JP7337224B1 - Information processing device, information processing method, and information processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program that can be used effectively based on a consumer's sensitivity to the value of points given to a purchaser. [Solution] In an information communication system, an information processing device (electronic shopping mall server) acquires information indicating a standard value specified by a provider as a point value given to a purchaser of a predetermined transaction object, and Obtain purchasing information indicating the purchasing status of the purchaser, determine the point value given within a range less than the standard value based on the purchasing information, and determine the point value given within a range less than the standard value, and if the given point value is set to the standard value, The value of sales is determined, and an amount corresponding to the difference between the standard value and the determined value is allocated to the provider's advertising budget. [Selection diagram] Figure 8

Description

The present invention relates to a method for determining the value of points awarded to purchasers of transactions.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, electronic transactions of transaction objects such as goods and services are actively carried out through networks such as the Internet. In such electronic commerce, various sales promotion activities are carried out for transaction objects. As one of the sales promotion activities, it is known to give some kind of privilege to purchasers of transactions. For example, as a benefit, it is known to give the purchaser points that can be used to pay for the purchase price of the transaction object. The value of the points given to the purchaser (for example, the number of points, return rate, point multiplier, etc.) may be determined, for example, by the provider of the transaction object. In this case, the provider may award points at the value that the provider desires, but may not know the appropriate point value. For example, there is consumer sensitivity to the value of the points given. This sensitivity indicates, for example, how much a consumer's reaction changes to a change in point value. This sensitivity varies depending on the transaction object, and sales may change according to the value and sensitivity of the points to be given. Therefore, it is desired to determine an appropriate point value. Under such circumstances, a method for determining the value of points on the system side has been proposed.

For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a method for returning points to users who have purchased a product. And based on the lifetime value, it is disclosed to determine the point redemption rate that maximizes the expected profit.

JP 2017-59059 A

Generally, at least part of the funds for the points given to the purchaser of the transaction object is borne by the provider of the transaction object. As a provider, once the value of the points to be given to the purchaser is determined, it would be nice to be able to receive a return according to that value. However, in the conventional technology, the value of the points given to the purchaser is only determined within the range of value assumed by the provider, so the cost assumed by the provider is not always effectively used. It cannot be said that there is.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points. To provide an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program that enable effective use of points based on consumers' sensitivity to the value of points given to them.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 provides a point value of points that can be used for transactions, which is a point value that is given to a purchaser of a predetermined transaction object provided by a provider. a standard value information acquiring means for acquiring standard value information indicating a standard value specified by the provider as the granted point value of the above; Purchasing information for acquiring purchase information indicating the purchase status of the predetermined transaction object when set and the purchase status of the predetermined transaction object when the given point value is set to a value less than the reference value acquisition means; and determination means for determining the given point value within a range less than the reference value indicated by the obtained reference value information based on the obtained purchase information, wherein the given point value is set to the reference value, and a difference between the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information and the determined value. and allocation means for executing a process of allocating an amount corresponding to the advertising budget of the provider.

According to this invention, the information indicating the reference value specified by the provider is obtained. The cost according to this standard value is considered to be the cost assumed by the provider for giving points. Then, the point value to be given to the purchaser is determined as the value that is equal to or greater than a predetermined percentage of the sales when the point value is set to the reference value specified by the provider. The determined award point value may vary depending on the consumer's sensitivity to the point value for a given transaction. In this way, it is possible to reduce the cost required for awarding points while suppressing the decrease in sales due to lowering the awarding point value than the reference value. Also, a cost corresponding to the difference between the reference value and the determined assigned point value is allocated to the provider's advertising budget. At least a portion of the advertising budget may thereby be used for the provider's advertising. Purchasing a transaction through an advertisement increases sales for that provider. Therefore, in order to award points to the purchaser of the transaction, the cost assumed by the provider of the transaction is effectively used based on the consumer's sensitivity to the value of the points awarded to the purchaser. be able to.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the determining means determines the given point value to be the lowest value among the values that result in sales equal to or greater than the predetermined percentage.

According to the present invention, it is possible to further reduce the cost required for awarding points.

The invention according to claim 3 further comprises changing means for changing the given point value within a range not more than the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information, wherein the purchase information acquiring means It is characterized by acquiring the purchase information including the purchase status of the predetermined transaction object after the value of the points given to the person has started to be changed by the change means.

According to this invention, the given point value changes within a range equal to or less than the reference value. When the consumer purchases a predetermined transaction object after the awarded point value changes, purchase information can be obtained regarding the purchase. Therefore, even if there is no purchase information necessary for determining the value of the assigned points at the time the reference value information is acquired, it is possible to acquire necessary purchase information thereafter.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the changing means gradually lowers the given point value from the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information.

According to this invention, it is possible to appropriately acquire the purchase information necessary for determining the value of points to be given.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the changing means is configured such that the sales of the predetermined transaction object when the given point value is reduced to a certain value by the changing means becomes sales equal to or greater than the predetermined percentage. the value of the given point is further reduced, and the determining means determines that the sales of the predetermined transaction object when the value of the given point is reduced to the certain value by the changing means is less than the predetermined percentage. In the case of sales, the given point value is determined to be one step higher than the certain value.

According to this invention, the assigned point value is reduced step by step until the sales amount is less than a predetermined percentage of the sales when the assigned point value is set to the reference value. Then, the given point value is determined to be one step higher than the value with which the sales are less than the predetermined percentage. Therefore, it is possible to further reduce the cost required for awarding points.

In the invention according to claim 6, before the standard value information is acquired by the standard value information acquiring means, the given point value is any of the standard values below the standard value indicated by the standard value information. value, the purchase information acquisition means acquires the purchase information including the purchase status of the predetermined transaction object when the given point value is set to any of the values. , wherein the changing means suppresses setting the given point value to any of the values.

According to this invention, if the given point value has been set to any value below the reference value, the given point value can be set to that value after the provider designates the reference value. Suppressed. If it is possible to acquire purchase information when the given point value was set to that value before the provider designated the base value, the given point value will be set to that value again after the base value is designated. It may not be necessary in some cases. Therefore, the given point value can be determined efficiently.

The invention according to claim 7 further comprises ratio determining means for determining the ratio, wherein the determining means determines the amount of sales in the case where the value of the points to be given is set to the reference value. It is characterized by determining the value that will result in sales of a specified percentage or more.

According to the eighth aspect of the invention, the ratio determining means determines, based on the difference between the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information and the set value, for each set value It is characterized by determining the ratio.

According to this invention, for each set value, the percentage of sales for determining the assigned point value is determined based on the difference between the reference value and the set value. Therefore, the percentage of sales can be determined appropriately.

A ninth aspect of the invention is characterized in that the allocating means allocates an amount corresponding to the difference to the advertising budget of the predetermined transaction object among the transaction objects provided by the provider.

According to the present invention, the allocated advertising budget is used for advertisements of predetermined trading targets for which base values are specified by the provider. Therefore, an advertisement can be expected to increase the sales of the predetermined transaction object.

In the tenth aspect of the invention, the allocating means assigns the amount corresponding to the difference to any of the transaction objects belonging to the type of transaction object to which the predetermined transaction object belongs, among the transaction objects provided by the provider. It is characterized by allocating as the advertising budget that can also be used for advertising.

