Customer relationship management system for physical locations

• US 20040093268A1
• Filed: 01/27/2003
• Published: 05/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: Novitaz, Inc.
• Inventors: Ramchandani, Jayant, Ghias, Asif
• Granted Patent: US 8,600,804 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2011/02 related to amusement parks
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence

Abstract

A method and computer program product for managing information about transactions occurring in a physical establishment includes gathering information about multiple transactions at a physical establishment, and storing the information as metadata. A byte stream corresponding to the metadata is generated. Several elements of the metadata are associated with a particular session based on predefined criteria.

Claims

1. A method for managing information about transactions occurring in a physical establishment, comprising:

gathering information about multiple transactions at a physical establishment, the transactions relating to a person at the physical establishment;

storing the information about the transactions as metadata;

generating a byte stream corresponding to the metadata; and

associating several elements of the metadata with a particular session based on predefined criteria.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least some of the metadata relate to at least one of a commercial transaction, interaction with an object in the physical establishment, and interaction with another person.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each session relates to metadata occurring during a single visit of the person to the physical establishment.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein one of the metadata elements relates to an interaction between a customer and a sales representative.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the metadata also includes information relating to how knowledge gained from a past interaction has been utilized.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein one of the metadata elements relates to a point-of-sale transaction.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the method is performed in the context of at least one of a retail setting, a restaurant setting, a banking setting, a hospitality setting, and a health care setting.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein storing the information about the transactions in metadata further includes using a meta-data dictionary to standardize the information.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising making the session available to multiple instances of a relationship management system.

10. A computer program product for managing information about transactions occurring in a physical establishment, comprising:

computer code for gathering information about multiple transactions at a physical establishment, the transactions relating to a person at the physical establishment;

computer code for storing the information about the transactions as metadata;

computer code for generating a byte stream corresponding to the metadata; and

computer code for associating several elements of the metadata with a particular session based on predefined criteria.

11. A method for managing information about transactions occurring in a physical establishment, comprising:

gathering information about a transaction at a physical establishment, the transaction relating to a person at the physical establishment;

matching the information to pre-specified event types;

converting the information to a standardized form;

storing the converted information as metadata based on the matching; and

making the metadata available to a requesting program.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the conversion of the information is performed using a meta data dictionary.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein at least some of the metadata relate to at least one of a commercial transaction, interaction with an object in the physical establishment, and interaction with another person.

14. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the metadata are stored in sessions, wherein each session relates to metadata occurring during a single visit of the person to the physical establishment.

15. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein one of the metadata relates to an interaction between a customer and a sales representative.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the event also includes information relating to how knowledge gained from a past interaction has been utilized.

17. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein one of the metadata relates to a point-of-sale transaction.

18. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the method is performed in the context of at least one of a retail setting, a restaurant setting, a banking setting, a hospitality setting, and a health care setting.

19. A method for measuring customer value, comprising:

identifying a customer utilizing a wireless system;

collecting information about transactions relating to the customer using the wireless system, the transactions occurring at a physical establishment;

collecting information about additional transactions relating to the customer;

generating a frequency score indicating a frequency of occurrence of a pre-specified type of the transactions;

generating a monetary score indicating an amount of money expended by the customer; and

outputting the scores.

20. The method as recited in claim 19, further comprising generating a recency score indicating a time frame since at least one of the transactions.

21. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the recency score indicates a time frame since the customer last made a purchase.

22. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the frequency score indicates how frequently the customer makes purchases over a specified amount of time.

23. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the monetary score is based on an average amount of money exchanged in at least some of the transactions for a specified time period.

24. The method as recited in claim 19, further comprising generating a score indicating duration of visits by the customer.

25. The method as recited in claim 19, further comprising generating scores for at least one of the following:

number of product trials per visit;

number of interactions with one or more sales representatives per visit;

number of customer interaction memos created per visit; and

number of customer interaction memos utilized per visit.

26. The method as recited in claim 19, further comprising correlating at least one of the scores with statistical information.

27. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the monetary score is correlated to a duration of at least one visit by the customer.

28. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the monetary score is correlated to a number of product trials by the customer.

29. A method for measuring customer value, comprising:

collecting information about transactions relating to the customer using a wireless system, the transactions occurring at a physical establishment;

collecting information about additional transactions relating to the customer;

generating a frequency score indicating a frequency of occurrence of a pre-specified type of the transactions; and

generating a monetary score indicating an amount of money expended by the customer;

wherein at least one of the scores is based at least in part on a duration of a visit to the physical establishment by the customer.

30. A method for managing messaging to a person, comprising:

selecting a message to present to a person based on at least one of the following;

a frequency score indicating a frequency of occurrence of a pre-specified type of transaction;

a monetary score indicating an amount of money expended by the person for a specified time frame;

a change in the frequency score;

a change in the monetary score; and

an average duration of visits by the person.

31. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the transactions occur at a physical establishment.

32. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the message is output in an engagement plan.

33. The method as recited in claim 32, wherein the engagement plan includes an incentive.

34. The method as recited in claim 32, wherein the engagement plan includes a preference of the person.

35. The method as recited in claim 32, wherein the engagement plan includes a preferred engagement level.

36. The method as recited in claim 32, wherein the engagement plan includes a description of an item which was part of a previous interaction of the person with at least one of a website, a physical location, a catalog transaction, and a telesales interaction.

37. The method as recited in claim 32, wherein the engagement plan includes information for cross-selling.

38. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the message relates to at least one of product information and product pricing.

39. The method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

identifying the person utilizing a wireless system;

determining a physical location of the person; and

outputting the message near the physical location of the person.

40. A method for reporting information about events occurring at a physical location, comprising.

gathering data about multiple events at a physical location, the events including transactions and interactions of a person at the physical location;

storing the information about the events as metadata;

assimilating metadata about at least one event that occur at the physical location; and

displaying information about at least some of the events that occur in the physical location.

41. The method as recited in claim 40, further comprising correlating occurrence of events at the physical location with revenues generated at the physical location for determining an impact of a particular type of event on revenue.

42. The method as recited in claim 40, further comprising correlating occurrence of events at the physical location with marketing campaigns for determining an impact of a particular event on a marketing campaign.

43. The method as recited in claim 40, further comprising allowing selection of multiple locations, wherein information about at least some of the events that occur in the selected physical locations is output.

44. The method as recited in claim 40, further comprising allowing specification of analysis to perform on at least a portion of the event data, and outputting results of the analysis.

45. The method as recited in claim 40, wherein the information about the events occurring at the physical location is viewed in a color-coded fashion.

46. A method for evaluating performance of a sales person based on events occurring at a physical location, comprising:

gathering data about multiple events at a physical location, the events including transactions and interactions of a sales person at the physical location; and

creating a rating of the sales person based on the events.

47. The method as recited in claim 46, wherein the rating is based on a number of customers'"'"' preferred lists the sales person appears on.

48. The method as recited in claim 46, wherein the rating is based on a number of customer interaction memos created by the sales person.

49. The method as recited in claim 46, wherein the rating is based on a measure of utilization of customer interaction memos.

50. A method for generating a data report for a physical establishment, comprising:

gathering data about multiple events at at least one physical establishment;

storing the data;

allowing selection of at least one measure including;

a recency-frequency-monetary measure; and

a store session measure;

allowing selection of at least one of the following if the recency-frequency-monetary measure is selected;

number of customer visits;

average transaction size; and

average number of days since last visit;

allowing selection of at least one of the following if the store session measure is selected;

duration of visit;

number of product trials per visit;

number of interactions with one or more sales representatives per visit;

number of customer interaction memos created per visit; and

number of customer interaction memos utilized per visit;

analyzing the data based on the selections; and

outputting a report indicating results of the analysis.

51. The method as recited in claim 50, further comprising allowing selection of a store location.

52. The method as recited in claim 50, further comprising allowing selection of a duration and frequency of the data to be analyzed.

54. The method as recited in claim 50, further comprising:

allowing selection of at least one of the following measures if the impact study is selected;

a recency-frequency-monetary measure; and

a store session measure;

allowing selection of at least one of the following if the recency-frequency-monetary measure is selected;

number of customer visits;

average transaction size; and

average number of days since last visit;

allowing selection of at least one of the following if the store session measure is selected;

duration of visit;

number of product trials per visit;

number of interactions with one or more sales representatives per visit;

number of customer interaction memos created per visit; and

number of customer interaction memos utilized per visit.

53. A method for generating an analysis report for a physical establishment, comprising:

gathering data about multiple events at at least one physical establishment;

storing the data;

allowing selection of at least one type of analysis including;

a correlation study; and

an impact study;

allowing selection of at least one of the following if the correlation study is selected;

number of customer visits;

average transaction size;

average number of days since last visit;

duration of visit;

number of product trials per visit;

number of interactions with one or more sales representatives per visit;

number of customer interaction memos created per visit; and

number of customer interaction memos utilized per visit;

allowing selection of a campaign if the impact study is selected;

analyzing the data based on the selections; and

outputting a report indicating results of the analysis.

55. A method for generating a performance report, comprising:

gathering data about multiple events at at least one physical establishment;

storing the data;

allowing selection of at least one type of performance, including;

store performance; and

sales representative performance;

allowing selection of at least one of the following if store performance is selected;

number of customer interaction memos created;

number of customer interaction memos utilized;

number of interactions with one or more sales representatives per visit; and

duration of customer visits;

allowing selection of at least one of the following if sales representative performance is selected;

number of customer interaction memos created;

number of customer interaction memos utilized;

number of interactions with one or more sales representatives per visit; and

duration of customer visits;

analyzing the data based on the selections; and

outputting a report indicating results of the analysis.