JP2003242297A - Dispenser system and sales analysis method using the system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To collect information through dispensers by keeping an eye on consumers who purchase commodities and realize a novel sales analysis based on the information thus obtained. <P>SOLUTION: A dispenser 100 and an information control server 830 performs a sales analysis by using a dispenser system having a configuration connected through a network. The dispenser 100 transmits, after accepting data carrier presented by users 200 and extracting user information, sales information including at least the user information and information on the names of sold commodities, sold dates, or sold places to the information control server 830. The information control server 830 classifies the sales information for each user in the information control part 840, and prepares commodity purchase history information for each user. An information analysis part 833 performs a sales analysis based on the commodity purchase history information for each user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine system for selling products through an automatic vending machine based on monetary value information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Techniques for collecting information from the market and using it for sales analysis have been actively studied. However, most of them are intended to grasp the sales quantity, the stock quantity, etc. for each product, as represented by a POS system (point-of-sale information management). In such a technology, information is collected and used from the viewpoint of a company that provides products, and it is difficult to conduct a sales analysis with a spot on the side of consumers who purchase products.

On the other hand, in recent years, a method of using an electronic money card storing electronic money instead of cash is being studied in a product sales system using an automatic vending machine.
In this method, a predetermined amount of electronic money is pre-filled in its own electronic money card, and when the product is purchased using the vending machine, the card is presented to the vending machine for payment. (Patent Document 1). In this way, in the sales method using electronic money, the vending machine inevitably has a process of acquiring the user information, so the relationship between the vending machine and the user becomes closer than ever before. .

Against this background, a technique has been studied in which an automatic vending machine is regarded as a terminal on a network and an advertisement is distributed to users (Patent Document 2). However, the technology of using the vending machine as a means of collecting sales information has not yet been sufficiently examined, and in particular, the vending machine is used as a means of collecting information that places a spot on the side of consumers who purchase products. There were few studies on the technology to do so.

[0005]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-92702

[0006]

[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-307189

[0007]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]
With the growth of one business, the sense of distance between the customer and the front end is shrinking. As a result, the importance of the customer evaluation method increases, and it is required to improve the accuracy of the basic information necessary for the customer evaluation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and focuses on the consumer side who purchases products, collects information through an automatic vending machine, and based on the obtained information, a novel and unprecedented novelty. The purpose is to realize sales analysis.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic vending machine system having a structure in which an automatic vending machine and an information management server are connected via a network, wherein the automatic vending machine is operated by a user. It accepts the presented data carrier, sells the product in response to the user's request, and includes at least the name of the sold product, the date and time of sale or the place of sale, and the user information extracted from the data carrier. The sales information is transmitted to the information management server, and the information management server accumulates the sales information, classifies the accumulated user information for each user, and creates product purchase history information for each user. A vending machine system is provided.

In this vending machine system, the information management server may be configured to perform sales analysis based on the user-by-user product purchase history information.

In this vending machine system,
The sales information may be configured to include information regarding the advertising content presented to the user by the vending machine when the product is sold.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, there is provided an automatic vending machine system having a structure in which an automatic vending machine and an information management server are connected via a network, wherein the automatic vending machine receives a product purchase request from a user. A purchase request acceptance means for accepting, a user information reading means for reading user information from the presented data carrier, a product dispensing means for dispensing the product, information on the name of the sold product, the sale date and time or the place of sale, and Transmission means for transmitting sales information including at least user information extracted from a data carrier to an information management server, the information management server; sales information storage means for storing the sales information; and the sales information storage. A purchase history creating means for classifying the sales information stored in the means for each user and creating product-by-user product purchase history information. Vending machine system characterized by obtaining, it is provided.

In this vending machine system, the information management server may further include a sales analysis means for performing a sales analysis based on the user-by-user product purchase history information.

In this vending machine system,
The sales information may be configured to include information regarding the advertising content presented to the user by the vending machine when the product is sold.

According to the present invention, the user information associated with the sales information is stored in the information management server, and the product purchase history information for each user is created from the stored information, which is useful for sales analysis. Information can be obtained.

In this vending machine system, the sales analysis means can analyze the influence of the presented advertisement content on the purchasing activity based on the sales information. The analysis may be performed for each user, or may be performed for each group by dividing the users into groups according to customer groups, sex, preferences, and the like.

According to the present invention, it is possible to select the optimum advertising content for the user based on the analysis result of the advertising effect for each user. That is, it is possible to create a one-to-one marketing form with the vending machine as the front end.

In this vending machine system, the information management server may further include a related information collecting means for acquiring related information used for the sales analysis via a network different from the network. Can perform the sales analysis based on the user-by-user product purchase history information and the related information.

