WO2014090292A1

WO2014090292A1 - Discount management system and method for managing discount offers

Info

Publication number: WO2014090292A1
Application number: PCT/EP2012/075190
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michele Sorice
Original assignee: VIDYO GmbH
Current assignee: VIDYO GmbH
Priority date: 2012-12-12
Filing date: 2012-12-12
Publication date: 2014-06-19
Anticipated expiration: 2015-06-12

Abstract

The present invention relates to a discount management system, comprising: a. means for generating a discount-specific Quick Response Code (QR Code), wherein the discount-specific QR Code comprises information about at least one discount for a product or service offered by a discount provider, which is directed to a plurality of different customers; b. means for providing the discount-specific QR Code to at least a subset of the plurality of different customers; c. means for detecting (1055) that a customer-specific QR Code was scanned (1050) by a device of a customer (30) and means for generating (1060) a customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode, wherein the customer-discount-specific QR code and / or barcode comprises information about the at least one discount and an identification of the customer (30); d. means for providing (1065) the customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode to the customer (30); and e. means for detecting that the customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode provided by the customer to the discount provider was scanned by a device of the discount provider; f. wherein the scanning of the customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode serves to redeem the at least one discount for the product or service by the customer.

Description

Discount management system and method for managing discount offers l. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a discount management system and corresponding method for managing discount offers.

2. The Prior Art

Businesses and enterprises oftentimes offer discounts for their products and services in order to attract customers. Typically, such discounts are provided to customers by handing out or mailing paper coupons, which the customer has to collect and present at the store in order to redeem the discount.

Also, web-based advertising networks are known in the prior art, which allow businesses to promote their discounts. Users may register at such networks and then get informed, e.g. by e-mail, about new discounts offered. However, also these discounts are typically implemented as paper-based coupons, which the customer has to print out and redeem when buying the respective product or service. However, paper-based coupons have several drawbacks. For example, the customer might spontaneously show up at a particular store, but might not have left the respective coupons at home, so that the discount cannot be redeemed. More importantly, paper-based coupons generally lead to a high amount of paper, which is generally inconvenient to handle for the customer. In particular, the known advertising networks tend to overwhelm the customer with a vast amount of paper coupons, while the customer is typically only interested in a small subset of the offered products or services, which leads to a considerable waste of resources, such as paper and printing ink. Moreover, customers oftentimes have to enter a certain discount code printed on the respective coupon to redeem the discount, which is inconvenient and may lead to erroneous data entries. Lastly, using paper-based discount coupons, it is difficult and in part even impossible for the business offering the discount to track which discounts have been redeemed by which customers.

It is therefore the technical problem underlying the present invention to provide a system for managing discount offers which saves resources, such as paper, and is more efficiently to use, thereby at least partly overcoming the above explained disadvantages of the prior art.

¾. Summary of the Invention

This problem is according to one aspect of the invention solved by a discount management system. In the embodiment of claim l, the system comprises: a. means for generating a discount-specific Quick Response Code (QR Code), wherein the discount-specific QR Code comprises information about at least one discount for a product or service offered by a discount provider, which is directed to a plurality of different customers; b. means for providing the discount-specific QR Code to at least a subset of the plurality of different customers; c. means for detecting that a customer-specific QR Code was scanned by a device of a customer and means for generating a customer- discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode, wherein the customer-discount-specific QR code and / or barcode comprises information about the at least one discount and an identification of the customer; d. means for providing the customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode to the customer; and e. means for detecting that the customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode provided by the customer to the discount provider was scanned by a device of the discount provider; f. wherein the scanning of the customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode serves to redeem the at least one discount for the product or service by the customer.

Accordingly, the embodiment defines a computer-implemented discount management system which serves as the technical backend of an advertising network. Businesses and enterprises (i.e. discount providers) can use the system to generate QR Codes that are associated with discount offers (discount-specific QR Codes), wherein such discount offers are directed to a plurality of different customers. The customers may scan these discount-specific QR Codes using suitable devices (such as a mobile device; see further below). When a discount-specific QR Code is scanned by the customer device, the discount management system detects such scanning (e.g. by means of a (wireless) network connection between the discount management system and the customer device) and generates a so-called customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or a customer-discount-specific barcode, which in addition to information about the discount also comprises an identification of the particular customer who scanned the discount-specific QR Code. Said customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode is then provided to the customer (e.g. by downloading the code from the discount management system to the customer's device), may then be presented by the customer at the respective discount provider's store, and may be scanned in order to redeem the discount. To this end, the above- explained discount management system comprises means for detecting that a customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode was scanned.

