MERCHANT ACTION RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM

• US 20150149236A1
• Filed: 02/26/2014
• Published: 05/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sakamoto, Ares
• Granted Patent: US 10,535,027 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

Systems and methods for recommending merchant actions include a physical merchant location having a plurality of beacon devices. A system provider device receives a plurality of first location information from the plurality of beacon devices that is collected from a customer beacon communication device that is associated with a customer. The system provider device also receives a plurality of second location information over the network from the plurality of beacon devices that is collected from a merchant beacon communication device that is associated with an asset of the merchant. The system provider device analyzes the plurality of first location information and the plurality of second location information to determine at least one merchant action recommendation related to the customer and the asset of the merchant and provides the at least one merchant action recommendation over the network for display on a display device.

Claims

1. A merchant information reporting system, comprising:

a non-transitory memory storing a physical merchant location account that is associated with a physical merchant location that includes a plurality of beacon devices;

one or more hardware processors coupled to the memory and operable to read instructions from the memory to perform the steps of;

receiving a plurality of sets of first location information over a network from the plurality of beacon devices, wherein each set of first location information is collected from a merchant beacon communication device that is associated in the physical merchant location account with a non-employee merchant asset of a plurality of non-employee merchant assets;

receiving a plurality of sets of second location information over the network from the plurality of beacon devices, wherein each set of second location information is collected from a merchant beacon communication device that is associated in the physical merchant location account with a merchant employee of a plurality of merchant employees;

analyzing the plurality of sets of first location information and the plurality of sets of second location information to determine at least one merchant information report related to the plurality of non-employee merchant assets and the plurality of merchant employees; and

providing the at least one merchant information report over the network for display on a display device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one merchant information report includes a first merchant employee of the plurality of merchant employees that is closest to a first non-employee merchant asset of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one merchant information report includes a representation of the physical merchant location, representations of each of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets that indicate their relative locations with respect to the physical merchant location, and representations of each of the plurality of merchant employees that indicate their relative locations with respect to the physical merchant location.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of non-employee merchant assets include at least one of merchant products, merchant associated vehicles, and merchant product racks/holders.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one merchant information report includes a recommendation to assign, to a first non-employee merchant asset of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets, at least one second non-employee merchant asset of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets and at least one merchant employee of the plurality of merchant employees.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are operable to read instructions from the memory to perform the steps of:

receiving temperature information along with each set of first location information that is collected from the merchant beacon communication devices that are associated with the plurality of non-employee merchant assets;

analyzing the temperature information along with plurality of sets of first location information to determine a physical merchant location temperature profile for the physical merchant location; and

providing the physical merchant location temperature profile over the network for display on a display device.

7. A method for reporting information to a merchant, comprising:

receiving, by a system provider device, a plurality of sets of first location information over a network from a plurality of beacon devices that are located at a physical merchant location, wherein each set of first location information is collected from a merchant beacon communication device that is associated in a database with a non-employee merchant asset of a plurality of non-employee merchant assets;

receiving, by the system provider device, a plurality of sets of second location information over the network from the plurality of beacon devices, wherein each set of second location information is collected from a merchant beacon communication device that is associated in the database with a merchant employee of a plurality of merchant employees;

analyzing, by the system provider device, the plurality of sets of first location information and the plurality of sets of second location information to determine at least one merchant information report related to the plurality of non-employee merchant assets and the plurality of merchant employees; and

providing, by the system provider device, the at least one merchant information report over the network for display on a display device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one merchant information report includes a first merchant employee of the plurality of merchant employees that is closest to a first non-employee merchant asset of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one merchant information report includes a representation of the physical merchant location, representations of each of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets that indicate their relative locations with respect to the physical merchant location, and representations of each of the plurality of merchant employees that indicate their relative locations with respect to the physical merchant location.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of non-employee merchant assets include at least one of merchant products, merchant associated vehicles, and merchant product racks/holders.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one merchant information report includes a recommendation to assign, to a first non-employee merchant asset of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets, at least one second non-employee merchant asset of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets and at least one merchant employee of the plurality of merchant employees.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, by the system provider device, first temperature information along with each set of first location information that is collected from the merchant beacon communication devices that are associated with the plurality of non-employee merchant assets;

analyzing, by the system provider device, the first temperature information along with plurality of sets of first location information to determine a physical merchant location temperature profile for the physical merchant location; and

providing, by the system provider device, the physical merchant location temperature profile over the network for display on a display device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, by the system provider device, second temperature information along with each set of second location information that is collected from the merchant beacon communication devices that are associated with the plurality of merchant employees; and

analyzing, by the system provider device, the second temperature information along with plurality of sets of second location information, wherein the physical merchant location temperature profile for the physical merchant location is determined using the first temperature information and the second temperature information.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of machine-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, are adapted to cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by a system provider device, a plurality of sets of first location information over a network from a plurality of beacon devices that are located at a physical merchant location, wherein each set of first location information is collected from a merchant beacon communication device that is associated in a database with a non-employee merchant asset of a plurality of non-employee merchant assets;

receiving, by the system provider device, a plurality of sets of second location information over the network from the plurality of beacon devices, wherein each set of second location information is collected from a merchant beacon communication device that is associated in the database with a merchant employee of a plurality of merchant employees;

analyzing, by the system provider device, the plurality of sets of first location information and the plurality of sets of second location information to determine at least one merchant information report related to the plurality of non-employee merchant assets and the plurality of merchant employees; and

providing, by the system provider device, the at least one merchant information report over the network for display on a display device.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the at least one merchant information report includes a first merchant employee of the plurality of merchant employees that is closest to a first non-employee merchant asset of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the at least one merchant information report includes a representation of the physical merchant location, representations of each of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets that indicate their relative locations with respect to the physical merchant location, and representations of each of the plurality of merchant employees that indicate their relative locations with respect to the physical merchant location.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the plurality of non-employee merchant assets include at least one of merchant products, merchant associated vehicles, and merchant product racks/holders.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the at least one merchant information report includes a recommendation to assign, to a first non-employee merchant asset of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets, at least one second non-employee merchant asset of the plurality of non-employee merchant assets and at least one merchant employee of the plurality of merchant employees.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the system provider device, first temperature information along with each set of first location information that is collected from the merchant beacon communication devices that are associated with the plurality of non-employee merchant assets;

analyzing, by the system provider device, the first temperature information along with plurality of sets of first location information to determine a physical merchant location temperature profile for the physical merchant location; and

providing, by the system provider device, the physical merchant location temperature profile over the network for display on a display device.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the system provider device, second temperature information along with each set of second location information that is collected from the merchant beacon communication devices that are associated with the plurality of merchant employees; and

analyzing, by the system provider device, the second temperature information along with plurality of sets of second location information, wherein the physical merchant location temperature profile for the physical merchant location is determined using the first temperature information and the second temperature information.