WO2002027634A1 - Systems and methods for providing an electronic community of vendors - Google Patents

Abstract

A plurality of vendors (90) and stored member accounts (126, 132) allow for the purchase of products and/or services from the plurality of vendors (90). The member accounts (126, 132, 86) may include personal information and/or behavioral information and may be used to form a report that provides valuable information to a vendor. Vendors and individual members are allowed to receive a variety of benefits such as referral fees, specific customer information, focused advertisements (150, 152), reduced prices, or frequent buying incentives. By preserving member information (86), the benefits may be provided to the vendors and individual members whether the products and/or services are purchased at a traditional store, an electronic store, or through the use of a telephone menu system.

Description

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING AN ELECTRONIC COMMUNITY OF VENDORS

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. The Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing an electronic community of vendors. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronically combined plurality of vendors and the creation of individual member accounts that are preserved in electronic storage devices. The accounts allow members to purchase products and/or services from the plurality of vendors at a reduced price and enable detailed member information to be tracked in order to provide members with additional benefits and tailored advertisements, while providing vendors with referral fees and specific customer information. 2. The Prior State of the Art The advent of the information age has drastically altered the manner of conducting a purchase transaction. Historically, all purchase transactions were conducted on paper. A customer would enter a store and tender cash in exchange for goods and/or services provided by the store. The customer was given a paper receipt to demonstrate that the customer had made the purchase, and would receive the purchased goods and/or services from the store. When the customer did not have the necessary cash, an account of credit was created by the store through the acceptance of a written statement, signed by the customer, which indicated the amount of money the customer was indebted to the store. Such a statement was frequently referred to as an "I owe you." Upon tendering the statement, the customer was given a paper receipt to demonstrate that the customer had made the purchase and was provided the purchased goods or services from the store.

In a similar manner, a personal check has been made out to a store and signed by the purchaser in exchange for goods and/or services from the store. The personal check enabled the store to receive the amount of currency written on the check to be withdrawn from the purchaser's bank account and deposited into the store's bank account. Upon delivery of the personal check, the goods and/or services were given to the purchaser.

With the advent of the personal computer, electronic systems have allowed purchase transactions to take place electronically. Computer systems enable credit cards to be swiped through machines to determine whether the customer has sufficient credit in the corresponding account to enable the customer to be able to purchase specific goods and/or services. If a sufficient amount of credit exists in the customer's credit card account, the cost of the product or service can be charged to the customer's credit card. Similarly, bankcards are swiped through machines to allow for the electronic transfer of currency from the customer's bank account to the vendor in exchange for goods and/or services. Upon authorization that sufficient credit is available, the purchase transaction is conducted and the customer receives the goods and/or services from the vendor. More recently, the Internet has allowed the entire purchase transaction to take place electronically. A customer may now download, from any computer having access to the Internet, a web page sponsored by a vendor that displays goods and/or services for sale. The vendor may be a local vendor or may be from across the world. The customer may then electronically select for purchase any of the goods and/or services that are displayed on the web page. Payment for the goods and/or services may utilize an electronic account, an electronic check, or a credit card number. Upon payment, goods are shipped to the customer through the use of a postal or express mail service, or picked up at the vendor's store or warehouse.

Therefore, where it was once required for a customer to enter a store and tender currency in order to purchase goods and/or services, the advent of the information age has drastically altered the manner of conducting a purchase transaction by allowing a customer to utilize a local computer to conduct an electronic purchase transaction from his/her own home or office with a vendor anywhere in the world, the vendor utilizing a postal or express mail service to deliver the goods. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing an electronic community of vendors. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronically combined plurality of vendors and the creation of individual member accounts that are preserved in electronic storage devices. The accounts allow members to purchase products and/or services from the plurality of vendors at a reduced price and enable detailed member information to be tracked in order to provide members with additional benefits and tailored advertisements, while providing vendors with referral fees and specific customer information. Throughout the disclosure, the electronic community of vendors is referred to as a "VORTAL," which includes a plurality of vendors of an electronic community that offer products and/or services for sale to individual members of the electronic community. An individual member is a customer that has set up a membership account with the VORTAL in order to purchase products and/or services within the VORTAL. The vendors of the VORTAL may be categorized as either a "sponsor vendor" or a "member vendor." The sponsor vendor is the vendor that enlisted a particular member, while a member vendor includes the remaining non-sponsoring vendors of the member. The present invention may be practiced in combination with an electronic store (i.e. an electronic location or web page of a vendor where a customer may visit electronically to purchase products and/or services from that vendor), a traditional store (i.e. a physical location or building of a vendor where a customer may go to purchase products and/or services from that vendor), a catalogue system, a telephonic menu system, and the like. Furthermore, the present invention may be practiced in network computing environments with many types of computer system configurations, including personal computers, hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. A unique membership identification is assigned and an account is created for each member of a VORTAL. The member account may include personal information (i.e. the member's sex, age, income level, email address, residence, occupation, hobbies, etc.), transactional information (i.e. the member's credit cared number, electronic account number, etc.), and/or behavioral information (i.e. purchases made by the member, web pages visited, advertisements selected, etc.) and is stored in a storage device that may be accessed by a computer. A membership account may also include the identification of a sponsor for that member. All or part of the information of the membership account may be sorted and combined with information from other member accounts to form a report that provides valuable information to a vendor in order to tailor general advertisements or offers, focus the vendor's presentation of their products and/or services, target a specific type of customer of the vendor, identify the type of customer that is interested in the vendor's products and/or services, and indicate what other types of products and/or services are bought by the customers that purchase the vendor's products and/or services.

