System and process for local acquisition of products priced online

摘要

A system and process for establishing prices for products on line and for allowing acquisition of those products from retailers that honor such prices. The system and process involve a customer having a credit card account, a computer terminal configured to access a network, and a central authority coupled to the computer terminal via the network. The central authority maintains information about a product and a corresponding price. The price is established by the central authority and the central authority is configured to communicate the information about the product and the price to the customer via the network. Also involved is a credit card processor that is coupled to the central authority. The credit card processor is configured to query the information maintained by the central authority and to receive the price from the central authority. A retailer is involved and includes a point-of-sale system coupled to the central authority and to the credit card processor. The retailer is configured to deliver the product to the customer after the customer purchases the product from the retailer via his credit card account or other form of payment at the price established by the central authority and provided to the retailer and the point-of-sale system by the credit card processor.