System and method of increasing fuel sales at a fuel service station

Abstract

A system and method of cross-selling products and increasing fuel sales at a fuel service station. A price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel is associated with a purchase of a non-fuel product. A display screen at the dispenser then informs the customer of the PPU discount and that a future purchase of fuel can be currently made at today's price, or may be purchased over the Internet at a later time. The system determines whether the customer ordered a non-fuel product or future fuel, and records the customer's orders. The system then accepts the customer's payment for the non-fuel product and the future fuel, and discounts the PPU of the fuel by the amount associated with the purchase of the non-fuel product during a current fuel purchase by the customer. This is followed by encoding the customer's purchase of the non-fuel product and the customer's purchase of future fuel on a token, and providing the customer with the encoded token for redemption for the non-fuel product and/or for future fuel at a future date.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of cross-selling products comprising the steps of: 
 associating a price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel with a purchase of a non-fuel product;    informing a customer of the PPU discount associated with the purchase of the non-fuel product;    recording the customer's purchase of the non-fuel product; and    discounting the PPU of the fuel by the associated amount during a fuel purchase by the customer.    
     
     
         2 . The method of cross-selling products of    claim 1    wherein the step of informing a customer of the PPU discount includes displaying the associated PPU discount for fuel on a display screen at a fuel dispenser.  
     
     
         3 . The method of cross-selling products of    claim 1    wherein the step of discounting the PPU of the fuel includes discounting the PPU of the fuel during at the time of the purchase of the non-fuel product.  
     
     
         4 . The method of cross-selling products of    claim 1    wherein the step of discounting the PPU of the fuel includes discounting the PPU of the fuel for a future fuel purchase after the purchase of the non-fuel product.  
     
     
         5 . The method of cross-selling products of    claim 1    further comprising the steps of: 
 encoding the customer's purchase of the non-fuel product on a token; and  
 providing the customer with the encoded token for redemption for the non-fuel product.  
 
     
     
         6 . A method of increasing fuel sales by a fuel company comprising the steps of: 
 informing a customer that a future purchase of fuel can be currently made at today's price;    recording the customer's order for future fuel;    accepting the customer's payment for the future fuel;    encoding the customer's purchase of future fuel on a token; and    providing the customer with the encoded token for redemption at a future date.    
     
     
         7 . The method of increasing fuel sales of    claim 6    further comprising, before the step of informing a customer that a future purchase of fuel can be currently made at today's price, the step of providing the customer with access to a central server for the fuel company over the Internet, and wherein the steps of the method are performed over the Internet between a customer Internet access device and the central server.  
     
     
         8 . The method of increasing fuel sales of    claim 7    wherein the step of encoding the customer's purchase of future fuel on a token includes encoding the token with an IP address for the central server.  
     
     
         9 . The method of increasing fuel sales of    claim 8    further comprising the step of accepting the token as payment for fuel at a participating fuel company site.  
     
     
         10 . The method of increasing fuel sales of    claim 7    further comprising, before the step of providing the customer with the encoded token for redemption at a future date, the steps of: 
 informing the customer that a price-per-unit (PPU) discount on fuel is available with a purchase of a non-fuel product;  
 recording a purchase of a non-fuel product by the customer; and  
 encoding the PPU discount on the token.  
 
     
     
         11 . A method of increasing a merchant's fuel sales at a fuel service station comprising the steps of: 
 informing a customer that the merchant offers a volume-sensitive discount on a future fuel purchase if the customer currently purchases a volume of fuel that exceeds a threshold amount of fuel;    determining whether the customer purchases a volume of fuel that exceeds the threshold amount;    encoding the volume-sensitive discount on future fuel, upon determining that the customer purchased a volume of fuel that exceeds the threshold amount;    recording the customer's volume-sensitive discount on future fuel;    encoding the customer's volume-sensitive discount on a token; and    providing the customer with the encoded token for redemption at a future date.    
     
     
         12 . A method of cross-selling products and increasing fuel sales at a fuel service station, said method comprising the steps of: 
 associating a price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel with a purchase of a non-fuel product;    informing a customer of the PPU discount associated with the purchase of the non-fuel product, and that a future purchase of fuel can be currently made at today's price;    determining that the customer ordered a non-fuel product;    recording the customer's order of the non-fuel product;    determining that the customer ordered future fuel;    recording the customer's order for future fuel;    accepting the customer's payment for the non-fuel product and the future fuel;    discounting the PPU of the fuel by the amount associated with the purchase of the non-fuel product during a current fuel purchase by the customer;    encoding the customer's purchase of the non-fuel product and the customer's purchase of future fuel on a token; and    providing the customer with the encoded token for redemption for the non-fuel product and for future fuel at a future date.    
     
     
         13 . The method of cross-selling products and increasing fuel sales at a fuel service station of    claim 12    further comprising the steps of: 
 informing a customer that the merchant offers a volume-sensitive discount on a future fuel purchase if the customer currently purchases a volume of fuel that exceeds a threshold amount of fuel;  
 determining whether the customer purchases a volume of fuel that exceeds the threshold amount;  
 encoding the volume-sensitive discount on future fuel, upon determining that the customer purchased a volume of fuel that exceeds the threshold amount;  
 recording the customer's volume-sensitive discount on future fuel;  
 encoding the customer's volume-sensitive discount on a token; and  
 providing the customer with the encoded token for redemption at a future date.  
 
     
     
         14 . A method of cross-selling products comprising the steps of: 
 associating a price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel with a purchase of a non-fuel product at a first site;    informing a customer at the first site of the PPU discount associated with the purchase of the non-fuel product;    determining that the customer ordered the non-fuel product;    discounting the PPU of the fuel by the associated amount during a fuel purchase by the customer;    recording in a database at the first site, a reward file associated with the customer's purchase of the non-fuel product;    encoding the customer's purchase of the non-fuel product on a token;    providing the customer with the encoded token for redemption for the non-fuel product;    determining that the customer has presented the token for redemption at a second site which communicates with the first site over a data network;    requesting by the second site that the first site send the reward file;    sending the reward file from the first site to the second site; and    redeeming the customer's token for the non-fuel product at the second site.    
     
     
         15 . The method of cross-selling products of    claim 14    wherein the data network is the Internet, and the method further comprises the steps of: 
 sending information regarding the redeemed token to a central server on the Internet; and  
 allocating a value of the non-fuel product to the first site.  
 
     
     
         16 . A system for cross-selling products comprising: 
 a display screen at a fuel dispenser that informs a customer of a price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel which is awarded if the customer purchases an associated non-fuel product;    means for the customer to purchase the non-fuel product at the dispenser;    a database which records the customer's purchase of the non-fuel product; and    a processor which discounts the PPU of the fuel by the amount of the PPU discount in response to the customer's purchase of the non-fuel product.    
     
     
         17 . The system for cross-selling products of    claim 14    further comprising: 
 a printer for printing a token with the customer's purchase of the non-fuel product encoded thereon; and  
 means for reading the encoded token in order to redeem the token for the non-fuel product.  
 
     
     
         18 . The system for cross-selling products of    claim 17    further comprising: 
 a plurality of system sites; and  
 a data network for communicating between each of the plurality of sites and for redeeming tokens at different sites in the network from the sites where the tokens were issued.  
 
     
     
         19 . The system for cross-selling products of    claim 18    wherein the data network is the Internet.  
     
     
         20 . The system for cross-selling products of    claim 19    further comprising a central server that collects reward information from the sites and makes allocations to merchants and vendors.