A novel system and method are disclosed for finding and serving consumer
product-related information over the Internet to consumers in retail
shopping environments, as well as at home and work, and on the road. The
system includes Internet information servers which store information
pertaining to Universal Product Number (e.g. UPC number) preassigned to
each consumer product registered with the system, along with a list of
Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that point to the location of one or
more information resources on the Internet, e.g. World Wide Web-sites,
which related to such registered consumer products. Upon entering the UPC
number into the system using a conventional Internet browser program
running on any computing platform or system, the menu of URLs associated
with the entered UPC number is automatically displayed for user
selection. The displayed menu of URLs are categorically arranged
according to specific types of product information such as, for example:
product specifications and operation manuals; product wholesalers and
retailers; product advertisements and promotions; product endorsements;
product updates and reviews; product warranty/servicing; related or
complementary products; product incentives including rebates, discounts
and/or coupons; manufacturer's annual report and 10K information;
electronic stock purchase; etc. Novel Web-based techniques are disclosed
for collecting the UPC/URL information from manufacturers and
transmitting the same to the Internet-based databases of the system.