Importantly, the use of Quick Response Codes (QR Codes; cf. e.g.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code) for implementing discount coupons leads to a drastically decreased paper production, as compared to conventional advertising networks, and thus saves physical resources to a great extent. Since also barcodes (cf. e.g.

http: / / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode) may be generated in addition or alternatively to QR Codes, the system is also conveniently usable by discount providers which do not support the QR Code technology. Also, since the discount coupons are provided in electronic form, it is possible for the customer to save his QR Codes and / or barcodes on a device, such as a mobile phone, so that the customer is always in possession of relevant coupons when needed. Furthermore, since the customer- discount-specific QR Codes and / or customer-discount-specific barcodes include information identifying the customer, the discount provider is enabled to reliably track which customer has redeemed which discounts at which point in time, which leads to an information gain for the discount provider and avoids fraudulent activities by customers. Further, since the discount management system detects when a customer scans a discount-specific QR Code, the discount management system is enabled to derive also statistics about which discount-specific QR Codes have been scanned by whom, but were not redeemed.

In a preferred embodiment, the present discount management system further comprises means for generating a provider-specific QR Code which identifies an individual discount provider, and means for detecting that the provider-specific QR Code was scanned by at least one customer device, wherein the means for providing the discount-specific QR Code to at least a subset of the plurality of different customers is adapted for providing the discount-specific QR Code only to customers which have scanned the provider-specific QR Code.

Accordingly, preferably each discount provider which uses the proposed system is associated with a unique QR Code (provider-specific QR Code). Such provider-specific QR Codes may e.g. be presented on a web page of the discount management system. Customers may scan these codes in order to add the corresponding discount provider to a customer-specific list of interesting discount providers. When a discount provider then generates a discount-specific QR Code, said code is only provided to those customers who have expressed their interest in the respective discount provider. Importantly, this aspect of the present invention considerably increases the usability of the advertising network, since the customers are only confronted with discount offers which are relevant to them.

In a further aspect of the present invention, the system further comprises means for generating a customer-specific QR Code which identifies an individual customer, means for detecting that a device of a first customer has scanned the customer-specific QR Code of a second customer, and means for informing the first customer that the second customer has redeemed a discount and / or that the second customer has scanned a provider-specific QR code.

Accordingly, preferably each customer may be associated with a unique QR Code (customer-specific QR Code). Customers may scan the customer-specific QR Code of other customers (e.g. when one customer presents its smartphone to the other user), thereby adding the respective customer to a kind of "friend list". This way, customers may get informed about relevant activities of their "friends", which increases the usability of the advertising network to a great extent.

Preferably, a discount-specific QR Code comprises information selected from the group comprising product name, service name, discount amount, discount percentage, description, picture, article identifier, duration of the offer and / or amount in stock. Embedding this information (or any subset thereof) into a discount-specific QR Code enables the system and its users to create accurate and meaningful discount offers.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, the means for providing the discount-specific QR Code to at least a subset of the plurality of different customers is adapted for providing said QR code on a web page and / or a display device. Accordingly, the present discount management system may serve as the technical backbone of a web-based advertising network portal, wherein discount-specific QR Codes (which represent individual discount offers) are presented on web pages. Alternatively or in addition, discount-specific QR Codes may also be presented to customers on display devices. In particular, if such a display device is located at a discount provider's store or premise, this aspect enables customers to spontaneously scan the displayed discount-specific QR Code(s) in order to take advantage of discounts while they are already in the store or premise. Furthermore, if such a display-device is e.g. located at the entry of a shopping mall, it will attract the customers' attention and will drive customers into stores which offer respective discounts.

Furthermore, the present discount management system may also comprise means for generating a printable version of the discount- specific QR Code and / or the customer-discount-specific QR Code. This way, customers who do not possess a mobile device, such as a smart phone, may still use the present system. Since most customers nowadays possess a mobile device, the paper production involved in this aspect is expected to be minimal, while at the same time increasing the usability of the system.

In one aspect of the invention, the system comprises means for generating a rewards-card QR Code, wherein the rewards-card QR Code comprises information about a predefined amount of discounts for a product or service offered by a discount provider, and means for tracking the amount of discounts redeemed by an individual customer.

