Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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AUTOMATED METHOD AND SYSTEM OF CROSS-MARKETING PRODUCTS
AND SERVICES SOLD AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the invention
The present invention is related to the automated cross-marketing and cross-
promoting,
between diverse and physically separate retailers, of product categories which
retail customers
generally perceive to be unrelated to purchases currently being made.
Discussion of the background
Retailers have traditionally concentrated on offering a fairly narrow range of
products.
Grocery stores, for example, were traditionally limited to only selling
foodstuffs and a very
narrow range of related products. Hardware stores were typically limited to
selling hardware.
Over the years, the consumer had developed notions that his or her shopping
required visiting
multiple retailers in order to satisfy all of a household's needs.
Modern retailers have greatly broadened beyond the narrow categories which
limited the
retailers of old. Some of today's retailers, sometimes labeled "Superstores,"
or "Mass
Merchandisers," sell a complete range of retail goods, including, among
others, clothing,
electronics, food, automobile parts and service as well as gasoline.
Modern "Superstores" and "Mass Merchandisers" have attempted to change
consumers'
historic perceptions through the use of advertising and signage to entice
customers to purchase
products in categories which had been unrelated to the category of products
the customer is
currently purchasing.
An obvious example of the difficulty of cross-marketing the various, unrelated
categories
of modern Superstores is the Superstore which has added a vehicle fueling
station to its
operations. The nature of gasoline sales requires that fueling stations be
physically removed
from the retail food showroom. A further marketing consideration of gasoline
sales is that the
fueling stations be located near the roadway in order to facilitate the
customer's visit to the fuel
pump and allow the customer rapid entry from, and return to. the roadway. The
preferred
configuration for a grocery store is to locate the customer's parking area
near the roadway and
place the store behind the parking area. Such a configuration allows potential
customers passing
the store to see that ample and convenient parking is available, which
attracts the customer to
visit the store. These preferred configurations, and the traditional
exclusivity of food and
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gasoline sales, have greatly hindered the "cross-selling" of these two
categories of products.
The difficulty of cross-marketing unrelated categories is increased when a
retailer sells
unrelated product categories in facilities separated by an appreciable
distance. A retailer may not
have the land available to construct facilities to accommodate offering
additional categories of
products or the retailer may believe that co-locating the facilities is not
desirable.
The use of frequent shopper club membership is known to practitioners in the
art as a
method of directing sales incentives to retail customers. Frequent shopper
club records have
been used to accumulate shopping histories of individual club members. These
accumulated
shopping histories have been used to determine the consumption patterns of the
individual
customer. The customer's consumption pattern is then used to determine which
purchasing
incentives to direct to the customer. Such incentive programs determine the
categories in which
the customer is interested. such as determining if the customer has children
or a pet, and then go
on to determine any brand preferences of the customer. Incentives might be
directed to the
customer for certain children's products if the customer has purchased
children's products in the
past, or incentives to purchase different brands than are the customer's
apparent preference could
be used to try to change the customer's brand preference.
Summary of the Invention
The object of this invention is to entice and induce customers purchasing one
category of
product to purchase other products from physically separated retailers.
It is a further object of this invention to broaden a customer's perception of
a retailer's
breadth of offerings from physically separated locations and facilities.
It is yet another object of the present invention to entice and induce
customers to
purchase categories of products from retailers not typically associated with
that category.
It is another object of the present invention to provide incentives for
current customers of
a retailer to use other retail facilities operated or promoted by the
retailer, such as Internet based
retailing.
The present invention achieves these objectives by automatically generating
incentives
requiring a customer currently making a purchase to make purchases in a
physically removed
facility in order to receive the benefit of the incentive. The present
invention can use a retailer's
frequent shopper club account to apply the benefits, or track the benefits
through other account
numbers such as credit card or checking account numbers. The incentive
provided to the
customer consists of receiving a benefit, such as a discount, in exchange for
the customer's
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visiting a different retail facility and making either any purchase, or a
purchase of a specified
product or a purchase of a product within a specified group of products. The
purchases required
to be made in order to receive the incentive, or the purchases upon which an
incentive benefit are
be given, can be made at either facilities operated by the same retailer, or
at facilities operated by
different retailers or even small facilities operated by different entities
which are jointly offering
the promotion. The present invention utilizes a variety of incentives to
entice the customer to
purchase products in unrelated categories as well as to entice customers to
patronize other retail
outlets, such as Internet based retailing.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Figure I is a simplified overhead view of road, parking lot, gas pumps and
retailer which
will implement the present invention.
