MXPA00005045A - Method and system for collecting and processing marketing data - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method according to the Figure, for the collection of marketing data which simultaneously captures, at a point-of-sale (120), data pertaining to a specific customer transaction. An electronic invoice, containing line item data, and identified by the payment vehicle number, is created and transmitted to a credit authorization location (170) for credit authorization. The credit authorization location forwards the invoice to a data warehouse (185), which may be located in a location remote from the credit authorization location. The data warehouse comprises related data structures to facilitate analysis and searching of collected data.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COLLECTING AND PROCESSING DATA OF 'MARKETING FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a system and method for collecting and processing marketing data. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Market research is an important tool in the field of business, which allows manufacturers, traders, financial institutions, and others to effectively focus their marketing and sales activities and to efficiently reach customers. potential These organizations rely heavily on market data to plan new products, sales strategies and promotions, and to schedule other sales and marketing decisions. In the past, marketing data has been collected in several ways. Typically, market research companies are hired to collect data using surveys, questionnaires, and other costly and time-consuming techniques. This information is then processed using statistical techniques in an effort to extrapolate from there significant trends in consumer behavior. Even when based on statistically significant correlations, these techniques can not determine with absolute precision the purchase patterns of particular segments of the population or of individual consumers. In fact, as is known in the art, these surveys often provide imprecise and confusing results. In contrast, some organizations, particularly large stores, collect marketing data by tracking sales transactions at merchants' points of sale. This technique, however, only offers raw data, such as the number and type of items sold by the merchant. It does not offer detailed data regarding the patterns of sales of particular socioeconomic groups or individual clients. To collect more accurate data, merchants sometimes offer customers "preferred customer" or similar cards. The "preferred customer" card typically comprises a customer identification number related to a database record that stores information related to past customer purchases. Each time the customer makes an acquisition, the merchant explores or manually registers the customer's identification number from the "preferred customer" card on the merchant's point-of-sale (POS) computer. The merchant then scans or manually enters the identification codes of the items purchased by the customer. Typically, the identification code used to identify each product can be the Product Universal Code (UPC) of the product. In this way, it is possible to collect data regarding the acquisition patterns of particular clients. This technique also has several drawbacks. First, it collects only sales data from the particular merchant that granted the "preferred customer" card, does not allow data collected by a first merchant to be integrated and can be cross-referenced with data collected by other merchants. The data collected can therefore provide a significantly distorted perspective of client acquisition patterns in general. In addition, such systems require the customer to take their card to the merchant's point of sale. For this purpose, merchants have had to offer several incentives, such as discounts on particular items, with the. to induce customers to carry and use their "preferred customer" cards. Despite such incentives, many customers forget to take their cards to the points of sale. In addition, the systems require important equipment and program resources to collect and maintain the collected data. Frequently, customer data is transmitted from a remote retail site to a central computer maintained by the merchant. This marketing data infrastructure is often completely separated from the infrastructure of (< merchant's sales data and consequently causes a duplicate processing of the collected transaction data.) COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the conveniences of the prior art by providing a system and method for efficient collection and organization. The marketing data In a preferred embodiment, the present invention simultaneously in the POS all financial and non-financial data related to a specific transaction of a customer. An electronic invoice is prepared from the data captured and transmitted to a credit authorization location through a communication link necessarily established to transmit a credit authorization request for the transaction. The electronic invoice contains data of elements in a line for each item acquired as part of the transaction. The invoice is organized around the identification number of the payment vehicle used by the customer to pay for the transaction, thus correlating the acquisition information contained in the invoice with a customer particular.