According to the present invention, this system enables multi-faceted analysis based on the user's product purchase history and related information such as user's tastes and the basis necessary for customer evaluation. The accuracy of information can be improved.

In this vending machine system, the vending machine includes a detecting means for detecting the remaining number of products, and a display processing section for selectively displaying the advertising content to be presented according to the remaining number. Further provisions can be made.

According to the present invention, when a product is out of stock,
It is possible to prevent the advertisement of the product from being displayed, and it is possible to promote the sale of the product that is not out of stock.

In this vending machine system, the information management server may further include a presentation condition creating means for creating a presentation condition for the advertising content in accordance with a result of the sales analysis.

According to the present invention, it is possible to display an advertisement according to a customer segment using each vending machine.

In this vending machine system, the display processing unit may include a selection unit for selecting an advertisement content to be presented to the user based on the presentation condition and the remaining number.

[0025] According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the display of the advertising content related to the out-of-stock product.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a sales analysis method using a vending machine system having a structure in which a vending machine and an information management server are connected via a network, wherein the vending machine is a user. Accepts the data carrier presented by the user and sells the product in response to the user's request, and at least the information about the name of the sold product, the sales date and time or the place of sale, and the user information extracted from the data carrier. The sales information including the information is transmitted to the information management server, the information management server accumulates the sales information, classifies the accumulated user information for each user, and creates product purchase history information for each user, There is provided a sales analysis method characterized by performing a sales analysis based on user-by-user product purchase history information.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a sales analysis method using a vending machine system having a structure in which a vending machine and an information management server are connected via a network, wherein the vending machine is a user. Accepts the data carrier presented by, presents the advertising content to the user, sells the product in response to the user's request,
The sales information including at least the name of the sold product, the sales date or time or the sales place, the information about the advertisement content, and the user information extracted from the data carrier is transmitted to the information management server, and the information management server transmits the sales information. , Accumulating the sales information, classifying the accumulated user information for each user to create user-specific product purchase history information, and performing sales analysis based on the user-specific product purchase history information. A featured sales analysis method is provided.

According to these sales analysis methods, the sales analysis is performed based on the product purchase history information for each user.
It enables analysis from a new perspective that has never existed before, and provides useful guidelines for introducing new products and presenting advertisements.

Techniques for using the information collected from the market for sales trend analysis have been actively studied, but most of them use sales information as represented by a POS system (point-of-sale information management). It is to be understood statistically, and the information itself is limited to one aspect of consumption activities. On the other hand, in the present invention, commodity purchase history information is created and used to collect purchase information for a certain period of time and realize multidimensional information analysis.

The present invention utilizes not only static information such as age and sex but also dynamic information such as product purchase history,
This has made it difficult to achieve sales in the past, such as what kind of product the user has purchased in the past, or how product preferences have changed due to touching advertisements or contacting new products. It enables analysis. These sales analyzes have the following advantages:

First, it is possible to determine whether the product purchaser is a fixed customer or a floating customer. As described above, a method of analyzing the taste and the consumption tendency of a product according to the customer group classified by age and gender is often used. On the other hand, according to the present invention, it is possible to analyze the customer stratification from a new viewpoint of whether it is a fixed customer or a liquid customer. By analyzing the sales performance of products provided by companies by dividing them into such customer segments, it is possible to obtain effective guidelines for future advertisements and new product development. Furthermore, by adding the customer evaluation information obtained using the corporate WAN, it is possible to perform more appropriate customer value calculation and obtain an effective guideline according to the value.

Secondly, the customer needs for the new product can be accurately known, and it is possible to accurately judge what kind of product should be introduced in which season. Even in this judgment, it is important to understand customer needs by customer segment of fixed customers and current customers. Further, for example, it is possible to analyze the product turnover rate for each consumption layer in an automatic vending machine that has provided an advertisement regarding a new product. Similarly, based on new product sales trends in the prescribed area where the vending machine was installed,
Enables the provision of effective advertising. Further, in addition to the above analysis, the advertising effect can also be analyzed.

