Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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Method and System for Providing Purchase Incentives
Designed to Increase Customer Loyalty
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional
Application Serial No.
60/162,009. filed October 27, 1999, entitled "PROVIDING PREFERRED PRICING ON
FUTURE RETAIL SALES PURCHASES," and incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates generally to the use of a computer, and more
specifically to
a method, system, and computer program product for providing purchase
incentives designed to
increase customer loyalty. As used herein, the term "purchase incentive"
refers to any
announcement for inducing desired purchase behavior or habits. A purchase
incentive may take
the form of a coupon, certificate, e-mail, or promotion, for example.
Discussion of the Background:
Typically advertisers take a "one size fits all" approach to advertising. That
is,
advertisers provide the same coupons and incentives to all consumers,
regardless of the purchase
habits of each consumer. For example, a retail store may announce a purchase
incentive
designed to encourage customers to shop at the retail store and to promote
customer loyalty to
the retail store. For this purpose, the purchase incentive may include a
reward that consumers
receive if certain conditions of the purchase incentive are met. For example,
the purchase
incentive may state "Spend $500 total over the next five weeks and receive a
free 12 pound
turkey." This type of purchase incentive may be advertised on television, the
radio, or take the
form of a printed coupon or advertisement in a publication or flyer, for
example. This type of
purchase incentive may produce marginal sales increases as a result of the
incentive to win a free
12 pound turkey; however, this "one size fits all" purchase incentive does not
benefit all
consumers equally and provides relatively little return to the store for the
money spent on the
promotion (i.e., increases in customer loyalty are relatively low).
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Consider the following situation: household A, two professionals, now spends
$40 a
week on groceries; household B, a family of three, now spends $100 a week on
groceries; and
household C, a family of five, now spends $200 a week on groceries. When
household A
receives the purchase incentive (i.e., spend $500 total over the next five
weeks and receive a free
12 pound turkey), it may not even consider participating in the program
because household A's
spending on groceries would have to increase 150% (i.e., by $60 per week) to
receive the free 12
pound turkey. On the other hand, household B, which currently spends $100 per
week on
groceries, will probably participate in the program since household B only
needs to maintain its
$100 per week expenditure on groceries. Lastly, household C, which currently
spends $200 per
week on groceries, will certainly participate in the offer because household C
is almost
guaranteed to qualify for the free 12 pound turkey without having to alter its
current purchase
habits.
Accordingly, it can be seen that the conventional approach to loyalty programs
provides
purchase incentives that may not induce desired results (i.e., an increase
loyalty and spending at a
certain retail location or a chain) from many, if not most, of the households
that receive the
purchase incentive. Many consumers (e.g., household A) will not even consider
participating in
the loyalty program because the purchase incentive requires an unrealistic
increase in grocery
expenditures to receive the reward. Other households (e.g., household B) are
only marginally
affected by the purchase incentives because they merely have to maintain their
current level of
loyalty to qualify for the reward. Lastly, households that already exhibit
loyalty that far exceeds
the requirements of a conventional purchase incentive (e.g., household C) are
entirely unaffected
by conventional purchase incentives because they are almost guaranteed to
receive the reward
based on their current spending habits. Thus, the store rewards customers,
such as household C,
even though household C does not increase its loyalty to the store.
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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, one object of this invention is to provide a novel method,
system, and
computer program product for delivering purchase incentives to individual
customers based on
their purchase histories.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method,
system, and
computer program product for increasing shopper loyalty to particular retail
stores and/or retail
chains.
These and other objects are achieved according to the present invention by
providing a
novel method, system, and computer program product for delivering purchase
incentives. The
method, on which the system and computer program product are based, includes
the steps of
receiving identifying information of a customer; determining a purchase
incentive associated
with the identifying information of the customer and based on purchase history
information of
the customer, the purchase incentive including a loyalty condition for the
customer to meet and a
reward to be provided to the customer; delivering the purchase incentive to
the customer;
receiving again the identifying information of the customer; determining
whether the customer
has met the condition of the purchase incentive; and rewarding the customer,
based on the
reward, if the customer has met the condition of the purchase incentive. The
method may be
implemented using a computer in the retail store and/or a host computer remote
from the retail
store.
Thus, purchase incentives are tailored to the individual purchase histories of
each
customer. For example, households that exhibit relatively low expenditures on
groceries will
receive purchase incentives different from the purchase incentives delivered
to households that
exhibit relatively high expenditures on groceries. Preferably, the conditions
of the purchase
incentives provided to customers exhibiting low spending are easier to meet
than the conditions
of the purchase incentives provided to households exhibiting high spending.
