Method, apparatus, and computer program product for scheduling appointments with deal offers

Abstract

Provided herein are systems, methods and computer readable media for scheduling services and other types of appointments in conjunction with purchasing and/or redeeming deal offers. Merchants may customize a scheduling system to provide scheduling capabilities and deal redemption capabilities to consumers interested in scheduling appointments. A consumer may use the scheduling system to select dates and times, merchant locations, and/or staff members, among other things, when scheduling appointments, and provide deal and/or other payment related information to the merchant. Merchants may use the scheduling system and consumer date received therefrom to track resources across numerous locations, keep apprised of their staffs' availability, receive/generate analytics data related to the affect deals have on their business, and gain a better understanding of their customers. The scheduling system may be integrated into the merchant's website and/or linked to deals offered by a third party promotional system.

That which is claimed: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for modifying a scheduling database to reflect scheduling data received via a network from a plurality of merchant devices and consumer devices, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 receive from a merchant device, a user input indicative of a maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled at a merchant in a given period relative to a total number of appointments in the given period, wherein the deal-redeeming appointments are appointments in which a consumer obtains a service at the deal-redeeming appointment at a reduced cost in comparison to a non-discounted appointment;   maintain on the scheduling database, the scheduling data received from the merchant devices and the consumer devices;   receive a request from a consumer device to schedule a deal-redeeming appointment at the merchant;   in response to the request from the consumer device, access from the scheduling database, first availability data associated with the merchant for a particular time period;   determine that scheduling a deal-redeeming appointment during the particular time period would result in exceeding the maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled during the particular time period;   generate second availability data representing only a subset of the first availability data, such that scheduling a deal-redeeming appointment according to the second availability data would not result in exceeding the maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled during the particular time period; and   further in response to the request from the consumer device, provide via a user interface, the second availability data representing only a subset of the first availability data.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 receive from the merchant device, scheduling data comprising days and times available for appointments, and a time interval on which a consumer can schedule an appointment for the service, wherein the first availability data is derived from the scheduling data.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 receive from the merchant device, updated scheduling data reflecting appointments scheduled as non-discounted appointments, wherein the second availability data is generated based on the updated scheduling data.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 receive from the consumer device, scheduling data indicative of scheduling of a deal-redeeming appointment;   transmit the scheduling data indicative of scheduling of a deal-redeeming appointment to the merchant device; and   update the first availability data and the second availability data.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the second availability data excludes appointment times for which a deal-redeeming appointment cannot be scheduled, according to the maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 reduce the second availability data by excluding at least one of a day of the week or time of the week for which a deal-redeeming appointment can be scheduled.   
     
     
         7 . A computer-implemented method for modifying a scheduling database to reflect scheduling data received via a network from a plurality of merchant devices and consumer devices, the computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving from a merchant device, a user input indicative of a maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled at a merchant in a given period relative to a total number of appointments in the given period, wherein the deal-redeeming appointments are appointments in which a consumer obtains a service at the deal-redeeming appointment at a reduced cost in comparison to a non-discounted appointment;   maintaining on the scheduling database, the scheduling data received from the merchant devices and the consumer devices;   receiving a request from a consumer device to schedule a deal-redeeming appointment at the merchant;   in response to the request from the consumer device, accessing from the scheduling database, first availability data associated with the merchant for a particular time period;   determining that scheduling a deal-redeeming appointment during the particular time period would result in exceeding the maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled during the particular time period;   generating second availability data representing only a subset of the first availability data, such that scheduling a deal-redeeming appointment according to the second availability data would not result in exceeding the maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled during the particular time period; and   further in response to the request from the consumer device, providing via a user interface, the second availability data representing only a subset of the first availability data.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 7 , further comprising:
 receiving from the merchant device, scheduling data comprising days and times available for appointments, and a time interval on which a consumer can schedule an appointment for the service, wherein the first availability data is derived from the scheduling data.   
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 8 , further comprising:
 receiving from the merchant device, updated scheduling data reflecting appointments scheduled as non-discounted appointments, wherein the second availability data is generated based on the updated scheduling data.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 7 , further comprising:
 receiving from the consumer device, scheduling data indicative of scheduling of a deal-redeeming appointment;   transmitting the scheduling data indicative of scheduling of a deal-redeeming appointment to the merchant device; and   updating the first availability data and the second availability data.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 7 , wherein the second availability data excludes appointment times for which a deal-redeeming appointment cannot be scheduled, according to the maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 7 , further comprising:
 reducing the second availability data by excluding at least one of a day of the week or time of the week for which a deal-redeeming appointment can be scheduled.   
     
     
         13 . A computer program product for modifying a scheduling database to reflect scheduling data received via a network from a plurality of merchant devices and consumer devices, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions to:
 receive from a merchant device, a user input indicative of a maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled at a merchant in a given period relative to a total number of appointments in the given period, wherein the deal-redeeming appointments are appointments in which a consumer obtains a service at the deal-redeeming appointment at a reduced cost in comparison to a non-discounted appointment;   maintain on the scheduling database, the scheduling data received from the merchant devices and the consumer devices;   receive a request from a consumer device to schedule a deal-redeeming appointment at the merchant;   in response to the request from the consumer device, access from the scheduling database, first availability data associated with the merchant for a particular time period;   determine that scheduling a deal-redeeming appointment during the particular time period would result in exceeding the maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled during the particular time period;   generate second availability data representing only a subset of the first availability data, such that scheduling a deal-redeeming appointment according to the second availability data would not result in exceeding the maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled during the particular time period; and   further in response to the request from the consumer device, provide via a user interface, the second availability data representing only a subset of the first availability data.   
     
     
         14 . The computer program product according to  claim 13 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions to:
 receive from the merchant device, scheduling data comprising days and times available for appointments, and a time interval on which a consumer can schedule an appointment for the service, wherein the first availability data is derived from the scheduling data.   
     
     
         15 . The computer program product according to  claim 14 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions to:
 receive from the merchant device, updated scheduling data reflecting appointments scheduled as non-discounted appointments, wherein the second availability data is generated based on the updated scheduling data.   
     
     
         16 . The computer program product according to  claim 13 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions to:
 receive from the consumer device, scheduling data indicative of scheduling of a deal-redeeming appointment;   transmit the scheduling data indicative of scheduling of a deal-redeeming appointment to the merchant device; and   update the first availability data and the second availability data.   
     
     
         17 . The computer program product according to  claim 13 , wherein the second availability data excludes appointment times for which a deal-redeeming appointment cannot be scheduled, according to the maximum percentage of deal-redeeming appointments allowed to be scheduled. 
     
     
         18 . The computer program product according to  claim 13 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions to:
 reduce the second availability data by excluding at least one of a day of the week or time of the week for which a deal-redeeming appointment can be scheduled.