Method and system for building a database and performing marketing based upon prior shopping history

A system for performing targeted marketing on customers in a retail establishment comprising:

• a bar code reader for detecting the universal product code on products purchased by said customers:
• a terminal for entering data relating to the identity of the customers;
• a processor responsive to said bar code reader and terminal for creating a centralized database of products previously purchased by a plurality of said customers in prior shopping transactions and preselected promotions on preselected products;
• said processor generating a signal in response to detecting customers whose prior transactions at the store meet one of a plurality of predetermined infrequent product purchasing history criteria;
• and
• circuitry responsive to said signal for dispensing during a customer's checkout at the point-of-sale a coupon related to one of said preselected promotions such that said coupon includes a product previously infrequently purchased by said specific customer, and wherein different sales promotions are dispensed to customers having different product purchasing histories in order to incent said customers to return to the retail establishment to purchase at least one of said previously infrequently purchased products in a future shopping transaction.

A system for performing targeted marketing on customers in a retail establishment comprising:

• apparatus for entering unique customer identification codes from customer identification presented in a retail transaction;
• a reader for detecting the machine readable product code on products purchased by said customers;
• a processor responsive to said apparatus and reader for creating a centralized database of the store's customers' identification codes and product codes of products previously purchased by said customers in prior shopping transactions and a plurality of preselected promotion data on preselected products:
• said processor generating a signal in response to entry of a unique identification code of customers whose transactions prior to the current shopping visit at the store meet predetermined infrequent product purchasing history criteria;
• and
• circuitry responsive to said signal for dispensing during a customer's checkout one of said preselected sales promotions to said customers whose prior transactions meet predetermined product purchasing history criteria, wherein different sales promotions are dispensed to customers having different prior product purchasing histories, wherein said sales promotions are for a product previously infrequently purchased and redeemable at a future visit in order to incent said customers to purchase said previously infrequently purchased products at the establishment in a future shopping transaction.

A method for performing targeted customer marketing with a computer having a processor and a memory at a retail store, the method comprising the steps of:

• entering at the point-of-sale in said store a customer's identification code into the computer's memory;
• entering at the point-of-sale the machine readable product code on products purchased by customers into the computer's memos;
• storing a database of a plurality of previously entered customer identification codes and previously entered product codes from a plurality of prior shopping visits by said customers over a period of time such that data regarding a plurality of individual customer shopping histories is stored;
• in response to the entry of a customer's identification code, generating with the processor a signal representative of that specific customer's infrequent product purchasing history prior to the current visit;
• and
• printing during a customer's checkout a coupon at the point-of-sale in response to said signal, said coupon containing a promotion on a previously infrequently purchased product and redeemable at a future time, such that said customer is incented to return to the store at a future time to purchase said previously infrequently purchased product.

A method for performing point-of-sale customer promotion in a retail establishment with a computer having a processor and memory, the method comprising the steps of:

• entering at a point-of-sale customer identification into the computer's memory;
• detecting at the point-of-sale the machine readable product code on products purchased by said customers;
• storing in the computer's memory customer transaction data regarding a plurality of individual customer's shopping histories and specific product purchases over a period of time;
• generating with the processor incentive signals for different customers in dependence upon the specific product purchasing history of a specific customer prior to the current shopping visit such that said incentive signals designate product incentive awards based upon said specific customer's infrequent purchases of said specific products prior to the current shopping visit;
• and
• printing during a customer's checkout coupons in response to said incentive signals, said coupons related to the customer's prior product purchasing history such that different incentives can be delivered to customers with different product purchasing histories.

A method for performing targeted marketing with a computer having a processor and a memory on customers in a retail establishment the method comprising the steps of:

• reading the indicia of instruments presented by customers at the point-of-sale to generate a unique customer identification code into the computer's memory;
• detecting the universal product code on products purchased by said customers;
• entering into the computer's method data relating to the customer's shopping habits;
• creating a database of a plurality of the store's customers' shopping habits and universal product codes of products previously purchased by said customers in association with said customers' unique identification codes:
• upon entry of unique identification codes, determining with the processor customers whose transactions prior to the current shopping visit at the store meet predetermined infrequent shopping habit criteria:
• and
• dispensing a sales promotion at the point-of-sale during customer's checkout to said customers whose prior transactions meet said predetermined infrequent shopping habit criteria said sales promotion being related to products previously purchased by said customer in order to incent said customers to return to said retail establishment to purchase products in a future transaction.