Accordingly, customers may be provided with a special QR Code which includes a plurality of redeemable discounts (e.g. ten purchases of a certain product or service, coupled to one free purchase after the ten purchases have been performed).

Lastly, the discount management system may also comprise means for charging a discount provider each time a customer scans the provider- specific QR Code of the discount provider. Accordingly, a discount provider is preferably allowed to generate as many discount-specific QR Codes as desired, while the discount provider is only charged when a customer adds the discount provider to his list by scanning the corresponding provider-specific QR code. A preferred scheme for charging discount providers includes a fixed price for each customer "tagging" the discount provider. Each "tagger" is only invoiced once per month.

In addition to the above-described discount management system, the present invention is also directed to a software application for a mobile device. In one embodiment, said software application comprises: a. means for scanning a discount-specific Quick Response Code (QR Code), wherein the discount-specific QR Code comprises information about at least one discount for a product or service offered by a discount provider, which is directed to a plurality of different customers; b. means for receiving a customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode, wherein the customer-discount-specific QR code and / or barcode comprises information about the at least one discount and an identification of a customer associated with the mobile device; and c. means for displaying the customer-discount-specific QR Code for being scanned by a device of a discount provider, wherein the scanning serves to redeem the at least one discount for the product or service by the customer associated with the mobile device.

Accordingly, said software application, which is preferably usable by customers and / or discount providers, represents the functional counterpart to the discount management system disclosed further above (which serves as the technical backbone of an advertising network). Using the mobile device and the installed software application, a customer may scan discount-specific QR Codes, which may be presented to the customer on a web page of the advertising network and / or on a display device (e.g. within a store of the discount provider). In response to the scanning of a discount-specific QR Code, the software application then receives a customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or a barcode corresponding to the scanned discount-specific QR Code from the discount management system. As already explained further above, said customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode includes in addition an identification of the respective customer operating the mobile device. Having scanned one or more discount-specific QR Codes, the customer may present its mobile device at a discount provider's premise, and the discount provider, in turn using a suitable device, may scan the customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode in order to let the customer redeem the corresponding discount. As the person skilled in the art will appreciate the "means for scanning" and the "means for displaying" of the software application is to be understood as means for initiating the scanning and means for initiating the displaying of the respective codes.

In one aspect of the present invention, the software application further comprises means for generating a notification indicating that the customer associated with the mobile device is within a pre-defined distance from a discount provider, if the customer has at least one redeemable customer-discount-specific QR code for said discount provider. The software application may also comprise means for scanning a provider-specific QR Code which identifies an individual discount provider, and means for generating a notification indicating that the customer associated with the mobile device is within a pre- defined distance from the discount provider identified by the provider- specific QR Code. This way, using e.g. a GPS sensor and / or

corresponding software of the mobile device, the customer is

conveniently notified when he enters the vicinity of a discount provider.

Preferably, the software application further comprises means for storing the generated customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode on a local memory of the mobile device. Accordingly, a customer may take any generated customer-discount-specific QR Codes and / or barcodes with him (i.e. on his mobile device), so that the corresponding discounts can be redeemed at any time. Importantly, using locally stored codes, the customer device does not require an online connection at the time of discount redemption, which is particularly practical in large shopping malls which due to the thick concrete walls may provide only for limited connectivity of mobile devices.

Said software application may in yet a further aspect also comprise means for scanning a customer-discount-specific QR Code, wherein the scanning serves to redeem the at least one associated discount.

Accordingly, also the discount provider itself may use a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, with the proposed software application installed thereon in order to scan codes presented by customers. In other words, the same software application may be used by both customers and discount providers. In particular, according to this aspect a discount provider does not require expensive scanning devices, but only a mobile device such as a mobile phone.

Lastly, the present invention is also directed to a method for managing discount offers performed by any of the above-described discount management systems, as well as to a method for managing discount offers performed by any of the above-described software applications.

4. Short Description of the Drawings

In the following detailed description, presently preferred embodiments of the invention are further described with reference to the following figures: Fig. 1: A flow chart illustrating the communication between parties involved in an advertising network in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2a: An exemplary QR Code as used in embodiments of the

invention; Fig. 2b: An exemplary barcode as used in embodiments of the invention;

Fig. 3: A login screen of a web portal according to an embodiment of the invention; Fig. 4: A screen of a customer home page of a web portal according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 5: A screen of a discount provider profile page of a web portal according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 6: A screen displaying a customer's "tagger friends" page of a web portal according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 7: A contact screen for a customer of a web portal according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figs. 8-10: Screens of a graphical user interface of a software

application for a mobile device according to an embodiment of the invention.

