Abstract: A virtual reality (VR) system includes a network, a VR server coupled to the network and a plurality of computing devices coupled to the network and the VR server. Each computing device includes a display assembly configured to render VR spaces and objects. The VR server is configured to render a virtual palette containing a plurality of VR assets and a VR retail display unit. The VR assets and the VR unit are dimensionally accurate representations of real objects so that the user is configured to fill the space on the VR unit with a limited quantity of VR assets. The user operates the computing device to select one or more VR assets to place on the VR unit. Location and position data associated with the VR assets merchandised on the VR unit are exported into a data file for use in reproducing real word merchandising of a unit.

Abstract: Distinct names of merchant entities in a transaction processing database are automatically corrected to standard names of entities by identifying non-standard features from the distinct names that do not uniquely identify the standard names of entities, and processing each distinct name with a selected regular expression tailored to remove the non-standard features and convent the names to a standard name format. Fuzzy matching is used to identify standard names of entities corresponding to the standard name formats.