Determining pricing information from merchant data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11210725-B2
Application number	US-201916431671-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 4, 2019
Priority date	Mar 24, 2014
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

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 method comprising:
receiving, by one or more servers of a payment processing service (PPS) and from merchant devices of a plurality of merchants, transaction data corresponding to transactions of the plurality of merchants;
receiving, by the one or more servers, information regarding an item to be associated with an inventory of a merchant of the plurality of merchants;
using the transaction data, processing, by the one or more servers, payments for the transactions, wherein processing a payment associated with a transaction conducted with a payment instrument includes sending, by the PPS and to a computing device of at least one of a card payment network or a financial institution, a request for authorization to use the payment instrument in the transaction;
using the transaction data, determining, by the one or more servers, that the merchant is substantially similar to another merchant of the plurality of merchants;
responsive at least in part to determining that the merchant is substantially similar to the other merchant, determining, by the one or more servers and based at least in part on a subset of the transaction data that is associated with transactions of the other merchant and the information regarding the item, a recommended price for the item, wherein the recommended price comprises a price charged by the other merchant for a same or similar item; and
causing presentation, by the one or more servers and on a merchant device of the merchant, of the recommended price.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing presentation of the recommended price comprises causing presentation of the recommended price via a user interface of a display associated with the merchant device of the merchant.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the one or more servers and based at least in part on the transaction data corresponding to the transactions of the plurality of merchants, that a first quantity of the item was sold at a first price during a first time period and that a second quantity of the item was sold at a second price during the first time period;
based at least in part on determining that the first quantity of the item was sold at the first price during the first time period and that the second quantity of the item was sold at the second price during the first time period, estimating, by the one or more servers, an estimated sales volume of the item, wherein the estimated sales volume comprises an estimated quantity of the item that would be sold during a second time period if priced at the recommended price; and
causing presentation of, by the one or more servers on the merchant device of the merchant, the estimated sales volume of the item at the recommended price.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the estimated sales volume comprises a first estimated sales volume, and the method further comprising:
causing presentation of, by the one or more servers, at least one interactive graphic element via the user interface concurrently with the recommended price; and
in response to a user input associated with the at least one interactive graphic element, causing presentation of, the one or more servers and via the user interface, a second estimated sales volume for the item at a different price than the recommended price.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one interactive graphic element includes a sliding scale of prices and a slider element, and wherein the user input comprises movement of the slider element along the sliding scale.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
based at least in part on receiving an indication of a first user input to the user interface representing a change in one or more factors for determining the recommended price, causing presentation of, by the one or more servers, an updated recommended price; and
based at least in part on receiving a second user input to the user interface, setting, by the one or more servers, a currently presented price as a selected price for the item.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the one or more factors includes a cost for the item paid by the merchant, a desired profit margin, a characteristic of a desired buyer, or a business model associated with the merchant.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the merchant is substantially similar to the other merchant comprises:
determining, based at least in part on the transaction data corresponding to the transactions of the plurality of merchants, that at least one of:
the merchant device of the merchant is within a predetermined proximity to a second merchant device of the other merchant;
the merchant and the other merchant are in a same merchant category;
the merchant and the other merchant each sold one or more instances of a same item; or
the merchant and the other merchant each sold one or more items of a same or similar item type.

9. A system implementing a payment service for communicating over one or more networks with a plurality of merchant 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, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive information regarding an item to be associated with an inventory of a first merchant;
process payments for transactions using first transaction data received from a first merchant device associated with the first merchant and second transaction data from a second merchant device associated with a second merchant, wherein processing a payment for a transaction includes sending, to a computing device of at least one of a card payment network or a financial institution corresponding to a payment instrument associated with the transaction, a request for authorization to use the payment instrument in the transaction;
based at least in part on the first transaction data and the second transaction data, determine that the first merchant is substantially similar to the second merchant;
responsive at least in part to determining that the first merchant is substantially similar to the second merchant, determine, based at least in part on the second transaction data and the information regarding the item, a recommended price for the item, wherein the recommended price comprises a price charged by the second merchant for a same or similar item; and
cause presentation of the recommended price on the first merchant device.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein causing presentation of the recommended price on the first merchant device comprises causing display of the recommended price via a user interface of a display associated with the first merchant device.

11. The system of claim 9 , the instructions further causing the one or more processors to:
cause presentation of at least one interactive graphic element on the first merchant device via the user interface concurrently with the recommended price; and
in response to a user input associated with the at least one interactive graphic element, cause presentation of an estimated sales volume for the item on the first merchant device at a different price than the recommended price.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one interactive graphic element includes a sliding scale of prices and a slider element, and wherein the user input comprises movement of the slider element along the sliding scale.

13. The system of claim 10 , the instructions further causing the one or more processors to:
based at least in part on receiving an indi

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• G06Q30/0631 Primary

  Recommending goods or services · CPC title

• G06Q30/0205

  based on location or geographical consideration · CPC title

• G06Q30/0206

  Price or cost determination based on market factors · CPC title

• G06Q30/0268

  at point-of-sale [POS] · CPC title

• G06Q30/0255

  based on user history · CPC title