Rewards for purchases

• US 10,360,592 B1
• Filed: 10/18/2011
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: shopkick, Inc. (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: shopkick, Inc. (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Emigh, Aaron T., Loiwal, Navneet, Roeding, Cyriac, Sellinger, Jeffrey Todd, Tana, Evan, Tsai, Sze Ngai, Winter, Moritz
• Primary Examiner(s): Stoltenberg, David J
• Application Number:
  US13/276,277
• Time in Patent Office: 2,835 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0229 Multi-merchant loyalty card systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location

Abstract

Providing rewards for purchases is disclosed. In some embodiments, electronic couponing data corresponding to an available reward offer for an item as well as an association of a loyalty identifier with the reward offer is provided to an electronic coupon processor; and in response to receiving an indication from the electronic coupon processor that the loyalty identifier was associated with a transaction in which the item was purchased, a user account is credited with a reward amount associated with the reward offer.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

storing with respect to a user account of a user information corresponding to a plurality of loyalty cards of the user that are associated with a plurality of stores;

automatically determining that the user is currently present at a prescribed store;

presenting to the user a reward offer available at the prescribed store via a mobile device of the user;

in response to the user viewing the presented reward offer, using a processor to automatically select a loyalty card of the user associated with the prescribed store and load the reward offer to the selected loyalty card by providing electronic couponing data associated with the reward offer and a loyalty identifier of the selected loyalty card to an electronic couponing system that processes loyalty cards at a point of sale at the prescribed store, wherein the loyalty card associated with the prescribed store is automatically selected from the plurality of loyalty cards associated with the user account and the reward offer is automatically loaded to the selected loyalty card of the user in response to user presence at the prescribed store and viewing of the presented reward offer and prior to user utilization of the loyalty card associated with the prescribed store at the prescribed store;

receiving from the electronic couponing system an indication that the loyalty identifier was associated with a transaction in which an item associated with the reward offer was purchased; and

providing a reward amount associated with the reward offer to the user after receiving from the electronic couponing system the indication that the transaction occurred.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward offer is at least in part based on the preferences of the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward offer is integrated with an existing loyalty program of the prescribed store via the loyalty card associated with the prescribed store.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein information in the user account corresponding to the plurality of loyalty cards of the user is specified by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication includes the loyalty identifier and an offer identifier corresponding to the reward offer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward offer is provided by the prescribed store or a brand of the item.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the loyalty identifier is automatically determined.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying the user of the provided reward amount.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the notification is made via SMS.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the notification is made via a push notification.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the loyalty identifier comprises a loyalty card number.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the loyalty identifier comprises a phone number.

13. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to;

store with respect to a user account of a user information corresponding to a plurality of loyalty cards of the user that are associated with a plurality of stores;

automatically determine that the user is currently present at a prescribed store;

present to the user a reward offer available at the prescribed store via a mobile device of the user;

in response to the user viewing the presented reward offer, automatically select a loyalty card of the user associated with the prescribed store and load the reward offer to the selected loyalty card by providing electronic couponing data associated with the reward offer and a loyalty identifier of the selected loyalty card to an electronic couponing system that processes loyalty cards at a point of sale at the prescribed store, wherein the loyalty card associated with the prescribed store is automatically selected from the plurality of loyalty cards associated with the user account and the reward offer is automatically loaded to the selected loyalty card of the user in response to user presence at the prescribed store and viewing of the presented reward offer and prior to user utilization of the loyalty card associated with the prescribed store at the prescribed store;

receive from the electronic couponing system an indication that the loyalty identifier was associated with a transaction in which an item associated with the reward offer was purchased; and

provide a reward amount associated with the reward offer to the user after receiving from the electronic couponing system the indication that the transaction occurred; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the reward offer is integrated with an existing loyalty program of the prescribed store via the loyalty card associated with the prescribed store.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein information in the user account corresponding to the plurality of loyalty cards of the user is specified by the user.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the loyalty identifier comprises a loyalty card number.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the loyalty identifier comprises a phone number.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the reward offer is at least in part based on the preferences of the user.

24. The system of claim 13, wherein the indication includes the loyalty identifier and an offer identifier corresponding to the reward offer.

25. The system of claim 13, wherein the reward offer is provided by the prescribed store or a brand of the item.

26. The system of claim 13, wherein the loyalty identifier is automatically determined.

27. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to notify the user of the provided reward amount.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the notification is made via SMS.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the notification is made via a push notification.

18. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

storing with respect to a user account of a user information corresponding to a plurality of loyalty cards of the user that are associated with a plurality of stores;

automatically determining that the user is currently present at a prescribed store;

presenting to the user a reward offer available at the prescribed store via a mobile device of the user;

in response to the user viewing the presented reward offer, automatically selecting a loyalty card of the user associated with the prescribed store and loading the reward offer to the selected loyalty card by providing electronic couponing data associated with the reward offer and a loyalty identifier of the selected loyalty card to an electronic couponing system that processes loyalty cards at a point of sale at the prescribed store, wherein the loyalty card associated with the prescribed store is automatically selected from the plurality of loyalty cards associated with the user account and the reward offer is automatically loaded to the selected loyalty card of the user in response to user presence at the prescribed store and viewing of the presented reward offer and prior to user utilization of the loyalty card associated with the prescribed store at the prescribed store;

receiving from the electronic couponing system an indication that the loyalty identifier was associated with a transaction in which an item associated with the reward offer was purchased; and

providing a reward amount associated with the reward offer to the user after receiving from the electronic couponing system the indication that the transaction occurred.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the reward offer is integrated with an existing loyalty program of the prescribed store via the loyalty card associated with the prescribed store.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein information in the user account corresponding to the plurality of loyalty cards of the user is specified by the user.

21. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the loyalty identifier comprises a loyalty card number.

22. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the loyalty identifier comprises a phone number.

30. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the reward offer is at least in part based on the preferences of the user.

31. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the indication includes the loyalty identifier and an offer identifier corresponding to the reward offer.

32. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the reward offer is provided by the prescribed store or a brand of the item.

33. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the loyalty identifier is automatically determined.

34. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising computer instructions for notifying the user of the provided reward amount.

35. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the notification is made via SMS.

36. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the notification is made via a push notification.