Method and apparatus for dispensing discount coupons

A system for printing a redeemable coupon in a retail store, solely in response to the purchase of competitive item, the system comprising:

• a plurality of terminals at customer checkout locations, each having means fro 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 printing of a discount coupon for a selected product will be triggered by the purchase of a triggering competitive product;
• means for identifying the triggering product in the customer order;
• means for associating the triggering product with the coupon deal;
• means for automatically printing 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;
• and
• means for redeeming a coupon printed by the means for automatically printing.

For use in a retail store point-of-sale system having a plurality of terminals at customer checkout locations, each with means for reading product codes on purchasd items in a customer order, and 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, a method for printing a redeemable coupon solely in response to the purchase of a competitive item, the method comprising the steps of:

• preselecting a discountable product for which a discount coupon is to be printed;
• preselecting at least one competitive triggering product, the purchase of which is intended to initiate printing of the discount coupon;
• storing the terms of at least one coupon deal relating to the discount coupon to be printed;
• identifying the triggering product in the customer order;
• associating the triggering product with the previously stored terms of the coupon deal;
• and
• automatically printing at least one discount coupon for the discountable 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.