WO2000033222A1 - Systeme et procede d'incitation electronique - Google Patents

Systeme et procede d'incitation electronique Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2000033222A1
WO2000033222A1 PCT/US1999/028105 US9928105W WO0033222A1 WO 2000033222 A1 WO2000033222 A1 WO 2000033222A1 US 9928105 W US9928105 W US 9928105W WO 0033222 A1 WO0033222 A1 WO 0033222A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
consumer
incentive
brand
product
preference
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1999/028105
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Humphrey N. S. Williams
Immanuel Kan
Original Assignee
Gotsavings.Com
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Gotsavings.Com filed Critical Gotsavings.Com
Priority to AU20325/00A priority Critical patent/AU2032500A/en
Publication of WO2000033222A1 publication Critical patent/WO2000033222A1/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Definitions

  • This invention relates generally to a system for electronically distributing
  • incentives such as coupons, discounts, rebates and the like, and in particular to a
  • a coupon may be any type of financial institution.
  • a rebate may be any type of rebate.
  • a coupon may be any type of rebate.
  • Some methods involve blind marketing in which a large number of coupons for a variety of products are sent to a plurality of households, such as newspaper coupons.
  • coupons may be as simple as "if a particular consumer purchases a first product, then
  • consumable products such as various consumer electronics products (e.g., automobiles or furniture) the distribution of a brand switching coupon after the purchase of a
  • the system may be a web-based service which allows
  • the electronic incentive system may be a
  • the electronic incentive system may
  • the system may electronically distribute incentives at
  • brand may encompass both a manufacturer's brand
  • incentive system may be used to generate and distribute manufacturer brand incentives
  • the electronic incentive system in accordance with the invention may also be accessed by Panasonic.
  • the electronic incentive system in accordance with the invention may also be accessed by Panasonic.
  • the system may apply to both manufacturer and merchant brands.
  • the system may be easily integrated into existing web sites and other shopping
  • the system may be implemented at any combination of
  • the system may
  • the system may also electronically redeem
  • system may be integrated with a variety of different existing shopping services and
  • the system may
  • the system may also permit a consumer at a
  • incentives may be provided for a single merchant, multiple merchants, for
  • the system may also permit a consumer of a comparison shopping site or portal site, such as Yahoo, to receive incentives based on the selection of
  • the system may also permit a
  • the entire electronic incentive system may also be stored on a CD with a
  • system may also operate through the interaction between a personal personal device
  • the electronic incentive system and method may distribute and redeem a
  • the system may distribute an
  • upsell incentive which is designed to encourage the consumer to spend more money on
  • the system may also distribute a brand
  • switch incentive such as 20% off if the consumer buy a particular brand of NCR rather
  • coupon which may include coupons which are printable and redeemable at the physical
  • the system may also distribute fixed value or fixed percentage off
  • rebates payable after purchase and these rebates may include rebates which are sent via
  • rebates which can be returned on-line by
  • the system may also
  • Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic incentive system in
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating more details of the electronic incentive
  • Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating a second embodiment of the electronic
  • Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating a third embodiment of the electronic
  • Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an existing comparison
  • Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a brand incentive system
  • Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a merchant incentive
  • Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a comparison shopping
  • Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an incentive promotions
  • Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an incentive
  • Figure 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for electronic
  • Figure 12 is flowchart illustrating an example of a method for recording a
  • Figure 13 is a diagram illustrating the display on a consumer's browser
  • Figure 14 is flowchart illustrating an example of a method for requesting an
  • Figure 15 is flowchart illustrating an example of a method for determining an
  • Figures 16A - 161 are diagrams illustrating examples of web pages displayed by
  • Figures 17A - 17H are diagrams illustrating examples of web pages displayed
  • the invention is particularly applicable to a World Wide Web-based electronic
  • WWW Wide Web
  • the system may distribute incentives
  • Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic incentive system 20 in
  • system 20 may also be connected together by a variety of other different types
  • communications networks such as, for example, a dedicated local computer network
  • the system 20 may include an
  • the brand managers may be an organization or
  • the brand managers and/or merchants may provide the incentive
  • generator 22 with information about the available incentives for a particular merchant
  • the incentive generator 22 may use this information from the
  • the incentive generator 22 may also receive incentive information
  • the incentive generator 22 may
  • the incentive generator 22 may provide a user interface screen to each brand manager and/or merchant so that these
  • the shopping forums may include a WWW portal 30, a hosted merchant
  • the incentive generator 22 may record the preferences of the consumer
  • the incentive generator 22 may
  • the incentive campaign in this example, may
  • the campaign rules may also be more
  • the incentive generator 22 may distribute a variety of different incentives
  • the incentive generator 22 may also be used to determine the NCR which is going to be purchased shortly.