Figure 2 is an overhead view of car at fueling station and associated fuel
pumps.
Figure 3 is a front view of fuel pump with associated equipment (perspective
"A").
Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating the interconnections between the
elements of an
Internet retailer and Internet user terminal.
Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating the interconnections between the
components
comprising a fuel pump.
Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating the interconnections between the
components of a
Point Of Sale (POS) system in a retailer, the incentive processor and fuel
pump processor.
Figure 7 is a simplified flow chart for the processing performed by a retail
sale system.
Figure 8 is a simplified flow chart for the processing performed by the
incentive
processor.
Description of the Preferred Embodiments
The preferred embodiment of this invention utilizes the present invention to
provide
incentives to make future food purchases in response to a customer's purchase
of gasoline. An
example incentive used by the preferred embodiment is offered to a customer
purchasing fuel
and is described to the customer through a communication, which could be a
display or coupon
stating "Save X cents per gallon of gasoline, savings applied to your next
food purchase at
grocery Store Y." This incentive not only provides an incentive for the
customer to purchase
fuel, but requires the customer to make the unrelated purchase of food items
at Store Y in order
to realize the benefit of the incenti~~e. This promotion is typically
sponsored by grocery Store Y,
which also operates a vehicle fueling station in addition to its grocery store
facility. This
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incentive presents the offer as a discount on the per unit quantity on the
purchase of fuel.
Referring now to the drawings, Figure I illustrates an overhead view of the
layout of a
retail grocery establishment which has added a gasoline fueling facility 13.
The traditional retail
grocery establishment comprises a retail building I I in which the food sales
occur. The
customer is best attracted to this establishment if ample and convenient
parking is noticeably
available. This results in the configuration shown in Figure 1, where the
customer parking area
12 is located closest to the roadway 14, with the retail building 1 I located
furthest from the
roadway 14.
Figure I further shows a gasoline fueling facility 13 added to the parking
area 12. Adding
a fueling facility in this configuration is attractive to many grocery
establishments since they
already have access to the land and the relative proximity to the retail
building I 1 enhances the
apparent link between the fueling facility 13 and the grocery establishment.
Other embodiments
may have the fueling facility located separately and apart from the
conventional grocery
establishment, but at the risk of further separating the apparent relationship
between the fueling
facility and the grocery establishment. In the latter configuration, the
present invention will
reduce the impact of this physical separation and reinforce the relationship
between the two
physically separated facilities in the customer's mind.
Figure 2 illustrates the overhead view of the fueling facility 11 in further
detail. Figure 2
shows the location of fuel pump 21 located on a cement pedestal 22, usually
referred to as an
island, in order to protect the pump 21 from approaching automobiles. Figure 2
further shows
the location of an automobile 23 at a fuel pump 21, as is required for the
purchase of fuel for the
automobile.
Figure 3 illustrates the front view of fuel pump 21, i.e. from perspective
"A." The fuel
pump 21 pumps fuel into an automobile, measures the fuel delivered to the
automobile and is
programmed to determine the total cost to the customer of the fuel delivered.
The fuel pump 21
used in the preferred embodiment supports reconfiguring the price to charge
per unit quantity of
fuel for an individual fuel purchaser based upon various criteria. described
below.
Figure 3 further shows the equipment incorporated within the fuel pump 21. The
fuel
pump 21 includes equipment to read a customer's identification. The preferred
embodiment uses
a frequent shopper card to identify customers and the fuel pump contains a
frequent shopper card
reader 32 to read and determine the customer's identification. The fuel pump
21 in the preferred
embodiment also has a display 31 to provide additional information to the
customer purchasing
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fuel, a credit/debit card reader 34 to allow credit card payment from the pump
itself, as well as a
printer 33 to provide receipts or other printed information to the customer.
The frequent shopper card used to identify the customer in this embodiment can
be
encoded with identification information either by printing an optically
readable code, such as a
bar code, on the card or the information could be encoded on a magnetic stripe
placed on the
card. Other identification means can include RF Identification tags,
fingerprinting or more
advanced biometrics, as are known to practitioners in the relevant arts. It is
obvious that this
invention will work with any means used to identify the customer that is
compatible with the
other retail sales facilities used in conjunction with the incentive.
