Serialized coupons allow merchandisers to create large numbers of coupons with usage limits and randomly generated coupon codes in order to closely target and monitor coupon use.

The merchandiser creates a CouponBatch repository item that stores all of the information for the batch of serialized coupons, and uses the batch to generate the desired number of coupon codes. The merchandiser supplies a prefix for the entire batch, and the remainder of the code is randomly generated, as shown in the following examples.

Coupon Code

Prefix

Coupon Number

Validation Characters

HOL1HV5432

HOL

1HV5

432

SHIP6LKC4GC

SHIP

6LKC

4GC

CouponBatch Repository Item

The CouponBatch item descriptor holds all of the information related to generating and validating a set of serialized coupon codes, including the promotions to use for the coupon. The CouponBatch item descriptor implements the following properties, which are used to generate and validate coupon codes:

Property

Definition

Datatype

Required

prefix

String of characters that appears at the start of every coupon code generated by the BatchCoupon.

String

Y

numberOfCoupons

Indicates how many coupon codes to generate for a batch.

Int

Y

seedValue

A binary array that is used to create a static seed for creating the coupon codes. This value is set when a BatchCoupon is created, and stored to allow the codes to be validated or regenerated.

Binary

N

percentClaimed
(derived)

The percentage of coupon batches that have been claimed.

This derivation queries for all BatchPromotionClaimable items where the couponBatch property is equal to the given couponBatch. Note that this shows the percentage of unique coupon codes that have been claimed at least once; it is not affected by the uses property.

Float

N/A

numberClaimed
(derived)

The number of coupons that have been claimed at least once.

Int

N/A

Two related repository items are the BatchPromotionClaimable and the PromotionClaimable item. A BatchPromotionClaimable claimable item type is created when a coupon is claimed from a coupon batch. The item descriptor extends the PromotionClaimable item descriptor and adds an additional couponBatch property. The couponBatch property is a reference to the CouponBatch that created the BatchPromotionClaimable.

The uses and maxUses properties of the PromotionClaimable item descriptor are used to set usage limits for any PromotionClaimable item. The maxUses property is configurable; the uses property increments when a customer tries to claim a coupon. If uses is greater than maxUses, the coupon has no more remaining uses and cannot be claimed anymore. If maxUses is -1, then the coupon can be claimed an unlimited number of times.

How Batch Coupon Codes Are Generated

In order to generate coupon codes for a coupon batch, the generateCouponBatchCodes method in the CouponBatchTools class checks to see if the seedValue is populated for the batch. The seedValue is typically set when the CouponBatch item is created; if it has not been set, a new random array of bytes is generated (via SecureRandomService) and saved as the batch’s seedValue. This seedValue is used to ensure that each CouponBatch has a different set of validation codes; storing it ensures that the codes can be regenerated or validated at a later time.

The generateCouponBatchCodes() method uses the seedValue as a seed to a random number generator to obtain an array of random bytes, which are then parsed into an encoded base-32 number. The length of the encoded character segment is determined by the couponBatchTools component’s couponBatchNumberLength property. The encoded characters form the coupon number, which is the first portion of the coupon code. This process ensures that the coupon numbers are non-sequential. Duplicates are discarded.

Next, the generateCouponBatchValidationSeed() method generates a second seed specific to the coupon number. The new seed value is used to generate an additional array of bytes encoded in base-32, which is used as the validation characters. The number of characters in the resulting code depends on the CouponBatchTools component’s configured couponBatchValidationLength value.

The complete coupon code consists of the prefix + coupon number + verification code, and is stored in the generateCouponBatchCodes() method’s HashMap.

Note that you can adjust the length of the coupon code (which is supplied by the merchandiser when the coupon batch is created), and that this affects the length of the other sections, the number of coupons that can be generated, and the odds of a user guessing a code. The number of coupons that can be generated for a batch is 32^n, where n is the number of characters used in the coupon number. In practice, the number of coupons generated per batch will be less than the maximum.

A user has a 1/(32^n) chance of brute force guessing the validation characters correctly, where n is the length of the validation code. For example if there are 3 validation characters then the user has a 1/32,786 chance of guessing the proper set of validation characters for a given code if they use a proper prefix and correct coupon code length.

How Serialized Coupons Are Claimed

Just as it does for ordinary coupons, the ClaimableManager handles the claiming process for coupon codes from a BatchCoupon. If a coupon item is not found for the given code, the ClaimableManager checks the CouponBatch item descriptors to see if any batches match the coupon prefix. If a match is found, the remaining parts of the coupon code are decoded and validated. If the coupon code is valid, the coupon is active, no claimable item yet exists for the coupon (for coupons that can be used multiple times), and the coupon is valid for the current site, then a BatchPromotionClaimable item is created and granted to the user.

Note that if the coupon can be used multiple times, the claimable item is created on the first use; on subsequent uses, the existing coupon is found and no item is created.

The BatchPromotionClaimable uses the passed coupon code, including the prefix, as the ID. The startDate, endDate, promotions, and displayName properties are copied over from the CouponBatch to the new BatchPromotionClaimable item. The BatchPromotionClaimable item’s uses property is set to the CouponBatch item’s uses value minus 1 (the first claim is also counted),, and the couponBatch property on the claimable item is set to the CouponBatch ID.

The claimCoupon() method checks the uses property to determine if the coupon can still be claimed If the uses property equals 0 then an exception is thrown. Otherwise the coupon is claimed and if uses does not equal -1 the uses property is decremented.

CouponBatchTools

The CouponBatchTools class handles the lower-level logic in manipulating CouponBatch objects, such as generating the different parts of the coupon codes.

You can configure the following properties to change the characters allowed in coupon codes and how many coupons can be generated for a single batch:

Property Name

Type

Default Value

Description

couponBatchNumberLength

int

4

Determines the number of characters used as a unique identifier for the coupon number.

couponBatchValidationLength

int

3

Determines the number of characters used as validation for the passed in coupon code.

encodedCharacters

array

Character set of 0-9, &, *, A-Z excluding A,E, I, L, O and U

The set of characters that will appear in generated coupon codes. Must contain exactly 32 unique values. Default characters are 0-9, and A-Z excluding a, e, i, o, and u.

maxBatchRatio

double

0.96

Restricts the number of coupons that can be generated for a batch to a ratio of the total possible unique codes that can be generated for a batch.

0.96 was chosen as a default because it allows for slightly more than 1 million coupons given the default couponBatchNumberLength.

The following additional properties refer to other components and configure the random number generator used by the CouponBatchTools.

Property Name

Default Value

Purpose

secureRandomService

/atg/dynamo/service/random/
SecureRandom

Component used to generate random numbers

secureRandomConfiguration

/atg/dynamo/service/random/
SecureRandomConfiguration

Contains configuration information for using SecureRandom

transactionManager

/atg/dynamo/transaction/
TransactionManager

Used to begin and end the transactions necessary for obtaining the # of claimed coupons or finding a coupon batch based on prefix.


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