  • the incentive generator 22 may also be used to determine the NCR which is going to be purchased shortly.
  • the incentive generator 22 may also be used to determine the NCR which is going to be purchased shortly.
  • the incentive generator 22 may also distribute a fixed value discount coupon
  • the incentive generator 22 may also be used to generate objects which can be used at an Internet store.
  • the incentive generator 22 may also be used to generate objects which can be used at an Internet store.
  • rebates may be e-mailed to the consumer or points-based incentive schemes including
  • the electronic incentive system may also redeem coupons or rebates as
  • Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating more details of the electronic incentive
  • system may include the incentive generator 22 and the database 23 as described above.
  • the electronic incentive system 20 may also include a preference detector
  • the preference detector which may be a consumer shopping service 36 or a portal 30.
  • Such as a shopping service but may also be located at a secondary service remotely
  • detector system 37 is not critical to the invention since the preference detector system
  • events e.g., actions and behaviors of a consumer
  • the incentive distribution site and the site will send the event information (i.e., the
  • the event information may be the search performed and the search results returned for a
  • system 38 may receive the event information and generate a brand preference record
  • the brand preference records may
  • the incentive generator 22 may determine an appropriate incentive to distribute to the consumer based on the brand preference record as
  • the preference detector 37 may send messages to the incentive
  • generator 22 in a variety of different manners, such as over the Internet, between co-
  • the incentive generator may then
  • the site may display the appropriate graphic, banner or the like, to alert
  • the incentive generator 22 may be co-located at the incentive service site, such as
  • a personal appliance such as a PDA or cell phone, or in a device attached
  • detector 37 may also be software applications installed on a CD-ROM and these
  • Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of the electronic incentive system.
  • an incentive distribution site such as a consumer shopping
  • the preference detector 37 may be separated
  • the site may receive incoming event information from the site and generate brand information
  • the pre-processor 38 may be a simple
  • URLs visited by the consumer, are translated into brand information. This is
  • n may contain a series of records of the form: URL, n, ((b,,$l),(b 2 $2)...(b n ,$n)) where n
  • an incentive distribution site such as a product review site, as
  • the database 39 may look like:
  • every product review page could have a reference to one or
  • Event information such as (Current URL, Next URL, TimeStamp,
  • the preprocessor 38 may then translate the URL references
  • detector 37 may be a client software application which may be, for example, executed
  • the preference detector 37 may then become a shopping cart
  • the preference detector 37 may display incentives
  • reports sites are recognized by the detector. For instance, if the consumer visits NECX
  • the preference detector 37 may display a rebate coupon from the category owner in a separate window next to the browser or as a separate frame within the
  • Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating a third embodiment of the electronic
  • the retail store system 40 may be referred to as a retail store system 40.
  • system 40 may include the preference detector 37, the event to brand translation
  • the preference detector 37 the database 39, the incentive generator 22
  • the handheld digital device or appliance may be, for example, a Palm
  • LR infrared
  • the consumer may enter a product identification information, such as SKU
  • the digital appliance 42 may include a barcode scanner, which may be used to scan the
  • the digital appliance 42 may be
  • product information may be requested or an appropriate incentive may be distributed.