Equipment installed in fuel
pumps to read bar codes or magnetically encoded information on a frequent
shopper club card is
known to practitioners in the relevant arts.
The present invention uses the fuel pump display 31 to provide an indication
of the
incentive offer being made to the fuel purchaser. The indication displayed
could be a text
message, with some optional graphics containing logos or other diagrams,
informing the fuel
purchaser of the incentive offer, and informing the fuel purchaser that the
benefit provided in the
incentive has the precondition that the fuel purchaser must first make the
specified purchases in
other retail facilities.
Credit/debit card reader 34 is incorporated into the fuel pump 21 to allow the
fuel
purchaser to make credit or debit card payments for fuel while still at the
pump. This greatly
increases the convenience of fuel purchasing by obviating the need for the
fuel purchaser to walk
to a cashier and pay for the fuel. Embodiments of the present invention which
use customer
identification that can be read by a credit/debit card reader 34 can use the
credit/debit card reader
34 to determine the customer's identification. Examples of customer
identification that can be
read by the credit/debit card reader include using a frequent shopper card
with data encoded on a
magnetic stripe or using the credit or debit card itself as the customer
identification.
The printer 33 is primarily incorporated into the fuel pump 21 in order to
allow receipts
to be printed for fuel purchases, especially in conjunction with credit or
debit card payment
through the credit/debit card reader 34. This embodiment of the present
invention uses the
printer 33 to print a further indication of the incentive offer, including
that the offer has the
precondition of purchasing the specified product. The printing resolution of
printers typically
incorporated into fuel pumps is usually insufficient to print discount coupons
which can be
readily redeemed in retailers. Discount coupons readily redeemed in most
retailers are required
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to have a have a bar code which can be automatically read by the retailer's
bar code scanner.
Coupons without bar codes increase the workload and expense of redeeming the
coupon and are
therefor disfavored or avoided. The present invention obviates the need to
print optically
readable discount coupon at the fuel pump by providing the incentive through a
computer based
account associated with the purchaser.
Figure 5 illustrates the interconnection between elements present in the fuel
pump 21.
The pump processor can be a small embedded computer located within the
physical fuel pump
21, or it could be a remote, central computer electronically linked to one or
more physical fuel
pumps) 21. A single pump processor could perform all of the processing
required for the
several fuel pumps located at a fueling station. Pump processors which service
a single or
multiple fuel pumps are currently used in fueling station operations and are
well known to
practitioners in the relevant arts.
The pump processor ~3 is connected to the various components of the fuel pump
and
other components of the fueling station. The pump processor ~3 controls and
directs the printing
and display functions of the fuel pump printer 33 and display 31 to provide
information as
required to the customer purchasing fuel. The pump processor 53 accepts
information tiom the
credit/debit card reader 34 to determine the proper account to charge for the
fuel. The pump
processor 53 performs required communications with associated financial
institutions to effect
the payment to the fueling station operator when payment is made in
conjunction with the on-
pump credit/debit card reader 34. The pump processor 53 also accepts
information from the
frequent shopper card reader 32 to allow electronic recording of the
purchasing customer's
identity, as described below. The Pump processor will also allow input from a
manual cashier ~2
to allow a customer to purchase fuel by payin~~ an attendant at the fueling
station. The manual
cashier 52 will also include the ability to read or determine the customer's
identification and
provide the customer's identification to the pump processor 53. In the
preferred embodiment,
which uses a frequent shopper card to identify the customer purchasing fuel,
the manual cashier
52 will either include a scanner for the frequent shopper card bar code or
allow the attendant to
manually enter the customer's frequent shopper's number. Payment for fuel
using this technique
is known to practitioners in the relevant arts.
The pump processor determines the amount to charge the purchaser by accepting
data
from the fuel delivery monitor ~4. The fuel delivery monitor 54 automatically
measures the
quantity of fuel delivered to the current customer, usually in units of
gallons, and provides the
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quantity purchased data to the pump processor ~3 in an electronically readable
format. The
pump processor 53 is typically programmed with a cost per unit quantity of
fuel, but the pump
processor 53 in the preferred embodiment can accept modifications to the cost
per unit quantity
in order to provide the benefit of an incentive to the customer in accordance
with the present
invention. The pump processor 53 uses the programmed quantity of fuel
purchased and the cost
of fuel per unit quantity to determine the total cost to be charged to the
customer. The design and
development of the pump processor can be performed by practitioners in the
relevant arts based
upon the teaching of the present invention.