In order to purchase a product and/or service from the VORTAL, an individual member presents his/her unique membership identification. Purchasing within the VORTAL allows a member to receive incentives, such as reduced prices, credits to his/her membership account, focused advertisements, frequent buyer points, etc. When the individual member purchases a product or service from a vendor that is not his/her sponsor, the sponsor may receive a referral fee from the vendor that provided the purchased products and/or services. In interacting with members of a VORTAL, a determination is made as to whether or not to utilize shielding, tracking, and/or uniformity, to perform a purchase transaction, and/or to provide an offer or advertisement. Shielding prevents an individual member from electronically accessing products and/or services of the VORTAL that are in direct competition with products and/or services provided by the individual member's sponsor. Tracking allows for the collection of specific behavioral information of a member, including the selection of a vendor, product and/or service, the purchase of a product and/or service, the selection of an offer or advertisement, a member's interest in a particular product and/or service, the frequency in which the member uses the system, etc. Uniformity allows web pages or other resources used to display the products and/or services of the VORTAL to have a similar look and feel. Tailored advertisements or offers include information from the member's account that cause the advertisement or offer to be tailored to that particular member and are given to incite a member to make a purchase. The tailored advertisements or offers may be presented to a member in the form of banner advertisements, email messages, phone calls, traditional mail correspondence, etc. Therefore, through the practice of the present invention, vendors and individual members of the VORTAL may receive a variety of benefits, such as referral fees, specific customer information, focused advertisements, reduced prices, frequent buying incentives, and the like. By preserving member information in computer-readable media, the benefits are provided to the vendors and individual members whether the products and/or services are purchased from the VORTAL at a traditional store, an electronic store, through the use of a telephone menu system, or the like. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The features and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the manner in which the above recited and other advantages and features of the invention are obtained, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary system that provides a suitable operating environment for the present invention; Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram that represents an exemplary networked system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary VORTAL, which includes a plurality of vendors within an electronic community that offer products and/or services for sale to individual members of the community; Figure 4 is a flowchart that details an exemplary embodiment for interacting with a member that has logged into the system, including whether or not to utilize shielding, tracking and/or uniformity, perform a purchase transaction, and/or provide an offer or advertisement;

Figure 5 is a flowchart that details an exemplary embodiment for shielding a member from products and/or services that are in competition with products and/or services provided by the member's sponsor, and may be used m conjunction with the flowchart of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a flowchart that details an exemplary embodiment for tracking the behavior of a member within the electronic community of vendors, and may be used in conjunction with the flowchart of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a flowchart that details an exemplary embodiment for uniformly presenting products and/or services within an electronic community of vendors to a member, and may be used in conjunction with the flowchart of Figure 4;

Figure 8 is a flowchart that details an exemplary embodiment for conducting a purchase by a member of one or more products and/or services from the electronic community of vendors, and may be used in conjunction with the flowchart of Figure 4; and

Figure 9 is a flowchart that details an exemplary embodiment for providing an offer or advertisement to incite a purchase, and may be used in conjunction with the flowchart of Figure 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing an electronic community of vendors. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronically combined plurality of vendors and the creation of individual member accounts that are preserved in electronic storage devices. The accounts allow members to purchase products and/or services from the plurality of vendors at a reduced price and enable detailed member information to be tracked in order to provide members with additional benefits and tailored advertisements, while providing vendors with referral fees and specific customer mformation. The embodiments of the present invention may comprise a special purpose or general purpose computer including various computer hardware to enable the systems and methods of the present invention, as will be discussed in greater detail below.

Throughout the following disclosure, reference is made to formation of a VORTAL to allow for the purchase of products and/or services. In the disclosure and in the claims the term "VORTAL" refers to a plurality of vendors within an electronic community that offer products and/or services for sale to individual members of the electronic community. In one embodiment, the offered products and/or services are related to a specific industry, as will be further explained below.

Relative to an individual member, each of the plurality of vendors may be categorized as either a "sponsor vendor" or a "member vendor." In the disclosure and in the claims the term "individual member" or "member" refers to a customer that has set up a membership account with the VORTAL in order to purchase products and/or services within the VORTAL. In the disclosure and in the claims the term "sponsor vendor" or "sponsor" refers to the vendor of the VORTAL that enlisted an individual member to the VORTAL. In the disclosure and in the claims the term "member vendor" or "vendor" refers to one of the plurality of vendors of the VORTAL. In the disclosure, reference is also made to a "traditional store" and an "electronic store." The term "store" is used to refer to a location where a purchase transaction may be made. In the disclosure and in the claims the term "traditional store" refers to a physical location or building of a vendor where a customer may go to purchase products and/or services from that vendor. Alternatively, in the disclosure and in the claims the term "electronic store" refers to an electronic location or web page of a vendor that a customer may electronically visit to purchase products and/or services from that vendor. In accordance with the present invention, upon the creation of a membership account, a unique membership number is assigned to an individual member of a VORTAL and is stored on a computer-readable medium as part of the individual member's membership account. The individual member may then present the unique membership number at either a traditional or electronic store of the VORTAL in order to purchase products and/or services within the VORTAL and to receive incentives, such as, by way of example, reduced prices, credits to his/her membership account, focused advertisements, frequent buyer rewards, etc. Through the use of the unique membership number, each individual member may have a membership account created that includes personal information (i.e. the individual member's sex, age, income level, email address, residence, occupation, hobbies, etc.), transactional information (i.e. a credit card number, an electronic account number, etc.) and/or behavioral information (i.e. purchases made, web pages visited, advertisements selected, etc.). All or part of the information stored in the membership accounts may be sorted to form a report that may be delivered to a vendor of the VORTAL to inform the vendor of the demographics of the vendor's customer base and to allow the vendor to focus its presentation and/or advertisements of its products and/or services for sale. Each membership account also includes the identification of the sponsor that enlisted the individual member. When the individual member purchases a product or service from a vendor of the VORTAL, the sponsor may receive a referral fee from the vendor. The sponsor may also prevent the individual member from being electronically exposed to products and/or services that compete with products and/or services supplied by the sponsor, as will be further disclosed below.