The credit authorization location receives the transmitted electronic invoice and sends the invoice to a data warehouse, which can be located at a remote location of the (• credit authorization location The data hold 5 comprises several related data structures for storing the received data.The related data structures allow a simple and flexible analysis and a search of the collected market data BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 10 The above description of the present invention will be better understood in combination with the following description of carving and with the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system architecture suitable for implementing a first embodiment Preferred of the present invention where sales transactions are carried out via the Internet Figure 2 is a block diagram of a system architecture suitable for implementing a second preferred embodiment of the present invention where 20 transactions are carried out. sale at a physical point of sale, Figure 3 is a flow chart that illustrates the operation of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 is a schematic representation of a preferred embodiment for a list of online items in an electronic invoice.

Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 is a block diagram of a possible structure of a data warehouse for storing collected marketing data. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES Figure 1 shows a suitable system architecture for implementing the market data collection system efficiently of the present invention in a procurement environment through the Internet. As illustrated in Figure 1, the architecture comprises a client terminal 105 typically located in the home or workplace of a client. A client terminal 105 has a modem 110. The modem 110 can be an internal modem located within a client terminal 105 or it can alternatively comprise an external modem. A client terminal 105 may also be registered with a pay vehicle scanner 107, the purpose of which will be described below. The architecture further comprises a POS location generally indicated as 115. A POS location 115 comprises a POS 120 computer suitable for receiving and processing orders placed with a merchant. Associated with the sale computer 120 is an inventory database that stores the information related to the merchant inventory, for example the types of items, item quantity, and price of items, in the merchant's inventory. A POS 120 computer is further equipped with a first modem 125 and a second modem 5 130. A POS 115 location may further comprise a boarding department computer 135 linked to a POS 120 computer. As described in more detail to Next, the shipping department computer 10 135 receives invoices for orders placed with the point of sale computer 120 and tracks the filling and shipping of the order. A client terminal 105 and a point of sale computer 120 are adapted to allow communication between them via the Internet. As is known in the art, this connection is generally established through one or more Internet gates. Illustratively, as in FIG. 1, a client terminal 105 is typically connected to a first Internet gate 120 through a telephone line 145. Similarly, a POS 120 computer is typically connected to a second Internet gate 155 through a telephone line 160. Gateways 150 and 155 are typically connected through an Internet structure 140. Gateways 150 and 155 are typically operated by Internet service providers that provide access to the Internet. Internet for a subscription fee. Alternatively, a major trader can own and give The maintenance of its own Internet gateway In a case 5 of this type, the point of sale computer 120 would typically be connected directly to the gateway of the Internet 155 through a dedicated data line. client 105 may be connected to a point-of-sale computer 120 to through a direct dial connection. The architecture of Figure 1 further comprises a credit authorization location 165 typically located at a remote location relative to the point of sale location 115. A credit authorization location 165 is typically owned by the financial institution that has issued the payment vehicle used by the customer to pay for items purchased at the point of sale and usually operated by said financial institution, as described in more detail below. A credit authorization location 165 preferably comprises a credit authorization computer 170 that receives requests for credit authorization from a POS 120 computer, evaluates the received requests, and transmits to the POS 120 computer an authorization for the request. transaction or a denial of the transaction according to several parameters, for example, depending on whether the requested credit line exceeds the customer's credit limit. R * > A credit authorization computer 170 is provided with a modem 165. Typically, a POS 120 computer and a credit authorization computer 5 are adapted to allow communication between them through a 180 telephone line and 130, 175 modems. Alternatively , other means of transmission for the communication of credit applications and authorizations can be used. Also shown in FIG. 1 is a data warehouse 185 that can be found at an authorization location 165 or alternatively can be located at a remote location from the credit authorization location 165. As described in greater detail at 15 Then, a data warehouse 185 stores detailed marketing data regarding the transactions that occur in points of sale such as POS 115. Turning to Figure 2, an alternative architecture is shown that illustrates the more traditional environment where A customer is physically located at the point of sale at the time of the transaction. As will be recognized, the architecture of the acquisition environments share many elements in common, and similar elements in Figures 1 and 2 have been indicated by similar reference numbers.

