FIELD OF INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for conducting a transaction.

BACKGROUND

Many consumers are using the internet to purchase their products because of the relative ease of making online transactions. This has led to significant increase in the number of online merchants and online transactions. In most cases, products purchased online are delivered to the consumer by a courier service.

Many consumers use payment cards to pay for their online transactions. I Iowever, there may be a lack of trust between consumers and merchants. One factor for the lack of trust is the issue of cybersecurity for online transactions. Theft of payment card information by hackers as well as the integrity of the merchant's website are common cybersecurity issues. Therefore, many consumers are reluctant to use their payment cards for such online transactions and instead prefer to pay in cash at the time of delivery. In addition, some consumers may not have payment cards and these consumers are not able to make purchases from online merchants that do not offer a cash-on-delivery option and require payment at the time of ordering.

Furthermore, many consumers do not wish to pay the merchants for online purchases until the consumers are satisfied with the delivered products. This is because the delivered products may not be identical to the products that they had bought online (e.g. wrong colour, wrong size etc. ). The delivered products may also be defective (e.g. manufacturing defects or damage during deliv ery ). By paying upfront for the purchased products, consumers face a tedious process to exchange their delivered products or to obtain a refund when such problems arise.

A need therefore exists to provide a method and system for conducting a transaction that seeks to address at least some of the above problems.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect, there is provided a method for conducting a transaction, comprising: receiving, at a courier module, a delivery order relating to a delivery of a product to a recipient by a courier service; and generating, by the courier module, a card-on-file mobile payment instruction for transmission to a payment module to complete the transaction based on: (i) a delivery status corresponding to an outcome of the delivery of the product to the recipient; and (ii) a payment status correspondin to an outcome of a cash payment for the product by the recipient to the courier service.

In an embodiment, the method may further comprise: (i) receiving, at a transaction module that is in communication with the courier module, a purchase request for the product; and (ii) generating, at the transaction module, the delivery order based on the purchase request.

In an embodiment, the card-on-file mobile payment instruction may comprise a price of the product and a merchant associated with the product.

In an embodiment, the purchase request may comprise one or more of: a description of the product, the price of the product, the merchant associated with the product and a cash-on-delivery payment option.

In an embodiment, the delivery status may comprise confirmation, by the recipient, of a successful or unsuccessful delivery of the product to the recipient.

In an embodiment, the payment status may comprise confirmation, by the courier service, of a successful or unsuccessful cash payment o f the product by the recipient.

In an embodiment, the card-on-file mobile payment instruction to complete the transaction may be transmitted to the payment module on a condition that: (i) the delivery status comprises confirmation of the successful delivery of the product to the recipient; and (ii) the payment status comprises confirmation of the successful cash payment of the product by the recipient.

In an embodiment, an instruction to cancel the transaction may be transmitted to the payment module on a condition that: (i) the delivery status comprises confirmation of the unsuccessful delivery of the product to the recipient: or (ii) the payment status comprises confirmation of the unsuccessful cash payment of the product by the recipient.

In an embodiment, completing the transaction may comprise generating, by the payment module, an instruction to settle the transaction based on the price of the product.

In an embodiment, the method may further comprise: (i) generating a unique tracking identifier associated with the deli very of the product to the recipient; and (ii) transmitting, to a merchant module in communication with the courier module, a confirmation message on a condition that: (i) the delivery status comprises confirmation of a successful delivery of the product to the recipient; and (ii) the payment status comprises confirmation of a successful cash payment of the product by the recipient, wherein the confirmation message comprises the unique tracking identi fier.

According to a second aspect, there is provided a system for conducting a transaction, comprising a courier module, the courier module comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to. with at least one processor, cause the courier module at least to: receive a delivery order relating to a delivery of a product to a recipient by a courier service; and generate a card-on- file mobile payment instruction for transmission to a payment module to complete the transaction based on: (i) a delivery status corresponding to an outcome of the delivery of the product to the recipient; and (ii) a payment status corresponding to an outcome of a cash payment for the product by the recipient to the courier service.

In embodiments, the system may further comprise a transaction module that is in communication with the courier module, wherein the transaction module is configured to: (i) receive a purchase request for a product; and (ii) generate the delivery order based on the purchase request.

