Authors:
Brian Taylor, Kirk Goldman, Manda Miller, Ted Clark, Kristen Chung, Bella Sunthornpong, Sam Champagne
Abstract:
A method for issuing a ‘Rain Check’ or extended promotional pricing to an individual when items are out of stock. This method uses a distributed ledger to create a smart contract for a certain item, at a certain price, and a certain time and links it to customer loyalty account and POS to ensure the correct person accurately redeems price.
Background:
Currently, ‘Rain Check’ pricing is manually issued to shoppers by writing down the price on a piece of paper. The current solution is hard to prevent abuse because there is no tracking mechanism to ensure multiple rain checks are not requested or if items are still in stock. Therefore, bad actors can exploit the system to get better pricing multiple times or against the rules of the ‘Rain Check’. The current art shows use of blockchain for loyalty or coupons but does not currently cover one-off ‘rain check’ price reductions due to out of stocks.
Description:
- Customer wants to buy sale item that is out of stock
- Customer uses POS or SCO to request a ‘Rain Check’
- POS confirms price, inventory, and customer account
- Creation of smart contract that includes terms of items to be purchased, date of rain check expiration, customer allowed to purchase items
- Retailers and manufacturers can see ‘Rain Check’ volume and terms
- Customer uses loyalty wallet to execute smart contract and get item when in stock
Claims:
- Reduction of fraud in rain check redemption
- Better planning of inventory based on rain check activity
Supporting Art:
Blockchain
TGCS Reference 4139