5. Detailed Description

In the following, a presently preferred embodiment of the invention is described with respect to an advertising network as schematically shown in Fig. 1. As can be seen, the advertising network generally involves three parties. A discount provider 20 is generally any party intending to sell products and / or services, such as a business, an enterprise or an individual. A customer 30 (hereinafter also referred to as "tagger") is any party interested in purchasing products and / or services offered by discount providers 20. Apparently, the present invention is not limited to the depicted single discount provider 20 and customer 30, but may support any number of discount providers 20 and customers 30.

The discount management system 10 shown in Fig. 1 is the central technical backbone which allows discount providers 20 and customers 30 to manage discount offers. Typically, said discount management system 10 is operated by a discount network provider (hereinafter also labelled "advertising network provider"). Within the present invention the terms discount network or advertising network should be understood as any network, i.e. collection of parties, allowing parties to offer and redeem discounts for corresponding products and / or services.

Advantageously, the systems and methods presented herein make heavy use of QR Codes and barcodes. Using such machine-readable codes has, among others, the technical advantage that no paper-coupons are needed and that no complicated coupon codes have to be manually entered by customers. Figs. 2a and 2b show examples of a QR Code and a corresponding barcode both encoding the text "This is a machine- readable code".

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the discount management system 10 is a web-based portal executing on one or more servers. The system 10 enables discount providers 20 and customers 30 to register with the advertising network. To this end, the system 10 may offer a registration web page allowing a customer 30 to enter information such as an email address, first name, last name and / or other contact information, and to choose a password. Similarly, also discount providers 20 may be offered a registration web page for entering information such as an email address, business name, password, and / or other contact information. Preferably, the system 10 creates a unique identifier (ID) for each registered customer 30 and discount provider 20. As shown in step 1000 of Fig. 1, the system 10 creates a provider-specific QR Code (Quick Response Code), hereinafter also referred to as

"provider-code", which uniquely identifies a registered discount provider 20. In a preferred embodiment, a provider-specific QR Code comprises the ID of the respective discount provider 20. Scanning the provider- specific QR Code then triggers a link (e.g. a Uniform Resource Locator;

URL) to a profile page of the discount provider 20 within the advertising network (hereinafter also referred to as "provider-page"). With reference to step 1010 of Fig. l, the system 10 also creates a QR Code for each registered customer 30, which is hereinafter referred to as customer-specific QR Code or "tagger-code". In a preferred embodiment, a customer-specific QR Code comprises the ID of the respective customer 30. Scanning the customer-specific QR Code then triggers a link (e.g. a Uniform Resource Locator; URL) to a profile page of the customer 30 within the advertising network.

In certain embodiments, the provider-specific QR Code of a particular discount provider 20 is displayed on a profile page of the discount provider 20 provided by the discount management system 10. A discount provider 20 may also print out its provider-specific QR Code and provide it at its store (e.g. on a sticker on the front door), on corporate letters, on invoices, or the like.

In a preferred embodiment, the customer 30 uses a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, smart phone, tablet computer, or the like, to scan provider-specific QR Codes (cf. step 1020 in Fig. 1). To this end, the present invention provides a suitable software application executable on the customers' mobile devices, which will be explained in greater detail further below. In one embodiment, the scanning comprises taking a photo of a code using a camera built into the mobile device and the suitable processing thereof with software By scanning a provider-specific QR Code, the customer 30 can add the respective discount provider 20 to a list of discount providers 20 in which the customer 30 is interested.

The above-explained steps 1000 - 1020 of Fig. 1 thus represent preparatory steps for setting up an advertising network and may be executed as illustrated in Fig. 1, or in any other suitable order.

Again referring to Fig. 1, a discount provider 20 may in step 1030 generate any number of discount-specific QR Codes (also referred to as "discount-codes" or "sale-codes") by means of the system 10. Each discount-specific QR Code is associated with one or more discounts for one or more products and / or services offered by the discount provider 20. In one embodiment, a discount-specific QR Code comprises information such as product name, discount amount, discount percentage, description, picture, article number, duration of validity of the discount, amount in stock and / or a unique discount ID created by the system 10. Importantly, discount providers 20 may in a preferred embodiment create any arbitrary number of discount-specific QR Codes. Such discount-specific QR Codes may then be displayed on a web page of the advertising network.

