System, method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for evaluating search results in a price comparison system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017193542-A1
Application number	US-201514985981-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 31, 2015
Priority date	Dec 31, 2015
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system, method and computer product that performs a search request against a database of competitor information as a function of a user's transaction and ranks the user as a function of user historical transactions and the search results.

First claim

1 . A system, comprising:
a first database configured to store system usage information of the system, the system usage information being associated with a plurality of customers of a retailer; a second database configured to store pricing information associated with a plurality of products for a plurality of other retailers; a search engine module coupled to the second database and being configured to receive a search engine search request, the search engine search request including transaction data associated with one of the customers at the retailer, the transaction data including a price of a product paid by the one of the customers during a transaction at the retailer, the search engine module further configured to perform a search of the second database as a function of the search engine search request and return pricing information of the product associated with at least one of the other retailers; a credit determination module coupled to the first database and the search engine module and being configured to compare the price paid by the one of the customers and the pricing information of the product associated with at least one of the other retailers, the credit determination module being further configured to award the one of the customers a credit if the comparison of the price paid by the one of the customers and the pricing information of the product associated with at least one of the other retailers meets predefined criteria and to store the search engine search request and any awarded credit in the first database as usage information associated with the one of the customers; a customer scoring module coupled to the first database and being configured to analyze the usage information of the system associated with the plurality of customers and to establish a customer score for each customer as a function of the credit awarded to the respective customer over a plurality of transactions and respective system usage information stored in the first database; and a customer ranking module coupled to the first database and being configured to rank the plurality of customers as a function of the respective customer score.

2 . A system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the search engine module being further configured to receive multiple search engine search requests for the one of the customers, each search engine search request being associated with a respective transaction at the retailer, each transaction having at least one other product associated therewith, the search engine module being further configured to perform a search of the second database as a function of the search engine search request and return pricing information associated with the at least one other product of the respective transaction associated with at least one of the other retailers.

3 . A system, as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the credit determination module is further configured to award a credit to the customer as a function of a price paid by the one of the customers for the at least one other product and the pricing information of the at least one other product associated with the at least one of the other retailers.

4 . A system, as set forth in claim 2 , including a savings module coupled to the first database and the search engine module and being configured to compare the price paid by the one of the customers and the pricing information of the at least one other product associated with the at least one of the other retailers and to establish a savings amount representing an amount saved by the customer for purchasing the product at the retailer.

5 . A system, as set forth in claim 4 , wherein the customer scoring module is further configured to establish the customer score as a function of an amount of credit awarded to the respective customer and/or an amount of savings made by the respective customer over a plurality of transactions.

6 . A system, as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the customer scoring module is further configured to establish the customer score as a function of a number of transactions stored in the first database associated with the one of the customers.

7 . A system, as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the customer scoring module is further configured to establish the customer score as a function of a number of unique products listed associated with the number of transactions stored in the first database and associated with the one of the customers.

8 . A system, as set in claim 2 , wherein each transaction is performed over one of plurality of retail channels, wherein the customer scoring module is further configured to established the customer score as a function of the number of retail channels utilized by the one of the customers.

9 . A system, as set forth in claim 4 , wherein each transaction is performed over one of a plurality of retail channels, wherein the customer scoring module is further configured to establish the customer score as a function of an amount of credit awarded to the respective customer and/or an amount of savings made by the respective customer over a plurality of transactions, a number of transactions stored in the first database associated with the one of the customers, a number of unique products listed associated with the number of transactions stored in the first database and associated with the one of the customers, and a number of retail channels utilized by the one of the customers.

10 . A system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the customer ranking module is configured to establish a ranking of the plurality of customers at different levels.

11 . A system, as set forth in claim 10 , wherein the different levels include a retail store level, a regional level and a global level.

12 . A system, as set forth in claim 1 , including a customer point determination module coupled to the first database and being configured to analyze the usage information of the system associated with the plurality of customers and the ranking of the plurality of customers, to responsively establish a number of customer points for each customer, and to store the number of established customer points associated with each customer in the first database.

13 . A system, as set forth in claim 12 , wherein the customer point determination module is further configured to establish the number of customer points for each customer as a function of a number of times the respective customer has shared usage information of the system over a social network.

14 . A system, as set forth in claim 12 , wherein the customer point determination module is further configured to establish the number of customer points for each customer as a function of a number of referrals made by the respective customer to other customers.

15 . A system, as set forth in claim 12 , wherein the customer point determination module is further configured to establish the number of customer points for each customer as a function of a number of orders made by the respective customer at a retail website associated with the retailer.

16 . A system, as set forth in claim 15 , wherein the customer point determination module is further configured to establish the number of customer points for each customer as a function of a number of different departments associated with the retailer at which the respective customer has purchased product(s).

17 . A method, comprising:
storing, in a first database, usage information of the system, the system usage information being associated with a plurality of customers of a retailer; storing, in a second database, pricing information associated with a plur

Assignees

• Wal Mart Stores Inc

Inventors

• Rapaka Venkata Syam Prakash
• Kumar Sushant
• Nautiyal Arun Kumar

Classifications

• G06Q30/0226 Primary

  Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems · CPC title

• G06Q30/0625

  by formulating product or service queries, e.g. using keywords or predefined options · CPC title

• G06F16/24578

  using ranking · CPC title

• G06F17/3053

  Physics · mapped topic