WO2026000024A1

WO2026000024A1 - Data communications network and method for disseminating information to consumers

Info

Publication number: WO2026000024A1
Application number: PCT/AU2025/050675
Authority: WO
Inventors: Matthew Manfield; Maria Manfield
Original assignee: Emelem Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Emelem Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2024-06-27
Filing date: 2025-06-24
Publication date: 2026-01-02
Anticipated expiration: 2026-12-27

Abstract

The present invention relates to a data communications network and method for disseminating notifications regarding relevant retail and/or promotional opportunities to consumers, in respect of retail outlets conveniently located for the consumer and during periods of time in which the consumer is able to avail themselves of a promotional opportunity. By analysing, using artificial intelligence, consumer behaviour data and the geo-location of individual consumers, the transmission of such notifications is not reliant upon strict adherence with specific time periods and/or a specific geographic location or vicinity, thereby ensuring that relevant information is disseminated to individuals during approximate periods of time in which consumers have indicated that they are available, and to individuals who are prepared to receive notifications regarding promotional opportunities when they are approximately in a relevant, or preferred, geographic location.

Description

DATA COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK AND METHOD FOR DISSEMINATING INFORMATION TO CONSUMERS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a data communications network and method for disseminating information that is selected for its relevance to consumers. In particular, the present invention relates to a data communications network and method for disseminating relevant retail information to consumers, including, but not limited to, products and services offered for sale, retail offers and/or promotional material at places convenient for the consumer and during periods of time in which the consumer is able to avail themselves of a promotional opportunity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The ability of a retail business owner (vendor) to advertise goods and/or services offered for sale to consumers in an effective manner is critical to the success of the vendor’s business. Traditionally, advertisement of goods and/or services for sale is achieved using one or more advertising mediums/platforms including, but not limited to, billboards, magazines, pamphlets, brochures and television/radio advertisements.

[0003] However, the dramatic increase in popularity of “online shopping” in recent times has resulted in many “physical” retail businesses (as compared with retail business located in a virtual “online” environment) experiencing a substantial decline in sales. This is primarily due to the convenience and flexibility associated with online shopping and the ability of a consumer to target (focus) their search query online for any desired goods and/or services they seek to purchase.

[0004] In addition, increasing costs associated with traditional forms of advertising has resulted in most physical retail businesses either reducing their level of advertising (thereby leading to a decrease in advertising sales), or alternatively, moving from a physical retail business to a virtual (or online) retail business.

[0005] Furthermore, traditional forms of advertising are considered to be a “passive” form of advertising since they rely on the consumer paying attention to, for example, advertising material on billboards or reading brochures, pamphlets and advertising material that has been provided to the consumer in the post. This problem is somewhat mitigated with online advertising since a consumer is provided with advertising material whilst online with convenient hyper-links to web-sites to accommodate a sale and accordingly, there is a greater chance that the consumer will be motivated to consider such material and purchase goods and/or services that are advertised on-line.

[0006] However, much online advertising material is either not relevant to the consumer, or is provided to the consumer at places or during times in which it is not convenient to consider making a purchase, for example, when they are conducting a search query on the internet or when they are using social media.

[0007] With vastly increased competition for consumer attention and the sales that arise therefrom, retailers increasingly need to consider how to advertise to consumers at a time and place which is likely to be convenient to the consumer to consider purchasing goods and/or services.

[0008] The Applicant is currently the owner of PCT/AU2020/050051 entitled “System and method for disseminating information to consumers” which offered a solution to the abovementioned problems by enabling a user to pre-specify or pre-define periods of time in which they prefer not to receive retail notifications. In other words, notifications from retailer devices are only transmitted to user devices that (1 ) are located at or within a specified region or distance from the retailer device, and (2) are devices which allow receipt of such notifications at that particular time due to that particular time falling outside of the pre-specified or pre-defined period of time in which the user has requested not to receive retail notifications.

[0009] A problem associated with the system and method disclosed in PCT/AU2929/050051 is that users may fail to receive relevant retail notifications at times when they are very close to being available to receive such notifications (eg. where a notification issues a few minutes prior to the commencement of a period of time that the user has confirmed their availability to receive notifications, or where the user is only a short distance away from a location in which they would otherwise have received a notification of interest), solely on the basis that they previously specified not to receive notifications during a particular time or according to the predefined geographical reach of such notifications. In other words, pre-specifying or pre-defining parameters such as periods of time in which an individual prefers not to receive notifications generally accords with the individual’s best approximation of their availability or preference regarding their availability during a particular time period, and is based on the information available to the individual at the time.

[0010] However, as described above this can result in users failing to receive relevant notifications they would prefer to receive. Further, the availability of a user may be subject to change at short notice and is often difficult to confirm or predict in advance. The Applicant has identified a need for an enhanced network and method for disseminating information to consumers that is not reliant upon strict adherence with specific time periods and/or a specific geographic location or vicinity, thereby ensuring that relevant information is disseminated to individuals during approximate periods of time in which consumers have indicated that they are available, or who are prepared to receive notifications regarding promotional opportunities when they are approximately in the relevant, or preferred, geographic location.

[0011] Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved data communications network and method that ameliorates, or at least provides an alternative to, conventional networks and methods for disseminating advertising or promotional information more effectively and/or with increased efficiency regarding usage of computing resources such that relevant notifications of importance to an individual are transmitted to the individual without a slavish or strict adherence to a pre-defined time schedule and/or predefined geographic regions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] In one aspect, the present invention provides a data communications network including primary user devices operably connected with the network and operable to access and execute computer instruction code that, when executed, causes the generation and transmission of notifications to user devices of a plurality of consumers, and a method of operating the data communications network, wherein the method includes receiving, by one or more processors, previously collected data in respect of each individual consumer of the plurality of consumers regarding their consumer behaviour, receiving, by one or more processors, previously collected data relating to preferences of each individual consumer regarding their availability to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, receiving, by one or more processors, the geolocation of individual consumer user devices based on tracking of same by the data communications network in substantially real-time such that a current geo-location of each individual consumer user device is substantially known, analysing, by one or more processors, using one or more artificial intelligence techniques, the consumer behaviour data, the consumer preference data, and the geo-location of each individual consumer to determine one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are of relevance and interest to the individual consumer, one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with the period(s) of time the consumer has indicated they are available to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, and one or more geographical locations or regions that sufficiently accord with geo- location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance and interest to the individual consumer, and transmitting, by one or more processors, one or more notifications including the promotional offers to individual consumers whose user devices are determined as sufficiently geographically located to avail themselves of the one or more promotional offers, and at times determined as available to the consumer to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities.

[0013] Accordingly, the present invention involves the use of artificial intelligence techniques to improve the identification and transmittal of relevant promotional offers of interest to individual consumers that avoids strict adherence to specific or pre-defined time periods and/or specific geographic locations whilst continuing to observe the consumer’s choices as the intention upon which the identification and transmittal of promotional offers are selected for individual consumers. For example, a promotional offer may be of particular interest to a consumer such that the consumer would likely prefer to avail themselves of the promotional offer, and hence by analysing the consumer behaviour data, consumer preference data regarding their availability, and geo-location data (which may also include the consumer’s likely path of travel), the consumer may receive such notifications despite a previous preference of the consumer not to be notified during the particular time period and/or despite the user being located outside of a geographic location or region in which the notification has been approved to be transmitted.

[0014] It will be understood that within the context of the present invention, a “notification” includes, but is not limited to, an electronic notification, a text message, an email message, a sound and/or an image. In embodiments, the notification may include directions in the form of an image (for example, a map).

[0015] In an embodiment, the primary user device automatically sends notifications to individual consumer user devices upon receiving confirmation that the consumer user device is sufficiently geographically located and the time is appropriate such that the consumer would prefer to avail themselves of the opportunity.

[0016] In an embodiment, determining one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with the period(s) of time the consumer has indicated they prefer to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, includes one or more of, automatically determining, or prompting individual consumers to select, period(s) of time in which to receive notifications that are outside the period(s) of time the consumer previously indicated that they are available to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, wherein said prompt or automatic selection occurs when, a notification scheduled to be transmitted outside of the previously indicated time period(s) relates to products/services in which the consumer has a particular interest, or a notification scheduled to be transmitted outside of the previously indicated time period(s) is scheduled to be sent at a time when the consumer is likely to read and interact with the notification relating to a promotional offer.

[0017] In an embodiment, determining one or more geographical locations or regions that sufficiently accord with geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance and interest to the individual consumer, includes one or more of, automatically determining, or prompting individual consumers to select, an expanded region in which to receive notifications that extend beyond the geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s), wherein said prompt or automatic selection occurs when, a notification scheduled to be transmitted to consumers within the geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s), or the individual is determined to be travelling near or towards, or is likely to be located inside, the geo- location(s) targeted by the promotional offer(s) within a threshold period of time after the notification has issued from the vendor.

