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

• the invention relates to the field of marketing and promoting goods and services to consumers, and to reward incentive programs.
• Discounted coupons and rebates have long been used by manufacturers to give customers an incentive to choose their product over that of a competitor.
• Such systems are often inconvenient for customers due to the need to retain the physical discount coupon or correspond with the manufacturer to obtain the rebate, and these systems are cumbersome and costly to administer, so systems have been developed to facilitate the transfer of discount or rebate money from purchases to the customer. See United States patents no. 5056019, 5991736 and 5287268.
• the customer's loyalty only remains with that manufacturer so long as the discount coupon or rebate for that manufacturer's product is more attractive than the competitor's incentive.
• customer reward incentive systems are aimed at encouraging customers to repeatedly use the sponsor's service. For example, many retail stores give customers rebate "money” as a percentage of purchases, which "money” is only redeemable at that merchant's store. This encourages repeat business since multiple purchases are necessary to generate enough rebates to purchase a desirable item.
• Airlines and credit cards use similar "air miles” or reward systems to encourage customers' repeat business due to the customer's desire to accumulate the sponsor's points to a level where a desirable reward can be obtained.
• These systems are retail driven for the most part and so encourage the customer's loyalty as to where the customer shops, rather than what products they buy.
• a common system for the marketing and distribution of products is referred to as "multi-level marketing".
• a manufacturer sells consumer products directly to customers who are also independent distributors of the products as well as consumers.
• the customers either consume such products or sell them to other consumers and receive a commission on such sales.
• a consumer who enlists another consumer to join the system also earns commissions on sales by those who the consumer, directly or indirectly, has introduced into the system, causing a multiplier effect which adds considerable incentive to participants to foster the success of the system and thereby promotes considerable loyalty to the manufacturer's products.
• Such systems are inefficient, however, in the distribution of the products, which involves shipment to, storage in and distribution from residential homes. They do not permit use of the existing distribution systems. Also such systems generally do not include recognized brands, do not permit instant purchase gratification and do not permit ready inspection and sampling of the products. There is therefore a need for a useful system which stimulates customer loyalty by combining the customer incentives of multi-level marketing systems with rebate reward incentive programs.
• the present invention therefore provides a method of promoting the sale of goods or services of participating manufacturers or service providers by awarding cash rebates to member customers, comprising: a) enlisting said customer to become a member and recording identifying information concerning said customer; b) marking the packaging of said goods of said participating manufacturers or the promotional material for said services of said service providers with a distinctive indicator or mark; c) providing to said customer upon purchase of said goods or services so marked with said distinctive indicator a unique rebate voucher, said voucher comprising information identifying the product or service with which it is associated; d) calculating the rebate applicable to said product or service; e) paying said rebate in predetermined portions to said customer and any other customer who directly or indirectly enlisted said customer; f) charging said manufacturer or service provider an amount reflecting the value of said rebate; and g) taking steps to prevent the re-use of said voucher.
• Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the system of the invention
• Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a packaged product displaying the
• Fig. 3 is a plan view of a voucher according to the invention
• Fig. 4 is a chart illustrating the method of the invention.
• the central administration 10 of the System enlists participating manufacturers 12 of consumer products and providers 14 of consumer services . It also enlists consumers 16 to become members of the System's consumer Club. The manufacturers are then licensed the right to display the System' s trademark or logo 15 (see Fig. 2), referred to herein as the Logo, on the packaging or labelling of their products 17. Similarly, participating providers 14 of consumer services are licensed the right to display the Logo in advertising or promotion of their services, for example on signage, letterhead, advertising etc. Each participating product or service is periodically assigned a pre-arranged rebate value corresponding to the participant's typical coupon or discount value.
• a secure, uniquely coded voucher 19 is placed in each participating product package 17, printed on the inside of packaging, or issued at the time a service is provided.
• the voucher 19 is coded using a scannable System bar code 21 as well as a UPC or other product-identifying bar code 23.
• Voucher 19 indicates to consumer 16 that it has a pre-determined, but undisclosed cash value to be allocated upon redemption by members. For non-Club members, a 1-800 number, website or other contact information is provided for sign-up purposes.
• Club members are provided a catalogue and membership package to explain the features of the System and list participating manufacturers' products and providers' services, and in which manufacturers and service providers may display advertising. By agreeing to club membership, club members also permit the Club, in an ethical way, to maintain a database and re-sell information concerning their purchasing patterns, areas of interest and other demographic information while maintaining privacy. Members accumulate and redeem vouchers in a number of ways.
• the rebate vouchers may be processed by telephone, on-line, physical delivery to an up-line member, retail kiosk or to an ad ⁇ strative office using a membership card, or by mailing the voucher to the System's administrative office.
• the preferred form of voucher processing is on-line over the Internet 11.
• the System web site 32 for example atURLwww.fheloyaltyclub.com, comprises web server 34 accessible to the Internet 11.
• Web site 32 also includes a secure server 36 including software to maintain account information, access historical data, calculate and process rebates, calculate member and participating merchant account data, etc. and access database 30.
• Server 36 is protected from the Internet access by firewall 40 but can communicate with server 32 as well as a bank computer 44 by telecommunications line 14 to approve e-commerce transactions.
• Firewall 40 reduces the possibility that hackers can access or alter account information.
• Members have access to the Internet network 11 via client terminals 22 using available Internet browser software.
• Members are entitled to be provided with a bar code scanner 20 which connects to an input port on the members' internet terminal 22 (which may also be supplied as part of the club membership fee).
• Members are provided with browser software 24 which is installed on their client terminal 22.
• Members also are provided a username and confidential password.
• To submit a rebate claim members point the browser software to the System web site 30, and logon by entering their username and password, and select the option to claim a rebate, and swipe the UPC bar code on their purchase voucher as well as the unique System bar code on the voucher with the scanner 20.
• the web server 36 calculates the applicable rebate or discount for the product or service in question, credits the total rebate to the entitled members' accounts, debits the appropriate merchant account, and tags the unique System code so that the voucher cannot be re-used. Members are able to review the current state of their account on-line. Periodically, generally on a monthly basis, the members' accounts are paid out to the members by electronic funds transfer to bank 44 or by cheque.
• member A who signs up other new members B to the Club (“downstream members”) participate hi the rebates of downstream members and those further members C signed up by downstream members B, in the same way that commissions in multi-level marketing systems are attributed.
• members B participate in the rebates of th eir downstream members C, and so on further downstream.
• 10% of that rebate might be allocated to the immediately upstream member B t who signed up to the Club, and another 10% might be allocated to the further member A who enlisted B ⁇
• the System thus has a number of revenue streams for the System administrating entity: membership fees for members and participating merchants; additional manufacturer or merchant fees for product category exclusivity; fees for special or dedicated promotions; advertising revenue from web site, catalogue and email and fax advertising (with the member permission) and on voucher backs; commission on rebates; loyalty debit/credit card commissions; printing costs; sale of purchase behaviour data; and others.
• the System is attractive because rebate costs are only incurred after sales are made, and most importantly, there is a large incentive to the consumer, the club members, to promote participating products and services due to the large potential benefits to them.

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• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
• Development Economics (AREA)
• Strategic Management (AREA)
• Finance (AREA)
• Game Theory and Decision Science (AREA)
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
• Economics (AREA)
• Marketing (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=22925673

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (1)

• 2001
  • 2001-11-02 WO PCT/CA2001/001566 patent/WO2002037303A2/fr not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2001-11-02 AU AU2002213729A patent/AU2002213729A1/en not_active Abandoned

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