Use of financial transaction network(s) information to generate personalized recommendations

• US 20040225509A1
• Filed: 05/07/2003
• Published: 11/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Olivier Andre
• Original Assignee: Olivier Andre
• Inventors: Andre, Olivier
• Application Number:
  US10/431,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20040225509A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations

Abstract

A computer-implemented service recommends merchants affiliated to one or several financial transaction networks based on transaction information and other available information. In one embodiment, the service uses merchants where the member recently transacted to generate a list of additional merchants that are predicted to be of interest to the member, wherein an additional merchant is selected to be included in the list based in-part upon whether that merchant is related to one or more of the transacted merchants. The merchants relationships are preferably determined by an off-line process that analyzes members transactions histories and other available information to identify correlations between merchants.

Claims

1. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to users, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a similarity data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of merchants, to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of merchants including items similarity index values, each similarity index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to users selected from the group consisting of members and non-members, by at least;

(a) identifying a plurality of merchants from at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of a subset of the user'"'"'s transactions history;

a subset of the user'"'"'s payment tools transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s accounts transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s relationships transactions history, the input of reference merchants by the user, and combinations thereof;

(b) for each merchant identified in step (a), accessing the similarity data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar merchants, thereby identifying a plurality of sets of similar merchants;

(c) combining the sets of similar merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of similar merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof; and

(d) communicating to the user information related to at least some of the merchants of the ranked set of similar merchants.

2. The system of claim 1 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

3. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to users, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a similarity data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of merchants to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of merchants including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to users selected from the group consisting of members and non-members, by at least;

(a) identifying a plurality of merchants from at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of a subset of the user'"'"'s transactions history;

a subset of the user'"'"'s payment tools transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s accounts transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s relationships transactions history, the input of reference merchants by the user, and combinations thereof;

(b) for each merchant identified in step (a), accessing the similarity data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar merchants, thereby identifying a plurality of sets of similar merchants;

(c) combining the sets of similar merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of similar merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof, and

(d) communicating to the user information related to at least some of the merchants of the ranked set of similar merchants as recommendations;

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific recommendation tracking data structure which contains information about the recommendations of merchants made to the users; and

a computer system to compare part of the information in the recommendation tracking data structure with part of the information contained in the institution main data structure for at least;

(e) communicating to the merchants the recommendations that were made to users that have been followed within a selected timeframe by a transaction at the merchant for at least one set selected from the group consisting of the user'"'"'s payment tools, the user'"'"'s accounts, the user'"'"'s relationship, and combinations thereof, being successful recommendations; and

(f) offering to the merchants access to a list of successful recommendations at the merchant.

4. The system of claim 3 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

5. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for enriching information related to merchants, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

6. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure and a system for generating recommendations of merchants to users, a system for tracking successful recommendations comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific recommendation tracking data structure which contains information about the recommendations of merchants made to the users; and

a computer system to compare part of the information in the recommendation tracking data structure with part of the information contained in the institution main data structure for at least;

(a) communicating to the merchants the recommendations that were made to users that have been followed within a selected timeframe by a transaction at the merchant for at least one action selected from the group consisting of the user'"'"'s payment tools, the user'"'"'s accounts, the user'"'"'s relationship, and combinations thereof, being successful recommendations; and

(b) offering to the merchants access to a list of successful recommendations at the merchant.

7. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to users, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific similarity data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of merchants to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of merchants including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items based on at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of transactions information, merchants information, successful recommendations, payment tools characteristics, users information, users'"'"' ratings of merchants, external ratings of merchants, users behavior, payment tools behavior, accounts behavior, relationships behavior, and combinations thereof; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to users selected from the group consisting of members and non-members, by at least;

(a) identifying a plurality of merchants from at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of a subset of the user'"'"'s transactions history;

a subset of the user'"'"'s payment tools transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s accounts transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s relationships transactions history, the input of reference merchants by the user, and combinations thereof;

(b) for each merchant identified in step (a), accessing the similarity data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar merchants, thereby identifying a plurality of sets of similar merchants;

(c) combining the sets of similar merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of similar merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof; and

(d) communicating to the user information related to at least some of the merchants of the ranked set of similar merchants.