Embodiments within the scope of the present invention include computer- readable media for carrying or having computer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readable media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a computer, the computer properly views the connection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such a connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions and data that cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. Figure 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment in which the invention may be implemented. Although not required, the invention will be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by computers in network environments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Computer- executable instructions, associated data structures, and program modules represent examples of the program code means for executing steps of the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executable instructions or associated data structures represents examples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions described in such steps.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced in network computing environments with many types of computer system configurations, including personal computers, hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by local and remote processing devices that are linked (either by hardwired links, wireless links, or by a combination of hardwired or wireless links) through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

With reference to Figure 1, an exemplary system for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of a conventional computer 20, including a processing unit 21, a system memory 22, and a system bus 23 that couples various system components including the system memory 22 to the processing unit 21. The system bus 23 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory includes read only memory (ROM) 24 and random access memory (RAM) 25. A basic input/output system (BIOS) 26, containing the basic routines that help transfer information between elements within the computer 20, such as during start-up, may be stored in ROM 24. The computer 20 may also include a magnetic hard disk drive 27 for reading from and writing to a magnetic hard disk 39, a magnetic disk drive 28 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 29, and an optical disk drive 30 for reading from or writing to removable optical disk 31 such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. The magnetic hard disk drive 27, magnetic disk drive 28, and optical disk drive 30 are connected to the system bus 23 by a hard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive-interface 33, and an optical drive interface 34, respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of computer-executable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer 20. Although the exemplary environment described herein employs a magnetic hard disk 39, a removable magnetic disk 29 and a removable optical disk 31, other types of computer readable media for storing data can be used, including magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, RAMs, ROMs, and the like. Program code means comprising one or more program modules may be stored on the hard disk 39, magnetic disk 29, optical disk 1, ROM 24 or RAM 25, including an operating system 35, one or more application programs 36, other program modules 37, and program data 38. A user may enter commands and information into the computer 20 through keyboard 40, pointing device 42, or other input devices (not shown), such as a microphone, joy stick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port interface 46 coupled to system bus 23. Alternatively, the input devices may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, a game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or another display device is also connected to system bus 23 via an interface, such as video adapter 48. In addition to the monitor, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers.

The computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computers 49a and 49b. Remote computers 49a and 49b may each be another personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically include many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 20, although only memory storage devices 50a and 50b and their associated application programs 36a and 36b have been illustrated in Figure 1. The logical connections depicted in Figure 1 include a local area network (LAN) 51 and a wide area network (WAN) 52 that are presented here by way of example and not limitation. Such networking environments are commonplace in office-wide or enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 20 is connected to the local network 51 through a network interface or adapter 53. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 20 may include a modem 54, a wireless link, or other means for establishing communications over the wide area network 52, such as the Internet. The modem 54, which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 20, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing communications over wide area network 52 may be used.

While those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced in networked computing environments with many types of computer system configurations, Figure 2 represents an embodiment of the present invention in a networked environment that includes clients 60 and 70 connected to a server system 80 via a network 66. While Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment that includes two clients connected to the network, alternative embodiments include one client connected to a network or many clients connected to a network. Moreover, embodiments in accordance with the present invention also include a multitude of clients throughout the world connected to a network, where network 66 is a wide area network such as the Internet.

In Figure 2, server system 80 covers a multitude of server configurations. By way of example, server 80 may be a single server in cases where a single server can process and preserve the entire amount of personal, transactional and/or behavior information, as well as vendor information, sponsor information, and other information required to perform the systems and methods of the present invention. Alternatively, server system 80 may be a conglomeration of servers that process and preserve a high volume of information, as indicated by application servers 84 of Figurer 2, and as will be further explained below.

In accordance with the present invention, an individual member located at a client may utilize a network to communicate with a server system in order to be exposed to products and/or services that are available for sale from vendors within a VORTAL. The individual member is exposed to the products and/or services upon providing his/her membership identification. The vendors and individual members of the VORTAL receive a variety of benefits, such as, by way of example, referral fees, specific customer information, focused advertisements, reduced prices, frequent buying incentives, and the like. Through the use of preserving information in computer-readable media, the benefits are provided to the vendors and individual members whether the products and/or services are purchased from the VORTAL at a traditional store, at a electronic store, through the use of a telephonic menu system or the like, as will be further explained below.

A client, such as clients 60 and 70 of Figure 2, includes a network interface (respectively illustrated as network interfaces 62 and 72) and a Web browser (respectively illustrated as browsers 64 and 74). Network interface 62 is a communication mechanism that allows a client, such as client 60, to communicate to server system 80 via network 66. Browser 64 is an application program that allows information to be displayed on a monitor device as text and/or graphics in the form of a web page. A browser allows for the entering of a uniform resource locator ("URL") to thereby access the corresponding web page.

Server system 80 includes network interface 82, application servers 84 and storage device 86. Network interface 82 is a communication mechanism that allows server system 80 to communicate with one or more clients via network 66. Application servers 84 include one or more servers for processing and/or preserving information. Storage device 86 includes one or more storage devices for preserving information, such as personal, transactional and/or behavioral information stored in individual member accounts, as well as vendor information sponsor information and/or other information required to perform the systems and methods of the present invention, which can be accessed by one or more of the application servers 84 and/or one or more clients.

Figure 3 provides an exemplary VORTAL for uniting vendors that provide similar products and/or services. While the vendors illustrated in Figure 3 provide products and/or services related to personal fitness and/or health, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a plethora of different types of VORTALs may be formed. In one embodiment the vendors of the VORTAL are not related in any manner. In another embodiment the vendors of the VORTAL relate by selling products and/or services that can be categorized into a particular industry. The number vendors of a particular VORTAL may vary from a small number of vendors to a massive conglomeration of vendors. Figure 3 provides a VORTAL, illustrated as an electronic community of vendors 90, which includes Fitness Industry 92, Publications 94,

Corporate Training 96, Health Care Providers 98, Physical Therapists 100, Retailers 102, Personal Trainers 104, Weight Loss Industry 106, Footwear and Apparel 108, Nutritional Supplements 110, and Health Clubs 112. Fitness Industry 92 includes vendors that provide fitness products for sale. The fitness products include, by way of example, treadmills, stair steppers, rowing machines, weight sets, and the like, for gym use and/or home use. Publications 94 include vendors that provide magazines, newspapers, videos, books, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, web pages, electronic media, and the like, which deal with providing personal fitness, health, and training. Corporate Training 96 includes vendors that provide programs, videos, cassettes, CDs, on site services on site, and the like for training a corporate organization or group in the area of fitness, health, and/or emergency procedures. Health Care Providers 98 include Health Maintenance Organizations ("HMOs"), dentists, doctors, chiropractors, insurance companies, dieticians, homeopathic providers and the like. Physical Therapists 100 include physical therapists, chiropractors, masseuses, nurses, physiatrists, hypnotists, counselors, and the like. Retailers 102 include vendors of clothing, miscellaneous fitness equipment, water bottles, air pumps, rackets, balls, nets, recreational supplies, hats, shoes, gloves, protective equipment, performance equipment, publications, crystals, magnets, and the like. Personal Trainers 104 include programs, videos, cassettes, CDs, fitness consultants, electronic trainers, dieticians, and the like that aide in providing a training program for an individual. Weight Loss Industry 106 includes programs, pills, tablets, diets, dieticians, nutritional supplements, herbal remedies, exercise equipment, hypnotists and the like that cause a loss in weight to an individual. Footwear and Apparel 108 includes shoes, hiking boots, skates, clothing, and the like. Nutritional Supplements includes vitamins, pills, tablets, energy bars, food items, dietary items, herbal medicines, and the like. Health Clubs 112 includes organizational memberships, dieticians, personal trainers, fitness products, exercise programs, and the like. In accordance with the present invention, the electronic community of vendors 90 allows the vendor to unite in order to provide customers reduced rates and incentives in return for specific information on the customers, referral fees, and so forth, as will be further explained below.

