Geographically targeted, time-based promotions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11640624-B2
Application number	US-202016888642-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 29, 2020
Priority date	Sep 10, 2014
Publication date	May 2, 2023
Grant date	May 2, 2023

Abstract

Technology is disclosed for facilitating and processing cross-merchant promotions. In examples, the disclosed technology comprises processing transaction data for a first merchant and a second merchant that includes identifiers for merchant, customer, location, and item; generating a recommendation for the merchants to participate in a cross-merchant promotion based on a determination that they are complementary; facilitating a notification of the promotion to customers; receiving transaction data for another transaction of the first merchant; applying the promotion to the transaction based on a customer transaction history of the customer; processing payment for the transaction; apportioning the payment to the first and second merchant according to an agreement between them; and presenting a notification of application of the promotion on a merchant device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
processing, by one or more processors of a payment service, first transaction data associated with one or more first transactions of a first merchant having a first account registered with the payment service, wherein the first transaction data includes, for an individual first transaction of the one or more first transactions, an identifier of the first merchant, an identifier of a customer associated with the first transaction, an identifier of a location of the first transaction, and an identifier of one or more first items purchased in the first transaction;
processing, by the one or more processors of the payment service, second transaction data associated with one or more second transactions of a second merchant having a second account registered with the payment service, wherein the second transaction data includes, for an individual second transaction of the one or more second transactions, an identifier of the second merchant, an identifier of a customer associated with the second transaction, an identifier of a location of the second transaction, and an identifier of one or more second items purchased in the second transaction;
storing, by the one or more processors of the payment service, the first transaction data and first inventory data associated with the first merchant in a first data structure of a central database, the first data structure being associated with the first merchant and separate from data structures associated with other merchants;
storing, by the one or more processors of the payment service, the second transaction data and second inventory data associated with the second merchant in a second data structure of the central database, the second data structure being associated with the second merchant and separate from data structures associated with other merchants;
based at least in part on the first inventory data and the second inventory data, determining, by the one or more processors of the payment service, that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants;
generating, by the one or more processors of the payment service, a recommendation for the first merchant and the second merchant to participate in at least one cross-merchant promotion;
upon receiving an indication that the first merchant and the second merchant intend to participate in the at least one cross-merchant promotion, facilitating, by the one or more processors of the payment service, transmission of a notification of the at least one cross-merchant promotion to one or more customers of at least the first merchant or-the second merchant;
receiving, by the one or more processors of the payment service, third transaction data associated with a third transaction of the first merchant, wherein the third transaction data includes a payment card number of a payment card offered for payment;
based at least in part on the payment card number, determining, by the one or more processors of the payment service, to apply the at least one cross-merchant promotion to the third transaction based on a transaction history of a customer associated with the payment card number;
processing, by the one or more processors of the payment service, a payment associated with the third transaction, wherein the payment is based at least in part on the at least one cross-merchant promotion;
apportioning, by the one or more processors of the payment service, the payment to the first merchant and the second merchant according to an agreement between the first merchant and the second merchant; and
causing presentation, by the one or more processors of the payment service and on at least one of a first merchant device of the first merchant or a second merchant device of the second merchant, of a notification of application of the at least one cross-merchant promotion in the third transaction.

2. The method as claim 1 recites, wherein determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants is further based at least in part on an indication that the first merchant and the second merchant are willing to participate in cross-merchant promotions.

3. The method as claim 1 recites, wherein determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants is further based at least in part on a business relationship between the first merchant and the second merchant.

4. The method as claim 1 recites, further comprising:
receiving, by the one or more processors of the payment service from the first merchant device of the first merchant, input via a user interface provided to the first merchant device by the one or more processors of the payment service, and wherein the input is associated with one or more types of merchants that the first merchant prefers to be paired with in cross-merchant promotions,
wherein determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants is further based at least in part on the input.

5. The method as claim 1 recites, wherein determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants based at least in part on the first inventory data and the second inventory data comprises determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants based at least in part on one or more first inventory items of the first merchant and one or more second inventory items of the second merchant being at least one of (1) a similar item type, (2) purchased within a threshold amount of time of each other in a spending trend of at least one customer, or (3) purchased in a same transaction.

6. The method as claim 1 recites, wherein determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants based at least in part on the first inventory data and the second inventory data comprises determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants based on a location of one or more first inventory items of the first merchant being within a threshold distance of a location of one or more second inventory items of the second merchant.

7. The method as claim 1 recites, wherein determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants is further based at least in part on the first transaction data and the second transaction data.

8. The method as claim 7 recites, wherein determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants based at least in part on the first transaction data and the second transaction data comprises determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are at least one of (1) merchants from whom one or more customers purchase within a threshold amount of time, (2) merchants associated with one or more customers sharing demographic attributes, (3) merchants associated with similar items purchased in the one or more first transactions and the one or more second transactions, or (4) merchants associated with transactions involving a same customer identifier.

9. The method as claim 1 recites, wherein determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants based at least in part on the first inventory data and the second inventory data comprises determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants based at least in part on output of a data model that has received as input third inventory data associated with a plurality of merchants.

10. The method as claim 1 recites, wherein the notification of the at least one cross-merchant promotion comprises a direct message, an online advertisement, or a digital receipt.

11. The method as claim

Assignees

• Block Inc

Inventors

• Brock Zachary
• Crepezzi John Ryan
• Bell Bruce

Classifications

• G06Q30/0214

  Referral reward systems · CPC title

• G06Q30/0259

  based on store location · CPC title

• G06Q30/0271

  Personalized advertisement · CPC title

• G06Q30/0224

  based on user history · CPC title

• G06Q30/0268 Primary

  at point-of-sale [POS] · CPC title