Thirdly, the effect of the advertisement can be accurately grasped. Conventionally, ARF has been used as a method for measuring advertising effectiveness.
(Advertising Research Foundation) medium evaluation model and CPM (Cost Per Mill) are widely known.
All of these evaluation methods are related to media exposure, and the degree of reaching the recipient of the advertising media is used as a scale. Therefore, it is difficult to understand how the recipient of the advertisement is affected by the advertisement and how the product preference changes, let alone grasp such a change for each consumer. It was extremely difficult. According to the present invention, it is possible to realize sales analysis using product purchase history information, and thus it is possible to accurately grasp the effect of advertisement. For example, since there are significant changes in the product turnover rate for new product brands, that is, changes in product storage inventory, vending machines can promptly notify the server side of shortage information and shortage information of these new products. With notification
Such information is stored in the internal memory. As a result, when the advertising content prepared by the server is displayed on the display means of the vending machine, the vending machine refers to the out-of-stock information and selectively displays the advertising content regarding the non-out-of-stock product. it can.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the product purchase history for each user is grasped, it is possible to perform a novel sales analysis which has never been available, and obtain an effective guideline for planning a sales strategy and an advertising strategy. Is possible.

The configuration and operation of the present invention have been described above. However, any combination of these configurations, or expression of the present invention converted between a method, a device, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, and the like. It is also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

[0036]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The "commodity" in the present invention is not limited to the form of an article, but includes services and information.

The "user" in the present invention means a person who purchases a product by using the vending machine in the present invention.

The "advertising content" in the present invention means
It refers to the content of advertisements presented to users through vending machines, and includes introductions of existing products and new product information.
The advertising content is presented by means of moving images, characters, voice, and the like.

The data carrier according to the present invention includes both contact type and non-contact type, and can adopt various forms such as an IC card, an IC tag, an IC chip housed in a mobile phone or the like. .

When the data carrier according to the present invention is a non-contact data carrier, it may be equipped with a power source, but it is rectified by receiving radio waves from a predetermined part of the vending machine, and temporarily rectifying this. It is also possible to use a power supply having a configuration to be used as a power source. Further, when the contactless data carrier is used, the memory unit for storing user information and the like is provided. The memory unit is, for example, EEPRO.
M (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only M
A non-volatile memory such as an emory) can be used.

The data carrier according to the present invention may have not only a function as a carrier for storing electronic money but also other functions such as a personal authentication function.
The form of providing a personal authentication function is effective, for example, in selling cigarettes or alcoholic beverages, when determining whether or not the user is an adult. When the data carrier is also used as the authentication carrier for the sales approval / disapproval judgment, the sales approval / disapproval judgment may be made in consideration of factors other than the user information. For example, even when it is determined that the product can be sold based on the data acquired from the user information, it can be configured to determine that the product cannot be sold when the product purchase request is made within a certain period of time.

The terms "network" and "communication network" in the present invention are used interchangeably and connect a plurality of information processing devices via a communication circuit, cable, radio, etc., such as the Internet and WAN. (World Are
a Network), LAN (Local Area Network), and the like.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an automatic vending machine system according to the first embodiment. The configuration shown in the figure can be realized in terms of hardware by a CPU, a memory, and other LSIs of an arbitrary computer, and in terms of software, it can be achieved by a program having a reservation management function loaded in the memory. Then, the functional blocks realized by those collaborations are drawn. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by only hardware, only software, or a combination thereof.

Vending machine 100 included in this system
Is configured to present an advertisement on the display unit when a product purchase request is received from a user and in a sales standby state. The vending machine also adds information about the situation when the product is sold to the value information and sends it to the information management server. The information management server performs sales analysis based on the received information.

The vending machine system shown in FIG. 1 sells merchandise using the IC card 150 in which monetary value information is stored. The IC card 150 includes an IC chip and an antenna. The internal structure of the IC chip 151 is as shown in FIG. 5, and the control unit 153, the ROM 154,
The RAM 155, the EEPROM 156, and the communication unit 157 are connected by a bus 158. ROM
A storage circuit and the like for storing various processing programs and data are stored in 154. Various data are stored in the RAM 155 and the EEPROM 156.

The operation of the vending machine system shown in FIG. 1 will be described below. In the system shown in FIG. 1, a product purchase request from the user 200 is accepted by the product purchase acceptance unit 103. Upon receiving this information, the display unit 102 selects the advertisement content from the display advertisement database 172 and displays it. On the other hand, when the card reading unit 101 that was in the standby mode shifts to the operation mode,
A display (not shown) for asking the user 200 to present the IC card 150 is displayed. The IC card 150 presented by the user 200 is accepted by the card reading unit 101. Here, the value information is created and sent to the amount information updating unit 170. The amount information updating unit 170 is an IC
The value corresponding to the price of the selected product is subtracted from the value information in the card 150, and the value information is updated. The updated value information is sent to the information adding unit 171. Here, the sales information is added to both the value information corresponding to the IC card balance and the value information corresponding to the product price used for settlement. The information addition unit 171a adds the sales information to the IC card balance, and the information addition unit 171b to the value information corresponding to the newly generated product price.
Adds sales information. The sales information referred to here is, as will be described later, the subject information of the user in the sale of the product,
It includes items for sale, sales quantity, date and time of sale, and the like. The card balance to which the sales information is added is recorded in the IC card 150 via the card recording unit 105. on the other hand,
The sales information added to the new value information corresponding to the product price is transmitted to the information management server 830 via the communication unit 128, the relay server 940, and the communication network 950.