Figure 4 provides an exemplary manner of interacting with an individual member that has logged into the system, including whether or not to utilize shielding, tracking, and/or uniformity, to perform a purchase transaction, and/or to provide an offer or advertisement. As provided above, the system may interact with an individual member at either a traditional store or at an electronic store. The system may also interact with an individual in combination with a traditional store and an electronic store, as will be further explained below.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 4, execution begins at decision block 120, which determines whether or not a user or individual is an individual member of the system. In one embodiment, an individual or user becomes a member of the system upon purchasing a product or service from a vendor, either at a traditional store, an electronic store, a combination of an electronic and a traditional store, a telephonic menu system, a catalogue system, or the like, which participates in the VORTAL and by filling out a membership application in order to set up a member account within the system. In one embodiment, the vendor that sold the user or individual the product or service may enlist the individual as a member, and thereby is identified as the member's sponsor. If at decision block 120 it is determined that the user is not a member, step 122 invites the user to become a member. This may be performed, as explained above, either at an electronic or traditional store upon filling out an application and/or purchasing a product or service from a vendor within the VORTAL. Decision block 124 then determines whether or not the user or individual elects to become a member. If the user does not choose to become a member, execution returns back to start. Alternatively, if it is determined that a user elects to become a member, step 126 creates a member account and causes the individual member to login the system. As explained above, a member account includes, by way of example, personal, transactional and/or behavioral information and is stored on a storage device, such as storage device 86 of Figure 2. Execution then proceeds to step 128, where the member's sponsor is identified.

Returning back to decision block 120, if it is determined that the user or individual is a member of the system, execution proceeds to step 130 to login the member to the system. In one embodiment, the performance of logging in includes entering a unique membership identification assigned to the member. Step 132 then accesses the member's account and step 128 identifies the member's sponsor.

Once a sponsor is identified in step 128, execution proceeds through an array of determinations, illustrated as decision blocks 134, 138, 142, 146 and 150, to establish whether or not to perform such functions as, by way of example, shielding, tracking, uniformity, purchasing, and/or advertising, each of which will be further explained below through the use of Figures 5-9. While some functions, such as, shielding and uniformity, can only be performed at an electronic store, other functions such as tracking, purchasing and advertising can be performed at either an electronic or traditional store, or can be performed in combination with an electronic store and a traditional store, as will be further explained below. Decision block 134 determines whether or not shielding should be performed on the member. In accordance with the present invention, shielding includes restricting an individual member from accessing information from the VORTAL. If it is determined that shielding is not to be performed on the member then execution proceeds to decision block 138. Alternatively, if it is determined in decision block 134 that shielding should be performed to prevent the individual member from accessing information from the VORTAL, execution proceeds to step 136 for executing a shielding module. The shielding process includes preventing an individual member from electronically accessing products and/or services of the VORTAL that are in direct competition with products and/or services provided by the individual member's sponsor. Therefore, by way of example, if the member's sponsor is Reebok, which is a producer of shoes and apparel, similar shoes and apparel available from other vendors of the VORTAL may not be displayed electronically to the individual member, as will be further explained below in combination with Figure 5, which illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a shielding module.

In the exemplary embodiment of a shielding module, illustrated in Figure 5, execution begins at decision block 160, which determines whether or not the sponsor of the individual member has competitors within the VORTAL. If it is determined at decision block 160 that there are no competitors within the VORTAL, step 162 allows the member to access all of the products and/or services of all vendors in the

VORTAL. Alternatively, if decision block 160 determines that competitors do exist, step 164 identifies the sponsor's competitors. Decision block 166 then determines whether or not to shield the member from the identified competitors. In one embodiment, the determination of whether or not to shield the member from the competitors is made by the member's sponsor. If it is determined at decision block 166 not to shield the member from the identified competitors, execution proceeds to step 166, where the member is allowed access to all of the products and/or services of all vendors in the VORTAL. Alternatively, if it is determined at decision block 166 to shield the members from the identified competitors, execution proceeds to decision block 168.

At decision block 168 of Figure 5 it is determined whether or not the identified competitors have products or services that are not in competition with products and/or services of the sponsor. This includes, by way of example, a situation where the sponsor provides fitness equipment for sale and a competitor provides fitness equipment-and apparel-. -In sueh an example,- the sponsor and the vendor- are- only- in — direct competition with regard to the fitness equipment, not the apparel. Therefore, if is determined in decision block 168 that the identified competitors have one or more products and/or services that do not compete with the sponsor, such as apparel in the example above, a determination is made at decision block 172 as to whether or not to only shield the products or services that directly compete (i.e. the fitness equipment). If it is determined at decision block 172 that the shielding is to include all of the products and/or services of a competitor, whether or not the competitor provides products and/or services that are not in direct competition, then execution proceeds to step 170 where the individual member is shielded from vendors that are competitors of the sponsor. Alternatively, if it is determined at decision block 172 to only shield competing products or services, execution proceeds to step 174 where the member is allowed access to all products and/or services of the electronic community that do not directly compete with the products and/or services of the sponsor. Also, returning back to decision block 168, if it is determined that the identified competitors do not have products and/or services that do not compete with the sponsor, step 170 allows the individual member to only access vendors of the VORTAL that are non- competitors of the sponsor. Therefore, the flowchart of Figure 5 has provided an exemplary embodiment of a shielding module that may be executed in step 136 of Figure 4.