In order to provide discount-specific QR Codes to customers 30 (cf. step 1040 of Fig. 1), a preferred embodiment of the invention provides each customer 30 with a personalized web page, which lists all or at least part of all discount-specific QR Codes of those discount providers 20 which the respective customer 30 has added to its list of discount providers 20 in which the customer 30 is interested. This way, each customer 30 is confronted only with those discount-specific QR Codes for which he/she has expressed interest beforehand.

If a customer 30 is interested in a certain discount, he/she scans the corresponding discount-specific QR Code with his/her mobile device, as shown in step 1050 of Fig. 1. The backbone (i.e. the discount

management system 10) detects (step 1055) that the customer 30 has scanned the discount-specific QR Code (e.g. by means of a signal transmitted from the customer's mobile device to the backbone) and in turn generates a further QR Code, referred to as customer-discount- specific QR Code or "individual-code" (cf. step 1060 in Fig. 1). This QR Code includes both information about the corresponding discount (e.g. the unique discount ID; see above) and an identification of the corresponding customer 30. In other words, while a discount-specific QR Code is generic in that it applies to all potentially interested customers 30, the generated customer-discount-specific QR Code is particularly tailored to a given discount and a given customer 30. In a preferred embodiment, also a corresponding customer-discount-specific barcode is generated in addition or alternatively to the customer- discount-specific QR Code. Said customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode is then transmitted back to the customer's mobile device (step 1065) and stored locally on said device.

Furthermore, a customer 30 may also view discount-specific QR codes directly on his mobile device (instead of using a computer to view the above-described web page). In this scenario, the customer may select a particular discount-specific QR code (e.g. by pressing an icon associated with said code) instead of scanning it. The remaining process is the same as described above, i.e. the discount management system 10 will detect that the customer has selected a particular discount-specific QR code and will generate the above-mentioned corresponding customer- discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode.

A customer 30, e.g. when being located in a store of a discount provider 20, may then display the customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode on his/her mobile device and present the device to an employee of the discount provider 20 (cf. step 1070 in Fig. 1). The employee of the discount provider 20 in turn can then scan the presented code (step 1080) in order to let the customer 30 redeem the discount associated with said code. Preferably, also the employee of the discount provider 20 uses to this end the software application provided by the present invention, which then notifies the discount management system that the discount was redeemed (cf. step 1090 in Fig. 1).

In the following, an exemplary web-based implementation of the discount management system 10 of the invention will be explained with reference to Figs. 3 - 7.

Fig. 3 illustrates a login screen to the exemplary web portal.

Fig. 4 shows screen of a customer home page of the exemplary web portal. As can be seen, the customer 30 is provided with all current discount offers. Further, a list of recent activities is displayed to the customer 30. Fig. 5 shows a screen of a discount provider profile page of the exemplary web portal. As can be seen, the page displays a logo of the discount provider 20, the number of customers 30 which have "tagged" the discount provider 20, as well as options for "tagging" and

recommendation. Further, the page lists all discounts currently offered by the discount provider 20, along with their associated discount-specific QR Codes. Also, said list may be filtered by product-specific categories (such as "living room furniture", "bedroom furniture", or the like).

Fig. 6 shows a screen displaying a customer's "tagger friends" of the exemplary web portal. As can be seen, a customer 30 can see which discount providers 20 were "tagged" by other customers 30.

Lastly, Fig. 7 shows a contact screen for a customer of the exemplary web portal.

As already explained further above, the present invention involves besides the discount management system 10 (which is the technical backend for the advertising network) also a software application for a mobile device (i.e. an "app" which can be installed on a mobile device, e.g. over the air), which serves as the front end for the customers 30 and preferably also the discount providers 20.

A customer 30 operating the software application on his/her mobile device may use said software to accomplish the following tasks (which may be similarly performed by the customer 30 using a browser to operate a web portal underlying the advertising network):

• A customer 30 may search for a discount provider 20 and "tag it", i.e. add the discount provider 20 to its list of interesting discount providers.