Thus, as shown in Figure 2, the physical point of sale environment comprises a point of sale computer 120 associated with an inventory database 127 and a The shipping department computer 135. Similarly, point of sale 120 is connected through modem 130 and telephone line 180 to a credit authorization location 165. In addition, the physical point of sale environment comprises in addition, a product explorer 205 for scanning on the point of sale computer 120 the identification codes representative of the elements to be acquired by the client. Alternatively, the system may comprise a keyboard 210 or other data entry devices 215 for scanning this information. The system further has a paid vehicle scanner 220 for scanning the identification number and the associated PIN of the customer payment vehicle in the point of sale computer 120. In the physical point of sale environment, a customer will typically pick up. in a basket or a cart the items you want to buy and take them to a particular location where the point of sale terminals are located. An employee of the merchant employs a product browser 205 to scan a bar code or other product identifier printed on the article on the 25 point sale computer 120. Alternatively, the employee can manually enter the information that identifies the items to be acquired through a keyboard 210 or through other data entry devices 215. The operation of a preferred mode of the market efficient data collection system of the present invention in the Internet acquisition environment will be described in relation to figure 3. As shown in figure 3, in step 302 the client establishes a link with the point-of-sale computer 120 through the Internet structure 140. To establish this link, the customer typically connects to his Internet account and receives Internet access through the Internet gateway t 150. The customer then enters the web address of a merchant website and is connected to the website through an Internet gate 155. In step 304, the customer selects the items that he wishes to purchase. Illustratively, the merchant's website may comprise an interface that displays information regarding the items offered for sale and may, for example, allow a customer to select items for purchase by clicking on icons or by typing in the identification number or name of the individual articles, in a similar way, the interface can allow the client to click or otherwise identify the number of each item that he wishes to acquire.

At step 306, the customer enters the identification number of the payment vehicle that he wishes to use to pay for the items to be purchased. This information only < entered in response to an impulse from the merchant's website 5 and may be entered manually, or alternatively may be entered by passing the payment vehicle through the payment vehicle browser 107. The payment vehicle employed by the customer is preferably a smart card Alternatively, the payment vehicle may be a magnetic stripe card, such as cards used as credit cards, debit cards, or any other payment vehicle that requires verification to authorize a transaction. As is known in the art, smart cards offer increased security compared to traditional magnetic stripe cards because they are manufactured only to be resistant to physical handling by electronic instruments and physical disassembly. In addition, smart cards can employ a symmetric or asymmetric cryptographic program 20 in order to increase the security of communications between the smart card and the merchant. In addition to the vehicle identification number, the payment vehicle information generally comprises a PIN 25 whose purpose is to ensure that the person employing the payment vehicle is authorized to do so. In step 308, a point-of-sale computer 120 creates C an electronic invoice from the information entered by the client. The invoice comprises a list of items 5 online that refers to items purchased by the customer. Each online article entry in the list comprises the identity of a purchased item, the cost of the item and the purchased item number. Typically, the identity of the article is represented by an identification code, for example a UPC number that is retrieved by a point-of-sale computer from an inventory database 127. An illustrative arrangement for a list of items in The line appears in Figure 4. As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the particular fields illustrated in Figure 4 are illustrative only and additional and different fields may alternatively be used to tailor the list and items online for a particular environment. . As shown in Figure 4, a list of typical line items may comprise the following fields: a date field, which stores the date on which the transaction was carried out; a time field, which stores the time at which the transaction occurred; 25 a sale location identification field, which stores a unique identifier typically assigned by the credit authorization location 165 to identify the sales location that presents the list of items online; a payment vehicle identifier, which stores the identification number of the payment vehicle used by the customer to pay for the transaction; an invoice number field, which stores a unique identifier for the online item list assigned by the vendor; a total quantity field that stores the total dollar amount of the transaction; an item field number that stores the number of different