Price evaluation based on electronic receipt data

• US 9,600,839 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2013
• Issued: 03/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Calman, Matthew A., Dintenfass, Katherine, Blackhurst, Jason P., Hanson, Carrie A., Bondesen, Laura C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thein, M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): KRINGEN, MICHELLE THERESE
• Application Number:
  US13/953,218
• Publication Number:
  US 20150032574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,331 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.64, 705/26.62, 705/26.61
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0629 for generating comparisons

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for providing price evaluation based on electronic receipt data. An exemplary apparatus is configured to: identify purchase transaction data associated with identified electronic communications between a merchant and a customer, wherein the purchase transaction data includes product level data from a transaction; receive the identified purchase transaction data, wherein the purchase transaction data is received in an unstructured format; convert the purchase transaction data from the unstructured format to a structured format; associate the structured purchase transaction data with the customer'"'"'s online banking application; aggregate purchase transaction data related to a first product purchased by a plurality of customers; determine a best price available for the first product based at least partially on an analyses of the purchase transaction data; and communicate the best price available for the first product to one or more parties.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing price evaluation based on electronic receipt data, the apparatus comprising:

a memory;

one or more processors; and

a module stored in the memory, executable by the one or more processors, and configured to cause the one or more processors to;

for a plurality of customers, identify a purchase of a first product made by a customer from a merchant based on identifying a transaction in an online banking application associated with the customer;

continuously monitor from an email server, one or more electronic accounts associated with the customer, wherein the one or more electronic accounts include at least an email account associated with electronic communications between the customer and the merchant;

identify, via the email server, purchase transaction data associated with the purchase of the first product by the customer from the merchant based on monitoring the one or more electronic accounts, wherein the purchase transaction data is identified in response to processing the transaction associated with the purchase, wherein the purchase transaction data is automatically identified from the one or more electronic accounts associated with the customer, wherein the transaction data includes product level data from the transaction, wherein identifying the purchase transaction data further comprises;

determining one or more data fields relevant to the purchase made by the customer from the merchant;

retrieving, from the email server, electronic header information associated with electronic communications of the customer from the one or more electronic accounts; and

identifying an email message associated with the purchase made by the customer from the merchant based on at least determining that the electronic header information associated with the email message matches the one or more data fields relevant to the purchase, wherein the email message is identified from the electronic communications of the one or more accounts;

retrieve, electronically from the email server, the identified purchase transaction data, wherein the identified purchase transaction data is retrieved in an unstructured format from the one or more electronic accounts associated with the customer, wherein retrieving the identified transaction data comprises;

retrieving the email message containing the identified transaction data from the email server;

identifying the merchant and a confirmation type of the email message based on analyzing the header information contained in the email message;

identifying a parsing template based on identifying the merchant and the confirmation type, wherein the parsing template is identified from a group consisting of;

an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) order confirmation template, a text order confirmation template, an HTML shipping confirmation template and a text shipping confirmation template; and

retrieving the purchase transaction data from the email message based on at least the parsing template, wherein the purchase transaction data comprises the product level data associated with the purchase;

instantaneously, electronically convert the identified purchase transaction data from the unstructured format to a structured format based on the parsing template, wherein the structured format is associated with an OFX (Open Financial Exchange) format;

integrate the structured purchase transaction data converted from the unstructured purchase transaction data with the customer'"'"'s online banking application representing the transaction, whereby the product level data from the transaction can be viewed from within the online banking application in response to integrating the structured purchase transaction data with the customer'"'"'s online banking application, wherein integrating the structured purchase transaction data with the customer'"'"'s online banking application further comprises;

associating a record in the customer'"'"'s online banking application with the product level data, based on determining that a payment instrument, a payment date and/or a total purchase amount associated with the product level data is the same as that of the record; and

presenting the record integrated with the structured product level data and selectable image data on a display of the customer'"'"'s online banking application, wherein the selectable image data is constructed based on the identified email message;

aggregate purchase transaction data related to the first product purchased by the plurality of customers;

determine, a distance from a current location of the customer to each of one or more merchants that offer the first product;

