Integrated System And Method For Managing Electronic Coupons

Abstract

A networked electronic coupon management system is disclosed for managing electronic coupons. The system includes tightly integrated database, application server, and client components facilitating performing electronic coupon definition, issuance, and redemption operations. The operations include creating electronic coupons, wherein each electronic coupon includes a unique coupon ID, creating customer accounts, wherein each customer account comprises a unique customer ID; creating manufacturer accounts, wherein each manufacturer account comprises a Unique ID; and creating retailer accounts, wherein each retailer account comprises a unique retailer ID; and assigning a unique electronic coupon ID to a unique customer ID. Thereafter the system validates the electronic coupon with a product purchase transaction by a customer associated with the unique customer ID. Furthermore, fluids transfers associated with the product purchase transaction are tracked, and historical transactional level data is maintained for all customer, manufacturer and retailer accounts.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A system to create traceable unique electronic coupon identifications in electronic promotional transactions to prevent undesired or multiple uses of offers, comprising:
 a storage device;   a network device; and   a processor communicatively coupled to the storage device and the network device, wherein the processor executes application code instructions that are stored in the storage device to cause the system to:
 receive a request from a consumer computing device associated with a consumer to associate an electronic coupon with an account of the consumer; 
 identify a unique consumer identification associated with the consumer account; 
 create a unique electronic coupon identification associated with the electronic coupon; 
 at a time before an initiation of a financial transaction to be conducted by the consumer account at a point of sale computing device, associate the unique electronic coupon identification only with the unique consumer identification associated with the consumer account and store the unique electronic coupon identification in the consumer account; 
 decline the association of the electronic coupon with the unique consumer identification associated with the consumer account when a maximum financial exposure value has been reached by a promotion associated with the electronic coupon; 
 receive, from a point of sale computing device associated with a retailer, a notification of an initiation of a transaction being conducted by the consumer account at the point of sale terminal, the notification comprising data to identify the unique consumer identification; and 
 in response to receiving the notification of the initiation of the transaction:
 identify the unique consumer identification based on the notification; and 
 identify the unique electronic coupon identification based on the associated unique consumer identification. 
 
   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes application code instructions to cause the system to communicate the unique electronic coupon identification to the consumer computing device. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the electronic coupon comprises a hypertext link presented to the consumer computing device to enable the consumer to selectively activate the hypertext link and thereby activate the electronic coupon. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the electronic coupon comprises an embedded button presented to the consumer computing device and which enables the consumer to selectively activate the electronic coupon. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic coupon comprises a graphical representation of the electronic coupon presented to the consumer computing device which enables the consumer to selectively activate the electronic coupon. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic coupon is created by a manufacturer associated with a product associated with the electronic coupon. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic coupon comprises data specifying electronic coupon parameters for redemption and validation. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the processor further executes application code instructions to cause the system to validate a redemption request to apply the electronic coupon to the financial transaction based on the electronic coupon parameters for redemption and validation. 
     
     
         10 . The system method of  claim 1 , wherein the unique consumer identification is associated with a frequent shopper card. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the request to associate an electronic coupon with a consumer account is received via a web page associated with the processor. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein a smallest effective discount rate for the electronic coupon that is associated with the consumer account is associated with the electronic coupon based on an analysis of redemption rates associated with the electronic coupon. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes application code instructions to cause the system to communicate the electronic coupon having the unique electronic coupon identification to the point of sale computing device for redemption in connection with the transaction. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the processor further executes application code instructions to generate an invoice from the retailer to the manufacturer. 
     
     
         15 . A computer-implemented method to enable electronic promotional transactions in real time, comprising:
 receiving, using one or more computing devices, a request from a consumer computing device associated with a consumer to associate an electronic coupon with a consumer account;   creating, using the one or more computing devices, a unique electronic coupon identification associated with the electronic coupon;   associating, using the one or more computing devices, the unique electronic coupon identification only with a unique consumer identification associated with the consumer account;   declining, using the one or more computing devices, the association of the electronic coupon with the unique consumer identification associated with the consumer account when a maximum financial exposure value has been reached by a promotion associated with the electronic coupon;   receiving, using the one or more computing devices and from a point of sale computing device associated with a retailer, a notification of an initiation of a financial transaction between the consumer account and a point of sale terminal, the notification comprising data to identify the unique consumer identification;   identifying, using the one or more computing devices, the unique consumer identification based on the notification;   identifying, using the one or more computing devices, the unique electronic coupon identification based on the unique consumer identification; and   providing, using the one or more computing devices, funds to the retailer to redeem the electron coupon.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 15 , further comprising communicating, using the one or more computing devices, the unique electronic coupon identification and data associated with the electronic coupon to the consumer computing device. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 15 , further comprising identifying, using the one or more computing devices, a unique consumer identification associated with the consumer account based on stored identification criteria. 
     
     
         18 . A computer program product, comprising:
 a non-transitory computer-readable storage device having computer-executable program instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computer cause the computer to enable electronic promotional transactions in real time, the computer-executable program instructions comprising:
 computer-executable program instructions to create a unique electronic coupon identification associated with the electronic coupon; 
 computer-executable program instructions to associate the unique electronic coupon identification with a consumer account; 
 computer-executable program instructions to associate the unique electronic coupon identification only with a unique consumer identification associated with the consumer account; 
 computer-executable program instructions to decline the association of the electronic coupon with the unique consumer identification associated with the consumer account when a maximum financial exposure value has been reached by a promotion associated with the electronic coupon 
 computer-executable program instructions to receive, from a point of sale computing device associated with a retailer, a notification of an initiation of a financial transaction between the consumer computing device and a point of sale terminal, the notification comprising data to identify the unique consumer identification; 
 computer-executable program instructions to identify the unique consumer identification based on the notification; and 
 computer-executable program instructions to communicate the electronic coupon having the unique electronic coupon identification to the point of sale computing device for association with the financial transaction. 
   
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 computer-executable program instructions to receive a request from a consumer computing device associated with a consumer to associate an electronic coupon with a consumer account;   computer-executable program instructions to identify a unique consumer identification associated with the consumer account based on stored identification criteria.   
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 18 , wherein a smallest effective discount rate for the electronic coupon that is associated with the consumer account is associated with the electronic coupon based on an analysis of redemption rates associated with the electronic coupon. 
     
     
         21 . The computer program product of  claim 18 , further comprising computer-executable program instructions to communicate the unique electronic coupon identification to the consumer computing device.