items purchased; a product identifier field that stores a unique identifier for an acquired product (typically a UPC or another standard code); a quantity field that stores the number of an acquired product; a unit price field that stores the price of an acquired product; a total price field that stores the product of the quantity field and the unit price field for each product purchased; a field of observations that stores observations that the merchant may have regarding the transaction. Online item entries can also be created for other aspects of the transaction such as taxes, seller discounts, etc. As shown illustratively in Figure 4, said online item entries may comprise a unique alphanumeric code that identifies the item (eg, "T-A-X") (taxes) and is stored in the product identification field. The total amount of the item (for example the tax) can be stored in the total price field. In field 310, a program resident in the point-of-sale computer 120 creates a billing package for transmission to the credit authorization location 165. The billing package comprises the online article list described above. The billing package further comprises a request for authorization of the credit authorization location 165. The authorization request typically comprises the identification number and PIN of the customer's payment vehicle and the total amount of the sale. In step 312, the billing package is transmitted to the credit authorization location 165. In the prior art, the transmission from the merchant to the credit authorization computer 170 had only one purpose: to request authorization for a transaction. In contrast, the purpose of the billing package of the present invention is twofold: first, to request authorization for the transaction from the credit authorization location 165, and second to transmit to a credit authorization location 165, a list of items in line regarding the transaction. In this way, the invention efficiently employs the communication link established with the credit authorization location 165 to simultaneously transmit a list of online items comprising complete marketing data regarding the transaction. In decision step 314, a credit authorization computer 170 determines whether or not the credit request received from the POS 120 computer is approved. This determination typically comprises the step of determining whether the total cost of the items listed on the bill exceeds the customer's credit limit. If the customer's credit limit is exceeded, then the decision step 314 fails and the system continues until step 316 where a credit authorization computer 170 transmits a denial message to the point of sale computer 120 through line 180. In step 318, the point of sale computer 120 receives the message of denial from the credit authorization computer 120 and cancels the transaction. The merchant may also take additional mediations typically associated with a denial of a credit authorization request, as is known in the art. On the other hand, if the credit limit of 1 client is not exceeded, then decision step 314 is successful and the system proceeds to step 320 where a credit authorization computer 170 transmits a credit approval to a POS 120 computer through line 120. Concurrently, in step 322, a 170 credit authorization computer takes additional accounting actions typically associated with the approval of a financial transaction. For example, as is known in the art, a credit authorization computer 170 typically updates the customer's account, subtracting the amount of the transaction from the customer's credit limit. Upon receiving the transaction authorization from the credit authorization location 165, in step 324, the merchant starts the step to complete the sale. These steps typically include the transmission of a confirmation to the customer and the preparation of the shipment order. In step 326, the credit authorization computer 170 transmits a copy of the billing package received from the computer 120 POS to the data store 185. As indicated above, this invoice contains information of online items of each item purchased. for the client, as well as the identification number of the payment vehicle used by the customer to pay for the transaction. In step 328, a data store 185 processes the received billing package and stores the marketing data contained therein in a relational database, as will be described in greater detail below. Thus, the present invention facilitates the compilation of a detailed item acquisition information online that relates to a particular customer through their payment vehicle identification numbers, in a manner to the impossible date. Particularly, since the payment vehicle is used as the central identifier for the transaction, each item in the list of online items is particularly identified with an individual customer. In addition, since the list of online items is transmitted as part of a billing package comprising a credit authorization request, the present invention allows an efficient collection of marketing data allowing marketing data to be collected in a central location without requiring additional communication from the point of sale to a central data warehouse. The operation of a preferred embodiment of the efficient market data collection system of the present invention in the physical acquisition environment will now be described with reference to Figure 5.

