Customer loyalty investment program system and method

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a customer loyalty investment program system and method. In one embodiment, the invention is used in e-commerce. In another embodiment, the invention may be used for on-line and/or off-line commerce using a credit card. The system illustratively includes a web server containing a web site and a database server containing a member information, merchant information, fund information, purchase/rebate information, on-line financial products/services information, and an input/output means. The method may include negotiating rebate percentages with merchants, registering members, receiving rebates from the merchants based on member purchases, investing the rebates in the fund, and issuing shares in the fund to members based on rebates received as a result of their respective purchases. Advantageously, the composition of the fund preferably reflects the rebates received from the merchants. In the credit card embodiment, rebates may be received from both a credit card issuer and merchants agreeing to provide rebates based on member purchases using the credit card.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of providing an investment fund comprising the steps of: 
 registering members;    receiving rebates from merchants based on purchases made by the members from the merchants; and    investing the rebates in the fund;    wherein the composition of the fund reflects at least in part the rebates received from the merchants.    
     
     
         2 . A method of providing an investment fund based on rebates received from on-line purchases comprising the steps of: 
 registering members;    receiving rebates from on-line merchants based on purchases made by the members at the on-line merchants;    investing the rebates in the fund;    issuing shares in the fund to each respective member based on the rebates received from the on-line merchants as a result of purchases made by that member; and    purchasing securities of each respective on-line merchant based on the rebates received from that on-line merchant.    
     
     
         3 . A method of providing an investment fund based on rebates received from on-line purchases comprising the steps of: 
 registering members using a computer;    identifying member purchases made at the on-line merchant sites;    receiving rebates from the merchants based on member purchases;    investing the rebates in the fund;    issuing shares to each member based on the rebates received from merchants as a result of purchases made by that member;    for rebates received from public merchants, purchasing securities of each public merchant based on the amount of rebates received from that particular merchant; and    for rebates received from private merchants, purchasing securities in the public merchants as a function of the fund's then existing portfolio.    
     
     
         4 . A method, using a computer, of directing management of an investment fund based on rebates received from on-line purchases comprising the steps of: 
 registering members using a computer;    maintaining storage information including member database information relating to participating members, merchant database information relating to merchants that have agreed to provide rebates for member purchases, rebate database information, and fund database information;    receiving rebate data information from the on-line merchants relating to member purchases made at the on-line merchants;    updating the stored rebate database information; and    generating information relating to the issuance of shares to each respective member based on the rebate data information and information relating to the purchase of securities issued by each respective on-line merchant based on the rebate data information.    
     
     
         5 . A system for administering an investment fund, comprising: 
 means for registering members;    means for receiving rebates from merchants based on member purchases made at the merchants;    means for investing the rebates in the fund;    means for issuing shares in the investment fund to each respective member based on rebates received as a result of his purchases; and    means for purchasing securities issued by each respective merchant as a function of the rebates received from that merchant.    
     
     
         6 . A system for administering an investment fund based on rebates received from on-line purchases comprising: 
 a computer system accessible for on-line communication, the computer system comprising: 
 a storage that maintains member database information relating to participating members, merchant database information relating to merchants that have agreed to provide rebates for member purchases, rebate database information, and fund database information; and  
 an instruction generating component that generates information relating to the issuance of shares to each respective member based on the amount of rebates received from merchants as a result of purchases made by that member and also generates information relating to the purchase of securities issued by each respective merchant based on the rebates received from that merchant.  
   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the instruction generating component is coupled to a FTP server and the information relating to the issuance of shares is transmitted via a FTP file to a transfer agent who issues shares in the fund.  
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the instruction generating component is coupled to a FTP server and the information relating to the purchase of securities is transmitted via a FTP file to a broker who purchases the securities.  
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the instruction generating component issues the shares and purchases the merchant securities.  
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the instruction generating component generates the information relating to the issuance of shares by querying the stored rebate database information.  
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the instruction generating component generates the information relating to the purchase of securities by querying the rebate database information.  
     
     
         12 . A system for administering an investment fund, comprising: 
 a membership registration component for registering members;    a rebate tracking component that tracks rebates received from merchants based on purchases made by members at the merchants; and    an instruction generating component that generates information relating to the issuance of shares in the investment fund to each respective member based on his respective determined rebates for a given period and generates instructions relating to the purchase of securities issued by each respective merchant as a function of the rebates received from that merchant during the given period.    
     
     
         13 . A system for administering an investment fund comprising: 
 a membership registration component;    a total purchase calculation component that calculates for each member a figure corresponding to that member's total purchase amount using a credit card during a period of time;    a rebate tracking component that tracks rebates received from merchants based on member purchases at the merchants using the credit card; and    an instruction generating component that generates information relating to the issuance of shares in the investment fund to each respective member based on their respective determined rebate amounts and the portion of the total purchase amount figure, and information relating to the investment of a portion of the total purchase amount figure and the rebates in the fund.    
     
     
         14 . A method of providing an investment fund comprising the steps of: 
 registering members;    calculating for each member a rebate corresponding to a percentage of that member's total purchase amount using a credit card during a period of time;    receiving rebates from the credit card issuer based on the rebate figure for each member during the period of time;    investing the credit card issuer rebates in the fund;    receiving rebates from merchants based on member purchases using the credit card; and    investing the merchant rebates in the fund; wherein the composition of the fund reflects at least in part the rebates received from the merchants.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the step of investing the credit card issuer rebates in the fund includes investing the rebates across the fund's then existing portfolio.  
     
     
         16 . A method of providing an investment fund comprising the steps of: 
 registering members;    calculating for each member a rebate corresponding to a percentage of that member's total purchase amount using a credit card during a period of time;    receiving rebates from the credit card issuer based on the rebate figure for each member during the period of time; and    investing the credit card issuer rebates in the fund across the fund's then existing portfolio.