• A customer 30 may add other customers 30 to a list of befriended users (also called "tagger friends"). This way, customers 30 may build a community of similar interests. A customer 30 may be presented with activities of other befriended customers 30 ("tagger friends") and / or "tagged" discount providers 20. Using e.g. a GPS sensor of the mobile device, said activities may be filtered according to the physical distance from the customer 30. Notable activities may comprise: o A "tagger friend" has tagged business/ enterprise XYZ. o A "tagger friend" has added a discount-code of

business/enterprise XYZ (preferably without revealing any product details for the sake of data confidentiality). o A business/enterprise within the customer's vicinity has a new profile page (the vicinity threshold may be predefined, e.g. to 30 km, and may be edited by the customer). o Sponsored businesses/enterprises which have placed advertisements or which want to promote their profile page.

A customer 30 may send another customer 30 ("tagger friend") a message. Note that a preferred embodiment of the invention does not include chat functionality, but only asynchronous messages.

A customer 30 may send another customer 30 ("tagger friend") a recommendation of a discount provider 20 and / or a particular discount offer.

A customer 30 may recommend discount providers 20 via email.

Any activities, such as discount specific QR Codes, customer- discount-specific QR Codes, "tagger friends",

businesses/enterprises, are preferably immediately available on the mobile software application. Preferably, a discount provider 20 operating the software application on his/her mobile device has access to all of the above customer-centric functionalities, and also to additional provider-centric functionality. This way, the discount provider 20 can use the same software and associated mobile device in two roles (customer and discount provider), and can scan the customer-discount-specific QR Codes presented by customers 30. No separate expensive scanning hardware is necessary.

Figs. 8 - 10 show screens of a graphical user interface of one

embodiment of the mobile software application. More precisely, Fig. 9 shows a screen displaying a mobile discount provider profile page

(similar to the web-based version illustrated in Fig. 5), and Fig. 10 shows a screen of a customer home page (similar to the web-based version illustrated in Fig. 4).

Fig. 8 illustrates a screen of the mobile software application which can be presented by the customer at a discount provider's store in order to redeem a discount. As can be seen, the screen displays both the customer-discount-specific QR Code and the barcode which represents the respective discount. Once displayed on the customer's mobile device, these codes can then be conveniently scanned by an employee of the store, as previously described. Importantly, the screen also shows a third code comprising a sequence of numbers (called "online code" in Fig. 5). This third code can be provided by discount providers 20 which do not have physical stores, but only sell their products/services over the World Wide Web. Respective discounts can then be redeemed by a customer 30 in that the customer 30 simply enters the online code during checkout in a web store of the discount provider 20.

Further characteristics of preferred embodiments of the invention include:

The QR Codes described herein may preferably be accessed via web pages of the advertising network using a browser on a conventional computer and via the provided mobile software application. Users without a computer and mobile device may print the codes.

Different types of discount codes are conceivable, e.g. last minute discount codes, last second discount codes, long-term discount codes and / or last chance discount codes.

Rewards-card QR Codes may comprise a predefined amount of discounts for a customer to redeem.

Each discount provider 20 may derive detailed statistics about redeemed discounts per individual customer 30, which may include information about how many discount-codes were generated, how many were scanned by customers, how many were redeemed, and so forth.

"advertising-TV" for stores: discount providers 20 may position one or more display devices, such as computer monitors, screens, displays, LCDs or the like, in their stores, which display discount-codes for the customers to scan using their mobile device. In a particularly preferred embodiment, said display device is connected to the backend system (i.e. the discount management system 10) via a network connection such as a LAN, WLAN, or the like. Advantageously, this way a discount provider 20 is enabled to centrally and remotely control the content displayed on all display means in its store(s).

Further, such display devices may comprise a scanning means. Using said scanning means, customers 30 may scan their corresponding customer-specific QR Code and may in response retrieve all their current discount codes from the backend system onto their mobile device. This aspect is particularly advantageous, since even in environments where the customer's mobile device has no network connection, the customer is enabled to use his/her discount codes.

In addition or alternatively, said display means may also comprise a wireless network means (such as a WLAN hotspot). Accordingly, when a customer's mobile device is near the display means, the customer's discount codes may also be loaded onto the mobile device using said WLAN connection.

Furthermore, said display means may also comprise a fingerprint sensor for establishing the identity of a customer 30 in order to identify the customer 30.

Also, said display device may comprise a printing means for printing out discount codes directly at the display device.

The mobile software application may create push notifications when the customer is near a discount provider's store which he/she has tagged, and if that store offers discounts. This feature is particularly interesting for businesses/enterprises, since interested "taggers", i.e. customers, are animated to visit the store because of the offered discounts.