[0018] In an embodiment, determining that the individual is travelling near, towards, or is likely to be located inside, the geo-location(s) targeted by the promotional offer(s) within a threshold period of time after the notification has issued from the vendor includes, analysing, using predictive analysis functionality, the consumer’s geographical location and path of travel to determine most likely future locations and time of arrival of the individual consumer at each future location. Accordingly, predictive algorithms may be implemented which enable the data communications network to determine the most likely future locations of individual consumers and time of arrival, and to transmit notifications to the consumer accordingly.

[0019] Accordingly, the primary user devices are operable to access and execute computer instruction code to send notifications when the individual consumer user devices are located within a specified region in relation to the geographical location of the primary user device or when a determination is made that the consumer is geographically located to sufficiently accord with the specified region. The specified region in relation to the geographical location of the primary user device may be specified by either the user of the primary user device and/or the individual consumer by entering either Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates or specifying a distance from a geographical location.

[0020] For example, a user of a primary user device (eg. an owner of a retail establishment), may elect to specify a distance of 10 km thereby defining a 10km region that surrounds the geographical location of interest (for example, their retail establishment). Accordingly, any individual consumer that has subscribed to the application and who is located within 10 km of the geographical location of the retail establishment, or when a determination is made that the consumer is geographically located sufficiently in accordance with the specified region (eg. predicted to be travelling towards a location within the region), may form a communication link with the primary user device and operably receive notifications and/or send messages from/to the primary user device associated with that geographical location.

[0021] Alternatively, a consumer may prefer to be notified of any sales or promotional material associated with a retail establishment, only if they are within a specified region according to the user’s choice (for example, within a 5km region of the retail establishment). The consumer may therefore specify a surrounding region of 5km, by operation of the user device, and hence, enable their device to form a communication link with the primary user device associated with a geographical location only when they are within 5km of the retail establishment or when a determination is made that the consumer is geographically located sufficiently in accordance with the 5km surrounding region.

[0022] A consumer may nominate/indicate one or more retail establishments as “preferred” retail outlet(s) (for example, by adding the names of any preferred retail outlets to a “favourites” list within the network application). The consumer may also receive notifications in relation to any preferred retail outlet whether the user is within, or outside, the specified region in relation to the geographical location associated with one or more preferred retail establishments.

[0023] In an embodiment, determining one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are of relevance and interest to the individual consumer includes applying a preference learning technique based on an analysis of historical promotional offers in respect of which consumers have been notified, and those notifications with which the consumers elected to engage.

[0024] In an embodiment, determining one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are of relevance and interest to the individual consumer further includes one or more of, monitoring retail activity including purchases made by the individual consumers in respect of goods/services (eg. if the consumer frequents a particular retail establishment and/or purchases goods and/or services from the particular retail establishment, embodiments of the network and method may monitor such activities so that any notifications relating to goods and/or services offered for sale by a particular retail establishment are selectively forwarded to the consumer), monitoring and collecting information in relation to search queries made by a consumer in an online environment (eg. if a consumer submits search queries in relation to a particular product, such as a particular brand of cosmetic, then any notifications including promotional, retail or sale material relating to that particular brand of cosmetic may be selectively sent to the consumer), monitoring and collecting information in relation to prior purchases made by the consumer at one or more geographical locations associated with the primary user device (ie. physical retail establishments), or tracking the movements of the consumer including retail establishments frequented by the consumer (eg. a consumer may frequent a local department store, and the consumer’s movements at, and within, the store may be monitored by the use of GPS functionality of user devices to determine potential items of interest to the consumer - the consumer may spend a significant amount of time in the menswear department within the local department store, and the system may be operable to monitor, collect and store this information which may then be used to send one or more notifications from a primary user device offering promotions, offers and purchasing incentives in relation to menswear from the local department store to the consumer).

[0025] In an embodiment, determining one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are of relevance and interest to the individual consumer further includes one or more of, predicting likely future purchases of a consumer based upon one or more historical purchases, their online searching/shopping history or their movements at, and within, retail establishments (eg. where the network may automatically select, based on relevance, which notifications (offers, promotions or advertisements) to send to one or more consumers thereby increasing the consumer’s engagement with the network with notifications considered relevant to the consumer and hence increase the likelihood of achieving a sale), or estimating characteristics of the consumer, including one or more of age, gender and economic status, based upon information collected with respect to the user’s prior purchases, online/shopping purchasing history and their choice of retail establishments at which they purchase goods and/or services (eg. the network may estimate that a consumer that frequents certain retail establishments is likely to be a middle-aged male on a reasonably low income - the network may then automatically select which notifications (offers, promotions or advertisements) to send to such a consumer, based upon relevance, and thereby increase the level of user engagement and the likelihood of achieving a sale). [0026] Accordingly, embodiments of the network and method of the present invention enable consumers to receive notifications of increased relevance as compared with conventional methods of marketing and advertising. Moreover, the more a consumer uses the platform, or the greater the subscription period of the consumer, the more consumer behaviour data will be obtained and the more the network is able to learn about the user’s purchasing activities, search activities and preferences, thereby increasing the relevance of future notifications forwarded to the consumer.

[0027] In an embodiment, the method further includes selectively forwarding notifications to the individual consumer based on the determined relevance of each notification.

[0028] In an embodiment, the method further includes, accessing data relating to retail stock levels to determine an amount of available stock of the item(s) relevant to a promotional offer, independently provide data to a consumer regarding available stock levels for any particular item that is the subject of a promotional offer, and allocating or adjusting a priority value to the notification in view of the available stock level.

[0029] In an embodiment, the method further includes providing consumers with realtime updates regarding promotional offers of particular interest, including providing each consumer with updated information with respect to remaining available stock levels relevant to the promotional offers.

[0030] In an embodiment, the primary user devices are operable to access and execute computer instruction code to send promotional offer notifications to the consumer user devices, wherein users of the primary user devices are vendors including one or more of owners, managers or employees of retail establishments, and consumers are customers of such retail establishments.

[0031] In embodiments, the notifications relate to retail information, including but not limited to, promotional offers, sales and similar events. In an embodiment, the notification further includes location details of the promotional offer and directions or a graphic representation providing directions from a consumer’s location to the location of the retail establishment.

[0032] In an embodiment, the artificial intelligence techniques include one or more of natural language processing, text analysis, and/or machine learning to determine promotional offers that are of relevance and interest to a consumer, one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with period(s) of time the consumer prefers to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, and one or more geographical locations that sufficiently accord with geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance. Additionally, or alternatively, the network may include an inference engine to better understand the consumer’s submitted online search queries to predict future purchasing of goods and/or services of a particular consumer.

[0033] In an embodiment, the method further includes, where a consumer user device is within or determined to be sufficiently within a specified region of a physical retail establishment and receives a notification from a primary user device associated with a retail establishment relating to an item or product offered for sale, prompting the consumer to send a message to the primary user device requesting reservation of the item or product for purchase. In this regard, it will be appreciated that in circumstances where the consumer has received notifications and sent messages whilst they are within, or close to, a specified distance of the geographical location, it would likely be convenient for the consumer to attend the premises of the retail establishment to collect any reserved items. In the case of services, the user may be prompted to send a message requesting the scheduling of one or more services. The reservation of one or more items and/or services may include payment in advance for the item(s) or service(s).

[0034] In an embodiment, each consumer is prompted to make a purchase and effect a payment transaction to a vendor by use of their user device. Accordingly, a consumer may make a purchase remotely from a retail establishment (or storage warehouse in which items for sale are stored) and subsequently collect their items from the retail establishment or storage warehouse. Alternatively, a consumer may use their user device to make a purchase when they are located at the retail establishment.

[0035] In an embodiment, the primary user device is configured to receive a notification or indication of each instance in which a consumer user device is located within or determined to be sufficiently within a specified region of the geographical location associated with the primary user device and, once notified, the user of the primary user device (eg. a manager or owner of a retail establishment) is prompted to send one or more notifications to the consumer including promotional and/or sales material based upon a determination that the consumer is relevantly geographically located, and wherein the time is sufficiently in accordance with a time that is appropriate such that the consumer would prefer to avail themselves of the promotional and/or sales material.

[0036] In an embodiment, the method further includes prompting a consumer to utilize their user device to send to a primary user device associated with a geographical location, a review, feedback or a rating in respect of a retail establishment located at the geographical location.

[0037] In another aspect, the present invention provides a system including one or more computer processors configured to receive previously collected data in respect of each individual consumer of the plurality of consumers regarding their consumer behaviour, receive previously collected data relating to preferences of each individual consumer regarding their availability to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, receive the geo-location of individual consumer user devices based on tracking of same in substantially real-time such that a current geo-location of each individual consumer user device is substantially known, analyse, using one or more artificial intelligence techniques, the consumer behaviour data, the consumer preference data, and the geo-location of each individual consumer to determine one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are of relevance and interest to the individual consumer, one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with the period(s) of time the consumer has indicated they are available to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, and one or more geographical locations or regions that sufficiently accord with geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance and interest to the individual consumer, and transmit one or more notifications including the promotional offers to individual consumers whose user devices are determined as sufficiently geographically located to avail themselves of the one or more promotional offers, and at times determined as available to the consumer to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities.

