Method for determining provider parameters including a provider margin

Abstract

Provided herein are system, methods and computer readable storage media in facilitating the determination of provider parameters, such as a provider margin, for a promotion of the provider's goods, services, and/or the like in an agreement between the provider, also known as a merchant, and a promotion and marketing service that is configured to illustrate or otherwise inform consumers of the availability of one or more instruments for a promotion. In providing such functionality, the system may be configured to, for example, receive provider characteristic data, determine historical provider information, receive provider promotion structure data, determine a provider profile, determine a positive return on investment threshold, and transmit a provider parameter.

1 .- 33 . (canceled) 
     
     
         34 . A method comprising:
 receiving a request to programmatically define provider margin data, wherein the provider margin data is indicative of a provider margin for a promotion and the request is associated with a provider identifier;   determining one or more of a historical information margin, a promotion structure margin, a provider profile margin, or a positive return on investment margin;   aggregating the historical information margin, the provider profile margin, the promotion structure margin, and the positive return on investment margin in accordance with a dynamic weighting of each of the historical information margin, the provider profile margin, the promotion structure margin, and the positive return on investment margin to generate the provider margin data; and   presenting, in real-time, via a system interface configured for display at a merchant device associated with the provider identifier, the provider margin data.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the request to programmatically define provider margin data further comprises provider characteristic data. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein the system interface is a web-based interface, the method further comprising:
 providing the web-based interface for receiving input of the provider characteristic data in real-time.   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising accessing a database comprising provider characteristic data based on the provider identifier. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the provider characteristic data comprises at least one of provider name data indicative of a provider name, provider category data indicative of a provider category, provider location data indicative of a provider location, provider rating data indicative of a provider rating, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein determining a historical information margin comprises:
 accessing data indicative of previous provider margins given to providers of a same provider category as a provider associated with the provider identifier; and   adjusting an aggregate of the previous provider margin data based on consumer review data indicative of consumer reviews of the provider associated with the provider identifier.   
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein determining a promotion structure margin is based on one or more redemption parameters of the promotion. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39 , wherein determining a promotion structure margin comprises:
 determining a provider category associated with the provider;   determining average margin data indicative of an average margin for the provider category;   identifying discount data indicative of a discount provided to a consumer in the promotion;   determining promotion target data indicative of a total number of promotion units to sell; and   calculating, via a linear combination, the promotion structure margin as a function of the provider category, the average margin data for the provider category, the discount data, and the promotion target data.   
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , further comprising:
 adjusting the promotion structure margin based on at least one of a placement location of the promotion, a placement method of the promotion, a consumer type target of the promotion, or a combination thereof.   
     
     
         42 . An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
 receive a request to programmatically define provider margin data, wherein the provider margin data is indicative of a provider margin for a promotion and the request is associated with a provider identifier;   determine one or more of a historical information margin, a promotion structure margin, a provider profile margin, or a positive return on investment margin;   aggregate the historical information margin, the provider profile margin, the promotion structure margin, and the positive return on investment margin in accordance with a dynamic weighting of each of the historical information margin, the provider profile margin, the promotion structure margin, and the positive return on investment margin to generate the provider margin data; and   present, in real-time, via a system interface configured for display at a merchant device associated with the provider identifier, the provider margin data.   
     
     
         43 . The apparatus of  claim 42 , wherein the request to programmatically define provider margin data further comprises provider characteristic data. 
     
     
         44 . The apparatus of  claim 43 , wherein the system interface is a web-based interface further configured to receive input of the provider characteristic data in real-time. 
     
     
         45 . The apparatus of  claim 42 , wherein the instructions further cause the apparatus to:
 access a database comprising provider characteristic data based on the provider identifier.   
     
     
         46 . The apparatus of  claim 45 , wherein the provider characteristic data comprises at least one of provider name data indicative of a provider name, provider category data indicative of a provider category, provider location data indicative of a provider location, provider rating data indicative of a provider rating, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         47 . The apparatus of  claim 42 , wherein determining a historical information margin comprises:
 accessing data indicative of previous provider margins given to providers of a same provider category as a provider associated with the provider identifier; and   adjusting an aggregate of the previous provider margin data based on consumer review data indicative of consumer reviews of the provider associated with the provider identifier.   
     
     
         48 . The apparatus of  claim 42 , wherein determining a promotion structure margin is based on one or more redemption parameters of the promotion. 
     
     
         49 . The apparatus of  claim 48 , wherein determining a promotion structure margin comprises:
 determining a provider category associated with the provider;   determining average margin data indicative of an average margin for the provider category;   identifying discount data indicative of a discount provided to a consumer in the promotion;   determining promotion target data indicative of a total number of promotion units to sell; and   calculating, via a linear combination, the promotion structure margin as a function of the provider category, the average margin data for the provider category, the discount data, and the promotion target data.   
     
     
         50 . The apparatus of  claim 49 , wherein the instructions further cause the apparatus to:
 adjust the promotion structure margin based on at least one of a placement location of the promotion, a placement method of the promotion, a consumer type target of the promotion, or a combination thereof.   
     
     
         51 . A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program code that, when executed by an apparatus, causes the apparatus to:
 receive a request to programmatically define provider margin data, wherein the provider margin data is indicative of a provider margin for a promotion and the request is associated with a provider identifier;   determine one or more of a historical information margin, a promotion structure margin, a provider profile margin, or a positive return on investment margin;   aggregate the historical information margin, the provider profile margin, the promotion structure margin, and the positive return on investment margin in accordance with a dynamic weighting of each of the historical information margin, the provider profile margin, the promotion structure margin, and the positive return on investment margin to generate the provider margin data; and   present, in real-time, via a system interface configured for display at a merchant device associated with the provider identifier, the provider margin data.   
     
     
         52 . The computer program product of  claim 51 , wherein determining a promotion structure margin is based on one or more redemption parameters of the promotion. 
     
     
         53 . The computer program product of  claim 52 , wherein determining a promotion structure margin comprises:
 determining a provider category associated with the provider;   determining average margin data indicative of an average margin for the provider category;   identifying discount data indicative of a discount provided to a consumer in the promotion;   determining promotion target data indicative of a total number of promotion units to sell; and   calculating, via a linear combination, the promotion structure margin as a function of the provider category, the average margin data for the provider category, the discount data, and the promotion target data.