In embodiments, the payment module may be configured to generate an instruction to settle the transaction based on the price of the product .

In embodiments, the transaction module may be further configured to generate a unique tracking identifier associated with the delivery of the product to the recipient, and wherein the courier module is further caused to transmit a confirmation message to a merchant module in communication with the courier module on a condition thai: (i) the delivery status comprises confirmation of a successful delivery of the product to the recipient; and (ii) the payment status comprises confirmation of a successful cash pay ment of the product by the recipient, wherein the confirmation message comprises the unique tracking identi fier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be better understood and readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following written description, by way of example only, and in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a flow chart illustrating a method for conducting a transaction according to an example embodiment.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the flow of information in a system for conducting a transaction, according to an example embodiment.

Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of a computer device / system suitable for realizing a courier module, according to an example embodiment.

Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the flow of information between various entities during a method for conducting a transaction, according to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some portions of the description which follows are explicitly or implicitly presented in terms of algorithms and functional or symbolic representations of operations on data within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and functional or symbolic representations are the means used by those skilled i the data processing arts to convey most effectively the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities, such as electrical, magnetic or optical signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, and as apparent from the following, it will be appreciated that throughout the present specification, discussions utilizing terms such as "scanning", "calculating", "determining", "replacing", "generating", "initializing", "outputting", "identifying", "authorizing", "verifying" or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical quantities within the computer system into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system or other information storage, transmission or display devices.

The present specification also discloses apparatus for performing the operations of the methods. Such apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or may comprise a computer or other device selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various machines may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein. Alternatively, the construction of more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps may be appropriate. The structure of a computer will appear from the description below.

In addition, the present specification also implicitly discloses a computer program, in that it would be apparent to the person skilled in the art that the individual steps of the method described herein may be put into effect by computer code. The computer program is not intended to be limited to any particular programming language and implementation thereof. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages and coding thereof may be used to implement the teachings of the disclosure contained herein. Moreover, the computer program is not intended to be limited to any particular control flow. There are many other variants of the computer program, which can use different control flows without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure.

Furthermore, one or more of the steps of the computer program may be performed in parallel rather than sequentially. Such a computer program may be stored on any computer readable medium. The computer readable medium may include storage devices such as magnetic or optical disks, memory chips, or other storage devices suitable for interfacing with a computer. The computer readable medium may also include a hard-wired medium such as exempli lied in the Internet system, or wireless medium such as exemplified in the GSM mobile telephone

system. The computer program when loaded and executed on such a computer effectively results in an apparatus that implements the steps of the preferred method.

Figure 1 shows a flow chart 100 illustrating a method for conducting a transaction according to an example embodiment. At step 102, a courier module receives a delivery order relating to a delivery of a product to a recipient by a courier service. At step 104. the courier module generates a card-on-file mobile payment instruction for transmission to a payment module to complete the transaction based on: (i) a delivery status corresponding to an outcome of the delivery of the product to the recipient, and (ii) a payment status corresponding to an outcome o a cash payment for the product by the recipient to the courier service. The card-on-file mobile payment instruction is associated with a mobile digital wallet application that is installed on the courier module for making card-on-file payment transactions. At the time of delivery, the recipient pays for the delivered product in cash to the courier service, similar to a traditional "cash-on-delivery" transaction.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the flow of information in a system 200 for conducting a transaction, according to an example embodiment. The system 200 comprises a courier module 202, a payment module 204, a transaction module 206 and a merchant module 208. The courier module 202 is in communication with the payment module 204. the transaction module 206 and the merchant module 208. The courier module 202 may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code is configured to, with at least one processor, cause the courier module 202 at least to: receive a delivery order relating to a delivery of a product to a recipient by a courier service; and generate a card-on-file mobile payment instruction for transmission to the payment module 204 to complete the transaction based on: (i) a delivery status corresponding to an outcome of the delivery of the product to the recipient; and (ii) a payment status corresponding to an outcome of a cash payment for the product by the recipient to the courier service.