Along with the above processing, the product purchase request information from the user is sent from the information adding unit 171 to the payout unit 104 via the control unit 129. The payout unit 104 pays out the purchased product to the user 200.

The value information sent to the information management server 830 is sent to the information management unit 840 via the communication unit 831. In the information management unit 840, first, the value information is received by the information receiving unit 832 and then stored in the sales information database 841. The stored data has a form in which sales information is added to the value information. An example of the data structure of this information is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the data stored in the sales information database 841 includes value information 1010 and sales information 1000. The sales information 1000 includes user information 1002 and purchased product information 1
003 and sales status information 1004. Here, the user information 1002 is the user ID 1002.
a, the age of the user 1002b, and the gender 1002c are included.
These pieces of information are obtained from the presented data carrier. Purchased product information 1003 includes product type 1003a,
Includes quantity 1003b. Also, sales status information 1004
Includes a purchase date / time 1004a, a purchase area 1004b, a vending machine ID 1004c, a purchase-time environmental condition 1004d, and a presented advertisement 1004e. Purchased product information 1003 and sales status information 1004 are acquired from the product purchase acceptance unit 103, the timekeeping unit (not shown), the memory (not shown), and the like in the vending machine.

The presentation advertisement 1004e refers to information relating to the advertisement content to be presented to the user, such as the type of advertisement medium (moving image, characters, voice type), the advertisement displayed product (brand name), the identification number for identifying the advertisement content, and the like. including. The advertisement content presented to the user is specified by specifying the advertisement medium type, the advertisement displayed product, and the identification number.

The purchase history creation unit 834 creates a user-specific product purchase history file as shown in FIG. 4 using the data stored in the sales information database 841 shown in FIG. 3 as a master file. FIG. 4 shows the user ID 123.
The past purchase history of 456 users is shown. Although the purchase history of the past two purchases is shown in the figure, actually, the entire history when the product is purchased by the vending machine using the data carrier is created. It is possible to grasp how the user's product preference changes due to the presented advertisement. Furthermore, in the data file of FIG.
Since the identification number, the medium, and the advertisement product are included as the data regarding the presented advertisement, it is possible to analyze the change in the product preference due to the advertisement presentation from various angles. For example, it is possible to understand the type of medium in which the advertisement is effective by the user's stratification (age, sex, etc.).

FIG. 6 shows another example of the user-by-user product purchase history file. This file is stored in a form associated with the date and time of announcement of the new product E. The content of the product purchase history information is almost the same as in FIG. According to this history file, it becomes possible to easily and accurately grasp how the consumer's product preference changes after the time when a new product is announced. In the example of FIG. 6, a user who has conventionally purchased the product D comes to purchase the product E by contacting the advertisement of the new product E when the new product E was announced on December 1, 2001. You can read the situation. As described above, by storing the product purchase information in association with the date and time of announcement of a new product, a posted advertisement, etc., it is possible to specifically grasp the effect of the new product announcement and the advertisement effect. The data shown in FIG. 6 is a purchase history for one user, but by collecting a plurality of such data, it is possible to more quantitatively grasp the advertising effect and the like.

The purchase history file is referred to by the information analysis unit 833 in FIG. 1 and utilized as data useful for sales analysis. By using the purchase history file, the product purchase record can be analyzed over a predetermined period of time, which enables various sales analyzes that could not be realized conventionally. For example, the user's favorite product, purchase time zone, purchase area, etc. can be grasped. Further, it is possible to understand how the favorite product changes due to environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, and how the purchased product changes depending on the time of day. In addition, the effect of the presented advertisement can be grasped from the change in the products purchased before and after the advertisement is presented. Through such an analysis, it is possible to grasp the advertisement content that has the highest advertising effect for the user, and obtain a guideline for selecting the advertisement to be presented by the vending machine. Further, when sending various advertisements to the user by mail, electronic mail, or the like, it is possible to obtain a guideline for selecting the advertisement content.

FIG. 2 shows the main part of the flow of product sales by the vending machine system of FIG. 1 described above. First, the vending machine is I presented by the user.
The card information of the C card is read (S101). The vending machine creates value information from the read card information, subtracts the value corresponding to the product price from this, and updates the value information (S102). Then, the sales information is added to the removed value information (S103), and the value information added with the sales information is transmitted to the information management server. The information management server stores this value information (S104). A purchase history for each user is created from the accumulated value information (S10).
5) Based on this, sales information analysis is performed (S10).
6).

