RU2694146C2 - Method and system for calculating monetary compensation for participation in marketing actions of retailer and service outlets - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method and a system for automated processing of data for calculating a monetary reward for participation in marketing actions of retailer and service outlets (RSO). System comprises a portal of a program, expressed in a server computer; POS-terminal at the point of selling RSO; acquirer bank processing center; buyer payment instrument, processing center operator; processing center of the issuing bank, wherein the payment tool is assigned a special unique identifier, RSO is assigned a specialized unique code, a processing center operator has a communication channel with a payment system, thereby providing possibility of calculating monetary compensation directly to a bank account of a customer using special unique identifier of payment instrument and special unique code of RSO, and data exchange means with processing centers of the issuing bank and the acquirer bank, and the marketing campaign conditions are set by the RSO on the portal of the program for the buyer to carry out marketing campaign conditions.

EFFECT: technical result consists in automation and increase of rate of monetary compensation.

8 cl, 1 dwg

Description

The invention relates to a method and system for conducting incentive programs for holders of bank cards or other non-cash payment instruments with a refund of money for their purchases. The technical result is an increase in the effectiveness of marketing campaigns by trade and service enterprises (hereinafter referred to as TSP) through the use of an automated system and data processing method for calculating monetary remuneration and if available: a portal for integrating marketing campaigns to attract customers - bank card holders or other non-cash tools payment; incentives for the fact of the target purchase; no need to purchase additional equipment and technical improvements or increase the number of staff from the Participants of the marketing actions.

There are various ways to attract and retain customers, consisting in the provision of various types of preferences, discounts, gifts, scoring, with the possibility of subsequent payment for goods or

services received points.

As part of incentive programs implemented on the basis of cumulative systems, the buyer can receive a discount by making a sufficient number of purchases over a certain period of time. However, the disadvantages of this method of encouraging the customer is that instant customer loyalty is not ensured, and this method does not attract new customers.

When granting an instant discount (for separately-participating goods or a whole shopping basket), the buyer’s remuneration occurs right at the time of purchase. This method of motivation has a negative impact on profitability, realized in the framework of the stock of commodity positions, and does not provide repeated purchases.

As part of long-term incentive programs based on the provision of bonuses to customers, a mechanism is being implemented to provide a deferred discount by delegating to the buyer the possibility of paying with accumulated points a part or the entire cost of the goods or services purchased. Points are awarded to the buyer for purchased goods participating in the action, or calculated on the total amount of the purchase. At the same time, additional parameters can be introduced, for example, regulating the accrual of points at different times, for certain goods, personal conditions, etc. The disadvantage of the bonus incentive program can be considered the complexity of the customer perception of the conditions of the program, restrictions in the use of points when paying for goods or services.

The following methods are known for carrying out marketing activities aimed at stimulating the sale of goods or services of merchants and services:

1. Discount / bonus card - a universal tool that allows you to get a discount / deferred discount in a particular outlet or in a retail network. The card personifies the client, allows you to keep records of his purchases, to provide cumulative discounts. The disadvantages are that the customer must always have a card with him in order to get a discount. Not

the ability to have operational communication with the client, to convey promotional information to the personal client.

Picture on mobile phone - the user stores a discount / bonus card in the form of a picture or a code word in a mobile phone. By presenting this image at the point of sale, the customer receives discounts. The disadvantages are the impersonality of customers, the lack of feedback from the customer who used the discount service in a certain place, the inability to convey information to a particular customer of a particular outlet. Opportunities to vary the size of discounts are provided only by installing specialized equipment in the outlet.

SMS distribution - when a client visits, the client leaves his telephone number and periodically receives information about discounts on his mobile phone in the form of SMS or graphic messages. This approach makes it possible to use discounts at any time, since most potential customers always take a mobile phone with them. SMS messaging technologies allow the client to memorize the client’s phone in the system’s database and identify the discount owner at the moment when he presents the phone with an SMS message at the checkout at the outlet. At the same time, there is an opportunity for customer feedback for further engagement. The disadvantage of this approach is the lack of mechanisms for the redemption of SMS coupons. It is also worth noting that sending SMS messages is annoying to some users, since advertising messages come in the same way as personal messages and are stored on the phone along with personal messages from customers.