CLAIMS

1 . A method for conducting a transaction, comprising:

receiving, at a courier module, a delivery order relating to a delivery of a product to a recipient by a courier service; and

generating, by the courier module, a card-on- ile mobile payment instruction for transmission to a payment module to complete the transaction based on:

(i) a delivery status corresponding to an outcome of the delivery of the product to the recipient; and

(ii) a payment status corresponding to an outcome of a cash payment for the product by the recipient to the courier service.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , the method further comprising:

(i) receiving, at a transaction module that is in communication with the courier module, a purchase request for the product: and

(ii) generating, at the transaction module, the delivery order based on the purchase request.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the card-on-file mobile payment instruction comprises a price of the product and a merchant associated with the product.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the purchase request comprises one or more of:

a description of the product, the price of the product, the merchant associated with the product and a cash-on-delivery payment option.

5. The method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the delivery status comprises confirmation, by the recipient, of a successful or unsuccessful delivery of the product to the recipient.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the payment status comprises confirmation, by the courier service, of a successful or unsuccessful cash payment of the product by the recipient.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the card-on-file mobile payment instruction to complete the transaction is transmitted to the payment module on a condition that:

(i) the deli ery status comprises confirmation of the successful delivery of the product to the recipient; and

(ii) the payment status comprises confirmation of the successful cash payment of the product by the recipient.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein an instruction to cancel the transaction is transmitted to the payment module on a condition that:

(i) the delivery status comprises confirmation of the unsuccessful delivery of the product to the recipient: or

(ii) the payment status comprises confirmation of the unsuccessful cash payment of the product by the recipient.

9. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein completing the transaction comprises generating, by the payment module, an instruction to settle the transaction based on the price of the product.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , the method further comprising:

(i) generating a unique tracking identifier associated with the delivery of the product to the recipient: and

(ii) transmitting, to a merchant module in communication with the courier module, a confirmation message on a condition that:

(i) the delivery status comprises confirmation of a successful delivery of the product to the recipient; and

(ii) the payment status comprises confirmation of a successful cash payment of the product by the recipient.

wherein the confirmation message comprises the unique tracking identifier.

1 1 . A system for conducting a transaction, comprising a courier module, the courier module comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with at least one processor, cause the courier module at least to:

receive a deli very order relating to a delivery of a product to a recipient by a courier service: and

generate a eard-on-file mobile payment instruction for transmission to a payment module to complete the transaction based on:

(i) a delivery status corresponding to an outcome of the delivery of the product to the recipient: and

(ii) a payment status corresponding to an outcome of a payment for the product by the recipient to the courier service.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, further comprising a transaction module that is in communication with the courier module, wherein the transaction module is configured to:

(i) receive a purchase request for a product; and

(ii) generate the delivery order based on the purchase request.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the card-on-file mobile payment instruction comprises a price of the product and a merchant associated with the product.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the purchase request comprises one or more of:

a description of the product, the price ol the product, the merchant associated with the product and a cash-on-delivery payment option.

15. The system as claimed in any one of claims 1 1 to 14, wherein the delivery status comprises confirmation, by the recipient, of a successful or unsuccessful delivery of the product to the recipient.

16. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the payment status comprises confirmation, by the courier serv ice, of a successful or unsuccessful cash payment of the product by the recipient.

17. The system as claimed in claim 16. wherein the eard-on-file mobile payment instruction to complete the transaction is transmitted to the payment module on a condition that:

(i) the delivery status comprises confirmation of the successful delivery of the product to the recipient; and

(ii) the payment status comprises confirmation of the successful cash payment of the product by the recipient.

18. The system as claimed in claim 17, wherein an instruction to cancel the transaction is transmitted to the payment module on a condition that:

(i) the delivery status comprises confirmation of the unsuccessful delivery of the product to the recipient; or

(ii) the payment status comprises confirmation of the unsuccessful cash payment of the product by the recipient.

19. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the payment module is configured to generate an instruction to settle the transaction based on 1 price of the product.

20. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the transaction module is further configured to generate a unique tracking identi ier associated with the delivery of the product to the recipient, and wherein the courier module is further caused to transmit a continuation message to a merchant module in communication with the courier module on a condition that:

(i) the delivery status comprises confirmation of a successful delivery of the product to the recipient; and

(ii) the payment status comprises confirmation of a successful cash payment of the product by the recipient, wherein the confirmation message comprises the unique tracking identifier.