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an automatic vending machine system 300 according to the second embodiment.
The configuration with the same reference numerals as the configuration already described in this figure,
The function or operation is the same as that of the configuration to which the same reference numeral is assigned as described above. In the following description, configurations having different functions or operations will be mainly described. The in-company information management device 304 collects various information such as the customer's opinion about the product from the front-end system 306 via the in-company network 302, and manages the information according to the purpose of use. The front end system 306 is, for example, P
It can be realized by OS point, web, email, telephone, fax, SFA (Sales Force Automation) in charge of sales, call center system, etc. The in-company information management device 304 has a function as a so-called back end, which performs customer evaluation for each customer based on various information about the customer such as the purchase status of the customer. The “customer evaluation” is a business index that quantifies the value of the customer in the company, and is, for example, the value or profit that each customer brings to the company. The in-house information management device 304 performs customer evaluation for each customer,
Store as customer evaluation information. Further, the in-company information management device 304 manages various information regarding the customer such as customer preference information and address collected by the front-end system 306.

The related information collecting unit 322 collects various kinds of information about the customer such as customer evaluation information and preference information from the in-house information management device 304 for each customer. Related information collection section 3
22 performs this collection work based on the instruction of the information analysis unit 330, and outputs the collected related information to the information analysis unit 330. The information analysis unit 330 receives the purchase history information for each customer from the purchase history creation unit 834. Then, the information analysis unit 330 instructs the related information collection unit 322 to acquire the related information of those customers. Then, the information analysis unit 330 performs various analyzes based on the related information and the purchase history information supplied from the related information collection unit 322. Since the information analysis unit 330 takes in not only the sales information supplied from the vending machine 250 but also various information from the in-house information management device 304 and analyzes the information, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the analysis and further analyze the content. Can also have a degree of freedom.

FIG. 8 is an internal block diagram of the information analysis section 330 of FIG. The information integration unit 336 includes a purchase history creation unit 83.
4 related information to the purchase history information supplied from the related information collecting unit 322.
The history information storage unit 3 associates the related information supplied from
Store in 12. FIG. 9 shows the history information storage unit 312 of FIG.
It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of. History information storage unit 3
12 is a user ID 1002a, customer evaluation information 352,
The characteristic information 354 and the purchase history information 356 are held in association with each other. The user ID 1002a is information for uniquely identifying the customer. The item customer evaluation information 352 includes, for example, the customer type and the date when the customer type calculation processing was performed. The “customer type” is information on a customer type, such as a fixed-layer product non-fluid type or a fluidized-layer product fluidized type, which is determined based on recent purchase history. The characteristic information 354 is information such as a customer's preference characteristic, and includes, for example, a living area, occupation, and
These are preferences, behavioral characteristics, event characteristics, and the like. The "behavioral characteristic" is information for classifying the customer, such as a morning type, a daytime type, a nighttime type, and a midnight type, based on a time zone in which they are mainly active. The “event characteristics” is information for estimating the user's positiveness, sociability, etc. such as whether or not they have applied for a prize and whether or not they have participated in various events.
The purchase history information 356 is information regarding the status of possession of purchase supplied from the purchase history creation unit 834.

Returning to FIG. 8, the vending machine-specific information analysis unit 332
Analyzes the sales of products for each vending machine 250 connected to the vending machine system 300 based on the data stored in the history information storage unit 312. Based on the “vending machine ID” held in the history information storage unit 312, the purchase history information for each vending machine 250 is analyzed, and the purchase trend of each product is calculated for each vending machine 250. For example, the vending machine-specific information analysis unit 332 may analyze the sales of a specific product such as a sales promotion target product for each vending machine 250. Further, the vending machine-specific information analysis unit 332 may analyze the sales of each product according to the customer's age group, sex, occupation, hobbies and preferences, for each vending machine 250. It is preferable that such analysis contents can be set arbitrarily. The information analysis unit 332 for each vending machine
These analysis results are stored in the purchase trend data storage unit 31 for each vending machine.
Store in 4.

