a footwear brand's computer system 20 via a distributed communication network such as the Internet 30. The consumer's computer system 10 is preferably a personal computer or the like which is operatively connected to the Internet 30 using a web browser and appropriate communication network access hardware such as a modem as is known in the art. The brand system 20 is typically a minicomputer or other system suitable for acting as a World Wide Web (WWW) server to serve web pages from the brand web site as is known in the art (the computer 20 of course need not actually be owned or operated by the brand, but may instead be a third party computer system which hosts the brand web pages, as is known in the art). Also connected to the Internet 30 as will be described in greater detail below is a manufacturer system 40 which is preferably a web server or other system suitable for web hosting, like the brand computer 20.

It should be noted that although system 20 will be described as a footwear brand system herein, it is meant to additionally include other parties similarly situated in the commerce stream, i.e., brands and the like. The brand system 20 may even be a part of the manufacturer system 40, where the manufacturer is acting as its own portal for the customization facility. Therefore, the brand party may be understood to include retailers or even the manufacturer marketing its own products, as the case may be. Depending on the respective identities of the brand and manufacturer, various modifications of the preferred embodiment will become apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, if the manufacturer is providing its own portal so that customers can purchase from it directly, it may not be necessary to provide an Internet connection between the systems 20 and 40. Indeed, the systems 20 and 40 may be resident on the same computer so that no external communication link is necessary at all. Such modifications will be understood to fall within the scope of the present invention and of the appended claim.

The consumer system 10 preferably initiates a session with the brand system 20 by accessing an appropriate page within the brand web site using its browser (see Step SI 00 in FIG. 2). This page may prompt the user to select one of two customization interfaces before proceeding further (SI 02), e.g., a high bandwidth version with detailed graphics, virtual reality modeling of designed shoes, etc., and a low bandwidth version with limited graphics and display capabilities. A certain level of hardware and software support will be necessary for each interface. For example, the high bandwidth interface may require a DSL, ISDN, T1-T3 or cable connection to an Internet service provider; a Version 4.5 or later browser; and an installed virtual reality program such as Apple

Computer's Quicktime VR plug-in, while the low bandwidth interface may require at least a 28.8 kbs modem connection to the Internet service provider and at least a Version 3.0 browser. To ensure that the consumer system 10 can indeed support the chosen interface, the manufacturer system 40 may "sniff the consumer system 10 (SI 04) as is known in the art and, if any of the software components are missing, offer to temporarily interrupt the footwear customization process so that the missing components can be downloaded via the Internet 30 and installed (S106). If the user's hardware is insufficient, the manufacturer system 40 may decline to proceed further with the customization process and terminate the session.

Once the manufacturer system 40 determines that the consumer system 10 is capable of supporting the chosen customization interface, it takes over primary interaction with the consumer system 10 from the brand system 20 and may present the consumer with a selection of different shoe styles, each of which can be customized (SI 10). The page may display all possible style choices, or it may provide access to a number of different footwear categories, such as: — Basketball Shoes — Casual Shoes

— Running Shoes — Skating Shoes

— Cross-Training Shoes — Tennis Shoes

each of which will provide a display of customizable selections in that particular category.

Once the consumer chooses a style which she wishes to customize and purchase (SI 16), the manufacturer system 40 preferably invokes in a separate window or frame of the browser a customization interface 50 resident on the manufacturer computer system 40, or a host of the manufacturer's web site (SI 18). The customization interface 50 preferably has the look and feel of the brand web site so that the change in interacting with the brand system 20 to interacting with the customization interface 50 is largely transparent to the consumer. Preferably, the call to invoke the customization interface 50, like all communication between the brand system 20 and the manufacturer system 40, is done via data strings passed to a predefined URL associated with one of the systems. Each data transfer can be directed and controlled with a different URL that exists on either the brand system 20 or the manufacturer system.

