JP2002334229A - Merchandise sales support system and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a seller to easily manage the sales of seasonal and marketable merchandises and to enable a consumer to look through information regarding the marketable merchandises and recognize actually displayed marketable merchandise even without directly visiting a store by a merchandise sales support system. SOLUTION: At the time of inputting ranking information indicating each merchandise in high orders of sales ranking in each merchandise kinds corresponding to the ranking, a sales merchandise decision means decides the merchandise kind to be sold in a store and to what order of the ranking among the merchandise belonging to the merchandise kind to be sold it is to be sold on the basis of at least one of the merchandise characteristics of each merchandise indicted by the ranking information and a store capacity in the store and the ranking. The information indicating the decided merchandise kind and merchandise is outputted in a prescribed format and presented to a demander in relation to the store further.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention belongs to the technical field of a merchandise sales support system for supporting merchandise sales using a computer or the like and a computer program for causing a computer to function as such a system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a system utilizing POS (Point Of Sales) has been known as a system for supporting product sales. For example, in a department store, a supermarket, a convenience store, etc., an information input terminal such as a POS for sales management is installed at a sales floor, and based on information obtained therefrom, when displaying products on a limited display shelf. Optimized.

[0003] On the other hand, consumers or consumers can purchase best-selling products introduced in magazines and advertisements by visiting a large store or a specialty store. Ranking is performed by various research companies using computers to compile public or private sales data at retail stores.

[0004]

However, there is a problem that the sales management using the POS is difficult to apply to so-called seasonal products such as CDs, DVDs, and books for a store-operated seller. Especially the conventional POS
According to, if you try to sell products through ordering, shelf allocation, inventory management, etc., by focusing on ever-changing hot-selling products, shelf space will be insufficient or sold out, There is a problem that sales management becomes extremely difficult.

[0005] On the other hand, it is also difficult for consumers or consumers to obtain information that can list which of these seasonal products are currently selling well. And especially if you want to buy the best-selling products you see in magazines, consumers can't know what products are displayed at each store unless you go directly to the store. There is also a problem that there is no guarantee that the best-selling products desired by the store are displayed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is intended to facilitate sales management of a hot selling product by a seller and to list information on a hot selling product by a consumer. Another object of the present invention is to provide a merchandise sales support system and a computer program that enable the user to know the best selling merchandise actually displayed without going to the store directly.

[0007]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described. In addition, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, reference numerals in the accompanying drawings are added in parentheses, but the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment.

[0008] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a merchandise sales support system of the present invention is a merchandise sales support system for supporting sales in a store that collects and sells products having the highest sales rankings. A ranking information input unit (25) for inputting ranking information indicating each of the products ranked higher in association with the ranking; and a product characteristic of each product indicated by the input ranking information and a store capacity of the store. On the basis of at least one and the ranking indicated by the input ranking information, the type of product to be sold in the store and the number of items in the top ranking among products belonging to the type of product to be sold are determined. Product determination means (12) for determining the product, and the determined product An output unit (23) for outputting information indicating another and a product in a predetermined format; and a sales information disclosure unit (13) for associating the information indicating the determined product type and the product with the store and disclosing the information to the consumer (C). , 25)
And