Similar to the vending machine-specific information analyzing section 332, the area-specific information analyzing section 334 uses the data stored in the history information storage section 312 to identify the product for each area in which the vending machine 250 is installed. Analyze sales, etc. The “region” may be a geographically predetermined range, or may be a responsible area determined for each person in charge of loading the vending machine 250. Regional information analysis unit 334
Divides a plurality of automatic vending machines 250 into a plurality of groups under a predetermined condition, and analyzes sales of merchandise for each group. One of the conditions for grouping is the region. The area-specific information analysis unit 334 in this figure analyzes each “purchase area” held in the history information storage unit 312 in FIG. 9. It is preferable that the analysis contents can be arbitrarily set as in the vending machine-specific information analysis unit 332. Regional Information Analysis Department 3
34 shows the analysis results by region-based purchase trend data storage unit 316.
To store.

The presentation condition generation unit 324 is used when each vending machine 250 presents an advertisement based on the analysis result held in the vending machine-specific purchase trend data storage unit 314 and the regional purchase trend data storage unit 316. Generate a presentation condition. For example, when the analysis result that the sex of the purchaser of the product in a certain vending machine 250 is overwhelmingly “female”, the presentation condition generation unit 324 presents an advertisement of the product targeting female. To generate the condition.
Further, in the vending machine 250 in the office building, the purchaser is fixed. Therefore, the presentation condition generation unit 324
A condition may be generated that specifies the advertisement or advertisement genre to be presented to each purchaser. Moreover, you may set a presentation condition based on the analysis result in another area. In this manner, by generating the presentation condition of the advertisement for each vending machine 250 according to the analysis result, the vending machine 25
For example, it is possible to provide an advertisement according to 0, for example, according to the user group.
The presentation condition generation unit 324 sends the generated presentation condition to the communication unit 8
It is supplied to the vending machine 250 via 31. Further, the presentation condition generation unit 324 sets the presentation condition to the advertisement providing unit 326.
Output to.

The advertisement providing unit 326 has the presentation condition generating unit 32.
On the basis of the presentation condition generated by No. 4, the advertisement content corresponding to the presentation condition is read from the advertisement storage unit 318.
Then, the advertisement providing unit 326 supplies the read advertisement content to the vending machine 250 via the communication unit 831. As a result, the advertising content to be displayed based on the presentation condition is held in the vending machine 250 in advance.

Communication unit 202 in vending machine 250
When receiving the presentation condition and the advertising content, outputs to the storage processing unit 204. The storage processing unit 204 stores the advertisement content in the display advertisement database 172 and the presentation condition in the presentation condition storage unit 206. In addition to the operation described using FIG. 1, the card reading unit 101 displays the personal information read from the IC card 150 on the display processing unit 210.
Output to. The display processing unit 210 selects the advertising content based on the personal information and the presentation condition and causes the display unit 102 to display the selected advertising content. The out-of-stock detection unit 218 detects the out-of-stock state of the product in the vending machine 250 and supplies information about the out-of-stock product to the display processing unit 210. In addition, the shortage detection unit 218
Outputs the remaining number for each product to the information management server 310.

FIG. 10 is an internal block diagram of the display processing unit 210 of FIG. The personal information discriminating unit 212 identifies the purchaser based on the personal information supplied from the card reading unit 101 in FIG. 7. For example, the personal information determination unit 212 outputs the purchaser's user ID to the selection unit 214. Selection unit 214
Refers to the presentation condition storage unit 206 based on the user ID, and confirms that the product related to the advertisement content corresponding to the presentation condition is not out of stock. If the item is not out of stock, the selection unit 214 reads out the advertising content corresponding to the presentation condition from the display advertising database 172. And the selection unit 21
4 outputs the selected advertisement content to the display unit 102. The clock 216 supplies the current date and time to the selection unit 214. When there is a presentation condition according to the time zone, the selection unit 214 uses the date and time to select the advertising content corresponding to the presentation condition. Accordingly, the vending machine 250 can present the advertisement of the cigarette A from 7 am to 10 am and the advertisement of the cigarette B from 10 am to 12 am, for example. The presentation condition according to such a time zone can also be generated by the presentation condition generation unit 324 of FIG. 7 using the vending machine-specific purchase trend data storage unit 314 or the regional purchase trend data storage unit 316.

