Customer rewarding

• US 8,280,763 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2008
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Connell, Jonathan H. II, Flickner, Myron D., Haas, Norman, Hampapur, Arun, Pankanti, Sharathchandra U.
• Primary Examiner(s): RANKINS, WILLIAM E
• Application Number:
  US12/037,270
• Publication Number:
  US 20090216632A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,680 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/35, 705/14.38
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements

Abstract

The present invention provides an approach for rewarding customers for use of self-checkout stations and, optionally, for being self-sufficient in such use by not requiring retailer (employee) assistance. Specifically, the under the present invention, a set of service choices made by a customer during purchasing transactions are tracked. Such service choices include whether the customer elected to use self-checkout stations. In addition, a frequency of assistance needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions will be tracked. Such tracking can be accomplished using any known technology including the use of the customer loyalty cards that are assigned to specific customers. In any event, a reward can be offered to the customer if the customer elected to use self-checkout stations to complete at least a subset of the purchasing transactions, and/or if the frequency of assistance needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions fell below a predetermined threshold.

Claims

1. A customer reward method, comprising:

tracking, by a computer device, a set of service choices made by a customer during purchasing transactions at least one of a plurality of checkout stations of a retail location;

tracking, by the computer device, a frequency of assistance of an employee at the retail location needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions; and

offering, by the computer device, a reward to the customer based on each of the following;

whether the set of service choices made by the customer included a service choice to use a self-checkout in the plurality of checkout stations to complete at least a subset of the purchase transactions, and

whether the frequency of assistance needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions fell below a predetermined threshold.

2. The customer reward method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the customer.

3. The customer reward method of claim 2, the identifying being based on a customer loyalty card.

4. The customer reward method of claim 1, the reward being a cash refund.

5. The customer reward method of claim 1, the reward comprising discounts to the customer.

6. The customer reward method of claim 1, the reward amount being variable, based on at least one of the set of service choices or the frequency of assistance.

7. The customer reward method of claim 1, the tracking the set of service choices comprising logging every time the customer selects a self-checkout station to complete one of the purchasing transactions.

8. The customer reward method of claim 1, the tracking the frequency of assistance comprising logging every time the customer requires assistance to complete one of the purchasing transactions.

9. A customer reward system, comprising:

a computer device that performs a method comprising;

tracking a set of service choices made by a customer during purchasing transactions at least one of a plurality of checkout stations of a retail location;

tracking a frequency of assistance of an employee at the retail location needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions; and

offering a reward to the customer based on each of the following;

whether the set of service choices made by the customer included a service choice to use a self-checkout in the plurality of checkout stations to complete at least a subset of the purchase transactions, and

whether the frequency of assistance needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions fell below a predetermined threshold.

10. The customer reward system of claim 9, further comprising a module for identifying the customer.

11. The customer reward system of claim 10, the module for identifying being configured to identify the customer based on a customer loyalty card.

12. The customer reward system of claim 9, the module for offering being configured to offer cash back to the customer.

13. The customer reward system of claim 9, the module for offering being configured to offer discounts to the customer.

14. The customer reward system of claim 9, the reward amount being variable based on at least one of the set of service choices or the frequency of assistance.

15. The customer reward system of claim 9, the tracking the set of service choices comprising logging every time the customer selects a self-checkout station to complete one of the purchasing transactions.

16. The customer reward system of claim 9, the tracking the frequency of assistance comprising logging every time the customer requires assistance to complete one of the purchasing transactions.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium for rewarding customers, the computer readable medium comprising program code for causing a computer system to:

track a set of service choices made by a customer during purchasing transactions at at least one of a plurality of checkout stations of a retail location;

track a frequency of assistance of an employee at the retail location needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions; and

offer a reward to the customer based on each of the following;

whether the set of service choices made by the customer included a service choice to use a self-checkout in the plurality of checkout stations to complete at least a subset of the purchase transactions, and

whether the frequency of assistance needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions fell below a predetermined threshold.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, further comprising program code for causing the computer system to identify the customer.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, the customer being identified based on a customer loyalty card.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17, the reward being cash back to the customer.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 17, the reward comprising discounts to the customer.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 17, the reward amount being variable based on at least one of the set of service choices or the frequency of assistance.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 17, further comprising program code for causing the computer system to log every time the customer selects a self-checkout station to complete one of the purchasing transactions.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 17, further comprising program code for causing the computer system to log every time the customer requires assistance to complete one of the purchasing transactions.

25. A method of deploying a system for rewarding customers, comprising:

deploying a computer infrastructure, the computer infrastructure including a computer device that operates to;

track a set of service choices made by a customer during purchase transactions at least one of a plurality of checkout stations of a retail location;

track a frequency of assistance of an employee at the retail location needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions; and

offer a reward to the customer based on each of the following;

whether the set of service choices made by the customer included a service choice to use a self-checkout in the plurality of checkout stations to complete at least a subset of the purchasing transactions, and

whether the frequency of assistance needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions fell below a predetermined threshold.