초록 ▼

A system for creating discount coupons in response to the purchases of products. Improvements disclosed include the printing of a “negative”coupon in response to the failure to purchase a particular product, and the printing of a coupon in response to the purchase of multiple triggering items, eithe

A system for creating discount coupons in response to the purchases of products. Improvements disclosed include the printing of a “negative”coupon in response to the failure to purchase a particular product, and the printing of a coupon in response to the purchase of multiple triggering items, either without limitation as to the identification of the items, or with the requirement that the items fall into a predefined trade group. Other features of the invention permit the use of instantly redeemable “coupons,”such that an instant discount is applied to a customer bill rather than having a coupon printed, and the logging, without printing, of possible coupon printings for statistical purposes.

대표청구항 ▼

A system for simulating the printing of a redeemable coupon in a retail store, solely in response to the purchase of a triggering item, to record the effect of a specific discount coupon deal without actually printing the coupons, the system comprising: a plurality of terminals at customer checkout

A system for simulating the printing of a redeemable coupon in a retail store, solely in response to the purchase of a triggering item, to record the effect of a specific discount coupon deal without actually printing the coupons, the system comprising: a plurality of terminals at customer checkout locations, each having means for reading product codes on purchased items in a customer order; a store controller with which the terminals can communicate, the store controller having access to an item record file containing price and other information for each product item; means for storing the terms of at least one coupon deal in which the generation of a printable discount coupon for a selected product will be triggered by the purchase of a triggering product; means for identifying the triggering product in the customer order; means for associating the triggering product with the coupon deal; and means for automatically logging, but not printing, the generation of at least one discount coupon for a product other than the triggering product, based on the details of the coupon deal and without the intervention or participation of the customer other than in purchasing the triggering product, whereby statistics relative to the coupon deal can be gathered without actually printing the discount coupons.