From the patent of the Russian Federation No. 68726 for a utility model (patent holders: Sazonov Pavel Leonidovich, Prokhorov Pavel Vladimirovich, Kiselev Alexey Alekseevich), published on November 27, 2007, the mobile interactive discount system is known, which is a system for sending SMS messages with information about discounts. In this system, it is also possible to send images to mobile phones that contain information for

customer identification. Information is read upon presentation of a mobile phone in the TSP. At the same time, a server is installed in each outlet for accounting of system usage statistics. The advantages of this system are customer personalization, a huge audience of mobile phone owners and the possibility of customer feedback by sending new messages to the existing subscriber base.

The disadvantage of the system is the lack of a mechanism for redemption of incoming coupon messages, the need to install additional equipment in the POS, as well as irritation of mobile phone users from constantly coming advertising messages.

From the patent of the Russian Federation No. 2343542 (patentee Fedoseev Vladislav Germanovich), published on January 10, 2009, the system of receiving, processing and storing loyalty program data is known, which allows to accumulate bonus points and further use them to make payment for services and purchases.

In this system, a customer’s request for registration in the loyalty program is sent to the processing center from the customer’s mobile device, where the customer is registered and, based on the customer’s location, is assigned a unique loyalty program identifier. The registration data is sent to the mobile device of the consumer, and upon purchase is transferred to the trading terminal, from which the specified data is sent along with the purchase information to the processing center. In the processing center emit benefits, accrue to the account or write off bonus points. Transfer information about the benefits to the mobile device of the consumer. Payment for the purchase is carried out at the point of sale with bonus points and / or money. Mutual settlement between the participants of the loyalty program at the end of the reporting period. The advantages of this system are a huge audience of mobile phone owners, the ability to accumulate bonus points on the unique identifier of the program participant in the phone, the ability to spend the accumulated points in various organizations;

loyalty program partners. The disadvantages include the need for quarterly settlements between partners, the need for the presence of the guarantor bank, the lack of individualization of TSP shares.

Marketing partnership programs are already known, in which the consumer receives not a discount and points, but a cash reward for the purchase, in the form of a refund of a part of funds (cashback) from the purchase amount, the refund is made to the buyer's bank card. This type of remuneration is common in the banking sector to increase the loyalty of bank customers participating in affiliate programs with TSP.

In the application for the invention of the Russian Federation No. 2015117708 (applicants: Barkanov Alexander Vladimirovich, Nedorezov Alexey Sergeevich), the date of publication of the application: 11/27/2016, a method of receiving, storing and processing data for implementing programs that increase customer loyalty, purchased through the Promotional Shares promotion campaign through the Acquirera processing center, and the program operator, the loyalty program management system (SUPL), acts as an automated database that records information about Qdim operations under the program, based on the information obtained from processing centers acquirers and issuers. At the same time, the disadvantage of this method is the fact that the calculations within the loyalty program are carried out by the Acquirer and the Issuer independently, which is impossible without technological improvements, while the number of merchants participating in the program is limited by the condition of their partnership with a specific Acquirer.

The closest technical solution is US patent No. 8799065 (FirstBank patent holder), published on August 5, 2014, in which the method of providing electronic offers and the system of providing remuneration for participation in the issuing bank's marketing programs is provided. The participants of the program being implemented are the issuing bank (which is also an acquiring bank for the TSP), the TSP, the program operator,

the buyer (the holder of the payment card issued by the issuing bank), the issuing bank sends a notification of the transaction to the program operator, the program operator calculates the fee and sends it to the issuing bank for charging it to the bank card holder, the issuing bank carries out a credit card operation. This solution implements a platform in the form of a web server, in which a database is formed, with information about user profiles, offers with terms and conditions of shares from TSP, and the calculation of remuneration takes place on the basis of the processing center of the issuing bank. However, an obvious disadvantage of this method is that the program is limited only by the customers of the issuing bank (which is at the same time an acquiring bank for merchants), the need to integrate the processing center - the program operator into the processing center of the issuing bank, which implies the need for technological improvements on the bank’s side. Issuer and the support of the ISO8583 authorization protocol modified for the loyalty program - governing the process of transfer and the format of financial messages; using bank payment cards.

This method and system is aimed at improving the efficiency of marketing campaigns by trade and service enterprises (hereinafter referred to as TSP) due to automated data processing for calculating monetary rewards, the implementation of which eliminates the disadvantages known from the prior art. The objective of this method and system is to propose a new system and method to ensure the growth of the loyal audience of customers of a particular merchants through targeted interaction with customers - holders of cards and other non-cash payment instruments and providing them with information about goods and services anytime, as well as ensuring the possibility of the CSP to receive a statistical analysis of the use of its services and to carry out the calculation and accrual of the buyer’s remuneration by crediting funds to the bank account em or card account for the actual payment of the target (regulated) PTS purchase.