Moreover, the mobile software application may be configured to enable a customer 30 to add certain discount codes to a temporary list (so-called pinboard). For example, if a customer 30 has scanned 100 discount codes of a certain discount provider 20 and when the customer 30 is in a store of said discount provider 20, the customer may add a subset of the scanned discount codes to the pinboard. This way, when the customer 30 is about to purchase the respective products at the store's checkout counter, he is enabled to conveniently and quickly present the relevant discount codes from the pinboard, without having to scroll through all of the 100 discount codes. The items on such a pinboard may be sorted and / or grouped as needed.

Furthermore, the mobile software application may also be used to present the customer 30 with all discount providers 20 which are members of the advertising network (i.e. which have a provider page) and which are presently located within a pre-defined distance (e.g. 5km) of the customer's mobile device (using GPS means of the mobile device). This way, a customer 30 is enabled to conveniently discover new discount providers 20 within his vicinity. Also, at each login of a customer 30 to the advertising network, new discount providers 20 having joined which are located within a predefined distance from e.g. the home address or work address of the customer 30 may be presented to the customer 30. Each customer 30 may store payment information in the system 10 (such as a PayPal account), which is particularly advantageous when reserving tickets or the like. Accordingly, after a discount code which is related to a ticket (e.g. a cinema or theatre ticket) is scanned by a customer 30, the customer 30 is enabled to directly query whether seats are still available. The customer 30 may then immediately book a seat and also perform the payment using the above-mentioned payment information.

Customers 30 may search for "region and service", e.g. "Hotel Milano", but preferably not for a particular product or service. A customer 30 may choose not to promote a certain activity to other

"tagger friends", such as the purchase of a discount for adult products or the like, which increases the data confidentiality.

When a customer 30 logs in to the system 10, the system 10 may recommend discount providers 20 which fit certain user interests entered during registration.

If a customer account has not acted as a "tagger" of a particular discount provider 20 for a predefined time span (e.g. two years), the customer 30 is removed as a tagger from said discount provider 20.

Vouchers which a customer 30 has obtained e.g. as a birthday present may be integrated into the advertising network. This way, the customer 30 only needs the provided mobile software application, but no paper vouchers. In general, any existing voucher including a QR Code or barcode may be integrated. Further, a discount provider 20 may provide to a customer 30 (via its ID) a certain amount of free budget. This way, individual gift coupons can be provided to individual customers 30. Customers 30 may use the provided mobile software application to scan any type of existing customer loyalty card. This way, the customer 30 only needs the provided mobile software application, but no physical loyalty cards. Preferably, codes scanned by means of the mobile software application are automatically assigned to the correct category, such as

business/enterprise, "tagger friend", discount-code, etc.

Expired discount-codes are automatically deleted from the system 10. Codes stored locally on a customer's mobile device are deleted the next time the device connects to the internet.

If a first customer has recommended a discount to a second customer, and the second customer redeems the discount, the first customer may be provided with a gift, such as a special discount.

Using a special area of the backend portal, a main branch of a discount provider 20 may control the profile pages of its subsidiaries, i.e. to create discount offers for all subsidiaries. Subsidiaries may be provided with an individual login to create (additional) individual discount offers.

Furthermore, businesses/enterprises (with or without being registered in the advertising network) may place advertisements on the web-based discount management system 10 of the invention. The following three exemplary types of advertisements are conceivable:

• Banner advertisements / image advertisements, i.e.

banners/graphics which are displayed alongside the web pages of the portal. · Icon advertisements, i.e. advertisements which may be included in a list of discount offers displayed on a customer's web page.

• Active advertisements, i.e. advertisements which are displayed in-between a list of activities of "tagger friends". Summary

In summary, the present invention provides a particular advantageous technical infrastructure for advertising networks. Advantages include:

• The present invention makes the use of paper-based coupons obsolete. Paper coupons typically are left at home when needed, so that they cannot be redeemed spontaneously.

• Conventional advertising networks typically overwhelm their users with irrelevant discount offers. The present invention only provides discount offers which are tailored towards the users.

• The turning away from paper-based coupons saves resources, such as paper and printing ink.

• In conventional systems, the collecting and assembly of relevant coupons is cumbersome, time-intensive, and frustrating for the customer.

• Paper coupons typically have various different sizes and are

therefore difficult to carry.

• The present invention provides a central place where all discount codes can be stored, i.e. the user's mobile device.

• The present invention provides a central place where all customer loyalty cards can be stored, i.e. the user's mobile device.