  • the digital appliance 42 Once the product information is received by the digital appliance 42, the digital
  • appliance 42 may then communicate with a shopping service or product service to
  • the additional information may
  • a consumer event may be recorded and a series of these consumer events
  • the preference detector 37 collects a consumer's information such as interested
  • incentive system may perform well-known data mining processes on the information
  • the data mining results may be organized in a variety
  • report may be a report which lists the brand preferences of consumers in a product
  • category and sub-category e.g., 56% of all consumers prefer Sony in the consumer
  • example is a report about the preferred merchants for consumers in a particular product
  • category and sub-category e.g., 70% of consumers shops with Crutchfield when
  • mailing lists may be generated for
  • the reports may provide
  • Circuit City may want to
  • the information may also be used to generate merchant mailing lists for targeting
  • the information may permit the consumer
  • the electronic incentive system may
  • FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an incentive service 46
  • the service 46 may be accessed by a consumer who is, for example, using a
  • comparison shopping site 36 through a portal site 30.
  • portal site 30 To capture the preferences of the consumer at the comparison shopping site and to distribute the incentives to the
  • the incentive generator 22 may include a software application 48, such as a
  • the software application 44 may provide a
  • the portal 30 may be connected to the comparison shopping service 36 which is
  • the comparison shopping service uses the store search
  • interfaces 46 to access information (e.g., price, brand and features) about the products
  • the incentive generator can only offer
  • the incentive generator may not issue any incentive since the
  • the incentive generator 22 may distribute a large incentive to the consumer
  • the level of incentive provided to a consumer e.g., from no incentive to a consumer
  • the incentive may be a banner which indicates to the consumer
  • the consumer may receive an incentive, such as, for example, a discount of 30%
  • Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a brand incentive system
  • sales managers may assign rules and
  • incentive generator may determine the level of incentives distributed to each consumer.
  • the brand incentive system may include the comparison shopping service 36
  • the system 50 may include a sales manager browser
  • the manufacturer interface provides the manager with an interface to provide information about the incentive program for a particular product or product category.
  • the sales manager may specify a set of price adjustments, coupons and
  • a brand incentive database 56 may be stored in a brand incentive database 56 using a brand database interface 58.
  • consumer may be adjusted according to the degree of interest that the consumer has
  • assignment engine 60 is connected to the incentive generator 22 and the brand
  • the incentive assignment engine may be a rules based search
  • manufacturer's interface 54 determines the appropriate type and amount of incentive
  • the incentive assignment engine permits a large
  • generator 22 may or may not distribute an incentive to the consumer as determined by
  • generator 22 may offer an incentive to the consumer to select the brand owned by the
  • the incentive generator 22 may issue
  • the incentive generator 22 may issue an incentive for related items.
  • a brand manager or sales manager may have incentives for its products
  • Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a merchant incentive
  • system 70 which may incorporate the electronic incentive system in accordance with
  • the invention and permits, for example, a merchant to distribute incentives to a
  • the system 70 may include a merchant browser software application 72 which
  • the merchant interface may permit the
  • the targeted consumers are those consumers who are identified to be buying in the
  • a merchant incentive database 76 may be stored in a merchant incentive database 76 using a merchant
  • the merchant incentive database information may be searched by the incentive assignment engine 60
  • a merchant may provide, for
  • Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a comparison shopping
  • system 80 may include a WWW site 82 which includes one or more services, such as a
  • Each of these services may be accessed over the Internet by
  • a merchant may add, remove, change an incentive program or add special
  • a consumer may browse for a product and possibly receive an incentive
  • the service administrator 88 may be connected to a billing and logging database 96. To accomplish the addition, removal or updating of an incentive program by
  • the merchant self-serve
  • a database interface 98 which is in turn connected to a
  • shopping service 86 may be connected to the database interface 98 and to one or more
  • the merchant stores may include a store search interface 104 and
  • a web store 106 To log and bill for products bought from the merchant store, the
  • Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an incentive promotions
  • the system 110 may include a
  • comparison shopping site 112 which a consumer may access through the Internet using
  • a browser software application 114 When the consumer accesses a particular category
  • a webstore 116 may be searched and send data back to the comparison
  • a self-serve search catalog 118 may search for
  • item price links to the product to determine the price of the product.