This description uses the terms:

- trade and service enterprise (TSP) - business entity engaged in the sale of goods, works or services;

- the bank - issuer (Issuer) - the bank performing the issuance and maintenance of payment instruments of the buyer;

- the acquiring bank (Acquirer) - a bank that ensures the acceptance of the buyer's payment instruments in the merchant depositor;

- Buyer — holder of a card or other payment instrument, such as a mobile device or other accessory that contains a payment application;

- program - designation of the present method and system of calculating monetary remuneration;

- action - a marketing action carried out by the trade and service partnership within the framework of the program implementation;

- program portal - a server computer, on the basis of which an Internet portal or mobile application functions, through which an interface is presented for registering a bank card of the holder and creating a description of a marketing promotion promotion;

- PCL is a processing center-operator of the program that calculates the amount of remuneration and initializes its accrual; generates reports for program participants.

FIG. 1 shows the components of the system and the main stages of the method of automated data processing for calculating monetary remuneration for participating in marketing campaigns, where, to achieve the technical result, an automated data processing system for calculating monetary remuneration for participation in marketing campaigns for commercial procurement participating in the payment for a product or service in the POS, through a POS-terminal serviced by the acquiring bank via communication channels with the processing center of the acquiring bank. Also in FIG. 1 shows a processing center-operator interconnected with a payment system. The processing center-operator has a channel of communication with the payment system and a channel of communication with the processing centers of the issuing bank, which credits the customer to the buyer, and the acquiring bank, which serves the POS terminal installed in the VTC.

At the same time, the interaction between the MSP and the customer occurs through the program portal, which is an Internet portal or a mobile application that allows registering the customer, creating a personal account in which the data is recorded, for the subsequent generation of information messages with the recommended MSW shares. Through the implementation of this system, it is the monetary reward that is calculated and accrued, not points, bonuses, conventional loyalty units that need to be converted or used only in certain stores and only for a certain group of goods. Upon activation (acceptance) of a TSP share, the buyer pays for the goods / services in the TSP as part of the action and receives remuneration in the form of cash credited to a bank account or a bank card account (depending on the terms of service at the issuing bank).

The examples of the implementation of the system and method of automated data processing for accrual of remuneration for participation in marketing campaigns presented in this description are based on the example of a payment system and payment instruments such as a bank card of the Mir payment system, but the implementation of the presented program is not limited to this example. The interaction of the processing center-operator with the processing centers of the acquirer's banks and the issuer is realized through the exchange of authorization and clearing messages, which are formed in a standard way as when sending messages of authorization and clearing messages, within the framework of the payment system (PS). The procedure of payment clearing and calculations in the payment system in the framework of the present invention are not given. Processing center-operator (PCL), presented as a software - hardware complex, which allows servicing all operations with banking

In the framework of the Loyalty Program, during the implementation of PCL, compliance with the security standards provided for in the operations of the payment card industry - Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, PCI SSC was observed.

In the known systems and methods of implementing loyalty programs, in which monetary remuneration for participation is provided, traditional methods of interaction with both potential and real consumers are used to identify customer data for the program. For example, to attract and connect consumers, they are provided with questionnaires to fill in the necessary personal data. Further, the data from the completed questionnaires are entered into the database of the program, and the customer is issued plastic cards or her image for storage in digital form, for example, in a mobile device and presenting it for reading in the CTP.

In the inventive system and method, the identifier - “Loyalty ID Code” is used as a special (unique) customer identifier associated with a bank payment card that it holds, but the identifier is different from the bank payment card number.

To assign a special identifier, the user must register on the program portal, presented as an Internet portal or a mobile application, in the registration section of bank card holders. For successful registration, the bank card holder fills in the registration form of the program portal the necessary data, including: bank card number, its validity period. After sending the registration form, in real time at the processing center - the operator reconciles the card number with the range of card numbers issued by the issuing banks. All information about the user is stored in the processing center - the operator and is associated with his ID - "Loyalty ID Code". When changing / losing / reissuing a payment instrument

the buyer performs the procedure for registering a new payment instrument according to the above principle. At the same time, the information reflected in the personal account of the buyer is saved.

