METHOD OF AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRONIC COUPONS OVER A NETWORK PRIOR TO THE CONSUMMATION OF A PURCHASE TRANSACTION BASED ON A CLIENT'S PURCHASING HISTORY

摘要

A system for distributing electronic coupons over a communications network according to the invention includes an e-tail server system having a compute r processor and associated memory and including items for sale, a promotional server system having a computer processor and associated memory, the promotional server system including a database of promotional data that defi ne electronic coupons and a client system having a computer processor and associated memory, the client system being selectively coupleable to the e- tail server system over the communications network. The client system establishes a primary connection to the e-tail server system to conduct a primary purchase transaction in which the client system purchases an item fr om the e-tail server system (402). The e-tail server system is adapted for transmitting a cookie to the client system, the cookie including information about the item purchased in the primary purchase transaction (406). The clie nt system establishes a subsequent connection to the e-tail server system over the network (408). During the subsequent connection, the e-tail server syste m reads the cookie from the client system (412) and server system transmits th e cookie information to the promotional server system and the promotional serv er system transmits an electronic coupon to the client system (416), the client coupon being redeemable for an item that is related to the purchased item.