  • the electronic incentive system 120 may include
  • an incentive engine 122 which determines whether or not an incentive is going to be distributed to the consumer based on the consumer's preferences. To determine if an incentive is going to be distributed to the consumer based on the consumer's preferences. To determine if an incentive is going to be distributed to the consumer based on the consumer's preferences. To determine if an incentive is going to be distributed to the consumer based on the consumer's preferences. To determine if an incentive is going to be distributed to the consumer based on the consumer's preferences. To determine if an incentive engine 122
  • the incentive engine 122 may compare an item
  • DB offer database
  • transaction log database 130 stored in a transaction log database 130.
  • database may be used for end of the day processing and for coupon and rebate
  • Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an incentive
  • both a consumer and a merchant may access various services using, for
  • a conventional browser application 142, 144 over the Internet For example, a conventional browser application 142, 144 over the Internet. The user
  • Both browsers may connect to a web site
  • the comparison shopping service 148 may be connected to a webstore 152, a merchant comparison shopping website 154, such as
  • the software which performs the brand preference recording is the brand preference
  • an incentive engine for determining an appropriate incentive, if any, to
  • incentive engine may compare the brand preferences of the consumer to an offer
  • DB database 164 and a particular incentive, such as a coupon, may be selected if
  • an incentive such as a rebate
  • the incentive engine For example, when a customer
  • the webstore 166 may have a chance to convince the webstore 166
  • the incentive site 162 may also select an appropriate incentive.
  • transaction log database 168 The information in the transaction log database may be used for end of the day
  • Figure 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method 180 for electronic
  • the method 180 distributes an incentive to the consumer prior to the
  • step 182 as a consumer browses through products on
  • an incentive distribution site such as a comparison shopping site, or any other site, a
  • the brand preference detector then requests an incentive from the incentive site by
  • step 186 determines and selects an appropriate incentive to distribute
  • step 188 the selected incentive may be communicated back to the incentive distribution site, and the incentive is distributed to the consumer.
  • the method may also
  • Figure 12 is flowchart illustrating an example of a method 190 for recording a
  • the incentive generator may then use this recorded
  • the probability may be used to determine an appropriate incentive, if any, to
  • Each type of monitored consumer behavior may generate a brand preference record, which is then subsequently transmitted to the incentive service. This record
  • a cookie may be placed in the consumer's
  • step 192 the software application may
  • a preference record is generated in step 194 which contains all of the preferences
  • another preference record may be generated to produce
  • the consumer may initially selects a product category (such as consumer
  • the consumer may then activate a search through one or more merchant
  • a consumer may be divided into a 2 stage process where the consumer is first given a
  • product information such as a product brand, a model or item number and a
  • additional product information such as a link to product reviews, a link to product
  • the objective is to collect quantitative information about the brands being
  • the method may record the following information:
  • R sum of purchase price of all items present in 1 st round
  • Mb n total number of items of brand b selected for 2 nd round viewing (this value may be 0 if the brand is not selected)
  • Nb n total number of items of brand b present in 1 st round.
  • Cb n sum of sale price of all items of brand b selected for 2 nd round viewing (this value may also be 0 if the brand is not selected)
  • Rb n sum of sale price of all items of brand b present in 1 st round
  • record may consist of, for example, the following data structure:
  • This brand preference record is the key component in the "request for an
  • consumer behavior may generate different brand preference records.