According to one aspect of the invention, a purchase incentive is printed for
a customer at
a point of sale within a retail location, irregardless of the customer's
identity. The purchase
incentive includes: a reward, a time condition specifying a period of time
within which the
customer must return to the store in order to receive the reward, and a
purchase condition that the
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customer must meet in order to receive the reward. A computer at the retail
location or remote
from the retail location determines whether the customer has met the time
condition and the
purchase condition. The customer is rewarded based on the reward if the
customer meets the
time condition and the purchase condition. Accordingly, a loyalty program,
which doesn't
require frequent shopper cards or other identifiers, is provided. This aspect
of the invention may
conveniently incorporate existing printers and store computers, thereby
reducing the amount of
hardware needed to realize the inventive loyalty program.
Preferably, the offers are for staple items so that consumers have a reason to
continue
coming back to the store or chain at which the purchase incentive was
received. In a preferred
embodiment, the offers are extraordinary offers (e.g., 5ø for a gallon of
milk) that are only
available for a short period of time (e.g., one week). The purchase incentives
may be made
available to everyone who purchases products, regardless of whether customer
identification is
provided at checkout. As a result, existing customers will be induced to
maintain their loyalty,
and sporadic and first time customers will be induced to become more loyal to
the store or chain
offering the purchase incentives.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendant
advantages
thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by
reference to the
following detailed description when considered in connection with the
accompanying drawings,
wherein:
Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a system for providing purchase
incentives,
including preferred pricing, to consumers in accordance with the present
invention;
Figure 2 is a purchase history table for associating identifying information
of customers
with their respective purchase histories;
Figure 3 is a classification table for classifying customers and for
associating
qualification requirements of each classification with a purchase incentive,
including a reward
and the conditions that a customer must meet to receive the reward;
Figure 4 is a purchase incentive table for associating customers with purchase
incentives
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to be provided to the customers;
Figures SA, SB, SC, and SD are examples of purchase incentives provided in
accordance
with the present invention;
Figure 6 is a flowchart for explaining the delivery of purchase incentives to
customers
based on the individual purchase histories of the consumers;
Figure 7 is a flowchart for explaining how a purchase incentive designed to
increase
customer loyalty to a particular retail location or chain is provided in
accordance with the present
invention; and
Figure 8 is an exemplary computer system programmed to perform one or more of
the
special purpose functions) of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate
identical or
corresponding parts throughout the several views, and more particularly to
Figure 1 thereof, a
schematic illustration of a system for providing purchase incentives is shown.
The system
includes a remote computer 101, a consumer database 103, and one or more
retail stores 105.
Each retail store includes a store computer 109, one or more scanners 117 and
terminals 121, one
or more printers 125, and a store database 113. Preferably, each scanner 117
is associated with
one of the terminals 121 and one of the printers 125.
The host computer 101 is any suitable server, work station, personal computer
(PC), or
other device for monitoring consumer purchase activity in the retail store
105, for storing
information of the purchase activity in the consumer database 103, and for
controlling the
distribution of purchase incentives. The host computer 101 communicates with
the store
computer 109 using any suitable protocol and may be implemented using the
computer system
801 of Figure 8, for example.
The consumer database 103 is a file that includes records containing
information for
providing purchase incentives in accordance with the present invention. This
purchase history
information includes information of each purchase made by a customer in the
retail store 105.
Such information may include the shelf keeping unit (SKU), the brand, size,
weight, price, date
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and time of purchase, and customer identification (customer ID) of the
consumer making the
purchase, for example. In one embodiment, portions of this information are
obtained from bar
codes on purchased items, which are scanned by the scanner 117 during a
transaction. Each
record in the consumer database 103 contains fields together with a set of
operations for
searching, sorting, recombining, and other database functions. The consumer
database 103 may
be implemented as two or more databases, if desired. One or more of U.S. Pat.
Nos. 5,832,457;
5,649,114; 5,430,644; and 5,592,560 describe techniques for collecting
consumer purchase
information and for storing such information in databases such as the consumer
database 103 and
the store database 113. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,832,457; 5,649,114; 5,430,644; and
5,592,560 are
incorporated herein by reference. Additionally, techniques for collecting
consumer purchase
information and for storing such information in databases, such as the
consumer database 103
and the store database 113, are described in other patents owned by Catalina
Marketing and/or
Catalina Marketing International. Each patent owned by Catalina Marketing
and/or Catalina
Marketing International is incorporated herein by reference.
The retail store 105 is any location where goods are kept for retail sale to
customers. The
retail store 105 may be a part of a retail store chain.
The store computer 109 may be implemented using the computer system 801 of
Figure 8,
for example, or any other suitable PC, work station, server, or device for
communicating with the
host computer 101, storing and retrieving information in the store database
113, and
communicating with the scanner 117, terminal 121, and printer 125. The store
computer 109
performs functions related to providing purchase incentives in accordance with
the present
invention as well as the functions of a conventional store controller (e.g.,
as described in U.S.
Patent No. 5,173,851).
