Systems and methods to implement point of sale (POS) terminals, process orders and manage order fulfillment

• US 10,102,591 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2012
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LivingSocial Incorporated (Groupon Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: LivingSocial Incorporated (Groupon Incorporated)
• Inventors: McLaughlin, Quinn, Lyon, Ben Harris
• Primary Examiner(s): Mansfield, Thomas L
• Application Number:
  US13/354,947
• Publication Number:
  US 20120191522A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,461 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Systems and methods to integrate point of sale processing, online order processing, coupon management, WiFi access management, and supply chain and store management, etc. In one aspect, a central server provides point of sale, coupon management and other functions via browser based interfaces. The system provides a coupon to a customer to offer discounts to friends of the customer and/or rewards to the customer if the friends of the customer use the coupon. The system validates the coupon when the coupon is used at POS terminals of the system and tracks the usage of the coupons to select customers for targeting future coupons. In another aspect, the central server is configured to provide the customer with WiFi access at the retail location where the order of the customer is fulfilled and further configured to automatically log the customer into an account of the customer hosted on a third party server.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a server from an access point at a physical store of a retailer, data representing an order of a first customer for a product retailed by the retailer;

receiving, by the server, data indicative of a selection of a first customer social network from among a plurality of customer social networks, the selection of the first customer social network being made through a graphical user interface displayed on a mobile device of the first customer, and the selection of the first customer social network linking the first customer social network to a first customer account on the server;

accessing, in real-time, by the server and in response to linking the first customer social network to the first customer account on the server, a social networking site to identify a set of friends linked to the first customer on the social networking site, the social networking site providing access to the first customer social network and not the first customer account on the server;

generating, in real-time, at the server, a unique code, configured to be displayed on an electronic receipt, transmitted in digital form, and scanned by a point of sale apparatus, the unique code associated with an identifier of the first customer;

determining, at the server, from the set of friends identified through the social networking site as being linked to the first customer, one or more friends of the first customer who (i) have ordered products from the retailer based on friend information extracted from the first customer social network, and (ii) satisfy a criteria for receiving the coupon;

providing, in real-time, from the server, the coupon that includes the identifier of the first customer for delivery to the first customer and to the determined one or more friends of the first customer who (i) have ordered products from the retailer based on friend information extracted from the first customer social network, and (ii) satisfy the criteria for receiving the coupon;

storing, by the server, data to associate the coupon identifier with an identity of the first customer and with one or more respective identities of the determined one or more friends of the first customer;

in an instance in which, a point of sale apparatus has access to the server, performing a validation procedure, the validation procedure comprising;

receiving, at the server, a communication to redeem the coupon in an order of a second customer, the communication including the identifier of the first customer, and the second customer being different than the first customer;

determining, by the server, that the second customer is one of the one or more friends of the first customer who were determined to have ordered products from the retailer based on the friend information extracted from the first customer social network; and

based on determining that the second customer is one of the one or more friends of the first customer who were determined to have ordered products from the retailer based on the friend information extracted from the first customer social network, validating, in real-time, by the server, the coupon for redemption in connection with the order of the second customer; and

in an instance in which the point of sale apparatus does not have access to the server, enabling validation to occur, the enabling of validation comprising;

determining, at a time prior to disconnect, that connectivity is available; and

synchronizing data associated with and identifying a list of valid coupons and redeemed coupons such that upon a determination, by the point of sale apparatus, that connectivity is unavailable, the point of sale apparatus is able to validate against the list without contacting the server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, based on validating the coupon for redemption in connection with the order of the second customer,

providing the discount to the second customer;

and

providing a reward to the first customer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the reward comprises a discount applied to a purchase of the first customer processed after the validating of the coupon.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

tracking data related to redemption of the coupon; and

identifying a recipient of a subsequent coupon based at least in part on the data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the recipient is selected from the set of friends linked to the first customer on the social networking site.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein validating the coupon for redemption comprises:

validating, using the first customer social network, a relationship between the first customer and the second customer.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a server from an access point at a physical store of a retailer, data representing an order of a first customer for a product retailed by the retailer;

receiving, by the server, data indicative of a selection of a first customer social network from among a plurality of customer social networks, the selection of the first customer social network being made through a graphical user interface displayed on a mobile device of the first customer, and the selection of the first customer social network linking the first customer social network to a first customer account on the server;

accessing, in real-time, by the server and in response to linking the first customer social network to the first customer account on the server, a social networking site to identify a set of friends linked to the first customer on the social networking site, the social networking site providing access to the first customer social network and not the first customer account on the server;

generating, in real-time, at the server, a unique code, configured to be displayed on an electronic receipt, transmitted in digital form, and scanned by a point of sale apparatus, the unique code associated with an identifier of the first customer;