According to this invention, the allocated advertising budget can be used for advertisement of any transaction object of the type to which the predetermined transaction object whose reference value is designated by the provider belongs, among the transaction objects provided by the provider. becomes. Therefore, an advertisement can be expected to increase sales of the same type of transaction object as the predetermined transaction object.

The invention according to claim 11 comprises first sales information indicating sales after the given point value is set to the determined value, and advertisement distributed by allocating the cost to the advertising budget. and transmitting means for transmitting second sales information indicating sales generated through the distribution to the device of the provider.

According to this invention, the provider confirms sales when the award point value is set to the determined value and sales generated via advertisements delivered at a reduced cost for awarding points. can do.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-executed information processing method, wherein the value of points that can be used for transactions is given to a purchaser of a predetermined transaction object provided by a provider. a standard value information acquisition step of acquiring standard value information indicating a standard value specified by the provider as the granted point value of the points to be granted; Acquiring purchase information indicating the purchase status of the predetermined transaction object when the value is set and the purchase status of the predetermined transaction object when the given point value is set to a value less than the reference value a purchase information acquiring step; and a determination step of determining the granted point value within a range less than the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information based on the acquired purchase information, wherein a determination step of determining a value that results in sales equal to or greater than a predetermined percentage of sales when the point value is set to the reference value; and the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information and the determined value and an allocating step of allocating an amount equivalent to the difference between the two to the advertising budget of the provider.

According to the thirteenth aspect of the invention, a computer is provided as a point value of points that can be used for transactions, which is a point value of points that are given to a purchaser for a predetermined transaction provided by a provider. , reference value information acquisition means for acquiring reference value information indicating the reference value specified by the provider; and when the given point value is set to the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information purchase information acquisition means for acquiring purchase information indicating the purchase status of the predetermined transaction target and the purchase status of the predetermined transaction target when the given point value is set to a value less than the reference value; Determining means for determining the granted point value within a range less than the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information based on the acquired purchase information, wherein the granted point value is equal to the reference value Determining means for determining a value that will result in sales exceeding a predetermined percentage of sales when set, and an amount corresponding to the difference between the base value indicated by the acquired base value information and the determined value and allocation means for executing processing for allocating the advertising budget of the provider.

According to the present invention, in order to award points to a transaction purchaser, the cost assumed by the transaction provider is determined based on the consumer's sensitivity to the value of the points awarded to the purchaser. can be used effectively.

It is a figure which shows an example of a schematic structure of the information communication system S which concerns on one Embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an outline of a mechanism of operational type point scaling. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an electronic shopping mall server 1 according to an embodiment; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of contents stored in a database of the online shopping mall server 1; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of contents stored in a database of the online shopping mall server 1; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of the system control unit 11 of the online shopping mall server 1 in one embodiment; FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the mode of optimization of a point scaling factor. It is a sequence diagram which shows the example of a process of the information communication system S which concerns on one Embodiment. 6 is a flow chart showing an example of point scaling factor optimization processing by the system control unit 11 of the online shopping mall server 1 according to one embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of store sales tallying processing by the system control unit 11 of the online shopping mall server 1 according to one embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of product sales tallying processing by the system control unit 11 of the online shopping mall server 1 according to one embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the information communication system described in the embodiments, transaction objects are traded by electronic commerce. The traded object may be a tradeable product and/or service. Also, in the information communication system, points are awarded to purchasers of transactions. The awarded points can be used for commercial transactions in the point program. For example, the points may be those that can be applied to at least part of the purchase price of the transaction object. Also, points may be given to a user when the user purchases a transaction target. In addition, in the information communication system, an advertisement of a transaction object or an advertisement of a provider who provides the transaction object is distributed. In the embodiments described below, a case will be described in which the present invention is applied to an online shopping mall in which a plurality of stores each sell products. However, the present invention may be applied to aspects in which a single business entity sells or offers a trading object on its own website.

[1. First Embodiment]
[1-1. Configuration of information communication system]
First, the configuration and functional overview of the information communication system S according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an information communication system S according to this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the information communication system S includes an online shopping mall server 1 , a point management server 2 , multiple store terminals 3 , and multiple user terminals 4 . The online shopping mall server 1, the point management server 2, each store terminal 3, and each user terminal 4 are connected to each other via a network NW. The network NW is constructed by, for example, the Internet, a dedicated communication line (for example, a CATV (Community Antenna Television) line), a mobile communication network (including base stations, etc.), gateways, and the like.

The online shopping mall server 1 is a server device that manages an online shopping mall. For example, the online shopping mall server 1 transmits online shopping mall web pages and processes product orders in response to requests from each user terminal 4 . Web pages of online shopping malls include search result pages, product pages, and the like.

A search result page is a web page on which a list of search results for products is displayed. For example, a user specifies search conditions on the top page of an online shopping mall or the like. Examples of search conditions include keywords, product categories, and the like. The online shopping mall server 1 searches for products that match the specified search conditions, and transmits a search result page. The information of each product posted on the search result page may include, for example, the product name, product image, price, and information on points to be given. The product image is an image of the product or an image related to the product. The given point information is information indicating the value of points given to the purchaser of the product. The cost corresponding to the value of the points given to the purchaser may be borne by the store from which the product was purchased, for example. The value of points may be indicated by any of the number of points granted, the point grant rate, and the point multiplier. The number of points given indicates the number of points given. One point may be equivalent to one yen. The point giving rate indicates, for example, what percentage of points are given to the tax-excluded price of the product. The number of points to be given is determined based on the point giving rate and the price of the product. The point multiplier indicates how many times the number of points normally given to the purchaser of the product is given. For example, a normal point award rate is predetermined in the entire online shopping mall. The normal point award rate is the point award rate set for each product when the store does not make any special settings. For example, if the normal point award rate is 1%, the point award rate corresponding to the point multiplier of N times is N%. The normal point multiplier is 1x. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the normal point award rate is 1%. However, the normal point award rate may be an award rate other than 1%.

The product page is a web page on which detailed information on individual products is posted. For example, the product page may include the product name, multiple product images, price, point information, product description, shipping regulations, and the like. Also, the product page may include at least one of a shopping cart button and a purchase procedure button. The shopping cart button is a button for putting the product whose information is posted on the product page into the shopping cart. After the items are added to the shopping cart, the user can collectively purchase the items in the shopping cart, for example, by store. The purchase procedure button is a button for directly performing the purchase procedure for the product whose information is posted on the product page.

Further, the online shopping mall server 1 may distribute advertisements of stores opened in the above-described online shopping mall via the network NW. For example, the online shopping mall server 1 may distribute advertisements posted on web pages in the online shopping mall. Also, for example, the online shopping mall server 1 may distribute an advertisement posted on a website different from the online shopping mall. Further, for example, the online shopping mall server 1 may distribute advertisements in the form of e-mails to users of the online shopping mall. The online shopping mall server 1 may distribute various types of advertisements. Note that the server device that distributes advertisements may be a server device that is separate from the online shopping mall server 1 .

