FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate, generally, to techniques for providing promotions to groups of consumers.

BACKGROUND

Via electronic networks (e.g., the Internet), promotional systems provide promotions associated with merchants to consumer devices. Oftentimes, two or more of the consumers may be interested in participating in a promotion as a group. Furthermore, merchants may be more willing to offer promotional rewards or discounts to larger consumer groups, but lack the means for efficient negotiation with individual consumers or consumer groups. In this regard, areas for improving current systems have been identified.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, solutions to improve such systems have been realized and are described herein. Some embodiments may provide for a system configured to provide a promotion to a consumer group including multiple consumers. The system may include one or more servers and one or more databases of consumer account records. The one or more servers may be configured to: receive group promotion data indicating a plurality of consumer accounts of a database of consumer account records and a promotion from a first consumer device associated with a first consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records; create the group promotion by associating the promotion data defining the promotion with the plurality of consumer account records based on the group promotion data; determine a group sale threshold for the group promotion; provide an impression of the group promotion to the consumer devices via the network, the impression including a user interface configured to receive consumer device inputs indicating a purchase agreement; determine, based on the consumer device inputs received from the consumer devices via the user interface, a group sale count indicating a number of the consumers that has provided the purchase agreement; determine whether the group sale count satisfies the group sale threshold; and in response to determining that the group sale count satisfies the group sale threshold, associate a group discount value with each of the plurality of consumer accounts records of the database.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers configured to associate the group discount value with each of the plurality of consumer account records may include the one or more servers being configured to: determine at least one purchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumer accounts records of a consumer that has purchased the group promotion; and provide the group discount value as a credit for at least a portion of a purchase price for the promotion to the at least one purchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers configured to associate the group discount value with each of the plurality of consumer account records includes the one or more servers being configured to: determine at least one purchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records of a consumer that has purchased the group promotion; and provide the group discount value as a refund for at least a portion of a purchase price for the promotion to the at least one purchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers configured to associate the group discount value with each of the plurality of consumer account records includes the one or more servers being configured to: determine at least one unpurchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records of a consumer that has failed to purchase the group promotion; and provide the group discount value as a discounted purchase price for the group promotion to the at least one unpurchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers are further configured to determine the group discount value based on the group sale count.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers may be further configured to provide the impression of the group promotion to a second consumer device associated with a second consumer account record that is different from the plurality of consumer account records.

In some embodiments, the impression may include an indication of at least one of the group sale threshold, the group sale count, a proposed group redemption time, and a group redemption time for the group promotion.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers may be further configured to: receive, from the first consumer device associated with the first consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records, group data indicating a telephone number of another consumer record of the plurality of consumer records; and send a text message notification of the group promotion to a second consumer device associated with the another consumer record based on the telephone number.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers may be further configured to: provide one or more proposed group redemption times to the consumer devices associated with the plurality of consumer account records; receive redemption time data from the consumer devices indicating availability of consumers for the one or more proposed group redemption times; determine a group redemption time for the group promotion based at least in part on the redemption time data; and provide the group redemption time to a merchant device to facilitate creation of a reservation.

In some embodiments, the user interface may include an interface for discussing the group promotion, the user interface further including a message feed configured to provide one or more of consumer messages and group promotion status updates to the consumer devices.

Some embodiments may provide for a machine-implemented method of providing promotion data to networked consumer devices associated with a consumer group. The method may include: receiving, by one or more servers, group promotion data indicating a plurality of consumer accounts of a database of consumer account records and a promotion from a first consumer device associated with a first consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records; creating, by the one or more servers, the group promotion by associating the promotion data defining the promotion with the plurality of consumer account records based on the group promotion data; determining, by the one or more servers, a group sale threshold for the group promotion; providing, by the one or more servers, an impression of the group promotion to the consumer devices via the network, the impression including a user interface configured to receive consumer device inputs indicating a purchase agreement for the group promotion; determining, based on the consumer device inputs received from the consumer devices via the user interface and by the one or more servers, a group sale count indicating a number of the consumers that have provided the purchase agreement; determining, by the one or more servers, whether the group sale count satisfies the group sale threshold; and in response to determining that the group sale count satisfies the group sale threshold, associating, by the one or more servers, a group discount value with each of the plurality of consumer account records of the database.

In some embodiments, associating the group discount value with each of the plurality of consumer account records may include: determining at least one purchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records of a consumer that has purchased the group promotion; and providing the group discount as a credit for at least a portion of a purchase price for the promotion to the at least one purchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, associating the group discount value with each of the plurality of consumer account records may include: determining at least one purchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records of a consumer that has purchased the group promotion; and providing the group discount value as a refund for at least a portion of a purchase price for the promotion to the at least one purchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, associating the group discount value with each of the plurality of consumer account records may include: determining at least one purchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records of a consumer that has purchased the group promotion; and providing the group discount value as a refund for at least a portion of a purchase price for the promotion to the at least one purchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, associating the group discount value with each of the plurality of consumer account records may include: determining at least one unpurchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records of a consumer that has failed to purchase the group promotion; and providing the group discount value as a discounted purchase price for the group promotion to the at least one unpurchased consumer account record.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining, by the one or more servers, the group discount value based on the group sale count.

In some embodiments, the method may further include providing, by the one or more servers, the impression of the group promotion to a second consumer device associated with a second consumer account record different from the plurality of consumer account records.

In some embodiments, the impression may include an indication of at least one of the group sale threshold, the group sale count, a proposed group redemption time, and a group redemption time for the group promotion.

In some embodiments, the method may further include, by the one or more servers: receiving, from the first consumer device associated with the first consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records, group data indicating a telephone number of another consumer record of the plurality of consumer records; and sending a text message notification of the group promotion to a second consumer device associated with the another consumer record based on the telephone number.

In some embodiments, the method may further include, by the one or more servers: providing one or more proposed group redemption times to the consumer devices associated with the plurality of consumer account records; receiving redemption time data from the consumer devices indicating availability of consumers for the one or more proposed group redemption times; determining a group redemption time for the group promotion based at least in part on the redemption time data; and providing the group redemption time to a merchant device to facilitate creation of a reservation.

In some embodiments, the user interface may include an interface for discussing the group promotion. The user interface may further include a message feed configured to provide one or more of consumer messages and group promotion status updates.

Some embodiments may provide for an apparatus configured to provide promotion data to networked consumer devices associated with a consumer group. The apparatus may include circuitry configured to: create a group promotion by associating promotion data defining a promotion with a plurality of consumer account records of a database of consumer account records; determine a group sale threshold for the group promotion; determine, based on consumer device inputs received from the consumer devices via the network, a group sale count indicating a number of the consumers that has provided a purchase agreement for the group promotion; determine whether the group sale count satisfies the group sale threshold; in response to determining that the group sale count satisfies the group sale threshold, associate a group discount value with each of the plurality of consumer accounts records of the database; determine at least one purchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumer accounts records of a consumer that has purchased the group promotion; provide the group discount value as a credit for at least a portion of a purchase price for the promotion to the at least one purchased consumer account record; determine at least one unpurchased consumer account record of the plurality of consumer account records of a consumer that has failed to purchase the group promotion; and provide the group discount value as a discounted purchase price for the group promotion to the at least one unpurchased consumer account record.

Some embodiments may include circuitry and/or media configured to implement the methods and/or other functionality discussed herein. For example, one or more processors, and/or other machine components may be configured to implement the functionality discussed herein based on instructions and/or other data stored in memory and/or other non-transitory computer readable media.

These characteristics as well as additional features, functions, and details of various embodiments are described below. Similarly, corresponding and additional embodiments are also described below.