  • Figure 13 is a screen shot showing a consumer's browser application currently
  • product descriptions which may include, for example, a brand, a model section, a store
  • This screen would represent the first round
  • DVD players not shown is made by Pioneer. As shown by the brand preference record
  • the resultant brand preference record may be: 15, 4, 3, 1329.85, 8147.75 (N, n, n2, C, R,
  • the brand preference detector method may
  • the impact to the consumer flow at a comparison shopping network is
  • the 1 st stage viewing shows the consumer a complete set of
  • Another method may be to combine the successive brand preference records
  • This method has the advantage of allowing the normal consumer shopping
  • the product review example is similar to the above comparison shopping
  • the product review site may list, on a 2 nd screen, the editors choice
  • HP,1, 1, 400.00, 400 (bge Mb,, Nb consultation Cb consultation Rb,) Visioneer ,0, 1, 0.0, 200 (b 2 , Mb 2 , Nb 2 , Cb 2 , Rb 2 ) ...
  • Epson 0, 1, 0.0, 700 (b n , Mb n , Nb n , Cb n , Rb )
  • Visioneer 1, 1, 170.0, 200 (b 2 , Mb 2 , Nb 2 , Cb 2 , Rb 2 ) ... Epson, 0, 1, 0.0, 700 (b ⁇ , Mb n , Nb n , Cb n , Rb n ))
  • Visioneer 1, 1, 170.0, 200 (b 2 , Mb 2 , Nb 2 , Cb 2 , Rb 2 ) ... Epson, 0, 1, 0.0, 700 (b n , Mb n , Nb n , Cb n , RbJ)
  • the numbers may be altered significantly if the user went to the full
  • consumer preference may be calculated which can be assigned to brands in general or
  • the invention may be expanded to incorporate other types of consumer behavior
  • Figure 14 is flowchart illustrating an example of a method 200 for requesting
  • the software application which may be embedded within the incentive distribution site, such as a portal,
  • the software application generates an incentive request message which may
  • client identity information may contain, for example, client identity information, an identification of the particular
  • incentive distribution site e.g., coupons, rebates, banner ads, etc.
  • step 204 receives an incentive response.
  • step 206 it is
  • step 208 the incentive distribution site generates an
  • Figure 15 is flowchart illustrating an example of a method for determining an
  • the method for determining the incentive may be
  • the engine may identify, from the product category and sub-
  • category information in the incentive request which brand (if any) is the owner of that
  • step 224 a number of different probability calculations are
  • Brand Selection Probability sum of preference measures of brand sum of preference measures of all brands such as, for example, (l/n2) based on brands selected for 2 nd round viewing, (Mb/M)
  • stage I list or (Cb/R).
  • the collection of all of these probabilities may be referred to as the brand
  • the brand probability vector can be calculated for
  • probabilities may be derived from the data collected in the brand preference records so
  • brand preference vector may be extended to include these other probabilities.
  • step 226 the engine accesses a
  • rule database which will determine the amount and size of the incentive to be offered
  • rule selects a rule.
  • An example of a rule might be to identify where the consumer fits
  • the rule may be (as shown in pseudocode):
  • step 2208 the selected incentive, if any, is returned to the incentive
  • the distribution site so that it may be displayed to the consumer.
  • the consumer may be displayed to the consumer.
  • rules engine may also contain rules which generate randomly generated incentives and
  • Figures 16A - 161 are diagrams illustrating web pages displayed on a
  • Figure 16A shows the web
  • the consumer may select, for example,
  • the page permits the consumer to select a product sub-category, such as DVD players, as shown. Once the sub-category is selected, the consumer may view the web page
  • sub-category such as DVD players in this example, which are available for
  • the web page may also display various information about each product,
  • the consumer may select one or more particular brands
  • the consumer may select only a Sony brand DVD player.
  • a Sony brand DVD player For this example,
  • the consumer may also be able to
  • the incentive distribution system may distribute
  • a banner advertisement 232 may be displayed which also indicates that the consumer
  • each Sony model may have the graphic 230 indicating a
  • the page may have the banner advertisement 232.