The point management server 2 is a server device that manages points in the point program described above. For example, the point management server 2 has a database such as a user point DB. "DB" is an abbreviation for database. The user point DB stores, for example, the number of points possessed by each user. For example, the user point DB may store, for each user, a user ID, the number of points that can be used, and the number of points to be obtained, in association with each other. A user ID is identification information that identifies a user. The number of points that can be used indicates the total number of points that can be used by the user identified by the user ID. The number of points to be acquired indicates the total number of points that the user identified by the user ID is scheduled to acquire in the future. For example, when an order for a product is completed at an online shopping mall, the number of points given for that product may be included in the expected number of points to be earned by the purchaser of that product. After the purchase price for the ordered product is withdrawn from the purchaser's account, the number of points granted may be transferred from the number of points to be acquired to the number of points available. The online shopping mall server 1 can acquire or change information stored in the user point DB via an API (Application Program Interface) provided by the point management server 2, for example. good.

Each store terminal 3 is a terminal device used by an employee of a store opened in the above online shopping mall. By operating the store terminal 3 and accessing the electronic shopping mall server 1, employees, etc., can register products in the online shopping mall, check order information from customers, and check information about sales, for example. or Stores can also become advertisers of advertisements distributed by the online shopping mall server 1 . For example, an employee or the like operates the store terminal 3 to access the online shopping mall server 1, thereby creating a campaign or checking a report of advertisement distribution results. A campaign represents the promotion of a store's merchandise by delivering advertisements. In addition, the store can change the multiplier of the points given to the purchaser of at least one of the products handled by the store. A change in the point multiplier will be described later. Examples of the store terminal 3 include a personal computer, a tablet computer, and the like. A web browser may be installed in each store terminal 3 .

Each user terminal 4 is a terminal device used by a user who can purchase products using the online shopping mall. Each user terminal 4 receives and displays a web page from the online shopping mall server 1, for example, based on a user's operation. If the web page includes an advertisement space, the user terminal 4 may receive advertisement content from the online shopping mall server 1 according to the tag or script of the advertisement space, for example. The user terminal 4 may display the advertisement in the advertisement frame according to this advertisement content. A web browser and an email client may be installed in each user terminal 4 . Also, each user terminal 4 may be installable with a dedicated application for using the online shopping mall. Examples of the user terminal 4 include a personal computer, a smart phone, a mobile information terminal such as a tablet computer, a mobile phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a set-top box, and the like.

In the information communication system S having such a configuration, each store can change the point multiplier of the product from 1x by setting. Making the point magnification higher than 1 is referred to as point variable magnification. The point magnification that has been changed to a magnification higher than 1 is referred to as a point variable magnification. As point scaling, there may be normal point scaling and operational type point scaling. In normal point scaling, the store itself designates the point scaling. Operational point scaling means that the online shopping mall server 1 automatically sets a point scaling factor within a range equal to or less than a reference value specified by the store. The reference value specified by the store is called the upper limit point scaling factor. The online shopping mall server 1 finally sets the lowest point scaling rate that can record sales equal to or greater than a predetermined percentage of the sales when the point scaling rate is set to the upper limit point scaling rate, for example. You may optimize the point scaling factor. This sales may be consideration or income that can be obtained or recorded by the store in response to the store providing products. A user's reaction to a change in the point value given to a purchaser may differ depending on the product. In particular, whether or not to purchase a product may change depending on the point value. There is a possibility that the degree of influence of changes in point value on purchase behavior will vary depending on the product. This degree of influence corresponds to sensitivity. Therefore, by determining an appropriate point variable rate that may vary depending on the product, the store can reduce the cost required for awarding points compared to when the point variable rate is set to the upper limit point variable rate. can be done. The online shopping mall server 1 may perform optimization such that the amount of reduction in sales is smaller than the amount of reduction in point costs due to point scaling, for example. The point cost is the cost borne by the store for giving points to the purchaser of the product. Normally, the store bears the cost corresponding to the number of points awarded.

In the operational type point scaling, the online shopping mall server 1 allocates the reduced point cost to the advertising budget. Allocating to the advertising budget may mean allocating to the advertising budget, supplementing the advertising budget, adding to the advertising budget, allocating to the advertising budget, or increasing the maximum amount of advertising expenses borne by the store. As a result, the online shopping mall server 1 distributes the advertisement of the store for which the variable scale of the points is set. Advertisements that are delivered at reduced point costs due to programmatic point scaling are referred to as programmatic point scaling-origin advertisements. In this case, the store does not need to make any special settings for the programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisement. The products that can be the target of the programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisement may be all products of the store. The store may be able to designate products to be excluded from the target of the programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisement. The advertising budget may be valid only within the month, for example. Of the costs allocated to the advertising budget, only the costs actually used for advertising may be billed to the store.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an outline of a mechanism of operational type point scaling. For example, assume that a certain store X has set an operational type point scaling factor for product A and has set the upper limit point scaling factor to 10 times. Suppose that the point scaling factor for product A is set to 8 times by optimization by the online shopping mall server 1 . In FIG. 2, on the product page 100 of product A, product name 110, product image 120, price 130, imparted point information 140, and the like are displayed. The imparted point information 140 indicates the number of imparted points and the point multiplier. In the point information 140, "1x + 7x UP" is displayed as the point multiplier. This indicates that the point multiplier is 8 times. The tax-excluded price of product A is 10,000 yen. If the point scaling factor is 10 times the upper limit, the store X will bear 1,000 yen for each product A purchased. If the point scaling factor is 8 times, store X will bear 800 yen. There is a point cost difference of 200 yen, which corresponds to 2% of the price, between when the point scaling factor is 10 times and when it is 8 times. Therefore, the cost of this difference is allocated to the advertising budget.

The programmatic point-scaling origin advertisement may be any type of advertisement. In addition, any type of billing method may be used for the programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisement. A case will be described below in which the reduced point cost is allocated to the budget for search advertising. Search-linked advertisements are advertisements placed on search results pages of online shopping malls and other websites. In search-linked advertisements, advertisements for products that match search conditions specified by the user are displayed. Search-linked advertisements are preferentially displayed as search results over information on other searched products. Search-linked advertisements contain the same types of information as information on other products posted on search result pages. The difference between the search-linked advertisement and the information of other searched products is that the search-linked advertisement contains information indicating that it is an advertisement. A billing method for search-linked advertisements is, for example, click billing. However, the charging method may be preview charging, performance fee charging, or the like. If a store with programmatic point scaling is already using regular search advertising, the budget for regular search advertising and the budget for search advertising as programmatic point scaling advertising may be managed separately. In this case, the budget for normal search-linked advertising may be preferentially allocated to advertising expenses. Of the costs allocated to the programmatic point-scaling origin advertising budget, only the costs actually used for advertising will be billed to the store.

The operational type point scaling allows the store to reduce the point cost while suppressing the decrease in sales. As described above, part of the point costs may be spent as advertising costs. The point costs that are not spent as advertising costs are directly used to reduce sales costs. In addition, by distributing advertisements, sales can generally be expected to be several times higher than the advertising costs. Therefore, it is possible to expect sales corresponding to the amount of points spent as advertising expenses. As a result, there is a possibility that the overall sales of the store will improve more than when the point variable rate is set to the maximum point rate specified by the store.