As shown in Figure 5, in step 502, a customer enters a retail location maintained by a merchant. In step 504, the customer selects items to be purchased and takes them to a point of sale terminal. Also in step 504, a merchant employee employs a product browser 205 to scan a bar code or other code printed in the item on the point of sale computer 120. Alternatively, the employee can manually enter information identifying the items to be acquired through the keyboard 210 or through other input devices 215. In step 506, the customer identifies for the merchant the payment vehicle to be used to pay for the selected items. Typically, the customer can deliver the payment vehicle to an employee of the merchant or alternatively can pass the payment vehicle through a paid vehicle scanner 220 located near a point of sale computer 120. The rest of the steps performed in the physical acquisition mode of the present invention are the same as the steps performed in the online purchase mode described above, and the corresponding steps in figures 3 and 5 are identified through corresponding numbers. The present invention also offers a novel arrangement of relational storage for the collected marketing data that facilitates a data analysis. In accordance with what is described below, the data is stored in a relational database designed to facilitate a flexible and customized data search. A schematic diagram illustrating a preferred relational database of the present invention appears in Figure 6.

As shown in Figure 6, a data store 185 comprises a first data structure 600 for storing the content of received electronic invoices. A data store 185 creates a new record in data structure 600 for each electronic invoice received from the credit authorization location 165. In a preferred embodiment, the record may comprise the following fields: a location identification field of retail sale, which stores the unique identifier typically assigned by credit authorization location 165 to identify the retail location presented by the electronic invoice; an invoice identification field, which stores a unique identifier for the invoice assigned by the retailer; a payment vehicle identification field, which stores the identification number of the payment vehicle used by the customer to pay for the transaction; an invoice number field, which stores a unique identifier for the invoice assigned by the data store 185; a date field, which stores the date on which the transaction occurred; a total quantity field, which stores the total dollar amount of the transaction. A data store 185 preferably also comprises a data structure 601 for storing information regarding each line item in the received electronic invoice. When an electronic invoice is received by a data warehouse 185 it creates a new record for each line item in the invoice. In a preferred embodiment, the record may comprise the following fields: an invoice identification field, which stores the unique identifier for the invoice assigned by the retailer at retail; a product code field, typically the UPC code or another standard code for the item purchased; an invoice number field, which stores the unique identifier for the invoice that is assigned by the data store 185; a total quantity field, line item, that stores the total dollar amount of the line item entry. The data store 185 further comprises a data structure 602 that stores universal identification codes for each product stored in the data store 185. The purpose of this data structure and a preferred embodiment for its design will be described below. (The UPC coding scheme can not be used for cross-referencing marketing data by category, such as class or type of products. This is because the UPC is not a hierarchical communication scheme. On the contrary, each UPC number globally identifies a particular article produced by a specific manufacturer. The digits that make up the code, however, do not provide any substantive information as to the kind of products to which the particular item corresponds. In contrast, the present invention preferably employs a hierarchical coding scheme wherein each portion of a code identifies a significant characteristic of the product. Thus, the structure of the coding scheme itself provides information as to the relationship between different products stored in the data warehouse 185. 20 As indicated below, this hierarchical scheme facilitates the search and analysis of the collected marketing data stored in a data store 185. The particular hierarchical scheme employed is not critical to the implementation of the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, the hierarchical coding scheme of the present invention comprises a plurality of unique universal identification codes, known as UIDCs. Each UIDC preferably describes a particular product or service category in such a way that the critical characteristics of the service can be determined using the UIDC definitions associated with the category code. Illustratively, the hierarchical system of the present invention can classify tennis shoes as a product category and assign to this product category a unique UIDC. The hierarchical scheme can also classify tennis shoes as a subcategory of athletic shoes. Athletic footwear can itself be a subcategory of a broader category that encompasses footwear in general, which can in turn be an even broader subcategory covering all types of clothing. In the above illustrative example, the tennis shoe UIDC may preferably comprise a plurality of code segments. A first segment would identify tennis shoes as belonging to the clothing category. The UIDCs of all product categories that belong to the clothing category would share that code segment. A second segment would identify tennis shoes as belonging to the footwear subcategory. The UIDCs of all product categories belonging to the footwear subcategory would share this segment of code. A third code segment would identify tennis shoes as belonging to the subcategory of athletic footwear. The UIDCs of all product categories that belong to the subcategory of athletic footwear would share this code segment. A fourth segment would uniquely identify the product category of tennis shoes, as distinct from the product categories in the athletic shoe family. The present invention is not limited to the particular hierarchical coding scheme described above, and may employ any suitable hierarchical code including the codes that do not comprise several code segments as in the preceding illustrative example. Once a hierarchical coding scheme has been adapted, each product or service stores in warehouse 185 (identified by a unique UPC number), it receives one or several UIDCs corresponding to the product categories to which the product or service belongs. In the previous example, Nike tennis shoes (MR) and Addidas tennis shoes (MR), each carrying different UPC codes would receive the same UIDC that corresponds to the category of tennis shoe product. In a preferred embodiment, the data structure 602 contains a plurality of registers, each one storing data that is related to a universal identification code.

