Multi-Entity Coupon Offer Validation System
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional coupons only provide limited information and cannot effectively offer incentives from multiple entities such as merchants, payment processing organizations, and issuers to influence consumer behavior during transactions.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that allows multiple entities to provide coupon offers associated with specific rules, enabling validation and redemption at the point of sale if the rules are satisfied, using a server computer and access device to communicate with various entities to determine offer validity based on consumer identifiers and transaction data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional coupons are used to provide discounts, then consumers can receive financial discounts, but the system cannot effectively provide incentives from multiple entities to influence consumer behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The coupon system is segmented into multiple independent offer providers (merchants, manufacturers, payment processing organizations, issuers), each capable of providing their own offers through separate communication channels to the access device, allowing diverse entities to independently influence consumer behavior without information loss
Solution Approach 2:
The access device serves as an intermediary between multiple offer providers and the transaction system, collecting offers from various entities, validating them against transaction data, and presenting valid offers to consumers, thereby enabling multi-entity incentive provision while managing information flow efficiently
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple entities provide offers with specific rules, then consumer behavior can be effectively influenced, but the validation and processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Offers are pre-configured with their validation rules and criteria before the transaction occurs. The access device collects and stores these offers in advance, so that during the transaction, validation can proceed efficiently by simply comparing transaction data against pre-established offer criteria, reducing real-time processing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables automatic self-validation of offers by comparing transaction data against offer rules without requiring manual intervention. The access device autonomously determines which offers are valid based on pre-configured criteria, reducing the burden on cashiers and simplifying the validation process despite multiple entities involved
Data Source
AI summary
Offers from multiple entities provide an incentive for consumers to behave in a manner that is beneficial to the offer provider. Each offer is associated with rules that establish conditions that must be met for the offer to be valid. For example, a rule may be established to promote the use a specific form of payment, such as a particular credit card. Thus, the offer would only be valid if the consumer paid for the merchandise using the particular credit card. A merchant may generate its own offers or receive offers from a variety of sources (e.g., a payment processing organization, an issuer, or other external sources).