[1-2. Configuration of electronic shopping mall server]
Next, the configuration of the online shopping mall server 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of the online shopping mall server 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3 , the online shopping mall server 1 includes a system control unit 11 , a system bus 12 , an input/output interface 13 , a storage unit 14 and a communication unit 15 . The system control unit 11 and the input/output interface 13 are connected via a system bus 12 .

The system control unit 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11a, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 11b, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 11c, and the like.

The input/output interface 13 performs interface processing between the storage unit 14 and the communication unit 15 and the system control unit 11 .

The storage unit 14 is configured by, for example, a hard disk drive or the like. The storage unit 14 includes databases such as a product DB 14a, a purchase history DB 14b, a point magnification change history DB 14c, a store sales DB 14d, a product sales DB 14e, an advertising budget DB 14f based on variable magnification of points, an advertisement selection history DB 14g, and an advertisement fee DB 14h. is stored.

4 and 5 are diagrams showing an example of contents stored in the database of the online shopping mall server 1. FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the product DB 14a stores product information related to products sold at the online shopping mall for each combination of product and store that sells the product. Merchandise information may be set by the store. For example, in the product DB 14a, as product information, store ID, product ID, category ID, product code, product name, product image, price, operation type point scaling setting, upper limit point scaling ratio, point scaling application period, and Point multipliers and the like may be stored in association with each other. The store ID is identification information that identifies the store that sells the product. The product ID is identification information set for the store that sells the product to identify the product. The category ID is identification information that identifies the category to which the product belongs. Examples of categories include fashion, food and drink, daily necessities, health care, cosmetics, children's products, electronics, sports, outdoors, and the like. The product category may be further subdivided. The product code is identification information that identifies the product. The difference between the product code and the product ID is that the product code is identification information that is uniquely determined for the product, while the product ID is identification information set by the store. Therefore, although the product code is the same regardless of which store sells the same product, the product ID may differ from store to store. The product code may be, for example, a JAN (Japanese Article Number) code. The investment type point variable magnification setting indicates whether or not the investment type point variable magnification is set for the product. The operational type point variable magnification setting is set to, for example, either “yes” or “no”. “Yes” indicates that operational type point scaling is set. "None" indicates that the operational type point scaling is not set. The upper limit point scaling factor is effective only when the operational type point scaling setting is set to "yes". The point scaling application period indicates a period during which normal point scaling or management type point scaling is effective. The point multiplier stored in the product DB 14a indicates the current point multiplier for the product.

The purchase history DB 14b stores a purchase log indicating the purchase of a product at the online shopping mall each time the product is purchased. For example, the purchase history DB 14b contains, as purchase logs, order number, order date and time, purchaser ID, store ID, product ID, unit price, number of purchases, operational type point variable magnification setting, upper limit point variable rate, point magnification, and purchase amount. The total, the number of points given, the tracking ID, etc. may be stored in association with each other. An order number is a number that identifies an order for a product. The date and time of order indicates the date and time when the product was ordered. The purchaser ID is the user ID of the user who purchased the product. The store ID indicates the store where the item was purchased. The product ID indicates the purchased product. The unit price indicates the price of the product at the time of purchase. The number of purchases indicates how many pieces of the product have been purchased. The investment type point variable magnification setting indicates whether or not the product was in a state where the investment type point variable magnification was set for the product at the time of purchase. The maximum point scaling factor stored in the purchase history DB 14b indicates the maximum point scaling factor of the product at the time of purchase. The point rate stored in the purchase history DB 14b indicates the point rate of the product at the time of purchase. When a plurality of different products are purchased together, the product ID, unit price, number of purchases, investment type point scaling setting, upper limit point scaling ratio, and point multiplier are stored for each product. The total purchase price indicates the total purchase price paid by the purchaser. The number of points given indicates the number of points given to the purchaser. The tracking ID is stored when the purchaser selects an advertisement distributed to the user terminal 4, displays the product page of any product of the store from which the purchase was made, and then purchases the store product. be done. The tracking ID is an ID that matches the tracking ID stored in the advertisement selection history DB 14g when the user who purchased the product selects the advertisement. A tracking ID is identification information for tracking a user's purchase behavior after selecting an advertisement. A tracking ID is only stored if the user purchased the product via the advertisement.

The change history of the point rate is stored in the point rate change history DB 14c. For example, the point rate change history DB 14c may store, as a change log, store IDs, product IDs, date and time of change, points, and the like in association with each other each time the point rate is changed. The store ID indicates the store that sells the product for which the point multiplier has been changed. The product ID indicates the product for which the point multiplier has been changed. The date and time of change indicates the date and time when the point multiplier was changed. The point rate stored in the point rate change history DB 14c indicates the point rate after change. A change log may be stored when the store changes the point multiplier, when the online shopping mall server 1 changes the point multiplier by the operational type point scaling, and when the point multiplier returns to 1.

The store sales DB 14d stores store sales information indicating sales of stores in the online shopping mall for each combination of store and date. For example, in the store sales DB 14d, as store sales information, store ID, target date, total sales amount, total sales number, operational type point variable sales amount, operational type point variable sales number, operational type point variable point grant The fee, the operational type point variable-magnification origin advertising sales amount, and the like may be stored in association with each other. The store ID indicates the target store. The target date indicates the date on which the sales indicated by the store sales information occurred. The total sales amount indicates the total sales of the store. The total number of sales indicates the total number of sales of the store. The management type point variable sales amount indicates the amount of sales generated by the management type point variable magnification among the sales of the store. The number of management-type point-magnification sales indicates the number of sales generated by management-type point-magnification among the sales of the store. The management-type point variable point grant fee indicates the fee borne by the store for granting points to the purchaser in the management-type point variable point granting fee. That is, the management type point variable point grant fee indicates the point cost. The programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertising sales amount indicates the amount of sales via the programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisement among the sales of the store.

The product sales DB 14e stores product sales information indicating the sales of each product sold by the store in the online shopping mall for each combination of store, product, and date. For example, in the product sales DB 14e, as product sales information, store ID, product ID, target date, total sales amount, total sales number, management type point variable sales amount, management type point variable sales number, point multiplier, etc. , may be stored in association with each other. The store ID indicates the store that sells the target product. The product ID indicates the product. The target date indicates the date on which the sales indicated by the product sales information occurred. The total sales amount indicates the total sales amount of the product. The total number of sales indicates the total number of sales of the product. The management-type point variable sales amount indicates the amount of sales generated by the management-type point variable magnification among the sales of the product. The number of operations-type point-multiplying sales indicates the number of sales generated by the operations-type points-multiplying among the sales of the product. The point multiplier indicates the point multiplier set for the product on the date indicated by the target date. If the point rate has been changed during the day, the point rate stored in the product sales DB 14e may be the point rate after the change.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertising budget DB 14f, information on the budget of the programmatic point-magnification originating advertisement is stored for each store for which the programmatic point variable magnification is set. For example, the campaign ID, store ID, budget amount, and the like may be associated with each other and stored in the operational type point variable-magnification origin advertising budget DB 14f. A campaign ID is identification information that identifies an advertising campaign. The store ID indicates the store that has set the variable scale of points for operation. The budget amount indicates the current advertising budget amount. For example, when the month changes, the budget amount may be reset to zero. Note that the storage unit 14 may also store a database for managing budgets for normal advertisements other than the programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisements.