Preferably, each record contains the following fields: a universal identification code field, which stores the universal identification code for a product; a description field that defines the scope of products included in the universal identification code; a field of keywords, which stores a set of keywords that can be used to facilitate the search for unknown codes. The system can be programmed to retrieve all the UIDCs associated with a particular keyword, or group of keywords, entered by a user. A data store 185 further comprises a data structure 603 that stores information regarding the manufacturers. In a preferred embodiment, each record in a data structure 603 comprises the following fields: a manufacturer identification field, which stores a unique identifier assigned to the manufacturer by the data store 185; a manufacturer's information field that also stores information that is related to the manufacturer, such as your name, address and telephone number. The data store 185 further comprises a data structure 604 that stores information regarding each product marketed and relates the product to one or more universal identification codes. As the experts in the field will recognize, manufacturers can sometimes group the sale of two or more items, and assign a unique UPC number to the grouped items. In '< • 'In this case, the data structure 604 associates two or more 5 universal identification codes (one for each grouped article) with a unique UPC number, in accordance with what is described below. In a preferred embodiment, each record in a data structure 604 comprises the following fields: a universal identification code field storing the universal identification code for the product (or more than a universal identification code in the case of products) grouped); a product code field, which stores the UPC number 15 for the product; a manufacturer identification field, which stores the identity of the manufacturer of the product; a product name field, which stores the name "assigned to the product by the manufacturer, a description field, which stores a description of the product, a field of keywords, which stores a set of keywords that facilitate the search for For example, the system can be programmed to retrieve all the UIDCs associated with a particular keyword or group of keywords, entered by a user.

A data store 185 further comprises a data structure 605 that stores information in relation to clients.

In a preferred embodiment, each record in a data structure 605 comprises the following fields: a customer identification field that stores a unique identifier assigned to the customer by the data store 185; a customer information field, which stores other information about the customer such as, for example, the customer's name, address and telephone number. The data store 185 further comprises a data structure 606 that stores information about the retail sellers. In a preferred embodiment, each record in the data structure 606 comprises the following fields: a retail seller identification field storing a unique identifier assigned to the retail seller by the data store 185; a retail seller information field that stores additional information regarding the retail seller such as the name, address, and telephone number of the retailer. The data store 185 further comprises a data structure 605 comprising a Geographical Information System (GIS) As is known in the art, a GIS comprises a set of tables that relate groups of clients based on different parameters, which include: residence, age, ethnicity, family status, family status, number of a ^. telephone, taxes, vocation, number of credit cards, '9' etc. The data structure 607 facilitates the analysis of the marketing data stored in the data warehouse 185 in segments of the population, in accordance with what is described below. For example, using the data structure link tables 607, the system can generate a view of all households in the southwestern part of the United States of America with four or more members and an income per household of at least $ 45.00 per year, where one or more household members are employed by an insurance company. A data warehouse 185 further comprises a structure of data 608 that relates particular payment vehicles with particular individuals. In a preferred embodiment, each record in the data structure 6078 comprises the following fields: a vehicle identification number, which stores the identification number of a payment vehicle; a customer identification number, which stores the identification number of a customer associated with the payment vehicle. A data warehouse 185 further comprises a structure of data 609 that relates particular retail sales locations to particular retail companies, since each retail seller can maintain more than a retail location. In a preferred embodiment, each record in the data structure 609 preferably comprises the following fields: a retail vendor identification field, which stores the retail vendor identification number that maintains the retail location; and a retail location identification field that stores the unique