calculate a travel cost for the customer to travel to each of the one or more merchants using the current location of the customer based on determining the distance to each of the one or more merchants that offer the first product;

determine a best price available for the first product based at least partially on an analysis of the purchase transaction data related to the first product and further based on the travel cost for the customer to travel to each of the one or more merchants;

communicate, to the customer via a mobile device of the customer, the merchant of the one or more merchants having the best price available for the first product;

determine from the aggregated purchase transaction data that a second product is typically purchased in conjunction with the first product, wherein the second product is a different product type than the first product;

determine that a company provides the first product and does not provide the second product; and

transmit a notice to the company to provide the second product based at least partially on the determining that the company does not provide the second product, and further based on determining that a second product is typically purchased in conjunction with the first product.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is further configured to aggregate purchase transaction data based at least partially on one or more characteristics associated with the first product.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is further configured to sort the aggregated purchase transaction data based at least partially on a price associated with the first product.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is further configured to:

for at least two purchases of the first product, determine a first value, wherein the first value indicates a price associated with the first product;

for at least two purchases of the first product, determine a second value, wherein the second value indicates an additional cost associated with purchasing the first product;

for at least two purchases of the first product, determine a third value, wherein the third value indicates an overall cost for purchasing the first product, and wherein the third value is determined based at least partially on subtracting the second value from the first value; and

wherein determining the best price available for the first product is further based at least partially on a comparison of at least two of the three values.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is further configured to:

receive one or more user preferences for determining the best price available for the first product; and

exclude at least a portion of the purchase transaction data when determining the best price available for the first product based at least partially on the one or more user preferences.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is further configured to:

determine the best price available for the first product is associated with one or more offers; and

provide the one or more parties the one or more offers associated with the best price available for the first product.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is further configured to:

determine the best price available for the first product is associated with a second product;

aggregate purchase transaction data related to the second product;

determine a best price available for the second product based at least partially on an analyses of the purchase transaction data related to the second product; and

communicate the best price available for the second product to one or more parties.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is further configure to generate a report comprising information related to the best price available for the first product, wherein the report comprises a graphical representation that displays the information related to the best price available for the first product.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is further configure to:

detect product dumping associated with the first product based at least partially on an analyses of the purchase transaction data related to the first product; and

alert a third party of the product dumping associated with the first product.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is further configure to determine the price elasticity of demand of the first product based at least partially on an analyses of the purchase transaction data related to the first product.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is further configured to:

determine an average price margin of the first product; and

provide a third party with a price marking suggestion based at least partially on determining the average price margin of the first product.

12. A computer-implemented method for providing price evaluation based on electronic receipt data, the method comprising:

for a plurality of customers, identifying a purchase of a first product made by a customer from a merchant based on identifying a transaction in an online banking application associated with the customer;

continuously monitoring from an email server, one or more electronic accounts associated with the customer, wherein the one or more electronic accounts include at least an email account associated with electronic communications between the customer and the merchant;

identifying, via the email server, purchase transaction data associated with the purchase of the first product by the customer from the merchant based on monitoring the one or more electronic accounts, wherein the purchase transaction data is identified in response to processing the transaction associated with the purchase, wherein the purchase transaction data is automatically identified from the one or more electronic accounts associated with the customer, wherein the transaction data includes product level data from the transaction, wherein identifying the purchase transaction data further comprises;

determining one or more data fields relevant to the purchase made by the customer from the merchant;

retrieving, from the email server, electronic header information associated with electronic communications of the customer from the one or more electronic accounts; and

identifying an email message associated with the purchase made by the customer from the merchant based on at least determining that the electronic header information associated with the email message matches the one or more data fields relevant to the purchase, wherein the email message is identified from the electronic communications of the one or more accounts;

retrieving, electronically from the email server, the identified purchase transaction data, wherein the identified purchase transaction data is retrieved in an unstructured format from the one or more electronic accounts associated with the customer, wherein retrieving the identified transaction data comprises;

retrieving the email message containing the identified transaction data from the email server;

