DYNAMIC GEO-LOCATION PARAMETER FOR DETERMINING AN IMPACT OF ONLINE BEHAVIOR ON OFFLINE SALES

• US 20100094682A1
• Filed: 02/05/2009
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Symons, Matthew, Fender, Miles, Bose, Piu
• Granted Patent: US 8,429,013 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration

Abstract

Online behavior of users related to a product is captured. Also, offline sales for the product is also captured. Geo-location parameters are also determined for the captured online and offline data. Using the geo-location parameters and captured data for the product, a smallest geo-location parameter of statistical significance for estimating an impact of the online behavior on offline sales is determined.

Claims

1. A computer system configured to determine a geo-location parameter for a product, the system comprising:

data storage storing online behavior data and offline sales data for a product;

a dynamic regioning module determining a smallest geo-location parameter of statistical significance for estimating an impact of the online behavior on offline sales of the product; and

a consolidation module consolidating the stored online behavior data and offline sales data corresponding to the smallest geo-location parameter.

2. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising:

an MROI model, wherein the consolidated data is input into the MROI model to determine the impact of the online behavior on the offline sales of the product for the smallest geo-location parameter.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the dynamic regioning module determines granularities of the geo-location parameters, and uses the online behavior data and offline sales data at different granularities of the geo-location parameters to determine the smallest geo-location parameter.

4. The computer system of claim 3, wherein one of the granularities is selected as the smallest geo-location parameter of statistical significance based on one or more of amount of online behavior data and offline sales data for each granularity, type of product, type of brand, purchase cycle of the product, and seasonality factors.

5. A computer system configured to correlate online behavior with offline sales, the computer system comprising:

a network interface receiving online behavior data captured from web sites and receiving offline sales data captured from store sales;

data storage storing the received online behavior data and offline sales data; and

a processor configured to

determine online behavior of users related to a product;

determine geo-location parameters for the online behavior of users; and

use the online behavior and the geo-location parameters to determine a smallest geo-location parameter of statistical significance for estimating an impact of the online behavior on offline sales of the product.

6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to determine granularities of the geo-location parameters.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to

determine a smallest granularity of the granularities of the geo-location parameters;

determine whether the smallest granularity is statistically significant for estimating an impact of the online behavior on the offline sales of the product; and

in response to determining the smallest granularity is statistically significant, use the smallest granularity as the smallest geo-location parameter.

8. At least one computer readable medium storing computer code that when executed on one or more computer systems performs a method for determining a smallest geo-location parameter of statistical significance for estimating an impact of the online behavior on offline sales, the method comprising:

determining online behavior of users related to a product;

determining geo-location parameters for the online behavior of users; and

using the online behavior and the geo-location parameters to determine a smallest geo-location parameter of statistical significance for estimating an impact of the online behavior on offline sales of the product.

9. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein determining geo-location parameters for the online behavior of users further comprises:

determining granularities of the geo-location parameters.

10. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein using the online behavior and the geo-location parameters to determine a smallest geo-location parameter further comprises:

determining a smallest granularity of the granularities of the geo-location parameters;

determining whether the smallest granularity is statistically significant for estimating an impact of the online behavior on the offline sales of the product; and

in response to determining the smallest granularity is statistically significant, using the smallest granularity as the smallest geo-location parameter.

11. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to determining the smallest granularity is not statistically significant,

determining whether a next higher granularity of the granularities of the geo-location parameters is statistically significant; and

repeating the determination for each next higher granularity of granularities of the geo-location parameters until one of the granularities of the geo-location parameters is determined to be statistically significant.

12. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein using the online behavior and the geo-location parameters to determine a smallest geo-location parameter of statistical significance further comprises:

identifying one or more variables operable to be used to characterize a statistical significance of the geo-location parameters for the online behavior of users; and

using the one or more variables to determine the smallest geo-location parameter.

13. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the one or more variables include amount of online behavior data and offline sales data for each granularity, type of product, type of brand, purchase cycle of the product, and seasonality factors.

14. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein using the online behavior and the geo-location parameters to determine a smallest geo-location parameter further comprises:

dynamically determining the smallest geo-location parameter over time as online and offline product data and one or more of the variables vary over time.

15. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

inputting online behavior of users related to the product and for the smallest geo-location parameter into a marketing return on investment (MROI) model;

inputting offline sales data of the product for the smallest geo-location parameter into the MROI model; and

estimating the impact of the online behavior on the offline sales of the product for the smallest geo-location parameter.

16. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

modifying a business practice related to the product in response to the estimated impact.

17. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

modifying a web site for the product and associated with the smallest geo-location parameter in response to the estimated impact.

18. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

performing a reverse Internet Protocol lookup for events captured for the online behavior to determine the geo-location parameters.

19. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the user geo-location parameters for the users comprises a geographic location for each of the users.

20. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the geo-location parameters comprise one or more of GPS coordinates, a group of city blocks, a zip code, and a region encompassing multiple neighboring zip codes.