• The present invention provides for detailed statistics of the use of discount-coupons by the customers.

Claims

A discount management system (10), comprising: a. means for generating (1030) a discount-specific Quick

Response Code (QR Code), wherein the discount-specific QR Code comprises information about at least one discount for a product or service offered by a discount provider (20), which is directed to a plurality of different customers (30); b. means for providing (1040) the discount-specific QR Code to at least a subset of the plurality of different customers (30); c. means for detecting (1055) that a customer-specific QR Code was scanned (1050) by a device of a customer (30) and means for generating (1060) a customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode, wherein the customer-discount-specific QR code and / or barcode comprises information about the at least one discount and an identification of the customer (30); d. means for providing (1065) the customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode to the customer (30); and e. means for detecting (1090) that the customer-discount- specific QR Code and / or barcode provided by the customer (30) to the discount provider (20) was scanned (1080) by a device of the discount provider (20); f. wherein the scanning (1080) of the customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode serves to redeem the at least one discount for the product or service by the customer (30). The system (10) of claim l, further comprising:

means for generating (1000) a provider-specific QR Code which identifies an individual discount provider (20); and means for detecting (1020) that the provider-specific QR Code was scanned by at least one customer device;

wherein the means for providing (1040) the discount-specific QR Code to at least a subset of the plurality of different customers (30) is adapted for providing the discount-specific QR Code only to customers (30) which have scanned the provider-specific QR Code.

The system (10) of claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

means for generating (1010) a customer-specific QR Code which identifies an individual customer;

means for detecting that a device of a first customer has scanned the customer-specific QR Code of a second customer; and

means for informing the first customer that the second customer has redeemed a discount and / or that the second customer has scanned a provider-specific QR code.

The system (10) of any of the preceding claims, wherein the discount-specific QR Code comprises information selected from the group comprising: product name, service name, discount amount, discount percentage, description, picture, article identifier, duration of the offer and / or amount in stock.

The system (10) of any of the preceding claims, wherein the means for providing (1040) the discount-specific QR Code to at least a subset of the plurality of different customers (30) is adapted for providing said QR code on a web page and / or a display device. The system (10) of any of the preceding claims, further comprising means for generating a printable version of the discount-specific QR Code and / or the customer-discount-specific QR Code.

The system (10) of any of the preceding claims, further comprising: means for generating a rewards-card QR Code, wherein the rewards-card QR Code comprises information about a predefined amount of discounts for a product or service offered by a discount provider (20); and

means for tracking the amount of discounts redeemed by an individual customer (30).

The system (10) of any of the preceding claims 2 - 7, further comprising means for charging a discount provider (20) each time a customer (30) scans the provider-specific QR code of the discount provider (20).

A software application for a mobile device, comprising: a. means for scanning (1050) a discount-specific Quick Response Code (QR Code), wherein the discount-specific QR Code comprises information about at least one discount for a product or service offered by a discount provider (20), which is directed to a plurality of different customers (30); b. means for receiving (1065) a customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode, wherein the customer-discount- specific QR code and / or barcode comprises information about the at least one discount and an identification of a customer (30) associated with the mobile device; and c. means for displaying (1070) the customer-discount-specific QR Code for being scanned (1080) by a device of a discount provider (20), wherein the scanning (1080) serves to redeem the at least one discount for the product or service by the customer (30) associated with the mobile device.

10. The software application of claim 9, further comprising:

means for generating a notification indicating that the customer (30) associated with the mobile device is within a pre-defined distance from a discount provider (20), if the customer (30) has at least one redeemable customer-discount- specific QR code for said discount provider (20).

11. The software application of claim 9 or 10, further comprising:

means for scanning (1020) a provider-specific QR Code which identifies an individual discount provider (20); and means for generating a notification indicating that the customer (30) associated with the mobile device is within a pre-defined distance from the discount provider (20) identified by the provider-specific QR Code.

12. The software application of any of the preceding claims 9 - 11, further comprising:

means for storing the generated customer-discount-specific QR Code and / or barcode on a local memory of the mobile device.

The software application of any of the preceding claims 9 - 12, further comprising:

means for scanning (1080) a customer-discount-specific QR Code, wherein the scanning (1080) serves to redeem the at least one associated discount.

A method for managing discount offers performed by a discount management system (10) in accordance with any of the preceding claims 1 - 8. A method for managing discount offers performed by a software application for a mobile device in accordance with any of the preceding claims 9 - 13.