Converged marketing architecture and related research and targeting methods utilizing such architectures

• US 20080059297A1
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Schlesier, Joseph R., D'Avanzo, Robert Lewis, Vallier, William E., Wylie, Matthew J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,495,682 B2
• 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 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Disclosed herein are converged marketing architectures that may be utilized by retailers in conjunction with and/or independent of consumer loyalty programs in order to improve targeted marketing efforts. Such architectures enable participating retailers to constantly generate and compile consumer activity and preferences information from a plurality of in-store and out of store activities, including e-commerce web site activity, television viewing and recording activity, and retail location activity. In certain embodiments, retail location activity may be monitored by one or more of RFID tracking sub-systems, smart shopping cart sub-systems, and point-of-sale information sub-systems.

Claims

1. An electronic system for collecting and compiling consumer data from a variety of sources for assisting in advertising efforts, said system comprising:

a central network having a database system for storing consumer activity information obtained from a plurality of sources and having a computing means providing an application for interfacing with said variety of sources and said database system;

one or more retail location systems each associated with a different physical retail location of a retailer and in electronic communication with said central network, each said retail location system having at least one information sub-system adapted to collect consumer activity information relating to in-store activities of consumers occurring in said associated physical retail location; and

means for electronically collecting consumer activity information relating to out-of-store activities of consumers, said means for electronically collecting being in electronic communication with said central network;

wherein said retail location systems and said means for electronically collecting provide information concerning individually identifiable consumers and generic consumers, said individually identifiable consumers having elected to participate in a customer loyalty program associated with said retailer, and wherein said application is adapted to merge said in-store information and out-of-store information relating to said individually identifiable consumers to enable crafting of targeted advertisements to select ones of said individually identifiable consumers.

2. The system according to claim 1, comprising means for providing targeted advertisements to said select ones of said individually identifiable consumers while said select ones are shopping in one of said physical retail locations.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein said information sub-system comprises a radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking sub-system adapted to identify RFID-tagged customer loyalty cards issued to members of said customer loyalty program as said cards move throughout said associated physical retail location.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein said RFID tracking sub-system is adapted to identify when a given customer loyalty card enters said associated physical retail location and communicate to said central network a notification that a given individually identifiable consumer associated with said given customer loyalty card has begun shopping at said associated physical retail location.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein said application receives said notification and consults advertising rules and said consumer activity information stored in said database system to generate a targeted in-store promotion that is communicated to said given individually identifiable consumer while still shopping at said associated physical retail location.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein said central network sends a mobile instant message receivable on a cell phone by said given individually identifiable consumer, said mobile instant message communicating information concerning said targeted in-store promotion.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein said targeted in-store promotion is customized by said application based upon said advertising rules and upon consumer activity information particular to said given individually identifiable consumer.

8. The system according to claim 4, wherein said RFID tracking sub-system is further adapted to track browsing activity of said individually identifiable consumer by monitoring movements of said RFID-tagged customer loyalty card within said associated physical retail location, and adapted to transmit data concerning said browsing activity to said central network for storing as consumer activity information.

9. The system according to claim 3, wherein said RFID tracking sub-system records browsing activity of said members within said associated physical retail location by monitoring movements of said RFID-tagged customer loyalty card within said associated physical retail location, and said retail location system transmits data concerning said browsing activity to said central network where it is stored as consumer activity information concerning individually identifiable consumers.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said data concerning said browsing activity includes information concerning what product areas, product displays, or both were viewed, visited, or both by said members.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein said information sub-system comprises a point-of-sale information sub-system comprising one or more interactive electronic kiosks, said point-of-sale information sub-system being adapted to be usable by customers within said associated physical retail location to access and review product data while shopping, and wherein said retail location systems monitor usage of said kiosks and communicate kiosk usage data to said central network where it is stored as consumer activity information.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said kiosks are adapted to provide targeted advertisements to users depending upon usage information collected during a given session on a given kiosk.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein said targeted advertisement comprises a promotional message concerning a particular product offering relevant to certain product data accessed by a given kiosk during said given session.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein said kiosks permit users to log in as members of the customer loyalty program to identify themselves, and said targeted advertisements are customized based upon said advertising rules and upon consumer activity information particular to past history of a given identified customer.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein said information sub-system comprises a smart shopping cart sub-system comprising one or more shopping carts, said shopping carts each containing an integrated mobile communication device, means for identifying products placed within the cart, and communication means for wirelessly communicating with an associated retail location system, said shopping carts being made available to customers for shopping in said associated physical retail location and said shopping carts being adapted to communicate the identities of products placed in said cart to said associated retail location system.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein said product identities are transferred to said central network where it is stored as consumer activity information.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein said central network analyzes said product identities and instructs said smart shopping cart sub-system to communicate a targeted advertisement to said shopping customer via said communication device, said communicated targeted advertisement being determined by said central network according to said product identities.

