PROMOTION INFRASTRUCTURE HAVING DISPENSING CONTROLS
An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity.
1 . A method involving Internet based advertising, the method comprising:
receiving first promotion data, the first promotion data including first web page link data, a first price reduction offer, and a first limitation;
receiving second promotion data, the second promotion data including second web page link data, a second price reduction offer, and a second limitation;
storing the first promotion data and the second promotion data in a promotion database;
providing an interface through which content stored in the promotion database can be managed;
responding to a request by evaluating at least the first limitation and the second limitation; and
delivering a selected one of the first promotion data and the second promotion data based at least in part on the evaluation, the delivery to support a visual presentation to a first user of a first user device.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising accounting for services rendered relating to the first promotion data.
3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising billing based on the accounting.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first limitation and the second limitation each comprise a dispensing limit.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first limitation and the second limitation each comprise a geographical limitation.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first limitation and the second limitation each comprise a time limitation.
7 . The method of claim 1 , comprising modifying a database to account for the delivery of the selected one of the first promotion data and the second promotion data.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the modification involves a count adjustment.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the count adjustment is used for billing purposes.
10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the first limitation is a dispensing limit and the count adjustment relates to the dispensing limit.
11 . The method of claim 1 , comprising receiving and storing user data relating to the first user device, and wherein the selected one of the first promotion data and the second promotion data is related to the user data.
12 . A method involving Internet based advertising, the method comprising:
receiving both first promotion data and second promotion data, the first promotion data having first web page link data, a first price reduction offer, a first code, and a first limitation, and the second promotion data having second web page link data, a second price reduction offer, a second code, and a second limitation;
causing storage of the first promotion data and the second promotion data;
evaluating at least the first limitation and, based on the evaluation, withholding the first promotion data; and
evaluating at least the second limitation and, based on the evaluation, retrieving at least a portion of the second promotion data; and
delivering, to a user device, the at least the portion of the second promotion data to support a visual presentation on the user device.