Systems and methods for recommending merchants

• US 10,438,269 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2013
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Merz, Christopher J., Lo Faro, Walter, Hosp, Adam K., Stocke, Matthew Richard, Hendrix, Stephen P., Grothe, Jr., Robert T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Abby J
• Application Number:
  US13/797,400
• Publication Number:
  US 20140279185A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,401 Days
• Field of Search: 705 267, 705 347
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations

Abstract

A computer system for recommending merchants to a candidate cardholder is provided. The computer system includes a memory device in communication with a processor. The processor is programmed to receive transaction information for a plurality of cardholders from a payment network. The transaction information includes data relating to purchases made by the cardholders at a plurality of merchants, the purchases satisfying a first criteria. The processor receives candidate cardholder preference information for at least one of the merchants input by the candidate cardholder, determines a merchant rank for each merchant based on the received transaction information and the candidate cardholder preference information, determines a neutral merchant rank for each merchant based on the received transaction information and neutral cardholder preferences of the plurality of cardholders, and determines a merchant score for each of the plurality of merchants by comparing the merchant rank to the neutral merchant rank.

Claims

1. A computer system for recommending at least one merchant of a plurality of merchants to a candidate cardholder, said computer system comprising:

a memory device for storing data; and

a processor in communication with said memory device, said processor programmed to;

identify a plurality of merchants located within a predefined geographical region;

retrieve, from a payment network, electronic payment transaction information for a plurality of electronic payment card transactions involving a plurality of cardholders including the candidate cardholder and at least some of the plurality of merchants, the plurality of electronic payment transactions occurring within a predefined time period;

identify from the electronic payment transaction information a subset of cardholders from the plurality of cardholders, each of the subset of cardholders having completed electronic payment transactions with at least two of the plurality of merchants;

create, based on the retrieved electronic payment transaction information associated with the subset of cardholders, a merchant popularity matrix, wherein the merchant popularity matrix includes a counter associated with each pair of merchants included within the plurality of merchants, wherein to create the matrix, an associated counter is incremented when a cardholder in the subset of cardholders completes electronic payment transactions at both merchants in the pair, and wherein, to reduce an effect of cardholder bias towards a single merchant, no counter in the merchant popularity matrix is incremented when a cardholder completes multiple electronic payment transactions at the same merchant;

receive data signals from the payment network including data associated with electronic payment transactions for the candidate cardholder;

determine gratuity information for the candidate cardholder from the data signals;

determine candidate cardholder preference information for at least one candidate merchant of the plurality of merchants based at least in part on the gratuity information determined from the data signals;

create a candidate cardholder preference vector based on the candidate cardholder preference information, wherein the candidate cardholder preference vector represents a level of preference of the candidate cardholder for one merchant relative to at least one other merchant;

determine a merchant rank for each merchant of the plurality of merchants based on the merchant popularity matrix and the candidate cardholder preference vector;

determine a neutral merchant rank for each merchant of the plurality of merchants based on the retrieved electronic payment transaction information associated with the plurality of cardholders and a neutral preference vector including preference information values that are equal for each merchant of the plurality of merchants;

determine a merchant score for each merchant of the plurality of merchants based on a difference between the merchant rank and the neutral merchant rank; and

cause a list of recommended merchants including the at least one merchant to be displayed on a user device based on the determined merchant scores, wherein the user device is associated with the candidate cardholder.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein to determine a merchant rank for each merchant, said processor is further programmed to:

apply the candidate cardholder preference vector to the merchant popularity matrix to determine a merchant ranking vector, wherein the merchant ranking vector is associated with the candidate cardholder preference information and includes the merchant rank associated with each merchant of the plurality of merchants.

3. A system in accordance with claim 2, wherein said processor is further programmed to determine a neutral merchant rank by:

applying the neutral preference vector to the merchant popularity matrix to determine a neutral merchant ranking vector, wherein the neutral merchant ranking vector includes the neutral merchant rank associated with each merchant of the plurality of merchants.

4. A system in accordance with claim 3, wherein said processor is further programmed to determine the merchant score by:

comparing the neutral merchant ranking vector to the merchant ranking vector to determine a merchant score vector for the candidate cardholder, wherein the merchant score vector includes the merchant score associated with each merchant of the plurality of merchants.

5. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to:

sort the plurality of merchants in descending order based on the determined merchant scores; and

provide the list of recommended merchants to the candidate cardholder based on the sorted merchant scores.

6. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to receive candidate cardholder preference information by each of the following:

analyzing historical transaction data associated with the candidate cardholder for merchants transacted with;

receiving at least one manual selection made by the candidate cardholder from a list of the plurality of merchants;

analyzing preferences of at least one associated contact selected by the candidate cardholder on a social networking website including (i) retrieving, from the payment network, historical transaction data for the at least one associated contact, (ii) analyzing the retrieved historical transaction data for the at least one associated contact to determine merchant preferences for the at least one associated contact, and (iii) inputting the merchant preferences of the at least one associated contact as candidate cardholder preference information; and

analyzing preferences of at least one merchant expert selected by the candidate cardholder.

7. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to interface between the candidate cardholder using the user device and a merchant using a merchant computing device.

8. A system in accordance with claim 7, wherein to interface between the candidate cardholder and a merchant, said processor is programmed to at least one of enable cardholder experience feedback communication, enable the merchant to communicate offers to the candidate cardholder, and display loyalty rewards points earned by the candidate cardholder.

9. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to communicate statistical information to a merchant of the plurality of merchants, the statistical information including at least one of a number of new customers over a specified time period, an amount of active offers currently being made by the merchant, an amount of active offers redeemed by customers, an amount of customers transacted with during a specified time period, and statistical information for nearby competitors of the merchant.

10. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to receive candidate cardholder preference information input by the candidate cardholder using the user device.

11. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the plurality of merchants are associated with the same market segment.

12. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to cause a merchant portal to be displayed on a merchant device, the merchant portal configured to enable a first merchant of the plurality of merchants to display on the merchant device (i) an amount of new customers over a predetermined period of time;

(ii) a number of active offers currently available with the first merchant;

(iii) a number of offers redeemed by customers; and

(iv) an intra-day number of customers interacting with the first merchant, and wherein said processor is further programmed to;

generate a new offer based on a merchant input received at the merchant device through the merchant portal;

receive a selection of the first merchant from the at least one recommendation displayed on the user device;

cause, in response to the selection, a merchant detail page for the first merchant to be displayed on the user device, wherein the merchant detail page includes the new offer generated using the merchant portal;

receive a redemption data signal from the user device that indicates the new offer has been redeemed; and

update, on displayed merchant portal, the displayed number of offers redeemed by customers.

13. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to cause a merchant portal to be displayed on a merchant device, the merchant portal configured to enable a first merchant of the plurality of merchants to display on the merchant device a percentage of customers that have transacted with the first merchant compared to competitors of the first merchant.

14. A computer-implemented method of recommending at least one merchant of a plurality of merchants to a candidate cardholder using a merchant analytic (MA) computer system, wherein the MA computer system is in communication with a memory device, said method comprising:

identifying a plurality of merchants located within a predefined geographical region;

retrieving, at the MA computer system, electronic payment transaction information for a plurality of electronic payment card transactions involving a plurality of cardholders including the candidate cardholder and at least some of the plurality of merchants, the plurality of electronic payment transactions occurring within a predefined time period, the electronic payment transaction information received from a payment network;

identifying from the electronic payment transaction information a subset of cardholders from the plurality of cardholders, each of the subset of cardholders having completed electronic payment transactions with at least two of the plurality of merchants;

creating, based on the retrieved electronic payment transaction information associated with the subset of cardholders, a merchant popularity matrix, wherein the merchant popularity matrix includes a counter associated with each pair of merchants included within the plurality of merchants, wherein to create the matrix, an associated counter is incremented when a cardholder in the subset of cardholders completes electronic payment transactions at both merchants in the pair, and wherein, to reduce an effect of cardholder bias towards a single merchant, no counter in the merchant popularity matrix is incremented when a cardholder completes multiple electronic payment transactions at the same merchant;

prompting the candidate cardholder to scan a transaction card with a user device associated with the candidate cardholder, wherein the user device generates scanned card data in response to scanning the transaction card;

receiving the scanned card data from the user device;

processing the scanned card data to request historical electronic transaction information from the payment network;

receiving the historical electronic transaction data;

determining candidate cardholder preference information for at least one candidate merchant of the plurality of merchants at least in part on the historical electronic transaction information;

creating a candidate cardholder preference vector based on the candidate cardholder preference information, wherein the candidate cardholder preference vector represents a level of preference of the candidate cardholder for one merchant relative to at least one other merchant;

determining a merchant rank for each merchant of the plurality of merchants based on the merchant popularity matrix and the candidate cardholder preference vector;

determining a neutral merchant rank for each merchant of the plurality of merchants based on the retrieved electronic payment transaction information associated with the plurality of cardholders and a neutral preference vector including preference information values that are equal for each merchant of the plurality of merchants;

determining, by the MA computer system, a merchant score for each merchant of the plurality of merchants based on a difference between the merchant rank and the neutral merchant rank; and

causing a list of recommended merchants including the at least one merchant to be displayed on the user device based on the determined merchant scores.

15. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein determining a merchant rank for each merchant comprises:

applying the candidate cardholder preference vector to the merchant popularity matrix to determine a merchant ranking vector, wherein the merchant ranking vector is associated with the candidate cardholder preference information and includes the merchant rank associated with each merchant of the plurality of merchants.

16. A method in accordance with claim 15, wherein determining a neutral merchant rank for each merchant comprises:

applying the neutral preference vector to merchant popularity matrix to determine a neutral merchant ranking vector, wherein the neutral merchant ranking vector includes the neutral merchant rank associated with each merchant of the plurality of merchants.

17. A method in accordance with claim 16, wherein determining a merchant score comprises:

calculating a difference between the neutral merchant ranking vector and the merchant ranking vector to determine a merchant score vector for the candidate cardholder, wherein the merchant score vector includes the merchant score associated with each merchant of the plurality of merchants.

18. A method in accordance with claim 14, further comprising:

sorting the plurality of merchants in descending order based on the determined merchant scores; and

providing the list of recommended merchants based on the sorted merchant scores.

19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for recommending at least one merchant of a plurality of merchants to a candidate cardholder, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

identify a plurality of merchants located within a predefined geographical region;

retrieve, from a payment network, electronic payment transaction information for a plurality of electronic payment card transactions involving a plurality of cardholders including the candidate cardholder and at least some of the plurality of merchants, the plurality of electronic payment transactions occurring within a predefined time period;

identify from the electronic payment transaction information a subset of cardholders from the plurality of cardholders, each of the subset of cardholders having completed electronic payment transactions with at least two of the plurality of merchants;

create, based on the retrieved electronic payment transaction information associated with the subset of cardholders, a merchant popularity matrix, wherein the merchant popularity matrix includes a counter associated with each pair of merchants included within the plurality of merchants, wherein to create the matrix, an associated counter is incremented when a cardholder in the subset of cardholders completes electronic payment transactions at both merchants in the pair, and wherein, to reduce an effect of cardholder bias towards a single merchant, no counter in the merchant popularity matrix is incremented when a cardholder completes multiple electronic payment transactions at the same merchant;

receive data signals from the payment network including data associated with electronic payment transactions for the candidate cardholder;

determine gratuity information for the candidate cardholder from the data signals;

determine candidate cardholder preference information for at least one candidate merchant of the plurality of merchants based at least in part on the gratuity information determined from the data signals;

create a candidate cardholder preference vector based on the candidate cardholder preference information, wherein the candidate cardholder preference vector represents a level of preference of the candidate cardholder for one merchant relative to at least one other merchant;

determine a merchant rank for each merchant of the plurality of merchants based on the merchant popularity matrix and the candidate cardholder preference vector;

determine a neutral merchant rank for each merchant of the plurality of merchants based on the retrieved electronic payment transaction information associated with the plurality of cardholders and a neutral preference vector including preference information values that are equal for each merchant of the plurality of merchants;

determine a merchant score for each merchant of the plurality of merchants based on a difference between the merchant rank and the neutral merchant rank; and

cause a list of recommended merchants including the at least one merchant to be displayed on a user device based on the determined merchant scores, wherein the user device is associated with the candidate cardholder.

20. The computer-readable storage media of claim 19, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

apply the candidate cardholder preference vector to the merchant popularity matrix to determine a merchant ranking vector, wherein the merchant ranking vector is associated with the candidate cardholder preference information and includes the merchant rank associated with each merchant of the plurality of merchants;

apply the neutral preference vector to the merchant popularity matrix to determine a neutral merchant ranking vector, wherein the neutral merchant ranking vector includes the neutral merchant rank associated with each merchant of the plurality of merchants; and

compare the neutral merchant ranking vector to the merchant ranking vector to determine a merchant score vector for the candidate cardholder, wherein the merchant score vector includes the merchant score associated with each merchant of the plurality of merchants.