Registration and joining of a payment card to a program is carried out when a shop calls to a servicing acquiring bank, which assigns it a unique partner identifier - the “Partner ID Code”, which passes through communication channels between the processing center of the acquiring bank to the processing center - the operator. At the same time, when exchanging operational and clearing messages of the acquiring bank and the payment system, a unique partner identifier - “Partner ID Code” is always present.

After, TSP can independently create a share, having described its parameters in the personal account on the program portal. To fill out information about the ongoing action, you do not need to have special computer programming skills; filling is done by providing fields for entering characters, adding the necessary visualizing images. At the same time, the publication of the action takes place after its verification (moderation). Moderation of the conditions of the action is necessary to verify the identification of technical errors in the description of the mechanics of the action. After the moderation of the action with a positive result, it is published on the program portal and the buyer can already participate in it. To do this, the buyer must confirm his participation in the TSP promotion by going through the subscription stage for the specific TSP promotion on the loyalty portal.

The method of calculating the cash reward to the buyer is realized on the above described components of the system through the exchange of authorization and clearing messages between the processing center-operator, interacting via a communication channel with the payment system, with the processing centers of the acquiring bank and the issuing bank. there is a change in the process of carrying out payment transactions, as with the standard payment for the purchase.

In the present method of calculating the monetary reward to the buyer when making a purchase in the merchant, the action to which he has subscribed is paid through the POS terminal serviced by the acquiring bank. Payment for the purchase takes place in the standard way, which does not require any technical modifications on the TSP side.

In general terms, as shown in FIG. 1, the implementation of the method of calculating monetary remuneration for participation in marketing campaigns TSP occurs in the following sequence:

1. The buyer pays with the help of the payment instrument a purchase within the framework of the TSP promotion, while directly interacting with the POS terminal located at the venue of the TSP promotion;

2. Through the POS-terminal, through which the purchase was made in the merchant payment, an authorization request is sent to the acquiring bank.

3. Bank - The Acquirer sends an authorization request to the processing center - the operator with the obligatory filling of the element - “Partner ID Code” assigned to the merchant services.

4. Processing center - the operator processes the authorization request of the acquiring bank containing, among other things, the data item “Partner ID Code”, which consists in determining the issuing bank that issued the buyer payment instrument and its correspondence with the Loyalty ID Code assigned in advance, forms and sends a message to the payment system (PS) for the issuing bank of the buyer's payment instrument to write off funds for the initiated purchase to terminate the buyer's participation in the TSP share. In this case, the data item "Partner ID Code" also appears in the sent messages.

5. Bank processing center - the issuer processes the received request and generates a response message containing the information element “Partner ID Code” and “Loyalty ID Code” - towards the processing center - the operator.

6. Processing center - the program operator processes the message - a response from the issuing bank, and using the communication channel with the payment system

sends a counter request to the processing center of the acquiring bank to credit funds for the purchase made by the buyer.

7. Acquirer sends a response to the TSP on the crediting of funds.

The calculation of the amount of the remuneration of the buyer for participation in the marketing action of the TSP performs the processing center-operator of the program as follows: processes and checks the registration of the TSP in the program (presence in the messages of the information element “Partner ID Code”) and parameters held by the TSP of the promotion; verification of the registration of the buyer and his payment instrument on the program portal, the existence of a subscription to the Share Promotional Share on the Loyalty Portal until the moment of the expenditure transaction for the payment instrument.

In case of a positive result of checking the parameters, the processing center-operator forms a clearing message to the acquiring bank about the amount of cash redemption of cash compensation in favor of the buyer for participation in the program, and forms a message to the issuing bank about the accrual of cash reward to the bank account or card account buyer.

Thus, the interaction of TSPs and customers within the framework of the implementation of the present system and method takes place through the program portal, and mutual settlements between credit organizations are carried out through the processing center operator.

Due to the fact that mutual settlements between credit organizations are carried out by the processing center - an operator who has a channel of interaction with the payment system, it becomes possible to transfer money to return the buyer’s remuneration when canceling a purchase for which he received a reward.

When a purchase is canceled, the processing center - the program operator receives a message from the acquiring bank with a cancellation sign for the completed operation within the loyalty program, which is identified by the presence of the element in the request - “Partner ID Code”.

After processing the message from the acquiring bank, the processing center-operator generates a message to the issuing bank with a sign of cancellation of the remuneration accrued to the user for the TSP share. This prevents the risk of non-return paid by the remuneration TSP.

