Sales enhancement system

Abstract

A sales enhancement system and method is disclosed. The sales enhancement system is configured to use one or more deal program collections, which are groupings or compilations of deal programs. The sales enhancement system manages deal programs in the deal program collections at various stages of use including: associating a deal program with multiple deal program collections; determining the number of deals to assign to the different deal programs; using triggers to select which deal program collections to access; transmitting an offer for a deal; and processing acceptances of the offers.

1 .- 27 . (canceled) 
     
     
         28 . A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable program code instructions that, when executed by a computing apparatus, cause the computing apparatus to:
 receive, via input at a consumer device, a request for an offer;   determine, by a relevance system, a particular trigger event from a plurality of trigger events, wherein reception of any of the plurality of trigger events causes examination of both a first deal program collection and a second deal program collection to determine from which of the first deal program collection and the second deal program collection the offer will be selected,   wherein at least a first trigger event of the plurality of trigger events is associated with a selection of the first deal program collection and at least a second trigger event of the plurality of trigger events is associated with a selection of the second deal program collection;   select, based on the determination of the first trigger event or the second trigger event, a particular offer from the selected deal program collection to offer;   generate an impression of the particular offer, the impression identifying a predetermined period in which to purchase the particular offer;   access a relational database, the relational database storing each of a plurality of impressions related to offers available in each deal program collection, to determine a predetermined period for use of the particular offer;   dynamically change, by the sales enhancement system, the predetermined period for use of the particular offer; and   transmit, from the sales enhancement system, the impression of the particular offer, to consumer device, in response to the request, via electronic communication, for display, the impression comprising an indication of the particular offer and the dynamically changed predetermined period for use.   
     
     
         29 . The computer program product of  claim 28 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions that, when executed by a computing apparatus, cause the computing apparatus to:
 receive a deal program, the deal program having deal attributes;   separate the deal program into a first deal program and a second deal program;   associate the first deal program with the first deal program collection, where the first deal program comprises the deal attributes and a first period for offering deals; and   associate the second deal program with the second deal program collection, wherein the second deal program comprises the deal attributes and a second period for offering deals, wherein the second period is different from the first period.   
     
     
         30 . The computer program product of  claim 29 ,
 wherein the deal program includes a plurality of deal units; and   wherein separating the deal program into the first deal program and the second deal program comprises separating the plurality of deal units into a first set of deal units and a second set of deal units, a sum of the first set of deal units and the second set of deal units being equal to the plurality of deal units.   
     
     
         31 . The computer program product of  claim 28 , wherein the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is dynamically changed based on real-time information. 
     
     
         32 . The computer program product of  claim 28 , wherein the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is dynamically changed based on historical information. 
     
     
         33 . The computer program product of  claim 28 , wherein the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is dynamically changed based on real-time information and historical information. 
     
     
         34 . The computer program product of  claim 31 , wherein the real-time information upon which the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is based includes a real-time location of the consumer device. 
     
     
         35 . An apparatus, 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, via input at a consumer device, a request for an offer;   determine, by a relevance system, a particular trigger event from a plurality of trigger events, wherein reception of any of the plurality of trigger events causes examination of both a first deal program collection and a second deal program collection to determine from which of the first deal program collection and the second deal program collection the offer will be selected,   wherein at least a first trigger event of the plurality of trigger events is associated with a selection of the first deal program collection and at least a second trigger event of the plurality of trigger events is associated with a selection of the second deal program collection;   select, based on the determination of the first trigger event or the second trigger event, a particular offer from the selected deal program collection to offer;   generate an impression of the particular offer, the impression identifying a predetermined period in which to purchase the particular offer;   accessing a relational database, the relational database storing each of a plurality of impressions related to offers available in each deal program collection, to determine a predetermined period for use of the particular offer;   dynamically changing, by the sales enhancement system, the predetermined period for use of the particular offer; and   transmitting, from the sales enhancement system, the impression of the particular offer, to consumer device, in response to the request, via electronic communication, for display, the impression comprising an indication of the particular offer and the dynamically changed predetermined period for use.   
     
     
         36 . The apparatus of  claim 35 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 receive a deal program, the deal program having deal attributes;   separate the deal program into a first deal program and a second deal program;   associate the first deal program with the first deal program collection, where the first deal program comprises the deal attributes and a first period for offering deals; and   associate the second deal program with the second deal program collection, wherein the second deal program comprises the deal attributes and a second period for offering deals, wherein the second period is different from the first period.   
     
     
         37 . The apparatus of  claim 36 , wherein the deal program includes a plurality of deal units; and
 wherein separating the deal program into the first deal program and the second deal program comprises separating the plurality of deal units into a first set of deal units and a second set of deal units, a sum of the first set of deal units and the second set of deal units being equal to the plurality of deal units.   
     
     
         38 . The apparatus of  claim 35 , wherein the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is dynamically changed based on real-time information. 
     
     
         39 . The apparatus of  claim 35 , wherein the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is dynamically changed based on historical information. 
     
     
         40 . The apparatus of  claim 35 , wherein the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is dynamically changed based on real-time information and historical information. 
     
     
         41 . The apparatus of  claim 38 , wherein the real-time information upon which the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is based includes a real-time location of the consumer device. 
     
     
         42 . A method, the method comprising:
 receiving, via input at a consumer device, a request for an offer;   determining, by a relevance system, a particular trigger event from a plurality of trigger events, wherein reception of any of the plurality of trigger events causes examination of both a first deal program collection and a second deal program collection to determine from which of the first deal program collection and the second deal program collection the offer will be selected,   wherein at least a first trigger event of the plurality of trigger events is associated with a selection of the first deal program collection and at least a second trigger event of the plurality of trigger events is associated with a selection of the second deal program collection;   selecting, based on the determination of the first trigger event or the second trigger event, a particular offer from the selected deal program collection to offer;   generating an impression of the particular offer, the impression identifying a predetermined period in which to purchase the particular offer;   accessing a relational database, the relational database storing each of a plurality of impressions related to offers available in each deal program collection, to determine a predetermined period for use of the particular offer;   dynamically changing, by the sales enhancement system, the predetermined period for use of the particular offer; and   transmitting, from the sales enhancement system, the impression of the particular offer, to consumer device, in response to the request, via electronic communication, for display, the impression comprising an indication of the particular offer and the dynamically changed predetermined period for use.   
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 42 , further comprising:
 receiving a deal program, the deal program having deal attributes;   separating the deal program into a first deal program and a second deal program;   associating the first deal program with the first deal program collection, where the first deal program comprises the deal attributes and a first period for offering deals; and   associating the second deal program with the second deal program collection, wherein the second deal program comprises the deal attributes and a second period for offering deals, wherein the second period is different from the first period.   
     
     
         44 . the method of  claim 43 , wherein the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is dynamically changed based on real-time information. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is dynamically changed based on historical information. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is dynamically changed based on real-time information and historical information. 
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein the real-time information upon which the predetermined period for use of the particular offer is based includes a real-time location of the consumer device.