Order fulfillment systems

Abstract

Order fulfillment systems and methods, which may enable a recipient to retrieve an ordered product from a plurality of providers, and may additionally deliver a virtual representation of the ordered product to the recipient. The order fulfillment method may be a paperless process comprising electronically receiving an order from a customer for a product to be retrieved by the recipient. A virtual representation of the ordered product may then be delivered and displayed to the recipient. A status module may be provided to indicate to providers whether the order has yet been fulfilled. The method may further comprise receiving an update to the status module when the recipient selects a provider and retrieves the ordered product from the selected provider.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for fulfilling an order, the system comprising:
 one or more processors; and   a memory in communication with the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the system to:
 receive, from a computing device associated with a sender, an electronic order for a selected product to be furnished to a recipient; 
 responsive to receipt of the electronic order, modify an electronic account associated with the recipient to indicate that the recipient is due a specific quantity of the selected product; 
 output, for display at a computing device associated with the recipient, an indication that the recipient is due the selected product; 
 receive, from a computing device associated with a first provider of a plurality of participating providers, an electronic notification indicating a quantity of the selected product received by the recipient from the first provider; and 
 responsive to receiving the electronic notification that the recipient has received the quantity of the selected product from the first provider, update the electronic account associated with the recipient to decrease the specific quantity of the selected product by the quantity of the selected product received. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first provider of the plurality of providers representing a first company, and a second provider of the plurality of providers representing a second company unaffiliated with the first company. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising instructions configured to cause the system to display the status of the order to the first provider of the plurality of the providers. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the selected product is a beverage and at least one of the participating providers is a bar, further comprising instructions configured to cause the system to output, for display at a computing device associated with the sender, an option to purchase a beverage for the recipient. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first provider of the plurality of providers represents a first branch location of a first company, and a second provider of the plurality of providers represents a second branch location of the first company. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising instructions configured to cause the system to output, for display at a computing device associated with the first provider, the status of the order to the first provider of the plurality of the providers. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of providers may access electronic orders received at the system that relate to products carried by a respective provider of the plurality of providers. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising instructions configured to cause the system to output, to the computing device associated with the recipient, an advertisement for one or more of the plurality of providers. 
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 receiving, from a computing device associated with a sender, an electronic order for a selected product to be furnished to a recipient;   responsive to receipt of the electronic order, modifying an electronic account associated with the recipient to indicate that the recipient is due a specific quantity of the selected product;   outputting, for display at a computing device associated with the recipient, an indication that the recipient is due the selected product;   receiving, from a computing device associated with a first provider of a plurality of participating providers, an electronic notification indicating a quantity of the selected product received by the recipient from the first provider; and   responsive to receiving the electronic notification that the recipient has received the quantity of the selected product from the first provider, updating the electronic account associated with the recipient to decrease the specific quantity of the selected product by the quantity of the selected product received.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the first provider of the plurality of providers represents a first company, and a second provider of the plurality of providers represents a second company unaffiliated with the first company. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising outputting, for display at a computing device associated with the first provider, the status of the electronic order. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of providers may access electronic orders received that relate to products carried by a respective provider of the plurality of providers. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the selected product is a beverage and at least one of the participating providers is a bar, further comprising outputting, for display at a computing device associated with the sender, an option to purchase a beverage for the recipient. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising outputting, to the computing device associated with the recipient, an advertisement for one or more of the plurality of providers. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising generating a virtual representation of the selected product. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the virtual representation of the selected product comprises a web-based media object. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the web-based media object comprises at least one selected from a list comprising an image, an animation, and audio associated with the selected product. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein outputting an indication that the recipient is due the selected product includes outputting the virtual representation of the selected product for display at the computing device associated with the recipient. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the virtual representation of the selected product is displayed at the computing device associated with the recipient unprompted by the recipient. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the virtual representation of the selected product is displayed at the computing device associated with the recipient in response to an affirmative action of the recipient.