The advertisement selection history DB 14g stores a history of selection (clicking) of advertisements by the user. For example, the advertisement selection history DB 14g may store tracking IDs, selection dates, campaign IDs, selector IDs, and the like as advertisement selection logs in association with each other each time an advertisement is selected. A tracking ID is identification information for tracking a user's purchase behavior after selecting an advertisement. The date and time of selection indicates the date and time when the advertisement was selected. Campaign ID indicates the campaign corresponding to the selected advertisement. The selector ID indicates the user ID of the user who selected the advertisement.

The advertising fee DB 14h stores billing information regarding advertising fees charged to stores for each advertising campaign. For example, the advertising fee DB 14h may store, as billing information, a campaign ID, a store ID, a target period, a billing amount, and the like in association with each other. The campaign ID indicates a campaign for which advertising fees are charged. The store ID indicates the store to which the advertising fee is billed. The target period indicates in which period the advertisement fee was generated. For example, the target period may be indicated by a year and a month. The amount billed indicates the amount of the billed advertisement fee.

The storage unit 14 further stores various programs such as an operating system, a DBMS (Database Management System), an electronic server program, and the like. The online shopping mall server program is a program that causes the system control unit 11 to execute various processes related to online shopping malls and advertisement distribution. The electronic shopping mall server program, for example, may be obtained from another device via the Internet NW, or may be recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic tape, an optical disk, or a memory card and read via a drive device. You may do so.

The communication unit 15 is configured by, for example, a network interface card or the like. The communication unit 15 connects to the shopping mall server 1, the point management server 2, the shop terminal 3, the user terminal 4, and the like via the network NW, and controls the communication state with the connected devices.

[1-3. Function overview of the system control unit of the online shopping mall server]
Next, a functional overview of the system control unit 11 of the online mall server 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of the system control unit 11 of the online shopping mall server 1 in this embodiment. The CPU 11a reads and executes various program codes included in the electronic shopping mall server program, and as shown in FIG. It functions as a unit 113, a ratio determination unit 114, a point value change unit 115, an advertisement budget allocation unit 116, an advertisement distribution unit 117, a sales information transmission unit 118, and the like.

[1-3-1. Optimization of point multiplier]
The point standard value acquisition unit 111 is the value of the points given to the purchaser of the product provided by the store, which is the provider of the product for which the investment type point variable magnification is set, specified by the store. Acquire standard value information indicating a standard value. Stores can specify a standard value when using the management type point variable rate. In this embodiment, the maximum point scaling factor is acquired as the reference value information.

The point reference value acquisition unit 111 may transmit a point scaling setting page, which is a web page for setting point scaling, to the shop terminal 3 in response to a request from the shop terminal 3, for example. In this point variable magnification setting page, it may be possible to specify the product ID of the product for which point variable magnification is set, the presence/absence of investment type point variable magnification setting, the point variable magnification rate, the point variable magnification application period, and the like. A range of point scaling factors that can be specified may be determined in advance. For example, it may be possible to specify the point scaling factor within the range of 5 times to 20 times. When operational type point scaling is set, the specified point scaling is treated as the upper limit point scaling. If the investment-type point scaling factor is not set, the designated point scaling factor is treated as a point scaling factor that is directly applied to the product. The store terminal 3 transmits to the online shopping mall server 1 the product ID input by the store employee or the like, the presence or absence of the operational type point variable power setting, the point variable rate, and the point variable power period. Thereby, the point reference value acquisition unit 111 may acquire the upper limit point scaling factor as the reference value. The point standard value acquisition unit 111 associates the presence or absence of the operational type point scaling setting, the point scaling ratio, and the point scaling application period received from the store terminal 3 with the product ID of the product for which the point scaling is set, You may make it memorize|store in goods DB14a.

The purchase information acquisition unit 112 determines the maximum point scaling ratio acquired by the point standard value acquisition unit 111 when the multiplier of the points given to the purchaser of the product for which the management type point scaling is set. Acquisition of purchase information indicating the purchase status of a product, and purchase information indicating the purchase status of the product when the multiplier of points granted to the purchaser of the product is set to a multiplier that is less than the maximum point scaling factor , to get For example, the purchase information acquisition part 112 may acquire the purchase log of the goods from purchase history DB14b as purchase information. Then, the purchase information acquiring unit 112 may refer to the point rate included in the purchase log to specify what rate the point rate was set to when the product was purchased. The purchase information acquisition unit 112 may acquire, for example, only purchase logs in which the order date and time are within the latest predetermined period (for example, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, etc.) from the current time.

Based on the purchase information acquired by the purchase information acquisition unit 112, the point value determination unit 113 determines the point base value acquisition unit 111 as the point base value acquisition unit 111, based on the points to be awarded to the purchaser of the product for which the investment type point variable magnification is set. Determined within a range less than the upper limit point scaling factor obtained by At this time, the point value determination unit 113 determines a point rate that will result in sales equal to or greater than a predetermined reference rate with respect to sales when the rate of points to be granted is set to the upper limit point variable rate. In general, the lower the point multiplier, the lower the sales. For example, the point value determination unit 113 may determine a point rate at which the amount of sales decrease due to the point rate being lower than the upper limit point variable rate is equal to or less than the point cost reduction amount due to the point rate being lowered. . As a result, it is possible to suppress a decrease in sales for a reduction in point costs. The sales used to determine the point scaling factor may be, for example, the average sales per predetermined period (for example, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, etc.). The point value determination unit 113 may determine the point variable rate to be the upper limit point variable rate when it is not possible to anticipate sales equal to or greater than the reference rate at any point variable rate less than the upper limit point variable rate.

The point value determination unit 113 determines, as purchase information, whether the price of a product for which the variable point multiplier is set when the product is purchased matches the current price, or when the price at the time of purchase matches the current price. Sales may be calculated using only purchase logs whose price difference is less than a predetermined value. The reason for this is that not only changes in point multipliers but also changes in prices may affect the user's purchasing behavior.

In addition, the point value determining unit 113 may exclude, as purchase information, a purchase log in which a user purchases a product via a programmatic point variable-magnification source advertisement from the purchase log used for sales calculation. The reason for this is to suppress the decrease in sales by automatically optimizing the point scaling factor alone. However, not all of the advertising budget allocated from the operational type point scaling is used for advertising expenses. As such, sales via programmatic point-scaling origin advertising may not significantly affect overall sales for the product. Also, in this embodiment, the advertising budget can be used for any advertisement of all products sold by the store. Therefore, the sales via the programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisement are distributed to all products of the store. Therefore, if the programmatic point variable rate is set for only some of the products in the store, sales via programmatic point variable rate-based advertisements are small compared to the overall sales of that product. . When sales via programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertising account for a small proportion of the total sales of the product, the point value determining unit 113 does not need to exclude purchase logs via programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertising. .

The point value determination unit 113 may determine the lowest rate among the point rates equal to or higher than the reference rate as the rate of points to be awarded to the purchaser. As a result, more point costs can be reduced while suppressing a decrease in sales.