The store database 113 is a file that includes records containing information
for providing
purchase incentives in accordance with the present invention. Each record in
the store database
113 contains fields for associating bar codes with products in the retail
store 105, associating
consumer IDs with purchase incentives, and associating :,onditions of the
purchase incentives
with rewards. The store database 113 also includes operations for searching,
sorting,
recombining, and other database functions. The store database 113 may be
implemented as two
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or more databases, if desired. Periodically, sales transaction information
stored in the store
database 113 is retrieved by the store computer 109 and sent to the host
computer 101, which
uses the information to update the purchase history information stored in the
consumer database
103.
The scanner 117 is associated with a cashier at a point of sale. The scanner
117 is any
suitable scanning device for scanning indicia, such as bar codes, on products,
coupons, purchase
incentives, promotions, advertisements, and any other tangible medium. The
terminal 121 may
be a conventional cash register and communicates with the store computer 109
and the scanner
117. The terminal 121 may receive information entered by a cashier as well as
bar code
information received from the scanner 117. Such information is sent to the
store computer 109,
which processes the information. The terminal 121 also displays information
received from the
store computer 109.
The printer 125 is any suitable printing device for printing coupons and other
announcements (e.g., purchase incentives) at the point of sale. The printer
125 is in
communication with, and controlled by, the host computer 101 and/or the store
computer 109.
It is to be understood that the system in Figure 1 is for exemplary purposes
only, as many
variations of the specific hardware used to implement the present invention
will be readily
apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art. For example, the
functionality of the store
computer 109 may be divided between a standard store controller for
controlling the terminal 121
and a separate computer for communicating with the host computer 101 and for
monitoring sales
transaction data and signals transmitted from the terminzl 121 to the store
computer 109. These
implementations and other implementations of retail computer systems are
described in greater
detail in one or more of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,723,212; 4,910,672; 5,173,851;
5,612,868; and
6,026,370, each of which is incorporated herein by reference. To implement
these variations as
well as other variations, a single computer (e.g., the computer system 801 of
Figure 8) may be
programmed to perform the special purpose functions of two or more of any of
the devices
shown in Figure 1. On the other hand, two or more programmed computers may be
substituted
for any one of the devices shown in Figure 1. Principles and advantages of
distributed
processing, such as redundancy and replication, may also be implemented as
desired to increase
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the robustness and performance of the system, for example.
The present invention stores information relating to various customers who
shop at the
retail store 1 O5, the purchase histories of those customers, purchase
incentives, and the
classification of customers, for example. This information is stored in one or
more memories
such as a hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, and/or RAM, for
example. One or more
databases, such as the consumer database 103 and the store database 113, may
store the
information used to implement the present invention. The databases are
organized using data
structures (e.g., records, tables, arrays, fields, graphs, trees, and/or
lists) contained in one or more
memories, such as the memories listed above or any of the storage devices
listed below in the
discussion of Figure 8, for example.
Figures 2, 3, and 4 depict data structures used for implementing a system for
providing
purchase incentives in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
The data
structures are depicted in a relational format, using tables, whereby
information stored in one
column (i.e., field) of a table is mapped or linked to information stored in
the same row (i.e.,
record) across the other columns) of the table. These d~.ta structures are
used by the host
computer 101 and/or the store computer 109 to provide purchase incentives to
consumers in
accordance with the present invention. The data structures shown in Figures 2,
3, and 4 are
stored in the consumer database 103, the store database 113, and/or any other
suitable storage
device(s).
Figure 2 is a purchase history table 201 that includes a field 203 for storing
consumer IDs
and a field 205 for storing purchase histories of the consumers in the field
203. A consumer ID
is any identifier that is scanned, read, or otherwise entered into a computer
system at checkout to
identify a customer. Each customer may have multiple customer IDs. Preferably,
the consumer
ID is represented as a bar code so that it can be quickly scanned at checkout
by the scanner 117,
although any other type of machine readable or non-mac'~ine readable
implementations for
storing or displaying identifications may be used, including magnetic strips,
memory chips, and
smart cards. Examples of possible consumer IDs are credit card numbers, debit
card numbers,
social security card numbers, driver's license numbers, checking account
numbers, street
addresses, names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, frequent customer card
numbers,
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shopper card identifications (SCIDs), or shopper loyalty card numbers issued
by the retail store
105, although any other suitable form of identification may be used.
Preferably, the field 205 is
divided into several subfields for separately storing purchase data such as
the location of the
purchase, a description of the items purchased, the price of each item
purchased, and the date and
time of the transaction.
Figure 3 is a classification table 301 that includes a field 303 for storing
qualification
requirements, a field 305 for storing conditions of purchase incentives, and a
field 307 for storing
the rewards of purchase incentives. The qualifications requirements in each
record of the
classification table 301 include purchase behavior criteria that must be met
by a customer in
order for the customer to be eligible for the purchase incentive defined by
the corresponding
condition and reward in the same record. The purchase behavior criteria in the
field 303 is
compared with purchase behavior information of each customer. This purchase
behavior
information may be determined directly from the purchase history of the
customer stored in the
field 205 and/or by processing the information stored in the field 205 with
the host computer
101, for example.
