Methods and systems to provide price matching offers to potential customers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10102551-B2
Application number	US-201314136507-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2013
Priority date	Dec 20, 2013
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing coupons to a customer are provided. The method may include a computer server associated with a store receiving, from a customer, an image of a receipt from a competing store. The server may identify a product on the receipt which was purchased by the customer at the competing store and a purchase price. The server may compare the product with a corresponding product sold by the store to determine if the product was purchased by the customer at the competing store for a lower price than a price at which the corresponding product is sold at the store. The server may prepare a coupon for the customer to offer the customer a discount for shopping at the store if the product was purchased by the customer at the competing store for a lower price and transmit the coupon to the customer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method comprising:
providing an application to a customer for installation on a customer computer;
providing a computer server associated with a brick and mortar store and communicatively coupled to the application, the computer server comprising at least one processor and a memory;
providing a scanner within the brick and mortar store communicatively coupled to the computer server;
providing a product database stored on the memory of the computer server;
receiving from the application, by the computer server, an image of a receipt from a competing store, wherein the at least one processor of the computer server is configured to:
process the image of the receipt using optical character recognition;
identify a first UPC code of a plurality of UPC codes associated with a first product on the receipt to thereby identify the first product on the receipt which was purchased by the customer at the competing store;
query the product database to identify a corresponding product sold by the brick and mortar store associated with the first UPC code associated with the first product on the receipt, wherein the product database stores a plurality of product information for products sold at the brick and mortar store comprising the plurality of UPC codes, a plurality of product descriptions, and customer purchase data for each of the plurality of UPC codes;
identify, from the receipt, a price at which the first product was purchased at the competing store;
compare at least the first product, the price, and the first UPC code to the product database to determine whether the corresponding product is sold by the brick and mortar store and whether one or more other products of a brand of the first product is sold by the brick and mortar store;
when the corresponding product is not sold by the brick and mortar store, use a first product description of the plurality of product descriptions associated with the first UPC code of the first product to query the product database to identify the one or more other products of the brand of the first product sold by the brick and mortar store;
analyze the first product description associated with the first UPC code of the first product to determine whether the brick and mortar store sells one or more other brands of the first product, wherein the one or more other brands of the first product has a UPC code distinct from the first UPC code of the first product;
determine a genus and each species of the corresponding product and the one or more other brands of the first product;
when the brick and mortar store sells the corresponding product, determine whether a price difference exists between the competing store for the first product and the brick and mortar store for the each species of a same genus of the corresponding product;
when the brick and mortar store sells the one or more other brands of the first product, determine whether a price difference exists between the competing store for the first product and the brick and mortar store for the one or more other brands of the first product;
when the brick and mortar store sells the corresponding product or the one or more other brands of the first product, determine whether the genus or the each species of the corresponding product or the one or more other brands of the first product is of greater significance to the customer by (a) using the customer purchase data for the corresponding product and the one or more other brands of the first product and (b) comparing product purchases of the first product on the receipt made by the customer at the competing store with product purchases of at least one of the corresponding product or the one or more other brands of the first product made by the customer at the brick and mortar store;
when the brick and mortar store sells the corresponding product or the one or more other brands of the first product, compare the first product with the corresponding product or the one or more other brands of the first product to determine that the first product was purchased by the customer at the competing store for a lower price than a price at which the at least one of the corresponding product or the one or more other brands of the first product is sold by the brick and mortar store;
when the first product was purchased by the customer at the competing store at the lower price, prepare a coupon based on the determination of whether the genus of the each species of the corresponding product or the one or more other brands of the first product is of greater significance to the customer, the coupon offering a discount for shopping at the brick and mortar store which is equal to a price difference between the price at which the first product was purchased by the customer at the competing store and the price at which the at least one of the corresponding product or the one or more other brands of the first product is sold at the brick and mortar store; and
format the coupon into a notification, wherein the coupon includes a machine-readable code;

create a second coupon based on the customer purchase data from prior purchases at the competing store specific to the customer, wherein the second coupon is formatted into a second notification, wherein the second coupon includes a second machine-readable code;
transmitting the notification by the computer server over a wireless communication channel to the customer computer, wherein the notification comprises a pop-up window;
generating, by the computer server, a user interface of the application for display on the customer computer, the user interface including the pop-up window;
displaying the coupon and the second coupon to the customer on the user interface; and
scanning, by the scanner, the machine-readable code to allow the customer to redeem the coupon for purchasing the corresponding product or the one or more other brands of the first product at the brick and mortar store and to adjust the price of the at least one of the corresponding product or the one or more other brands of the first product at the brick and mortar store by the coupon.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein use the first product description associated with the first UPC code of the first product to query the product database to identify the one or more other brands of the first product further comprises:
querying the product database for the products matching the genus of the first product, and
identifying one or more products matching the genus of the first product but having a different species than a species of the first product.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the genus of the first product is a type of the first product.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the species of the first product is a brand of the first product.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the species of the first product is a brand of the first product, and one or more characteristics associated with the first product.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the species of the one or more products is one or more brands of the one or more first products, and one or more characteristics associated with each of the one or more first products.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprises providing an invitation to the customer to create an account with the brick and mortar store.

8. A computer implemented method comprising:
providing an application to a customer for installation on a customer computer;
providing a computer server associated with a brick and mortar store and communicatively coupled to the application, the computer server comprising at least one processor and a memory;
providing a scanner within the brick and mortar store communicatively coupled to the computer server;
providing a pro

Assignees

• Wal Mart Stores Inc
• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Carr David Jon
• Ramsden Richard Mark

Classifications

• G06Q30/0255

  based on user history · CPC title

• G06K9/18

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/00469

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06Q30/0276 Primary

  Advertisement creation · CPC title

• G06V30/224

  of printed characters having additional code marks or containing code marks · CPC title