Promotion Event Detection System for Retail Sales Data

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current methods for analyzing promotional events in retail are inefficient, time-consuming, and costly, leading to delayed identification of successful promotions and inaccurate data alignment across retailers, which results in suboptimal sales predictions and increased waste due to excess or insufficient product inventory.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of a system that automatically detects and analyzes promotional events using data cleansing, event detection, and data enrichment techniques to align sales data, unify promotion detection across markets, and provide centralized processing of promotion-related information, enabling timely and accurate analysis of consumer response and promotion effectiveness.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If manual methods are used to analyze promotional events, then detailed analysis can be performed, but the process becomes time-consuming and inefficient

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepromotion analysis efficiencyVSAvoidtime to identify successful promotions

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces manual mechanical analysis methods with automated computer-based systems that use algorithms to detect promotional events, align sales data, and generate insights automatically, thereby eliminating the time-consuming nature of manual analysis while maintaining analytical depth

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an automated promotion detection system as an intermediary between raw sales data and business insights, using computational algorithms to bridge the gap and accelerate the analysis process without requiring manual intervention at each step

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If data is collected from multiple retailers with different reporting periods, then comprehensive market coverage is achieved, but data alignment becomes inaccurate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemarket coverageVSAvoiddata alignment accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary data cleansing and alignment procedures before promotional event detection, standardizing data from different retailers' reporting periods to a common reference frame in advance, which ensures accurate alignment while maintaining comprehensive market coverage

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent transforms data from different retailers by changing temporal parameters (reporting periods) to a unified reference system, allowing comprehensive market data aggregation while maintaining precision through parameter standardization

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Speed

If promotional events are detected quickly, then timely decision-making is enabled, but analysis accuracy may be compromised

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedetection speedVSAvoidpromotion detection accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements continuous automated processing that operates without interruption, maintaining both high speed and accuracy by keeping the detection system continuously active with optimized algorithms that deliver immediate yet precise results

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces slow manual verification processes with automated computational validation that instantly verifies detection accuracy, enabling fast detection without compromising precision through algorithmic rigor

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

4Measurement precision

If comprehensive data processing is performed, then accurate insights are generated, but resource consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveinsight accuracyVSAvoidcomputational resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and processes only the essential data elements required for promotion detection and analysis, filtering out redundant information to maintain insight accuracy while minimizing computational resource consumption through selective data processing

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS20240078566A1Methods, systems, articles of manufacture, and apparatus to detect promotion events

Publication Date: 2024.03.07 NIELSEN CONSUMER LLC

AI summary

Systems, apparatus, articles of manufacture, and methods are disclosed to detect promotion events. An apparatus includes interface circuitry to obtain aligned sales data corresponding to products, the products corresponding to a market and a category; computer readable instructions; and programmable circuitry to instantiate event detection circuitry to: identify product-level promotions based on the aligned sales data and corresponding baseline data for the products; and group ones of the product-level promotions to identify promotion events; and expansion circuitry to determine uplift factors for different promotion characteristics based on the market and the category; and apply the uplift factors to the product-level promotions and the promotion events to identify incremental sales.