Patent ID: 8706543

Claim:
A computerized method for calculating the effectiveness of a promotion offered by a promotional merchant in retaining customers, the method comprising: receiving at a computer system transaction data from a plurality of point of sale terminals, wherein the transaction data comprises data obtained when performing transactions at the point of sale terminals, wherein the transaction data for each transaction comprises a merchant identifier, a transaction amount, and a customer account identifier, and wherein at least some of the transactions further comprise a promotional identifier that is associated with a promotion that is being offered by the promotional merchant; determining by the computer system a set of transactions comprising transactions that were made using the same account identifiers that were previously used while performing transactions made using the promotional identifier; comparing the merchant identifiers to see if they are the same or different from the merchant identifier of the promotional merchant; generating a data file with the computer system that is used to generate a report showing where customers made subsequent transactions following the transactions involving the promotional identifiers, wherein the report indicates whether the subsequent transactions were made at the promotional merchant or at other merchants; determining with the computer system whether the other merchants are similarly situated to the promotional merchant; wherein the report illustrates a percentage of customers who performed transactions at the promotional merchant and at merchants similarly situated to the promotional merchant following transactions involving the promotional identifiers.