[0038] In a further aspect, the present invention provides a non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions stored therein that, when executed by one or more processors, perform the steps of receiving previously collected data in respect of each individual consumer of the plurality of consumers regarding their consumer behaviour, receiving previously collected data relating to preferences of each individual consumer regarding their availability to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, receiving the geo-location of individual consumer user devices based on tracking of same in substantially real-time such that a current geo-location of each individual consumer user device is substantially known, analysing, using one or more artificial intelligence techniques, the consumer behaviour data, the consumer preference data, and the geo-location of each individual consumer to determine one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are considered relevant and of interest to the individual consumer, one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with the period(s) of time the consumer has indicated they are available to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, and one or more geographical locations or regions that sufficiently accord with geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance and interest to the individual consumer, and transmitting one or more notifications including the promotional offers to individual consumers whose user devices are determined as sufficiently geographically located to avail themselves of the one or more promotional offers, and at times determined as available to the consumer to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] Embodiments of the invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying figures in which:

[0040] Figure 1 provides a diagrammatic representation of an overview of a network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0041] Figure 2 provides a diagrammatic representation of components of the network of Figure 1 including the server component.

[0042] Figure 3 depicts a user (customer) installing an application associated with the network of Figure 1 .

[0043] Figure 4 depicts a user (vendor) creating messages that are to be forwarded to other users (customers) using components of the network of Figure 1 .

[0044] Figure 5 depicts the way in which messages are selectively matched and forwarded to users (customers) using components of the network of Figure 1 .

[0045] Figure 6 depicts a user (vendor) reviewing customer feedback and associated data on an application interface in response to a message selectively forwarded to customers using components of the network of Figure 1 .

[0046] Figures 7A-7B provide an overview of how the system application, according to an embodiment of the invention, is navigated from a vendor’s perspective.

[0047] Figures 8a to 8I provide examples of the various user interfaces that enable a vendor to access and navigate the network application according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0048] Figures 9A-9C provide an overview of how the system application, according to an embodiment of the invention, is navigated from a customer’s perspective.

[0049] Figures 10a to 10q provide examples of the various user interfaces that enable a customer to access and navigate the network application according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S) OF THE INVENTION

[0050] For convenience, the invention will be described with respect to one or more embodiments, however it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to these one or more embodiments.

[0051] With reference to Figure 1 , an overview of the network is provided according to an embodiment of the present invention. In particular, Figure 1 depicts an embodiment of the network divided into segments (200, 300, 400, 500 and 600) and how various devices, users and components within these segments interact with one another to enable information generated by vendors to be selectively disseminated to the devices of customers through a primary (vendor) user device. It will be appreciated that such information may include, but is not limited to, promotional offers, purchasing incentives, information regarding opening hours of the retail establishment, information regarding products and services offered for sale and the like.

[0052] Central server segment (200) details a central server that operates application code (executable instructions) and maintains storage (databases) associated with the network and method of the present invention. The application code and storage may be operated and maintained locally or may be a distributed application executed on multiple computers within a network.

[0053] Registration segment (300) details a customer user device, for example a tablet or a mobile device such as a smartphone or smartwatch, through which a customer registers and installs the network application.

[0054] Vendor segment (400) details a retail establishment associated with a vendor and a vendor user device through which a vendor may generate one or more notifications including retail information as described above. The vendor user device may include, but is not limited to, a personal computer, laptop, tablet or mobile device such as a smartphone.

[0055] Customer segment (500) details a customer accessing the network application and configuring their user device to receive notifications from one or more vendors in relation to retail sales and/or promotions offered by one or more retail establishments when the customer’s device is geographically located, or sufficiently geographically located, to avail the customer of the retail sale and/or promotion, and/or at times that sufficiently accord with times that are available to the customer to avail themselves of the retail sale and/or promotion. In other words, the present disclosure provides a means by which artificial intelligence is utilized to improve the experience of individuals who have requested to receive notifications in relation to retail sales and/or promotions of relevance to them, including in circumstances where those individuals may have previously specified not to receive notifications at the particular time at which the notification(s) issue and/or whilst located outside of a particular geographical location or region in which the individual would normally receive such notifications.

[0056] Determining one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with the period(s) of time the consumer has indicated availability to receive promotional and/or retail opportunities may include automatically determining period(s) of time in which to receive notifications outside the period(s) of time the consumer previously indicated availability to receive promotional and/or retail opportunities. Such automatic determination may occur when a notification scheduled to be transmitted outside of the previously indicated time period(s) relates to products/services in which the consumer has a particular interest. Such automatic determination could also occur when the notification is scheduled to be transmitted outside of the previously indicated time period(s) yet it is determined that a consumer is likely to read and interact with the notification relating to a promotional offer since it substantially accords with a period of time previously indicated as available to receive notifications.

[0057] In one example, an individual may specify a preference not to receive such notifications prior to 10:00am. However, if it is determined that a particular notification will be of particular interest to the individual and is scheduled to issue from a vendor at 9:55am, the user device of the individual will be caused (based on an artificial intelligence analysis of consumer behaviour data and geo-location data of the individual as described herein) to receive the notification despite the user’s previously specified preference not to receive such notifications.

[0058] Determining one or more geographical locations or regions that sufficiently accord with geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance and interest to the individual consumer may include automatically determining an expanded region in which to receive notifications that extends beyond the geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s). Such automatic determination may occur when a notification is scheduled to be transmitted to consumers who are within the geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s). Such automatic determination could also occur when the individual is determined to be travelling toward and likely to be located inside the geo-location(s) targeted by the promotional offer(s) within a threshold period of time after the notification has issued from the vendor.

[0059] In an example, an individual may specify a preference or the platform may be configured in such a way that they are only to receive notifications from vendors when the individual is within a predefined geographical vicinity of the vendor. If the individual is located outside of the predefined vicinity, but a determination is made (according to the abovementioned artificial intelligence analysis) that the individual is travelling near/towards or is likely to be located inside the predefined geographical vicinity within a threshold period of time after the notification has issued from the vendor, then the user device of the individual may be caused to receive the notification.

[0060] The notifications including retail purchasing incentives and/or promotional offers are generated by the vendor (refer to segment 400) and forwarded, using a vendor user device, to the customer user device. As described in the examples above, the notification will appear on the customer user device at times that sufficiently accord with times that the individual customer has previously indicated are times during which the customer is able to avail themselves of promotional offers, and/or when the network detects the customer user device is sufficiently geographically located to avail themselves of one or more promotional opportunities that are assessed as relevant to the individual customer. As clarified in the above examples, these locations and times are not necessarily restricted to those particular locations specified by either the vendor or consumer, or the times specified by the consumer, hence notifications are issued to consumers without a slavish or strict adherence to a pre-defined time schedule and/or predefined geo-graphic regions.

[0061] The customer is also able to view any reviews posted by other users (customers) of the application in relation to particular retail establishments. Once a customer receives a notification from a vendor, the customer may provide feedback to the vendor or may make a purchase. Any feedback received by a vendor from a customer may be viewed by the vendor on a vendor user device as detailed in Feedback segment (600). Such feedback may include, but is not limited to, an enquiry/message/rating sent by a customer in relation to a particular promotional offer or purchasing incentive (for example). Details of any purchase made by the customer may also be provided as feedback to the vendor.

[0062] Each segment (200, 300, 400, 500 and 600) will now be described in further detail with reference to Figures 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. It will be appreciated that in some instances in the paragraphs that follow, features described with respect to one Figure may be the same or similar to features described with respect to another Figure despite those features being identified using alternative reference numerals.

[0063] Referring to Figure 2, infrastructure (205) includes a central server (210) operable to provide programming code. The central server (210) operates through a data communication network connection (225) to enable a customer (215), or a vendor in a retail establishment (230), to interact with the server (210) by the use of, respectively, a smartphone (220) or a laptop device (235). It will be appreciated that the data communication network connection (225) may involve any type of network connection, one example being the internet connected by Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection. In the embodiment shown, the communication network connection operates via a virtualized management system (ie. “cloud” based infrastructure) accessible to users (vendors and customers) through the internet under a “pay per use” payment system.