According to the merchandise sales support system of the present invention,
First, the ranking information input means (25) inputs ranking information on top-selling products from a predetermined information provider (I) regularly or irregularly via e-mail, for example. At this time, a certain condition may be imposed on the product type, for example, excluding cars and real estate, but it is basically arbitrary. Then, the sales product determination means (12)
Thus, at least one of the product characteristics such as the product size, ease of arrival, and the like and the store capacity of the store such as the in-store space and shelf space of each product indicated by the input ranking information, and this input Based on the ranking indicated by the obtained ranking information, it decides which product type to sell and how many items in the ranking to sell. In addition, "store capacity" means the size of the store where products are actually displayed and sold, as well as the capacity of shelves. It is also necessary to display products when a so-called virtual shop is formed on the Internet website. This is a broad concept including storage capacity used for various screen configurations. Thereafter, the information indicating the determined product type and the product is displayed on the screen by an output unit (23) such as a display device or a printer device in a predetermined format such as a shelf layout table suitable for ordering or receiving the product. Output on paper. Therefore, through such output, the seller related to the store can efficiently perform product order management, receipt management, shelf allocation, and the like. Alternatively, the output means may output such information on, for example, a communication line, and thereby, it is possible to automate the ordering of the product. On the other hand, sales information disclosure means (1
According to 3, 25), for example, on a homepage or catalog on the Internet, or on a personal computer or a television screen or on paper, information indicating the determined product type and product is stored in a store that actually sells the information. Is disclosed to the consumer (C). Accordingly, through such disclosure, the consumer can easily and quickly recognize at which store and what is sold as a product with the highest selling ranking.

As described above, as a result of the support according to the present invention, a store is realized which is very efficient and convenient for both sellers and consumers, and which collects and sells products with the highest sales ranking.

In one aspect of the commodity sales support system of the present invention, the output means (23) outputs the predetermined format in a shelf layout table.

According to this aspect, the shelf layout table is output from the output means (23) on a screen or on paper, so that the seller can place the sales ranking in a limited shelf space according to the shelf layout table. Collect and sell top products.

In another aspect of the merchandise sales support system of the present invention, the merchandise characteristics relate to at least one of a size, a weight, a width, and a height of each of the merchandise. This is the capacity of the shelf in each store.

According to this aspect, based on at least one of the size, weight, width, and height of each product and the capacity of the shelf at each store, the sales product determining means (12) determines which product type Decide what to sell and how many to rank higher. Therefore, it is possible to collect and sell products having the highest sales rankings while using the space in the store without excess or shortage. In addition, the seller is freed from troublesome work such as how to actually assign sales products to a certain shelf, thereby enabling efficient store management.

Alternatively, in another aspect of the commodity sales support system of the present invention, each of the stores is a virtual store on the Internet, and the store capacity is a screen display amount on a display device of a personal computer.

[0016] According to this aspect, the sales merchandise deciding means, based on the screen display amount on the display device of the personal computer and the ranking indicated by the inputted ranking information, allows the virtual shop on the Internet to:
It decides which product type is to be sold and how many items are to be sold in the ranking. Therefore, a store that is very efficient and convenient for both sellers and consumers and that collects and sells products with the highest sales rankings is realized as a virtual store on the Internet.

In another aspect of the commodity sales support system according to the present invention, there is further provided an input means (24) for inputting at least one of the commodity characteristic information and the store capacity information.

According to this aspect, the input means (24) such as a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, the product characteristic information indicating the product characteristics such as the size of the product and the easiness of arrival, and the store space such as the store space and the shelf space. At least one of the store capacity information indicating the store capacity in is input. Then, the sales product determination means (12) determines which product type is to be sold based on the product characteristics indicated by the product characteristic information and the store capacity indicated by the store capacity information, and the number of items in the ranking. Can decide.

Alternatively, in another aspect of the commodity sales support system of the present invention, the ranking information input means (25) inputs commodity characteristic information indicating the commodity characteristics together with the ranking information.

According to this aspect, the sales product determination means (1)
According to 2), based on the product characteristics indicated by the product characteristics information input together with the ranking information, it is possible to determine which product type is to be sold and how many items in the ranking are to be sold.

In another aspect of the product sales support system of the present invention, the sales product determination means (12) is configured to reflect a result of a questionnaire to a customer.
The “questionnaire” here may be in the form of asking if there is a plan to purchase specific products, or may be in the form of listing the product type and each product and selecting the one you want to purchase . For example, instead of simply ranking the stores in accordance with the ranking information provided by the information provider, the ranking indicated by the ranking information and the ranking based on the questionnaire results may be combined with appropriate weighting.