The reference ratio may be predetermined, for example. For example, the point multiplier can be changed in units of a predetermined multiplier (eg, 0.5, 1, 2, etc.). In this case, the reference ratio may be a ratio obtained by subtracting a ratio corresponding to the unit magnification from 100%. For example, assume that the point multiplier can be changed in units of 1. The ratio corresponding to 1 time is 1%. The reference percentage in this case is 99%. When the point rate is set to a rate lower than the upper limit point variable rate, no matter how many times the point rate is set, the point cost is always reduced by 1% or more with respect to the price of the product. If the decrease in sales due to lowering the point multiplier can be suppressed to 1% or less, the amount of decrease in sales will be equal to or less than the amount of reduction in point costs.

The reference ratio is not predetermined, and the ratio determination unit 114 may determine the reference ratio. For example, the ratio determination unit 114 may determine the reference ratio for each set point multiplier based on the difference between the upper limit point scaling ratio acquired by the point reference value acquisition unit 111 and the set point multiplier. . For example, the ratio determination unit 114 may calculate the reference ratio by subtracting from 100% the ratio corresponding to the difference between the upper limit point scaling factor and the set point multiplier. For example, if the upper limit point scaling factor is 10 and the set point multiplier is 9, the ratio corresponding to the point multiplier difference is 1%. Therefore, the reference percentage is 99%. If the set point multiplier is 8, the ratio corresponding to the point multiplier difference is 2%. Therefore, the reference percentage is 98%. As a result, the amount of decrease in sales is equal to or less than the amount of reduction in point costs, as described above.

The point value changing unit 115 changes the point scaling factor of the product for which the investment type point scaling factor is set within a range equal to or less than the upper limit point scaling factor acquired by the point standard value acquiring unit 111 . In this case, the purchase information acquisition unit 112 may acquire at least the purchase log of the product after the point value change unit 115 starts changing the point scaling factor as the purchase information. By changing the point variable rate, the point value changing unit 115 can provide purchase information when the point rate is set to the upper limit point variable rate and when the point rate is set to a rate less than the upper limit point variable rate. The purchase information acquisition unit 112 can acquire the purchase information.

For example, the point value changing unit 115 may change the point scaling ratio at predetermined intervals (for example, every day, every two days, etc.) after the management type point scaling is set. After the point variable rate is changed, there is a possibility that the product for which the investment type point variable rate is set is purchased at the changed point variable rate within a certain period of time. Therefore, there is a possibility that the purchase log of that product will be stored in the product DB 14a. Here, in order to increase the reliability of the purchase information acquired by the purchase information acquisition unit 112, the point value change unit 115 determines, for example, the number of page views of the product page of the product for which the operation type point scaling is set, or It is not necessary to change the point scaling factor until the number of page views of search pages containing products as search results exceeds a predetermined number. That is, the point value changing unit 115 does not need to change the point scaling factor until the number of users who have viewed the given point information of the product exceeds a predetermined number. Alternatively, the point value changing unit 115 may not change the point scaling factor until the number of purchases of the product exceeds a predetermined number.

Before the point standard value acquisition unit 111 acquires the upper limit point scaling ratio, the point multiplier for the product for which the investment type point scaling ratio is set this time is equal to or lower than the upper limit point scaling ratio, and the normal There is a possibility that any magnification higher than the point magnification has been set. For example, before the store set the investment type point expansion this time, the normal point expansion or the investment type point expansion may have been set for the product. In that case, the purchase information acquisition unit 112 may acquire, as the purchase information, a purchase log that indicates the purchase situation when the point multiplier is set to any one of the multipliers. Then, the point standard value acquisition unit 111 may suppress setting the point multiplier to any one of the multipliers. By effectively using past information, it is possible to efficiently optimize the point multiplier.

The change pattern of the point scaling factor by the point value changing unit 115 may be any pattern. For example, the point value changing unit 115 may gradually decrease the point variable rate from the upper limit point variable rate. For example, the point value changing unit 115 may reduce the point scaling factor by one step. More specifically, the point value changing unit 115 may reduce the point variable rate by the above-described unit rate.

Here, if the sales of the product when the point variable rate is reduced to a certain rate is equal to or more than the reference percentage of the sales when the point variable rate is set to the upper limit point variable rate, the point value The changing unit 115 may further reduce the point scaling factor by one step. On the other hand, if the sales of the product when the point variable rate is reduced to a certain rate is less than the standard percentage of the sales when the point variable rate is set to the upper limit point variable rate, the point value is determined. The unit 113 may determine the point scaling factor to be one step higher than the reduced factor. This is an example of setting the multiplier of the points to be awarded to the purchaser to the lowest multiplier among the point scaling ratios equal to or higher than the reference ratio.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of how the point scaling factor is optimized. For example, it is assumed that a certain product B is set to be an investment-type point scale. It is assumed that the store has set 10% as the upper limit point variable rate. For example, when a predetermined time elapses after the operational type point scaling, optimization of the point scaling factor may be started. For example, it is assumed that variable scale of operational type points is set on April 1st. Therefore, on April 1, the point multiplier is changed from 1 to 10, which is the upper limit point variable ratio. Next, at a predetermined time on April 2nd, the point multiplier is changed to 9x. Suppose that the sales amount when the point multiplier is 10 times is converted to sales per day, and the sales amount is 100,000,000 yen. Next, at a predetermined time on April 3rd, the point multiplier is changed. The daily sales when the point multiplier is 9 times is 99,700 yen. The reduction in sales is less than 1% while the point cost equivalent to 1% of the product price is reduced. Therefore, the point multiplier is further reduced. Here, it is assumed that the point multiplier for product B has been set to 8 times in the past. The sales per day when the point multiplier is 8 times is 98,500 yen. The reduction in sales is less than 2% while the 2% worth of points costs are reduced. Therefore, the point multiplier is changed from 9x to 7x. Next, at a predetermined time on April 4th, the point multiplier is changed. The daily sales when the point multiplier is 7 times is 97,200 yen. The decrease in sales is less than 3% while the point cost equivalent to 3% of the product price is reduced. Therefore, the point multiplier is changed to 6x. Next, at a predetermined time on April 5th, the point multiplier is changed. The daily sales when the point multiplier is 6 times is 95,500 yen. While the point cost equivalent to 4% of the product price is reduced, the decrease in sales exceeds 4%. Therefore, the point multiplier is changed to 7 times. After April 5th, basically the point multiplier of 7 times may be maintained. The point multiplier may be changed to a multiplier other than x7 according to changes in sales while the point multiplier is set to x7. For example, if the decrease in sales exceeds 3%, the point multiplier may be changed to eight or more. Further, for example, when the decrease in sales is less than 2%, the point multiplier may be changed to a multiplier of 6 or less.

[1-3-2. Delivery of Ads]
The advertising budget allocation unit 116 allocates the cost corresponding to the difference between the upper limit point variable rate acquired by the point base value acquisition unit 111 and the point variable rate determined by the point value determination unit 113 to the operational type point variable rate. Execute the process of allocating to the advertising budget of the store of the product for which the double is set. In other words, the advertising budget allocating unit 116 may allocate the point cost reduced by optimizing the point multiplier to the advertising budget. The advertising budget allocation unit 116 may also allocate, to the advertising budget, the point costs that have been reduced during the period from when the programmatic point scaling is set until the optimum point multiplier is determined.

The advertising budget allocation unit 116 may allocate the reduced point cost as an advertising budget that can be used for advertising any product offered by the store. That is, the products for which advertisements can be distributed with the reduced point cost may be all products of the store.

