Method and system for management of purchasing incentives

• US 20040143491A1
• Filed: 08/02/2001
• Published: 07/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Marty Steinberg
• Original Assignee: Marty Steinberg
• Inventors: Steinberg, Marty
• Application Number:
  US09/921,060
• Publication Number:
  US 20040143491A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0233 Method of redeeming a frequent usage reward

Abstract

A management system and method that enables consumers to determine the availability of purchasing incentives through their memberships in loyalty programs is disclosed. Consumers may maintain their memberships to various loyalty programs of companies and organizations that offer purchasing incentives in a secured interactive database, and can submit a query about available purchasing incentives for the potential purchase of a product, based on these memberships. The management system processes the query, retrieves available incentives from at least one offering company or organization registered with the management system, and communicates the available incentives to the consumer who submitted the query. Promotion compensation may be offered to consumers whether or not they are offered a purchasing incentive. In addition, consumers may be offered links or information to purchase the desired product or service directly from the management system, or may be provided vendor or manufacturer information for the desired product or service.

Claims

1. A method for managing purchasing incentives offered to consumers through their memberships in loyalty programs of offering companies and organizations, the method comprising:

receiving information on membership in loyalty programs of offering companies and organizations from a plurality of consumers;

receiving a query from at least one consumer for available purchasing incentives for a product or service;

processing the query; and

transmitting information relating to the availability of purchasing incentives in response to the query of the consumer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information on membership in loyalty programs from a plurality of offering companies and organizations.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing received information on membership in loyalty programs of offering companies and organizations from a plurality of consumers in a searchable database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the query comprises transmitting the query to a plurality of offering companies and organizations and receiving information relating to the availability of purchasing incentives in response to the query.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the query comprises retrieving relevant data.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the query in a searchable database.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing information relating to the availability of purchasing incentives in response to the query to the consumer in a searchable database.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving marketing information from the consumer.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing received marketing information in a searchable database.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting at least some of the received marketing information to at least some of the offering companies and organizations.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein at least some of the received marketing information is transmitted anonymously to at least some of the offering companies and organizations.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumer is offered with promotion compensation if no purchasing incentives are available in response to the query.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a fee is received from the offering companies and organizations.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the querying consumer information relating to the purchase of the product or service that is the subject of the query.

4. The method of clam 2, further comprising:

storing received information on membership in loyalty programs from offering companies and organizations in a searchable database.

16. A system for processing purchasing incentive queries for purchasing incentives available to consumers through their membership in loyalty programs, the system comprising:

at least one interface unit capable of receiving information from a consumer relating to the consumer'"'"'s membership in at least one offering company'"'"'s or organization'"'"'s loyalty program, a query from the consumer requesting available purchasing incentives for a product or service, and consumer marketing data; and

at least one data processor operatively connected to the at least one interface unit which is capable of processing the query;

wherein the at least one interface unit is capable of communicating to the consumer the availability of any purchasing incentives that are offered through at least one of the consumer'"'"'s membership in at least one loyalty program.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

at least one interactive database operatively connected to the at least one interface unit which is capable of storing at least some information received from the consumer and being searched to retrieve at least some information received from the consumer.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one interface unit is capable of transmitting the query to at least one offering company or organization in whose loyalty program the consumer is a member and receiving a response from at least one of the offering companies or organizations relating to the availability of any purchasing incentives in response to the consumer query.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one interface unit is capable of receiving information from a plurality of offering companies and organizations relating to membership in their loyalty programs and purchasing incentives available to members of their loyalty programs;

and wherein the at least one interactive database is capable of storing at least some information received from the plurality of offering companies and organizations and being searched to retrieve at least some information received from the plurality of offering companies and organizations.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein processing the query further comprises determining whether one or more purchasing incentives are available for the purchase of a product or service in response to the consumer query in response to at least some of the received information from the plurality of offering companies and organizations relating to membership in their loyalty programs and at least some of the information relating to purchasing incentives available to members of their loyalty programs.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein at least one data processor is configured to compensate the consumer with an offer of promotion compensation upon the satisfaction of at least one condition.

22. A method for determining if purchasing incentives are available to a consumer through the consumer'"'"'s membership in at least one loyalty program of at least one offering company or organization, the method comprising:

receiving a purchasing incentive query from a consumer;

processing the purchasing incentive query to determine if at least one purchasing incentive is available through the consumer'"'"'s membership in at least one loyalty program of at least one offering company or organization in response to the query; and

communicating information relating to the availability of a purchasing incentive in response to the query.

23. A method for determining if purchasing incentives are available to a consumer through the consumer'"'"'s membership in at least one loyalty program of at least one offering company or organization, the method comprising:

receiving information from at least one consumer relating to at least one membership in at least one loyalty program of an offering company or organization;

receiving information from at least one offering company or organization relating to at least one loyalty program offered to certain consumers;

receiving a purchasing incentive query from a consumer;

authenticating that the consumer is a member in at least one loyalty program; and

communicating information relating to the availability of all purchasing incentives for at least one loyalty programs in which the consumer is authenticated.