System and method for financing promotional services

• US 8,484,064 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2012
• Issued: 07/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Reichman Family Limited Partnership
• Original Assignee: Lifebooker, LLC (Booksy Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Reichman, Arnold, Papa, Alessandro
• Primary Examiner(s): Pats, Justin M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Goldberg, Ivan R
• Application Number:
  US13/486,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20120245971A1
• Time in Patent Office: 403 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.19, 705/7.31, 705/7.35, 705/14.23, 705/14.24
• US Class Current: 705/7.19
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, methods and computer program products for online marketing, scheduling and booking of service appointments as well as financing of promotional services. In one example, the system enables a service promoter and a service provider to execute a secured financing transaction pursuant to which a service promoter provides an agreed upon amount of monetary funds to a service provider in exchange for the right to promote to users a plurality of service offers from the service provider. The system then promotes service offers from the service provider and facilitates booking of service appointments for users with a service provider based on promoted service offers.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for promoting and booking services, the method comprising:

hosting a service booking application that provides at least one user interface for searching and booking available services;

storing in a database information about a secured financing transaction pursuant to which a service promoter provides funds to a service provider in exchange for promoting to the at least one user interface a plurality of service offers from the service provider,

wherein the database is in communication with a processor, the stored information includes at least the amount of provided funds, the number of available service offers, and the cost of each service offer to the service promoter, and the plurality of service offers includes one or more types of services;

promoting one or more service offers, from the plurality of available service offers, at a variable discount price that is optimized for profit generation, wherein the discount price of the service offer is varied based on a total number of remaining available service offers, a number of remaining available service offers of each type of service, an expected demand for service offers at various price levels, an opportunity cost of providing the service offer, and a booking volume-forecast based on at least the traffic volume from the at least one user interface;

booking, via the processor, a service appointment for a user with a service provider based on a promoted service offer in response to an indication from the at least one user interface;

adjusting the number of available service offers in the database based on the number of service offers corresponding to the number of booked service appointments booked by the at least one user interface, wherein the variable discount price is re-optimized periodically as service appointments are booked from the at least one user interface; and

deducting from the amount of provided funds the amount of total cost of service offers corresponding to the number of booked service appointments.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein promoting one or more service offers from the plurality of service offers includes promoting one or more service offers at a selected price, wherein the selected price for the service offer is higher than the cost of the service offer to the service promoter, but lower than the price of the service offered by the service provider directly to users.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the discount price of the service offer is also varied based on a maximum allowed discount.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically increasing the number of promoted service offers of one type of service and proportionally decreasing the number of promoted service offers of another type of service based on the total number of remaining available service offers of each type of service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein promoting one or more service offers from the plurality of service offers further includes promoting the one or more service offers via an online advertising marketplace accessible via a network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein promoting one or more service offers from the plurality of service offers includes generating promotional certificates for one or more services based on a user'"'"'s service booking history and electronically sending the promotional certificates to the one or more users.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the secured financing transaction is a collateral-secured loan from the service promoter to the service provider, wherein the collateral for the loan includes a plurality of service offers from the service provider.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the secured financing transaction is an advanced purchase by the service promoter of a plurality of service offers from the service provider.

9. A computer-implemented system for promoting and booking services, the system comprising:

a service booking application host that provides at least one user interface for searching and booking available services;

a data storage component for storing information about a secured financing transaction pursuant to which a service promoter provides funds to a service provider in exchange for promoting to the at least one user interface a plurality of service offers from the service provider, wherein the plurality of service offers includes one or more types of services and wherein the stored information includes at least the amount of provided funds, the number of available service offers, and the cost of each service offer to the service promoter; and

a processor coupled to the data storage component, the processor being configured to;

promote one or more service offers, from the plurality of available service offers, at a variable discount price that is optimized for profit generation, wherein the discount price of the service offer is varied based on a total number of remaining available service offers, a number of remaining available service offers of each type of service, an expected demand for service offers at various price levels, an opportunity cost of providing the service offer, and a booking volume-forecast based on at least the traffic volume from the at least one user interface;

book a service appointment for a user with a service provider based on a promoted service offer in response to an indication from the at least one user interface;

adjust the number of available service offers in the database based on the number of service offers corresponding to the number of booked service appointments booked by the at least one user interface, wherein the variable discount price is re-optimized periodically as service appointments are booked from the at least one user interface; and

deduct from the amount of provided funds the amount of total cost of service offers corresponding to the number of booked service appointments.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein to promote one or more service offers from the plurality of service offers, the processor being further configured to promote one or more service offers at a discount price, wherein the discount price for the service offer is higher than the cost of the service offer to the service promoter, but lower than the price of the service offered by the service provider directly to users, and wherein the difference between the discount price and the cost of the service offer is a profit margin of the service promoter.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the discount price is also varied based on a maximum allowed discount.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to dynamically increase the number of promoted service offers of one type of service and proportionally decrease the number of promoted service offers of another type of service based on the total number of remaining available service offers of each type of service.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein to promote one or more service offers from the plurality of service offers, the processor being further configured to promote the one or more service offers via an online advertising marketplace accessible via a network.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein to promote one or more service offers from the plurality of service offers, the processor being further configured to generate promotional certificates for one or more services based on a user'"'"'s service booking history and electronically send the promotional certificates to the one or more users.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the secured financing transaction is a collateral-secured loan from the service promoter to the service provider, wherein the collateral for the loan includes a plurality of service offers from the service provider.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the secured financing transaction is an advanced purchase by the service promoter of a plurality of service offers from the service provider.