Pump processor 53 is electronically connected to an incentive processor 67,
which
maintains frequent shopper records. The incentive processor 67 may be operated
by the same
retailer as the fueling station, or the incentive processor may be operated by
an other retailer
which is cooperating with the fueling station operator to provide incentives
according to the
present invention. The incentive processor 67 may also be located at locations
remote from one
ur both of the retailers or fueling stations usin~~ the present invention. The
pump processor 53 is
programmed to provide to the incentive processor 67 the identification
information of the
customer purchasing fuel, the amount of fuel purchased, and the total cost of
that purchase. If
the incentive offer to be provided to the customer is a function of the
quantity or value of the
purchase, the incentive processor 67 uses that data to determine the details
of the incentive offer.
The incentive processor 67 identifies the frequent shopper account associated
with the customer
identification and records the fuel purchase into the customer information
database 66 in
association v~~ith the customer's ti-equent shopper account.
In the above embodiment, the purchase of fuel at the fuel pump 21 will be
recorded into
the customer information database 66 and enable the customer to realize the
benefit of the
incentive provided by the present invention. An example of one incentive
provided by the
preferred embodiment is a discount applied to qualifying food purchases
provided to a customer
who had first purchased fuel. The discount can be either a fixed amount to be
applied to any
food purchase at a specified grocery store, such as a one dollar reduction in
total purchase price,
or a discount amount determined by the quantity of fuel purchased, such as a
five cent discount
on grocery purchase for each gallon or dollar's worth of fuel purchased. An
example of the latter
incentive would provide the purchaser of fuel a five cent discount on a future
grocery purchase
for each dollar of fuel purchased. In this example, if the purchaser makes a
total fuel purchase of
five dollars, that purchaser would then receive a twenty five cent discount on
his next grocery
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purchase. The incentive processor 67 is configured by the retailer to
determine the incentives to
provide to the various customers.
The present invention also monitors purchases made by the customer in
retailers offering
incentives according to the present invention. These retailers may be operated
by the same
business entity, or they may be operated by unrelated business entities which
are cooperating to
provide the purchase incentives. Figure 6 illustrates the equipment used to
monitor and process
purchases in a retailer and the interaction between that equipment, the
incentive processor 67 and
the fuel station operations. The incentive processor manages the customer
information database
66 which records each incentive offer made to each customer associated with a
frequent shopper
card or other customer identifier. The retailer will include a POS (Point Of
Sale) system which
comprises a POS controller 65, a customer ID reader 61, a POS (Point Of Sale)
display 63,
incentive printer, and a product scanner 62. The customer ID reader 61
performs virtually the
same function as the frequent shopper card reader 32 that is present at the
fuel pump, but is
physically integrated into the POS system, instead of a fuel pump.
The product scanner 62 optically scans the printed bar code located on
products the
customer is purchasing in order to identify each product the customer is
purchasing, if a bar code
is available. The purchase of products or services can be recorded by other
means appropriate to
the retailer, such as manually entering a specification of the product or
service purchased into the
POS system. The data from the product scanner 62, along with the customer
identification
determined by the customer ID reader 61, is provided to the POS controller 65.
The POS
controller 65 provides the customer identification for the current purchasing
customer at the POS
system to the incentive processor 67 and the incentive processor 67 will
respond with any
incentive offers or benefits to be provided to the current purchasing
customer. If the incentive
processor 67 determines that the current purchasing customer is entitled to an
incentive offer or
benefit, as described below, the incentive processor 67 will relay that data
to the POS controller
65. The POS controller 65 will determine if preconditions to the customer's
receipt of an
incentive benefit are met and if they are, the POS controller will apply the
incentive benefit to the
current purchase. The POS controller will also notify the customer of
incentives now available
to him or her.
The POS display 63 can be used to provide an indication to the customer of
incentive
offers which are made as a result of his or her current purchase, along with
any pre-conditions on
receiving the incentive benefits. The POS display 63 can also be used to
notify the customer of
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any incentive benefits which are being applied in association with the current
purchase. An
example of the latter display would notify the customer that a total purchase
price reduction is
being applied to the current purchase because of a past fuel purchase.