8. The system of claim 7 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

9. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to users, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a similarity data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of merchants to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of merchants including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items based on at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of transactions information, merchants information, successful recommendations, payment tools characteristics, users information, users'"'"' ratings of merchants, external ratings of merchants, users behavior, payment tools behavior, accounts behavior, relationships behavior, and combinations thereof; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to users selected from the group consisting of members and non-members, by at least;

(a) identifying a plurality of merchants from at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of a subset of the user'"'"'s transactions history;

a subset of the user'"'"'s payment tools transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s accounts transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s relationships transactions history, the input of reference merchants by the user, and combinations thereof;

(b) for each merchant identified in step (a), accessing the similarity data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar merchants, thereby identifying a plurality of sets of similar merchants;

(c) combining the sets of similar merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of similar merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof; and

(d) communicating to the user information related to at least some of the merchants of the ranked set of similar merchants as recommendations;

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific recommendation tracking data structure which contains information about the recommendations of merchants made to the users; and

a computer system to compare part of the information in the recommendation tracking data structure with part of the information contained in the institution main data structure for at least;

(e) communicating to the merchants the recommendations that were made to users that have been followed within a selected timeframe by a transaction at the merchant for at least one set selected from the group consisting of the user'"'"'s payment tools, the user'"'"'s accounts, the user'"'"'s relationship, and combinations thereof, being successful recommendations; and

(f) offering to the merchants access to a list of successful recommendations at the merchant.

10. The system of claim 9 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

11. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to members, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a community data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of members to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of members including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to members by at least;

(a) accessing the community data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar members;

(b) for each member identified in step (a), identifying a set of associated merchants;

(c) combining the sets of merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of the similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof; and

(d) communicating to the member information related to at least some of the merchants of the ranked set of similar merchants.

12. The system of claim 11 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

13. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to members, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific community data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of members to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of members including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to members by at least;

(a) accessing the community data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar members;

(b) for each member identified in step (a), identifying a set of associated merchants;

(c) combining the sets of merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof; and

(d) communicating to the member information related to at least some of the merchants of the ranked set of similar merchants as recommendations;

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific recommendation tracking data structure which contains information about the recommendations of merchants made to the members; and

a computer system to compare part of the information in the recommendation tracking data structure with part of the information contained in the institution main data structure for at least;

(e) communicating to the merchants the recommendations that were made to members that have been followed within a selected timeframe by a transaction at the merchant for at least one set selected from the group consisting of the member'"'"'s payment tools, the member'"'"'s accounts, the member'"'"'s relationship, and combinations thereof, being successful recommendations; and

(f) offering to the merchants access to a list of successful recommendations at the merchant.

14. The system of claim 13 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

15. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to users, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a similarity data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of merchants to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of merchants including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to users selected from the group consisting of members and non-members, by at least;

(a) identifying a plurality of merchants from at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of a subset of the user'"'"'s transactions history;

a subset of the user'"'"'s payment tools transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s accounts transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s relationships transactions history, the input of reference merchants by the user, and combinations thereof;

(b) for each merchant identified in step (a), accessing the similarity data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar merchants, thereby identifying a plurality of sets of similar merchants;

(c) combining the sets of similar merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of similar merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof;

(d) determining a subgroup of merchants from the ranked set of similar merchants in function of at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of the user'"'"'s payment tools behavior, the user'"'"'s payment tools location, and combinations thereof; and

(e) communicating to the user information related to at least some of the merchants of the subgroup of the ranked set of similar merchants.

16. The system of claim 15 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

17. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to users, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a similarity data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of merchants to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of merchants including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to users selected from the group consisting of members and non-members, by at least;

(a) identifying a plurality of merchants from at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of a subset of the user'"'"'s transactions history;

a subset of the user'"'"'s payment tools transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s accounts transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s relationships transactions history, the input of reference merchants by the user, and combinations thereof;

(b) for each merchant identified in step (a), accessing the similarity data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar merchants, thereby identifying a plurality of sets of similar merchants;

(c) combining the sets of similar merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of similar merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof;

(d) determining a subgroup of merchants from the ranked set of similar merchants in function of at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of the user'"'"'s payment tools behavior, the user'"'"'s payment tools location, and combinations thereof; and

(e) communicating to the user information related to at least some of the merchants of the subgroup of the ranked set of similar merchants as recommendations;

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific recommendation tracking data structure which contains information about the recommendations of merchants made to the users; and

a computer system to compare part of the information in the recommendation tracking data structure with part of the information contained in the institution main data structure for at least;

(f) communicating to the merchants the recommendations that were made to users that have been followed within a selected timeframe by a transaction at the merchant for at least one set selected from the group consisting of the user'"'"'s payment tools, the user'"'"'s accounts, the user'"'"'s relationship, and combinations thereof, being successful recommendations; and

(g) offering to the merchants access to a list of successful recommendations at the merchant.