identifying the merchant and a confirmation type of the email message based on analyzing the header information contained in the email message;

identifying a parsing template based on identifying the merchant and the confirmation type, wherein the parsing template is identified from a group consisting of;

an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) order confirmation template, a text order confirmation template, an HTML shipping confirmation template and a text shipping confirmation template; and

retrieving the purchase transaction data from the email message based on at least the parsing template, wherein the purchase transaction data comprises the product level data associated with the purchase;

instantaneously, electronically converting the identified purchase transaction data from the unstructured format to a structured format based on the parsing template, wherein the structured format is associated with an OFX (Open Financial Exchange) format;

integrating the structured purchase transaction data converted from the unstructured purchase transaction data with the customer'"'"'s online banking application representing the transaction, whereby the product level data from the transaction can be viewed from within the online banking application in response to integrating the structured purchase transaction data with the customer'"'"'s online banking application, wherein integrating the structured purchase transaction data with the customer'"'"'s online banking application further comprises;

associating a record in the customer'"'"'s online banking application with the product level data, based on determining that a payment instrument, a payment date and/or a total purchase amount associated with the product level data is the same as that of the record; and

presenting the record integrated with the structured product level data and selectable image data on a display of the customer'"'"'s online banking application, wherein the selectable image data is constructed based on the identified email message;

aggregating purchase transaction data related to the first product purchased by the plurality of customers;

determining, a distance from a current location of the customer to each of one or more merchants that offer the first product;

calculating a travel cost for the customer to travel to each of the one or more merchants using the current location of the customer based on determining the distance to each of the one or more merchants that offer the first product;

determining a best price available for the first product based at least partially on an analysis of the purchase transaction data related to the first product and further based on the travel cost for the customer to travel to each of the one or more merchants;

communicating, to the customer via a mobile device of the customer, the merchant of the one or more merchants having the best price available for the first product;

determining from the aggregated purchase transaction data that a second product is typically purchased in conjunction with the first product, wherein the second product is a different product type than the first product;

determining that a company provides the first product and does not provide the second product; and

transmitting a notice to the company to provide the second product based at least partially on the determining that the company does not provide the second product, and further based on determining that a second product is typically purchased in conjunction with the first product.

13. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

for at least two purchases of the first product, determining a first value, wherein the first value indicates a price associated with the first product;

for at least two purchases of the first product, determining a second value, wherein the second value indicates an additional cost associated with purchasing the first product;

for at least two purchases of the first product, determining a third value, wherein the third value indicates an overall cost for purchasing the first product, and wherein the third value is determined based at least partially on subtracting the second value from the first value; and

wherein determining the best price available for the first product is further based at least partially on a comparison of at least two of the three values.

14. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

receiving one or more user preferences for determining the best price available for the first product; and

excluding at least a portion of the purchase transaction data when determining the best price available for the first product based at least partially on the one or more user preferences.

15. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

determining the best price available for the first product is associated with the one or more offers; and

providing the one or more parties the one or more offers associated with the best price available for the first product.

16. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

determining the best price available for the first product is associated with a second product;

aggregating purchase transaction data related to the second product;

determining a best price available for the second product based at least partially on an analyses of the purchase transaction data related to the second product; and

communicating the best price available for the second product to one or more parties.

17. A computer program product for providing price evaluation based on electronic receipt data, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a set of codes for causing a computer to;

for a plurality of customers, identify a purchase of a first product made by a customer from a merchant based on identifying a transaction in an online banking application associated with the customer;

continuously monitor from an email server, one or more electronic accounts associated with the customer, wherein the one or more electronic accounts include at least an email account associated with electronic communications between the customer and the merchant;

identify, via the email server, purchase transaction data associated with the purchase of the first product by the customer from the merchant based on monitoring the one or more electronic accounts, wherein the transaction data is identified in response to processing the transaction associated with the purchase, wherein the purchase transaction data is automatically identified from the one or more electronic accounts associated with the customer, wherein the transaction data includes product level data from the transaction, wherein identifying the purchase transaction data further comprises;

determining one or more data fields relevant to the purchase made by the customer from the merchant;