[0064] The server (210) includes one or more customer information databases (245) within which various information relating to one or more subscribed customers (215) is collected, stored and maintained. Such customer information may include, but is not limited to:

• customer account information (250) (including, but not limited to, customer name, customer contact details and customer location. The geo-location of customers (215) may be determined based on tracking same in substantially real-time such that a current geo-location of each individual consumer user device is substantially known);

• customer behaviour data (255) (previously collected data in respect of each registered consumer (215) including, but not limited to, previous purchase history, previous online search history, reviews posted by and/or commented on by the customer, previous notifications sent to the customer by various vendors, any retail outlets entered by the customer in their “favourites” list, any information relating to tracked movements of a customer and any feedback sent by a customer to one or more vendor(s) in relation to any received notifications);

• customer preferences (260) (previously collected data relating to preferences of each individual consumer (215) including but not limited to a preferred method for receiving notifications and sending messages from/to vendors (eg. email or short message service), availability of the customer to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, preferred (specified) distance from retail establishments for enabling communication with vendor device(s) in order to receive notifications and/or provide feedback regarding retail offers, preferred frequency and timing of notifications, selection/nomination of the goods and/or services of interest, allowing/blocking access to one or more the customer’s social media accounts, a list of “approved” vendor/retail establishments from which the customer prefers to receive notifications, and a list of “blocked” vendor/retail establishments from which a customer does not want to receive notifications; and

• social media information (265) (including information sought by the network through interrogation of one or more social media accounts related to a particular customer (215) such as, but not limited to, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat).

[0065] By storing and maintaining any previously collected customer behaviour data (255) in one or more customer information databases (245) associated with the server (210), one or more notifications are able to be selected for the customer (215) and transmitted to the customer (215) based on relevance of the notification to the particular customer. That is, any notifications generated by a vendor (230) and sent to a particular customer (215) may be in accordance with the customer account information (250) (including in particular geo-location data of the customer) and customer behaviour data (255). The customer preferences (260) and social media information (265) which are also collected, stored and maintained in the one or more customer information databases (245) may also be included in the analysis to determine whether a particular customer receives a notification. In this way, any notification that is received should be of relevance to a particular customer’s preferences and interests. [0066] It will be appreciated that by sending notifications (including retail information, promotional offers and purchase incentives information) that are of relevance to a customer (215) and that are in accordance with the customer’s defined preferences and interests, should increase the customer’s engagement and thereby increase the customer’s response rate to any promotional offers and/or purchase incentives received. Furthermore, by increasing the scope of devices that will receive such notifications based on the use of artificial intelligence to better identify when to send relevant promotional offers of interest to customers (215), including outside of predefined time periods and/or specific geographic locations, will further increase and improve customer engagement. In turn, an increased response rate should result in an increased number of sales and revenue for the vendor (230).

[0067] Server (210) also maintains vendor information in one or more vendor information databases (270). Such vendor information may include, but is not limited to, the name(s) of the retail establishment(s) associated with a vendor (230), the registration (account) details of the vendor, the vendor’s preferred method of communication with one or more customers (for example, vendor email address (for email communication) and/or mobile telephone number (for short message communication)), and any preferences set by the vendor (for example, specified distance from geographical location associated with the vendor’s retail establishment within which communication with one or more customers is enabled and established).

[0068] Vendor information databases (270) may also store additional information including GPS coordinates associated with vendor retail establishments, and plans which include detail regarding the location and categorization of items offered for sale within a store. In this regard, the network is able to monitor (track) the movements of a consumer (215) browsing within a retail establishment in order to determine the items that are of interest to the consumer and therefore determine the relevance of a notification to a user.

[0069] For example, a consumer’s movements within a retail establishment may be monitored (tracked by the use of GPS coordinates) and compared with a plan of the retail establishment stored in vendor information databases (270) associated with the server (210). By comparing the consumer’s movements and the information located in the store plan, the network is able to determine that men’s shoes, ties, and shirts are items of interest to the consumer (215). Accordingly, the network may automatically identify any notifications (offers, promotions or advertisements) relating to men’s shoes, ties and shirts generated by the vendor (230) and sends any relevant notification to the consumer (215).

[0070] The network may also predict likely future purchases of a consumer (215) based on the consumer behaviour data (255), which includes but is not limited to previous purchases, their online searching/shopping history or their movements at, and within, retail establishments as described above. As a result, the network may be able to automatically select, based on relevance, which notifications (offers, promotions or advertisements) to send to one or more users (consumers) and thereby increase the user’s engagement and likelihood of achieving a sale. The network may use any one or more natural language-based processing (NLP) or text analysis/comparison techniques to determine the correspondence between a consumer’s online purchasing history and a notification (offer, purchasing incentive or advertisement) generated by a vendor (230).

[0071] In embodiments, the network may also estimate characteristics of a user (215), for example, their age, gender and economic status, based upon information collected with respect to the user’s prior purchases, online/shopping purchasing history and their movements at, and within, retail establishments, as described above.

[0072] For example, the network determines a customer (215) is conducting online searches in relation to luxury vehicles. The network also detects the customer (215) has recently purchased items including women’s toiletries and clothing, and, based on this information, the network may estimate or infer, using inference logic, that the customer (215) is a female with a reasonably high income. Based also on this information, the network may determine notifications that are of potential relevance to the female customer with reasonably high income and automatically select notifications that may be of relevance to the customer.

[0073] To inform a customer (215) of any promotional offers or purchasing incentives that may be of interest to the customer (215) based upon the customer’s preferences and interests, a vendor (230) may initially create, by a network application interface accessed through a user device (235), a notification containing a promotional offer and/or purchasing incentive and enter any details associated with the offer/purchasing incentive in a message database (275) associated with the server (210). The details associated with the offer/purchasing incentive may include, for example, the location of the offer/purchasing incentive, the timeframe of the offer/purchasing incentive, the intended target market (customers) associated with the offer/purchasing incentive, any relevant keywords in relation to the offer/purchasing incentive and the specified distance from the location of the vendor’s retail establishment within which notifications are to be sent to one or more customers in relation to the offer/purchasing incentive.

[0074] Once the notification (and its associated details) is created and stored in message database (275), system application (210) may use a matching engine (280) to compare the notification (and its associated details) with consumer behaviour data stored in one or more of the customer information databases (245) and any additional databases to determine the relevance of the notification to a particular customer (215). In this regard, matching engine (280) may use one or more artificial intelligence techniques including natural language processing, text analysis/comparison, machine learning and/or inference logic to match subscribed customers (215) to one or more notifications generated by a vendor and stored in message database (275) based upon an analysis of consumer behaviour data stored in customer information database(s) (245) and any additional information stored in the system (for example, GPS coordinates of retail establishments and store plans).

[0075] Once matching engine (280) has matched one or more notifications to one or more particular customers (215) based on relevance, the one or more notifications and the associated customer identification (contact) information matched to the one or more notifications is saved in a push offer database (285) and stored therein until such a time as the one or more user devices (220) associated with the one or more customers (215) are determined as being eligible for receiving the notification(s). In particular, the one or more devices (220) will be considered eligible if the scheduled time of transmission of the notification is sufficiently in accordance with a period of time that the one or more customers (215) has confirmed their availability to receive such notifications, and the customer(s) (215) are determined as being sufficiently geographically located to avail themselves of the offer(s). Once the above criteria has been satisfied, a communication link is formed between the customer user device (220) and the server (210) which automatically sends the one or more notifications stored in the push offer database (285) to the customer user device (220) associated with each of the one or more customers (215). It will be appreciated that since the notifications stored in the push offer database (285) have already been matched to one or more customers (215) based on relevance, customers (215) will only receive one or more relevant notifications on their user device (220) in accordance with their interests and preferences.

[0076] Push offer database (285) may also receive any messages or feedback sent by one or more customers in response to one or more vendor notifications. Any messages sent, and any notifications received, by one or more customers are transmitted, via response processor (290), to message database (275) for action/response by the vendor (230). Response processor (290) may also process any feedback, messages, ratings received from one or more customers, or any purchases or reservations made by one or more customers, in relation to a particular vendor notification and generates associated analytical data. Such analytical data is then transmitted to message database (275) and made available for viewing by the vendor (230) by the use of vendor user device (235).

[0077] Figure 3 details the steps followed by a customer to download the application software (310) associated with the network in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, customer (305) uses their mobile smartphone device (315) to download and install the application software (310) from a digital distribution platform such an online application store (for example Apple “App Store” (for Apple products) or Google Play (for Android products)). Once the application software (310) is installed on their mobile smartphone device (315), a communication link may be formed using communication network (320) (Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection) between mobile smartphone device (315) and the server, in order to create a user account stored and maintained in a customer information database (325). Customer information database (325) will include information including, but not limited to, the customer’s account information (registration details), the customer’s preferences and any information associated with any social networking accounts of the customer (215). Customer information database (325) will also continually collect, store, maintain and analyse information relating to the customer’s activities including any online searching, social networking or other online activity performed by the customer, including online purchases and reservations and any feedback, messages or ratings sent by the customer in relation to a vendor notification.

[0078] Figure 4 details the process undertaken by a vendor (identified in Figure 4 using reference numeral (405)) during the creation of a notification that includes information relating to a promotional/sales offer associated with their retail establishment. In this embodiment, the retail establishment is a fast food store named “Bob’s Burgers” (405) located at geo-location (425). The individual creating the notification on behalf of the vendor is the manager (410) of Bob’s Burgers (405). In order to create the notification, manager (410) accesses the system application (identified in Figure 4 using reference numeral (420)) through a system application interface (415) located on their computer.

