Secure customer relationship marketing system and method

1. A method for identifying a household based on a tender identification, the method being implemented by a central computer having one or more physical processors programmed by computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, cause the central computer to perform the method, the method comprising:

receiving, by the central computer, from a retail location, an encrypted tender identification that when decrypted identifies a payment account to be debited in relation to a purchase transaction at the retail location;

identifying, by the central computer, a household identifier based on the encrypted tender identification, wherein the household identifier identifies a household or a member of the household that is associated with the identified payment account, and wherein the household identifier is associated with historical purchase transaction data that is associated with members of the household;

causing, by the central computer, the household identifier to be communicated to the retail location,

wherein, when a pre-existing household identifier does not exist for the identified payment account associated with the household or the member of the household, then generating by the central computer the household identifier,

wherein the household identifier is unique to the household or the member of the household that is associated with the identified payment account, is stored in a data structure comprising the household identifier, and is configured for linking to multiple payment account identifiers that are associated with the members of the household; and

communicating, based on a determination that a promotion is associated with the household identifier, the promotion to a device associated with another one of the members of the household other than the member of the household.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the encrypted tender identification comprises receiving the encrypted tender identification from a point of sale computer of the retail location.

3. The method of claim 2 , the method further comprising:

identifying, by the central computer, the promotion; and

communicating, by the central computer, the promotion to the point of sale computer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the household identifier based on the encrypted tender identification comprises:

decrypting, by the central computer, the encrypted tender identification;

determining, by the central computer, the tender identification based on the decrypting; and

obtaining, by the central computer, a stored association between the tender identification and the household identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the household identifier based on the encrypted tender identification comprises:

obtaining, by the central computer, a stored association between the encrypted tender identification and the household identifier.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the central computer, from the retail location, purchase transaction information;

identifying, by the central computer, the promotion based on the purchase transaction information; and

causing, by the central computer, the promotion to be communicated.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the purchase transaction information comprises an identification of a product being purchased.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining, by the central computer, a prior purchase transaction associated with the household identifier;

identifying, by the central computer, the promotion based on the prior purchase transaction; and

causing, by the central computer, the promotion to be communicated.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the prior purchase transaction comprises an identification of a product that was purchased.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the central computer, purchase transaction information;

obtaining, by the central computer, a prior purchase transaction associated with the household identifier;

identifying, by the central computer, the promotion based on the purchase transaction and the purchase transaction information; and

causing, by the central computer, the promotion to be communicated.

11. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

identifying, by the central computer, a promotion based on the household identifier; and

causing, by the central computer, the promotion to be communicated.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

associating, by the central computer, a payload comprising the promotion with the household identifier; and

causing, by the central computer, the association to be stored in a database, wherein identifying the promotion based on the household identifier comprises:

querying the database to determine the payload associated with the household identifier.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the central computer, a frequent shopper identification; and

associating, by the central computer, the frequent shopper identification with the tender identification or the household identifier.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the promotion comprises a coupon.

15. A method for providing promotions to a household, the method being implemented by a point of sale computer having one or more processing units programmed by computer program instructions that, when executed by one or more physical processors, cause the point of sale computer to perform the method, the method comprising:

receiving, by the point of sale computer, a tender identification that identifies a payment account;

encrypting, by the point of sale computer, the tender identification;

communicating, by the point of sale computer, the encrypted tender identification to a central computer;

receiving, by the point of sale computer, a household identifier from the central computer that determined the household identifier based on the identified payment account, wherein the household identifier identifies a household or a member of the household that is associated with the identified payment account, and wherein the household identifier is associated with historical purchase transaction data that is associated with members of the household;

obtaining, by the point of sale computer, a promotion based on the household identifier,

wherein the household identifier is generated when a pre-existing household identifier does not exist for the identified payment account, and

wherein the household identifier is unique to the household or the member of the household that is associated with the identified payment account, is stored in a data structure comprising the household identifier, and is configured for linking to multiple payment account identifiers that are associated with the members of the household; and