With this configuration, it is possible to determine a product for sale according to a unique ranking that more directly reflects the demand of the consumer. In addition, it is possible to determine a sales product based on more recent data.

In another aspect of the commodity sales support system of the present invention, an automatic commodity ordering means () for automatically ordering each commodity to a supplier of the commodity based on the decision of the commodity decision means (12). 14) is further provided.

According to this aspect, it is not necessary for the seller to place an order for a product with a product supplier, and the store management efficiency can be improved.

In this embodiment, a replenishment ordering means (14) for placing an order for replenishment of each of the commodities on the basis of information on the quantity of each of the commodities sold, and each of the commodities ordered for the replenishment And a shelf layout changing means (15) for changing a shelf layout table in the store based on the delivery information.

With this configuration, a new product order is placed in accordance with a product that is actually sold and a product that is not sold, and a new shelf layout is determined based on the delivery information. Therefore, more efficient store management can be realized. Tem.

In the aspect in which the store is a virtual store on the Internet, a product order receiving means (16) for receiving an order for each of the products from the consumer, and the order received by the product order receiving means to a supplier. An order transfer means (16) for transmitting information may be further provided.

According to this structure, the merchandise is directly delivered from the merchandise supplier to the consumer without going through an actual store, so that the efficiency can be further improved.
Further, since the order is automatically transferred, it is possible to enjoy the advantages that errors are less, time is not required, and the cost is lower than in the case of manual operation.

According to another aspect of the commodity sales support system of the present invention, there is further provided an automatic stock management system (55) for automatically managing the stock of goods in the store.

According to this aspect, since no labor is required for inventory management in the store, the efficiency is further improved, and labor costs are not required, which is advantageous in cost. Further, in this case, a configuration may be adopted in which the robot (56) displays products in the store.

In another aspect of the product sales support system of the present invention, the product type is a CD (compact disc),
It includes at least one of DVD, video, game software, book, confectionery, stationery, PDA (Personal Digital Assistance), and mobile phone.

This makes it possible to construct a merchandise sales support system that sells each of the top selling merchandise belonging to the merchandise type.

[0033] The sales merchandise deciding means is configured to take into account fluctuation factors including at least seasonality and regionality. Here, for example, a ranking provided by an information provider is referred to by referring to a database that stores information indicating the correlation between seasonality and locality previously obtained statistically and product types or individual products that are selling best. Appropriate weighting may be combined with the ranking indicated by the information and the sales ranking of the product type or individual product having a high correlation with the current or near future season and the sales. Alternatively, the ranking indicated by the ranking information provided by the information provider may be combined with the sales ranking of an individual product or a product type having a high correlation with the area in which the store is included, with appropriate weighting. .

With such a configuration, it is possible to determine a product to be sold in accordance with a unique ranking in consideration of the demands of consumers in each season and each region.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the computer program of the present invention is provided by using the computer to execute the above-mentioned product sales support system of the present invention (including its various aspects).
Function as

The computer program of the present invention is stored on a CD-ROM.
By loading from a recording medium such as ROM or downloading via the Internet, etc.,
The computer can be caused to function as the above-described product sales support system of the present invention.

The operation and the gain of the present invention will be apparent from the embodiments described below.

[0038]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on embodiments. First, a description will be given of features of a hot-selling product sales support system realized by the present invention from a business aspect.

In the case of so-called commodity sales rankings, which are frequently discussed, there are many examples in which the top-ranked commodity group occupies a majority of the types of commodity sales. For example, as shown in Table 1, the top 10% of CD albums (100 out of 12,573 works) account for 75% of total sales. Similarly, CD singles have become even more concentrated, with the top 3% (100 out of 3020 titles) CD singles accounting for 65% of total sales. This trend is also strong in the field of game software, with sales of the top 10% (100 out of 1120) accounting for 40% of total game software sales. The top 10 brands also make up 65% of total sales. In the field of book sales, which is the source of the word "bestseller," the top 50 titles account for 75%.

