Method of generating and redeeming coupons

• US 8,275,657 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2011
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Inventors: Main, Renee, Semersky, David J., Miller, Nissa, Pozorski, Lara J., Ampe, Edward C., Samal, Subodh K., Hamilton, Scott R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lastra, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US13/251,991
• Publication Number:
  US 20120022936A1
• Time in Patent Office: 358 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.1
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0221 Re-usable coupons
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]

Abstract

A method of generating and redeeming a plurality of coupons includes generating a first coupon, generating a second coupon, distributing the first coupon to the first consumer, and distributing the second coupon to the second consumer. Generating a first coupon includes selecting a first group of offers from a plurality of offers such that the first group of offers is individually customized to the first consumer, and printing a first bar code identifying a first account and indicating that the first coupon relates to the first group of offers. Generating a second coupon includes selecting a second group of offers, and printing a second bar. Each of the plurality of offers is redeemable for a discount on a corresponding one of a plurality of products offered for sale, and the first group of offers differs from the second group of offers.

Claims

1. A method of generating and redeeming a plurality of coupons, the method comprising:

generating a first coupon including;

selecting a first group of offers from a plurality of offers based on prior purchasing behavior of a first consumer such that the first group of offers is individually customized to the first consumer, and

printing a first bar code identifying a first account and indicating that the first coupon relates to the first group of offers, wherein the first account includes a status of each of the first group of offers and is associated with the first consumer;

generating a second coupon including;

selecting a second group of offers from the plurality of offers based on prior purchasing behavior of a second consumer such that the second group of offers is individually customized to the second consumer, and

printing a second bar code identifying a second account and indicating that the second coupon relates to the second group of offers, wherein the second account includes a status of each of the second group of offers and is associated with the second consumer;

distributing the first coupon to the first consumer; and

distributing the second coupon to the second consumer;

wherein;

each of the plurality of offers is redeemable for a discount on a corresponding one of a plurality of products offered for sale, and the first group of offers differs from the second group of offers,

the first account is associated with a first financial instrument used by the first consumer, and the second account is associated with a second financial instrument used by the second consumer, the method further comprising;

gathering data regarding prior purchases made by the first consumer using the first financial instrument to define the prior purchasing behavior of the first consumer,

saving the prior purchasing behavior of the first consumer to a first consumer profile in a database,

gathering data regarding prior purchases made by the first consumer using the second financial instrument to define the prior purchasing behavior of the second consumer, and

saving the prior purchasing behavior of the second consumer to a second consumer profile in the database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the first coupon includes:

generating sheet media listing each of the first group of offers,

generating a coupon card listing each of the first group of offers, and

coupling the coupon card with the sheet media such that the coupon card is readily removably coupled with the first sheet media.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein coupling the coupon card with the sheet media includes positioning the coupon card relative to the sheet media such that at least two sides of the coupon card are bordered by the sheet media.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the coupon card includes forming the coupon card to be shaped similarly to a credit card.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the sheet media includes generating the sheet media to include a plurality of check boxes each associated with one of the first group of offers to facilitate manual tracking of redemption of each of the first group of offers.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

redeeming the first coupon for the discount corresponding with one or more products being purchased by the first consumer, wherein the operation of redeeming is performed using only the coupon card without the sheet media.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first financial instrument is a credit card.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the credit card is associated with a retailer, and the operations of gathering data regarding the prior purchases made by the first consumer, generating the first coupon and distributing the first coupon are all performed by the retailer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein distributing the first coupon to the first consumer includes one of electronically distributing the first coupon to the first consumer and distributing the first coupon to the first consumer via a transaction receipt.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing the first coupon including;

using the first bar code of the first coupon to identify the first group of offers and the first account,

comparing the first group of offers associated with the first coupon to one or more products being purchased by the first consumer, and

applying a discount to a purchase price of any of the one or more of products being purchased that correspond with the first group of offers.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising maintaining a database storing both the first account and the second account, the database being accessible by one or more point-of-sale terminals, wherein one or more of the point-of-sale terminals complete the operation of processing the first coupon.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