Other features of this program are that participants in the system may be an unlimited number of merchants selling goods and providing services with the possibility of non-cash payment. At the same time, the geography of distribution of the program is limited only by the territory of the payment system.

One of the advantages of the claimed method and system of accrual of remuneration for participation in marketing campaigns of TSPs is the ability of TSPs to post, edit information about their activities, products or services, on ongoing marketing campaigns in real time, install, change the mechanics of holding shares using various ways to attract customers. The CSP has the ability to hold both permanent shares and those limited in duration, independently determine the size (percentage) of the purchase, paid to the buyer as a reward for participating in the program, select the audience for which participation will be available and, as a result, view the information about placed TSP shares. The nomenclature of parameters for the selection of an audience allows not only to select guaranteed new customers (who have not previously performed expenditure transactions on the cards registered in the program in this TSW).

To provide an opportunity to analyze the results of the shares, the processing center-operator of the program generates and sends the trade information to the purchaser and the purchaser. The buyer, the holder of the payment instrument, in the personal account on the program portal displays: history of operations; amount of accrued rewards; data on activated shares (shares for which the buyer has subscribed); the story

about promotions in which the buyer has already participated, having paid for the goods or services with a payment card or other non-cash payment instrument).

Claims (8)

1. The method of automated data processing for the accrual of monetary remuneration for participation in marketing campaigns of trade and service enterprises (hereinafter referred to as TSP), including the calculation and accrual of monetary remuneration, subject to the confirmation of the buyer’s participation in the marketing action of merchant shipping, which uniquely assign the buyer’s payment instrument customer identifier, merchant property assign a unique partner identifier; the parameters of the marketing promotion of TSP are placed on the program portal; receive confirmation of the purchaser of participation in a particular share of the merchant party by providing the buyer with their consent on the program portal and subsequent initialization of the purchase in the merchant property through the use of a payment instrument; the acquirer sends a request containing, among other things, the parameters of the TSP unique identifier, to the processing center-operator; in the processing center-operator, they process the request of the acquiring bank containing, among other things, the unique partner identifier, which consists in identifying the issuing bank that issued the payment instrument and its correspondence with the unique unique identifier of the buyer; in the processing center-operator, they form and send via a communication channel a message to the payment system for the issuing bank of the buyer’s payment instrument to write off funds for the initiated purchase to complete the buyer’s participation in the TSP share; after successfully verifying compliance with the terms of the promotion, calculate the amount of the buyer's remuneration, form and send via the payment system clearing messages to the acquiring bank to withdraw funds in the amount of the calculated remuneration, and to the issuing bank to credit the cash rewards to the buyer, provide the possibility of charging a cash reward directly to the buyer's bank account due to the availability of a communication channel between the processing price Trom-operator and payment system. 2. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the unique identifier of the buyer assigned to the payment instrument of the buyer is different from the number of his real bank card or bank account. 3. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the TSP through the program portal pre-sets the conditions for the buyer on the conditions for calculating the remuneration for participation in a marketing campaign. 4. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the cash reward is credited directly to the buyer's bank account; 5. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that when canceling a purchase, the acquiring bank sends a message with a sign of cancellation and the presence of a unique partner identifier to the processing center-operator by means of the payment system, which forms and sends by means of the payment system a message to the issuing bank with the sign cancellation of the accrued cash reward of the buyer. 6. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the register of accruals of remuneration of the buyer according to the unique identifier assigned to him is formed and displayed on the program portal in the personal account of the buyer. 7. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that a register of purchases made with the fulfillment of all the conditions of the merchant's promotion action is formed and a report is displayed on the program portal in the merchant's personal account. 8. The system of automated data processing for the accrual of monetary remuneration for participation in marketing campaigns of trade and service enterprises, including the program portal, expressed in the server computer; POS-terminal at the point of sale TSP; acquiring bank processing center; payment instrument of the buyer, processing center-operator; the processing center of the issuing bank, characterized in that the payment instrument is assigned a specialized unique identifier, the TSP is assigned a specialized unique code, the processing center-operator has a communication channel with the payment system, whereby it provides the ability to charge money directly to the buyer's bank account using a specialized unique identifier of the payment instrument and specialized unique code ТСП, and means about ene with data processing centers of the issuing bank and the acquiring bank and the conditions of the marketing campaigns are set TSP portal program, available to customers to meet the conditions of marketing campaigns.

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