Determining pricing information from merchant data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10339548-B1
Application number	US-201414289467-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 28, 2014
Priority date	Mar 24, 2014
Publication date	Jul 2, 2019
Grant date	Jul 2, 2019

Abstract

A service provider may receive item price information and/or point of sale (POS) transaction information from a plurality of merchant devices associated with a plurality of merchants. The service provider may categorize the plurality of merchants according to the types of items offered by the respective merchants, and may further categorize the merchants according to the locations at which they conduct business. The service provider may subsequently determine a price recommendation or other pricing information for a particular item offered by a particular merchant. A merchant device of the particular merchant may present the pricing information in a user interface that enables the merchant to view projected sales at various different price points. Further, the merchant may be able to specify one or more factors used for determining the recommend price, such as a desired business model, a desired clientele, a desired profit margin, or the like.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system implementing a payment service for communicating over one or more networks with a plurality of point of sale (POS) devices associated with a plurality of merchants, the 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 the plurality of POS devices executing respective instances of a merchant application, POS transaction information for a plurality of POS transactions occurring at a plurality of POS transaction locations;
associate the POS transaction information with individual merchant profiles corresponding to respective POS devices from which the POS transaction information was received;
associate the individual merchant profiles with at least one merchant category of a plurality of merchant categories, wherein the plurality of merchant categories are based at least in part on items offered via the respective POS devices;
associate the individual merchant profiles with one or more location categories based at least in part on the POS transaction locations associated with the respective POS devices, wherein the one or more location categories include a type of venue in which a POS transaction occurs;
securely store the individual merchant profiles in a database associated with the payment service;
receive, from a particular POS device associated with a particular merchant profile, information related to a particular item;
determine a merchant category associated with the particular merchant profile;
determine, based at least in part on a location of the particular POS device, at least one location category associated with the particular merchant profile;
determine a subset of the merchant profiles, wherein the merchant profiles in the subset are associated with at least one of a same merchant category or a same location category as the particular merchant profile;
determine pricing information for the particular item from the POS transaction information associated with the subset of the merchant profiles, wherein the pricing information includes a recommended price for the particular item;
send the pricing information to the particular POS device;
receive, from the particular POS device, an indication of a selection at the particular POS device of the recommended price;
receive, from the particular POS device, an indication of a transaction with a customer at the particular POS device, wherein the transaction comprises at least a sale of the particular item; and
process a payment for the transaction, wherein the payment includes funds associated with the particular item and corresponding to the recommended price.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:
associate individual POS transactions from the POS transaction information with a plurality of respective buyer profiles, wherein individual buyer profiles include respective buyer information and information regarding at least one POS transaction associated with the respective buyer information; and
determine a subset of the buyer profiles that each include information regarding one or more POS transactions associated with at least one of the particular merchant profile or the subset of merchant profiles for acquiring the particular item;
wherein the determining the pricing information is based at least in part on prices paid for the particular item as indicated in the information regarding the one or more POS transactions included in the subset of buyer profiles.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to determine the recommended price based on one or more factors comprising at least one of:
a cost of the particular item associated with the particular merchant profile;
a specified profit margin associated with the particular merchant profile;
at least one specified buyer characteristic associated with the particular merchant profile; or
an expressed or implied business model associated with the particular merchant profile.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the pricing information indicates prices of items previously selected through respective POS devices associated with the individual merchant profiles; and
the POS transaction information indicates, for individual POS transactions of a plurality of POS transactions, at least one item acquired during each POS transaction and a price paid for acquiring the at least one item.

5. A method comprising:
receiving, by a service computing device associated with a payment service, from a plurality of point of sale (POS) devices associated with a plurality of respective merchant profiles and executing respective instances of a merchant application, POS transaction information, the payment service being configured to communicate with the plurality of POS devices;
receiving, from a POS device associated with a particular merchant profile, a request for information regarding pricing of a particular item;
determining, from the particular merchant profile, a location of the POS device;
determining a subset of the plurality of merchant profiles, wherein each of the merchant profiles in the subset of merchant profiles are associated with a location that is within a predetermined proximity to the location of the POS device;
associating the POS transaction information with a plurality of buyer profiles, wherein individual buyer profiles include buyer information and information regarding at least one POS transaction associated with the buyer information;
determining a subset of the buyer profiles that include information regarding one or more POS transactions for acquiring the particular item;
determining pricing information for the particular item, based at least in part on the POS transaction information associated with the subset of merchant profiles and on the information regarding one or more POS transactions for acquiring the particular item included in the subset of the buyer profiles; and
sending the pricing information to the POS device associated with the particular merchant profile.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , further comprising:
associating the POS transaction information with respective merchant profiles corresponding to respective POS devices from which the POS transaction information was received,
wherein the merchant profiles in the subset of merchant profiles are similar to the particular merchant profile with respect to types of items offered.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the determining the subset of merchant profiles further comprises:
associating each of the plurality of merchant profiles and the particular merchant profile with at least one merchant category of a plurality of merchant categories, wherein the merchant categories are based at least in part on the items offered through the respective POS devices corresponding to the respective merchant profiles;
wherein determining the subset of the merchant profiles is based at least in part on the merchant profiles in the subset being associated with a same merchant category as the particular merchant profile.

8. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising:
associating each of the plurality of merchant profiles and the particular merchant profile with at least one location category, wherein a location category indicates at least one of a geographic region, a portion of a geographic region, or a defined physical area; and
wherein the determining the subset of the merchant profiles is based at least in part on the merchant profiles in the subset being associated with a s

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Kumar Abhay
• Yan Rong
• Ng Mason
• Perrone Gian
• Leduc Mai

Classifications

• G06Q30/0268

  at point-of-sale [POS] · CPC title

• G06Q30/0253

  During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions · CPC title

• G06Q30/0206 Primary

  Price or cost determination based on market factors · CPC title

• G06Q30/0205

  based on location or geographical consideration · CPC title

• G06Q30/0264

  based upon schedule · CPC title