Promotion offering system

Abstract

In a promotion offering system, a consumer is more likely to purchase a promotion offering if the consumer finds the promotion to be interesting or fits a need of the consumer. In order to provide a more intelligent selection process for selecting promotions that are desirable to the consumer, a method and a promotion offering system for implementing the method are provided that takes into consideration a number of different factors associated with a consumer, including locations and deal types that are known or predicted to be of interest to the consumer, when determining one or more promotions to present to the consumer.

1 - 76 . (canceled) 
     
     
         77 . An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
 receive, from a consumer device, a promotions search query comprising a search term and an identifying consumer attribute;   retrieve, from a consumer profiles repository based on at least the identifying consumer attribute, consumer profile data representing a consumer;   retrieve, from a promotion inventory repository based on at least the search term, a set of promotions;   generate, based on at least the set of promotions, an electronic correspondence comprising a plurality of positions arranged such that at least one position is viewable upon opening of the electronic correspondence and at least one or more other positions require scrolling down the electronic correspondence to view,   the generation of the electronic correspondence comprising:
 position each promotion of the set of promotions in accordance with a distance from at least one location from which the consumer device accesses a promotion system, including positioning a first promotion having a shortest distance from the at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system in the at least one first position, and a second promotion having a greater distance from at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system in the at least one or more other positions; and 
   transmit, to the consumer via at least an interactive display of the consumer device, the electronic correspondence configured as a real-time webpage content presentation.   
     
     
         78 . The apparatus of  claim 77 , wherein the at least one memory storing the instructions that, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to:
 store, to a consumer profiles repository, the consumer profile data comprising one or more consumer attributes of a name, age, location, gender, email domain, internet protocol address, occupation, educational background, or consumer behavior data.   
     
     
         79 . The apparatus of  claim 77 , wherein the at least one memory storing the instructions that, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to:
 store, to a promotion inventory repository, promotion data comprising one or more promotion attributes of a merchant identifier, promotion location, promotion amount or price range, promotion category, promotion sub-category, promotion discount, promotion discount price range, likely promotion purchase time, promotion time or promotion time period, or redemption time.   
     
     
         80 . The apparatus of  claim 77 , wherein the promotions search query is selected by the consumer via a consumer interface associated with the consumer device. 
     
     
         81 . The apparatus of  claim 77 , wherein the at least one memory storing the instructions that, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to:
 identify, based on consumer behavior data stored in the consumer profiles repository, a particular location from where the consumer is accessing the promotion system consistently within a recognizable time period.   
     
     
         82 . The apparatus of  claim 81 , wherein the at least one memory storing the instructions that, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to:
 modify the consumer profile data to include the particular location as the at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system.   
     
     
         83 . The apparatus of  claim 79 , wherein the at least one memory storing the instructions that, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to:
 select an initial set of promotions based on the promotion data stored in the promotion inventory repository and the received consumer profile data representing the consumer;   determine a distance between a promotion location and the at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system;   select, by the processor, a subset of the initial set of promotions, each of the subset of the initial set of promotions having an associated promotion location within a predetermined distance of the at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system.   
     
     
         84 . The apparatus of  claim 79 , wherein the promotion data further comprises one or more deal types associated with a promotion, and wherein the consumer profile data further comprises one or more deal types associated with the consumer. 
     
     
         85 . The apparatus of  claim 81 , wherein the consumer behavior data comprises previously accepted and rejected promotion offerings. 
     
     
         86 . A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions configured, when executed by at least one processor, to cause the at least one processor to:
 receive, from a consumer device, a promotions search query comprising a search term and an identifying consumer attribute;   retrieve, from a consumer profiles repository based on at least the identifying consumer attribute, consumer profile data representing a consumer;   retrieve, from a promotion inventory repository based on at least the search term, a set of promotions;   generate, based on at least the set of promotions, an electronic correspondence comprising a plurality of positions arranged such that at least one position is viewable upon opening of the electronic correspondence and at least one or more other positions require scrolling down the electronic correspondence to view,   the generation of the electronic correspondence comprising:
 position each promotion of the set of promotions in accordance with a distance from at least one location from which the consumer device accesses a promotion system, including positioning a first promotion having a shortest distance from the at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system in the at least one first position, and a second promotion having a greater distance from at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system in the at least one or more other positions; and 
   transmit, to the consumer via at least an interactive display of the consumer device, the electronic correspondence configured as a real-time webpage content presentation.   
     
