Automated Rebate Processing via Loyalty Card Transaction Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for managing digital offers and rebates are inefficient, requiring consumers to manually submit claims and receipts, which disincentivizes them and increases the burden on retailers and providers, leading to resource wastage and inefficiency.
Innovation Solution
An integrated post-sale rebate system that uses programmatic algorithms and synchronized connectivity between systems to automatically activate digital offers and process rebates, eliminating the need for manual submissions by linking loyalty card numbers with contextual transaction data to generate and transmit digital payment files for refunds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual rebate submission processes are used, then consumers can receive rebates, but the process requires significant consumer effort and resources
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically detects purchases, validates offer eligibility, and processes rebates without requiring consumer action. The consumer simply makes a purchase and the system handles the entire rebate process autonomously by matching transactions with activated offers and generating automated payments.
Solution Approach 2:
Offers are activated in advance and stored in the system before purchases occur. When a consumer makes a purchase, the system has already prepared the offer data and can immediately validate eligibility and process the rebate, eliminating the need for post-purchase manual submission.
2Productivity
If automated rebate processing is implemented, then processing efficiency improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The server computer performs multiple functions: storing activated offers, receiving transaction data, validating purchase eligibility, calculating rebate amounts, and generating payment files. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a single integrated platform.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses standardized data formats and structured communication protocols as intermediaries between different components. Transaction data is normalized into a standard format that facilitates automated processing, while payment files use standardized structures that simplify integration with payment processors.
3Adaptability or versatility
If digital offers are distributed over networks, then accessibility improves, but fraud and security risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
Offers are activated and validated in advance before being distributed to consumers. The system pre-verifies offer authenticity, sets eligibility criteria, and establishes validation rules, so that when transactions occur, the security checks are already in place and can be automatically applied.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously validates transaction data against activated offer criteria and provides feedback on eligibility determinations. This automated validation loop ensures that only legitimate purchases qualify for rebates, maintaining security while enabling widespread digital distribution.
Data Source
AI summary
In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises receiving, at a server computer, offer activation request data, the offer activation request data including a loyalty card number and an identification of a digital offer, the digital offer associated with a discount amount; querying, by the server computer, a digital data repository to seek a data record matching the loyalty card number; in response to determining that the data repository has a record matching the loyalty card number, electronically activating the digital offer associated with the identification of the digital offer and associating the activated digital offer with the loyalty card number in the digital data repository; receiving, at the server computer, contextual transaction data; determining, based on the contextual transaction data, that a consumer entity associated with the loyalty card number purchased a product associated with the activated digital offer; determining, by the server computer, that a post-sale product rebate is available for the consumer entity associated with the loyalty card number and in response thereto, generating, by the server computer, a digital payment file based on the discount amount associated with the activated digital offer; using the server computer, transmitting the digital payment file to a third-party payment system that causes a refund amount to be transmitted electronically to the consumer entity associated with the loyalty card.