communicating, by the point of sale computer, a record to the central computer, wherein the record comprises the promotion, which is configured for subsequent communication by the central computer to a device associated with another one of the members of the household other than the member of the household.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

communicating, by the point of sale computer, the promotion.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein communicating the promotion comprises:

printing, by the point of sale computer, the promotion on a purchase transaction receipt.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein communicating the promotion comprises:

causing, by the point of sale computer, the promotion to be communicated via email, telephone, postal mail, social networks, real simple syndication feeds, or fuel station terminals.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein communicating the promotion comprises:

causing, by the point of sale computer, the promotion wirelessly direct to a mobile device within proximity of the point of sale computer.

20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

associating, by the point of sale computer, a payload comprising the promotion with the household identifier; and

causing, by the point of sale computer, the association to be stored in a database, wherein obtaining the promotion based on the household identifier comprises:

querying, by the point of sale computer, the database to determine the payload associated with the household identifier.

21. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

communicating, by the point of sale computer, the household identifier to a computer remote from the point of sale computer,

wherein obtaining the promotion comprises:

receiving, by the point of sale computer, the promotion from the computer remote from the point of sale computer.

22. The method of claim 20 , wherein associating the payload comprising the promotion with the household identifier is based on purchase transaction information comprising an identification of a product being purchased.

23. The method of claim 20 , wherein associating the payload comprising the promotion with the household identifier is based on purchase transaction information comprising an identification of a product that was previously purchased in association with the household identifier.

24. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

receiving, by the point of sale computer, a frequent shopper identification; and

associating, by the point of sale computer, the frequent shopper identification with the tender identification or the household identifier.

25. The method of claim 15 , wherein receiving the tender identification, encrypting the tender identification, communicating the encrypted tender identification and receiving the household identifier occur during a single purchase transaction.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein obtaining the promotion occurs during or following the single purchase transaction.

27. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

communicating, by the point of sale computer, the household identifier to a computer remote from the point of sale computer;

wherein obtaining the promotion comprises receiving, by the point of sale computer, the promotion from the remote computer that determined the promotion based on the household identifier.

28. The method of claim 27 ,

further comprising one of (i) receiving, by the point of sale computer, a de-identified version of the tender identification from the central computer, or (ii) generating, by the point of sale computer, the de-identified version of the tender identification based on the received tender identification;

wherein obtaining the promotion comprises obtaining, by the point of sale computer, the promotion from the remote computer that determined the promotion based further on the de-identified version of the tender identification.

29. The method of claim 28 ,

further comprising receiving, by the point of sale computer, purchase transaction information comprising an identification of a product being purchased;

wherein obtaining the promotion comprises obtaining, by the point of sale computer, the promotion from the remote computer that determined the promotion based further on the purchase transaction information.

30. The method of claim 27 , wherein obtaining the promotion comprises obtaining, by the point of sale computer, the promotion from the remote computer that determined the promotion based further on a purchase history associated with the household identifier.

31. The method of claim 15 ,

wherein receiving the tender identification, encrypting the tender identification, communicating the encrypted tender identification and receiving the household identifier occur during a single purchase transaction, and

wherein the method further comprises:

storing, by the point of sale computer in a memory, the received tender identification; and

erasing, by the point of sale computer, the stored tender identification from the memory in response to one of receiving the household identifier from the central computer, an end of the purchase transaction and receiving an authorization to receive credit associated with the tender identification for a product being purchased in the purchase transaction.

32. A point of sale system, comprising:

a reader for reading tender identifications;

a processing unit; and

a memory having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to:

receive from the reader a tender identification that identifies a payment account, to encrypt the received tender identification;

communicate the encrypted tender identification to a central computer that determines a household identifier based on the identified payment account, wherein the household identifier identifies a household or a member of the household that is associated with the identified payment account, and wherein the household identifier is associated with historical purchase transaction data that is associated with members of the household;

receive the determined household identifier from the central computer;

obtain a promotion based on the received household identifier,

wherein the household identifier is generated when a pre-existing household identifier does not exist for the identified payment account, and

wherein the household identifier is unique to the household or the member of the household that is associated with the identified payment account, is stored in a data structure comprising the household identifier, and is configured for linking to multiple payment account identifiers that are associated with the members of the household; and

communicate a record to the central computer, wherein the record comprises the promotion, which is configured for subsequent communication by the central computer to a device associated with another one of the members of the household other than the member of the household.

