Customer loyalty investment program

• US 6,345,261 B1
• Filed: 09/30/1999
• Issued: 02/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Vesdia Corporation (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Stockback Holdings Inc.
• Inventors: Peters, C. Eric, Feidelson, Robert S., Larizza, Joseph P., Parrott, Timothy C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Stamber, Eric W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHAMPAGNE, DONALD
• Application Number:
  US09/400,417
• Time in Patent Office: 859 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/14, 705/26, 705/35, 705/36
• US Class Current: 705/14.18
• 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 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0216 Investment accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0219 based on funds or budget
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• 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 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0036 Checkout procedures

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a customer loyalty investment program system and method where purchase rebates are used to provide the customer with an important fund including merchant securities. The system illustratively includes a web server containing a web site and a database server containing a member information, merchant information, fund information, purchase/rebate information, on-line financial products/services information, and an input/output means. The method may include negotiating rebate percentages with merchants, registering members, receiving rebates from the merchants based on member purchases, investing the rebates in the fund, including securities of at least one merchant, and issuing shares in the fund to members based on rebates received as a result of their respective purchases. Advantageously, the composition of the fund preferably reflects the rebates received from the merchants. In the credit card embodiment, rebates may be received from both a credit card issuer and merchants agreeing to provide rebates based on member purchases using the credit card.

Claims

1. A method of providing an investment fund comprising the steps of:

registering members;

receiving rebates from merchants based on purchases made by the members from the merchants; and

investing the rebates in or through the investment fund;

wherein the investment fund includes securities of at least one of the merchants.

2. A method of providing an investment fund based on rebates received from on-line purchases comprising the steps of:

registering members;

receiving rebates from on-line merchants based on purchases made by the members at the on-line merchants;

investing the rebates in or through the investment fund;

issuing shares in the investment fund to each respective member based on the rebates received from the on-line merchants as a result of purchases made by that member; and

purchasing securities of the on-line merchants based on the rebates received from that on-line merchant.

3. A method of providing an investment fund based on rebates received from on-line purchases comprising the steps of:

registering members using a computer;

identifying member purchases made at the on-line merchant sites;

receiving rebates from the merchants based on member purchases;

investing the rebates in or through the investment fund;

issuing shares in the investment fund to each member based on the rebates received from merchants as a result of purchases made by that member;

for rebates received from public merchants, purchasing securities of the public merchants based on the amount of rebates received from the merchants; and

for rebates received from private merchants, purchasing securities in the public merchants as a function of the investment fund'"'"'s then existing portfolio.

4. A method, using a computer, of directing management of an investment fund based on rebates received from on-line purchases comprising the steps of:

registering members using a computer;

maintaining storage information including member database information relating to participating members, merchant database information relating to merchants that have agreed to provide rebates for member purchases, rebate database information, and investment fund database information;

receiving rebate data information from the on-line merchants relating to member purchases made at the on-line merchants;

updating the stored rebate database information; and

generating information relating to the issuance of shares in the investment fund to each respective member based on the rebate data information and information relating to the purchase of securities issued by the on-line merchants based on the rebate data information.

5. A system for administering an investment fund, comprising:

means for registering members;

means for receiving rebates from merchants based on member purchases made at the merchants;

means for investing the rebates in or through the investment fund;

means for issuing shares in the investment fund to each respective member based on rebates received as a result of his purchases; and

means for purchasing securities issued by the merchants as a function of the rebates received from the merchants.

6. A system for administering an investment fund based on rebates received from on-line purchases comprising:

a computer system accessible for on-line communication, the computer system comprising;

a storage that maintains member database information relating to participating members, merchant database information relating to merchants that have agreed to provide rebates for member purchases, rebate database information, and investment fund database information; and

an instruction generating component that generates information relating to the issuance of shares in the investment fund to each respective member based on the amount of rebates received from merchants as a result of purchases made by that member and also generates information relating to the purchase of securities issued by the merchants based on the rebates received from the merchants.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the instruction generating component is coupled to a FTP server and the information relating to the issuance of shares is transmitted via a FTP file to a transfer agent who issues shares in the fund.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the instruction generating component is coupled to a FTP server and the information relating to the purchase of securities is transmitted via a FTP file to a broker who purchases the securities.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the instruction generating component issues the shares and purchases the merchant securities.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the instruction generating component generates the information relating to the issuance of shares by querying the stored rebate database information.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the instruction generating component generates the information relating to the purchase of securities by querying the rebate database information.

12. A system for administering an investment fund, comprising:

a membership registration component for registering members;

a rebate tracking component that tracks rebates received from merchants based on purchases made by members at the merchants; and

an instruction generating component that generates information relating to the issuance of shares in the investment fund to each respective member based on his respective determined rebates for a given period and generates instructions relating to the purchase of securities issued by the merchants as a function of the rebates received from the merchants during the given period.

13. A method of providing an investment fund comprising the steps of:

registering members;

calculating for each member a rebate corresponding to a percentage of that member'"'"'s total purchase amount using a credit card during a period of time;

receiving rebates from the credit card issuer based on the rebate figure for each member during the period of time;

investing the credit card issuer rebates in or through the investment fund;

receiving rebates from merchants based on member purchases using the credit card; and

investing the merchant rebates in or through the investment fund;

wherein the investment fund includes securities of at least one of the merchants.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of investing the credit card issuer rebates in the fund includes investing the rebates across the fund'"'"'s then existing portfolio.

15. A method of providing investments based on rebates received from purchases comprising the steps of:

registering members;

receiving rebates from merchants into a fund for investment, the rebates based on purchases made by the members at the merchants;

purchasing securities with the rebates received into the fund, the securities purchased including securities of the merchants, and

issuing shares to the members, each member receiving a share based on the rebates received from the merchants as a result of purchases made by that member.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the fund for investment further comprises a mutual fund, and wherein the shares issued to the members further comprise mutual fund shares.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the shares issued to the member further comprise merchant securities.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the merchant securities are purchased in amounts based on the rebates received into the fund from that merchant.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the merchant securities comprise shares of equity securities.

20. A system for administering investments based on rebates received from purchases comprising:

a computer system accessible for communication, the computer system including

(i) a storage for maintaining

database information relating to registered members,

database information relating to merchants that have agreed to provide rebates for member purchases, and

database information relating to a fund for investment; and

(ii) an instruction generating component for generating information relating to registration of members,

receipt of rebates from merchants into the fund, the rebates based on purchases made by the members at the merchants,

purchase of securities with the rebates received into the fund, the securities purchased including securities of the merchants,

issuance of shares from the fund to the members, each member receiving a share based on the rebates received from the merchants as a result of purchases made by that member, and

update of database information in the storage.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the fund for investment further comprises a mutual fund, and wherein the information generated relating to the issuance of shares further comprises information relating to shares of the mutual fund.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the information generated relating to the issuance of shares further comprises information relating to shares of the merchant securities.