Methods for real time discovery, selection, and engagement of most economically feasible printing service vendors among multiple known vendors

摘要

A method and system for routing electronic print orders among a grouping of two or more print vendors over a data network includes acquiring print vendor information from the grouping of two or more print vendors for printing and shipping relative to one or more products resulting from completion of the one or more electronic print orders; utilizing an algorithm having one or more weighing functions to analyze said printer information to calculate print vendor scores characterizing each print vendor, and comparing the print vendor scores to identify the most preferable print vendor based on the print vendor information, wherein the print vendor information comprises current cost estimates and delivery time estimates; and a third function for dynamically routing one or more of the electronic print orders according to the results of scoring performed by the second function.

主权项

1. A system for routing electronic print orders among a grouping of two or more print vendors over a network for delivery to one or more customers, the system comprising:
a server connected to the network, the server having access to at least one processor and at least one data repository, the server including one or more non-transitory physical media; and program code running from one or more of the non-transitory physical media, the program code providing functions for: acquiring print vendor information from the grouping of two or more print vendors for shipping relative to one or more products resulting from fulfillment of the electronic print orders, wherein the print vendor information comprises at least job capacity capability current cost estimates and delivery time estimates; acquiring customer information about the one or more customers to identify a customer who has a high probability to purchase additional products in a reasonable future time because of expedient shipping of a current print order; utilizing an algorithm having one or more weighing functions to analyze said print vendor information and said customer information to calculate print vendor scores characterizing each print vendor relative to the one or more customers, and comparing the print vendor scores to identify the most preferable print vendor based on the print vendor information and the customer information for a selected customer, wherein the customer information for the selected profitable customer comprises a customer score exceeding a threshold score established based on the selected profitable customer exhibiting a level of activity that surpasses the threshold score; and dynamically routing one or more of the electronic print orders according to the print vendor scores calculated to expedite shipping to the selected customer.