Systems and methods for financing merchant business needs

• US 10,062,109 B1
• Filed: 10/05/2017
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Poursartip, Ariana, Scott, John Bryan, Teh, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Gart, Matthew S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kyereme-Tuah, Akosua
• Application Number:
  US15/725,591
• Time in Patent Office: 327 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

A payment system can determine when a business need for a merchant is expected to occur. The payment system can also determine whether the merchant is eligible for financing for a financing amount. Once a determination is made that the merchant is eligible for the financing, the payment system can send the merchant a notification describing the expected business need along with an offer for the financing, which may be presented in an interface on a merchant device. The merchant can accept the offer for the financing by sending an acceptance to the payment system. Upon accepting the offer, the merchant is provided the financing amount, for example, in the form of an electronic deposit in a financial account of the merchant.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors of a payment system, from a point-of-sale (POS) computing device of a merchant, transaction data for a plurality of financial transactions corresponding to purchases by a plurality of customers of a plurality of first items from an inventory of the merchant, the transaction data including payment data and an indication of the first items and other items purchased for the financial transactions;

determining, by the one or more processors, a quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory;

determining, by the one or more processors, based at least partially on the transaction data received from the POS computing device, a financing amount for enabling the merchant to purchase at least a portion of the quantity of the first item for replenishing the first item in the inventory;

sending, by the one or more processors, a notification to the POS computing device of the merchant that causes a merchant application on the POS computing device to display an inventory interface concurrently with a transaction interface, the inventory interface presenting a message indicating the quantity of the first item for replenishing the inventory and further presenting an offer for the financing amount, wherein the transaction interface on the POS computing device is used to conduct the financial transactions between the merchant and the customers of the merchant;

receiving, by the one or more processors, via the inventory interface presented on the POS computing device, an acceptance of the offer for the financing amount from the POS computing device of the merchant; and

providing, by the one or more processors, the financing amount to a financial account of the merchant.

2. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transaction data indicates, for a respective first financial transaction, a respective quantity of the first item that was purchased during the respective first financial transaction, the method further comprising:

maintaining, by the one or more processors, based on the received transaction data, a data structure of the inventory of the merchant, the data structure including information about items available for purchase from the merchant, including a quantity of the first item remaining in the inventory of the merchant; and

in response to receiving the transaction data for the respective first financial transaction, updating in the data structure, by the one or more processors, the quantity of the first item maintained in the inventory based on the respective quantity of the first item that was purchased during the individual first financial transaction.

3. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 2, wherein determining a quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory further comprises:

determining, from the data structure, a historical quantity of the first item sold during a prior time period corresponding to an upcoming time period

determining, at least partially from the data structure, based at least partially on the historical quantity for a prior time period, a quantity for satisfying demand for the first item during the upcoming time period; and

determining, based on a current quantity of the first item in the inventory indicated by the data structure, that the current quantity of the first item in the inventory does not meet the quantity to satisfy the demand.

4. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors, transaction data from a plurality of other merchants, wherein at least some of the other merchants are in a same merchant category as the merchant,

wherein determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory further comprises determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase based in part on determining, for the upcoming time period, a quantity of the first item sold by the other merchants that are in a same merchant category as the merchant.

5. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, further comprising

utilizing one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) to access one or more social media resources to obtain social media data that describes a popularity of the merchant;

determining, based on the obtained social media data indicating that the merchant is gaining popularity, that the merchant will be receiving more customers; and

determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory based at least in part on the social media data accessed via the API.

6. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a payment system, from a point-of-sale (POS) computing device of a merchant, transaction data for a plurality of financial transactions corresponding to purchases by a plurality of customers of a plurality of first items from an inventory of the merchant;

determining, by the payment system, based at least partially on the transaction data received from the POS computing device, a quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory;

determining, by the payment system, based at least partially on the transaction data received from the POS computing device, a financing amount to enable the merchant to purchase at least a portion of the quantity of the first item for replenishing the first item in the inventory;

sending, by the payment system, a notification to the POS computing device of the merchant that causes a merchant application on the POS computing device to display an inventory interface concurrently with a transaction interface, the inventory interface presenting a message indicating the quantity of the first item for replenishing the inventory and further presenting an offer for the financing amount, wherein the transaction interface on the POS computing device is used to conduct the financial transactions between the merchant and the customers of the merchant;

receiving, by the payment system, via the inventory interface presented on the POS computing device, an acceptance of the offer for the financing; and

providing, by the payment system, the financing amount to a financial account of the merchant.

7. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 6, wherein the transaction data indicates, for a respective first financial transaction, a respective quantity of the first item that was purchased during the respective first financial transaction, the method further comprising:

maintaining, by the one or more processors, based on the received transaction data, a data structure of the inventory of the merchant, the data structure including information about items available for purchase from the merchant, including a quantity of the first item remaining in the inventory of the merchant; and

in response to receiving the transaction data for the respective first financial transaction, updating in the data structure, by the one or more processors, the quantity of the first item maintained in the inventory based on the respective quantity of the first item that was purchased during the individual first financial transaction.

8. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 7, wherein determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory further comprises:

determining, from the data structure, a historical quantity of the first item sold during a prior time period corresponding to an upcoming time period

determining, at least partially from the data structure, based at least partially on the historical quantity for a prior time period, a quantity for satisfying demand for the first item during the upcoming time period; and

determining, based on a current quantity of the first item in the inventory indicated by the data structure, that the current quantity of the first item in the inventory does not meet the quantity to satisfy the demand.

9. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors, transaction data from a plurality of other merchants, wherein at least some of the other merchants are in a same merchant category as the merchant,

wherein determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory further comprises determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase based in part on determining, for the upcoming time period, a quantity of the first item sold by the other merchants that are in a same merchant category as the merchant.

10. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

utilizing one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) to access one or more social media resources to obtain social media data that describes a popularity of the merchant;

determining, based on the obtained social media data indicating that the merchant is gaining popularity, that the merchant will be receiving more customers; and

determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory based at least in part on the social media data accessed via the one or more APIs.

11. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the social media data obtained using the one or more APIs from the one or more social media resources describing the popularity of the merchant includes one or more of:

data describing a number of check-ins at the merchant'"'"'s location, a number of reviews for the merchant, an average review rating for the merchant, or a number of entities that have identified the merchant as a favorite.

12. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 6, wherein:

the inventory interface displayed by the merchant application on the POS computing device includes at least one control to enable the merchant to accept the financing; and

the transaction interface displayed by the merchant application on the POS computing device is used to conduct the plurality of financial transactions between the merchant and the plurality of customers.

13. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

processing at least one subsequent financial transaction conducted between the merchant and at least one customer of the merchant using the POS computing device of the merchant;

determining that the merchant has not repaid the financing; and

apportioning a respective portion of funds from the at least one subsequent financial transaction to a separate financial account of the payment system.

14. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, program the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a point-of-sale (POS) computing device of a merchant, transaction data for a plurality of financial transactions corresponding to purchases by a plurality of customers of a plurality of first items from an inventory of the merchant;

determining, based at least partially on the transaction data received from the POS computing device, a quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory;

determining, based at least partially on the transaction data received from the POS computing device, a financing amount to enable the merchant to purchase at least a portion of the quantity of the first item for replenishing the first item in the inventory;

sending, a notification to the POS computing device of the merchant that causes a merchant application on the POS computing device to display an inventory interface concurrently with a transaction interface, the inventory interface presenting a message indicating the quantity of the first item for replenishing the inventory and further presenting an offer for the financing amount, wherein the transaction interface on the POS computing device is used to conduct the financial transactions between the merchant and the customers of the merchant;

receiving, via the inventory interface presented on the POS computing device, an acceptance of the offer for the financing amount; and

providing the financing amount to a financial account of the merchant.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the transaction data indicates, for a respective first financial transaction, a respective quantity of the first item that was purchased during the respective first financial transaction, the operations further comprising:

maintaining, based on the received transaction data, a data structure of the inventory of the merchant, the data structure including information about items available for purchase from the merchant, including a quantity of the first item remaining in the inventory of the merchant; and

in response to receiving the transaction data for the respective first financial transaction, updating in the data structure, the quantity of the first item maintained in the inventory based on the respective quantity of the first item that was purchased during the individual first financial transaction.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the operation of determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory further comprises:

determining, from the data structure, a historical quantity of the first item sold during a prior time period corresponding to an upcoming time period

determining, at least partially from the data structure, based at least partially on the historical quantity for a prior time period, a quantity for satisfying demand for the first item during the upcoming time period; and

determining, based on a current quantity of the first item in the inventory indicated by the data structure, that the current quantity of the first item in the inventory does not meet the quantity to satisfy the demand.

17. The system as recited in claim 14, the operations further comprising:

receiving transaction data from a plurality of other merchants, wherein at least some of the other merchants are in a same merchant category as the merchant,

wherein determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory further comprises determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase based in part on determining, for the upcoming time period, a quantity of the first item sold by the other merchants that are in a same merchant category as the merchant.

18. The system as recited in claim 14, the operations further comprising:

utilizing one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) to access one or more social media resources to obtain social media data that describes a popularity of the merchant;

determining, based on the obtained social media data indicating that the merchant is gaining popularity, that the merchant will be receiving more customers; and

determining the quantity of the first item for the merchant to purchase to replenish the inventory based at least in part on the social media data accessed via the one or more APIs.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the social media data obtained using the one or more APIs from the one or more social media resources describing the popularity of the merchant includes one or more of:

data describing a number of check-ins at the merchant'"'"'s location, a number of reviews for the merchant, an average review rating for the merchant, or a number of entities that have identified the merchant as a favorite.

20. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein:

the inventory interface displayed by the merchant application on the POS computing device includes at least one control to enable the merchant to accept the financing; and

the transaction interface displayed by the merchant application on the POS computing device is used to conduct the plurality of financial transactions between the merchant and the plurality of customers.