Determining recommendations from buyer information

• US 9,767,471 B1
• Filed: 05/22/2014
• Issued: 09/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Perrone, Gian, Leduc, Mai, Coughlin, John, Kumar, Abhay
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilder, Hunter
• Application Number:
  US14/284,980
• Time in Patent Office: 1,216 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1425, 705 1438, 705 1453, 705 16, 705 267
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations

Abstract

A service provider may receive transaction information from a plurality of merchant devices for a plurality of point of sale transactions conducted between buyers and merchants. The service provider can associate the transaction information with respective buyer profiles of a plurality of buyer profiles. In some examples, the service provider may determine a subset of the buyer profiles based on at least a portion of the buyer profiles in the subset including transaction information that is related to a particular one of the merchants. The service provider may further determine at least one characteristic associated with at least some of the buyer profiles in the subset, and may send a recommendation to the particular merchant related to the at least one characteristic. As an example, the recommendation may be for improving or optimizing the business of the particular merchant.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to;

receive a notification from a buyer application executed on a buyer device associated with a buyer determined to be located within a geofenced region of one or more wireless beacons corresponding to one or more merchant devices associated respectively with a merchant;

receive, in response to receiving the notification, first transaction information for transactions, wherein an individual merchant device of the one or more merchant devices is associated with a point-of-sale (POS) location, and wherein the first transaction information includes buyer information and item purchase information for individual transactions of the transactions;

associate the first transaction information with respective buyer profiles, based at least in part on the buyer information, wherein a first buyer profile of the buyer profiles includes the buyer information and the item purchase information for at least one transaction of the transactions, wherein the item purchase information for an individual transaction includes a merchant identifier of a merchant participating in the individual transaction, and at least one of item information related to the individual transaction, an amount, a date, a time, or the POS location of the individual transaction;

receive second transaction information indicating, at least in part, that the first buyer profile and a second buyer profile are associated with the same buyer;

identify at least a portion of the first buyer profile that differs from the buyer information and the item purchase information of the second buyer profile;

combine the portion of the first buyer profile with the buyer information and the item purchase information of the second buyer profile;

remove the first buyer profile based at least in part on the combining;

identify a first merchant of the one or more merchants;

determine, based at least in part on identifying the first merchant, a subset of buyer profiles comprising at least the second buyer profile, wherein individual buyer profiles of the buyer profiles in the subset include at least one transaction with the first merchant and at least one transaction with a second merchant;

determine a common buyer characteristic among at least some of the buyer profiles in the subset, wherein the common buyer characteristic is determined at least in part from at least one of;

the item purchase information included in the buyer profiles in the subset, or

the buyer information included in the buyer profiles in the subset; and

send a communication to the individual merchant device associated with the first merchant based at least in part on the common buyer characteristic determined from the buyer profiles in the subset, wherein the communication is related to a recommendation associated with the common buyer characteristic and wherein the communication includes an identifier of one of the one or more wireless beacons the buyer is in closest proximity to, informing the first merchant of a current location of the buyer.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the second merchant is classified in a same category as the first merchant, wherein the common buyer characteristic is related to the at least one transaction with the second merchant.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the second merchant is classified in a same geographic region as the first merchant, wherein the common buyer characteristic is related to the at least one transaction with the second merchant.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to determine the common buyer characteristic among at least some of the buyer profiles in the subset based at least in part on a frequency of occurrence of the common buyer characteristic among the buyer profiles in the subset being greater than a frequency of occurrence of the buyer characteristic among the plurality of buyer profiles by a threshold amount.

5. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, a notification from a buyer application executed on a buyer device of a buyer determined to be located within a geofenced region of one or more wireless beacons corresponding to one or more merchant devices associated respectively with a merchant;

receiving, by the one or more processors and in response to receiving the notification, first transaction information for point of sale (POS) transactions;

associating the first transaction information with respective buyer profiles of buyer profiles;

receive second transaction information indicating, at least in part, that a first buyer profile and a second buyer profile are associated with the buyer;

identify at least a portion of the first buyer profile that differs from the first transaction information of the second buyer profile;

combine the portion of the first buyer profile with the first transaction information of the second buyer profile;

remove the first buyer profile based at least in part on the combining;

identifying a first merchant from the one or more merchants;

determining, based at least in part on identifying the first merchant, a subset of buyer profiles comprising at least the second buyer profile based at least in part on at least a portion of the buyer profiles in the subset including transaction information related to the first merchant and a second merchant;

determining at least one characteristic associated with at least some of the buyer profiles in the subset; and

sending a communication to one of the one or more merchant devices associated with the first merchant, wherein the communication is related to a recommendation associated with the at least one characteristic and wherein the communication includes an identifier of one of the one or more wireless beacons the buyer is in closest proximity to, informing the first merchant of a current location of the buyer.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the at least one characteristic comprises determining a buyer demographic characteristic based at least in part on at least one of:

buyer residence information;

buyer age;

buyer sex;

buyer affluence;

buyer ethnicity;

buyer language;

buyer education;

buyer marital status;

buyer occupation;

buyer religion;

buyer political affiliation;

or buyer association membership.

7. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the at least one characteristic comprises determining a buyer behavioral characteristic based at least in part on at least one of a geographic location at which an item was acquired, a type of item acquired, a time at which an item was acquired, a merchant from which an item was acquired, items that were acquired together, items that were acquired within a threshold time of each other, a descriptor about an item acquired, or price paid for an item.

8. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the at least one characteristic is based at least in part on POS transactions with one or more of the merchants other than the first merchant and the second merchant.

9. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the at least one characteristic is based at least in part on the at least one buyer characteristic occurring among the at least some of the buyer profiles in the subset with a frequency of occurrence that is greater, by a threshold amount, than a frequency of occurrence of the at least one buyer characteristic among the buyer profiles.

10. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising associating the transaction information with the respective buyer profiles based at least in part on determining that buyer information included with the transaction information matches buyer information in the respective buyer profiles with a level of confidence that exceeds a threshold level of confidence.

11. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the communication is further related to at least one of:

hours of operation of the first merchant;

a geographic region for expanding a business of the first merchant;

or

an item not currently offered by the first merchant.

12. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the communication further comprises an image of the particular buyer.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media maintaining instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a notification from a buyer application executed on a buyer device associated with a buyer determined to be located within a geofenced region of one or more wireless beacons corresponding to one or more merchant devices associated respectively with a merchant;

receiving, in response to receiving the notification, first transaction information from one of the one or more merchant devices associated with a first merchant for point of sale (POS) transactions;

associating the first transaction information with respective buyer profiles, wherein the respective buyer profiles include at least one transaction with a first merchant and at least one transaction with a second merchant;

receiving second transaction information indicating, at least in part, that a first buyer profile and a second buyer profile are associated with the buyer;

identifying at least a portion of the first buyer profile that differs from the first transaction information of the second buyer profile;

combining the portion of the first buyer profile with the first transaction information of the second buyer profile;

removing the first buyer profile based at least in part on the combining;

determining, from the second buyer profile, one or more characteristics based at least in part on the first transaction information; and

sending, to the one of the one or more merchant devices, a communication, wherein the communication is related to a recommendation associated with the one or more characteristics and wherein the communication includes an identifier of one of the one or more wireless beacons the buyer is in closest proximity to, informing the first merchant of a current location of the buyer.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein the communication comprises a recommended the action to be taken by the first or second merchant with respect to the buyer based at least in part on the one or more characteristics.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein the communication further comprises an image of the buyer.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein determining the one or more characteristics comprises determining that more than a threshold period of time has elapsed since the buyer last conducted a POS transaction with the first or second merchant.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein determining the one or more characteristics comprises determining that the buyer has spent more than a threshold amount of money on POS transactions with the first or second merchant over a period time.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, the operations further comprising:

determining, from the second buyer profile, that the buyer has conducted more than a threshold number of POS transactions within a geographic location associated with the first or second merchant; and

determining that the buyer is local to the geographic region,

and wherein the communication further indicates that the buyer is local to the first or second merchant.

19. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to;

receive, from merchant devices associated with respective merchants, first transaction information for point of sale (POS) transactions;

associate the first transaction information with respective buyer profiles;

receive second transaction information indicating, at least in part, that a first buyer profile and a second buyer profile are associated with a buyer;

identify at least a portion of the first buyer profile that differs from first transaction information of the second buyer profile;

combine the portion of the first buyer profile with the first transaction information of the second buyer profile;

remove the first buyer profile based at least in part on the combining;

identify a first merchant of the merchants;

receive notifications from buyer applications executed on buyer devices determined to be located within a geofenced region of one or more wireless beacons corresponding to one of the merchant devices associated with a first merchant;

determine, based on the received notifications, a subset of buyer profiles corresponding to the buyer devices comprising at least the second buyer profile that include transaction information for one or more POS transactions of the first merchant and a second merchant;

determine at least one common buyer characteristic among at least some of the buyer profiles in the subset, wherein the at least one common buyer characteristic is associated with at least one item offered by the first merchant; and

sending a communication to the one of the merchant devices associated with the first merchant, wherein the communication is related to a recommendation associated with the at least one common buyer characteristic and wherein the communication includes an identifier of one of the one or more wireless beacons the buyer is in closest proximity to, informing the first merchant of a current location of the buyer.

20. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to determine the at least one common buyer characteristic from at least one of:

buyer residence information;

buyer age;

buyer sex;

buyer affluence;

buyer ethnicity;

buyer language;

buyer education;

buyer marital status;

buyer occupation;

buyer religion;

buyer political affiliation;

or buyer association membership.

21. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to determine the at least one common buyer characteristic from at least one of a geographic location at which an item was acquired, a type of item acquired, a time at which an item was acquired, a merchant from which an item was acquired, items that were acquired together, items that were acquired within a threshold time of each other, a descriptor about an item acquired, or price paid for an item.

22. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to determine the at least one buyer characteristic based at least in part on the at least one common buyer characteristic occurring among the at least some of the buyer profiles in the subset with a frequency of occurrence that is greater, by a threshold amount, than a frequency of occurrence of the buyer characteristic among the plurality of buyer profiles.

23. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the communication further includes a recommendation that the first merchant begin offering an item not currently offered by the first merchant.