retrieving, from the email server, electronic header information associated with electronic communications of the customer from the one or more electronic accounts; and

identifying an email message associated with the purchase made by the customer from the merchant based on at least determining that the electronic header information associated with the email message matches the one or more data fields relevant to the purchase, wherein the email message is identified from the electronic communications of the one or more accounts;

retrieve, electronically from the email server, the identified purchase transaction data, wherein the identified purchase transaction data is retrieved in an unstructured format from the one or more electronic accounts associated with the customer, wherein retrieving the identified transaction data comprises;

retrieving the email message containing the identified transaction data from the email server;

identifying the merchant and a confirmation type of the email message based on analyzing the header information contained in the email message;

identifying a parsing template based on identifying the merchant and the confirmation type, wherein the parsing template is identified from a group consisting of;

an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) order confirmation template, a text order confirmation template, an HTML shipping confirmation template and a text shipping confirmation template; and

retrieving the purchase transaction data from the email message based on at least the parsing template, wherein the purchase transaction data comprises the product level data associated with the purchase;

instantaneously, electronically convert the identified purchase transaction data from the unstructured format to a structured format based on the parsing template, wherein the structured format is associated with an OFX (Open Financial Exchange) format;

integrate the structured purchase transaction data converted from the unstructured purchase transaction data with the customer'"'"'s online banking application representing the transaction, whereby the product level data from the transaction can be viewed from within the online banking application in response to integrating the structured purchase transaction data with the customer'"'"'s online banking application, wherein integrating the structured purchase transaction data with the customer'"'"'s online banking application further comprises;

associating a record in the customer'"'"'s online banking application with the product level data, based on determining that a payment instrument, a payment date and/or a total purchase amount associated with the product level data is the same as that of the record; and

presenting the record integrated with the structured product level data and selectable image data on a display of the customer'"'"'s online banking application, wherein the selectable image data is constructed based on the identified email message;

aggregate purchase transaction data related to the first product purchased by the plurality of customers;

determine, a distance from a current location of the customer to each of one or more merchants that offer the first product;

calculate a travel cost for the customer to travel to each of the one or more merchants using the current location of the customer based on determining the distance to each of the one or more merchants that offer the first product;

determine a best price available for the first product based at least partially on an analysis of the purchase transaction data related to the first product and further based on the travel cost for the customer to travel to each of the one or more merchants;

communicate, to the customer via a mobile device of the customer, the merchant of the one or more merchants having the best price available for the first product;

determine from the aggregated purchase transaction data that a second product is typically purchased in conjunction with the first product, wherein the second product is a different product type than the first product;

determine that a company provides the first product and does not provide the second product; and

transmit a notice to the company to provide the second product based at least partially on the determining that the company does not provide the second product, and further based on determining that a second product is typically purchased in conjunction with the first product.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, the computer program product further comprising a set of codes for causing a computer to:

for at least two purchases of the first product, determine a first value, wherein the first value indicates a price associated with the first product;

for at least two purchases of the first product, determine a second value, wherein the second value indicates an additional cost associated with purchasing the first product;

for at least two purchases of the first product, determine a third value, wherein the third value indicates an overall cost for purchasing the first product, and wherein the third value is determined based at least partially on subtracting the second value from the first value; and

wherein determining the best price available for the first product is further based at least partially on a comparison of at least two of the three values.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, the computer program product further comprising a set of codes for causing a computer to:

receive one or more user preferences for determining the best price available for the first product; and

exclude at least a portion of the purchase transaction data when determining the best price available for the first product based at least partially on the one or more user preferences.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, the computer program product further comprising a set of codes for causing a computer to:

determine the best price available for the first product is associated with the one or more offers; and

provide the customer the one or more offers associated with the best price available for the first product.

21. The computer program product of claim 17, the computer program product further comprising a set of codes for causing a computer to:

determine the best price available for the first product is associated with a second product;

aggregate purchase transaction data related to the second product;

determine a best price available for the second product based at least partially on an analyses of the purchase transaction data related to the second product; and

communicate the best price available for the second product to one or more parties.