33. The point of sale system of claim 32 ,

further comprising a printer,

wherein the instructions stored in the memory further include instructions which, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to control the printer to print the promotion.

34. The point of sale system of claim 32 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory further include instructions which, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to communicate the household identification to a computer remote from the point of sale system, and to obtain the promotion from the remote computer that determined the promotion based on the household identifier.

35. The point of sale system of claim 34 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory further include instructions which, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to perform one of: (i) receive from the central computer a de-identified version of the tender identification or (ii) generate the de-identified version of the tender identification from the tender identification received from the reader, to communicate the de-identified version of the tender identification to the remote computer, and to obtain the promotion from the remote computer that determined the promotion based further on the de-identified version of the tender identification.

36. The point of sale system of claim 35 ,

further comprising a scanner for scanning an identification of a product being purchased as part of a purchase transaction;

wherein the instructions stored in the memory further include instructions which, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to communicate the identification of the product to the remote computer, and to obtain the promotion from the remote computer that determined the promotion based further on the identification of the product.

37. The method of claim 11 , the method further comprising:

causing, by the central computer, the promotion to be communicated to a remote computer separate from a point of sale computer, wherein the remote computer and the point of sale computer are associated with the retail location.

38. A system for providing promotions to a household, the system comprising:

a central computer comprising one or more physical processors programmed by computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, cause the central computer to:

receive, from a retail location, an encrypted tender identification that when decrypted identifies a payment account to be debited in relation to a purchase transaction at the retail location;

identify a household identifier based on the encrypted tender identification, wherein the household identifier identifies a household or a member of the household that is associated with the identified payment account, and wherein the household identifier is associated with historical purchase transaction data that is associated with members of the household;

cause the promotion to be communicated to the retail location,

wherein, when a pre-existing household identifier does not exist for the identified payment account associated with the household or the member of the household, then generating the household identifier, and

wherein the household identifier is unique to the household or the member of the household that is associated with the identified payment account, is stored in a data structure comprising the household identifier, and is configured for linking to multiple payment account identifiers that are associated with the members of the household; and

communicate, based on a determination that the promotion is associated with the household identifier, the promotion to a device associated with another one of the members of the household other than the member of the household.

39. The system of claim 38 , wherein the encrypted tender identification is received from a point of sale computer of the retail location, and wherein central computer is further programmed to communicate the household identifier to the point of sale computer.

40. The system of claim 38 , wherein the central computer is further programmed to:

identify a promotion based on the household identifier; and

communicate the promotion and the household identifier to a remote computer separate from a point of sale computer, wherein the remote computer and the point of sale computer are associated with the retail location.

41. The system of claim 38 , wherein to identify the household identifier based on the encrypted tender identification, the central computer is further programmed to:

obtain an association between the encrypted tender identification and the household identifier.

42. The method of claim 11 , wherein causing the promotion to be communicated comprises:

causing, by the central computer, the promotion to be communicated via email, telephone, postal mail, social networks, real simple syndication feeds, or fuel station terminals.

43. The method of claim 15 , the method further comprising:

receiving, by the point of sale computer, item identification information that identifies an item being purchased during a transaction; and

causing, by the point of sale computer, the item identification information to be stored in association with the household identifier, wherein the association of the item identification information with the household identifier is used to target a promotion for a consumer that presents the tender identification for payment of the transaction without storing the tender identification.

44. The method of claim 15 , wherein the promotion is targeted for a consumer based on a presentation of the tender identification for payment of a transaction, without storing the tender identification.