An example of a qualification requirement is purchase behavior criteria
identifying ranges
(i.e., classes) of average dollars spent per week in the store 105 over an
eight week window. An
example of corresponding purchase behavior information is the average amount
spent at the retail
store 105 per week over the last eight weeks. This inforrlation may be
determined by the host
computer 101, which accesses the appropriate purchase history in the field 205
for each
consumer ID in the field 203. For example, the classification table 301 may
include three
records, and the qualification requirements in each record may be ( 1 ) up to
$40 per week, (2) $41
to $199 per week, and (3) over $199 per week, respectively. For each consumer
ID in the field
201, the host computer 101 determines the average amount the consumer has
spent at the retail
store 105 over the last eight weeks based on the purchase history information
stored in the field
205. The average expenditures of each customer over the last eight weeks at
the retail store 105
are compared to the qualification requirements stored in each of the three
records in the field 303.
If a customer meets the qualification requirements of a particular record in
the field 303, then the
corresponding purchase incentive to be offered to the consumer is the
condition and reward
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stored in the fields 305 and 307 of the same record in the fields 305 and 307,
respectively.
Figure 4 is a purchase incentive table 401 that includes a field 403 for
storing consumer
IDs, a field 405 for storing conditions of purchase incentives, and a field
407 for storing rewards
of purchase incentives. The purchase incentive table 401 is populated by the
host computer 101
based on the result of comparing the qualification requirements in the field
303 with information
derived from the purchase history stored in the field 205. Thus, returning to
the example above,
if a particular customer is to be offered a particular purchase incentive,
then the consumer ID of
the customer is stored in the field 403 and the condition and reward of the
purchase incentive is
stored in the same record as the customer's consumer ID in the fields 405 and
407, respectively.
Figures SA, SB, SC, and SD are examples of purchase incentives that may be
provided in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. These purchase
incentives may be
printed (e.g., by the printer 125) at a point of sale, displayed to consumers
on a monitor or
display screen, and/or stored in a suitable storage medium, such as a magnetic
strip, smart card,
and/or databases 103 and 113. Each purchase incentive includes a reward to be
received by a
customer and a condition that the customer must meet to receive the reward.
In a preferred embodiment, the conditions are loyalty conditions that require
the
consumer to exhibit increased loyalty to the store 105, a chain of stores
including the store 105,
and/or a particular brand or product. As shown in Figures SA, SB, SC, and SD,
loyalty
conditions may include time conditions identifying a period of time (e.g.,
within one week) in
which other conditions must be satisfied, purchase conditions such as purchase
amount
conditions identifying an amount of money that must be spent within the time
indicated by the
time condition, location conditions identifying one or more locations at which
the purchase
conditions may be satisfied, and brand conditions identifying a brand or
product that must be
purchased in order to receive the reward.
Figure SA is a purchase incentive 501 including a reward 503 (i.e., one rump
roast for 10
cents per pound) and a condition 505 (i.e., spend $100 this week). Figure SB
is a purchase
incentive 507 including a reward 509 (i.e., one fresh, whole chicken fir 10
cents per pound) and
a condition 511 (i.e., spend $50.00 this week). Figure SC is a purchase
incentive 513 including a
reward 515 (i.e., one gallon of milk for 5 cents) and a condition 517 (i.e.,
spend $25.00 this
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week). Figure SD is a purchase incentive S 19 including a reward 521 (i.e.,
grade A milk, for 10
cents per gallon) and a loyalty condition 523 requiring a customer to return
to the store within
one week (a time condition) and make a purchase (an implied purchase
condition). Customers
who comply with the conditions of the purchase incentives are rewarded for
their increased
loyalty to the store 105.
The time conditions of the exemplary purchase incentives above specify that
the purchase
conditions be met within one week. However, it is to be understood that the
time conditions, as
well as other loyalty conditions and the rewards, are flexible and may be
tailored to suit different
customer loyalty programs. Thus, the time condition may span several weeks or
months, if
desired, so that the cumulative purchases of participating customers are
tracked over the time
period specified by the time condition. For example, a customer averaging $25
a week in
purchases may be offered a free Smithfield ham if he averages $30 a week over
the next five
weeks (or a total of at least $150 within five weeks). In another example, the
loyalty condition
may require that a customer return to the store and make a purchase five times
over the next five
weeks.
Depending on the desired customer loyalty program, a customer may or may not
be
required to meet the loyalty condition of a purchase incentive in a single
shopping trip or store
transaction. If a customer is not required to meet the loyalty condition in a
single trip to the store
105, the host computer 101 or the store computer 109 may be programmed to
track each
customer's purchases and determine when the purchase condition has been met.
