Tracking off-line commerce and online activity

Abstract

Systems and methods for tracking a user's off-line commerce and merging that data with online activity are disclosed. The off-line transaction data is associated with off-line purchases of a user and includes identification information that can be used to identify the user. A scone or modified cookie is created that includes the off-line transaction data. Online activity can also be tracked and merged with the user's off-line commerce data.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, at a monitoring system, off-line transaction data associated with off-line purchases of a user, wherein the off-line transaction data includes off-line identification information that identifies the user; and   creating a scone that includes the off-line transaction data.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, at the monitoring system, online identification data that identifies the user; and   identifying the off-line transaction data associated with the online identification data by comparing the online identification data to the off-line identification data.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the online identification data includes one or more of a credit card number, a telephone number, or a user attribute. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising dropping the scone on a web-accessible device associated with the user. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 monitoring online activity of the user;   aggregating the off-line transaction data and online activity data from the online activity into an aggregated data set; and   determining one or more user-specific advertisements based on the aggregated data set.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the one or more user-specific advertisements are presented to the user through a web-portal or through a point of sale device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the online activity includes researching a product or a merchant. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 accessing the off-line transaction data within the scone when the user accesses a communication network through a web-portal; and   determining one or more user-specific advertisements to be presented through the web-portal based on the off-line transaction data.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein creating the scone comprises embedding the off-line transaction data in a cookie. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating an off-line transaction analysis from the off-line transaction data, wherein creating the scone includes embedding the off-line transaction analysis in a cookie. 
     
     
         11 . A monitoring system comprising:
 a fingerprint analysis module configured to receive off-line transaction data associated with off-line transactions of a user, wherein the off-line transaction data includes off-line identification information that identifies the user;   an authentication module configured to receive online identification data that identifies the user;   a correlation module configured to identify the off-line transaction data associated with the online identification data by comparing the online identification data to the off-line identification data; and   a scone management module configured to create a scone that includes the off-line transaction data.   
     
     
         12 . The monitoring system of  claim 11 , wherein the fingerprint analysis module communicates with a communicably coupled gateway system to receive the off-line transaction data associated with the off-line transactions of the user. 
     
     
         13 . The monitoring system of  claim 11 , wherein the fingerprint analysis module communicates with a communicably coupled point of sale device to receive the off-line transaction data associated with the off-line transactions of the user. 
     
     
         14 . The monitoring system of  claim 11 , wherein the fingerprint analysis module accesses online financial accounts of the user and scrapes an online credit card statement to receive the off-line transaction data associated with the off-line transactions of the user. 
     
     
         15 . The monitoring system of  claim 11 , further comprising a web server module configured to drop the scone on a web-accessible device associated with the user. 
     
     
         16 . The monitoring system of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a tracking and recording module configured to monitor online activity of the user; and   an advertisement analysis module configured to aggregate the off-line transaction data and the online activity data from the online activity into an aggregated set, and determine one or more user-specific advertisements based on the aggregated data set.   
     
     
         17 . The monitoring system of  claim 11 , further comprising an advertisement analysis module configured to determine one or more user-specified advertisements using the scone. 
     
     
         18 . A method comprising:
 receiving, at a monitoring system, data relating to online activity of a user including online identification information;   receiving, at the monitoring system, data relating to off-line purchasing activity of the user including off-line identification information; and   correlating the off-line purchasing activity of the user to the online activity of the user.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the online activity of the user includes researching a product or a merchant. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the online activity of the user includes viewing advertisements about a product or a merchant. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein receiving the off-line purchasing activity comprises scraping the off-line purchasing activity from an online credit card statement. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the off-line purchasing activity includes a customer ID, a merchant ID, a time of a purchase, data of the purchase, and an amount of the purchase. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the online identification information and the off-line identification information comprise a credit card number or login credentials. 
     
     
         24 . A system comprising:
 a point of sale device to receive off-line transaction data relating to an off-line purchase of a user;   a gateway system communicably coupled to the point of sale device, wherein the gateway is configured to receive the off-line transaction data from the point of sale device;   a monitoring system communicably coupled to the gateway system and configured to receive the off-line transaction data from the gateway and aggregate and identify purchasing patterns from the off-line transaction data;   a web-accessible device associated with the user, the web-accessible device having a scone that includes information about the purchasing patterns from the off-line transaction data.   
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the monitoring system is further configured to determine one or more user-specific advertisements based on the purchasing patterns in the scone. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the point of sale device is further configured to receive a request from the user to deliver an electronic receipt via e-mail, and upon receiving the request, accessing the monitoring system to receive a user-specific advertisement to be embedded within the receipt. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the scone is dropped on the web-accessible device through a web portal. 
     
     
         28 . A machine-readable storage medium containing a set of instructions that when executed in a machine cause the machine to:
 receive off-line transaction data associated with off-line purchases of a user, wherein the off-line transaction data comprises off-line identification information that identifies the user; and   create a scone that includes the off-line transaction data.   
     
     
         29 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 28 , wherein the set of instructions when executed further cause the machine to:
 receive online identification data that identifies the user; and   identify the off-line transaction data associated with the online identification data by comparing the online identification data to the off-line identification data.   
     
     
         30 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 29 , wherein the set of instructions when executed further cause the machine to drop the scone on a web-accessible device associated with the user. 
     
     
         31 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 30 , wherein the set of instructions when executed further cause the machine to:
 access the off-line transaction data within the scone when the user accesses a communication network through a web-portal; and   determine one or more user-specific advertisements to be presented through the web-portal based on the off-line transaction data.