17. A computer-implemented method for financing promotional services, the method comprising:

hosting a service booking application that provides a web-based service provider interface for requesting funding from a service promoter and at least one user interface for searching and booking available services;

receiving through the web-based service provider interface a request from a service provider for funding from the service promoter in exchange for promoting to the at least one user interface a plurality of service offers from the service provider;

analyzing booking records associated with the service provider and maintained by the service promoter, wherein the booking records include at least information about the number of service appointments booked by the at least one user interface for service offers from the service provider and the prices paid by users for the booked service appointments from the service provider;

determining via a processor and based on the analysis of the booking records, the amount of funds to be provided by the service promoter to the service provider, the number of service offers to be promoted by the service promoter, and the cost of each service offer to the service promoter;

executing a secured financing transaction between the service promoter and the service provider pursuant to which the service promoter transfers the determined amount of funds to the service provider in exchange for promoting to the at least one user interface the determined number of service offers from the service provider;

storing in a database information about the executed secured financing transaction, wherein the stored information includes the amount of provided funds, the determined number of available service offers, and the cost of each service offer to the service promoter;

promoting one or more service offers from the plurality of available service offers, at a variable discount price that is optimized for profit generation, wherein the discount price of the service offer is varied based on a total number of remaining available service offers, a number of remaining available service offers of each type of service, an expected demand for service offers at various price levels, an opportunity cost of providing the service offer, and a booking volume-forecast based on at least the traffic volume from the at least one user interface;

booking, via the processor, a service appointment for a user with a service provider based on a promoted service offer in response to an indication from the at least one user interface;

decreasing the number of available service offers in the database by the number of service offers corresponding to the number of booked service appointments booked by the at least one user interface, wherein the variable discount price is re-optimized periodically as service appointments are booked from the at least one user interface; and

deducting from the amount of provided funds the amount of total cost of service offers corresponding to the number of booked service appointments.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the web-based service provider interface includes a calendar interface for creating a schedule of available services offers by the service provider, wherein the schedule of available services offers identifies one or more of the date and time of service, the type of service, the service provider, and a selected price of each service offer determined by the service promoter.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein determining, based on the analysis of the booking records, the number of service offers to be promoted by the service promoter includes estimating, based on the analysis of the booking records, the number of service offers that will be booked by users within a specific time period.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein determining, based on the analysis of the booking records, the number of service offers to be promoted by the service promoter and the cost of each service offer to the service promoter includes determining the number of service offers of different types of services and the cost of each service offer of each type of service.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the secured financing transaction includes one of:

a collateral-secured loan from the service promoter to the service provider, wherein the collateral for the loan includes a plurality of service offers from the service provider; and

an advanced purchase by the service promoter of a plurality of service offers from the service provider.

22. A computer-implemented system for financing promotional services, the system comprising:

a service booking application host that provides a web-based service provider interface for requesting funding from a service promoter and at least one user interface for searching and booking available services;

a data storage component for storing booking records associated with a service provider, wherein the booking records include at least information about the number of service appointments booked by the at least one user interface for service offers from the service provider and the prices paid by users for the booked service appointments from the service provider; and

a processor coupled to the data storage component and configured to;

receive through the web-based service provider interface a request from a service provider for funding from the service promoter in exchange to promote to the at least one user interface a plurality of service offers from the service provider;

analyze the booking records associated with the service provider;

determine, based on the analysis of the booking records, the amount of funds to be provided by the service promoter to the service provider, the number of service offers to be promoted by the service promoter, and the cost of each service offer to the service promoter;

execute a secured financing transaction between the service promoter and the service provider pursuant to which the service promoter transfers the determined amount of funds to the service provider in exchange to promote to the at least one user interface the determined number of service offers from the service provider;

store in the data storage component information about the executed secured financing transaction, wherein the stored information includes the amount of provided funds, the determined number of available service offers, and the cost of each service offer to the service promoter;

promote one or more service offers from the plurality of available service offers at a variable discount price that is optimized for profit generation, wherein the plurality of available service offers includes one or more types of services, and wherein the discount price of the service offer is varied based on a total number of remaining available service offers, a number of remaining available service offers of each type of service, an expected demand for service offers at various price levels, an opportunity cost of providing the service offer, and a booking volume-forecast based on at least the traffic volume from the at least one user interface;

book a service appointment for a user with a service provider based on a promoted service offer in response to an indication from the at least one user interface;

decrease the number of available service offers in the database by the number of service offers corresponding to the number of booked service appointments booked by the at least one user interface, wherein the variable discount price is re-optimized periodically as service appointments are booked from the at least one user interface; and

deduct from the amount of provided funds the amount of total cost of service offers corresponding to the number of booked service appointments.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the web-based service provider interface includes a calendar interface for creating a schedule of available services offers by the service provider, wherein the schedule of available services offers identifies one or more of the date and time of service, the type of service, the service provider, and a discounted price of each service offer determined by the service promoter.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein to determine, based on the analysis of the booking records, the number of service offers to be promoted by the service promoter, the processor being further configured to estimate, based on the analysis of the booking records, the number of service offers that will be booked by users within a specific time period.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein to determine, based on the analysis of the booking records, the number of service offers to be promoted by the service promoter and the cost of each service offer to the service promoter, the processor being further configured to determine the number of service offers of different types of services and the cost of each service offer of each type of service.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the secured financing transaction includes one of:

collateral-secured loan from the service promoter to the service provider, wherein the collateral for the loan includes a plurality of service offers from the service provider; and

an advanced purchase by the service promoter of a plurality of service offers from the service provider.