The advertising budget allocation unit 116 may add the reduction amount of the point cost to the advertising budget of the store for which the management type point scaling is set in the management type point scaling origin advertising budget DB 14f. For example, once a day, the advertising budget allocation unit 116 may allocate the reduction amount of the point cost for the previous day to the advertising budget. Alternatively, the advertising budget allocation unit 116 may allocate the reduction amount of the point cost to the advertising budget each time a product for which the programmatic point scaling is set is purchased.

The advertisement distribution unit 117 distributes, to the user terminal 4 , the advertisement of the store for which the programmatic point scaling is set within the range of the advertisement budget allocated by the advertisement budget allocation unit 116 . For example, the advertisement distribution unit 117 may distribute advertisements for products handled by the store, without limiting to products for which the programmatic point variable magnification is set. As an example of advertisement distribution, the advertisement distribution unit 117 may transmit a search result page including search-linked advertisements to the user terminal 4 .

The advertisement distribution unit 117 updates the amount billed for the advertisement fee at a timing according to the type of advertisement to be distributed. For example, when the distributed advertisement is a search-linked advertisement, the advertisement distribution unit 117 may update the billing amount in response to the user selecting the search-linked advertisement displayed on the search result page. good. For example, the advertisement distribution unit 117 may add a predetermined advertisement unit price to the billed amount. The advertisement distribution unit 117 may distribute advertisements only when the current billed amount is less than the current advertising budget.

[1-3-3. Provision of sales information]
The sales information transmitting unit 118 transmits the operational type point variable sales amount indicating the sales after the point rate is set to the point variable rate determined by the point value determining unit 113, the point variable rate and the upper limit point variable rate. and an operational type point variable-magnification origin advertising sales amount indicating the sales generated via the distributed advertisement by allocating the cost corresponding to the difference between the cost to the advertising budget and transmitting it to the store terminal 3. As a result, the store can confirm sales via programmatic point variable magnification and sales via programmatic point variable magnification origin advertisement. For example, out of the sales generated during the point-magnifying application period, the sales other than the programmatic point-magnifying origin advertising sales amount may be the programmatic point-magnifying sales amount. Alternatively, the sales amount from the performance-type point scaling and the management-type point scaling-origin advertising sales amount may partially overlap. For example, a product for which programmatic point variable magnification is set may be purchased via programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisement.

The sales information transmission unit 118 may calculate the management-type point-magnification sales amount and the management-type point-magnification-origin advertising sales amount based on the purchase history DB 14b. For example, it is possible to determine that a purchase log in which the operational type point variable magnification setting is set to "yes" is a purchase log indicating a purchase via operational type point variable magnification. Further, based on the tracking ID included in the purchase log, it is possible to determine whether or not the purchase log indicates purchase via programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisement.

On the web page transmitted from the online shopping mall server 1 to the store terminal 3, the store may be able to set download of sales information. For example, it may be possible to select to download sales information for the store or to download sales information for a particular product. In addition, it may be possible to select whether the sales information to be downloaded is daily sales or monthly sales. Also, it may be possible to specify a period for displaying sales. The sales information transmission unit 118 may acquire, for example, sales information including a target date within a period specified by the store from the store sales DB 14d or the product sales DB 14e. When store sales information is selected, the sales information transmitting unit 118 acquires the store sales information from the store sales DB 14d. When the product sales information is selected, the sales information transmitting unit 118 acquires the product sales information from the product sales DB 14e. When daily sales is selected, the sales information transmission unit 118 may transmit the acquired sales information to the store terminal 3 as it is. If monthly sales is selected, the sales information transmission unit 118 may aggregate the sales information for each month based on the acquired sales information. The sales information transmission unit 118 may then transmit the aggregated sales information to the store terminal 3 .

[1-4. Operation of information communication system]
Next, operations of the information communication system S will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 11. FIG. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing a processing example of the information communication system S according to this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 8, an employee of the store sets operational type point scaling on the point scaling setting page transmitted from the online shopping mall server 1 to the store terminal 3 (step S1). For example, an employee selects a product for which variable points are to be set. In addition, the employee designates "yes" for the operational type point scaling setting, and also designates the upper limit point scaling ratio and the point scaling period. The shop terminal 3 sends a point scaling setting request including the product ID of the selected product, the operational type point scaling setting, the maximum point scaling ratio, the point scaling period, and the shop ID of the shop to the online shopping mall server 1. (step S2). The online shopping mall server 1 stores the operational type point scaling setting, the upper limit point scaling ratio and the point scaling period in the product DB 14a in association with the combination of the shop ID and the product ID included in the point scaling setting request. (Step S3). After that, the online shopping mall server 1 starts optimizing the point scale factor for the product for which the operational type point scale factor is set (step S4). An example of optimization processing will be described later.

After the point scaling factor is set to a certain scaling factor that is less than the upper limit point scaling factor by optimizing the point scaling factor, the online shopping mall server 1 responds to a request from the user terminal 4 to operate the operational type point scaling factor. is set to the user terminal 4 (step S5). At this time, the online shopping mall server 1 causes the product page to include award point information indicating the current point scaling factor and point award rate. The user of the user terminal 4 presses, for example, a purchase procedure button on the product page to proceed to the purchase procedure for the product. The user then performs an operation to confirm the purchase. In response to this operation, the user terminal 4 transmits an order reception request to the online shopping mall server 1 (step S6). The order request may include, for example, the product ID of the product to be purchased, the store ID, the number of purchases, and the like. The online shopping mall server 1 performs order acceptance processing based on the order acceptance request (step S7). At this time, the online shopping mall server 1 generates a purchase log based on the information included in the order request. For example, the online shopping mall server 1 includes the product ID, store ID, and number of purchases included in the order request in the purchase log. Further, the online shopping mall server 1 acquires the price, the variable point setting for the purchased product, the upper limit point variable ratio, and the point multiplier from the product information of the product to be purchased in the product DB 14a. The online shopping mall server 1 adds the acquired price, operational type point scaling setting, upper limit point scaling factor, and point scaling factor to the purchase log. The online shopping mall server 1 stores the generated purchase log in the purchase history DB 14b.

For example, at a predetermined time after the date changes, the online shopping mall server 1 aggregates sales of the previous day's stores (step S8). In addition, the online shopping mall server 1 calculates the reduction amount of the point cost due to the operation type point scaling (step S9). Then, the online shopping mall server 1 allocates the reduced point cost to the search-linked advertisement budget (step S10). The details of the processing of totaling sales, calculating point cost reduction amounts, and allocating advertising budgets will be described later.

