System and method for providing shopping aids and incentives to customers through a computer network

Abstract

A system and method for delivering purchasing incentives and a variety of other retail shopping aids through a computer network, such as by E-mail over the Internet or the World Wide Web. Customers ( 10 ) of retail stores can establish a bi-directional communication link with the system, log in ( 16 ) to the system, and then elect to browse among available purchasing incentive offers ( 18, 22 ), or elect to explore other shopping aids, such as a shopping list generator ( 26 ), a recipe center ( 30 ), or simply elect to claim a product rebate or to receive product information. If the customer elects to have product information or rebate information delivered, only minimal customer identification is required. For purchase incentives redeemable at retail stores, the customer must provide identification information and must also designate a retailer ( 12 ) at which the purchasing incentive can be exercised. For receipt of focused incentives based the customer's past shopping behavior, the customer must also supply a unique customer id., such as a check cashing card number or credit card number, used for in-store purchases. For delivery of a product sample, the customer's name and address must be supplied. The system merges this customer-supplied information ( 270 ) with other purchase incentive data ( 272 ) and creates a printable graphical image of the purchasing incentive ( 282 ) for transmission to the customer. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the purchase incentive is not transmitted directly to the customer. Instead, the terms of the incentive are transmitted electronically to the retail store ( 310 ) designated by the customer, who receives either a token ( 316 ) to present at the store or an advisory message. In yet another embodiment of the invention, incentives may be targeted to specific consumers based on a consumer purchase history ( 502 ), and transmitted to consumers' computers ( 510 ) using electronic mail addresses stored in a consumer database ( 506 ).

We claim:  
     
         1 . A method for distributing purchasing incentives to retail customers, comprising the following steps performed at a central site in cooperation with a communication device at a customer site: 
 logging in a remotely located customer using identity data and region data transmitted by the customer over a communication network;    transmitting over the communication network a plurality of incentive offers to the registered customer, the incentive offers being exercisable in the customer's region;    receiving incentive offer selection data from the customer over the communication network, the offer selection data including the designation of a retailer at which selected offer or offers may be exercised;    generating a purchasing incentive containing in encoded form the identity of the retailer designated by the customer and the identity of the customer; and    transmitting at least one incentive to the customer over the communication network, wherein the transmitted incentive is encoded with the identity of the retailer selected by the customer.    
     
     
         2 . A method as defined in  claim 1 , and further comprising the step of: 
 communicating with the customer concerning the use of other shopping aids.    
     
     
         3 . A method as defined in  claim 2 , wherein the step of communicating with the customer includes: 
 transmitting a list of products available for purchase;    receiving customer selections from the list of products; and    transmitting a shopping list to the customer.    
     
     
         4 . A method as defined in  claim 2 , wherein the step of communicating with the customer includes: 
 transmitting a list of recipes to the customer;    receiving customer selection of one or more recipes;    transmitting back to the customer a shopping list that includes ingredient products needed in each selected recipe; and    transmitting to the customer at least one purchase incentive pertaining to an ingredient product used in a selected recipe.    
     
     
         5 . A method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the step of transmitting a plurality of incentive offers includes transmitting incentive offers from specific product manufacturers.  
     
     
         6 . A method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the step of transmitting a plurality of incentive offers includes transmitting incentive offers from specific retailers.  
     
     
         7 . A method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the step of generating a purchase incentive includes: 
 converting textual and numeric information provided by the customer to graphical form;    converting other textual and numeric information to graphical form; and    merging the converted information with other graphical information defining the incentive, to form a composite graphical incentive image for transmission to the customer.    
     
     
         8 . A method as defined in  claim 7 , wherein the step of generating a purchase incentive further includes: 
 generating a complex graphical background pattern for the incentive image; and    merging the background information with the textual. numeric and other graphical information in the incentive image.    
     
     
         9 . A method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the step of transmitting at least one incentive includes: 
 transmitting only an advisory message to the customer; and    transmitting the terms of the incentive directly to the retail store selected by the customer, for use by the customer on a subsequent visit to the store.    
     
     
         10 . A method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the step of transmitting at least one incentive includes: 
 transmitting only an incentive token to the customer; and    transmitting the terms of the incentive directly to the retail store selected by the customer, for use by the customer, who brings the token to the store on a subsequent visit.    
     
     
         11 . A method for distributing purchasing incentives and other shopping aids to customers over a communication network, the method comprising the steps of: 
 logging in as a customer by providing at least an individual identification, a postal region code, and retail store selection;    transmitting from a central site and receiving at a remote customer site, a plurality of incentive offers, each of which is exercisable only in the customer's postal region;    selecting at the customer site one or more of the incentive offers and transmitting these selections back to the central site;    generating at least one purchasing incentive containing in encoded form the identity of the retail store selected by the customer and the identity of the customer, and    transmitting the at least one incentive to the customer.    
     
     
         12 . A method as defined in  claim 11 , and further comprising: 
 in response to a customer's action, transmitting a shopping list to the customer for selection of products;    receiving the customers selection of products on the shopping list; and    transmitting a customer-specific shopping list to the customer as a shopping aid.    
     
