Article dispensing – With discharge assistant – Article retained by discharge assistant for manual removal
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-02
2003-06-17
Gravini, Stephen (Department: 2162)
Article dispensing
With discharge assistant
Article retained by discharge assistant for manual removal
C221S303000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06578735
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of promoting a product or a brand in a retail store, to a method of promoting customer loyalty to a retail store or chain of stores or sales outlet, to apparatus for use in such methods and to alternative uses of such apparatus.
A wide range of promotional concepts are known and used in retail stores and sales outlets for specific products, such as a stand dedicated to the sale of a particular range of products, for example ties, in an airport.
Advertisements range from static advertising boards to illuminated or highlighted advertisements and to advertisements with mobile features aimed at capturing the attention of customers in a store or at a sales outlet.
The advertisements are sometimes directed to a single product, or to a brand of products, and sometimes take the form of advertising by a retail store on its own behalf, frequently coupled with price reductions or the like.
It is also known for retail stores to reduce the price of certain articles for a certain period in the day, a so-called happy hour.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved methods of promoting a product or a brand in a retail store and customer loyalty to a retail store or chain of stores, as well as apparatus for carrying out the method, which provide the customers with more incentive to purchase specific products or brands or to remain loyal to a particular store or chain of stores or sales outlet.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus for motivating customers to make specific purchase decisions.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to make shopping more exciting for customers.
It is a further object of the invention to apply these promotion and advertising methods to the world of e-commerce by a multi-media version of the apparatus.
It is a yet further object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus of the above kind which are particularly suited to the way retail stores and chains of stores are organized and which relieve the management of such retail stores or chains of administrative effort in connection with the promotion activity.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus of a general type which can be used not only for the above purposes, but also for the issue of lottery tickets or other forms of tickets and which can be configured, for example, as a gaming machine.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description.
In order to satisfy the above objects there is provided, in accordance with a first aspect of the invention, a method of promoting a product or a brand in a retail store comprising the steps of analyzing data determined at a point of sale relating to purchases by a customer, e.g. data from a bar-code scanner, to determine whether a customer has purchased a particular product or brand or has purchased products equaling or exceeding a predetermined value and, if this is the case, entitling the customer to participate in a prize/bonus ticket game configured as a game of chance, conducting a game of chance based on a predetermined win table having a specified number of predetermined winning numbers each associated with a bonus or prize and a further number of no win stops, i.e. numbers which are not winning numbers, and in the case of a win, issuing to the customer a lottery ticket which is a winning ticket associated with the product or product range.
The invention is thus based on the concept that the promotion of a particular product or brand of products can be made more exciting for the customer and more effective because of enhanced customer interest if the customer is entitled, on purchasing a product or brand, to participate in a game of chance which gives the opportunity for the customer to win a prize, with the validation of prizes taking place via a type of lottery ticket.
The invention has recognized that many customers purchase scratch card-type lottery tickets at points of sale, for example at cash tills of supermarkets or large stores, and engage, of their own volition, in games of chance. The present invention has recognized that this type of behavior can be used to great effect as an advertising medium, not just promoting the interests of the lottery company, but also basically the interests of any manufacturer of any product or brand or, as will be seen later, the sales promotion of a store or chain of stores or indeed of any sales outlet, be it a tie shop in an airport or a newspaper shop on the corner.
More specifically, general advertising can be carried out so that a customer is aware that purchase of a particular product or brand may entitle him to participate in a game of chance. Even if the customer is aware that such promotion is running he may, of his own volition, purchase the relevant brand or product. At the point of sale customer purchases will normally be scanned by a barcode scanner. Information on the identity of the products purchased is thus available to a computer system through the barcode scanner. Thus, the information produced by the barcode scanner can be checked to see whether the customer has purchased a particular product or brand, or products equaling or exceeding a predetermined value, and, if this is the case, can trigger a signal which entitles the customer to participate in a prize/bonus ticket game configured as a game of chance.
The fact that the customer is entitled to participate in such a game of chance, as a result of his purchases, can be signaled to the customer, and indeed to other customers in a retail store or sales outlet in a wide variety of ways, and in particular by the step of operating at least one display or advertisement associated with the product or brand. The game of chance is conducted on the spot and a decision is made, also on the spot, as to whether the customer has won or lost. If the result is a loss, that is the end of the game and no ticket is issued. In the event of a win a ticket is issued to the customer giving details of the win. The issue of a winning ticket can again be coupled to the operation of at least one display or advertisement associated with the product or brand. Again, this is intended to promote customer awareness of the promotion that is running and to encourage other customers to purchase the products and thus to participate in the game of chance and have the possibility of a win.
The win associated with the game of chance is recorded on the ticket, which can itself be configured as a scratch card ticket (but must not be so configured) and thus the customer is immediately able to check what he has won at the point of sale. Frequently, the win will simply be a small win, such as a small rebate on the purchases made by the customer, or a small sum of money, or the entitlement to purchase more of the article concerned at half price or something of this nature. Such small wins will usually be paid out by the retail store or sales outlet on the spot.
When the winning ticket is associated with a high win, for example a television set, or a car or a vacation, then the customer will normally be expected to send the ticket to a company responsible for payment of the win.
By applying codes to the winning tickets, for example a barcode, it is possible for the company responsible for payment of the win to check that the winning ticket is indeed a valid winning ticket and not a forgery. Clearly the prize is only transferred to the customer when the ticket has been authenticated.
Because a customer learns of his win at the point of sale, the excitement associated with a win will be apparent to other customers, particularly when a major win is involved. It will thus, on the one hand, motivate these other customers to participate in the promotion, or will at least enhance the chances of them remaining loyal to the store or sales outlet where such a promotion is running. At the very least, the air of excitement will help convert the shopping activity f
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