SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LINKING POS PURCHASES TO SHOPPER MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNTS

• US 20160171468A1
• Filed: 12/10/2015
• Published: 06/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meijer (Meijer Cos. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Meijer (Meijer Cos. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Pugh, Brian, Robinson, Elmer L. Jr., Pallas, David Scott, Ross, K. Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,325,250 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules

Abstract

A system and method that links point-of-sale purchases to shopper membership accounts includes a database in which each of one or more electronic payment systems specified by a customer is associated with one of a plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes stored in the database that uniquely identifies the customer as one of a plurality of shopper members of an enterprise membership service program associated with a retail enterprise. In response to tender of an electronic payment system to the point-of-sale system as part of a transaction for the purchase of items, information about the items is stored in one of a plurality of purchase histories that is associated with the one of the plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes that is associated with one of at least two specified electronic payment systems that matches the tendered electronic payment system.

Claims

1. A method of linking POS purchases to shopper membership accounts, the method comprising:

associating, with a processor in a database, each of one or more electronic payment systems specified by a customer with one of a plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes stored in the database that uniquely identifies the customer as one of a plurality of shopper members of an enterprise membership service program associated with a retail enterprise, and

in response to tender of an electronic payment system to a point-of-sale interface of the retail enterprise as part of a transaction for the purchase from the retail enterprise of one or more items, storing, with the processor, information about the one or more items in the transaction in one of a plurality of purchase histories contained in the database that is uniquely identified by the one of the plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes associated with the one or more specified electronic payment systems if the tendered electronic payment system matches one of the one or more specified electronic payment systems in the database, the plurality of purchase histories each associated with a different one of the plurality of enterprise membership identification codes and each containing information about items previously purchased from the retail enterprise by a corresponding customer.

2. A system for linking POS purchases to shopper membership accounts, the system comprising:

at least one database having stored therein (a) a plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes each uniquely identifying a different customer as a shopper member of an enterprise membership service program associated with a retail enterprise, (b) two or more electronic payment systems each associated with a different one of the plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes, and (c) a plurality of purchase histories each associated with a different one of the plurality of enterprise membership identification codes and each containing information about items previously purchased from the retail enterprise by a corresponding customer,

a processor,

a point-of-sale system controlled, at least in part, by the processor, and

memory having instructions stored therein which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to store in the at least one database, in response to tender of an electronic payment system to the point-of-sale system as part of a transaction for the purchase from the retail enterprise of one or more items, information about the one or more items in the transaction in the one of the plurality of purchase histories associated with the one of the plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes that is associated with the one of the at least two specified electronic payment systems in the database that matches the tendered electronic payment system.

3. A system for linking POS purchases to shopper membership accounts, the system comprising:

at least one database having stored therein (a) a plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes each uniquely identifying a different customer as a shopper member of an enterprise membership service program associated with a retail enterprise, (b) two or more electronic payment systems each associated with a different one of the plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes, and (c) a plurality of purchase histories each associated with a different one of the plurality of enterprise membership identification codes and each containing information about items previously purchased from the retail enterprise by a corresponding customer,

a point-of-sale system, and

a server coupled to the point-of-sale system, the server including at least one module to identify the one of the plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes associated with one of the two or more electronic payment systems that matches an electronic payment system tendered to the point-of-sale system as part of a transaction for the purchase from the retail enterprise of one or more items, and to store information about the one or more items in the transaction in the one of the plurality of purchase histories associated with the identified one of the plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes.

4. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, result in the at least one processor:

associating, in a database, each of one or more electronic payment systems specified by a customer with one of a plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes stored in the database that uniquely identifies the customer as one of a plurality of shopper members of an enterprise membership service program associated with a retail enterprise, and

in response to tender of an electronic payment system to a point-of-sale interface of the retail enterprise as part of a transaction for the purchase from the retail enterprise of one or more items, storing information about the one or more items in the transaction in one of a plurality of purchase histories contained in the database that is uniquely identified by the one of the plurality of enterprise membership service identification codes associated with the one or more specified electronic payment systems if the tendered electronic payment system matches one of the one or more specified electronic payment systems in the database, the plurality of purchase histories each associated with a different one of the plurality of enterprise membership identification codes and each containing information about items previously purchased from the retail enterprise by a corresponding customer.