Process and system for providing information to customers at point of sale

• US 20060085270A1
• Filed: 11/10/2005
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ruckart, John
• Application Number:
  US11/271,582
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085270A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

Customers at a point of sale are provided with offers for goods and services, based on past transactions for that customer. Transaction histories are collected for customers, and customers are classified according to likely interest in future purchases based on previous transactions. When the customer makes a current transaction, that customer may receive offers for additional goods or services based on transaction history. The offers are presented to the customer at a point-of-sale terminal for the current transaction, by printing on a receipt for the current transaction or by displaying on a visual display.

Claims

1. A method of providing targeted information to a customer, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication from a customer of the customer'"'"'s desire to purchase at least one customer-selected item at a first store, the indication being communicated from the customer contemporaneously with the customer being in proximity of the first store;

obtaining information about at least one additional item that is associated with purchasing behavior of the customer, the at least one additional item based upon the customer'"'"'s desire to purchase the at least one customer-selected item at least partially inferring the purchasing behavior of the customer; and

conveying the information to the customer about the at least one additional item that is related to the customer'"'"'s inferred purchasing behavior, the information being conveyed to the customer while the customer is in proximity to the store.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein inferring purchasing behavior of the customer is further based at least upon historical information on previous purchases of the customer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein inferring purchasing behavior of the customer is further based at least upon historical information on previous purchases of at least one other customer with characteristics similar to the customer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the similar characteristics comprise at least one demographic parameter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the customer'"'"'s desire to purchase the at least one customer-selected item at the first store is indicated through the customer'"'"'s physical claiming of the at least one item from inventory of the first store by placing the at least one item in a shopping basket container.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the shopping basket container uses RFID tags to determine that the customer has physically claimed the at least one item by placing the at least one item in the shopping basket container.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the shopping basket container uses wireless electromagnetic communication to provide the indication of the customer'"'"'s desire to purchase the at least one item.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the customer'"'"'s desire to purchase the at least one customer-selected item is communicated through a point-of-sale device at the first store.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the at least one additional item is communicated to the customer through a point-of-sale device at the first store.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer is considered to be in proximity to the first store responsive to the customer being at a point-of-sale device of the first store.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer is considered to be in proximity to the first store responsive to the customer being inside the first store.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer is considered to be in proximity to the first store responsive to the customer being in a parking lot supporting the first store.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer is considered to be in proximity to the first store responsive to the customer being at a shopping mall or shopping center comprising the first store.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the customer is considered to be in proximity to the first store responsive to the customer being in a second store in that is part of the shopping mall or shopping center comprising the first store.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein inferring purchasing behavior of the customer is further based at least upon historical information on previous purchases of the customer at the second store.

16. A method for providing targeted information to a customer at a point-of-sale, comprising:

receiving a request from the point-of-sale for targeted information associated with the customer, the request comprising customer identification information and point-of-sale purchase information;

updating purchase information located in a customer profile database with the point-of-sale purchase information;

determining whether targeted information in the form of personalized non-billing information should be provided to the customer at the point-of-sale;

if targeted information should be provided, retrieving targeted information correlated to the updated purchase information in the customer profile database; and

sending the targeted information to the point-of-sale.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising printing the personalized non-billing information on a customer receipt.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein determining whether personalized non-billing information should be provided to the customer at the point-of-sale comprises

developing classifications of purchasing interest for goods or services correlated to buying traits of customers;

and

determining whether a current purchase by the customer fits at least one such classification, indicating that the customer is likely to purchase additional goods or services correlated to the at least one classification.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the customer profile database comprises:

a customer identifier;

a purchase history comprising a date and location of a purchase, product or service identifiers corresponding to each purchase, date and location of each purchase, and amount paid for each purchase; and

a set of classifications that correlate to customer purchase habits derived from the purchase history; and

wherein

determining whether targeted information should be provided to the customer at the point-of-sale comprises comparing the customer'"'"'s purchase history to a set of threshold values corresponding to the set of classifications.

20. A system for communicating with a customer at a point of sale, comprising:

a processor in communication with the terminal at the point of sale;

a data store operatively associated with the processor and comprising a customer table containing customer identification information and a purchase history for each identified customer;

the data store further comprising a set of classifications that correlate to customer purchase habits derived from the purchase histories; and

the processor is operative in response to information received from the terminal identifying a particular customer and a current purchase by the particular customer to determine, from the received information and the set of classifications, whether targeted information in the form of personalized non-billing information should be provided to the particular customer and, if so, to send the targeted information to the terminal for presenting to the customer.