Systems and methods for analyzing the effectiveness of a promotion

Abstract

The invention provides systems and methods for collecting point-of-sale (POS) data, and then using this data to determine the effectiveness of a given promotion. The transaction data includes a merchant identifier for each of the merchants and a transaction amount for each transaction involving the merchants. One of the merchants is a promotion merchant that is offering a promotion involving transactions made with the merchant. A portion of the transaction data is aggregated into control merchant aggregated data involving control merchants, where the control merchant aggregated data comprises transaction data obtained other than from the promotion merchant. A characteristic of the purchases is calculated, both for transactions involving the promotion merchant and for the control merchants.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion, the method comprising:
 aggregating, at a host computer system, point of sale (POS) data sets from at least one POS terminal, wherein:
 the POS data sets comprise transaction data related to a plurality of transactions from the at least one point of sale POS terminal that is associated with at least one merchant; 
 the transaction data comprises a transaction amount for each of the plurality of transactions; 
 at least a portion of the transaction data includes at least one promotional identifier that identifies the terms and conditions of a promotion such that an immediate discount is providable; 
 the promotion is redeemed by entering the promotional identifier into a respective one of the at least one POS terminal; and 
 the promotional identifier is separately provided to a shopper who in turn provides the promotional identifier at the respective one of the at least one POS terminal; 
   storing, by the host computer system, the aggregated POS data sets;   generating, by the host computer system, market data from the aggregated POS data sets;   generating, by the host computer system, promotional data from the aggregated POS data sets, wherein the promotional data comprises information related to a portion of the plurality of transaction that include the promotional identifier;   calculating, by the host computer system, a characteristic of the purchases, both for transactions which include the promotional identifier and for the market data;   generating, by the host computer system, a report showing a comparison of the calculation for transactions which include the promotional identifier and for the market data; and   transmitting over a network, by the host computer system, the report to a remote user device for display on the remote user device.   
     
     
         3 . The computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the promotional identifier is unique to each redemption transaction.   
     
     
         4 . The computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 encrypting the aggregated POS data sets prior to storing the aggregated POS data sets.   
     
     
         5 . The computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the aggregated POS data sets further comprise terminal data including information related to a particular one of the at least one merchant.   
     
     
         6 . The computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the promotional data comprises demographic information related to the shopper.   
     
     
         7 . The computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 mapping the promotion data with one or more of trends by an industry type, a geography of where the promotional identifier was redeemed, a payment type associated with redemption of the promotional identifier, or a time of day in which the promotional identifier was redeemed.   
     
     
         8 . The computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving trend analysis data; and   integrating the trend analysis data into the report.   
     
     
         9 . The computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 generating a reliable portion of the market data, wherein the reliable portion comprises only data having a statistically insignificant variability from a baseline, and wherein the promotional data is generated as a function of the reliable portion of the market data.   
     
     
         10 . The computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving a report request one the remote user device prior to generating the report.   
     
     
         11 . The computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving a report request from the remote user device after the report has been generated, the report request comprising instructions to perform one or more functions selected from the following: filter an output of the report, refine the output of the report, reformate the output of the report, or update the output of the report.   
     
     
         12 . A system for reporting the effectiveness of a promotion according to point-of-sale (POS) data, the system comprising:
 an aggregation subsystem, communicatively coupled with a POS network comprising a plurality of POS terminals, and configured to:
 aggregate point of sale (POS) data sets from at least one POS terminal, wherein:
 the POS data sets comprise transaction data related to a plurality of transactions from the at least one point of sale POS terminal that is associated with at least one merchant; 
 the transaction data comprises a transaction amount for each of the plurality of transactions; 
 at least a portion of the transaction data includes at least one promotional identifier that identifies the terms and conditions of a promotion such that an immediate discount is providable; 
 the promotion is redeemed by entering the promotional identifier into a respective one of the at least one POS terminal; and 
 the promotional identifier is separately provided to a shopper who in turn provides the promotional identifier at the respective one of the at least one POS terminal; 
 
   a data storage subsystem, communicatively coupled with the aggregation subsystem and configured to store the aggregated POS data from the plurality of POS terminals;   a processing subsystem, communicatively coupled with the POS data store, and configured to:
 generate market data from the aggregated POS data sets; 
 generate promotional data from the aggregated POS data sets, wherein the promotional data comprises information related to a portion of the plurality of transaction that include the promotional identifier; and 
 calculate by the host computer system, a characteristic of the purchases, both for transactions which include the promotional identifier and for the market data; 
   a reporting subsystem, communicatively coupled with the promotional analysis processing subsystem, and configured to generate a report showing a comparison of the calculation for transactions which include the promotional identifier and for the market data; and   an interface subsystem configured to transmit, over a network, the report to a remote user device for display on the remote user device.   
     
     
         13 . The system for reporting the effectiveness of a promotion according to point-of-sale (POS) data of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the reporting subsystem is further configured to identify correlations in one or both of the market data or the promotional data, the correlations being related to one or more of seasonality data, macroeconomic data, or social data.   
     
     
         14 . The system for reporting the effectiveness of a promotion according to point-of-sale (POS) data of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the processing subsystem is further configured to determine that a portion of the aggregated POS data sets includes insufficient data over a timeframe of interest and to remove the portion of the data.   
     
     
         15 . The system for reporting the effectiveness of a promotion according to point-of-sale (POS) data of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the data storage subsystem is further configured to encrypt the aggregated POS data sets prior to storing the aggregated POS data sets.   
     
     
         16 . The system for reporting the effectiveness of a promotion according to point-of-sale (POS) data of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the processing subsystem is further configured to generate a reliable portion of the market data, wherein the reliable portion comprises only data having a statistically insignificant variability from a baseline, and wherein the promotional data is generated as a function of the reliable portion of the market data.   
     
     
         17 . The system for reporting the effectiveness of a promotion according to point-of-sale (POS) data of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the promotional data comprises demographic information related to the shopper.   
     
     
         18 . The system for reporting the effectiveness of a promotion according to point-of-sale (POS) data of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the processing subsystem is further configured to map the promotion data with one or more of trends by an industry type, a geography of where the promotional identifier was redeemed, a payment type associated with redemption of the promotional identifier, or a time of day in which the promotional identifier was redeemed.   
     
     
         19 . The system for reporting the effectiveness of a promotion according to point-of-sale (POS) data of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the reporting subsystem is further configured to receive a report request one the remote user device prior to generating the report.   
     
     
         20 . The system for reporting the effectiveness of a promotion according to point-of-sale (POS) data of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the reporting subsystem is further configured to receive a report request from the remote user device after the report has been generated, the report request comprising instructions to perform one or more functions selected from the following: filter an output of the report, refine the output of the report, reformate the output of the report, or update the output of the report.   
     
     
         21 . The system for reporting the effectiveness of a promotion according to point-of-sale (POS) data of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the reporting subsystem is further configured to receive trend analysis data; and   integrating the trend analysis data into the report.