The initial call (SI 18) of brand system 20 to the manufacturer system 40 preferably includes a parameter passing a Global Unique Identifier (GUID) 60 to the manufacturer system 40 to track the session. This lets the brand know who the customer is when they come back into the brand system 20 later in the process. The GUTD 60 may be a customer ID number assigned by the brand system 20; however, the GUID 60 is preferably different for each order, including orders from the same consumer. Preferably, the GUID 60 has the form AAYYYYYY, where AA is a two-character brand ID which indicates the brand from which the GUID 60 originated. If this customer already has an open shopping cart on the brand system 20, a Shopping Cart BID will also be passed to the manufacturer system 40 so that it can pass the Shopping Cart BID back to the brand system 20 when the order is complete and can direct the new customized order back into the customer's existing shopping cart. Upon initialization, the customization interface 50 preferably stores the GUID 60 (S120) so it can later associate it with this particular order and displays a menu providing several choices to the consumer (SI 22), e.g.,

— Read All Instructions; — Design a Shoe

— Take a Tour -- Exit

The "Read All Instructions", "Take a Tour" and "Exit" choices are self-explanatory and known in the art. Choosing "Design a Shoe" brings up a view or partial of the selected shoe and begins the customization process (SI 24). Using the high bandwidth customization interface, the shoe will be displayed using Shockwave by Macromedia, Incorporated of San Francisco, California. Here, consumers can select shoe components and colors and click them into a "construction area" of the screen where they will snap into place, thus creating part of the shoe design. In the low bandwidth interface, the shoe will be displayed using regular graphics files in an HTML or Java interface. As the consumer selects components and colors from a menu-style interface, the system will display a graphics file showing the shoe with the chosen elements.

Possible component choices for shoe customization include:

— Sole Unit — Upper

— Outsole — Material ~ Midsole ~ Pattern

— Shank — Color

— Laces — Logo

— Tongue — Sock Liner

The consumer may be presented with each component choice sequentially, so that only one component may be customized at any particular time, or he may have a free ranging choice by clicking on available tabs from which all component choices are available. If the latter is the case, the customization interface 50 may require the consumer to make selections for all components before proceeding further, or it may provide default selections for all components so that if the consumer does not make a selection for that component, it is assigned the default value. Various possible stages in the customization process are shown in FIGs. 3A to 31. Those skilled in the art will realize, however, that other customization options may of course be available as system technology permits. Here, the customer is presented with each customizable shoe component sequentially. First, the system displays an unmodified shoe and prompts the customer to choose an upper in FIG. 3 A. In response, the customer pulls out the "Upper" tab 202 on the left of the screen to display a number of available upper choices in FIG. 3B. One of these choices is selected and in FIG. 3C the shoe picture is modified accordingly and the customer is prompted to choose a sole for the shoe. Upon pulling out the "Sole" tab 204 in FIG. 3D, the customer is presented with a number of choices for the sole of the shoe. One of these choices is selected and in FIG. 3E the shoe picture is change and the customer is prompted to choose a logo for the shoe. Pulling out the "Logo" tab 206 in FIG. 3F, the customer is presented with a number of choices for the logo. Choosing a logo displays the completed shoe in FIG. 3G and allows the customer to change the color of a particular customizable component by pointing to it with a mouse or other computer input device and clicking on the component. As the consumer selects various configurations and colors, the selection information is stored in a database 70 (SI 26) on the manufacturer system 40 in association with the GUID 60. This is done so that when the customer has completed an order, that order information can be attached to the GUID 60 with other pertinent information and sent back to the brand shopping cart via a data string. Each attribute of the shoe being designed has a code that is a part of a UPC component code in the inventory management system that uniquely identifies each possible component by size, gender and color.

For example, UPC component code assignments are preferably of the form AABBCCCDD - EEE - FF - G where AA is a brand identification designating the brand selling the shoe; BB is a category identification for the shoe, e.g., 01 = basketball, 02 = cross-training, etc.;

CCC is a shoe name indicator specifying the particular style of the shoe within the brand line of merchandise;

DD specifies the component, i.e., 01 = upper, 02 = midsole, 03 = outsole, etc.; EEE specifies the color of the component, e.g., 000 = white/white, 001 = white/black, 002 = white/navy, etc.;

FF specifies the size of the shoe, e.g., 01 = Junior 3.5, 08 = Men's 7.0, 25 = Women's 8.0; and G denotes the width of the shoe — 01 = medium; 02 = wide; 03 = narrow.

These codes tell the manufacturer what the consumer is building and also enable the manufacturer to efficiently warehouse those components and identify each one.

