Methods and systems are provided for activating and redeeming product discount offers targeted to particular customers. Information related to a merchant loyalty program such as t-logs, customer loyalty information, redemption history, customer segmentation data, and merchant product taxonomies are regularly transmitted to an incentive management system for storage. Merchants can then generate pools of offers and submit them to the incentive management system, which analyzes the characteristics of the offers and uses the information related to the merchant loyalty program to target the offers to specific customers most likely to redeem such offers.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of obtaining item data relating to purchases made by a customer during a retail transaction. The method comprises obtaining a digitized image of a retailer issued receipt, the receipt identifying purchases in a textual format, processing the digitized image to obtain computer readable data of information represented on the retailer issued receipt, determining, from the obtained computer readable data, item data relating to purchases identified on the receipt, obtaining a customer identifier identifying the customer's participation in a loyalty program system, and forwarding the obtained item data to a distribution system for onward distribution to the identified loyalty program system.

The invention relates generally to retail transactions and, more particularly, to retail transaction systems and methods employing consumer preferences applicable to the transaction for goods and services. The customer profile may comprise customer preferences with regard to at least one method of payment. Based on the customer profile and/or other preference or transaction criteria, a preferred method of payment may be determined for a specific transaction. The provided methods, systems and processes may be used merely to identify a customer or in combination with transaction payment (e.g., payment for goods, services, or other financial transaction). The methods, systems and processes may also be used in combination with a loyalty program with a specific merchant or an association of merchants participating in a combined customer loyalty program.

Systems and methods encourage customer loyalty by providing an enhanced rewards program. A customer with an account with an account provider may receive a reward (e.g., cash back) for activity with respect to the account. To encourage loyalty, the customer may be asked whether they wish to save the reward, and the saved reward may be enhanced based at least in part on subsequent activity with respect to the account (e.g., maintaining the account in good standing for a predetermined time). The customer may be awarded the enhanced reward once the conditions of the subsequent activity have been satisfied. In one example embodiment, a customer may receive cash back as a reward for a purchase. As an incentive to remain with the financial institution, the customer may decline to redeem the cash back, and the cash back amount may increase by a multiple after a predetermined time.

A customer loyalty programme operated by an operator for purchases from within a group of merchants by customers is disclosed. An association is established between a customer and a participating merchant upon the participating merchant issuing a membership card to the customer. With the membership card, the customer is issued with credit points whenever purchases are made with any other participating merchant. The points earned are added up and may be used to offset the cost of any purchase made with the card-issuing merchant or any other participating merchant. Whenever the membership card is used, the card-issuing merchant is entitled to a reward dependent on the price of the purchase made. A method and system for operating the loyalty programme are also disclosed.