Predicting orders from buyer behavior

• US 10,410,272 B1
• Filed: 08/20/2014
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Square Inc (Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.))
• Inventors: Johnson, Logan, Butts, III, James F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Obaid, Fateh M
• Application Number:
  US14/464,276
• Time in Patent Office: 1,847 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

A service provider system may store buyer information and merchant information related to past purchasing history of one or more buyers. In some examples, based in part on the buyer information and/or the merchant information the service provider system may identify items that the buyer regularly or habitually purchases. In some cases, the service provider system may pre-order or pre-purchase the items on behalf of the buyer and send a message to a device associated with the buyer to inform the buyer that an order for the regularly purchased item has been placed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a service provider having one or more processors configured to communicate with a user device associated with a buyer and one or more merchant point of sale (POS) devices; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive, from the one or more merchant POS devices, transaction information corresponding to one or more POS transactions conducted by the buyer at one or more merchant locations associated with the one or more merchant POS devices, wherein the transaction information includes buyer identifying information that identifies the buyer and item purchase information that identifies at least one item purchased by the buyer during each of the POS transactions as well as a time and day of a week of purchase of the at least one item;

associate the transaction information with a buyer profile of the buyer;

identify, based at least in part on the buyer identifying information and the item purchase information associated with the buyer profile, a set of additional buyer profiles of similar buyers other than the buyer that share a characteristic with the buyer, the shared characteristic based on similarity in at least one of buying patterns or demographic information;

generate a confidence rating for a particular item based at least in part on the item purchase information included in the buyer profile and on one or more transactions corresponding to the profiles of the similar buyers, the confidence rating indicating a probability of the buyer regularly purchasing the particular item;

identify that the confidence rating exceeds a first threshold level;

receive a geographical location of the user device from the user device, the user device having identified the geographical location based on a positioning component of the user device;

identify a merchant with which to place an order for the particular item based at least in part on the confidence rating exceeding the first threshold level and the geographical location of the user device;

send, to the user device, a message including an offer to place the order for the particular item with the identified merchant;

receive, from the user device, an indication of acceptance of the offer to order for the particular item; and

upon receipt of the indication of acceptance of the offer and prior to the buyer arriving at a location corresponding to the identified merchant, automatically send a request to purchase the particular item on behalf of the buyer to a defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the execution of the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

determine, based at least in part on the transaction information associated with the buyer, that the confidence rating exceeds a second threshold level; and

in response to determining that the confidence rating exceeds the second threshold level, include in the message an indication that the order for the particular item has been placed with the identified merchant.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the execution of the instructions further causes the one or more processors to:

determine, based at least in part on the transaction information associated with the buyer, that the confidence rating exceeds a second threshold level;

in response to determining that the confidence rating exceeds the second threshold level, include in the message an indication that the order for the particular item has been placed with the merchant and payment has been tendered to the identified merchant; and

send, to the defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant, payment information to purchase the particular item on behalf of the buyer.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the execution of the instructions further causes the one or more processors to:

associate additional transaction information associated with the order for the particular item with the buyer profile.

5. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device of a service provider and from at least one of a buyer device associated with a buyer or a merchant point of sale (POS) device, POS transaction information associated with a buyer profile corresponding to the buyer, the POS transaction information including information identifying an item purchased by the buyer along with a corresponding date and a corresponding time and a corresponding merchant location at which the item was purchased;

generating, by the computing device and based at least in part on the POS transaction information associated with the buyer profile, a confidence rating for the item, the confidence rating indicating a probability that the item is regularly purchased by the buyer;

receiving, at the computing device and from the buyer device, a geographical location of the buyer device, the buyer device having identified the geographical location based on a positioning component of the buyer device;

identifying, by the computing device and based at least in part on the confidence rating exceeding a threshold and on the geographical location of the buyer device, a merchant to place an order with for the item; and

automatically sending a message from the computing device to the buyer device in response to identification that the confidence rating exceeds the threshold, the message including at least one of an offer for placement of an order for the item on behalf of the buyer via one or more communications between the computing device and a defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant or a confirmation that the order has already been placed on behalf of the buyer via the one or more communications between the computing device and the defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant prior to the buyer arriving at a location corresponding to the identified merchant.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

sending, to the defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant, a communication for placing the order, the order associated with a pickup time.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, from the buyer device, an indication to cancel the order, in response to sending the message; and

sending an additional communication to the defined merchant POS device, the additional communication requesting cancellation of the order for the item.

8. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein:

the message includes an offer to place the order for the item when the threshold exceeds a first threshold;

the message includes an indication that the order was placed for the item when the threshold exceeds a second threshold, the second threshold exceeding the first threshold; and

the message includes an indication that the order was placed for the item and that payment has been made to the merchant for the order, when the threshold exceeds a third threshold, the third threshold exceeding the first threshold and the second threshold.

9. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

sending, to the defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant, a communication for placing the order for the item; and

providing payment information to the defined merchant POS device, the payment information enabling purchase of the item via the defined merchant POS device.

10. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

determining that a first distance between a previously visited merchant and the buyer device is greater than a threshold;

determining that a second distance between the identified merchant and the buyer device is less than the threshold; and

identifying the identified merchant over the previously visited merchant for placing the order for the item based on the second distance.

11. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

determining that a first type of the item is out of stock at the merchant;

identifying a second type of the item offered by the merchant based at least in part on stored merchant information, the second type of the item having a threshold level of similarity to the first type of the item; and

wherein the order for the item identified in the message is an order for the second type of the item.

12. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

associating the POS transaction information with the buyer profile based at least in part on buyer identification information associated with payment card information included in the POS transaction information.

13. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

receiving the POS transaction information in association with the buyer device; and

associating the POS transaction information with the buyer profile based at least in part on information identifying the buyer device included in the POS transaction information.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a service provider, cause the one or more processors to:

receive, from at least one of a buyer device associated with a buyer or a merchant point of sale (POS) device, POS transaction information associated with a buyer profile corresponding to the buyer, the POS transaction information including information identifying an item purchased by the buyer along with a corresponding date and a corresponding and a corresponding merchant location at which the item was purchased;

generate a confidence rating associated with a probability of a future purchase of the item based at least in part on the POS transaction information;

receiving, at the service provider and from the buyer device, a geographical location of the buyer device, the buyer device having identified the geographical location based on a positioning component of the buyer device;

identify, based at least on the confidence rating exceeding a threshold and on the geographical location of the buyer device, a merchant for placing an order for the item; and

automatically send a message related to the item to the buyer device in response to identification that the confidence rating exceeds the threshold, the message including at least one of an offer for placement of the order for the item with the identified merchant on behalf of the buyer via one or more communications with a defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant or a confirmation that the order has already been placed on behalf of the buyer via the one or more communications with the defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant prior to the buyer arriving at a location corresponding to the identified merchant.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein:

the message includes the offer to place the order for the item when the threshold is above a first threshold;

the message includes an indication that the order was placed for the item when the threshold is above a second threshold, the second threshold being greater than the first threshold; and

the message includes an indication that the order was placed for the item and that payment has been made to the merchant for the order when the threshold is above a third threshold, the third threshold being greater than the first threshold and the second threshold.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein execution of the instructions by the one or more processors further causes the one or more processors to send a request to the defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant to place the order for the item on behalf of the buyer, the request including a time associated with a delivery of the item to the buyer.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 16, wherein execution of the instructions by the one or more processors further causes the one or more processors to send the request to place the order for the item with the identified merchant in response to receiving an indication of acceptance of the offer for placement of the order for the item with the identified merchant from the buyer device.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the execution of the instructions by the one or more processors further causes the one or more processors to provide payment information to the defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant to purchase the item on behalf of the buyer.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the message includes a recommendation for a second item offered by the identified merchant, the second item being complimentary to the item.

20. A system comprising:

a service provider having one or more processors that are communicatively coupled to one or more buyer devices and one or more merchant point of sale (POS) devices; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive from one of a buyer device or a merchant POS device, transaction history of a buyer associated with the buyer device and having made at least one purchase at the merchant POS device;

generate, based at least in part on the transaction history of the buyer, a confidence threshold for an item that the buyer purchased, the confidence threshold indicating a probability that the item is purchased on a regular basis, from a particular merchant location at a particular time of day and a particular day of a week;

receive, from the buyer device, a geographical location of the buyer device, the buyer device having identified the geographical location based on a positioning component of the buyer device;

based on the confidence threshold being greater than a first threshold and the geographical location of the buyer device, automatically identify a merchant for placing an order for the item on behalf of the buyer;

automatically send, to a defined merchant point of sale (POS) device associated with the identified merchant, a communication to place the order for the item on behalf of the buyer, wherein the communication is sent before the particular time of day on the particular day of the week and prior to the buyer arriving at the particular merchant location; and

send a message to the buyer device, the message indicating that the order for the item has been placed with the merchant.

21. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the execution of the instructions by the one or more processors further causes the one or more processors to place the order in response to receiving an indication of acceptance for placing the order from the buyer device.

22. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the execution of the instructions by the one or more processors further causes the one or more processors to provide payment information to the defined merchant POS device associated with the identified merchant to purchase the item on behalf of the buyer.

23. The system as recited in claim 22, wherein the message includes an indication that payment has been provided to the identified merchant.

24. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the message includes a recommendation for a second item offered by the identified merchant, the second item being complimentary to the item.