[0040]

[Table 1]

Table 2 shows more detailed data of the sales ranking and the sales quantity for book sales. Here, too, it can be seen that the top ranked works represent a large percentage of the total sales.

[0042]

[Table 2]

Table 3 shows the ratio of the sales in the period in which the hit music is ranked in the best ten to the total sales of the player. As can be seen from this, it can be seen that the sales of hit songs that have become so-called million sellers, while being ranked in the top ten, account for more than half of the total sales of the songs.

[0044]

[Table 3]

The inventor of the present application pays attention to these facts, and arrived at the idea of the present application that if only products ranked in the so-called best ten are thoroughly collected and sold, a large amount of sales can be expected within a short period of time. It is a thing. Therefore, one of the technical ideas that permeate the present application is efficiency, and for this purpose, the best-selling merchandise sales support system has been thoroughly automated in product selection, shelf allocation, order placement, inventory management, etc. in order to increase efficiency. ing.

On the other hand, it is attractive to consumers that the best ten products are available. However, in this system, in order to further enhance the value of the system, the products selected for the consumers are required. We actively disseminate information on the best ten information and what products are displayed. Note that, in the hot-selling product sales support system, sales may be performed directly at a store, or sales may be performed at a so-called virtual shop without a store. Further, store sales and virtual shop sales may be performed in parallel.

Hereinafter, how the present invention is realized will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a flow of information in the hot selling product sales support system. Persons involved in the system include a product seller R that operates the system, a product ranking information provider I that provides product ranking information to the product seller R, a consumer C that purchases products through the system, a product A merchandise supplier S that supplies merchandise to the seller R;

As described above, the merchandise seller R may operate a full-selling merchandise sales support system by setting up a store, or by configuring a so-called virtual shop and selling without stores. Further, both may be used in combination. In this system, the minimum requirement of the merchandise seller R is to install a server device 10 configured to be able to exchange information by communication and storing a program group having a predetermined function.

The product ranking information provider I is in a position to provide the product seller R with a sales ranking of products that are likely to be sold through this system. Is a person who has made a predetermined contract for As the qualities of the product ranking information provider I, it is required that the information has objectivity and reliability. It is more desirable that the provided information itself has topicality. Specific examples of such a product ranking information provider I include Keizai Shimbun and TV /
Radio broadcasters, advertising agencies, cable TV stations, movie distributors, hit song information publishers, major portal site operators, major ticket dealers, travel agencies, franchisees such as rental shops and convenience stores, major bookstores, etc. Is raised. In order to enhance the information value provided by the hot selling product sales support system, for example, stock price information, breaking news, sports news, etc. through the product ranking information provider I or from a third party other than the product ranking information provider I Provision of information such as breaking news, hot selling information of products not handled by this system, discount ticket information on movies, theaters and museums, and information on suburban restaurants and bargains, and adding it to the information transmitted by this system It may be.

The merchandise supplier S is a broad concept including a merchandise manufacturer, a merchandise importer, a wholesaler such as a trading company, a warehousing company, and a carrier. In the present system, an order from the merchandise seller R, or It suffices if it has the ability to deliver the product to a predetermined supplier based on the order transfer.

The consumer C may be an individual or a corporation, but an individual consumer can enjoy more advantages of the present system.

The product ranking information provider I and the seller R are in a communicable state via a dedicated line or the Internet. There are a plurality of product ranking information providers I according to the types of products as described above, and each product ranking information provider I has a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) terminal and a modem for communication. Communication control means such as a terminal adapter and a dial-up router are provided. The merchandise seller R can communicate with the merchandise supplier S via a dedicated line or the Internet. A plurality of merchandise suppliers S exist according to the type of merchandise, and each merchandise supplier S is also provided with a communication PC and a communication control means such as a modem, a terminal adapter, and a dial-up router. The merchandise seller R is in a state where it can communicate with the merchandise supplier S also by facsimile.