     
         87 . The computer program product of  claim 86 , wherein the computer readable instructions are further configured, when executed by the at least one processor, to cause the at least one processor to:
 store, to a consumer profiles repository, the consumer profile data comprising one or more consumer attributes of a name, age, location, gender, email domain, internet protocol address, occupation, educational background, or consumer behavior data.   
     
     
         88 . The computer program product of  claim 86 , wherein the computer readable instructions are further configured, when executed by the at least one processor, to cause the at least one processor to:
 store, to a promotion inventory repository, promotion data comprising one or more promotion attributes of a merchant identifier, promotion location, promotion amount or price range, promotion category, promotion sub-category, promotion discount, promotion discount price range, likely promotion purchase time, promotion time or promotion time period, or redemption time.   
     
     
         89 . The computer program product of  claim 86 , wherein the promotions search query is selected by the consumer via a consumer interface associated with the consumer device. 
     
     
         90 . The computer program product of  claim 86 , wherein the computer readable instructions are further configured, when executed by the at least one processor, to cause the at least one processor to:
 identify, based on consumer behavior data stored in the consumer profiles repository, a particular location from where the consumer is accessing the promotion system consistently within a recognizable time period.   
     
     
         91 . The computer program product of  claim 90 , wherein the computer readable instructions are further configured, when executed by the at least one processor, to cause the at least one processor to:
 modify the consumer profile data to include the particular location as the at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system.   
     
     
         92 . The computer program product of  claim 88 , wherein the computer readable instructions are further configured, when executed by the at least one processor, to cause the at least one processor to:
 select an initial set of promotions based on the promotion data stored in the promotion inventory repository and the received consumer profile data representing the consumer;   determine a distance between a promotion location and the at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system;   select, by the processor, a subset of the initial set of promotions, each of the subset of the initial set of promotions having an associated promotion location within a predetermined distance of the at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system.   
     
     
         93 . The computer program product of  claim 88 , wherein the promotion data further comprises one or more deal types associated with a promotion, and wherein the consumer profile data further comprises one or more deal types associated with the consumer. 
     
     
         94 . The computer program product of  claim 90 , wherein the consumer behavior data comprises previously accepted and rejected promotion offerings. 
     
     
         95 . A computer implemented method, comprising:
 receiving, from a consumer device, a promotions search query comprising a search term and an identifying consumer attribute;   retrieving, from a consumer profiles repository based on at least the identifying consumer attribute, consumer profile data representing a consumer;   retrieving, from a promotion inventory repository based on at least the search term, a set of promotions;   generating, based on at least the set of promotions, an electronic correspondence comprising a plurality of positions arranged such that at least one position is viewable upon opening of the electronic correspondence and at least one or more other positions require scrolling down the electronic correspondence to view,   the generation of the electronic correspondence comprising:
 positioning each promotion of the set of promotions in accordance with a distance from at least one location from which the consumer device accesses a promotion system, including positioning a first promotion having a shortest distance from the at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system in the at least one first position, and a second promotion having a greater distance from at least one location from which the consumer device accesses the promotion system in the at least one or more other positions; and 
   transmitting, to the consumer via at least an interactive display of the consumer device, the electronic correspondence configured as a real-time webpage content presentation.   
     
     
         96 . The computer implemented method of  claim 95 , further comprising:
 storing, to a consumer profiles repository, the consumer profile data comprising one or more consumer attributes of a name, age, location, gender, email domain, internet protocol address, occupation, educational background, or consumer behavior data; and   storing, to a promotion inventory repository, promotion data comprising one or more promotion attributes of a merchant identifier, promotion location, promotion amount or price range, promotion category, promotion sub-category, promotion discount, promotion discount price range, likely promotion purchase time, promotion time or promotion time period, or redemption time.