System and methods for discount retailing

Abstract

A system and methods to mutually satisfy a consumer with a discount and a vendor with a minimum number of sales by establishing a tipping point associated with an offer for a good or service. If the tipping point is met, the sale of the good or service is executed and the consumer is charged and receives an indication of the discounted sale, such as a certificate. If the tipping point is not met, the discount offer is abandoned and the consumer is not charged. Once the tipping point is established, the vendor receives a payment, even before the consumer uses the certificate. The system and methods also include a reward or loyalty program, an exchange or secondary market for the purchased deals, and a matching algorithm that matches customers to relevant goods or services.

1 - 23 . (canceled) 
     
     
         24 . An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory storing computer code that, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:
 receive consent from a merchant to advertise a good or service to consumer devices;   determine, by the at least one processor, a discount offer associated with the good or service for exploiting via a global communication network;   identify, by the at least one processor, a set of consumer devices to receive the discount offer based on consumer information associated with each consumer device of the set of consumer devices;   electronically transmit the discount offer to the set of consumer devices via the global communication network;   electronically receive responses from consumer devices of the set of consumer devices, wherein a subset of the responses comprise consumer acceptances;   determine, by the at least one processor and in substantially real-time with electronically receiving the responses from the set of consumer devices, whether a total number of electronically received consumer acceptances exceeds a predetermined threshold indicating viability of the discount offer; and   in response to determining that the total number of electronically received consumer acceptances exceeds the predetermined threshold, electronically transmit the discount offer to a larger set of consumers via the global communication network.   
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the computer code is further configured, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
 determine, by the at least one processor, a tipping point at which the discount offer becomes valid;   electronically receive consumer acceptances in response to transmission of the public advertisement;   determine, by the at least one processor, whether the consumer acceptances received in response to transmission of the discount offer to the larger set of consumers satisfy the tipping point; and   electronically receive consumer charges if the consumer acceptances received in response to transmission of the discount offer to the larger set of consumers satisfy the tipping point.   
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the consumer information comprises historical consumer action information. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the consumer information comprises consumer demographic information. 
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the consumer information comprises consumer likes or dislikes. 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the consumer information comprises acceptable price range information received from consumers. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the consumer information comprises deal enjoyment information received from consumers. 
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the computer code is further configured, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
 determine, by the at least one processor, based on the consumer information, a second set of consumer devices to receive a second discount offer; and   electronically transmit the second discount offer to the second set of consumer devices via the global communication network;   electronically receive consumer acceptances associated with the second discount offer;   determine, by the at least one processor, whether a total number of received consumer acceptances associated with the second discount offer exceeds a second predetermined threshold indicating viability of the second discount offer; and   in response to determining that the received consumer acceptances associated with the second discount offer exceeds the second predetermined threshold, electronically transmit the second discount offer to a second larger set of consumers via the global communication network.   
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the computer code is further configured, when executed by the apparatus, to:
 cause the apparatus to determine a discount offer duration,   wherein the step of determining whether the received consumer acceptances satisfy the tipping point occurs following termination of the discount offer duration.   
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the computer code is further configured, when executed by the apparatus, to cause the apparatus to:
 store consumer information to a customer profile based on the received consumer acceptances.   
     
     
         34 . A method comprising:
 receiving consent from a merchant to advertise a good or service to consumer devices;   determining, by the at least one processor, a discount offer associated with the good or service for exploiting via a global communication network;   identifying, by the at least one processor, a set of consumer devices to receive the discount offer based on consumer information associated with each consumer device of the set of consumer devices;   electronically transmitting the discount offer to the set of consumer devices via the global communication network;   electronically receiving responses from consumer devices of the set of consumer devices, wherein a subset of the responses comprise consumer acceptances;   determining, by the at least one processor and in substantially real-time with electronically receiving the responses from the set of consumer devices, whether a total number of electronically received consumer acceptances exceeds a predetermined threshold indicating viability of the discount offer; and   in response to determining that the total number of electronically received consumer acceptances exceeds the predetermined threshold, electronically transmitting the discount offer to a larger set of consumers via the global communication network.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 determining, by the at least one processor, a tipping point at which the discount offer becomes valid;   electronically receiving consumer acceptances in response to transmission of the public advertisement;   determining, by the at least one processor, whether the consumer acceptances received in response to transmission of the discount offer to the larger set of consumers satisfy the tipping point; and   electronically receiving consumer charges if the consumer acceptances received in response to transmission of the discount offer to the larger set of consumers satisfy the tipping point.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the consumer information comprises historical consumer action information. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the consumer information comprises consumer demographic information or consumer likes or dislikes. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the consumer information comprises acceptable price range information received from consumers. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the consumer information comprises deal enjoyment information received from consumers. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 determining, by the at least one processor, based on the consumer information, a second set of consumer devices to receive a second discount offer; and   electronically transmitting the second discount offer to the second set of consumer devices via the global communication network;   electronically receiving consumer acceptances associated with the second discount offer;   determining, by the at least one processor, whether a total number of received consumer acceptances associated with the second discount offer exceeds a second predetermined threshold indicating viability of the second discount offer; and   in response to determining that the received consumer acceptances associated with the second discount offer exceeds the second predetermined threshold, electronically transmitting the second discount offer to a second larger set of consumers via the global communication network.   
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 determining a discount offer duration,   wherein the step of determining whether the received consumer acceptances satisfy the tipping point occurs following termination of the discount offer duration.   
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 storing consumer information to a customer profile based on the received consumer acceptances.   
     
     
         43 . A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable storage medium storing computer code stored that, when executed by an apparatus, causes the apparatus to:
 receive consent from a merchant to advertise a good or service to consumer devices;   determine, by the at least one processor, a discount offer associated with the good or service for exploiting via a global communication network;   identify, by the at least one processor, a set of consumer devices to receive the discount offer based on consumer information associated with each consumer device of the set of consumer devices;   electronically transmit the discount offer to the set of consumer devices via the global communication network;   electronically receive responses from consumer devices of the set of consumer devices, wherein a subset of the responses comprise consumer acceptances;   determine, by the at least one processor and in substantially real-time with electronically receiving the responses from the set of consumer devices, whether a total number of electronically received consumer acceptances exceeds a predetermined threshold indicating viability of the discount offer; and   in response to determining that the total number of electronically received consumer acceptances exceeds the predetermined threshold, electronically transmit the discount offer to a larger set of consumers via the global communication network.