Automatic Invoice Notification via POS Transaction Data
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Unpaid invoices create financial liabilities for merchants, delaying payment leads to reduced business health, and existing systems lack efficient methods for automatic identification and notification of pending invoices to customers.
Innovation Solution
The technology automatically identifies unpaid invoices through transaction data from point-of-sale systems, notifies customers via the POS system or user devices, and offers promotional incentives to encourage timely payments, allowing payments through multiple avenues, including third-party payment services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If merchants provide credit terms to customers, then customer engagement and sales are improved, but financial liabilities increase and payment collection becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically identifying customers with unpaid invoices through transaction data analysis before initiating collection efforts. This early detection enables timely notifications and promotional incentives to be sent, improving payment collection reliability while maintaining sales productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes a feedback loop by continuously monitoring transaction data to identify unpaid invoices, notifying customers, and tracking payment status. This automated feedback mechanism ensures that merchants receive real-time information about payment status without manual intervention, resolving the contradiction between maintaining credit terms and ensuring payment collection
2Reliability
If merchants manually track unpaid invoices, then payment collection can be monitored, but time and resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service by automatically identifying unpaid invoices through transaction data and generating notifications without requiring merchant intervention. The automated identification and notification processes eliminate manual tracking efforts, reducing time consumption while maintaining reliable payment monitoring
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical tracking processes with automated electronic systems that analyze transaction data to identify unpaid invoices. This substitution eliminates the need for merchants to manually review invoices and customer accounts, significantly reducing time and resource consumption while improving tracking reliability
3Loss of information
If customers are notified of unpaid invoices through traditional methods, then payment reminders are provided, but customer engagement and payment speed are not improved
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameters of notification delivery by using automated electronic communications through the POS system and user devices instead of traditional methods. This parameter change enables immediate notification delivery and includes promotional incentives that actively encourage faster payment, thereby improving both information delivery and payment processing speed
Data Source
AI summary
Introduced here is a technology for automatic notification of an invoice based on identification of a customer identifier included in transaction data received from a point-of-sale (POS) device of a particular merchant. Transaction data for a transaction occurring at the merchant POS device between a customer and the first merchant can be transmitted from the POS device to server(s) of a payment processing service. The transaction data can include a customer identifier. The POS device can receive invoice data from the server(s) associated with an unpaid invoice that is associated with the customer identifier and a historical transaction with the first merchant or a second merchant. The POS device can cause presentation, on a display of the POS device, an invoice payment invitation for the customer to make a payment on the unpaid invoice.