Product tags, systems, and methods for crowdsourcing and electronic article surveillance in retail inventory management

Abstract

Methods and systems for inventory management are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes receiving, from a first device, product information associated with an article, receiving, from the first device, location information of the first device; identifying a merchant based on the location information, generating an online listing for the article in an online marketplace of the identified merchant, the online listing including the product information; and making the online listing accessible to a plurality of consumers.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, from a mobile computing device, product information associated with an item;   receiving, from the mobile computing device, an indication of a merchant at which the item is present;   generating an online listing for the item in an online marketplace in response to receiving the indication;   alerting the merchant of the online listing;   receiving, from the merchant, an approval of the online listing; and   making the online listing accessible to a plurality of consumers in response to the approval.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving a tag identifier (ID) for a product tag attached to the item from the mobile computing device; and   associating the tag ID with the online listing.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 receiving, from a point-of-sale (POS) device of the merchant, a message indicating an in-store sale of the item, the message including the tag ID read from the product tag by the POS device;   identifying the online listing based on the tag ID from the message; and   removing the online listing from sale on the online marketplace in response to the identifying.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the mobile computing device, geo-location information of the mobile computing device; and   determining that the merchant is associated with the item by identifying the merchant using geo-fencing based on the geo-location information of the mobile computing device.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 receiving an indication of absence of the item; and   changing a state of the online listing based on the indication of absence.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the item is a first location and the method further comprises:
 receiving an indication of absence of the item from the first location;   changing a state of the online listing from a first state to a second state;   receiving an indication of presence of the item at the first location; and   changing the state of the online listing from the second state back to the first state.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the item is a first location and the method further comprises:
 receiving an indication of absence of the item from the first location; and   generating an alert in response to receiving the indication of absence of the item from the first location.   
     
     
         9 . A system comprising:
 at least one hardware processor; and   at least one hardware memory storing instructions that when executed, configure the at least one hardware processor to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, from a mobile computing device, product information associated with an item; 
 receiving, from the mobile computing device, an indication of a merchant at which the item is present; 
 generating an online listing for the item in an online marketplace in response to receiving the indication; 
 alerting the merchant of the online listing; 
 receiving, from the merchant, an approval of the online listing; and 
 making the online listing accessible to a plurality of consumers in response to the approval. 
   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving a tag identifier (ID) for a product tag attached to the item from the mobile computing device; and   associating the tag ID with the online listing.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 receiving, from a point-of-sale (POS) device of the merchant, a message indicating an in-store sale of the item, the message including the tag ID read from the product tag by the POS device;   identifying the online listing based on the tag ID from the message; and   removing the online listing from sale on the online marketplace in response to the identifying.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the mobile computing device, geo-location information of the mobile computing device; and   determining that the merchant is associated with the item by identifying the merchant using geo-fencing based on the geo-location information of the mobile computing device.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 receiving an indication of absence of the item; and   changing a state of the online listing based on the indication of absence.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the item is a first location and the operations further comprising:
 receiving an indication of absence of the item from the first location;   changing a state of the online listing from a first state to a second state;   receiving an indication of presence of the item at the first location; and   changing the state of the online listing from the second state back to the first state.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the item is a first location and the operations further comprising:
 receiving an indication of absence of the item from the first location; and   generating an alert in response to receiving the indication of absence of the item from the first location.   
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed configure hardware processing circuitry to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, from a mobile computing device, product information associated with an item;   receiving, from the mobile computing device, an indication of a merchant at which the item is present;   generating an online listing for the item in an online marketplace in response to receiving the indication;   alerting the merchant of the online listing;   receiving, from the merchant, an approval of the online listing; and   making the online listing accessible to a plurality of consumers in response to the approval.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving a tag identifier (ID) for a product tag attached to the item from the mobile computing device; and   associating the tag ID with the online listing.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 receiving, from a point-of-sale (POS) device of the merchant, a message indicating an in-store sale of the item, the message including the tag ID read from the product tag by the POS device;   identifying the online listing based on the tag ID from the message; and   removing the online listing from sale on the online marketplace in response to the identifying.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 receiving an indication of absence of the item; and   changing a state of the online listing based on the indication of absence.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the item is a first location and the operations further comprising:
 receiving an indication of absence of the item from the first location;   changing a state of the online listing from a first state to a second state;   receiving an indication of presence of the item at the first location; and   changing the state of the online listing from the second state back to the first state.   
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the item is a first location and the operations further comprising:
 receiving an indication of absence of the item from the first location; and   generating an alert in response to receiving the indication of absence of the item from the first location.