The incentive printer 64 can be used to print a notice of the incentive,
containing similar
information as displayed by the POS display 63, or the incentive printer 64
can be used to print
coupons which the current customer can use to receive discounts in the same or
other retail
facilities. Examples of coupons which could be printed include a discount
coupon for a specified
product if purchased at a specified or any retailer; or a coupon which is
valid for a discount on
any purchase in a specified retailer or in one of a specified group of
retailers. The past purchase
history of the identified current purchasing customer, as accumulated in the
customer
information database, can also be used to further direct coupons or incentives
to the current retail
purchaser.
The incentive to be provided to the current purchasing customer can be either
a dollar
discount applied to any purchase, or a discount on a specific product or
category of product. If
the incentive is a dollar discount applied to any purchase, the discount is
simply subtracted from
the amount due for the current purchase. if the incentive is a discount on a
specific product or
category of products, the POS controller 65 will determine if the current
customer is purchasing
the specified product or a product within the specified category of products
and apply the
discount if the current customer is purchasing such a qualifying product. The
POS controller 65
will make this determination by examining the electronically readable list of
products purchased
by the customer, which is generated in conjunction with the product scanner
62. If the POS
controller 6~ determines that a qualifyin~~ purchase was made and applies the
discount to that
purchase, the POS controller then communicates data concerning the purchase
and provided
discount to the incentive processor 67, allowing the incentive processor 67 to
adjust the future
availability of that discount to the customer. If the discount is available
for only one purchase of
a qualifying product, the incentive controller 65 will remove that incentive
offer from the
customer information database 66 after the customer has purchased the product
and received the
benefit of the incentive. If the discount is available for multiple qualifying
purchases, such as for
the next three visits, the incentive processor will maintain the accounting of
how many times the
discount has been applied and remove the incentive from the customer
information database 66
when it has been exhausted by the customer.
An optional function which can be performed by the incentive processor 67 is
providing
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each customer in the customer information database periodic notification of
incentive offers
which have been made to him or her, and including in that notification
information concerning
how he or she can receive the benefit of these offers. The incentive processor
67 can notify each
customer either through electronic mail (e-mail) over the Internet or by
conventional mailings.
An incentive processor performing this notification to each customer will
require either the
mailing address or the e-mail address for each customer to be stored in the in
the customer
information database 66. The incentive processor 67 will then be pro~7rammed
and configured to
periodically generate the electronic or printed mailing material to be sent to
each customer.
The use of the present invention is not limited to combining the purchases of
fuel and
retail products as described above. The present invention operates equally
well in alternative
embodiments to provide incentives when all of the associated purchases are to
be made in retail
outlets, or when one or more purchases are to be made through Internet retail
facilities. The
functionality of an alternative embodiment used with an Internet retail
facility implementing the
present invention is illustrated in figure 4. The Internet retail site
controller 41 processing
functionality is the same as for the POS controller 6~ in the physical retail
store. The Internet
retail site controller 41 generates data to create displays on the user
Internet terminal 42 and
communicates this display data over the Internet 44. The user Internet
terminal 42 is comprised
of a display, such as a CRT, and user input device, such as a keyboard and
mouse. The user
Internet terminal 42 displays the information generated by the Internet retail
site controller 41 and
allows the user to enter his or her identification. such as his or her account
number associated
with incentives provided by the incentive processor 66, and to also select
items to purchase. The
Internet retail site controller 41 accepts the user's identification and
communicates the
identification data to the incentive processor 66 to determine if any
incentives are to be offered to
the user or if any incentive benefits are to be made available to the user.
The Internet retail site
controller will receive from the incentive processor any incentive information
to apply to the
user's transaction and update the display data provided to the user Internet
terminal 42 to reflect
such incentives. The Internet retail site controller 41 will record purchases
made by the user and
communicate that information to the incentive processor 66 and the incentive
processor 66 will
determine if additional incentives are to be provided to the user based upon
those purchases. The
incentive processor 66 communicates to the Internet retail site controller any
incentives to be
provided to the user in response to purchases made in this transaction, and
display data reflecting
such incentives will be generated and sent to the user Internet terminal 42.
The incentive data,
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which may include a coupon or other printable token, can then be printed on
the user printer 43.
