| 摘要 |
Systems and methods for facilitating complex purchasing decision across a plurality of potential product (or service) vendors are based on accumulating pricing, logistical (inventory, shipping, transport, etc.), and performance (past delivery timeliness, satisfaction, etc.) information from a spectrum of relevant sources (vendors, shippers, warehouses, distributors, manufacturers, information aggregators, etc.) and using linear optimization methods to specifically recommend one or more vendors from whom to buy a given product at a given logistical moment taking into account the plurality of underlying factors considered. The mathematical linear optimization analysis is preferably further refined by considering vendor selection priorities of the purchaser, which may be either purchaser-selected or may be generalized to a category of purchaser (such as government versus private, employee size, etc.). |
