Methods for providing a virtual coupon
First Claim
1. A method for providing a coupon to a consumer, comprising:
- providing a graphical user interface that receives coupon information in an electronic medium, the coupon information including a description of goods and/or services offered by the merchant under merchant defined promotional terms for a defined limited time period, an identifier of the merchant, and a defined location for the coupon offer;
receiving information from a consumer device that includes an indication of the consumer'"'"'s location; and
if the indication of the consumer'"'"'s location overlaps with the defined location for the coupon offer and is received within the defined limited time period, then actively presenting the coupon information to the consumer device in response to receiving the indication of the consumer'"'"'s location.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods for providing a virtual coupon are disclosed. One aspect of the present invention includes a method for creating a virtual coupon by a merchant, wherein creating includes defining a coupon offer location. The method also includes presenting the virtual coupon to a consumer device only if the consumer is within the vicinity of the coupon offer location or the consumer otherwise indicates an interest in goods and/or services in the vicinity of the coupon offer location. The virtual coupon is presented to the consumer'"'"'s device in a format compatible with that device. A simple graphical user interface allows complex coupon campaigns to be constructed and managed by merchants using relatively simple data entries. Consumer identities, consumer profiles and/or statistical information concerning the response of consumers to the virtual coupon campaign are also provided to facilitate marketing and targeting of consumers in a defined location.
568 Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A method for providing a coupon to a consumer, comprising:
-
providing a graphical user interface that receives coupon information in an electronic medium, the coupon information including a description of goods and/or services offered by the merchant under merchant defined promotional terms for a defined limited time period, an identifier of the merchant, and a defined location for the coupon offer;
receiving information from a consumer device that includes an indication of the consumer'"'"'s location; and
if the indication of the consumer'"'"'s location overlaps with the defined location for the coupon offer and is received within the defined limited time period, then actively presenting the coupon information to the consumer device in response to receiving the indication of the consumer'"'"'s location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A method for providing a merchant presence to a consumer, comprising:
-
receiving coupon information in an electronic medium from a merchant, the coupon information including a description of goods and/or services offered by the merchant under merchant defined promotional terms for a defined limited time period, an identifier of the merchant, and a defined location for the coupon offer;
receiving an indication of the physical presence of a consumer device within the defined location of the coupon offer; and
if the indication of the consumer'"'"'s location overlaps with the defined location for the coupon offer and is received within the defined limited time period, then actively presenting the coupon information to the consumer device in response to receiving the indication of the consumer'"'"'s location.
-
Specification