printing a current status of ones of the first group of offers that are available for subsequent redemption, wherein the operation of printing is performed by a point-of-sale terminal following processing the first coupon; and

delivering the current status to the first consumer while the first consumer is at the point-of-sale terminal.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting purchase information regarding the prior purchasing behavior of the first consumer based a plurality of purchase transactions involving the first consumer and the prior purchasing behavior of the second consumer based a plurality of purchase transactions involving the second consumer and storing the purchase information to a database; and

accessing the purchase information along with offer definitions and coupon generation rules, which are each stored by the database, with a coupon generation processor, wherein the coupon generation processor uses the purchase information, the offer definitions and the coupon generation rules to perform the operations of generating the first coupon and generating the second coupon;

wherein the operation of collecting purchase information is performed by one or more point-of-sale terminals, and the one or more point-of-sale terminals, the database and the coupon generation processor are all related to a single retailer.

14. A method of generating and redeeming a plurality of coupons, the method comprising:

generating a first coupon including;

selecting a first group of offers from a plurality of offers based on prior purchasing behavior of a first consumer such that the first group of offers is individually customized to the first consumer, and

printing a first bar code identifying in a first account and indicating that the first coupon relates to the first group of offers, wherein the first account includes a status of each of the first group of offers and is associated with the first consumer;

generating a second coupon including;

selecting a second group of offers from the plurality of offers based on prior purchasing behavior of a second consumer such that the second group of offers is individually customized to the second consumer, and

printing a second bar code identifying ins a second account and indicating that the second coupon relates to the second group of offers, wherein the second account includes a status of each of the second group of offers and is associated with the second consumer;

distributing the first coupon to the first consumer;

distributing the second coupon to the second consumer; and

processing the first coupon including;

using the first bar code of the first coupon to identify the first group of offers and the first account,

comparing the first group of offers associated with the first coupon to one or more products being purchased by the first consumer, and

applying a discount to a purchase price of any of the one or more of products being purchased that correspond with the first group of offers;

wherein;

each of the plurality of offers is redeemable for a discount on a nding one of a plurality of products offered for sale, and the first group of offers differs from the second group of offers,

the first bar code uniquely identifies the first consumer,

the second bar code uniquely identifies the second consumer,

processing the first coupon includes recording that the first coupon was redeemed by the first consumer using a third financial instrument associated with a third account, and

the method further comprises;

linking the first account to the third account as part of a single profile of the first consumer.

15. A method of providing a plurality of offers each being redeemable for a discount on a corresponding one of a plurality of products offered for sale, the method comprising:

selecting a group of offers from a plurality of available offers defined in a database;

associating each offer included in the group of offers with a master offer identifier saved in the database;

generating sheet media including a visual indication of each offer included in the group of offers;

generating a coupon card listing each offer included in the group of offers and including a single bar code configured to be optically read by a point-of-sale terminal during a purchase transaction, wherein the bar code includes information identifying the following;

a coupon type indicating that the coupon card relates to more than one discount,

an identity of the master offer identifier, and

an account including a status of each offer included in the group of offers; and

removably coupling the coupon card with the sheet media, such that the coupon card is bordered on at least two sides by the sheet media;

wherein the account is associated with an individual consumer and a financial instrument used by the individual consumer to make prior purchases at a retailer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein generating the sheet media includes generating the sheet media to include a plurality of check boxes each associated with one offer included in the group of offers to facilitate manual tracking of redemption of each offer included in the group of offers, and generating the coupon card includes forming the coupon card to be shaped similarly to a credit card.

17. The method of claim 15, the method further comprising:

gathering data regarding prior purchases made by the individual consumer using the financial instrument;

saving the data to the database as prior purchasing behavior of the individual consumer;

wherein selecting the group of offers is based on the prior purchasing behavior of the individual consumer such that the group of offers is individually customized to the individual consumer.