System and method for providing shopping aids and incentives to customers through a computer network

• US 5,970,469 A
• Filed: 03/26/1996
• Issued: 10/19/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Catalina Marketing Corporation
• Original Assignee: Supermarkets Online, Inc. (Catalina Marketing Corporation)
• Inventors: Scroggie, Michael C., Rochon, David A., Kacaba, Michael E., Diamond, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Voeltz, Emanuel Todd
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alvarez, Raquel
• Application Number:
  US08/622,685
• Time in Patent Office: 1,302 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/1, 705/10
• US Class Current: 705/14.26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

A system and method for delivering purchasing incentives and a variety of other retail shopping aids through a computer network, such as by E-mail over the Internet or the World Wide Web. Customers (10) of retail stores can establish a bi-directional communication link with the system, log in (16) to the system, and then elect to browse among available purchasing incentive offers (18, 22), or elect to explore other shopping aids, such as a shopping list generator (26), a recipe center (30), or simply elect to claim a product rebate or to receive product information. If the customer elects to have product information or rebate information delivered, only minimal customer identification is required. For purchase incentives redeemable at retail stores, the customer must provide identification information and must also designate a retailer (12) at which the purchasing incentive can be exercised. For receipt of focused incentives based the customer'"'"'s past shopping behavior, the customer must also supply a unique customer id., such as a check cashing card number or credit card number, used for in-store purchases. For delivery of a product sample, the customer'"'"'s name and address must be supplied. The system merges this customer-supplied information (270) with other purchase incentive data (272) and creates a printable graphical image of the purchasing incentive (282) for transmission to the customer. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the purchase incentive is not transmitted directly to the customer. Instead, the terms of the incentive are transmitted electronically to the retail store (310) designated by the customer, who receives either a token (316) to present at the store or an advisory message. In yet another embodiment of the invention, incentives may be targeted to specific consumers based on a consumer purchase history (502), and transmitted to consumers'"'"' computers (510) using electronic mail addresses stored in a consumer database (506).

Claims

1. A method for distributing purchasing incentives to retail customers, comprising the following steps performed at a central site in cooperation with a communication device at a customer site:

logging in a remotely located customer using identity data and region data transmitted by the customer over a communication network;

transmitting over the communication network a plurality of incentive offers to the registered customer, the incentive offers being exercisable in the customer'"'"'s region;

receiving incentive offer selection data from the customer over the communication network, the offer selection data including the designation of a retailer at which selected offer or offers may be exercised;

generating a purchasing incentive containing in encoded form the identity of the retailer designated by the customer and the identity of the customer;

transmitting at least one incentive to the customer over the communication network, wherein the transmitted incentive is encoded with the identity of the retailer selected by the customer; and

communicating with the customer concerning the use of other shopping aids, wherein the step of communicating with the customer includes

transmitting a list of recipes to the customer,

receiving customer selection of one or more recipes,

transmitting back to the customer a shopping list that includes ingredient products needed in each selected recipe, and

transmitting to the customer at least one purchase incentive pertaining to an ingredient product used in a selected recipe.

2. A method for distributing purchasing incentives and other shopping aids to customers over a communication network, the method comprising the steps of:

logging in as a customer by providing at least an individual identification, a postal region code, and retail store selection;

transmitting from a central site and receiving at a remote customer site, a plurality of incentive offers, each of which is exercisable only in the customer'"'"'s postal region;

selecting at the customer site one or more of the incentive offers and transmitting these selections back to the central site;

generating at least one purchasing incentive containing in encoded form the identity of the retail store selected by the customer and the identity of the customer;

transmitting the at least one incentive to the customer;

in response to a customer'"'"'s action, transmitting a recipe list to the customer for possible selection of a recipe;

receiving the customer'"'"'s selection of one or more recipes; and

transmitting a complete recipe to the customer, including a list of ingredients, and transmitting any purchasing incentives tied to ingredients of the recipe.

3. A system for distributing purchasing incentives to retail customers, comprising:

a communication network establishing two-way communication between a central site and each of a plurality of customer devices;

a file at the central site containing a plurality of incentive offers;

a computer located at the central site, the computer including

means for storing customer information at the central site, based on information transmitted from any of the customer devices to the central site computer, over the communication network, the customer information including geographical region data and identification data;

means for retrieving incentive offers from the file of incentive offers, based on the customer'"'"'s geographical region, and transmitting the retrieved offers to the customer over the communication network;

means for receiving customer selections made from the incentive offers transmitted to the customer, and for receiving a customer designation of a retailer at which the selected incentives are to be exercised;

means for generating at least one purchasing incentive containing in encoded form the identity of the retailer designated by the customer and the identity of the customer; and

means for transmitting the generated purchasing incentive to the customer over the communication network; and

another file at the central site containing a list of recipes available for customer use; and

wherein the computer at the central site further includes means, responsive to a customer request, for transmitting the list of recipes to the customer, receiving customer selections from the list, and transmitting complete recipes back to the customer, together with an ingredients shopping list and any associated purchasing incentives.