The product seller R and the consumer C can communicate with each other via the Internet. Each consumer C has a PC that can connect to the Internet in principle.

With the above information infrastructure,
The following information is exchanged in the hot selling product sales support system of the present invention. Product Ranking Information Provider I
At a predetermined interval (for example, a predetermined number of days), the latest information of the sales rankings of the products related to the product seller R
To provide. The merchandise seller R, which has been provided with the latest information on the sales ranking of the merchandise from each merchandise ranking information provider I, uses a merchandise selection program described later at predetermined intervals (for example, the number of days) to determine the type of the merchandise and the type of the merchandise. It decides how many rankings are to be sold and places an order to the supplier S by the automatic product ordering program based on the decision. Alternatively, a consumer willingness to purchase a specific product (for example, a CD) may be directly surveyed via the Internet via the Internet, and the result may be incorporated into a product selection program described later. The product type selected by the product selection program,
And information on how many items are to be sold in the ranking for each type,
Is disclosed. In addition, stock price information, breaking news, sports news breaking news, sales information on products not covered by this system, discounts on movies, theaters, and museums through the product ranking information provider I or from third parties other than the product ranking information provider I When ticket information and information on suburban restaurant information and bargain information are provided, such information may be disclosed at the same time.

In view of such store (non-store) characteristics, availability of ranking information, and features of the method of information exchange by the information infrastructure, desirable physical properties as products sold in the hot selling product sales support system are as follows:
"Hard", "small", "does not rot", "hard to break" and the like. As for the market characteristics, it is desirable that the marketable products have a large change over time, the price is relatively low, and the product has a strong taste. Specific examples of products meeting such conditions include CDs, DVDs,
Rental videos, books, comic magazines, game software, bromide, trading cards, toys, stationery, clocks, snacks, chocolates, PDAs, P
C, a mobile phone and the like, but the present invention is not limited to these.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the server 10 of the merchandise seller R. The server 10 includes a control device 11 mainly composed of a microprocessor. The control device 11 includes a merchandise selection device 12, a merchandise ranking editing device 13, an automatic merchandise ordering device 14, a shelf allocating device 15, and a merchandise order / order transfer device 16, which will be described later. A RAM 21 as a main storage device and a ROM 22 are connected to the control device 11 via a bus 20. R
In the AM 21, an area for temporarily storing various information necessary for executing the system of the present invention is set. Also, R
The OM 22 records an operating system as a program necessary for operation control as a server device and various data necessary for executing the operating system. Server 1
0 includes an output device 23 including, for example, a display and a printer, and an input device 24 including, for example, a keyboard and a mouse.
, A communication control device 25, and a dedicated storage device 30. In the present invention, the communication control device 25 includes, in the present invention, ranking information from the product ranking information provider I, other information such as stock prices and breaking news from third parties, and information on order and purchase willingness from the consumer C via the Internet. And the like, the server 10 is used as a receiving means.
Is controlling communication. Further, the communication control device 25 further provides the consumer C with information on the types of the products selected by the product selection program, and on how many rankings are to be sold for each type, and to the product supplier S. When transmitting information related to ordering / transferring, the communication of the server 10 is controlled as transmission means.

