Inventory management server

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon an application, which when executed by an inventory management server, causes the inventory management server to perform steps comprising:

• receiving, from a financial switching server of a payment network, tracking data assigned to a product stocked at a merchant inventory associated with a merchant, wherein the tracking data is transmitted over the payment network by the merchant via a merchant terminal that is in communication with the financial switching server of the payment network in a pre-authorization request message generated prior to a purchase authorization request message being generated, the tracking data including a bank identification number (BIN) reserved for the inventory management server, the BIN identifying the inventory management server to the financial switching server for routing of the pre-authorization message to the inventory management server;
• interrogating a mapping table containing product data associated with tracking data information for a presence of the received tracking data;
• updating an inventory database of the product stocked at the merchant inventory in response to detection of the presence of the received tracking data;
• and
• transmitting, to the merchant terminal over the payment network in response to the pre-authorization request message, acknowledgement data indicative of the inventory database update.

A method for facilitating inventory management, the method comprising:

• receiving, from a financial switching server of a payment network, tracking data assigned to a product stocked at a merchant inventory associated with a merchant, wherein the tracking data is transmitted over the payment network by the merchant via a merchant terminal that is in communication with the financial switching server of the payment network in a pre-authorization request message generated prior to a purchase authorization request message b generated, the tracking data including a bank identification number (BIN) reserved for the inventory management server, the BIN identifying the inventory management server to the financial switching server for routing of the pre-authorization message to the inventory management server;
• interrogating a mapping table containing product data associated with tracking data information for a presence of the received tracking data;
• updating an inventory database of the product stocked at the merchant inventory in response to detection of the presence of the received tracking data;
• and
• transmitting, to the merchant terminal over the payment network in response to the pre-authorization request message, acknowledgement data indicative of the inventory database update.