FIG. 11 shows the vending machine system 30 of FIG.
It is a figure which shows an example of the sequence between each apparatus in 0. The card reading unit 101 in FIG. 7 reads information from the IC card (S101). Amount information updating unit 170 of FIG.
Creates value information from the read card information, subtracts the value corresponding to the product price, and updates the value information (S
102). Next, the information adding unit 171 in FIG. 7 adds sales information to the removed value information (S103) and sends it to the information management server 310 in FIG. Information management server 310
Sells this value information to the sales information database 841 in FIG.
(S104). Then, the purchase history creation unit 834 in FIG. 7 creates a purchase history for each user based on the value information accumulated in the sales information database 841 (S1).
05). The information analysis unit 330 of FIG. 7 performs a predetermined analysis (S108). With this analysis, the related information collecting unit 322 of FIG. 7 requests related information such as customer evaluation information from the in-house information management device 304, and the in-house information management device 304 provides the requested related information. (S11
6). The information analysis unit 330 analyzes based on the purchase history information and related information.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a detailed flowchart of step 108 in FIG. The vending machine-specific information analysis unit 332 of FIG. 8 analyzes the sales of products for each vending machine 250 (S120), and stores the analysis result in the vending machine-specific purchase trend data storage unit 314 of FIG. Next, the region-specific information analysis unit 334 of FIG. 8 analyzes the sales of products by region (S122), and stores the analysis result in the region-specific purchase trend data storage unit 316 of FIG. 7. Returning to FIG. 11, the presentation condition generation unit 324 of FIG. 7 includes the vending machine-based purchase trend data storage unit 314 and the region-based purchase trend data storage unit 316.
A presentation condition is generated based on the data held in (S110). Then, the presentation condition generation unit 324 transmits the presentation condition to the vending machine 250. Vending machine 2
50 stores the presentation condition in the presentation condition storage unit 206 of FIG. 7 (S112). Then, the display processing unit 210 of FIG.
Displays the advertisement on the user interface unit 102 of FIG. 7 based on the presentation condition (S114).

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, this is merely an example of the present invention, and various configurations other than the above can be adopted.

For example, in the present embodiment, the sales information is added to both the value information corresponding to the IC card balance and the value information corresponding to the product price used for payment, but the payment information is added. The sales information may be added only to the value information corresponding to the price of the used product, that is, the value information transmitted to the information management server. In this case, in FIG. 1, the information adding unit 171a may be omitted and only the information adding unit 171b may be provided.

Further, the purchase history creation unit 834 and the information analysis unit 833 do not need to be arranged inside the information management server 830, and one or both of them can be arranged outside the information management server 830. In this case, the sales information database 841 or the like is accessed via the network.

In the present embodiment, the relay server 940 connected to a plurality of vending machines is provided, but it is possible to omit this and make the vending machine directly access the communication network 950. .

[0069]

As described above, according to the present invention, the value information associated with the sales information is stored in the information management server, and the product purchase history information for each user is created from the stored value information. Therefore, useful information for sales analysis can be obtained. In addition, customer analysis based on RFM theory can be performed. Further, the sales analysis can be performed together with the analysis of the advertising effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an automatic vending machine system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a sequence between devices in the vending machine system of FIG.

3 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure stored in the sales information database of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data structure of purchase history information for each user in FIG. 1.

5 is a diagram showing an internal structure of the IC card of FIG.

6 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure stored in the sales information database of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of an automatic vending machine system according to a second embodiment.

8 is an internal block diagram of the information analysis unit of FIG. 7. FIG.

9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a history information storage unit in FIG.

10 is an internal block diagram of the display processing unit of FIG. 7. FIG.

11 is a diagram showing a sequence between devices in the vending machine system in FIG.

12 is an example of a detailed flowchart of sales information analysis of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 vending machines 101 card reader 102 display 103 Product Purchase Reception Department 104 Disbursement Department 105 card recording section 128 Communication unit 129 Control unit 150 IC card 151 IC chip 153 Control unit 154 ROM 155 RAM 156 EEPROM 157 Communications Department 158 bus 170 Price information update section 171, 171a, 171b Information addition unit 172 Display Advertising Database 200 users 202 Communication unit 204 storage processing unit 206 presentation condition storage 210 display processing unit 212 Personal Information Discrimination Department 214 Selector 216 clock 250 vending machine 300 Vending machine system 302 Corporate network 304 In-house information management device 310 Information management server 312 History information storage section 314 Purchase Trend Data Storage by Vending Machine 316 Purchase Trend Data Storage by Region 318 Advertisement storage 322 Related Information Collection Department 324 Presentation condition generation unit 326 Advertising Department 330 Information Analysis Department 332 Vending Machine Information Analysis Department 334 Regional Information Analysis Department 336 Information Integration Department 352 Customer evaluation information 354 characteristic information 356 Purchase history information 830 Information management server 831 Communication unit 832 Information reception section 833 Information Analysis Department 834 Purchase History Creation Department 840 Information Management Department 841 Sales Information Database 940 Relay server 950 communication network 1000 sales information 1002 User information 1002a User ID 1002b User's age 1002c sex 1003 Purchased product information 1003a Product type 1003b quantity 1004 Sales status information 1004a Date and time of purchase 1004b Purchase area 1004c Vending machine ID 1004d Environmental conditions at the time of purchase 1004e presentation advertisement 1010 Value information

