FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate, generally, to facilitating sales by merchants and, more particularly, to providing point-of-sale related functionality.

BACKGROUND

Merchants sell goods and services (collectively referred to herein as “products”) to consumers. The merchants can often control the form of their product offers, the timing of their product offers, and the price at which the products will be offered. The merchant may sell products at a brick-and-mortar sales location, a virtual online site, or both.

Discounts have been used as part of some retail strategies. Discount techniques include providing coupons and rebates to potential consumers, but these techniques have several disadvantages. In this regard, areas of improvement for the systems used to receive payment and provide discounts to consumers have been identified. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, solutions to improve such systems have been realized and are described in connection with embodiments of the present invention.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In general, embodiments of the present invention provided herein include systems, methods and computer readable media for facilitating sales to consumer using a point-of-sale system. For example, provided herein is a method of generating a deal offer, comprising: receiving transaction data from a point-of-sale system related to one or more transactions conducted by a merchant; analyzing the transaction data; programmatically generating a deal offer based on the analysis of the transaction data; and providing the deal offer to consumers. The transaction data can include a sales purchase history, consumer information, prices, profitability (purchase price minus costs), quantities, timestamps, cashier information, merchant identifying information, etc., some or all of which may be collected using the point-of-sale system.

For example, analyzing the transaction data can include analyzing sale values and timestamps of one or more sales to determine a time of day during which the merchant tends to have a lull in transactions. A time restricted deal offer may then be generated and suggested to the merchant. As another example, analyzing the transaction data can include analyzing the values and the timestamps of one or more sales to determine a time of day during which the merchant tends to have a lull in a particular type of sales, such as high value and/or profitable transactions. A time and product restricted deal offer may then be generated and suggested to the merchant for the high value products (or products that complement the high value products) during a predetermined period of time (e.g., 10:00 am to noon, Wednesdays, weekdays, and/or any other time period). For example, installing tires may be a very profitable service that a merchant offers, so during a time when there is traditionally a lull in business (e.g., Wednesdays between 2:00-5:00 pm), the merchant may offer a 10% discount on new tires (after, for example, the promotional system determines there is a correlation between tire sales and tire installation at the merchant and/or at other merchants).

The deal offer can be generated in response to receiving an indication of the merchant authorizing a promotional system to execute a promotional campaign using the transaction data. For example, the promotional campaign can include offering programmatically generated deals and/or distributing other marketing materials to consumers. The programmatically generating of the deal offer can be based upon additional transaction data from a plurality of other point-of-sale systems in addition to the transaction data from the point-of-sale system. The other point-of-sale systems and the point-sale-system can all be associated with the same merchant or can be associated with at least two different merchants.

The merchant can also be enabled remote access to the transaction data collected and/or otherwise generated based on information collected by the merchant's point-of-sale system. For example, the point-of-sale system configuration (such as products offered, prices, etc.) can be configured remotely. The deal offer can be generated based on consumer data received from a consumer device in addition to the transaction data received from one or more point-of-sale systems. The promotional system can also be configured to generate a report including sales analytics, among other things, based on the analysis of the transaction data and then provide the report to the merchant and/or other third party (e.g., at the merchant's request). A selectable option can be provided with the report, and, in response to determining the merchant selected the option, the deal offer can be provided to consumers by the promotional system. In some embodiments, the deal offer may be in the form or one or more impressions (e.g., a communication, a display, or other perceived indication, such as a flyer, print media, e-mail, text message, application alert, mobile applications, other type of electronic interface or distribution channel and/or the like) that each may include an indication of the deal offer. Furthermore, the deal offer may be for a transaction with the merchant or a second merchant.

Some embodiments may provide for a promotional system. The promotional system may include processing circuitry configured to: receive transaction data from a point-of-sale system related to one or more transactions conducted by a merchant, wherein the transaction data includes timestamps and values associated with each sale made by the merchant; analyze the transaction data, including the values and the timestamps; programmatically generate a deal offer based on the analysis of the transaction data; and provide the deal offer to consumers.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry is of the promotional system may be further configured to analyze the transaction data, including the values and the timestamps, by determining a time of day during which the merchant tends to have a lull in transactions. Additionally and/or alternatively, the processing circuitry may be configured to analyze the transaction data, including the values and the timestamps, by determining a time of day during which the merchant tends to have a lull in high value transactions.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry of the promotional system may be further configured to generate the deal offer in response to receiving an indication of the merchant authorizing the promotional system to execute a promotional campaign using the transaction data.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry of the promotional system may be further configured to programmatically generate the deal offer based upon additional transaction data from a plurality of other point-of-sale systems in addition to the transaction data from the point-of-sale system. The plurality of other point-of-sale systems and the point-of-sale system may all be associated with the merchant. Alternatively and/or additionally, the plurality of other point-of-sale systems and the point-sale-system may all be associated with the merchant and at least one other unrelated merchant.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry of the promotional system may be further configured to configure the point-of-sale system remotely and/or to enable the merchant to access the transaction data from a machine located remote from the point-of-sale system.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry of the promotional system may be further configured to: receive consumer data from a consumer device; analyze the consumer data; and generate the deal offer is based on the analysis of the transaction data and the analysis of the consumer data.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry of the promotional system may be further configured to: generate a report including sales analytics based on the analysis of the transaction data; and provide the report to the merchant. A selectable option may be provided with the report, and, the processing circuitry may be further configured to provide the deal offer to consumers in response to determining the merchant selected the option.

Some embodiments may provide for a merchant device. The merchant device, for example, may be part of a point-of-sale system associated with a merchant. The merchant device may include processing circuitry configured to: send transaction data related to one or more transactions conducted by a merchant to a promotional system, wherein the transaction data includes timestamps and values associated with each sale made by the merchant; receive deal information indicating redemption of a deal offer programmatically generated by the promotional system based on the transaction data; and apply a discount associated with the deal offer to a consumer purchase.

Some embodiments may include one or more machines, such as an apparatus and/or system, configured to implement the methods and/or other functionality discussed herein. For example, the machine may include one or more processors and/or other machine components 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 the present invention are described below. Similarly, corresponding and additional embodiments are also described below.

