Methods and systems for developing market intelligence

• US 20030115216A1
• Filed: 12/19/2001
• Published: 06/19/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Western Union
• Original Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Moore, Raymond
• Granted Patent: US 7,130,865 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for characterizing market distribution for a business having multiple business representatives. The business is considered to be in competition with one or more competitors, each of which also has multiple representatives. Locations are determined both for the business representatives and for the competitor representatives, and these locations are used to populate one or more databases. A locator identification is assigned to each distinct location and used as a pointer within the databases. The locator identification may be unique to specific street addresses, permitting improved analysis of the market information, particularly analysis derived from the geographical distributions of the business representatives and of the competitor representatives.

Claims

1. A method for characterizing market distribution for a business having a plurality of business representatives, the method comprising:

determining a location for each of the plurality of business representatives;

determining a location for each of a plurality of competitor representatives comprised by one or more competitors to the business;

populating at least one database with the locations for the business representatives and the locations for the competitor representatives; and

assigning a locator identification to each distinct location for use as a pointer to the locations within the at least one database.

2. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the locator identification is unique to a street address.

3. The method recited in claim 1 wherein determining the location for each of the plurality of competitor representatives comprises accessing an representative-locator service on an internet web site for the one or more competitors.

4. The method recited in claim 3 wherein accessing the representative-locator service is performed automatically by a web robot.

5. The method recited in claim 1 wherein determining the location for each of the plurality of competitor representatives comprises accessing an authenticated source identifying transactions preformed by the competitor representatives.

6. The method recited in claim 5 wherein the authenticated source comprises a publicly available government record.

7. The method recited in claim 1 further comprising quantifying competition with a distance measure derived from the locations.

8. The method recited in claim 7 wherein the distance measure accounts for differences in service levels provided by the business representatives and competitor representatives are nonuniform.

9. The method recited in claim 1 further comprising correlating the locations with demographic data.

10. The method recited in claim 9 wherein the demographic data comprise census data.

11. The method recited in claim 9 further comprising applying a filter criterion to the correlated data to characterize geographic divisions within the demographic data by market penetration.

12. The method recited in claim 11 further comprising displaying the locations graphically according to the geographic divisions, wherein the geographic divisions are distinctly displayed according to the filter criterion.

13. The method recited in claim 1 further comprising displaying the locations graphically.

14. The method recited in claim 13 wherein displaying the locations graphically comprises displaying the locations on a map.

15. The method recited in claim 13, wherein the at least one database includes product information for the business representatives and for the competitor representatives, the method further comprising displaying the product information for at least one of the locations.

16. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program embodied therein for directing operation of a computer system including a communications system, a processor, and a storage device, wherein the computer-readable program includes instructions for operating the computer system to characterize market distribution for a business having a plurality of business representatives in accordance with the following:

maintaining at least one database on the storage device to store a location for each of the plurality of business representatives and to store a location for each of a plurality of competitor representatives comprised by one or more competitors to the business; and

assigning a locator identification to each distinct location with the processor for use as a pointer to the locations within the at least one database.

17. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 16 wherein the locator identification is unique to a street address.

18. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 16 wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for determining the location for each of the plurality of competitor representatives by accessing an representative-locator service with the communications system on an internet web sited for the one or more competitors.

19. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 16 wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for determining the location for each of the plurality of competitor representatives by accessing a publicly available source identifying transactions performed by the competitor representatives.

20. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 16 wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for operating the processor to quantify competition with a distance measure derived from the locations.

21. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 16 wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for operating the processor to correlate the locations with demographic data.

22. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 21 wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for operating the processor to apply a filter criterion to the correlated data to characterize geographic divisions within the demographic data by market penetration.

23. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 22 wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for:

generating a graphical representation of the locations according to the geographic divisions, the graphical representation including a distinction among the geographic divisions according to the filter criterion; and

transmitting the graphical representation over the communications system.

24. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program embodied therein for directing operation of a computer system including a communications system, a processor, and a storage device, wherein the computer-readable program includes instructions for operating the computer system to populate a competitor-representative database in accordance with the following:

accessing a representative-locator service maintained by a competitor at an internet web site;

extracting location information for a plurality of competitor representatives from the representative-locator service; and

storing the location information in the competitor-representative database.

25. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 24 further comprising:

extracting product information for the plurality of competitor representatives from the internet web site; and

storing the product information in the competitor-representative database.

26. A computer system comprising:

a communications system;

a storage device;

a processor in communication with the communications system and the storage device; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory comprising a computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program embodied therein for operating the computer system to characterize market distribution for a business having a plurality of business representatives, the computer-readable program including;

instructions for maintaining at least one database on the storage device to store a location for each of the plurality of business representatives and to store a location for each of a plurality of competitor representatives comprised by one or more competitors to the business; and

instructions for assigning a locator identification to each distinct location with the processor for use as a pointer to the locations within the at least one database.

27. The computer system recited in claim 26 wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for determining the location of each of the plurality of competitor representatives by accessing an representative-locator service with the communications system on an internet web site for the one or more competitors.

28. The computer system recited in claim 26 wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for operating the processor to correlate the locations with demographic data.

29. The computer system recited in claim 28 wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for operating the processor to apply a filter criterion to the correlated data to characterize geographic divisions within the demographic data by market penetration.

30. The computer system recited in claim 26 wherein the memory further comprises a second computer-readable storage medium having a second computer-readable program embodied therein for operating the computer system to populate the at least one database, the second computer-readable program including:

instructions for accessing a representative-locator service maintained by the one or more competitors at an internet web site;

instructions for extracting location information for the plurality of competitor representatives from the representative-locator service; and

instructions for storing the location information in the at least one database.