Customer relationship management system for physical locations

• US 8,600,804 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2003
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: Novitaz, Inc.
• Inventors: Ramchandani, Jayant, Ghias, Asif
• Primary Examiner(s): VAN BRAMER, JOHN W
• Application Number:
  US10/352,750
• Publication Number:
  US 20040093268A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,963 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.25, 705/14.23, 705/14.53, 705/14.58, 705/14.64, 705/14.67, 705/26
• US Class Current: 705/14.25
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2011/02 related to amusement parks
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence

Abstract

A method and computer program product for managing information about transactions occurring in a physical establishment includes gathering information about multiple transactions at a physical establishment, and storing the information as metadata. A byte stream corresponding to the metadata is generated. Several elements of the metadata are associated with a particular session based on predefined criteria.

Claims

1. A method of managing information about a customer'"'"'s interactions with a business establishment, the method executed by a computer system,

and comprising:

storing by the computer system a metadata schema, comprising;

an in-store session schema for a session of a customer being present within the business establishment,

a website session schema for a website session of the customer at a website associated with the business establishment, and

an event schema for an event of the customer during a session;

storing by the computer system, using the metadata schema, a customer profile for the customer including a plurality of previous website sessions of the customer occurring at the website associated with the business establishment, and a plurality of previous in-store sessions of the customer being present within the business establishment, including at least one time metric indicating time spent by the customer in a specific location or department within the business establishment during at least one previous in-store session within the business establishment;

wirelessly detecting within the business establishment a wireless device carried by the customer;

retrieving the customer profile for the customer including metrics about the customer that are derived from the plurality of previous website sessions and the plurality of previous sessions within the business establishment, the metrics including the at least one time metric;

instantiating an instance of a session for the customer, using the session schema;

wirelessly tracking events of the customer within the business establishment by tracking the wireless device, wherein tracking the events includes determining a current time metric as an amount time the customer spends in a specific location or department within the business establishment during the current session;

instantiating instances of the events of the customer, using the event schema;

determining at least one action resulting from the tracked events during the current session, the plurality of previous website sessions, and the plurality of previous sessions within the business establishment,

wherein the at least one action comprises automatically notifying an employee of the business establishment of the customer'"'"'s specific location or department within the business establishment and the action is based upon the current time metric for the specific location or department and the time metric for the specific location or department for the previous in-store sessions;

determining an event that terminates the session of the customer;

storing the current session and the events of the customer in association with the customer profile of the customer using the meta data schema.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a metadata schema of a point of sale transaction of a customer at the business establishment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the session schema comprises:

a session start time; and

a session end time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the session schema comprises:

a time a customer entered a department of the business establishment; and

a time the customer exited a department of the business establishment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the session schema comprises:

a time a customer started a product trial in the business establishment; and

a time the customer ended a product trial.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the event schema comprises:

an event time; and

an event type.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the event schema comprises:

a department of the business establishment in which the event occurred.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the event schema comprises:

an employee of the business establishment with whom the customer interacted during the event.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a metadata schema of an interaction of a customer and an employee of the business establishment.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the interaction schema comprises:

a customer identifier of the customer;

an employee identifier of the employee; and

a utilization rating for the interaction.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly detecting within the business establishment a wireless device carried by a customer further comprises:

detecting an entry of the customer into the business establishment.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an event that terminates the session further comprises:

detecting an exit of the customer from the business establishment.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an average duration of a customer session.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an average amount spent for a customer session.