For example, the
host computer 101 may periodically check the purchase history information
accumulated in the
consumer database 103 to determine whether customers meet the conditions of
such purchase
incentives.
The store 105 benefits from the increased loyalty of the customers who satisfy
the
conditions of the purchase incentives. The purchase incentives 501, 507, 513,
and S 19 are
preferably financed by the store 105. The store 105 may also specify a brand
in the condition
and/or the reward so that the customer is required to purchase a particular
brand to meet the
condition or to redeem the reward. In this case, the store 105 may also enlist
the help of the
manufacturer of the brand in financing the purchase incentive, since the
manufacturer of the
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brand benefits from customers meeting the conditions of the purchase
incentives (e.g., increased
brand loyalty) and receiving the corresponding rewards (e.g., increased
goodwill). Preferably,
when a customer meets the conditions specified by a purchase incentive, they
axe automatically
provided with the reward and/or receive a print-out, certificate, coupon, or
other redeemable item
that entitles the customer to the reward.
Figure 6 is a flowchart for explaining how purchase incentives for inducing
desired future
retail purchase behavior are provided in accordance with an embodiment of the
present
invention. In step 601 purchase history information of customers is recorded
in the consumer
database 103. The purchase history information is updated continuously (e.g.,
daily) to track the
purchase history as well as changes in purchase history and tendencies of the
customers.
In step 602, the host computer 101 generates, for each consumer, purchase
behavior
information based on each consumer's purchase history. For example, if the
applicable purchase
behavior criterion is average dollars spent at the store 105 each week for the
last year, then the
host computer 101 uses the information stored in the field 205 of the purchase
history table 201
to derive the purchase behavior information of each consumer's average weekly
expenditures for
the last year in the store 105, if necessary. The purchase behavior
information may not have to
be derived from the purchase history information in the field 205 (for
example, if the purchase
behavior information is part of the purchase history information in the field
205). In that case,
step 602 includes the process of retrieving the appropriate information from
the field 205.
Preferably, purchase behavior criteria are indicative of customers' past
and/or present spending or
purchase habits in the store 105. Since there may be multiple stores 105, then
the criterion may
also be based on which stores and/or chains of stores each customer visits as
well.
Next, in step 604, the host computer 101 determines which purchase incentives
apply to
each consumer by comparing the purchase behavior information acquired in step
602 to the
qualification requirements stored in the field 303 of the classification table
301. Preferably, each
record in the field 303 includes a range of purchase behavior criteria values
and the purchase
behavior information acquired in step 602 matches one of the ranges of
purchase behavior
criteria in the field 303. When the purchase behavior information of a
consumer matches the
purchase behavior criteria in one of the records in the field 303, then the
corresponding
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conditions and rewards in the same record (in fields 305 and 307,
respectively) define the
purchase incentive to be provided to that customer. Step 604 is repeated for
each customer.
Different classification tables 301 may be applied to each customer, with each
classification table
301 corresponding to a different promotion of the stores) 105 and/or of
different product
manufacturers or advertisers. During step 604, the purchase incentive table
401 is populated as a
result of comparing the purchase behavior information of each customer with
the qualification
requirements in one or more classification tables 301. Specifically, the field
403 is populated
with consumer ID, and the fields 405 and 407 are populated with the
corresponding conditions
and rewards from fields 305 and 307, respectively, based on the qualification
requirements that
the customer meets in the field 303. Thus, for example, if a customer meets
the qualification
requirements for the second record in the field 303, then the condition and
reward in fields 305
and 307 of the second record would be copied to fields 405 and 407,
respectively, in the same
record as the customer's consumer ID in field 403.
Then, in step 605 the purchase incentive table 40: is sent by the host
computer 101 to the
store database 113. In this manner, the store database 113 is populated with
one or more
purchase incentive tables 401 that map consumer IDs to purchase incentives
(i.e., the
corresponding conditions and rewards) to be provided to the corresponding
customers.
In step 607, the store computer 109 stores the purchase incentives and the
associated
consumer IDs in the store database 113. The purchase incentives and associated
consumer IDs
may be stored in one or more purchase incentive tables 401 that are populated
based on the
information received by the store computer 109 from the host computer 101 in
step 605.
In step 609 a customer of the store 105 purchases items in a transaction at a
point of sale,
and the customer's consumer ID is entered or read into the terminal 121 by the
scanner 117.
During the transaction, a cashier scans a bar code on eac'.i item to be
purchased with the scanner
117. The bar code information is transmitted to the store computer 109 or a
controller, which
uses information in the store database 113 to identify each scanned item.
