Electronic Offer Management System and Method Thereof

Abstract

An electronic offer management system and method thereof is disclosed. In particular, the system comprises means for receiving information related to a plurality of offers distributed by a plurality of different offer distributors to customer for redemption at plurality of stores, means for automatically routing the information related to an offer to a point-of-sale system of each store in which the offer can be redeemed, and means for automatically clearing the offers redeemed by the customer at the stores. The system further comprises means for automatically reconciling financial obligations associated with each cleared offer, as well means for dynamically profiling customers so that improved offer targeting can be achieved.

1 - 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . A method of electronic management of electronic offer transactions comprising:
 (a) receiving a plurality of offers redeemable at a plurality of stores, the offers containing information from a plurality of different offer distributors wherein the offers do not have a standard format that can be read by all point-of-sale systems of all retailers at which such offers may be redeemed;   (b) transforming the information contained in the plurality of offers to create standardized electronic offers having a standard format;   (c) electronically distributing the standardized electronic offers to a network server over the internet;   (d) electronically generating point-of-sale maintenance files by the server that reflect all of the offers received from the plurality of different offer distributors; and   (e) electronically forwarding the point-of-sale maintenance files from the server to an appropriate retailer for placement on a point-of-sale system of the retailer in which the offer is valid, wherein due to the transformation of the offers provided by the network, retailers can automatically accept offers from the plurality of different offer distributors.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  wherein the retailer's point-of-sale system has master offer detail files in which the point-of-sale maintenance files are integrated so that the conditions associated with the offers can be validated. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31  further comprising generating transaction log files by the point-of-sale system for any transaction at the store involving electronic offers distributed by the offer distributors. 
     
     
         34 . A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for generating a report, said method comprising:
 (a) receiving a plurality of offers redeemable at a plurality of stores, the officers containing information from a plurality of different offer distributors wherein the offers do not have a standard format that can be read by all point-of-sale systems of all retailers at which such offers may be redeemed;   (b) transforming the information contained in the plurality of offers to create standardized electronic offers having a standard format;   (c) electronically distributing the standardized electronic offers to a network server over the internet;   (d) electronically generating point-of-sale maintenance files by the server that reflect all of the offers received from the plurality of different offer distributors; and   (e) electronically forwarding the point-of-sale maintenance files from the server to an appropriate retailer for placement on a point-of-sale system of the retailer in which the offer is valid, wherein due to the transformation of the offers provided by the network, retailers can automatically accept offers from the plurality of different offer distributors.   
     
     
         35 . The computer program product of  claim 34  further comprising storing the point-of-sale maintenance files in a database on the network so that information related to all offers available from various offer distributors at a given retailer can be viewed online by customers via a browser interface to the database. 
     
     
         36 . A method of electronic management of electronic offer transactions comprising:
 (a) receiving a plurality of offers redeemable at a plurality of stores, the offers containing information from a plurality of different offer distributors wherein the offers do not have a standard format that can be read by all point-of-sale systems of all retailers at which such offers may be redeemed;   (b) transforming the information contained in the plurality of offers to create standardized electronic offers;   (c) electronically distributing the standardized electronic offers to a network server over the internet;   (d) electronically generating point-of-sale maintenance files by the server that reflect all of the offers received from the plurality of different offer distributors; and   (e) storing the point-of-sale maintenance files in a database on the network so that information related to all offers available from various offer distributors at a given retailer can be viewed online by customers via a browser interface to the database.   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36  further comprising:
 electronically forwarding the point-of-sale maintenance files to an appropriate retailer for placement on a point-of-sale system of the retailer in which the offer is valid, wherein due to the transformation of the offers provided by the network, retailers can automatically accept offers from the plurality of different offer distributors. 
 
     
     
         38 . A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for generating a report, said method comprising:
 (a) receiving a plurality of offers redeemable at a plurality of stores, the offers containing information from a plurality of different offer distributors wherein the offers do not have a standard format that can be read by all point-of-sale systems of all retailers at which such offers may be redeemed;   (b) transforming the information contained in the plurality of offers to create standardized electronic offers;   (c) electronically distributing the standardized electronic offers to a network server over the internet;   (d) electronically generating point-of-sale maintenance files by the server that reflect all of the offers received from the plurality of different offer distributors; and   (e) storing the point-of-sale maintenance files in a database on the network so that information related to all offers available from various offer distributors at a given retailer can be viewed online by customers via a browser interface to the database.   
     
     
         39 . A computer program product further comprising computer readable program code for forwarding the point-of-sale maintenance files to an appropriate retailer for placement on a point-of-sale system of the retailer in which the offer is valid, wherein due to the transformation of the offers provided by the network, retailers can automatically accept offers from the plurality of different offer distributors.