Systems and methods for customer valuation and merchant bidding

Abstract

A mediator system, which serves as a conduit between a customer and merchants, includes customer profile data. The mediator system analyzes the customer profile data, and assigns an indication to a customer represented by the customer profile data. The mediator system then provides the indication to the merchants, and then receives bids from the merchants. The bids are for establishing a connection between the merchants and the customer. The mediator system provides to a portion of the merchants, based on the bids, a connection to the customer.

1 . A method comprising:
 accessing customer profile data of a customer, the customer profile data identifying a preference associated with the customer for a first merchant;   accessing merchant data associated with the first merchant and a second merchant, the merchant data including characteristics associated with the first and second merchants;   determining a relationship between the first merchant and the second merchant based on the merchant data;   calculating a valuation based on the relationship between the first merchant and the second merchant and the preference associated with the customer;   causing presentation of the valuation to one of the first merchant or the second merchant;   detecting a change in a location of a mobile device associated with the customer;   recalculating the valuation based on the change in the location; and   causing presentation of the recalculated valuation.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the characteristics associated with the first merchant and the second merchant comprises location characteristics and product characteristics, the method further comprising:
 determining a first location characteristic for the first merchant from the merchant data and a second location characteristic for the second merchant from the merchant data; and   determining a first product characteristic associated with the first merchant from the merchant data and a second product characteristic associated with the second merchant from the merchant data,   wherein determining the relationship is based on the first and second location characteristics and the first and second product characteristics.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein accessing the customer profile data is triggered in response to an action indicating a preference for the first merchant by the customer. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an indication of the location of the mobile device;   generating a place graph based on the location of the mobile device and the customer profile data, the place graph including nodes corresponding to the first merchant and the second merchant; and   generating paths within the place graph based on the customer profile data, the paths reflecting preferences of the customer.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein recalculating the valuation is based on the paths. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the generating the place graph comprises:
 accessing the customer profile data, the customer profile data comprising a first plurality of places, each place of the first plurality of places including interaction history recorded within the customer profile data;   extracting a feature matrix from the first plurality of places;   accessing place data for a second plurality of places proximate to the location of the mobile device; and   projecting the feature matrix from the first plurality of places onto the second plurality of places proximate to the location of the mobile device.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the nodes correspond to locations of the first merchant and the second merchant. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the nodes correspond to a category of the first merchant and the second merchant. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 maintaining a list of recommended places for the customer, the list continually being updated as the customer moves from location to location over a period of time.   
     
     
         10 . A system comprising:
 one or more hardware processors; and   a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 accessing customer profile data of a customer, the customer profile data identifying a preference associated with the customer for a first merchant; 
 accessing merchant data associated with the first merchant and a second merchant, the merchant data including characteristics associated with the first and second merchants; 
 determining a relationship between the first merchant and the second merchant based on the merchant data; 
 calculating a valuation based on the relationship between the first merchant and the second merchant and the preference associated with the customer; 
 causing presentation of the valuation to one of the first merchant or the second merchant; 
 detecting a change in a location of a mobile device associated with the customer; 
 recalculating the valuation based on the change in the location; and 
 causing presentation of the recalculated valuation. 
   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the characteristics associated with the first merchant and the second merchant comprises location characteristics and product characteristics, the operations further comprising:
 determining a first location characteristic for the first merchant from the merchant data and a second location characteristic for the second merchant from the merchant data; and   determining a first product characteristic associated with the first merchant from the merchant data and a second product characteristic associated with the second merchant from the merchant data,   wherein determining the relationship is based on the first and second location characteristics and the first and second product characteristics.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein accessing the customer profile data is triggered in response to an action indicating a preference for the first merchant by the customer. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving an indication of the location of the mobile device;   generating a place graph based on the location of the mobile device and the customer profile data, the place graph including nodes corresponding to the first merchant and the second merchant; and   generating paths within the place graph based on the customer profile data, the paths reflecting preferences of the customer.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein recalculating the valuation is based on the paths. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the generating the place graph comprises:
 accessing the customer profile data, the customer profile data comprising a first plurality of places, each place of the first plurality of places including interaction history recorded within the customer profile data;   extracting a feature matrix from the first plurality of places;   accessing place data for a second plurality of places proximate to the location of the mobile device; and   projecting the feature matrix from the first plurality of places onto the second plurality of places proximate to the location of the mobile device.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the nodes correspond to locations of the first merchant and the second merchant. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the nodes correspond to a category of the first merchant and the second merchant. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 maintaining a list of recommended places for the customer, the list continually being updated as the customer moves from location to location over a period of time.   
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor of a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:
 accessing customer profile data of a customer, the customer profile data identifying a preference associated with the customer for a first merchant;   accessing merchant data associated with the first merchant and a second merchant, the merchant data including characteristics associated with the first and second merchants;   determining a relationship between the first merchant and the second merchant based on the merchant data;   calculating a valuation based on the relationship between the first merchant and the second merchant and the preference associated with the customer;   causing presentation of the valuation to one of the first merchant or the second merchant;   detecting a change in a location of a mobile device associated with the customer;   recalculating the valuation based on the change in the location; and   causing presentation of the recalculated valuation   
     
     
         20 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving an indication of the location of the mobile device;   generating a place graph based on the location of the mobile device and the customer profile data, the place graph including nodes corresponding to the first merchant and the second merchant; and   generating paths within the place graph based on the customer profile data, the paths reflecting preferences of the customer.