identifier typically assigned by credit authorization location 165 to identify a retail window location. The data structures described above allow the data store 185 to be searched flexibly using a wide range of search requests. This allows retrieval of the data store 185 from particularized marketing data that meet any specific limit or combination of limits in terms of the values of the fields in data structures 600-609. Illustratively, a user must be able to determine: (1) the total sales volume of tennis shoes (UIDC 123-456-789) in the last 24 months, grouped by month and state. (2) the percentage of athletic shoes sold in the last year manufactured by Nike®. (3) the name and address of each person who purchased a footwear from Addidas® and from at least one other company during the past year. (4) details of online articles of each purchase made by John Q. Doe employing MasterCard® payment vehicle 1234 5678 9012 3456 during the period from June 24, 1999 to July 23, 1999. (5) a list of all the holders of an American Express® card who bought within the last three weeks a combination of running shoes, running shorts, and running socks in a high price range. (6) the total sales volume of bicycle helmets in a defined price range. (7) the total sales volume per brand of all power tools purchased in the last six months. Those skilled in the art will understand how to program a computer for general purposes in such a way as to interactively request data store 185 to obtain answers to previous and other requests. As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the system of the present invention facilitates such searches in several specific ways. By way of example but not limitation, the hierarchical coding scheme of the present invention allows the system to search the commercialization data collected on many conceptual levels. As indicated above, for example, the UIDC for a particular category-of products (for example, tennis shoes) can identify the category of products as belonging to a progression of successively larger categories related in a hierarchical manner. This allows the system to respond more easily to requests of different ranges, from limited requests that refer to a single category of products or services to more extensive requests that refer to classes of related product and service categories. It will be recognized that specific requests to a data warehouse 185 may be legally limited or for other reasons. For example, access to customer-specific purchase information may be prohibited by law in some states. Similarly, the credit authorization location 165 may contractually obligate the data store 185 to limit specific customer requests for public relations reasons or to prevent customers from leaving the payment vehicles issued by the credit authorization institution. credit. While the invention has been described in relation to specific embodiments, it is evident that numerous alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art taking into account the above description.

Claims (4)

1. CLAIMS A method for collecting marketing information, comprising: the collection, at the point of sale, of data from online articles that belong to one or several transactions; establish a communication link between the point of sale and the credit authorization location; transmit a credit authorization request from the point of sale to the credit authorization location through the communication link; , transmit the online article data from the point of sale to the credit authorization location through the communication link.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the point of sale is an Internet website.
3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the online article data comprises a UPC number for each online article, the method further comprising: storing the online article data transmitted from the point of sale to a remote location from the point of sale. sale; identify a category identifier of products or services from each article online based on the UPC number of the article; store each category identification of products or services related to the online article for which it was identified.
4. 4. A system for organizing marketing data, comprising: a point-of-sale computer; a credit authorization computer; a communication link that links the point-of-sale computer and the credit authorization computer; a data storage connected to the credit authorization computer; a database resident in the data warehouse and comprising a plurality of data structures; wherein at least one of the data structures stores an item information online belonging to one or several transactions executed by the point of sale computer and reported to the credit authorization computer; and at least one second data structure stores information indicating the payment vehicle used to pay for the transaction; The payment vehicle information for the transaction is limited to the information of online items for the transaction. . The system of claim 4 wherein the data store is located remotely from the credit authorization computer.