One possible incentive which could be provided in an embodiment of the current
invention implemented at a grocery store with an associated fueling station is
to provide to the
purchaser of fuel a discount on future purchases of fuel only if the filel
purchaser buys groceries
prior to the next fuel purchase. This incentive will entice the fuel purchaser
to visit the grocery
store, and then revisit the fueling station. The implementation of this
incentive will require
further processing by the pump processor 53. The implementation of this
incentive will require
the pump processor to provide to the incentive processor 66 the identification
of the current fuel
purchaser prior to calculating the total cost of fuel purchased. If the
purchaser is to receive the
benefit of this incentive, by having first purchased fuel and subsequently
purchasing groceries
before the current fuel purchase, then the incentive processor 66 will provide
data to the pump
processor 53 to direct the pump processor to adjust the cost of fuel by the
amount provided by
the incentive. The reduction may be a fixed amount. e.'.:. a one dollar total
cost reduction, or a
reduction in the cost per unit quantity, e.g. a five cents reduction in the
cost of each gallon.
Figure 7 illustrates the processing steps to be performed by the processor
controlling the
retail or fuel pump sale to the customer. The differences between the
processing performed by
the retailer POS controller 6~. the pump processor 53 and the Internet retail
site controller 41
involve the different displays presented to the customer and the necessarily
different techniques
used to process the customer's purchases. The incentives which are to be
offered or applied may
vary between these different applications, but the processing associated with
determining,
offering and applying the incentives associated with the present invention is
similar in all of
these cases.
The retail sale to the customer begins with step 80 Ill which the retail sale
system must
determine the identification of the customer making the purchase. Step 80
involves reading the
device used by that embodiment to identify the customer. such as a preferred
shopper card in the
preferred embodiment.
The next step in processing a retail sale is step 81, wherein the customer
identification
(ID) which was determined in step 80 is communicated to the incentive
processor 66. The
information communicated to the incentive controller 66 includes the type of
retail sale facility at
which the customer is purchasing, as well as an identification of the specific
retail sales facility.
The incentive processor may have different incentives for different types of
retail sales facilities,
such as fuel sales. Internet sales, grocery sales or retail sales. The
incentive processor 67 may
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also have different incentives to offer at specific retail sales facilities.
such as facilities associated
with a particular retailer chain. Providing both the type of facility and the
specific identifier of
the retail sales facility reduces the processing required in the incentive
processor 67. Once the
customer identification, retail sale facility type and retail sales facility
identification is
communicated to the incentive processor. the incentive processor will record
the customer's
identification for this transaction and return to the retail sale controller a
list of incentives to offer
to the customer. The incentive processor will also return a list of incentive
benefits which can be
applied to the identified customer's purchases if qualifying purchases are
made. These lists are
used in subsequent processin~~ steps.
The retail sale system next proceeds to step 82 to determine if the incentive
controller 67
indicated that there are incentives to offer to the purchaser. The incentive
offers made in this
step are made in response to the customer's first purchase of products. The
offers made in
accordance with the present invention specify to the customer that he or she
will receive a benefit
if he or she makes a specified purchase in the future.
The retail sale system will then execute step 83 to notify the customer of the
incentive
offer. The retail sale system provides an indication to the customer of the
incentive offer being
made, and includes an indication to the customer of the preconditions on the
offer, such as a
subsequent purchase from another store. The indication may be displayed on the
fuel pump
display 33, POS display 63 or user Internet terminal 42 depending upon the
retail sales
environment. The incentive processor 66 may include instructions associated
with some offers
that a printed indication is also to be provided. In a POS system. the POS
controller 65 may be
instructed to provide a printed notice of the oi~fer to the customer through
the fOS printer 64.
This printed notice or indication may include a coupon with an identifying bar
code to assist in
redemption. Incentive offers made in this step do not affect the processing of
the current
purchase, the offer presentation only serves to notify the customer of the
availability of a benefit
if he or she makes the specified future purchases.
After the customer is notified of available offers, the processing proceeds to
step 84
wherein the customer's purchase selections are determined. The processing in
this step is a
function ofthe type of retail sale being made. Fuel sales will include
delivery and measurement
of fuel in this step. Grocery or other retail sales will include scanning bar
codes of items selected
for purchase. Internet retail sales will include having the customer select
his or her purchases.