18. The system according to claim 1, wherein said means for electronically collecting consumer activity information relating to out-of-store activities of consumers includes an e-commerce web portal system adapted to capture web browsing information and web purchasing information from users, and wherein said web browsing information and web purchasing information is communicated to said central network where it is stored as out-of-store information.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein said e-commerce web portal system is adapted to communicate targeted advertisement messages to said users depending upon collected web browsing information and web purchasing information.

20. The system according to claim 1, wherein said means for electronically collecting consumer activity information relating to out-of-store activities of consumers includes an interactive television service that collects television viewing habit data concerning one or more of said individually identifiable consumers, and wherein said interactive television service communicates said television viewing habit data to said central network where it is stored as out-of-store information.

21. The system according to claim 1, wherein said information sub-system includes a sales information system adapted to track product sales information for an associated physical retail location, said product sales information being communicated to and stored by said converged marketing central network.

22. The system according to claim 1, wherein said application of said central network supplies a front end interface enabling users to review said consumer activity information and to define rules for generating targeted advertisements.

23. A converged marketing process for providing targeted promotional messages to consumers at a time of high probability of influencing a sale decision, said process comprising:

establishing a converged marketing architecture, said architecture comprising a central network, one or more retail location systems each associated with a different physical retail location of a retailer and adapted to collect information relating to in-store activities of consumers, and means for electronically collecting consumer activity information relating to out-of-store activities of said consumers;

defining advertising and configuration rules in a central rules and configuration database of said central network;

enrolling a portion of said consumers into a customer loyalty program associated with said retailer;

collecting consumer activity information from said retail location systems and said means for collecting and storing said consumer activity information in a consumer activity database, wherein said central network is adapted to merge portions of said in-store information and said out-of-store information that are identified as relating to consumers enrolled in said customer loyalty program;

receiving an indication to initiate a promotion; and

initiating a targeted promotion in response to a received indication in accord with said advertising and configuration rules and said consumer activity information.

24. The method according to claim 23, further comprising reviewing said consumer activity information and revising said advertising and configuration rules in response to said reviewing.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein said indication comprises a notice that a particular consumer enrolled in said customer loyalty program has entered one of said physical retail locations.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein said targeted promotion comprises a promotion message sent to said particular consumer via a cellular telephone instant messaging protocol.

27. The method according to claim 25, wherein said architecture identifies that said particular consumer has entered one of said physical retail locations using by detecting the presence of a radio frequency identification tag (RFID) affixed to a customer loyalty card issued by said retailer to said particular customer.

28. The method according to claim 23, wherein said means for collecting comprises an e-commerce web site associated with said retailer, and said indication comprises a notice that a particular consumer enrolled in said customer loyalty program has logged in to said e-commerce web site.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein said targeted promotion comprises a promotion message displayed on a web site page displayed to said particular consumer logged in to said e-commerce web site.

30. The method according to claim 23, wherein said indication comprises a request to generate a targeted circular, and multiple different targeted promotions are generated to different consumers enrolled in said customer loyalty program in response to said request.

31. The method according to claim 23, wherein said enrolling comprises issuing a loyalty program account and loyalty program card to each enrolled consumer, and configuring said architecture to collect and compile individually identifiable information concerning each said enrolled consumer.

32. A computing network architecture adapted to collect and compile consumer data from a variety of sources and assist marketers in researching and delivering advertising efforts, said network architecture comprising:

a central network having a database system for storing consumer activity information and advertising and configuration rules;

a plurality of retail location satellite networks each associated with a different physical retail location of a retailer, each satellite network being in electronic communication with said central network, each said satellite network receiving consumer activity information from a plurality of information sub-systems adapted to collect consumer activity information relating to in-store activities of consumers occurring in said associated physical retail location;

means for electronically collecting consumer activity information relating to out-of-store activities of consumers, said means for electronically collecting being in electronic communication with said central network;

wherein said database system identifies certain consumers that have opted to participate in a customer loyalty program associated with said retailer, said satellite networks and said means for electronically collecting provide consumer activity information concerning said certain consumers and generic consumers, and said central network merges in-store information and out-of-store information relating to each said certain consumer to create a personalized history of purchasing and browsing activity based upon said in-store and out-of-store information.