Referring back to Figure 4, when at decision block 134 it is determined that shielding is not to be performed, or alternatively that shielding is to be performed and a shielding module is executed in step 136, execution proceeds to decision block 138 for a determination as to whether or not to perform tracking. If tracking is not to be performed, execution proceeds to decision block 142. However, if tracking is to be performed then execution proceeds to step 140, where a tracking module is executed. Tracking includes the monitoring of behavioral information and the preserving of the behavioral information in a membership account. A member's behavioral information includes a member's selection of a vendor, product and/or service within the VORTAL, the member's purchase of a product and/or service within the VORTAL, the member's selection of an offer or advertisement from a vendor of the VORTAL, the member's interest in a particular product and/or service, the frequency in which the member uses the system, etc. The behavioral information is preserved in a computer-readable medium and can be sorted to inform the vendors of the VORTAL as to the demographics of their respective clientele, as will be further explained below. An exemplary embodiment of a tracking module executed in step 140 of Figure 4 is further explained below in relation to the flowchart provided in Figure 6.

In Figure 6, an exemplary embodiment of a tracking module is provided, which allows execution to begin at determination block 180 for a determination of whether or not the client machine used by the member contains a membership cookie. A membership cookie is data that is created by a web server and is stored on a client machine to allow information to be acquired as to the behavior of the member. In order to prevent privacy violations, one embodiment includes verbiage in the membership application that gives the member's consent for the system to use membership cookies to track and preserve behavioral information from that individual member. If at decision block 180 it is determined that the membership cookie is not on the client machine, step 184 places a membership cookie on the client machine and execution proceeds to step 182. Alternatively, if at decision block 180 it is determined that the client machine already has a membership cookie, execution proceeds to step 182 for tracking the behavioral information by updating the recent login in the member account.

At decision block 186, a determination is made as to whether or not the member has recently selected a vendor, product or service. Such a selection can be made electronically, for example, by "clicking" onto a vendor name, product or service displayed on a web page. If the member has not recently selected a vendor name, product or service, then execution proceeds to decision block 190. However, if a member recently selected a vendor name, product or service then step 188 tracks the behavioral information by updating the member account to inform the account of the selection made. Execution then proceeds to decision block 190.

At decision block 190, a determination is made as to whether or not the member has recently made a purchase. A purchase may be made electronically, for example, by selecting a product or service in order to place that product or service in an electronic shopping cart available to the member and participating in a purchase transaction, as will be further explained below. Alternatively, a purchase can be made at a traditional store, by calling a telephone menu system, or by purchasing from a catalogue, and the member's account may be updated of the transaction. If the member has not recently made a purchase, execution proceeds to decision block 194. However, if the member has recently made a purchase, execution proceeds to step 192, where the behavioral information is tracked by updating the member account to reflect the recent purchase, and then to decision block 194. In one embodiment of the present invention, a frequent buyer's program is included in the system, to allow members that regularly make purchases within the VORTAL to receive benefits in the form of cash, credit, reduced rates, and so forth. The tracking and preserving of behavioral information facilitates a frequent buyers program.

At decision block 194 a determination is made as to whether or not a member has recently selected an advertisement or offer. In accordance with the present invention, an advertisement or offer includes, for example, a notice to an individual member of the opportunity to purchase goods and/or services within the VORTAL at a price that is less than what is generally available, and/or encouragement to purchase a product and/or service of the VORTAL where the encouragement is focused on information obtained from a membership account to incite the member to purchase the product and/or service. Advertisements or offers may be presented to a member in the form of banner advertisements, email messages, phone calls, traditional mail correspondence, etc.

At decision block 194, if it is determined that the member has not recently selected an advertisement or offer, execution proceeds to decision block 198. However, if me member has recently selected an advertisement or offer, execution proceeds to step 196 to track the behavioral information by updating the member account with the recent selection of a specific advertisement or offer. Execution then proceeds to decision block 198. At decision block 198, a determination is made as to whether or not the member has been idle for an extended period of time. Frequently, if a browser at a client machine is idle for an extended period of time, and the user has not logged off of the system, it may be presumed that the member has interest in purchasing the products and/or services displayed on the display device. If the member has not been idle for an extended period of time, execution proceeds to decision block 202. However, in the embodiment of Figure 6, if the member has been idle for an extended period of time, step 200 tracks the behavioral information by updating the member account to include the member's interest in the displayed products and/or services. Execution then proceeds to decision block 202.

At decision block 202 a determination is made as to whether or not a member has exited the system. Exiting a VORTAL can take place in a number of manners, such as by logging off the system, existing the browser, being forced out of the system, the client machine crashing, etc. If the member has exited the electronic community then the behavioral information is tracked in step 204 by updating the member account to indicate that the member left the VORTAL. However, if the member has not exited the VORTAL, execution returns back to decision block 186. Therefore, the flowchart of Figure 6 has provided an exemplary embodiment of a tracking module that may be executed in step 140 of Figure 4. The tracking module allows for the identification and preservation of behavioral information that may be used, by way of example, to inform vendors of the demographics of their customers, to focus advertisements and offers to specific members or groups of members, to award members with benefits for purchases made, etc. The behavioral information is stored on computer-readable media, such as on one or more storage devices within the corresponding individual member's account.

Referring back to Figure 4, once a tracking module is executed in step 140, execution proceeds to decision block 142 for a determination as to whether or not to perform a process of uniformity when displaying the products and/or services of the VORTAL. In accordance with the present invention, uniformity causes web pages or other resources to display the products and/or services of the VORTAL in such a way as to have a similar look and feel. Therefore, in one embodiment of the present invention where uniformity is performed, a member electronically browses through the products and/or services available in the VORTAL and while browsing the text, images, icons, etc. that represent the products and/or services may change, but the overall format, presentation, fonts, environment, etc. remain the same. In another embodiment, while the look and feel remained the same, the name of the vendor that provided the displayed products and/or services rotates from vendor to vendor on the display as the member selects vendor after vendor.