18. The system of claim 17 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

19. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to users, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a similarity data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of merchants to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of merchants including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items based on at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of transactions information, merchants information, successful recommendations, payment tools characteristics, users information, users'"'"' ratings of merchants, external ratings of merchants, users behavior, payment tools behavior, accounts behavior, relationships behavior, and combinations thereof; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to users selected from the group consisting of members and non-members, by at least;

(a) identifying a plurality of merchants from at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of a subset of the user'"'"'s transactions history;

a subset of the user'"'"'s payment tools transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s accounts transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s relationships transactions history, the input of reference merchants by the user, and combinations thereof;

(b) for each merchant identified in step (a), accessing the similarity data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar merchants, thereby identifying a plurality of sets of similar merchants;

(c) combining the sets of similar merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of similar merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof;

(d) determining a subgroup of merchants from the ranked set of similar merchants in function of at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of the user'"'"'s payment tools behavior, the user'"'"'s payment tools location, and combinations thereof; and

(e) communicating to the user information related to at least some of the merchants of the subgroup of the ranked set of similar merchants.

20. The system of claim 19 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

21. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to users, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a similarity data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of merchants to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of merchants including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items based on at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of transactions information, merchants information, successful recommendations, payment tools characteristics, users information, users'"'"' ratings of merchants, external ratings of merchants, users behavior, payment tools behavior, accounts behavior, relationships behavior, and combinations thereof; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to users selected from the group consisting of members and non-members, by at least;

(a) identifying a plurality of merchants from at least one set of information selected from the group consisting of a subset of the user'"'"'s transactions history;

a subset of the user'"'"'s payment tools transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s accounts transactions history, a subset of the user'"'"'s relationships transactions history, the input of reference merchants by the user, and combinations thereof;

(b) for each merchant identified in step (a), accessing the similarity data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar merchants, thereby identifying a plurality of sets of similar merchants;

(c) combining the sets of similar merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of similar merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof;

(d) determining a subgroup of merchants from the ranked set of similar merchants in function of at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of the user'"'"'s payment tools behavior, the user'"'"'s payment tools location, and combinations thereof; and

(e) communicating to the user information related to at least some of the merchants of the subgroup of the ranked set of similar merchants as recommendations;

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific recommendation tracking data structure which contains information about the recommendations of merchants made to the users; and

a computer system to compare part of the information in the recommendation tracking data structure with part of the information contained in the institution main data structure for at least;

(f) communicating to the merchants the recommendations that were made to users that have been followed within a selected timeframe by a transaction at the merchant for at least one set selected from the group consisting of the user'"'"'s payment tools, the user'"'"'s accounts, the user'"'"'s relationship, and combinations thereof, being successful recommendations; and

(g) offering to the merchants access to a list of successful recommendations at the merchant.

22. The system of claim 21 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

23. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to members, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific community data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of members to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of members including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to members by at least;

(a) accessing the community data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar members;

(b) for each member identified in step (a), identifying a set of associated merchants;

(c) combining the sets of merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of the similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof;

(d) determining a subgroup of merchants from the ranked set of similar merchants in function of at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of the member'"'"'s payment tools behavior, the member'"'"'s payment tools location, and combinations thereof; and

(e) communicating to the member information related to at least some of the merchants of the subgroup of the ranked set of similar merchants.

24. The system of claim 23 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.

25. In a computer system containing information related to at least one financial transaction network in a specific institution main data structure, a system for providing information on merchants to members, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a community data structure which maps items from the institution main data structure database of members to sets of similar items from the institution main data structure database of members including items similarity index values, each index value indicating a degree of similarity between two items; and

a computer system for recommendation process which generates personalized recommendations to members by at least;

(a) accessing the community data structure to identify a corresponding set of similar members;

(b) for each member identified in step (a), identifying a set of associated merchants;

(c) combining the sets of merchants identified in step (b) to generate a ranked set of merchants in which the merchants are weighted by at least a function of at least a parameter selected from the group consisting of a constant, the number of appearances, the number of transactions, the value of transactions, the moment of the transactions, the value of similarity indexes, the user'"'"'s communicated restrictions, the users'"'"' rating of merchants, external ratings of merchants, and combinations thereof;

(d) determining a subgroup of merchants from the ranked set of similar merchants in function of at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of the member'"'"'s payment tools behavior, the member'"'"'s payment tools location, and combinations thereof, and

(e) communicating to the member information related to at least some of the merchants of the subgroup of the ranked set of similar merchants as recommendations;

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific recommendation tracking data structure which contains information about the recommendations of merchants made to the members; and

a computer system to compare part of the information in the recommendation tracking data structure with part of the information contained in the institution main data structure for at least;

(f) communicating to the merchants the recommendations that were made to members that have been followed within a selected timeframe by a transaction at the merchant for at least one set selected from the group consisting of the member'"'"'s payment tools, the member'"'"'s accounts, the member'"'"'s relationship, and combinations thereof, being successful recommendations; and

(g) offering to the merchants access to a list of successful recommendations at the merchant.

26. The system of claim 25 which further comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising a specific merchant information data structure which contains items with information from the institution main data structure database of merchants and supplementary information; and

a computer system for users selected from the group consisting of merchants, members and non-members to access the merchant information data structure for at least one action selected from the group consisting of adding information, retrieving information, modifying information, and combinations thereof.