System and method for gathering and standardizing customer purchase information for target marketing
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to storing and manipulating customer purchasing information, particularly purchasing information by credit cards, debit cards, checks, and the like. A hierarchical organizational structure is created comprising a plurality of categories and sub-categories. The customer purchase information may then be retrieved according to user created links to generate customer preference information. The customer preference information may be stored in a customer account, thereby allowing targeted offers to be made to customers.
116 Citations
91 Claims
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1-58. -58. (canceled)
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59. A method for making targeted offers, the method implemented in a computer system for storing and manipulating customer purchase information received from a plurality of sources, the computer system comprising a storage device for storing the customer purchase information and a processor for placing the customer purchase information, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving the customer purchase information, the receiving performed by the processor;
organizing the customer purchase information within a predetermined organizational structure, the organizing performed by the processor;
creating a customer preference based at least in part on the customer purchase information in the organizational structure;
forming an offer for a customer based on at least one of the customer preference and the customer purchase information;
generating a customer score based on customer accounts prior to creating the customer preference; and
wherein the step of generating a customer score, includes generating multiple customer scores for a single customer, the multiple customer scores for the single customer each being respectively associated with a different merchant. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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75. A system for storing and manipulating customer purchase information received from a plurality of sources, the system comprising:
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means for receiving the customer purchase information, wherein the customer purchase information includes text strings;
means for organizing the customer purchase information within a predetermined organizational structure; and
means for forming an offer for a customer based on a character search or word search of the text strings in the customer purchase information in the organizational structure;
score generating means for generating a customer score based on customer accounts prior to creating the customer preference; and
wherein the score generating means generates multiple customer scores for a single customer, the multiple customer scores for the single customer each being respectively associated with a different merchant. - View Dependent Claims (76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
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81. A method for making targeted offers, the method implemented in a computer system for storing and manipulating customer purchase information received from a plurality of sources, the computer system comprising a storage device for storing the customer purchase information and a processor for placing the customer purchase information, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving the customer purchase information, the receiving performed by the processor;
organizing the customer purchase information within a predetermined organizational structure, wherein the predetermined organizational structure comprises a plurality of categories, each category comprising a plurality of sub-categories, the organizing performed by the processor;
creating a customer preference based at least in part on the customer purchase information in the organizational structure;
forming an offer for a customer based on at least one of the customer preference and the customer purchase information;
wherein at least a plurality of the categories or sub-categories are associated with a respective count value, each count value indicating the number of customers that have had activity within the particular category or sub-category. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83, 84, 85, 86)
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87. A method for making targeted offers, the method implemented in a computer system for storing and manipulating customer purchase information received from a plurality of sources, the computer system comprising a storage device for storing the customer purchase information and a processor for placing the customer purchase information, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving the customer purchase information, the receiving performed by the processor;
organizing the customer purchase information within a predetermined organizational structure, wherein the predetermined organizational structure comprises a plurality of categories, each category comprising a plurality of subcategories, the organizing performed by the processor;
creating a customer preference based at least in part on the customer purchase information in the organizational structure;
forming an offer for a customer based on at least one of the customer preference and the customer purchase information; and
associating the categories and sub-categories with a score, wherein the score is based on customer purchase information that is associated with a particular category or sub-category; and
wherein the score associated with a particular category or sub-category is based on at least one of;
the total dollar amount of purchases by a customer in a particular category or sub-category; and
the number of purchases in a particular category or sub-category. - View Dependent Claims (88, 89, 90, 91)
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Specification