Information of each
item purchased is associated with the customer's consumer ID and stored in the
store database
113. As explained above, this information is periodically sent to the consumer
database 103 via
the store computer 109 and the host computer 101 to update the purchase
history information in
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the consumer database 103. In addition to scanning the items purchased by the
customer, the
cashier uses the scanner 117 to scan/read a bar code on the customer's
frequent shopper card to
input the customer's consumer ID into the terminal 121. The bar code on the
frequent shopper
card identifies the customer by his or her consumer ID. Alternatively, the
consumer ID may be
read by swiping a magnetic strip through a device for reading magnetic strips
or any other
desired or equivalent method for inputting the customer's consumer ID may be
used (e.g., by
using a keyboard or number pad of the terminal 121 to input the consumer ID).
Then, in step 611, the store computer 109 determines the customer's consumer
ID by
comparing the bar code information scanned from the customer's frequent
shopper card to
information of different consumer IDs in the store database 113. Once the
store computer 109
identifies the customer by consumer ID, the store computer 109 checks the
purchase incentive
tables 401 stored in the store database 113 for records with the same consumer
ID in the field
403. When the customer's consumer ID is found in one or more records in the
purchase incentive
tables 401, then the store computer 109 looks up the corresponding conditions)
and rewards)
(in fields 405 and 407) from the same record(s). Each condition and
corresponding reward in the
same record in the purchase incentive tables 401 form a purchase incentive.
In step 613 the store computer 109 causes the printer 125 to print out the
purchase
incentives associated with the customer's consumer ID in the purchase
incentive tables 401.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the purchase incentives include
text similar to the
purchase incentives 501, 507,513, and 519. Preferably, the purchase incentives
are designed to
increase customer loyalty to the store 105 by providing conditions that are
tailored to the current
purchase behavior of the customer, based on the customer's purchase history
information. Thus,
the conditions provided to various customers may differ, based on the
customers' demonstrated
and/or current loyalty to the store 105.
The conditions provided to each customer preferably require the customer to
increase his
or her loyalty to the store and/or brand in order to receive the reward. Also,
conditions that
require greater loyalty to the store are preferably matched with greater
rewards. Thus, a
customer that currently spends an average of $20 a week in the store 105 may
be provided with
the purchase incentive 513 in Figure 5C to induce the customer to spend $25
within the next
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week. A customer currently spending $40 a week in the store 105 may be
provided with the
purchase incentive 507 of Figure SB to induce the customer to spend $50 the
next week. Lastly,
a customer currently spending $80 a week in the store 105 may be provided with
the purchase
incentive SO1 of Figure SA to induce the customer to spend $100 next week.
Alternatively, the
conditions of the purchase incentives may be derived from the purchase history
information of
each customer in the field 205 of the purchase history table 201. An example
would be a
condition that requires an 8% per week increase over the current average
expenditures of each
customer in the store 105. The same result may be effectively obtained by
providing a large
number of small ranges or classes within the field 303 of the classification
table 301.
Accordingly, it can be appreciated that the present invention prevents
customers from
being provided with purchase incentives with conditions that are too demanding
relative to their
current purchase behavior as well as purchase incentives with conditions that
are met by their
current purchase behavior. The construction of the classification table 301
permits an advertiser
to optimize the combination of condition and reward for each purchase
incentive for different
classes of customers, based on the customers' purchase history information in
the consumer
database 103.
Referring now to step 617, the store computer 109 determines whether the
customer has
met any of the conditions of any of the purchase incentives applicable to that
customer. Step 617
may be performed automatically, based on the customer's purchase history
stored in either the
consumer database 103 or the store database 113, for example. The store
computer 109 may also
use the items purchased in the current transaction to determine whether the
conditions are met in
617. Alternatively, the host computer 101 may periodically check the consumer
database 103
and/or the store database 113 to determine whether the customer has met the
conditions of any
purchase incentive offered to the customer. In a preferred embodiment a reward
may not be
earned unless the corresponding purchase incentive has been provided to the
customer so that the
customer does not receive a reward without being made aware of the purchase
incentive.
If the conditions are not met in step 617, then the process returns to step
609 when the
customer revisits the store 105 and conducts another transaction at the same
point of sale or a
different point of sale within the store 105. If the conditions are met in
step 617, then in step 619
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the consumer is rewarded with one or more of the rewards for which the
customer has met the
corresponding conditions. Then, the process returns to step 609.
In step 619, the customer may be rewarded automatically by the store computer
109,
which automatically adjusts the total price of the current transaction, based
on the reward. For
example, if the reward was one gallon of milk for 5 cent, then the store
computer 109 would
automatically change the price of one gallon of milk to 5 cents for the
current transaction or, if
milk is not purchased in the current transaction, automatically change the
price of milk in to 5
cents in future transaction in which a one gallon container of milk is
purchased. Alternatively,
the store computer 109 issues a reward by causing the printer 125 to print a
certificate, coupon,
or other redeemable item, which the customer may redeem like a conventional
coupon or
certificate in the current transaction or a future transaction within the
store 105 and/or another
store (e.g., within the same chain of stores), if permitted. Preferably, the
purchase incentive
printed by the printer 125 includes a bar code, as described by one or more of
the U.S. patents
listed above, to prevent coupon fraud, identify which consumers are redeeming
which coupons,
and to indicate where the coupons are redeemable.