This step will complete with the production of an electronically readable list
of products the
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customer has purchased.
The retail sale processing then advances to step 8~ wherein the electronically
readable list
of purchases is examined to determine if the customer has made any qualifying
purchases. The
list of qualifying purchases is part of the data contained in the list of
benefits to apply provided
by the incentive processor 66 in step 81. Each benefit will include a
specification of purchases
the customer must make in order to receive the benefit. Examples of
qualifyin~~ purchases
include purchasing a specific product or one ol~a group of specified products,
or making a
purchase in excess of a specified dollar amount. The incentive processor can
specify that any
purchase will qualify, thereby causing the benefit to be applied if any
purchase is made.
If a qualifying purchase is made by the customer, the retail sale system will
apply the
benefit in step 86. Benefits to be applied include discounts on the purchase
price of the current
purchase, or the printing of a coupon for a future discount if the retail sale
system has a printer,
such as the POS printer 6~ or user printer ~3.
The final processing step for the retail sale system is step 87 wherein the
retail sale
system will communicate the incentive benefits which were applied in the
current purchase. The
retail sale system communicates the benefit applied, the qualifying purchase
which allowed the
benefit to be applied, and the identification information for the customer
making the purchase.
The incentive processor uses this information to adjust the incentive benefits
which are available
to the customer in the future. The retail sale system can also be configured
to communicate the
electronically readable list of products purchased by the customer in order to
allow the incentive
processor to accumulate a purchase history of the customer.
Figure 8 illustrates the processing performed by the incentive processor 66.
The
incentive processor reacts to the receipt of two types of information from
retail systems: 1 )
information indicating the start of a retail purchase; and 2) information that
the retail sale system
has applied a benefit to the purchase of a customer. The processing of
information indicating the
start of a retail purchase be~~ins at step 901. The incentive processor 66
begins processing in step
902 by receiving information ti-om the retail sale system indicating the type
of retail sales facility
sending the information, e.g. a grocery store. and data corresponding to the
identification of the
customer making a retail purchase.
The incentive processor processing next executes step 903 to determine the
incentives
which are to be offered to the customer identified as making the current
purchase. The incentives
to offer may depend upon the type of retail sales facility the customer is
currently patronizing,
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such as a fueling station, grocery store or Internet retailer. Incentive
offers may also depend
upon the particular facility the customer is patronizing, such as a particular
retail chain or Internet
retailer.
Incentive offers made to customers may also depend upon prior offers made to
the same
customer. An incentive offer scheme may condition a benefit on the customer
making a second
purchase in another establishment, and then offering that customer a second
purchase incentive
when the customer is making that second purchase. This second purchase
incentive will require
the customer to make an additional (third) purchase in order to receive the
benefit of this second
purchase incentive. This third purchase can be specified to be made at either
the location of the
original (first) purchase, or at another specified establislunent.
Incentives offered to the customer may also depend upon the ii-equency of
visits that the
customer makes to the retailer. The incentive processor 67 will store in the
customer information
database 66 the customer identification presented for each purchase. The
incentive processor can
examine the number of entries associated with the customer identification
presented with the
present transaction and classify the customer as, for example, a frequent or
infrequent shopper.
The retailer may wish to make different incentive offers to these two classes
of customers.
Another factor to use in determining the type of incentive to be offered in
step 903 is the
time of day of the current purchase. Offers in the morning may be tailored to
provide incentives
to purchase products associated with breakfast. offers around noon time may be
tailored to
provide incentives to purchase prepared lunch items and offers in the evening
can be tailored to
provide incentives to purchase materials to prepare dinner or to purchase
products associated
with recreational activities. The incentive offers can also be based upon
personal customer
information stored in the customer information database 66, such as family
status, frequency and
time of day of the customer's purchases, the customer's purchase history, etc.
The specification
of benefits to be provided to customers based upon the customer's personal
information is known
to practitioners in the relevant arts. The issuing of incentives such as
coupons is disclosed in U.
S. Patent No. 5,832,457. U. S. Patent No. 5,832,457 and all references cited
therein are
incorporated herein by reference.
Once incentive offers to be made to the customer are determined. the offers to
be made
are stored in the customer information database 66 in step 904. The incentive
processor 66
maintains this database which contains the all of the incentive offers made to
customers and
associates these offers with the identification of the individual customer
receiving the offer.
