Patent ID: 7356486

Claim:
A method for an independent system operator to administer a trade promotion for a product involving a manufacturer and a retailer having at least one store with an in-store POS system, said method comprising the steps of the independent system operator: before a start of the trade promotion by the retailer, capturing terms of the trade promotion at least including promoted product identification and at least one of (a) a predetermined payment value the manufacturer will owe the retailer for each promoted product sold by the retailer during the trade promotion, and (b) a predetermined payment value the manufacturer will owe the retailer for conducting the trade promotion; before the start of the trade promotion by the retailer, storing the captured terms of the trade promotion in an independent system operator database and enabling the retailer and the manufacturer to access said terms of the trade promotion stored in the independent system operator database to independently verify said terms of the trade promotion; after the start of the trade promotion by the retailer, collecting from the retailer product POS data from at least one in-store POS system of the retailer; filtering the product POS data using the promoted product identification stored in the independent system operator database to obtain promoted product POS data; processing the promoted product POS data in accordance with at least one of the stored (a) predetermined payment value the manufacturer will owe the retailer for each promoted product sold by the retailer during the trade promotion, and the stored (b) predetermined payment value the manufacturer will owe the retailer for conducting the trade promotion in the independent system operator database to determine an amount of money the manufacturer owes to the retailer for the trade promotion; and facilitating the manufacturer's payment of the amount of money owed to the retailer for the trade promotion.