     
         13 . A method as defined in  claim 11 , and further comprising: 
 in response to a customer's action, transmitting a recipe list to the customer for possible selection of a recipe;    receiving the customer's selection of one or more recipes; and    transmitting a complete recipe to the customer, including a list of ingredients, and transmitting any purchasing incentives tied to ingredients of the recipe.    
     
     
         14 . A method as defined in  claim 11 , wherein the step of transmitting a plurality of incentive offers includes: 
 transmitting one set of incentive offers originating from product manufacturers; and    transmitting another set of incentive offers originating from product retailers.    
     
     
         15 . A system for distributing purchasing incentives to retail customers, comprising: 
 a communication network establishing two-way communication between a central site and each of a plurality of customer devices;    a file at the central site containing a plurality of incentive offers;    a computer located at the central site, the computer including 
 means for storing customer information at the central site, based on information transmitted from any of the customer devices to the central site computer, over the communication network, the customer information including geographical region data and identification data;  
 means for retrieving incentive offers from the file of incentive offers, based on the customer's geographical region, and transmitting the retrieved offers to the customer over the communication network;  
 means for receiving customer selections made from the incentive offers transmitted to the customer, and for receiving a customer designation of a retailer at which the selected incentives are to be exercised;  
 means for generating at least one purchasing incentive containing in encoded form the identity of the retailer designated by the customer and the identity of the customer; and  
 means for transmitting the generated purchasing incentive to the customer over the communication network.  
   
     
     
         16 . A system as defined in  claim 15 , wherein: 
 the system further comprises another file at the central site containing a list of products available for purchase; and    the computer at the central site further includes means, responsive to a customer request, for transmitting the list of products to the customer, receiving customer selections from the list, and transmitting a shopping list back to the customer.    
     
     
         17 . A system as defined in  claim 15 , wherein: 
 the system further comprises another file at the central site containing a list of recipes available for customer use; and    the computer at the central site further includes means. responsive to a customer request, for transmitting the list of recipes to the customer, receiving customer selections from the list, and transmitting complete recipes back to the customer, together with an ingredients shopping list and any associated purchasing incentives.    
     
     
         18 . A system as defined in  claim 15 , wherein the means for retrieving incentive offers and transmitting them to the customer includes: 
 a manufacturer offer file containing purchasing incentive offers currently proposed by manufacturers of products for sale to customers.    
     
     
         19 . A system as defined in  claim 15 , wherein the means for retrieving incentive offers and transmitting them to the customer includes: 
 a retailer offer file containing purchasing incentive offers currently proposed by retailers of products for sale to customers.    
     
     
         20 . A system as defined in  claim 15 , wherein: 
 the generated purchasing incentive is transmitted to the customer in the form of an advisory message only; and    the computer further includes means for transmitting the terms of a purchasing incentive directly to the retail store designated by the customer, who may then exercise the incentive upon visiting the designated store.    
     
     
         21 . A system as defined in  claim 15 , wherein: 
 the generated purchasing incentive is transmitted to the customer in the form of an encoded token only; and    the computer further includes means for transmitting the terms of the purchasing incentive directly to the retail store designated by the customer, who may then exercise the incentive upon visiting the designated store.    
     
     
         22 . A system as defined in  claim 15 , wherein: 
 the computer located at the central site further includes means for storing a customer id. volunteered by the customer and used in prior purchases by the customer; and    the means for generating at least one purchasing incentive includes means for generating a purchasing incentive based on the customer's prior purchasing behavior.    
     
     
         23 . A method for distributing purchasing incentives and other shopping aids to customers over a communication network, the method comprising the steps of: 
 logging in as a customer by providing at least a customer id. used by the customer in purchase transactions a retail store, and a customer postal region;    transmitting from a central site and receiving at a remote customer site, a plurality of incentive offers, each of which is exercisable based on the customer's postal region. at least one of the offers being based on the customer's prior shopping behavior as determined from the customer id.;    selecting at the customer site one or more of the incentive offers and transmitting these selections back to the central site;    generating at least one purchasing incentive selected by the customer; and    transmitting the at least one incentive to the customer.    
     
     
         24 . A method for distributing purchasing incentives to retail customers, comprising the steps of: 
 maintaining a consumer purchase history database derived in part from accumulated purchase data of identifiable consumers;    maintaining a consumer database that identifies consumers by their electronic addresses;    generating purchase incentives for selected consumers; and    transmitting the purchase incentives to the selected consumers by electronic mail.    
     
     
         25 . A method as defined in  claim 24 , wherein: 
 the step of maintaining the consumer database includes obtaining registration information from each consumer who logs in to a communications system information site, and transferring electronic mail information to the consumer database.    
     
     
         26 . A method as defined in  claim 24 , and further comprising the step of: 
 selecting consumers to receive at least one purchase incentive on the basis of demographic data stored in the consumer database.    
     
     
         27 . A method as defmed in  claim 24 , and further comprising the step of: 
 selecting consumers to receive at least on purchase incentive on the basis of non-demographic factors such as frequency of usage of coupons and frequency of usage of the online system.