[0079] In order to promote a one-day sales offer to one or more customers, the manager (410) creates the following notification which is stored within a message database (435) associated with a vendor account database (430):

Message: “Free large fries and large drink with any burger purchase selected from the “Classic” burger range - offer only available today”.

[0080] The manager will also enter the following information associated with the notification:

Venue location: 123 Princess Highway, Springfield North, 4321

Specified distance from venue: within 3 km of venue location

Offer time-period: 12:00am-11 ,59pm, Saturday 13^th October 2018

Notification transmission time(s): 12:00pm Friday 12^th October 2018, and at any instance in which an eligible customer enters within the above specified distance from the venue location

[0081] In order to increase the relevance of the message to one or more customers, the manager also enters/specifies the following optional information:

Intended customers: Customer’s having purchased a product from specified venue within the last 12 months from date of notification

[0082] The following example relates to a scenario in which a subscribed customer having a registered user device and associated customer information entered against their individual user account enters within the distance specified by the vendor manager (ie. within 3km from the venue location (Bob’s Burgers) on Saturday 13^th October 2018 (the date of the sales offer entered by the vendor manager): [0083] Example 1 - Customer receives notification during offer time-period upon entering 3km specified distance from venue location

Account information:

Customer name: Harry Smith

Telephone number associated with registered user device: 0431 111 222 Registered email address: ; rysffl ? 321 corn Current Location: within 3km from the venue location

Customer preferences:

Approved venues: All

Blocked venues: Flo’s Fab Fries and Burgers

Specified distance: within 5 km from any approved venue

Preferred method of contact: sms to registered user device

Customer behaviour information:

Product last purchased from Bob’s Burgers on Sunday, 7^th October 2018

[0084] Based upon Harry’s customer information captured and outlined above, Harry would receive the notification generated by manager (410) since he is located within 3km of the venue location, he has specified that he is willing to receive notifications from all approved venues when located within 5km, and he has purchased a product from Bob’s Burgers with his registered device within the last 12 months from the date of the vendor message thereby meeting the “intended customers” criterion specified by the venue manager (410).

The following examples relate to scenarios in which subscribed customers having a registered user device and associated customer information entered against their individual user accounts are determined as satisfying the parameters reguired to receive the notification despite not strictly adhering to preferences of the vendor and/or customer.

[0085] Example 2 - Customer receives notification on Friday 12^th October 2018 based on prediction that the customer will be travelling within or near the 3km specified distance from venue location during the offer time period (as specified by vendor manager) Account information:

Customer name: Mary Brown

Telephone number associated with registered user device: 0431 333 444

Registered email address: n?a?yfc\ro 9876'@^o /?7a//.co/n

Current Location: Outside of 3km from the venue location

Predicted Location during offer time period: just outside of 3km from the venue location

Customer preferences: Approved venues: All Blocked venues: None Specified distance: within 4 km from any approved venue Preferred method of contact: sms to registered user device

Customer behaviour information:

Burgers determined to be Mary’s favourite food

No products purchased from Bob’s Burgers

[0086] According to the customer behaviour information for Mary Brown, Mary has not used her registered user device to purchase a product from Bob’s Burgers within the last 12 months from the date of the notification. In addition, Mary will not be entering into the 3km zone surrounding Bob’s Burgers, but is predicted to be travelling close to the zone during the offer time period. For example, the behaviour data may indicate that every Sunday morning Mary drives to a particular location that is in the same direction as Bob’s Burgers, or an analysis of Mary’s social media accounts may indicate that she will be attending an event at a location for which Bob’s Burgers is located along a travel path thereof. According to an artificial intelligence analysis (which may also involve the allocation of a weighting to different parameters that are satisfied or not satisfied according to Mary’s consumer behaviour data and/or geo-location data), Mary is determined as an eligible recipient of the notification and hence receives the notification.

[0087] Example 3 - Customer who prefers not to receive notifications prior to 10:00am receives notification at 9:50am during the offer time-period upon entering 3km specified distance from venue location Account information:

Customer name: Mike Petersen

Telephone number associated with registered user device: 0439 987543 Registered email address: mpetersen@yahoo.com Current Location: Within 3km from the venue location

Customer preferences:

Approved venues: Flo’s Fries and Burgers, Oasis Health Food Shop, Springfield North Hardware Supplies

Specified distance: within 5 km from any approved venue

Preferred method of contact: sms to registered user device

Preferred time period for receiving notifications: 10:00am to 4:00pm

Customer behaviour information:

Product last purchased from Bob’s Burgers on Monday, 8^h October 2018

[0088] Whilst Mike has purchased a product from Bob’s Burgers within the last 12 months and has entered within the 3km specified distance from the venue, Mike has indicated a preference not to receive notifications prior to 10:00am. According to an artificial intelligence analysis, a determination is made that Mike should receive the notification irrespective since Mike would be disappointed if he did not receive the notification whilst travelling in the vicinity of the retail or promotional offer solely on the basis that the notification would issue 5 minutes prior to a time period during which Mike has previously indicated he prefers not to receive notifications.

[0089] It will be appreciated that the artificial intelligence analysis may focus (and place more or less weight) upon one or more of a plurality of different variables associated with consumer behaviour data and/or geo-location data applicable to individual consumers in order to make a decision about whether the consumers are eligible to receive particular notifications. Such variables may include, but are not limited to, particular interests or predicted interests of the user, past travel history, a speed or direction of travel of the user, frequently attended locations of the user, a known or predicted path of travel of the user (eg. based on accessing vehicle GPS data), purchase history, attributes of the goods/services on offer in the notification (eg. consumable or non-consumable), etc. In one example, if a product that is offered for purchase is a nonconsumable item such as a piece of outdoor furniture, and the purchase history of the user indicates they have recently purchased outdoor furniture, then a determination may be made that the user is not eligible to receive notifications pertaining to outdoor furniture since it is unlikely that the user is searching for new outdoor furniture to purchase.

[0090] The artificial intelligence analysis may rely upon an automatically determined or predetermined factor to apply to a determination regarding whether or not a certain user should receive a notification at any one time. For example, if Mike was travelling through the 3km zone surrounding Bob’s Burgers at 9:30am (ie. 30 minutes prior to the notification time period preferred by Mike as opposed to 5 minutes prior), should Mike receive the notification? The user may be prompted to specify the extent to which a “buffer” is applied to pre-specified times and/or distances, or as mentioned, this may be automatically determined based on factors including but not limited to the times and distances already specified by the vendors and/or customers.

[0091] An example of how the network may use stored customer information to increase the relevance of the notifications received by one or more customers is detailed with reference to the embodiment of Figure 5.

[0092] The location (515) (typically a geographic coordinate) of one or more customers (505) may be determined by monitoring the location of the customer’s registered user device (510) which, according to this embodiment, is a mobile smartphone device. The location information (540) of a customer’s user device is constantly monitored and updated (530) in one or more customer information databases (535).

[0093] Also stored and maintained within the one or more customer information databases (535) is customer behaviour information (545) and customer preference information (550). Figure 5 also details one or more vendor information databases (555) within which vendor user account information associated with one or more registered and subscribed vendors is stored and maintained. Vendor information databases (555) also include one or more message databases (560) to store the notifications generated by vendors in relation to one or more sales or promotional offers offered at their retail establishment(s). [0094] The customer location information (540), behaviour information (545) and preference information (550) may be used in a matching engine (565) in order to match customers to notifications generated by a vendor, based on factors including, but not limited to, the customer’s location, previous search, purchase and/or communication history (insight information) and the customer’s preferences. Once a notification is matched to one or more particular customers, the matched notification is stored in push offer database (570).

[0095] When a customer (505) is determined to be within, or at least sufficiently within (as demonstrated in examples 2 and 3 above), a specified distance (525) in relation to a geographical location (520) associated with a retail establishment with respect to which a notification (560) pertains, the customer user device (510) is enabled to form a communication link with the server to thereby receive one or more relevant notifications (575) on their user device (510).

[0096] Once a notification is received, the customer (505) is able to use their user device (510) to respond to the notification by either deleting, ignoring, submitting an enquiry or making a purchase in response to the vendor notification by the use of interface (580) located on their user device (510). The response is collected and stored as customer insight information (545) and saved in the customer information database (535). It will be appreciated that the response captured as user insight information may assist a vendor to assess the success of promotional offer associated with their vendor notification.

[0097] Figure 6 details the process of a vendor (610) associated with a retail establishment (605) reviewing one or more responses in relation to one or more notifications relating to a promotion offer that was sent to customers. In this embodiment, vendor (610) uses a computer and network interface (615) associated with the software application (620) to view responses and various analytical data (625) associated with a notification sent to one or more customers. Accordingly, a vendor (610) is able to use the application (620) to assess the success (or otherwise) of a promotional offer based upon received user responses and associated analytical data.