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] April 8, 2003 (2003.4.8)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Claims]

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0068

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

In this embodiment, the relay server 940 connected to a plurality of vending machines is provided, but it is also possible to omit this and make the vending machine directly access the communication network 150. . In the present invention, the user
When you obtain or use information about
And Umono.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI theme code (reference) G07F 9/00 G07F 9/00 L 9/02 104 9/02 104 17/16 17/16 (72) Invention Eiichi Kiyokawa 2-2-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Japan Tobacco Inc. (72) Inventor Koichi Miyake 2-2-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Japan Tobacco Inc. ( 72) Inventor Koji Watanabe 2-2-1, Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo F-term (reference) within Japan Tobacco Inc. 3E044 AA01 BA04 BA10 CA06 CA10 CC04 CC08 CC10 DA03 DA05 DB02 DB05 DC01 DC02 DC06 DC10 DE01 DE02 EA11 5B058 CA17 KA02 KA04 KA06 YA20

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine system having a configuration in which a vending machine and an information management server are connected via a network, wherein the vending machine accepts a data carrier presented by a user, and the user While selling the product in response to the request of, the sales information including at least the information about the name of the sold product, the sale date and time or the place of sale, and the user information extracted from the data carrier is transmitted to the information management server, The information management server accumulates the sales information, classifies the accumulated user information for each user, and creates merchandise purchase history information for each user. 2. The vending machine system according to claim 1, wherein the information management server performs sales analysis based on the user-by-user product purchase history information. 3. The vending machine system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sales information includes information regarding advertisement content presented to the user by the vending machine when the product is sold. Vending machine system. 4. An automatic vending machine system having a configuration in which an automatic vending machine and an information management server are connected via a network, wherein the automatic vending machine is a purchase request receiving means for receiving a product purchase request from a user. A user information reading means for reading the user information from the presented data carrier, a product dispensing means for paying out the product, information on the name of the sold product, the selling date and time or the selling place, and the information extracted from the data carrier. Transmission means for transmitting sales information including at least user information to an information management server, wherein the information management server includes: sales information storage means for storing the sales information; and sales information storage means for storing the sales information. And a purchase history creating means for creating sales history information for each user by classifying sales information for each user. Vending machine system. 5. The automatic vending machine system according to claim 4, wherein the information management server further comprises sales analysis means for performing sales analysis based on the user-by-user product purchase history information. Vending machine system. 6. The vending machine system according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the sales information includes information regarding advertisement content presented to the user by the vending machine when the product is sold. Vending machine system. 7. The automatic vending machine system according to claim 6, wherein the sales analysis means analyzes the influence of the presented advertisement content on a purchasing activity based on the sales information. Machine system. 8. The vending machine system according to claim 4, wherein the information management server acquires related information used for the sales analysis via a network different from the network. The vending machine system, further comprising: and the sales analysis means performs the sales analysis based on the user-by-user product purchase history information and the related information. 9. The vending machine system according to any one of claims 4 to 8, wherein the vending machine detects a detection means for detecting a remaining number of products, and an advertisement content to be presented according to the remaining number. A vending machine system further comprising: a display processing unit that selectively displays. 10. The vending machine system according to claim 5, wherein the information management server includes a presentation condition generating unit that generates a presentation condition of the advertisement content according to a result of the sales analysis. A vending machine system characterized by further comprising. 11. The vending machine system according to claim 10, wherein the display processing unit has a selection unit that selects advertisement content to be presented to the user based on the presentation condition and the remaining number. Characteristic vending machine system. 12. A sales analysis method using a vending machine system having a configuration in which an vending machine and an information management server are connected via a network, wherein the vending machine is data presented by a user. In addition to accepting the carrier and selling the product in response to the user's request, the sales information including at least the name of the sold product, the sales date or place of sale, and the user information extracted from the data carrier is provided. The information management server stores the sales information, classifies the accumulated user information for each user, and creates product purchase history information for each user, and purchases the product for each user. A sales analysis method characterized by performing sales analysis based on history information. 13. A sales analysis method using a vending machine system having a structure in which an vending machine and an information management server are connected via a network, wherein the vending machine is data presented by a user. Accept carriers, present advertising content to users,
In addition to selling the product in response to the user's request, the sale including at least the name of the sold product, the date and time of sale or the place of sale, the information about the advertising content, and the user information extracted from the data carrier. The information is transmitted to an information management server, the information management server accumulates the sales information, classifies the accumulated user information for each user, and creates commodity purchase history information for each user. A sales analysis method characterized by performing sales analysis based on information on purchase history of another product.