Therefore, if it is determined at decision block 142 that uniformity is not to be performed, execution proceeds to decision block 146. However, if uniformity is to be performed, execution proceeds to step 144 for executing a uniformity module, such as the exemplary uniformity module illustrated in Figure 7. An example of a uniformity module is illustrated in Figure 7 that begins execution at step 210 to provide a listing or display of available vendors, products and/or services. The vendors, products or services may be displayed, for example, in an electronic listing or in a printed catalogue. In one embodiment the listing may provide general categories of vendors, products or services available within the VORTAL so that, upon selection of a category, the vendors, products, and/or services that fall within the selected category may be electronically displayed as subcategories, as will be further discussed in relation to step 216 below. In a further embodiment, the displaying of the categories and subcategories includes common environments that maintain a common look and feel of the web pages. At decision block 212, a determination is made as to whether or not the member has selected a vendor, product or service. If no selection has been made, execution returns to step 210. However, if the member has selected a vendor, product or service, execution proceeds to step 214, where a common look and feel of web page design is presented to the member. In one embodiment, the common look and feel of the web page design that was developed and used for the categories above is employed to maintain a consistency or uniformity in the display environment. In an embodiment where the vendors, products or services are displayed electronically, the display environment may be established by the individual member, according to his/her desired color schemes, formats, fonts, etc. In another embodiment, the sponsor establishes the electronic display environment, thereby allowing the sponsor the ability to highlight its products and/or services. In yet another embodiment, the electronic display environment is established by the overall system. Execution then proceeds to step 216, where a subcategory is displayed to the member on the client browser, such as the selected vendor, products or services. In an embodiment where the VORTAL is small, the subcategories displayed may be a particular vendor, product or service. However, in an embodiment where the VORTAL is very large, the subcategories include general vendors, products or services that relate to the category and can be selected to provide a more narrow display of vendors, products or services. The listing of the vendors, products and/or services displayed in step 216 may include text and/or graphics. Execution then proceeds to decision block 218.

At decision block 218, a determination is made as to whether or not the member has selected a subcategory. If no other selection has been made execution returns to step 216 to continue the current display. However, if a subcategory (i.e., vendor, product or service) has been selected, then the newly selected subcategory is displayed on the client browser at step 220 and execution returns to decision block 218 for a determination as to whether or not a further subcategory has been selected by the member. Thus, as illustrated by the exemplary uniformity module illustrated by the flowchart of Figure 7, a uniformity module may be executed at step 144 of Figure 4 to maintain a common look and feel of the display or presentation of the vendors, products and/or services available in the VORTAL.

Referring back to Figure 4, once decision block 142 determines that uniformity is to be performed, a uniformity module is executed in step 144, such as the exemplary embodiment illustrated in Figure 7. Upon executing the uniformity module of step 144, execution proceeds to decision block 146 for a determination as to whether or not the member desires to purchase a product or service. If the member does not desire to purchase a product or service, execution proceeds to decision block 150. However, if the member desires to purchase a product or service, execution proceeds to step 148 for the execution of a purchase module. One exemplary embodiment of a purchase module is depicted by the flowchart illustrated in Figure 8.

In Figure 8, the exemplary embodiment begins execution at decision block 230, where a determination is made as to whether or not a member has selected a product or service for purchase. In an embodiment where the member is at a traditional store, the act of verbally requesting or physically taking the product or service performs the selection. In an embodiment where the member is looking through a catalogue, the selection may be made via computer or alternatively via telephone. In another embodiment, such as one depicted in the flowchart of Figure 8, the vendors, products and/or services of the VORTAL are displayed on a computer display device and the member selects a product and/or service for purchase through the use of an input device of the computer. If at decision block 230 it is determined that no selection has been made, execution returns back to start. However, if a purchase selection has been made, step 232 places the selected product or service in an electronic shopping cart. The electronic shopping cart is a virtual container that allows the member to continue to browse through the various products and/or services of the VORTAL, selecting all of the products and/or services that he/she desires to purchase in order that all of the products and/or services selected may be purchased as one transaction. The electronic shopping cart is used system wide throughout the VORTAL, thereby allowing the member to virtually place products and/or services from a variety of different vendors into the same electronic shopping cart. Once the selected product or service is placed in the electronic shopping cart, a determination is made at decision block 234 as to whether or not the member has selected another product or service to purchase. If the member has not selected another product or service, execution proceeds to determination block 236. Alternatively, if the member has selected another product or service then execution returns to step 232, where the newly selected product or service is added to the electronic shopping cart and execution proceeds to decision block 234.

At decision block 236, a determination is made as to whether or not the member is ready to purchase the products and/or services in the electronic shopping cart. If the member is not ready to purchase, execution returns back to decision block 234. However, if the member is ready to purchase, execution proceeds to decision block 238 for a determination as to whether or not the necessary purchasing information is available. Purchasing information includes, by way of example, payment information (i.e. a credit card number, an electronic account number, etc.) that facilitates a payment. The purchasing information further includes additional information as to how the product will be shipped, where it will be shipped, if the product is to be insured, etc. If it is determined that the purchasing information is known or is available execution proceeds to step 242. However, if the purchasing information is not available, execution proceeds to step 240 to obtain the purchasing information, such as by being input by the member. Execution then proceeds to step 242.

At step 242, a membership discount is provided. In accordance with the present invention, one benefit a member receives from a VORTAL is a membership discount of the products and/or services purchased within the VORTAL. In one embodiment, the discount is a flat percentage off of the regular price of the product and/or service. In another embodiment, the amount of the discount depends on the amount of purchases the member has previously made in the VORTAL. Once the membership discount is provided, a purchase transaction is performed step 244 for example by charging the amount of the product or service on the member's credit card number. Execution then proceeds to decision block 246 for a determination of whether or not the products and/or services purchased were from the member's sponsor.

The overall system, the vendor, or the sponsor may conduct purchase transactions within the VORTAL. In the situation where the overall system conducts the purchase transactions and it is determined at decision block 246 that the products and/or services purchased were from the member's sponsor, the system informs the sponsor of the purchase in step 250. However, if it is determined at decision block 246 that the products and/or services were not purchased from the sponsor, execution proceeds to step 248, where a referral fee is sent to the sponsor by the system or the vendor. In one embodiment, the sponsor receives an amount of the purchase price as a referral fee for having enlisted the member that made the purchase. Execution then proceeds to step 250, where the vendor of the purchased product or service is made aware of the purchase and of the referral fee sent to the sponsor. Shipment of the purchased products and/or services may be made by each vendor or by the system.

