Product substantiation using approved product list system and method

Abstract

A system and method is presented for product substantiation and promotion redemption. A purchased product list is transmitted from a retail store system to a promotion analysis server along with a user identifier. The promotion analysis server identifies promotions available to the user, and then considers whether the benefits under the promotions are still available to the user. Discounts for available promotions related to the purchased product list are calculated and transmitted to the retail store system for deduction from the transactions. An approved product list can be provided that filters the purchased product list before transmittal. The approved product list can include promotions from a plurality of programs.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of substantiating product purchases during promotion redemption comprising:
 a) at the retail store system, reading a first card presented by a first user, the first card containing an identifier for identifying the first user;   b) at the retail store system, receiving over a network interface a first complete list of approved products, the first list of approved products divided into a plurality of promotions;   c) at the retail store system, determining a first program based on the card;   d) at the retail store system, determining a first subset of approved products on the first complete list of approved products, the first subset being those approved products indicated as relevant in the first complete list for the first program;   e) at the retail store system, filtering a set of products purchased by the first user against the first subset of approved products to develop a first filtered list of purchased products relevant to the first program;   f) for each item in the first filtered list of purchased products, determining if quantities for a promotion relevant for the item remain for the first user; and   g) when quantities for the promotion relevant for the item remain for the first user:
 i) providing a promotional discount to the first user, the promotional discount being selected from a set of discounts comprising a percentage discount, a dollar discount, and a buy-one-get-one-free discount, and 
 ii) decrementing the quantity available to the first user for the promotion. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the quantities are measured in monetary units. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the quantities are measured in units of products. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of receiving a second complete list of approved product that replaces the first list of approved products. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the complete list of approved products is updated at a central server and received at regular intervals at a plurality of retail store locations. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the complete list of approved products contains a base set of approved products that is shared by all retail store locations and a customized set of approved products that varies by retail store location. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein retail store locations are associated with a retailer, and further wherein the customized set of approved products varies by retailer with all retail store locations associated with a single retailer utilizing the same customized set of approved products. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising
 h) reading a second card presented by a second user, the card containing an identifier for identifying the second user;   i) at the retail store system, determining a second program based on the second card;   j) at the retail store system, determining a second subset of approved products on the first complete list of approved products, the second subset being those approved products indicated as relevant in the first complete list for the second program;   k) at the retail store system, filtering a set of products purchased by the second user against the second subset of approved products to develop a second filtered list of purchased products relevant to the second program;   l) for each item in the second filtered list of purchased products, determining if quantities for a promotion relevant for the item remain for the second user; and   m) when quantities for the promotion relevant for the item remain for the second user:
 i) providing a promotional discount to the second user, the promotional discount being selected from a set of discounts comprising a percentage discount, a dollar discount, and a buy-one-get-one-free discount, and 
 ii) decrementing the quantity available to the second user for the promotion. 
   
     
     
         9 . A method of substantiating product purchases during promotion redemption comprising:
 a) at the retail store system, reading a user identifier presented by a first user;   b) at the retail store system, determining a plurality of purchased products for the first user identified by the first card;   c) at the retail store system, comparing the list of purchased products with a first list of approved products with available promotions to create a filtered list of purchased products with available promotions;   d) at the retail store system, submitting the filtered list to a remote server along with an account identifier determined from the card identifier;   e) receiving from the remote server a list of applied discounts that were calculated at the remote server based on the filtered list and the account identifier;   f) at the retail store system, applying the list of applied discounts to the purchase of the plurality of purchased products to reduce the amount paid by the first user for the purchased products.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the user identifier is read by reading a bar code found on a card presented by the first user. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the user identifier is read by reading a bar code displayed on a display of a mobile device presented by the first user. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the user identifier is read by reading a wireless signal transmitted by a mobile device presented by the first user. 
     