The dedicated storage device 30 stores sales ranking information data 31, 32,... Of each product provided by the product ranking information provider I, shelf capacity data 36 relating to the capacity of the store shelves, Sales performance data 37 indicating the situation, ranking edit data 38 transmitted to the consumer via the Internet, order record data 39 to the product supplier S, order from the consumer C and a record of transferring the order to the product provider Order / order transfer record data 40, data 41 such as general size, weight, and height of each product, data 41a such as size, weight, and height of a specific product actually sold. Also, the consumer purchase motivation survey data 42 which is questioned to the consumer C via the Internet is stored.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between each program and a data file in the present system, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of a macro program for selecting a product. Hereinafter, how a product is selected and displayed on a shelf in a store will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. First, the product selection program 50 is loaded.
(Step S1). Next, the data 31, 32,... Relating to the product ranking information sequentially received from the product ranking information provider I are accumulated for a predetermined period, and are taken into the product selection program 50 (step S2).
Also, the merchandise sales performance data 37 in the store is accumulated for a predetermined period and is taken into the merchandise selection program 50 (step S2). Here, the predetermined period may be, for example, one week or one day. However, the time factor is important because the present system deals with top-selling products, and from such a viewpoint, it is desirable to set the predetermined period within one week. The product selection program 50 further stores shelf capacity data 36 in which information on the shelf capacity in the store is stored, data 41 on the general size, weight, and height of the product, the size and weight of the specific product actually sold. Then, the data 41a such as height, and the consumer purchase motivation survey data 42 obtained by examining the consumer's willingness to purchase via the Internet are taken in (step S2), and a predetermined procedure is performed based on these data. Execution (step S3) selects a product (determines the type of product and how many rankings are to be sold for each type).

In this procedure, data relating to the seasonality and regionality of the product may be taken in together with the above data. Such seasonal data includes, for example, data on gift-related products at Christmas, chocolate on Valentine's Day, and the like. Further, the data relating to the regionality includes, for example, a case where a local song has been released for a CD.

When the product selection program 50 determines the type of product and how many rankings are to be sold for each type (step S3), the result (primary result of product selection) is actually The product is passed to a shelf allocation program 51 for determining how to arrange the products on the shelves of the store (step S5), and the products are allocated (step S6). 51 is determined (step S).
7). If the primary result of the product selection does not match the requirement of the shelf allocation program 51, the data 41 relating to the size of the product is replaced with data 41a such as the size of the actual product (step S8), and the product selection is performed. The primary result is returned to the product selection program 50. In step S7,
If the primary product selection result matches the requirements of the shelf allocation program 51, a flag is added to indicate that the product matches (step S9), and the primary product selection result is returned to the product selection program 50. It is. Then, the product selection program is executed again, and it is determined whether or not a flag is added to the result (step S4). Step S4
If an affirmative determination is made in step, the selection result is sent to the product ranking editing program 53 and the automatic ordering program 52, and the processing by each program is performed (step S10). If a negative determination is made in step S4, the program returns to the shelf allocation program 51 and the shelf allocation processing of the product is repeated.

The automatic ordering program 52 having received the product selection result sorts the product selection result data for each supplier S of the product, and then executes a product order by mail or facsimile. On the other hand, the product ranking editing program 53 receiving the product selection result edits the result so as to constitute the result as image data on the Internet web. Further, the data is edited into a format suitable for viewing by the consumer C, converted into an HTML file, and uploaded on the Internet web.

The data on which the shelving process has been performed is also sent to the automatic inventory management program of the PC installed in the store (step S10), and the robot 56 installed in the store
In cooperation with the above, the merchandise is arranged at a predetermined position for each shelf in the store. A POS 57 is provided in the store, and the data is transmitted to the server 10 one by one and stored as the sales result data 37 described above.

In this system, the consumer C may be configured to be able to shop at an actual store and to purchase the same product as the store at a virtual shop on the Internet. In that case, the order from the consumer C is automatically transferred to the supplier S of the product by the product order / order transfer program 54 stored in the control device. The order / transfer record is recorded as order / transfer record data 40.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the display of the product ranking edit data edited by the product ranking editing program and disclosed to the consumer C via the Internet web site. To get more information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of the display of the product ranking edit data. Here, the ranking information from the ranking information provider I is compared with results actually sold at stores operated by this system.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the presently most practical and preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed herein. The invention is not limited thereto, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist or idea of the invention which can be read from the claims and the entire specification. It must be understood as being included in the technical scope.

