METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PREFERRED CUSTOMER MARKETING DELIVERY BASED ON DYNAMIC DATA FOR A CUSTOMER

• US 20080249868A1
• Filed: 09/27/2007
• Published: 10/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daedalus Blue LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kraemer, James R., Angell, Robert Lee
• Granted Patent: US 9,092,808 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program product for automatically determining a marketing status for a customer. In one embodiment, detection data is received from a set of detectors associated with the retail facility. The detection data is processed to form dynamic data. The dynamic data is analyzed using a set of data models to identify marketing initiation factors. In response to the marketing initiation factors indicating initiation of marketing to the customer, a customized marketing message is generated for the customer and dynamically transmitted to a display device associated with the customer. The customized marketing message is displayed to the customer in real-time as the customer is shopping at the retail facility.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for automatically determining a marketing status for a customer, the computer implemented method comprising:

receiving data from a set of detectors associated with a retail facility to form detection data for the customer, wherein the detection data is gathered in real-time as the customer is shopping at the retail facility;

processing the detection data to form dynamic data for the customer;

analyzing the dynamic data to identify a set of marketing initiation factors, wherein marketing initiation factors indicate a degree of receptivity of the customer to marketing messages;

responsive to the set of marketing initiation factors indicating initiation of marketing to the customer, generating a customized marketing message for the customer; and

dynamically transmitting the customized marketing message to a display device associated with the customer, wherein the customized marketing message is displayed to the customer in real-time as the customer is shopping at the retail facility.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to the set of marketing initiation factors indicating the customer is unreceptive to marketing messages, setting the marketing status for the customer to a negative marketing status, wherein a negative marketing status indicates that customized marketing messages are not transmitted to any display devices for display to the customer.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

automatically setting a marketing status flag in a customer profile based on the marketing initiation indications, wherein the marketing status flag indicates whether customized marketing messages are delivered to the customer, wherein customized marketing messages are displayed to the customer in response to setting the marketing status flag to a market status and wherein customized marketing messages are not transmitted to any display devices for display to the customer in response to setting the marketing status flag to a no market status.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein analyzing the dynamic data for the customer to generate the marketing initiation factors further comprises:

analyzing the dynamic data using a set of data models to identify a set of marketing initiation factors.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein analyzing the dynamic data for the customer to generate the marketing initiation factors further comprises:

retrieving a customer profile for the customer, wherein the customer profile indicates customary days of the week the customer has shopped in the past;

responsive to determining that the current day of the week is a customary day of the week in the customary days of the week the customer has shopped in the past, generating positive marketing initiation factors; and

responsive to determining that the current day of the week is not a customary day of the week in the customary days of the week the customer has shopped in the past, generating negative marketing initiation factors.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein analyzing the dynamic data for the customer to generate the marketing initiation factors further comprises:

retrieving a customer profile for the customer, wherein the customer profile includes customary times of day when the customer has shopped at the retail facility;

responsive to determining that the current time falls within a range of the customary times of day, generating positive marketing initiation factors; and

responsive to determining that the current time falls outside of a range of the customary times of day, generating negative marketing initiation factors.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the customer is a customer in a set of customers and further comprising:

processing the detection data to form grouping data for the customer, wherein the dynamic data comprises the grouping data, and wherein the grouping data identifies a current grouping category for the customer, and wherein the grouping category is selected from a group consisting of parents with children, teenagers, children, minors unaccompanied by adults, minors accompanied by adults, grandparents with grandchildren, senior citizens, couples, friends, coworkers, and a customer shopping alone;

retrieving a customer profile for the customer, wherein the customer profile indicates a customary grouping category for the customer;

responsive to determining that the current grouping category for the customer is a customary grouping category in the customary grouping categories, generating positive marketing initiation factors; and

responsive to determining that the current grouping category for the customer is a grouping category that is different than the customary grouping categories, generating negative marketing initiation factors.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

processing the detection data, by a smart detection engine, to identify patterns of events to form current customer behavior data describing events associated with the customer, wherein the dynamic data comprises the current customer behavior data;

retrieving a customer profile for the customer, wherein the customer profile indicates past behavior of the customer while shopping at the retail facility on a different shopping trip;

comparing the current customer behavior data to the past customer behavior data;

responsive to the comparison indicating the customer is walking at a customary pace or shopping at a customary rate, generating positive marketing initiation factors; and

responsive to the comparison indicating the customer is walking at a pace that is faster than the customary pace or shopping at a rate that is faster than the customary rate of shopping, generating negative marketing initiation factors.

9. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium including computer usable program code for automatically determining whether to deliver customized marketing content to a customer associated with a retail facility, said computer program product comprising;

computer usable program code for receiving data from a set of detectors associated with a retail facility to form detection data for the customer, wherein the detection data is gathered in real-time as the customer is shopping at the retail facility;

computer usable program code for processing the detection data to form dynamic data for the customer;

computer usable program code for analyzing the dynamic data to identify a set of marketing initiation factors, wherein marketing initiation factors indicate a degree of receptivity of the customer to marketing messages;

computer usable program code for generating a customized marketing message for the customer in response to the set of marketing initiation factors indicating the customer indicating initiation of marketing to the customer; and

computer usable program code for dynamically transmitting the customized marketing message to a display device associated with the customer, wherein the customized marketing message is displayed to the customer in real-time as the customer is shopping at the retail facility.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising:

computer usable program code for analyzing the dynamic data using a set of data models to identify a set of marketing initiation factors.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising:

computer usable program code for setting the marketing status for the customer to a no market status in response to the set of marketing initiation factors indicating the customer is unreceptive to marketing messages, wherein a negative marketing status indicates that customized marketing messages are not transmitted to any display devices for display to the customer.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising:

computer usable program code for automatically setting a marketing status flag in a customer profile based on the marketing initiation indications, wherein the marketing status flag indicates whether customized marketing messages are delivered to the customer, wherein customized marketing messages are displayed to the customer in response to setting the marketing status flag to a market status and wherein customized marketing messages are not transmitted to any display devices for display to the customer in response to setting the marketing status flag to a no market status.

13. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising:

computer usable program code for identifying the customer;

computer usable program code for retrieving a customer profile for the customer, wherein the customer profile indicates customary days of the week the customer has shopped in the past;

computer usable program code for generating positive marketing initiation factors in response to determining that the current day of the week is a customary day of the week in the customary days of the week the customer has shopped in the past; and

computer usable program code for generating negative marketing initiation factors in response to determining that the current day of the week is not a customary day of the week in the customary days of the week the customer has shopped in the past.

14. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising:

computer usable program code for identifying the customer;

computer usable program code for retrieving a customer profile for the customer, wherein the customer profile includes customary times of day when the customer has shopped at the retail facility;

computer usable program code for generating positive marketing initiation factors in response to determining that the current time falls within a range of the customary times of day; and

computer usable program code for generating negative marketing initiation factors in response to determining that the current time falls outside of a range of the customary times of day.

15. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising:

computer usable program code for processing the detection data to form grouping data for the customer, wherein the dynamic data comprises the grouping data, and wherein the grouping data identifies a current grouping category for the customer, and wherein the grouping category is selected from a group consisting of parents with children, teenagers, children, minors unaccompanied by adults, minors accompanied by adults, grandparents with grandchildren, senior citizens, couples, friends, coworkers, and a customer shopping alone;

computer usable program code for retrieving a customer profile for the customer, wherein the customer profile indicates a customary grouping category for the customer; and

computer usable program code for generating positive marketing initiation factors in response to determining that the current grouping category for the customer is a customary grouping category in the customary grouping categories;

computer usable program code for generating negative marketing initiation factors in response to determining that the current grouping category for the customer is a grouping category that is different than the customary grouping categories.

16. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising:

computer usable program code for processing the detection data, by a smart detection engine, to identify patterns of events to form current customer behavior data describing events associated with the customer, wherein the dynamic data comprises the current customer behavior data;

computer usable program code for retrieving a customer profile for the customer, wherein the customer profile indicates past behavior of the customer while shopping at the retail facility on a different shopping trip;

computer usable program code for comparing the current customer behavior data to the past customer behavior data;

computer usable program code for generating positive marketing initiation factors in response to the comparison indicating the customer is walking at a customary pace or shopping at a customary rate; and

computer usable program code for generating negative marketing initiation factors in response to the comparison indicating the customer is walking at a pace that is faster than the customary pace or shopping at a rate that is faster than the customary rate of shopping.

17. A data processing system for automatically determining whether to deliver customized marketing content to a customer associated with a retail facility, the data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications system connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes computer usable program code; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable program code to receive data from a set of detectors associated with a retail facility to form detection data for the customer, wherein the detection data is gathered in real-time as the customer is shopping at the retail facility;

process the detection data to form dynamic data for the customer;

analyze the dynamic data using a first set of data models to identify a set of marketing initiation factors, wherein marketing initiation factors indicate a degree of receptivity of the customer to marketing messages;

generate a customized marketing message for the customer in response to the set of marketing initiation factors indicating initiation of marketing to the customer; and

dynamically transmit the customized marketing message to a display device associated with the customer, wherein the customized marketing message is displayed to the customer in real-time as the customer is shopping at the retail facility.

18. The data processing system of claim 17 wherein the processor unit further executes the computer usable program code to automatically set a marketing status flag in a customer profile based on the marketing initiation indications, wherein the marketing status flag indicates whether customized marketing messages are delivered to the customer, wherein customized marketing messages are displayed to the customer in response to setting the marketing status flag to a market status.

19. The data processing system of claim 17 wherein the processor unit further executes the computer usable program code to set the marketing status for the customer to a no market status in response to the set of marketing initiation factors indicating the customer is unreceptive to marketing messages, wherein a negative marketing status indicates that customized marketing messages are not transmitted to any display devices for display to the customer.

20. A system for customizing marketing messages at the customer level, the system comprising:

a set of detectors associated with a retail facility, wherein the set of detectors captures data associated with a customer to form detection data for the customer, wherein the detection data is gathered in real-time as the customer is shopping at the retail facility;

a smart detection engine, wherein the smart detection engine processes the detection data to form dynamic data for the customer;

a marketing initiation engine, wherein the marketing initiation engine analyzes the dynamic data using a first set of data models to identify a set of marketing initiation factors and set a marketing status of the customer using the set of marketing initiation factors, wherein marketing initiation factors indicate a degree of receptivity of the customer to marketing messages and sets a status of the customer to an initiate marketing status in response to the set of marketing initiation factors indicating initiation of marketing to the customer; and

a dynamic marketing message assembly, wherein the dynamic marketing message assembly generates a customized marketing message for the customer and dynamically transmits the customized marketing message to a display device associated with the customer in response to determining that the marketing status of the customer is a market status, wherein the customized marketing message is not transmitted to the display device associated with the customer in response to determining that the marketing status of the customer is a no market status, and wherein the customized marketing message is displayed to the customer in real-time as the customer is shopping at the retail facility.

21. The system of claim 20 further comprising:

a marketing status flag in a customer profile, wherein the marketing status flag indicates whether customized marketing messages are delivered to the customer, wherein customized marketing messages are displayed to the customer in response to setting the marketing status flag to a market status and wherein customized marketing messages are not transmitted to any display devices for display to the customer in response to setting the marketing status flag to a no market status.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein at least one detector in the set of detectors is located externally to a retail facility, and wherein the at least one detector in the set of detectors captures data associated with a customer to form external data.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein at least one detector in the set of detectors is a motion detector, a set of pressure sensors, a sound detection device, and a set of cameras.

24. The system of claim 20 further comprising:

an analysis server, wherein the analysis server analyzes the set of dynamic data using a second set of data models to identify personalized marketing message criteria for the customer, wherein the dynamic marketing message assembly generates the customized marketing message using the personalized marketing message criteria.

25. The system of claim 20 further comprising:

a set of display devices, wherein a display device in the set of display devices associated with the customer displays the customized marketing message to the customer in real-time as the customer is shopping.