     
         13 . A method of substantiating product purchases during promotion redemption comprising:
 a) at a server system, transmitting a first list of approved products to a first retail store system, the list of approved products indicating products for which promotions are currently active;   b) at the server system, receiving from the first retail store system a first list of purchased products that has been filtered by the first retail store system according to the list of approved products;   c) at the server system, receiving from the first retail store system a first user identifier;   d) at the server system, determining a first account from the first user identifier;   e) at the server system, determining available promotions available for the first account;   f) at the server system, calculating discounts for the first list of purchased products based on the available promotions;   g) at the server system, transmitting the calculated discounts to the first retail store system.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 h) at the server system, determining a payment account for each of the available promotions; and   i) debiting each payment account based on the calculated discount for all available promotions associated with the payment account.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein a plurality of different payment accounts are determined and debited. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein a first retailer account associated with the first retail store system is credited based on the calculated discount for the available promotions. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the plurality of payment accounts have pre-deposited funds deposited by the sponsors of the available promotions prior to receiving the first list of purchased products from the retail store. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the retail account is credited after debiting the payment accounts. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the retail account is credited by ACH transaction within twenty-four hours after receiving the first list of purchased products from the retail store. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the retail account is the same as one of the payment accounts for retailer-sponsored promotions. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein a plurality of discounts apply to a single purchased product, further wherein the plurality of discounts are all of different discount types, the discount types selected from the list comprising a percentage discount, a dollar discount, a purchase requirement discount, and a stored value discount. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein a different payment account is debited for each of the plurality of discounts applied to the single product. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising the steps of transmitting a second list of approved products to a second retail store system, wherein the second list contains approved products relating to retailer specific promotions that are not found in the first list of approved products. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the available promotion contains a pre-purchase requirement enforced by the server system. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the pre-purchase requirement is considered available for the first list of purchased products based on purchases recorded at the server system prior to receipt of the first list of purchased products. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the purchases recorded at the server system were received from a second retail store system. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the first and second retail store systems are associated with unaffiliated retailers. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the first list of approved products is divided into multiple programs, wherein each user identifier is associated with a single program in the first list of approved products. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the first list of approved products contains all promotions sponsored by non-retailer sponsors, and only those retailer sponsored programs that are sponsored by a retailer associated with the retail store system. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the first list of approved products identifies a plurality of products by product codes. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein a plurality of product codes in the first list of approved products are associated with a single group number. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the first list of purchased products lists only the group number to reflect a total of purchased items having product codes associated with the single group number. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein a second list of approved products is transmitted to the first retail store system to replace the first list of approved products, wherein the second list of approved products alters the plurality of product associated with the single group number. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein the first list of approved products identifies a first retail store department number with a first group number. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein a second list of approved products is transmitted to a second retail store system, further wherein the second list of approved products identifies a second retail store department number with the first group number, wherein a promotion relating to the first group can be identified by retail store department numbers customized for the recipient retail store system. 
     
     
         36 . A method of substantiating product purchases during promotion redemption comprising:
 a) at the server system, receiving from a plurality of different merchants a discount request, each discount request including:
 i) a purchased product list, 
 ii) a merchant identifier uniquely identifying one of the plurality of merchants, and 
 iii) a user identifier; 
   b) for each discount request:
 i) at the server system, determining a user accounts for the user identifier; 
 ii) at the server system, determining available promotions available for the user account at the merchant identified by the merchant identifier; 
 iii) at the server system, calculating discounts for the purchased product list for the available promotions; 
 iv) at the server system, transmitting the calculated discounts to the merchant. 
   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the available promotions differ based on the merchant identifier. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein a subset of the available promotions are merchant-sponsored promotions available only from the sponsoring merchant. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the transmitted calculated discounts include information distinguishing between merchant sponsored discounts and non-merchant sponsored discounts. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39 , further comprising sending to the plurality of merchants an approved product list customized for that merchant, wherein the approved product list is used by the merchant to filter the purchased product list to include only purchases related to the available promotions.