[0068]

As described above, according to the merchandise sales support system of the present invention, a seller can efficiently perform merchandise order management, stock management, shelf allocation, and the like. You can sell efficiently at stores where you sell.
If automatic product ordering means and replenishment ordering means are provided, product ordering can be automated. On the other hand, consumers
It is possible to easily and quickly recognize which store and what is sold as a product with the highest selling ranking. In addition, since the seller can directly transmit information on top-selling merchandise in the store to the consumer, it is possible to further promote sales by appealing to the psychology of the consumer who is out of fashion. Further, by transmitting the information, a new social topic can be provided, so that the value of the present system can be further enhanced.

According to the computer program of the present invention, the above-mentioned merchandise sales support system of the present invention can be realized relatively easily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a flow of information in a hot selling product sales support system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a seller server according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between each program and a data file in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a macro program for selecting a product in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of display of product ranking edit data.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of display of product ranking edit data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 C Consumer I Commodity ranking information provider R Commodity seller S Commodity supplier 10 Server 12 Commodity selection device 13 Commodity ranking editing device 14 Commodity automatic ordering device 15 Shelving device 16 Commodity order / order transfer device 23 Output device 24 Input device 25 Communication control device 55 Automatic inventory management program 56 Robot

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A merchandise sales support system for supporting sales in a store that collects and sells products having the highest sales rankings, wherein each of the products having the highest sales ranking in each product type is associated with the ranking. Ranking information input means for inputting information; and based on at least one of a product characteristic of each of the products indicated by the input ranking information and a store capacity in the store and the ranking indicated by the input ranking information. Selling product determining means for determining the product type to be sold in the store and the highest ranking product among the products belonging to the product type to be sold; and the determined product type and product Output means for outputting information indicating a predetermined format, A sales information disclosing means for associating the information indicating the product type and the product with the store with the store and disclosing the information to consumers. 2. The merchandise sales support system according to claim 1, wherein said output means outputs the predetermined format as a shelf layout table. 3. The product characteristics include a size of each of the products,
The merchandise sales support system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the merchandise capacity relates to at least one of a weight, a width, and a height, and the store capacity is a capacity of a shelf in each of the stores. 4. The merchandise sales support according to claim 1, wherein the store is a virtual store on the Internet, and the store capacity is a screen display amount on a display device of a personal computer. system. 5. The merchandise sales support system according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit for inputting at least one of the merchandise characteristic information and the store capacity information. . 6. The merchandise sales support system according to claim 1, wherein the ranking information input unit inputs merchandise characteristic information indicating the merchandise characteristics together with the ranking information. . 7. The merchandise sales support system according to claim 1, wherein the sales merchandise deciding means is configured to reflect a result of a questionnaire to a consumer. . 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an automatic merchandise ordering means for automatically ordering each of said merchandise to a supplier of said merchandise based on the decision by said merchandise deciding means. Product sales support system described. 9. A replenishment ordering means for performing an order for replenishment of each product based on information on the quantity of each product sold, and a delivery order information of each product ordered for replenishment. 9. The merchandise sales support system according to claim 8, further comprising a shelf layout changing means for changing a shelf layout table in the store. 10. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a product order receiving means for receiving an order for each of said products from said consumer, and an order transfer means for transmitting said order received by said product order receiving means to a supplier. Item 4. A product sales support system according to item 4. 11. The merchandise sales support system according to claim 1, further comprising an automatic stock management system for automatically managing the stock of merchandise in said store. 12. The product type includes at least one of a CD (compact disc), DVD, video, game software, book, confectionery, stationery, PDA (personal digital assistance), and mobile phone. The merchandise sales support system according to any one of claims 1 to 11. 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sales product determination unit is configured to take into account at least a variation factor including seasonality and regionality. Product sales support system. 14. A computer program that causes a computer to function as the merchandise sales support system according to any one of claims 1 to 13.