Figure 7 is a flowchart for explaining a purchase incentive program in
accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention. In step 703 the store computer 109 causes
the printer 125
to print one or more purchase incentives during a transaction between a
customer and the store
105 at a point of sale within the store.
The purchase incentives printed may be similar to the purchase incentive 519
in Figure
SD and preferably include a bar code that uniquely identifies the purchase
incentive, as discussed
above. In step 707, the cashier at the point of sale scans a bar code on any
purchase incentives
that the customer received previously and/or during the present transaction,
if permitted. Then,
in step 715 the store computer 109 determines whether the conditions of the
purchase incentives
scanned in step 707 have been met. Step 715 may also be performed periodically
or in real time
by the host computer 101 or another computer remote from the store 105.
If, in step 715, the conditions are not met, then the process returns to step
703 when the
consumer returns to the store. If, in step 715, the conditions are met, then
the consumer is
rewarded. The consumer may be rewarded in the current transaction by reducing
the cost of the
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current transaction or by printing out a coupon or other redeemable
certificate, as discussed
above in the description of step 619. Preferably, when the consumer presents a
purchase
incentive for scanning in step 707, the bar code information acquired as a
result of scanning the
bar code on the purchase incentive is stored by the store computer 109 in the
store database 113.
Then, the host computer periodically requests the store computer 109 to
retrieve all information
of scanned bar codes on purchase incentives and to send this information to
the host computer
101, which determines whether the consumer has met the conditions in step 715,
based on the
consumer's purchase history information in the consumer database 103. Then, in
step 717, the
host computer 101 sends the store computer 109 reward information, which is
stored in the store
database 113 and is used by the store computer 109 to reward customers when
their consumer
IDs are scanned by the scanner 117, indicating that they are present at the
corresponding point of
sale. Then, the store computer 109 causes the printer 125 to print a coupon or
redeemable
certificate for the reward of the purchase incentive. According to an
embodiment of the
invention, all or a portion of the process of step 715 may also be used in
implementing the
reward process of step 619 and vice versa.
The purchase incentives offered in conjunction with the exemplary method of
Figure 7
are preferably remarkable offers designed to keep customers coming back to the
store 105.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the rewards are for staple items
such as milk,
eggs, bread, etc. to encourage customers to do all of their grocery shopping
at the store 105 rather
than shop for specific items only. An exemplary purchase incentive 519 is
shown in Figure SD.
The condition 523 requires that the consumer return to the store 105 within 7
days to receive the
reward 521, which is one gallon of grade A milk for 10 cents.
It is to be understood all or a portion of the processing performed by the
host computer
101 may be performed by the store computer 109, and all or a portion of the
processing
performed by the store computer 109 may be performed by the host computer 101,
in
implementing the exemplary processes of Figures 6 and 7.
All or a portion of the invention may be conveniently implemented using
conventional
general purpose computers or microprocessors programmed according to the
teachings of the
present invention, as will be apparent to those skilled in the computer art.
Appropriate software
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can be readily prepared by programmers of ordinary skill based on the
teachings of the present
disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the software art.
Figure 8 illustrates a computer system 801 upon which an embodiment of the
present
invention may be implemented. Computer system 801 includes a bus 803 or other
communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processor 805
coupled with
bus 803 for processing the information. Computer system 801 also includes a
main memory 807,
such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device (e.g.,
dynamic RAM
(DRAM), static RAM (SRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), flash RAM), coupled to
bus
803 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 805.
In addition, main
memory 807 may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate
information
during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 805. Computer
system 801 further
includes a read only memory (ROM) 809 or other static storage device (e.g.,
programmable
ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), and electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM))
coupled to bus 803 for storing static information and instructions for
processor 805. A storage
device 81 l, such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and coupled
to bus 803 for
storing information and instructions.
The computer system 801 may also include special purpose logic devices (e.g.,
application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)) or configurable logic
devices (e.g., generic array
of logic (GAL) or reprogrammable field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)).
Other removable
media devices (e.g., a compact disc, a tape, and a removable magneto-optical
media) or fixed,
high density media drives, may be added to the computer system 801 using an
appropriate device
bus (e.g., a small computer system interface (SCSI) bus, an enhanced
integrated device
electronics (IDE) bus, or an ultra-direct memory access (DMA) bus). The
computer system 801
may additionally include a compact disc reader, a compact disc reader-writer
unit, or a compact
disc juke box, each of which may be connected to the same device bus or
another device bus.