Therefore, the flowchart of Figure 8 has provided an exemplary purchase module that allows a member to purchase products and/or services from the VORTAL, provides a membership discount, informs the vendors of the purchase of their products and/or services, and distributes a referral fee to sponsors as applicable. The exemplary purchase module of Figure 8 is one embodiment of a purchase module that may be executed at step 148 of Figure 4.

Returning back to Figure 4, if it is determined at decision block 146 that a product or service is to be purchased by a member, then a purchase module, such as the exemplary purchase module illustrated in Figure 8 is executed and execution proceeds to decision block 150 for a determination as to whether or not an advertisement or offer is to be provided to the member. If no advertisement or offer is to be provided to the member, execution proceeds to decision block 154. However, if it is determined that an advertisement or offer is to be provided to the member, an advertisement module is executed in step 152 to deliver an advertisement or offer to the member. An example of an advertisement module that may be executed in step 152 is illustrated by the flowchart of Figure 9.

In Figure 9, an exemplary advertisement module is provided that begins execution at decision block 260, where a determination is made as to whether or not a member has frequently visited a particular vendor, product or service without purchasing. If it is determined that a member has not frequently visited a particular vendor, product or service, execution proceeds to decision block 266. However, if it is determined that a member has frequently visited a particular vendor, product or service, execution proceeds to decision block 262 for a determination as to whether or not to provide a tailored advertisement or offer to the member.

A tailored advertisement or offer includes information from the member's account that causes the advertisement or offer to be tailored to that particular member. When a member frequently visits a vendor, product or service, it may be an indication of the member's interest in the products and/or services of the vendor, or in the particular product or service. Therefore, a tailored advertisement or offer may incite the member to make a purchase. The tailored advertisement or offer may provide, for example, a percentage off of the product or service for a limited time. If no offer is to be provided to the member, execution proceeds to decision block 266. However, if an advertisement or offer is to be provided to the member, the offer is provided in step 264 and execution proceeds to decision block 266.

At decision block 266, a determination is made as to whether or not a member has examined a particular product or service for an extended period of time. Frequently, when a member examines a particular product or service for an extended period of time it is an indication that the member has an interest in purchasing the product or service examined. The receipt of a tailored advertisement or offer may incite such a member to purchase the product or service that he/she frequently examines. If it is determined that the member has not examined a particular product or service for an extended period of time, execution proceeds to decision block 272. However, if it is determined that the member has examined a particular product or service for an extended period of time, execution proceeds to decision block 268 to determine whether or not to provide a tailored advertisement or offer to the member. If no advertisement or offer is to be provided to the member, execution proceeds to decision block 272. However, if it is determined that an offer is to be provided to the member, the offer is provided to the member in step 270 and execution proceeds to decision block 272.

At decision block 272, a determination is made as to whether or not a member has recently purchased a product or service from the VORTAL. Frequently it may be desirable to send a tailored advertisement or offer to the member after having purchased a product and/or service to incite a purchase of one or more products and/or services that are related to the purchased product and/or service. Therefore, the advertisement or offer is tailored by relating to the product or service purchased. By way of example, if a member purchases a treadmill from the VORTAL, an advertisement may be sent to the member that offers running shoes at a reduced rate due to the recent purchase of the treadmill. Such tailored ad ertisements or offers tap into other products or services that a member may have interest in purchasing. If it is determined that the member has not recently purchased a product or service, execution proceeds to decision block 278. However, if the member has recently purchased a product or service, execution proceeds to decision block 274 for a determination as to whether or not to provide a tailored advertisement or offer to the member. If no advertisement is to be provided to the member, execution proceeds to decision block 278. However, if an advertisement is to be provided to the member, the advertisement is provided in step 276 and execution then proceeds to decision block 278. As provided above, the tailored advertisement or offer may be in the form of a phone call, an email message, a traditional letter, a banner advertisement, or the like.

At decision block 278 a determination is made as to whether or not the member frequently makes purchases of products and/or services within the VORTAL. In one embodiment, a frequent buyer's program is conducted that provides members with additional benefits for frequently purchasing products and/or services within the VORTAL. the additional benefits may include cash incentives, credits, reduced prices, prizes and the like. If it is determined at decision block 276 that the member does not frequently purchase within the VORTAL, execution returns back to start. However, if it is determined that the member frequently purchases products and/or services from the VORTAL, execution then proceeds to decision block 280 for a determination of whether or not to provide the member a tailored advertisement or offer as the result of the member's frequency of purchasing from the VORTAL. If decision block 280 determines that no offer or advertisement is to be provided to the member, execution returns back to start. However, if an advertisement or offer is to be provided to the member, execution proceeds to step 282, where a tailored advertisement or offer is provided to the member and execution returns back to start. As provided above, the tailored advertisement or offer may be in the form of a phone call, an email message, a traditional letter, a banner advertisement, or the like. Therefore, the flowchart illustrated in Figure 9 provides an exemplary embodiment of an advertisement module that may be executed at step 152 of Figure 4. Advertisements or offers may be tailored to a specific member or group of members to incite the purchase of products and/or services from the VORTAL, and may be in the form of a phone call, an email message, a traditional letter, a banner advertisement, or the like.

Referring back to Figure 4, if it is determined at decision block 150 that no advertisement or offer is to be provided to a member, execution proceeds to decision block 154. However, if an advertisement or offer is to be provided to a member, an advertisement module, such as the advertisement module illustrated in Figure 9, is executed at step 152 and execution proceeds to decision block 154.

At decision block 154, a determination is made as to whether or not the member desires to end the current session with the VORTAL. If the member desires to continue the current session with the VORTAL, execution returns to decision block 146 to allow for the member to purchase products and/or services from the VORTAL and to receive tailored advertisements or offers, as explained above. However, if the member desires to end the current session, a member log out is performed at step 156. The flowcharts illustrated in Figures 4-9 provide, by way of example, a manner of interacting with a member that has logged on to the system, including whether or not to utilize shielding, tracking, and/or uniformity, to perform a purchase transaction, and/or provide an offer or advertisement. In accordance with the present invention, an electronic community of vendors is created, whereby individual member information is tracked and reported to vendors, reduced prices on products and/or services are available to members, and referral fees are received by sponsors. The system, as explained above, may interact with individual members at either a traditional store or at an electronic store. Moreover, the system may interact with an individual through a menu or operator system that a member may access via telephone.