[0098] Figure 7 provides a flow diagram overview of the steps a user (vendor) takes in registering/logging into the application and navigating various features that are available to the vendor whilst accessing various user interfaces, examples of which are depicted in Figures 8a to 81.

[0099] As shown in Figure 7, to access the application, a vendor may either log-in (701 ) (if already registered) or sign-up (701 ) (if a first-time user). If the vendor is already registered (703) and has already created a password (705), the vendor enters their password (707) (eg. using the interface of Figure 8b) and if correct (709), the vendor is able to access the “My Venue” page (711 ). Upon gaining access to the application, the vendor is able to view information regarding one or more of their “venues” (refer to Figure 8d). In the event the vendor is a first-time user of the system application, the vendor is directed to a registration page (or “sign up” form) (713) wherein the vendor has to set a password (715) by entering a password (717) and confirming the password (719). If the entered and confirmed passwords match (721 ), the user is able to create an account (723). As part of the account creation process, the vendor is able to enter details including their full name, email address, password (with confirmation), their venue name and venue address (refer to Figure 8c).

[00100] Once the vendor has been authenticated, the vendor is directed to a Home page that provides a list of the vendor’s venues entered into the system. The example shown in Figure 8d indicates that the vendor has previously entered details regarding their venue named “Beano’s Cafe”. With reference to Figure 8e, the vendor is also able to access and navigate various tabs including “Add Venue”, “Promote”, “Settings” and “Reviews” whilst in the “Home page” section of the application.

[00101] Upon gaining access to the application, the vendor is able to select “settings” (725) in order to set a new password by changing the password, confirming the updated password and checking if the updated and confirmed password match (727), change the venue details (729) or change any settings relating to notifications (731 ). The vendor is also able to add details of additional venues into the system application using the “Add Venue” page (refer to Figures 8f to 8i) by entering the venue name, address, a venue category (for example, whether the venue is a “Club”, “Gym”, “Restaurant”) and a description of the venue, for example, the types of products and/or services that are offered for sale. The vendor is also able to add photographs of their venue (refer to Figures 8h and 8i). [00102] Referring once again to Figure 7, the vendor is also able to access “Reviews & Engagement Analytics” (733) section of the system application which display various analytics including customer reviews and a measure of customer engagement (735), and also enables a vendor to promote notifications or “offers” (737). Promotion of offers includes the ability to create an offer (737), specify the duration of an offer (739), transmit the offer within a particular geographic range (741 ) and change the demographics of the customers who will receive an offer (743). A vendor is able to access the “Review & Engagement Analytics” (733) section of the system by accessing and navigating the “Your Venues” page in the user interface (refer to Figure 8d). Whilst in this section of the application, as described above, the vendor is able generate and promote/make offers to consumers (refer to Figure 8j) by entering an offer title (ie. the name of the product or service on offer), the sale price associated with the promotion or sales offer, and a description of the product or service offered for sale. The vendor is also able to specify the time period within which the promotional offer is available to consumers and upload photographs of, for example, the product that is offered for sale as part of the particular promotional offer. By monitoring, collecting and storing information with respect to consumers and feedback received from consumers, the application is able to learn, with machine learning logic, the nature of, and types of customers, who use the application and also the types of customers that are more likely to engage with the application. It will be appreciated that this information is valuable since it enables vendors to transmit more relevant promotional offers, advertising and purchasing incentives to consumers and hence, tends to result in increased sales.

[00103] Referring again to Figure 7, a vendor is also able to inspect customer reviews of their venue/offers/services/products. For example, Figure 8k shows two reviews made by customers “Alex Jack” and “Wilson Alex”.

[00104] Whilst in the “Your Venues” section of the application, the vendor is also able to specify the geographic range (distance from venue) within which consumers who are registered to the system application and who meet various criteria as described herein will receive various notifications associated with promotional sales created and offered by the vendor. The vendor is also able to specify various demographics of the users that are to receive the offer, for example, gender, age, and behavior based on, for example, previous online searching and/or shopping history. [00105] For example, the owner (vendor) of “Beano’s Cafe” may prefer to specifically target an offer for males and females, between the ages of 20 to 45 that regularly drink coffee and frequent cafes. In this example, the vendor may enter the following demographics/specifications as part of any promotional deal in which a free muffin is offered with any coffee purchase:

Gender: Female and Male

Age: 20 - 45 years

Behaviour: regularly frequent cafes, coffee drinkers, regularly conduct online searches for cafe locations.

Offer range: within 5km of Beano’s Cafe.

[00106] Referring still to Figure 7, the vendor is also able to update their details, change their password and update their venue details whilst in the “Your Venue” section of the system application (refer to Figure 8I).

[00107] Figure 9 provides an overview of the application and the steps a user (customer) takes in registering/logging into the application and navigating various features that are available to the customer whilst accessing various user interfaces, examples of which are depicted in Figures 10a to 10p.

[00108] As shown in Figure 9, to access the application, a customer can either log-in (901 ) (if already registered) or sign-up (901 ) (if a first-time user). If the customer is already registered (903) and has already created a password (905), the customer enters their name and password (907) (refer to Figure 10b) and if correct (909), the customer is able to access the “Kooii” home page (911 ). In the event the customer is a first-time user of the network application, the customer is directed to a registration page (or “sign up” form) (913) wherein the customer has to set a password (915) by entering a password (917) and confirming the password (919) (refer to Figure 10c). If the entered and confirmed passwords match (921 ), the customer is able to create an account (923). As part of the account creation process, the customer is able to enter details including their full name, email address and password (with confirmation), their venue name and venue address (refer to Figure 10c). [00109] Once the customer has been authenticated, the customer is directed to a “Kooii” home page that enables the customer to manage their password by selecting the Settings tab (925) thereby enabling the customer to set their password (refer to steps 827). The customer is also able to navigate to their favourite venues by entering the “Favorites” (929) section of the application (refer to Figure 10k), review their notifications by entering the “Notifications” (941 ) section of the system application (refer to Figure 10q) and review a list of offers by entering the “Offers” (947) section of the application.

[00110] Still referring to Figure 9, upon gaining access to the application, the customer is able to browse information regarding any venue of interest (931 ) by entering keywords in the user face prompt “What are you looking for” (refer to Figure 10d). Once a list of venues is presented to the customer that match the search criteria (refer to Figure 10e), the customer is able to select a particular venue of interest and browse the venue including accessing venue photos (933), review latest offers associated with a venue (935), review ratings of a venue entered by other customers (939) and review venue details (937) (for example, venue address details and opening/closing times of the venue of interest). The customer is also able to search for specific venues of interest using the interface shown in Figure 10d, by selecting an icon in respect of a service/product of interest, including “Food/Beverage”, “Shopping”, “Banks/ATMs”, “Cafe”, “Petrol Stations”, “Things To Do”, “Hospitals”, “Hair Salons” and “Police Stations”.

[00111] Still referring to Figure 9, the customer is also able to view notifications and offers received from various venues (943) and the latest news with respect to any venues on the customer’s list of favourites (945) within the “Notifications” section of the system application.

[00112] The customer is also able to customize the way in which they prefer to interact with the application. For example, a customer is able to specify the way in which to receive offers within the “Offers” (957) section of the application, i.e., by being able to set preferences such as the time, or period of time, at or within which, they prefer to receive offers and a distance (radius) from a particular venue within which they prefer to receive offers. Whilst in the “Offers” section of the application, the customer is also able to view offers transmitted by venues (957), select the level of interaction with venues and other customers (951 ), and provide authority for the system to monitor and collect data relating to their purchasing habits and online searching history to enable the application to learn about their purchasing behavior and goods and/or services of interest to the customer (953). Upon receiving authorization from the customer to collect data relating to their purchasing habits and online searching history, the system adopts machine learning logic to begin personalizing offers for the customer.

[00113] Upon conducting a search for “Cafes” (for example), a customer is presented with a list of Cafes including “Suchi and Bar”, “Costa Cafe”, “Beano’s Cafe” and “El Marley Cafe” (refer to Figure 10e). Upon selection of “Beano’s Cafe” (refer to Figure 10f), the customer is able to inspect details of this particular venue including the address, telephone number, the opening hours, the menu and a rating (in this case 4.0 out of a possible 5).

[00114] The customer is also able to rate a venue using the interface shown in Figure 10g and also view photographs of the venue (refer to Figures 10h to 10i).

[00115] As shown in Figure 10j, the customer is able to view any current promotions/offers associated with a venue. For example, as can been seen in Figure 10j, Beano’s Cafe is offering two cups of coffee at $15.

[00116] A customer is also able to create a list of “Favourites” using the application of the present invention (refer to Figure 10k).