determining, at the server, from the set of friends identified through the social networking site as being linked to the first customer, one or more friends of the first customer who (i) have ordered products from the retailer based on friend information extracted from the first customer social network, and (ii) satisfy a criteria for receiving the coupon;

providing, in real-time, from the server, the coupon that includes the identifier of the first customer for delivery to the first customer and to the determined one or more friends of the first customer who (i) have ordered products from the retailer based on friend information extracted from the first customer social network, and (ii) satisfy the criteria for receiving the coupon;

storing, by the server, data to associate the coupon identifier with an identity of the first customer and with one or more respective identities of the determined one or more friends of the first customer;

in an instance in which, a point of sale apparatus has access to the server, performing a validation procedure, the validation procedure comprising;

receiving, at the server, a communication to redeem the coupon in an order of a second customer, the communication including the identifier of the first customer, and the second customer being different than the first customer;

determining, by the server, that the second customer is one of the one or more friends of the first customer who were determined to have ordered products from the retailer based on the friend information extracted from the first customer social network; and

based on determining that the second customer is one of the one or more friends of the first customer who were determined to have ordered products from the retailer based on the friend information extracted from the first customer social network, validating, in real-time, by the server, the coupon for redemption in connection with the order of the second customer; and

in an instance in which the point of sale apparatus does not have access to the server, enabling validation to occur, the enabling of validation comprising;

determining, at a time prior to disconnect, that connectivity is available; and

synchronizing data associated with and identifying a list of valid coupons and redeemed coupons such that upon a determination, by the point of sale apparatus, that connectivity is unavailable, the point of sale apparatus is able to validate against the list without contacting the server.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising, based on validating the coupon for redemption in connection with the order of the second customer:

providing a discount to the second customer; and

providing a reward to the first customer.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the reward comprises a discount applied to a purchase of the first customer processed after the validating of the coupon.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising:

tracking data related to redemption of the coupon; and

identifying a recipient of a subsequent coupon based at least in part on the data.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the recipient is selected from the set of friends of the first customer on the social networking site.

11. A server comprising:

one or more computers and one or more non-transitory storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from an access point at a physical store of a retailer, data representing an order of a first customer for a product retailed by the retailer;

receiving, data indicative of a selection of a first customer social network from among a plurality of customer social networks, the selection of the first customer social network being made through a graphical user interface displayed on a mobile device of the first customer, and the selection of the first customer social network linking the first customer social network to a first customer account on the server;

accessing, in real-time, in response to linking the first customer social network to the first customer account on the server, a social networking site to identify a set of friends linked to the first customer on the social networking site, the social networking site providing access to the first customer social network and not the first customer account on the server;

generating in real-time, a unique code, configured to be displayed on an electronic receipt, transmitted in digital form, and scanned by a point of sale apparatus, the unique code associated with an identifier of the first customer;

determining, from the set of friends identified through the social networking site as being linked to the first customer, one or more friends of the first customer who (i) have ordered products from the retailer based on friend information extracted from the first customer social network, and (ii) satisfy a criteria for receiving the coupon;

providing in real-time, the coupon that includes the identifier of the first customer for delivery to the first customer as and to the determined one or more friends of the first customer who (i) have ordered products from the retailer based on friend information extracted from the first customer social network, and (ii) satisfy the criteria for receiving the coupon;

storing data to associate the coupon identifier with an identity of the first customer and with one or more respective identities of the determined one or more friends of the first customer;

in an instance in which, a point of sale apparatus has access to the server, performing a validation procedure, the validation procedure comprising;

receiving a communication to redeem the coupon in an order of a second customer, the communication including the identifier of the first customer, and the second customer being different than the first customer;

determining that the second customer is one of the one or more friends of the first customer who were determined to have ordered products from the retailer based on the friend information extracted from the first customer social network; and

based on determining that the second customer is one of the one or more friends of the first customer who were determined to have ordered products from the retailer based on the friend information extracted from the first customer social network, validating in real-time, the coupon for redemption in connection with the order of the second customer; and

in an instance in which the point of sale apparatus does not have access to the server, enabling validation to occur, the enabling of validation comprising;

determining, at a time prior to disconnect, that connectivity is available; and

synchronizing data associated with and identifying a list of valid coupons and redeemed coupons such that upon a determination, by the point of sale apparatus, that connectivity is unavailable, the point of sale apparatus is able to validate against the list without contacting the server.

12. The server of claim 11, further comprising, based on validating the coupon for redemption in connection with the order of the second customer:

providing a discount to the second customer; and

providing a reward to the first customer.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein the reward comprises a discount applied to a purchase of the first customer processed after the validating of the coupon.

14. The server of claim 12, further comprising:

tracking data related to redemption of the coupon; and

identifying a recipient of a subsequent coupon based at least in part on the data.

15. The server of claim 14, wherein the recipient is selected from the set of friends of the first customer on the social networking site.