Also in accordance with the present invention, specific membership information including behavioral information is tracked by the system and preserved on a computer-readable medium in individual member accounts. The information preserved in the accounts may be sorted and used to provide one or more reports to the vendors of the VORTAL. Such a report provides valuable information to the vendors in order to tailor general advertisements or offers, focus the vendor's presentation of their products and/or services, target a specific type of customer of the vendor, identify the type of customer that is interested in the vendor's products and/or services, and indicate what other types of products and/or services are bought by the customers that purchase the vendor's products and/or services. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the amount of information that is provided to vendors from member accounts is controlled by the sponsor, the general system, the individual members, or the like.

The present invention may also be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope. What is claimed is:

Claims

1. A networked computer system for electronically combining a plurality of vendors to form an electronic community of vendors that offers products and/or services for sale to a plurality of members, the system comprising: a client; a server, wherein the client and the server are connected through a network, and wherein information from a plurality of vendors is stored at the server; a storage device for preserving information specific to a member in a member account; and a processor for tracking behavioral information of the member.

2. A networked computer system as recited in claim 1, wherein the behavioral information is preserved in the member account.

3. A networked computer system as recited in claim 2, wherein the behavioral information is tracked through the use of a unique identifier assigned to the member.

4. A networked computer system as recited in claim 3, wherein the storage device is located at the server.

5. A networked computer system as recited in claim 4, wherein the processor is located at the server.

6. A networked computer system as recited in claim 3, wherein the information from the plurality of vendors is displayed at the client and includes items for purchase.

7. A networked computer system as recited in claim 3, wherein the behavioral information includes the purchase of one or more items from the plurality of vendors.

8. A networked computer system as recited in claim 7, wherein the one or more items are purchased from one of a traditional store, an electronic store, or a menu system.

9. A networked computer system as recited in claim 3, wherein the behavioral information includes a listing of web pages that have been displayed at the client

10. A networked computer system as recited in claim 3, wherein the behavioral information includes a listing of advertisements that have been displayed at the client.

11. A networked computer system as recited in claim 3, wherein the electronic community of vendors includes vendors that provide products and/or services for sale within a particular industry.

12. A networked computer system as recited in claim 3, wherein the processor also generates a report to one of the plurality of vendors using information from the member account.

13. In a networked computer system that includes a client and a server, wherein the client and the server are connected via a network, a method for allowing individual members to purchase one or more products and/or services from one or more of a plurality of vendors, the method comprising the acts of: creating a member account on a computer readable medium, wherein the member account includes information that is specific to an individual; assigning a unique identifier to the individual, wherein the unique identifier is stored in the member account; allowing the individual to select one or more items to purchase from a plurality of items offered for sale by the plurality of vendors; electronically recording a purchase transaction the member account.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the purchase transaction is recorded in the member account upon the individual purchasing the one or more items selected from one of a traditional store, an electronic store or a menu system.

15. A method as recited in claim 14, further comprising the step for performing the purchase transaction of the one or more items

16. A method as recited in claim 14, wherein the one or more items include a product.

17. A method as recited in claim 14, wherein the one or more items include a service.

18. A method as recited in claim 14, further comprising a step for identifying a sponsor for the individual.

19. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the sponsor is one of the plurality of vendors.

20. A method as recited in claim 19, further comprising the step for determining whether one of the one or more items purchased is from a non- sponsoring vendor of the individual

21. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein upon determining that the one or more items purchased includes an item from a non-sponsoring vendor of the individual, providing a referral fee to the sponsor for the sale of the item.

22. A computer program product for implementing within a computer system a method for allowing individual members to purchase one or more products and/or services from one or more of a plurality of vendors, the computer program product comprising: computer readable medium for providing computer program code means utilized to implement the method, wherein the computer program code means is comprised of executable code for implementing the acts of: assigning a unique identifier to an individual member; creating an account for preserving information specific to the individual member in the account including the unique identifier; obtaining transactional information; and preserving the transactional information in the account.

23. A computer program product as recited in claim 22, wherein the transactional information includes the purchase of one or more items from the plurality of vendors.

24. A computer program product as recited in claim 23, wherein the one or more items were purchased from one of a traditional store, an electronic store, or a menu system.

25. A computer program product as recited in claim 23, wherein the computer program code means is comprised of executable code for implementing the step for performing the purchase of the one or more items.

26. In a networked computer system that includes a client connected via a network to a server, a member account for storing information specific to a uniquely identifiable member and an electronic community of vendors offering products and/or services for sale to the member, a method for enabling detailed member information to be preserved in the member account, the method comprising the steps for: preserving information in the member account that is specific to an individual member; using the information preserved in the member account to provide a vendor of the community of vendors with specific customer information; and providing a tailored advertisement to incite the individual member to purchase a product or service from the community of vendors.

27. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein the information preserved in the member account includes one of personal information, transactional information, or behavioral information.

28. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the tailored advertisement is created through the use of the information preserved in the member account.

29. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the tailored advertisement is provided to the individual member in the form of a banner advertisement, an email message, a telephone call, or a traditional letter.

30. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the specific information includes an interest by the individual member to purchase a specific product or service.

31. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the specific customer information informs the vendor as to the preferences of the individual member.

32. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the specific customer information informs the vendor as to the behavior of the individual member.

33. A computer program product for implementing within a computer system a method for enabling detailed member information to be preserved in the member account, the computer program product comprising: computer readable medium for providing computer program code means utilized to implement the method, wherein the computer program code means is comprised of executable code for implementing the steps for: preserving information in the member account that is specific to an individual member; notifying a vendor of the community of vendors as to the information preserved in the member account; and providing a tailored advertisement to incite the individual member to purchase a product or service from the community of vendors.

34. A computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein the tailored advertisement uses information from the member account.

35. A computer program product as recited in claim 34, wherein the tailored advertisement is provided to the individual member in the form of a banner advertisement, an email message, a telephone call, or a traditional letter.