[00117] To manage their details and preferences, a customer accesses the “Settings” function shown in Figure 101, in which the customer is able to enter details including their full name, email address, password (with confirmation) and update/add their photograph. The customer is also able to specify in this section of the application whether they would prefer to receive notifications in relation to any particular venue or retail establishment.

[00118] The customer is also able to navigate to the “offers” tab in the “Settings” section of the application, which will provide a list of venues with current/pending offers. For example, as can be seen from Figure 10m, venues named “Sushi and Bar” (restaurant), “EL makreb” (Cafe) and “Lc Wikiki” (combined Cafe/fashion outlet) have current/pending promotions on offer. Upon selection of “Lc Wikiki” (refer to Figure 10n), customer can view three offers: “Buy two T-shirts: $194”, “Buy one pants and two shirts: $500”, and “Free coffee with any toast purchase”. [00119] Referring to Figure 10o, a customer is also able to filter their search criteria by specifying the minimum rating associated with any venue that is to be identified in any search results, whether the search results should only identify venues currently open for trading and whether the search results should only identify venues having Wi-Fi available.

[00120] A customer is also able view the location of a venue on a map (refer to Figure 10p) and also view any notifications (current or past) associated with a venue. For example, as can be seen in Figure 10q, there are currently three venues with current or past notifications, namely, “Suchi and Bar”, ELmakreb” and “Lc Wikiki”.

[00121] It will be appreciated that the ability for vendors to enter specific details regarding the nature of their products/services, promotional offers, and the type of customers that are to be the target of a particular sales offer or promotion (for example, details regarding the customers who are to receive a particular promotion or sales offer based on customer preferences, search history, purchasing history, location and demographics (gender, occupation, age etc)), enables the generation and dissemination of promotional offers that are likely to be highly relevant to the recipients (potential customers) thereby retaining and increasing customer interest and engagement.

[00122] Customer interest, engagement and retention is also further increased by use of the network, software application and method of the present invention by enabling customers to readily access details and promotional offers associated with particular venues of interest (“favourites”) or venues having profiles that are consistent with a customer’s specifications/preferences (for example, location - ie. customer’s distance from venue, venue rating, venue opening hours) or any preferences based on a customer’s previous online search and/or purchasing history.

[00123] Customer interest, engagement and retention may also be increased by use of the application by enabling users (customers) to apply filters to their search criteria and enter restrictions/preferences regarding the desired frequency and nature of notifications/promotional offers received.

[00124] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or in whole with a machine that executes computer software, program codes, and/or instructions on a processor. The processor may be part of a server, cloud server, client, network infrastructure, mobile computing platform, stationary computing platform, or other computing platform. A processor may be any kind of computational or processing device capable of executing program instructions, codes, binary instructions and the like. The processor may be or include a signal processor, digital processor, embedded processor, microprocessor or any variant such as a co-processor (math co-processor, graphic coprocessor, communication co-processor and the like) and the like that may directly or indirectly facilitate execution of program code or program instructions stored thereon. In addition, the processor may enable execution of multiple programs, threads, and codes. The threads may be executed simultaneously to enhance the performance of the processor and to facilitate simultaneous operations of the application. By way of implementation, methods, program codes, program instructions and the like described herein may be implemented in one or more threads. The thread may spawn other threads that may have assigned priorities associated with them, the processor may execute these threads based on priority or any other order based on instructions provided in the program code. The processor may include memory that stores methods, codes, instructions and programs as described herein and elsewhere. The processor may access a storage medium through an interface that may store methods, codes, and instructions as described herein and elsewhere. The storage medium associated with the processor for storing methods, programs, codes, program instructions or other type of instructions capable of being executed by the computing or processing device may include but may not be limited to one or more of a CD-ROM, DVD, memory, hard disk, flash drive, RAM, ROM, cache and the like.

[00125] A processor may include one or more cores that may enhance speed and performance of a multiprocessor. In some embodiments, the process may be a dual core processor, quad core processors, other chip-level multiprocessor and the like that combine two or more independent cores (called a die).

[00126] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or in whole through a machine that executes computer software on a server, cloud server, client, firewall, gateway, hub, router, or other such computer and/or networking hardware. The software program may be associated with a server that may include a file server, print server, domain server, internet server, intranet server and other variants such as secondary server, host server, distributed server and the like. The server may include one or more of memories, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other servers, clients, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the server. In addition, other devices required for execution of methods as described in this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructure associated with the server.

[00127] The server may provide an interface to other devices including, without limitation, clients, other servers, printers, database servers, print servers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of programs across the network. The networking of some or all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method at one or more locations without deviating from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, any of the devices attached to the server through an interface may include at least one storage medium capable of storing methods, programs, code and/or instructions. A central repository may provide program instructions to be executed on different devices. In this implementation, the remote repository may act as a storage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

[00128] The software program may be associated with a client that may include a file client, print client, domain client, internet client, intranet client and other variants such as secondary client, host client, distributed client and the like. The client may include one or more of memories, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other clients, servers, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client. In addition, other devices required for execution of methods as described in this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructure associated with the client.

[00129] The client may provide an interface to other devices including, without limitation, servers, other clients, printers, database servers, print servers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of programs across the network. The networking of some or all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method at one or more locations without deviating from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, any of the devices attached to the client through an interface may include at least one storage medium capable of storing methods, programs, applications, code and/or instructions. A central repository may provide program instructions to be executed on different devices. In this implementation, the remote repository may act as a storage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

[00130] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or in whole through network infrastructures. The network infrastructure may include elements such as computing devices, servers, routers, hubs, firewalls, clients, personal computers, communication devices, routing devices and other active and passive devices, modules and/or components as known in the art. The computing and/or non-computing device(s) associated with the network infrastructure may include, apart from other components, a storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM, ROM and the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructions described herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of the network infrastructural elements.

[00131] The methods, program codes, and instructions described herein and elsewhere may be implemented in different devices which may operate in wired or wireless networks. Examples of wireless networks include 4th Generation (4G) networks (eg. Long-Term Evolution (LTE)) or 5th Generation (5G) networks, as well as non-cellular networks such as Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). However, the principles described therein may equally apply to other types of networks.

[00132] The operations, methods, programs codes, and instructions described herein and elsewhere may be implemented on or through mobile devices. The mobile devices may include navigation devices, cell phones, mobile phones, mobile personal digital assistants, laptops, palmtops, netbooks, pagers, electronic books readers, music players and the like. These devices may include, apart from other components, a storage medium such as a flash memory, buffer, RAM, ROM and one or more computing devices. The computing devices associated with mobile devices may be enabled to execute program codes, methods, and instructions stored thereon. Alternatively, the mobile devices may be configured to execute instructions in collaboration with other devices. The mobile devices may communicate with base stations interfaced with servers and configured to execute program codes. The mobile devices may communicate on a peer-to-peer network, mesh network, or other communications network. The program code may be stored on the storage medium associated with the server and executed by a computing device embedded within the server. The base station may include a computing device and a storage medium. The storage device may store program codes and instructions executed by the computing devices associated with the base station.

[00133] The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions may be stored and/or accessed on machine readable media that may include computer components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time, semiconductor storage known as random access memory (RAM), mass storage typically for more permanent storage, such as optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, tapes, drums, cards and other types; processor registers, cache memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, optical storage such as CD, DVD, removable media such as flash memory (eg. USB sticks or keys), floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone RAM disks, Zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the like, other computer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory, read/write storage, mutable storage, read only, random access, sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, content addressable, network attached storage, storage area network, bar codes, magnetic ink, and the like.

[00134] The methods and systems described herein may transform physical and/or intangible items from one state to another. The methods and systems described herein may also transform data representing physical and/or intangible items from one state to another, such as from usage data to a normalized usage dataset.

[00135] The elements described and depicted herein, including in flow charts and block diagrams throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may be implemented on machines through computer executable media having a processor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon as a monolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or as modules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, or any combination of these, and all such implementations may be within the scope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may include, but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants, laptops, personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld computing devices, medical equipment, wired or wireless communication devices, transducers, chips, calculators, satellites, tablet PCs, electronic books, gadgets, electronic devices, devices having artificial intelligence, computing devices, networking equipment, servers, routers and the like. Furthermore, the elements depicted in the flow chart and block diagrams or any other logical component may be implemented on a machine capable of executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawings and descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems, no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functional aspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified and described above may be varied, and that the order of steps may be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various steps should not be understood to require a particular order of execution for those steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context.

[00136] The methods and/or processes described above, and steps thereof, may be realized in hardware, software or any combination of hardware and software suitable for a particular application. The hardware may include a general-purpose computer and/or dedicated computing device or specific computing device or particular aspect or component of a specific computing device. The processes may be realized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other programmable devices, along with internal and/or external memory. The processes may also, or instead, be embodied in an application specific integrated circuit, a programmable gate array, programmable array logic, or any other device or combination of devices that may be configured to process electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that one or more of the processes may be realized as a computer executable code capable of being executed on a machine-readable medium.