In addition to choosing colors, textures, finishes and the like for individual shoe components, the customization process may include specification of other design items. For example, a consumer may wish to imprint his name or a slogan on the shoes. This may be done by using the customization interface 50 to provide a box in which the consumer can type the desired message (SI 28), which can then be shown in the shoe graphic imprinted in the appropriate place. For this option, the customization interface 50 preferably checks the message (SI 30) to ensure that it does not contain any vulgar, offensive or otherwise socially unacceptable words in English or another language; it is also preferable that the system 50 checks the message to ensure it does not contain any brand names or the like — particularly, names of competing shoe brands!

Once the design process is complete, the consumer can click on a "View Design" button or the like (S130) (in FIG. 3G, it is the center circle divided into quarters) which provides a larger view of the designed shoe. In the high bandwidth interface this is done by displaying a Quicktime VR file of the designed shoe as shown in FIG. 3H which can be used to zoom in and out on the shoe, rotate it over 360°, etc. (FIG. 31 shows a rotated view). In the low bandwidth interface, this can be done by providing a large image of the shoe with a menu of various views of the shoe — top, front, side, etc. In either case, the displayed file or files are preferably selected from a number of such files stored in the manufacturer system database which cover all configuration possibilities for that shoe.

Once the consumer is satisfied with the shoe design, she preferably clicks on an "Add to Shopping Cart" button (S134). This preferably causes the customization interface 50 to pass the current GUID 60 and the multi-part ED back to the brand system 20 as a long data string so that it can identify the consumer's order.

Selecting "Add to Shopping Cart" also preferably brings up a dialog box (SI 36) which prompts the consumer to provide his or her gender, shoe size and width, and (optionally) a name for the shoe. This name is primarily for the appeal of the consumer, need not be unique, and is not used in processing the consumer's order. Also, it is a different parameter from the message selected to be imprinted on the shoe, although they may have the same value.

Once the consumer enters her shoe size and width information, the manufacturer system 40 checks its inventory database 50 (SI 38) to ensure that all components necessary to make that particular shoe design are in stock — for example, black uppers, navy sock liners and white midsoles. If any of the components are not available, the consumer will be presented with several choices (S140):

— Backorder to mm/dd/yy — Substitute Components

— Redesign Shoe — Exit

"Backorder" preferably gives the consumer an estimated date by which his order can be filled as is

(S142), and if this option is chosen the shoe design is stored in a database accessible by the brand system 20, the customization interface 50 is terminated and execution returns to the brand system 20 to continue the purchase process. If "Redesign Shoe" is chosen, the customization interface 50 is terminated and control preferably returns to the initial windows delivered by the brand system 20 which allow the consumer to choose a category and style of shoe (S122). If "Substitute Components" is chosen, for each shoe component which is not currently in stock the customization interface 50 presents the consumer with a menu of components which can be substituted in its place so that he may choose an acceptable substitute for each missing component (S148). Once this has been done, the shoe design is stored in a database 70 accessible by the brand system 20, the customization interface is terminated and execution returns to the brand system 20 to continue the purchase process. Prior to termination, the customization interface 50 preferably passes an identifier back to the brand system 20 which identifies the shoe that has been designed (S152). Preferably, the identifier includes the following information:

— GUJJD ~ Width - Shoe UPC - Shoe Name

— Gender ~ Date

— Size ~ Time

— Status

A sample identifier conforming to this specification might be

DN347239 / DN001-090 / Men's / 10 / Wide / Bill's Red Shoe / 3-1-00 / 14:03 / Designed

The manufacturer system 40 will assign each possible shoe configuration a unique Shoe ID, which identifies each component making up that particular shoe. A component is uniquely identified by the combination of its style and color but is independent of size. A table in the manufacturer system database 70 will store all the components of each possible shoe design. Rows will represent each shoe design and columns will contain possible attributes of that design. Each time a new shoe design is made available by the brand or manufacturer, the table will be completely filled in for all valid values for that design.

Prior to the above identifier being sent to the brand system 20, its Status field is preferably set to "Designed" in the manufacturer system database 70 (SI 54). It will retain this designation until the manufacturer system 40 receives further communication from the brand system 20 as described below (if the consumer chose to backorder the shoe, the Status field would have the value "Backorder").

