Virtual Credit Card Application for Point-of-Sale Transactions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers often face difficulties in making immediate and direct purchases due to misplaced payment mechanisms, and retailers struggle to effectively offer promotions and incentives in a timely manner at the point of sale.
Innovation Solution
A downloadable retail card application that functions as a virtual credit card, enabling users to manage credit accounts and receive location-based promotions, allowing for seamless transactions and personalized offers by integrating with microlocation devices and analytics engines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If consumers use traditional physical payment cards, then transactions can be completed, but consumers may experience delays due to misplaced cards or difficulty locating them in their wallet or purse
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital copy of the payment card functionality through a mobile device application. The virtual card stored in the mobile device replicates all essential payment card functions, eliminating the need to physically locate and handle the actual card. This digital replica can be instantly accessed and presented for payment, resolving the time loss and inconvenience associated with searching for physical cards.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/physical card handling system with an electronic/digital system. Instead of physically extracting and presenting a plastic card from a wallet, the system uses mobile device screens, wireless communication, and electronic verification to complete the payment process. This substitution eliminates the mechanical actions of searching, extracting, and handling physical cards.
2Loss of time
If retailers use traditional promotion methods, then offers can be communicated to consumers, but retailers cannot effectively provide offers in a direct and immediate manner at the point of sale
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements real-time feedback loops between the mobile device, point-of-sale system, and retailer backend. The mobile device continuously communicates with the point-of-sale terminal, enabling instantaneous delivery and confirmation of offers. This feedback mechanism allows retailers to push promotions directly to consumers' devices at the moment of purchase decision, achieving immediate and effective offer delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device acts as an intermediary between the retailer's promotion system and the consumer. It receives, displays, and manages promotional offers, serving as a direct communication channel that bridges the gap between retailer marketing systems and consumer reception. This intermediary enables precise, targeted, and immediate offer delivery at the point of sale.
Data Source
AI summary
An application platform configurable for collecting user data associated with a plurality of retail-branded credit cards is provided. The application platform includes a configurable front end comprising a graphical user interface layer that is configurable to a specific one of the plurality of retail-branded credit cards, a backend layer comprising credit card functionality for directly performing credit card transactions associated with a specific one of the plurality of retail-branded credit cards, a data collection layer comprising a data collector for collecting user data associated with the plurality of retail-branded credit cards and an offer provider for providing an offer to a user based on the user data associated with said plurality of retail-branded credit cards.