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When the customer presents his or her identification in a subsequent purchase.
the incentive
processor is then able to retrieve the previously offered incentives to
determines which incentives
are available during that later purchase.
After the incentive processor determines which incentive offers to make to the
current
customer. the incentive processor then continues processing in step 905 to
determine which
incentives have been offered to that same customer in the past. The incentives
offered by the
present invention require that the customer make a qualifying future purchase
in order to realize
the benefit of the incentive. The current purchase may be such a purchase. and
the benefit
previously offered will have to be provided if the customer makes the
previously specified
purchase. The incentive processor examines the customer information database
to determine
which incentive offers were previously made that correspond to the customer
identification
received during the present transaction. The incentive processor then
determines which of the
previously made incentive offers contain qualifying purchase that can be made
at the current
retail sales facility and assembled these as available incentive offers.
The incentive processor may also make the offering of additional incentives to
the
customer contingent upon the purchase of specified products. The retailer may
wish to make
incentive offers based upon items the customer is currently purchasing. An
example of this type
of offer would be to offer the customer a discount of future food purchases if
he or she purchases
premium grade fuel. The benefit specified by the incentive processor in this
case will be a
notification of an offer as in step 903.
Step 905 then assembles an electronic list of the qualifyin~~ purchases. which
are require
to receive a benefit. and the specification of the benefit to be provided to
the customer if he or
she makes the corresponding qualifying purchase. This list constitutes a list
of incentives which
are available to apply. If no incentive offers are stored in the customer
information database 66
in association with the customer identification received for the current
transaction. the incentive
processor returns data to the retail sale system indicating that no benefits
are to be applied.
The final processing step associated with the receipt of information
indicating the start of
a retail purchase is step 906. In step 906. the incentive processor 66
accumulates the
electronically readable list of incentive offers to be made to the customer
and another
electronically readable list of incentives which can be applied. The incentive
processor then
communicates these two lists to the retail sale system which initially sent
the information
indicating the start of a retail sale.
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The second type of message the information processor can receive is
information that the
retail sale system has applied a benefit to the purchase of a customer. The
receipt of this data
initiates processing at step 911. The information received in this message
includes a list of items
purchased by the customer, as well as any benefits which were applied to the
current customer
purchase.
The list of items purchased received from the retail sale system is stored in
the customer
information database 66 in step 912. This data corresponds to the list of
purchases determined
by the retail sales system in step 84. This data may be used to further decide
future incentives to
provide to the customer.
The processing then advances to step 913 wherein the message received from the
retail
sale system is examined to determine if any benefits were provided to the
customer. These are
the benefits provided by the retail sales system in step 86. If benefits were
applied to the
customer, the incentive processor will adjust the customer information
database 66 in step 914 to
remove the record of the incentive offer if the customer has exhausted his use
ofthat benefit. If
the benefit can be applied a fixed number of time, such as a discount on the
next 3 purchases of a
specified item, and this is the customer's first purchase after the offer, the
number of future
purchases for which this offer applies will be reduced by 1 in the customer
information database
66.
If the benefit to be applied was the making of an incentive offer in response
to a
qualifying purchase, the incentive processor will store the incentive oFfer in
the customer
information database 66 if the customer did make the qualifying purchase.
Other incentive offer
processing in accordance with the various incentive offer terms can also be
made in step 914.
A large variety of incentive offers can be made in conjunction with the
present invention.
The examples illustrated above include offering a discount on grocery
purchases in response to
the purchase of fuel and offering to fuel purchasers a discount on future fuel
purchases if the
purchaser first purchase groceries. Other examples of incentives include, but
are not limited to,
1 ) offering to fuel purchasers a discount on items purchased ti~om an
Internet retail site; 2)
offering to customers of Internet retail sites a discount on purchases of fuel
or purchases from
conventional retailers; or 3) offering to fuel purchasers the right to receive
a coupon after making
a qualifying purchase in a retailer wherein the coupon will provide a discount
on yet a future
purchase at that same retailer, at another retailer, or at a specified group
of retailers. The
incentives offered to the customer can also depend upon the purchase of a
specified product, or
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purchasers making a purchase of a total value in excess of a specified amount.
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are
possible in
light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the
scope of the
appended claims, the present invention may be practiced otherwise than as
specifically described
herein.
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