  • the banner advertisement 232 In the web page
  • Figures 17A - 17H are diagrams illustrating examples of web pages displayed
  • the consumer is a product review site.
  • the consumer is a product review site.
  • the electronic incentive system may distribute incentives
  • Figure 17A is an example of a web page which is displayed when the consumer enters the product review site, such as
  • the electronic incentive system may gather preference
  • incentive system may cause a banner advertisement 240 to appear on the web page
  • the incentive may be a mail-in rebate which may be sent to
  • This incentive in accordance with the invention, may cause
  • the consumer to select the Visioneer product instead of the HP product.
  • the consumer may elect to view different vendors who sell the Visioneer products in order
  • the amount of the incentive changes depending on the actions of the consumer.
  • the electronic incentive system permits a manufacturer or vendor
  • the electronic incentive system is invisible to the consumer
  • the electronic incentive system may provide the

Abstract

L'invention concerne un système (20) et un procédé d'incitation électronique permettant d'offrir une prime (27) à un client (28) désireux d'acquérir un produit. A cet effet, le système génère des enregistrements de préférences de marques qui sont utilisés pour cibler plusieurs types de primes destinées au client.
PCT/US1999/028105 1998-11-25 1999-11-24 Systeme et procede d'incitation electronique WO2000033222A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU20325/00A AU2032500A (en) 1998-11-25 1999-11-24 Electronic incentive system and method

Applications Claiming Priority (10)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US10998498P 1998-11-25 1998-11-25
US60/109,984 1998-11-25
US41931299A 1999-10-15 1999-10-15
US41912999A 1999-10-15 1999-10-15
US41914799A 1999-10-15 1999-10-15
US41942699A 1999-10-15 1999-10-15
US09/419,426 1999-10-15
US09/419,129 1999-10-15
US09/419,147 1999-10-15
US09/419,312 1999-10-15

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2000033222A1 true WO2000033222A1 (fr) 2000-06-08

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PCT/US1999/028105 WO2000033222A1 (fr) 1998-11-25 1999-11-24 Systeme et procede d'incitation electronique

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Country Link
AU (1) AU2032500A (fr)
WO (1) WO2000033222A1 (fr)

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US6757662B1 (en) * 2000-08-21 2004-06-29 Richard L. Greenwald Method and system for display advertisement qualification and notification
US20050043992A1 (en) * 2001-03-29 2005-02-24 American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. Point pooling loyalty system and method
US7853488B1 (en) 1998-03-11 2010-12-14 West Corporation Method, program storage device, and apparatus for offering a user a plurality of scenarios under which to conduct a primary transaction
US7856377B2 (en) * 2001-03-29 2010-12-21 American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. Geographic loyalty system and method
US8306908B1 (en) 2002-12-31 2012-11-06 West Corporation Methods and apparatus for intelligent selection of goods and services in telephonic and electronic commerce
US8655746B1 (en) 1998-03-11 2014-02-18 Tuxis Technologies Llc Methods and system for providing real time offers to a user based on obsolescence of possessed items
US8666897B2 (en) 2005-10-20 2014-03-04 American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. System and method for providing a financial transaction instrument with user-definable authorization criteria
US8769567B1 (en) 2004-09-30 2014-07-01 Tuxis Technologies Llc Methods, media, and apparatus for intelligent selection of items encoded onto portable machine-readable entertainment media
US8833650B1 (en) 2006-05-25 2014-09-16 Sean I. Mcghie Online shopping sites for redeeming loyalty points
US8944320B1 (en) 2006-05-25 2015-02-03 Sean I. Mcghie Conversion/transfer of non-negotiable credits to in-game funds for in-game purchases
US9704174B1 (en) 2006-05-25 2017-07-11 Sean I. Mcghie Conversion of loyalty program points to commerce partner points per terms of a mutual agreement
US10062062B1 (en) 2006-05-25 2018-08-28 Jbshbm, Llc Automated teller machine (ATM) providing money for loyalty points

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