Browser Extension Module for Consolidating Off-Platform Incentives
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Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers are not aware of all available incentives during a shopping session on merchant platforms, as off-platform incentive information is not presented, leading to potential missed rebates or cashbacks due to unsupported storefronts or payment services.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that integrates an extension module with the page viewer to capture and present off-platform incentive information, including payment service and affiliate program details, on the checkout page, calculating total savings and effective prices for consumers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If off-platform incentive information is not presented on the checkout page, then the merchant platform checkout process remains simple and straightforward, but consumers cannot be aware of all available incentives including payment service rebates and affiliate program cashbacks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an extension module as an intermediary component that sits between the consumer's browser and the merchant platform. This module captures incentive information from off-platform sources (payment services and affiliate programs) and presents it on the merchant platform checkout page without requiring the merchant platform itself to change. The extension module acts as a mediator that aggregates information from multiple sources and displays it in a consolidated manner, resolving the contradiction between information completeness and system complexity.
2Loss of information
If multiple incentive programs from different platforms are integrated and presented, then consumers can maximize their savings through transparent total savings calculation, but the system complexity increases due to multiple data sources and coordination requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple incentive information sources (merchant platform coupons, payment service rebates, and affiliate program cashbacks) into a single consolidated display on the checkout page. The extension module combines these separate incentive streams and presents them as a unified total savings figure, allowing consumers to see all incentives in one place without dealing with the complexity of multiple separate tracking systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The extension module operates autonomously to capture, aggregate, and display incentive information without requiring manual intervention from consumers or changes to the merchant platform infrastructure. The module automatically detects applicable incentives from different sources and calculates total savings, enabling the system to handle complexity internally while presenting a simplified view to the consumer.
3Reliability
If the extension module captures and presents incentive information from off-platform sources, then consumer awareness and trust increase, but additional computational resources and data processing requirements are needed
Solution Approach 1:
The extension module performs preliminary actions by pre-capturing and storing incentive information from payment services and affiliate programs before the consumer reaches the checkout stage. This allows the module to have incentive data ready in advance, reducing the need for intensive real-time computation during the actual checkout process and lowering overall computational resource consumption while maintaining information accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention is a system 3-00 and method for presenting off-platform incentive information 14C during shopping sessions conducted on a merchant platform by a consumer. The system 3-00 comprises: (a) a merchant server 31 in data communication with a network 15 during each shopping session; (b) one or more computing devices, each computing device including a display window, a user interface, and a page viewer; (c) one or more payment servers 30A; (d) one or more affiliate servers 30B; and (e) an extension module integrated with the page viewer. The extension module captures merchant platform product pricing and merchant coupon incentives details during the shopping session. The extension also stores or accesses the off-platform incentive information 14C of payment service programs and affiliate programs. The price impact from all the available incentives are presented on at least one modified checkout page 14 for consumer viewing and approval of the transaction.