[00137] The computer executable code may be created using a structured programming language such as C, an object oriented programming language such as C++, or any other high-level or low-level programming language (including assembly languages, hardware description languages, and database programming languages and technologies) that may be stored, compiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices, as well as heterogeneous combinations of processors, processor architectures, or combinations of different hardware and software, or any other machine capable of executing program instructions.

[00138] It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the relevant field of technology that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as detailed in the embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all aspects as illustrative and not restrictive.

[00139] Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word “comprise”, and variations such as “comprises” and “comprising”, will be understood to mean the inclusion of a stated feature, integer or step, or group of features, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other feature, integer or step, or group of features, integers or steps.

[00140] The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgement, or any suggestion that, the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge.

Claims

The claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. A data communications network including primary user devices operably connected with the network and operable to access and execute computer instruction code that, when executed, causes the generation and transmission of notifications to user devices of a plurality of consumers, and a method of operating the data communications network, wherein the method includes: receiving, by one or more processors, previously collected data in respect of each individual consumer of the plurality of consumers regarding their consumer behaviour; receiving, by one or more processors, previously collected data relating to preferences of each individual consumer regarding their availability to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities; receiving, by one or more processors, the geo-location of individual consumer user devices based on tracking of same by the data communications network in substantially real-time such that a current geo-location of each individual consumer user device is substantially known; analysing, by one or more processors, using one or more artificial intelligence techniques, the consumer behaviour data, the consumer preference data, and the geolocation of each individual consumer to determine: one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are of relevance and interest to the individual consumer; one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with the period(s) of time the consumer has indicated they are available to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities; and one or more geographical locations or regions that sufficiently accord with geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance and interest to the individual consumer; and transmitting, by one or more processors, one or more notifications including the promotional offers to individual consumers whose user devices are determined as sufficiently geographically located to avail themselves of the one or more promotional offers, and at times determined as available to the consumer to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities.

2. A data communications network according to claim 1 , wherein the primary user device automatically transmits notifications to individual consumer user devices upon receiving confirmation the consumer user device is sufficiently geographically located and the time is appropriate for the consumer to avail themselves of the opportunity, to consider promotional and/or retail opportunities.

3. A data communications network and method of operating same according to either claim 1 or claim 2, wherein determining one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with the period(s) of time the consumer has indicated availability to receive promotional and/or retail opportunities, includes one or more of: automatically determining, period(s) of time in which to receive notifications outside the period(s) of time the consumer previously indicated availability to receive promotional and/or retail opportunities, wherein said automatic determination occurs when: a notification scheduled to be transmitted outside of the previously indicated time period(s) relates to products/services in which the consumer has a particular interest; and the notification is scheduled to be transmitted outside of the previously indicated time period(s) yet a consumer is likely to read and interact with the notification relating to a promotional offer since it substantially accords with a period of time previously indicated as available to receive notifications.

4. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein determining one or more geographical locations or regions that sufficiently accord with geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance and interest to the individual consumer, includes one or more of: automatically determining an expanded region in which to receive notifications that extends beyond the geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s), wherein said automatic determination occurs when: a notification scheduled to be transmitted to consumers who are within the geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s); or the individual is determined to be travelling toward and likely to be located inside the geo-location(s) targeted by the promotional offer(s) within a threshold period of time after the notification has issued from the vendor.

5. A data communications network and method of operating same according to claim 4, wherein determining that the individual is travelling toward and likely to be located inside the geo-location(s) targeted by the promotional offer(s) within a threshold period of time after the notification has issued from the vendor includes: analysing, using predictive analysis functionality, the consumer’s geographical location and path of travel to predict most likely future locations and times at each future predicted location.

6. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein determining one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are considered relevant and of interest to the individual consumer includes: applying a preference learning technique based on an analysis of historical promotional offers in respect of which consumers have been notified, and consumers have elected to engage.

7. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein determining one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are considered relevant and of interest to the individual consumer further includes one or more of: monitoring retail activity including purchases by the individual consumers in respect of goods/services; monitoring and collecting information in relation to search queries performed by a consumer in an online environment; monitoring and collecting information in relation to prior purchases made by the consumer at one or more geographical locations associated with the primary user device; or tracking movements of the consumer including retail establishments frequented by the consumer.

8. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein determining one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are considered relevant and of interest to the individual consumer further includes one or more of: predicting likely future purchases of a consumer based upon one or more historical purchases, their online searching/shopping history and/or their physical movements at, and within, retail establishments; or estimating characteristics of the consumer, including one or more of age, gender and economic status, based upon information collected with respect to the user’s prior purchases, online/shopping purchasing history and their choice of retail establishments at which they purchase goods and/or services.

9. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the method further includes selectively forwarding notifications to the individual consumer based on the determined relevance of each notification.

10. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further includes: accessing data relating to retail stock levels to determine an amount of available stock of the item(s) relevant to a promotional offer; independently provide data to a consumer regarding available stock levels for any particular item subject of a promotional offer; and allocating or adjusting a priority value to the notification in view of the available stock level.

11. A data communications network and method of operating same according to claim 10, wherein the method further includes: providing consumers with real-time updates regarding promotional offers determined to be of particular interest, including providing each consumer with updated information with respect to remaining available stock levels relevant to promotional offers.

12. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the primary user devices are operable to access and execute computer instruction code to send promotional offer notifications to the consumer user devices, wherein users of the primary user devices are vendors including one or more of owners, managers or employees of retail establishments, and consumers are customers of such retail establishments.

13. A data communications network and method of operating same according to claim 12, wherein the notification further includes location details of the promotional offer and directions or a graphic representation providing directions from a consumer’s location to the location of the retail establishment.

14. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the artificial intelligence techniques include one or more of natural language processing, text analysis, and/or machine learning to determine promotional offers of relevance and interest to a consumer, one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with the period(s) of time that the consumer is likely to be available to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities, and one or more geographical locations that sufficiently accord with geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance.

15. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further includes: where a consumer user device is within or determined to be sufficiently within a specified region of a physical retail establishment and receives a notification from a primary user device associated with a retail establishment relating to an item or product offered for sale, prompting the consumer to send a message to the primary user device requesting reservation of the item or product for purchase.

16. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each consumer is prompted to make a purchase and effect a payment transaction to a vendor by the use of their user device.

17. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the primary user device is configured to receive a notification or indication of each instance in which a consumer user device is located within or determined to be sufficiently within a specified region of the geographical location associated with the primary user device and, once notified, the user of the primary user device is prompted to send one or more notifications to the consumer including promotional and/or sales material based upon a determination that the consumer is relevantly geographically located, and wherein the time is sufficiently in accordance with a time that is appropriate such that the consumer would prefer to avail themselves of the promotional and/or sales material.

18. A data communications network and method of operating same according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further includes: prompting a consumer to utilize their user device to send to a primary user device associated with a geographical location, a review, feedback or a rating regarding a retail establishment located at the geographical location.

19. A system including: one or more computer processors configured to: receive previously collected data in respect of each individual consumer of the plurality of consumers regarding their consumer behaviour; receive previously collected data relating to preferences of each individual consumer regarding their availability to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities; receive the geo-location of individual consumer user devices based on tracking of same in substantially real-time such that a current geo-location of each individual consumer user device is substantially known; analyse, using one or more artificial intelligence techniques, the consumer behaviour data, the consumer preference data, and the geo-location of each individual consumer to determine: one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are of relevance and interest to the individual consumer; one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with the period(s) of time the consumer has indicated they are available to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities; and one or more geographical locations or regions that sufficiently accord with geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance and interest to the individual consumer; and transmit one or more notifications including the promotional offers to individual consumers whose user devices are determined as sufficiently geographically located to avail themselves of the one or more promotional offers, and at times determined as available to the consumer to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions stored therein that, when executed by one or more processors, perform the steps of: receiving previously collected data in respect of each individual consumer of the plurality of consumers regarding their consumer behaviour; receiving previously collected data relating to preferences of each individual consumer regarding their availability to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities; receiving the geo-location of individual consumer user devices based on tracking of same in substantially real-time such that a current geo-location of each individual consumer user device is substantially known; analysing, using one or more artificial intelligence techniques, the consumer behaviour data, the consumer preference data, and the geo-location of each individual consumer to determine: one or more promotional offers from a plurality of available promotional offers issued by vendors that are considered relevant and of interest to the individual consumer; one or more periods of time that sufficiently accord with the period(s) of time the consumer has indicated they are available to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities; and one or more geographical locations or regions that sufficiently accord with geo-location(s) or regions targeted by the promotional offer(s) determined to be of relevance and interest to the individual consumer; and transmitting one or more notifications including the promotional offers to individual consumers whose user devices are determined as sufficiently geographically located to avail themselves of the one or more promotional offers, and at times determined as available to the consumer to avail themselves of promotional and/or retail opportunities.