Computer system 801 may be coupled via bus 803 to a display 813, such as a
cathode ray
tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user. The display 813 may
be controlled
by a display or graphics card. The computer system includes input devices,
such as a keyboard
815 and a cursor control 817, for communicating information and command
selections to
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processor 805. The cursor control 817, for example, is a mouse, a trackball,
or cursor direction
keys for communicating direction information and command selections to
processor 805 and for
controlling cursor movement on the display 813. In addition, a printer may
provide printed
listings of the data structures/information shown in Figures 2, 3, 4, SA, SB,
SC, and SD or any
other data stored and/or generated by the computer system 801.
The computer system 801 performs a portion or all of the processing steps of
the
invention in response to processor 805 executing one or more sequences of one
or more
instructions contained in a memory, such as the main memory 807. Such
instructions may be
read into the main memory 807 from another computer readable medium, such as
storage device
811. One or more processors in a multi-processing arrangement may also be
employed to
execute the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 807. In
alternative
embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination
with software
instructions. Thus, embodiments are not limited to any specific combination of
hardware
circuitry and software.
As stated above, the system 801 includes at least one computer readable medium
or
memory programmed according to the teachings of the invention and for
containing data
structures, tables, records, or other data described herein. Examples of
computer readable media
are compact discs, hard disks, floppy disks, tape, magneto-optical disks,
PROMS (EPROM,
EEPROM, Flash EPROM), DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc. Stored on any one or on a
combination of computer readable media, the present invention includes
software for controlling
the computer system 801, for driving a device or devices for implementing the
invention, and for
enabling the computer system 801 to interact with a human user (e.g., a
customer at the store
105). Such software may include, but is not limited to, device drivers,
operating systems,
development tools, and applications software. Such computer readable media
further includes
the computer program product of the present invention for performing all or a
portion (if
processing is distributed) of the processing performed in implementing the
invention.
The computer code devices of the present invention may be any interpreted or
executable
code mechanism, including but not limited to scripts, interpreters, dynamic
link libraries, Java
classes, and complete executable programs. Moreover, parts of the processing
of the present
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invention may be distributed for better performance, reliability, and/or cost.
The term "computer readable medium" as used herein refers to any medium that
participates in providing instructions to processor 805 for execution. A
computer readable
medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media,
volatile media,
and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical,
magnetic disks, and
magneto-optical disks, such as storage device 811. Volatile media includes
dynamic memory,
such as main memory 807. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper
wire and fiber
optics, including the wires that comprise bus 803. Transmission media also may
also take the
form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave and
infrared data
communications.
Common forms of computer readable media include, for example, hard disks,
floppy
disks, tape, magneto-optical disks, PROMs (EPROM, EEPROM, Flash EPROM), DRAM,
SRAM, SDRAM, or any other magnetic medium, compact disks (e.g., CD-ROM), or
any other
optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, or other physical medium with
patterns of holes, a
carrier wave (described below), or any other medium from which a computer can
read.
Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying out one
or more
sequences of one or more instructions to processor 805 for execution. For
example, the
instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer.
The remote
computer can load the instructions for implementing all or a portion of the
present invention
remotely into a dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line
using a modem.
A modem local to computer system 801 may receive the data on the telephone
line and use an
infrared transmitter to convert the data to an infrared signal. An infrared
detector coupled to bus
803 can receive the data carried in the infrared signal and place the data on
bus 803. Bus 803
carries the data to main memory 807, from which processor 805 retrieves and
executes the
instructions. The instructions received by main memory 807 may optionally be
stored on storage
device 811 either before or after execution by processor 805.
Computer system 801 also includes a communication interface 819 coupled to bus
803.
Communication interface 819 provides a two-way data communication coupling to
a network
link 821 that is connected to a local network 823. For example, communication
interface 819
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may be a network interface card to attach to any packet switched local area
network (LAN). As
another example, communication interface 819 may be an asymmetrical digital
subscriber line
(ADSL) card, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a modem to
provide a data
communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. Wireless
links may also be
implemented. In any such implementation, communication interface 819 sends and
receives
electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams
representing various
types of information.
Network link 821 typically provides data communication through one or more
networks
to other data devices. For example, network link 821 may provide a connection
to a computer
825 (e.g., the host computer 101 or the store computer ) through local network
823 (e.g., a LAN)
or through equipment operated by a service provider, which provides
communication services
through a communications network 827. In preferred embodiments, local network
823 and
communications network 827 preferably use electrical, electromagnetic, or
optical signals that
carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the
signals on network
link 821 and through communication interface 819, which carry the digital data
to and from
computer system 801, are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting the
information.
Computer system 801 can transmit notifications and receive data, including
program code,
through the network(s), network link 821 and communication interface 819.
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 invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically
described herein.
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