Once the consumer is again interacting with the brand system 20, she may engage in other activities such as buying additional shoes, accessories or other clothing (SI 56). Additionally, she may even vary the designed shoe to a limited degree by changing its size or gender from the brand system 20. These changes will be reflected in the brand system's copy of the shoe's identifier. At some point the user will either choose to abandon her shopping cart or check out by, e.g., clicking on an appropriate button (SI 60). Upon checking out on the brand system, the brand system 20 will query the manufacturer system 40 (SI 62) to confirm that all shoe components are still in stock (this allows the consumer to change the gender and/or size of the shoe without re-entering the customization interface 50 as described above). Preferably, the query uses SQL statements and returns a number indicative of the status:

— 1 = valid and in stock — 4 = invalid, component discontinued

— 2 = valid but backordered — 5 = invalid, reason unknown

— 3 = invalid, shoe line discontinued

If the shoe is not in stock, the brand system 20 will notify the consumer and allow her to either re-enter the customization interface 50 to substitute available components, start the design process anew, or abandon the design altogether. If all components are still in stock, a data string is sent to the manufacturer system 40 to enable it to update its database if necessary, and the consumer will be presented with a checkout screen such as the one in FIG. 4 (S 168). Upon satisfactory completion of the checkout screen, an identifier representative of the consumer's order and of the form

GUID / Shoe UPC / Gender / Size / Width / Shoe Name / First Name / Last Name / Shipping Address 1 / Shipping Address 2 / City / State / ZIP / Country / Shipping Method / Shipping Status / Date / Time

will preferably be passed back to the manufacturer system 40 (SI 70), e.g.,

DN347239 / DN001-0090 / Men's / 11 / Medium / Bill's Red Shoe / Bill / Jones / 123 Main Street / Apt. A / Anyto n / CA / 94300 / USA / UPS Ground / Ordered / Date / Time

and processed through business channels as is known in the art (if multiple pairs of shoes are ordered, a separate string will be sent for each). As can be seen, the Status field in the identifier has been changed from "Designed" to "Ordered". The above description is of an embodiment in which the brand system 20 takes care of billing arrangements and the like; however, this functionality may alternatively be implemented by the manufacturer system 40. This arrangement is particularly advantageous for small brands who cannot or do not which to handle the financial responsibilities associated with shoe orders. The shoe order will be processed and manufactured at the manufacturer's facilities

(SI 72) (at which time the Status field will be set to "Shipped"), and the consumer will receive her order in a predetermined period of time. The shoes may be shipped directly from the manufacturer's facilities, or they may be shipped from the brand facilities along with other merchandise purchased from the brand. During shipping, the consumer may access the brand system 20 to check on the status of the order and track its delivery as is known in the art. The brand system 20 may use functions to query the manufacturer system 40 in this regard. For example, a brand system-resident Get Order Item Status function takes BrandEO, OrderBID and OrderltemBED as SQL statements and returns an order item status as described above. Additionally, once an order is shipped the manufacturer system 40 may assign it a tracking number via UPS shipping software so that its progress in shipping can be observed. Also, a Get Tracking Number function can be invoked by the brand system 20 to obtain this number.

Further, the manufacturer system 40 may use an External Update Status function to update the status of a particular order when it changes, e.g., from "Ordered" to "Shipped". For internal housekeeping functions, the brand system 20 may query the manufacturer system 40 on what orders are outstanding. This is done with a Request Order List function which takes BrandlD, range start and end dates and a desired status as form elements and returns a list of orders (specifically, OrderBID and Status fields) via form elements or XML which are dated between the two range dates and have the specified status. If the Status element is left blank, orders having any status are returned. If the starting and ending range dates are left blank, any order since the first use of the system or up to the present time, respectively, are matched.

The present invention has been described above in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof; however, this has been done for purposes of illustration only, and the invention is not so limited. Indeed, variations of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and also fall within the scope of the invention.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method of selling a customizable product over a distributed communication system, the method comprising: enabling a customer of a brand to interact with the brand over the distributed communication system and initiate a product customization process; in response to initiation of the customization process, causing the customer to interact with a manufacturer of the customized product over the communication system; and receiving by the manufacturer, over the communication system, the customer's customization choices for a customized product.