After that, the online shopping mall server 1 transmits the search result page to the user terminal 4 in response to a request from the user terminal 4 (step S11). At this time, the online shopping mall server 1 extracts, from among the products that match the search conditions specified by the user, the products of stores to which search-linked advertisements can be distributed. For example, the online shopping mall server 1 may determine whether or not each searched product is targeted for normal search-linked advertisements other than programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisements. The online shopping mall server 1 may determine, as search-linked advertisements, those products for which the advertised amount billed so far is less than the budget amount, among the products that are the target of normal search-linked advertisements. In addition, the online shopping mall server 1 is responsible for the sales of each product that is not targeted for regular search-linked advertisements or for which the advertising fee billed for regular search-linked advertisements has reached the budget amount. It may be determined whether or not the original store ID is stored in the operational type point variable magnification source advertising budget DB 14f. The online shopping mall server 1 may acquire the budget amount associated with the shop ID for a product whose shop ID is stored in the operational-type point variable-magnification origin advertising budget DB 14f. Further, the online shopping mall server 1 may acquire the billing amount of the advertising fee for the current month stored in the advertising fee DB 14h in association with the store ID. The online shopping mall server 1 may determine products of stores whose billing amount is less than the budget amount as target products for search-linked advertising as programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertising. Then, the online shopping mall server 1 generates and transmits a search result page including the search-linked advertisement and the search result. The online shopping mall server 1 may actually post search-linked advertisements on the search result page only for products whose number is equal to or less than a predetermined number among the products for which search-linked advertisements are displayed.

After the user terminal 4 displays the search result page transmitted from the online shopping mall server 1, it is assumed that the user selects the search-linked advertisement as the programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisement (step S12). In this case, the user terminal 4 requests the product page including the campaign ID corresponding to the selected search-linked advertisement, the store ID and product ID of the product targeted by the search-linked advertisement, and the like. It is transmitted to the town server 1 (step S13). Upon receiving the product page request, the online shopping mall server 1 stores the advertisement selection log in the advertisement selection history DB 14g and updates the billing amount stored in the advertisement fee DB 14h (step S14). For example, the online shopping mall server 1 may add a predetermined advertising unit price to the billing amount stored in the advertising fee DB 14h in association with the campaign ID included in the product page request. Then, the online shopping mall server 1 transmits the product page to the user terminal 4 (step S15).

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an example of point scaling factor optimization processing by the system control unit 11 of the online shopping mall server 1 according to this embodiment. For example, the system control unit 11 may execute the point scaling factor optimization process at a predetermined time every day for each product for which the operational type point scaling setting is set to "yes" in the product information.

As shown in FIG. 9, the point value determining unit 113 first identifies product information of a target product from the product DB 14a (step S101). Next, the point value determination unit 113 determines whether or not today is within the point variable power application period included in the product information (step S102). If today is outside the point variable magnification applicable period (step S102: NO), the point value determining unit 113 changes the point magnification included in the product information to 1 (step S103). Next, the point value determining unit 113 changes the investment type point scaling setting included in the product information to "none" (step S104). Next, the point value determination unit 113 stores the change log in the point rate change history DB 14c (step S105). At this time, the point value determination unit 113 generates a change log including the product ID and store ID of the product, the current date and time as the change date and time, and the point multiplier after change. Once the change log is stored, the point scaling factor optimization process ends.

On the other hand, if today is within the point scaling application period (step S102: YES), the point value determination unit 113 sets the multiplier N to the upper limit point scaling ratio included in the product information (step S106). Next, it is determined whether or not the point multiplier for the product has been set to N times (step S107). For example, the point value determination unit 113 searches the point rate change history DB 14c for a change log including the product ID and store ID of the product, and the point rate indicating N times. If there is no corresponding change log, the point value determination unit 113 determines that the point multiplier has never been set to N times (step S107: NO). In this case, the point value determination unit 113 changes the point multiplier included in the product information to N times (step S108), and stores the change log (step S105).

On the other hand, if there is a corresponding change log, the point value determination unit 113 determines that the point multiplier has been set to N times (step S107: YES). In this case, the purchase information acquisition unit 112 acquires the purchase log when the point scaling factor is set to N times from the purchase history DB 14b (step S109). For example, the purchase information acquisition unit 112 acquires a purchase log including the product ID and store ID of the product, and the point multiplier indicating N times. Next, the purchase information acquisition unit 112 calculates the sales amount per unit time based on the acquired purchase log (step S110). For example, the purchase information acquisition unit 112 may calculate the sales amount for the purchase by adding the number of purchases to the unit price of the product included in each purchase log. Also, the purchase information acquisition unit 112 may total the sales amounts for all purchase logs. Further, the purchase information acquisition unit 112 may calculate the length of the period during which the point rate was set to N times for the product, based on the point rate change history DB 14c. Then, the purchase information acquisition unit 112 may calculate the sales amount per unit time by dividing the total sales amount by the length of the period during which the point multiplier is set to N times.

Next, the point value determining unit 113 determines whether or not the scale factor N matches the upper limit point scaling factor (step S111). If the magnification N matches the upper limit point scaling factor (step S111: YES), the point value changing unit 115 decreases the magnification N by 1 (step S112), and the process proceeds to step S107.

On the other hand, if the scaling factor N does not match the upper limit point scaling factor (step S111: NO), the ratio determination unit 114 calculates the reference ratio by subtracting N% from 100% (step S113). Next, the point value determining unit 113 calculates the reference sales amount by multiplying the sales amount per unit time when the point multiplier is set to the upper limit point multiplier by the reference ratio (step S114). Next, the point value determination unit 113 determines whether or not the sales amount when the point multiplier is set to N times is equal to or greater than the reference sales amount (step S115).

If the sales amount is equal to or greater than the reference sales amount (step S115: YES), the point value changing unit 115 determines whether or not the magnification N is higher than 2 (step S116). If the magnification N is higher than 2 (step S116: YES), the point value changing unit 115 decreases the magnification N by 1 (step S112). On the other hand, if the multiplier N is not higher than 2 (step S116: NO), the point value changing unit 115 sets the point multiplier included in the product information to N (step S117), and saves the change log. It is stored (step S105). In the case of the processing example shown in step S116, the minimum value of the point magnification automatically set by point scaling is 2. However, the automatically set minimum point multiplier may be 1 or 3 or more.

If the sales amount is less than the reference sales amount (step S115: NO), the point value determination unit 113 sets the point multiplier included in the product information to N+1 (step S118), and stores the change log ( step S105).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of store sales tallying processing by the system control unit 11 of the online shopping mall server 1 according to this embodiment. For example, the system control unit 11 may perform store sales tallying processing at a predetermined time every day for each store. As shown in FIG. 10, the sales information transmission unit 118 first selects one of the products sold by the target store (step S201). Next, the sales information transmission unit 118 executes product sales tabulation processing (step S202).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of product sales tallying processing by the system control unit 11 of the online shopping mall server 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 11, the sales information transmission unit 118 first searches the purchase history DB 14b for a purchase log containing the product ID and store ID of the selected product and the order date and time indicating yesterday (step S301). Next, the sales information transmission unit 118 calculates yesterday's total sales amount and total number of sales of the selected product (step S302). For example, the sales information transmission unit 118 may calculate the sales amount for the purchase by multiplying the unit price of the product included in each searched purchase log by the number of purchases. Then, the sales information transmission unit 118 may calculate the total sales amount by totaling the sales amounts for all the searched purchase logs. Also, the sales information transmission unit 118 may calculate the number of searched purchase logs as the total number of sales.

Next, the sales information transmitting unit 118 extracts purchase logs indicating purchases made via management-type point scaling from the retrieved purchase logs (step S302). For example, the sales information transmitting unit 118 may identify a purchase log in which the operational point variable magnification setting is set to "yes" as a purchase log via operational point variable magnification. Next, the sales information transmission unit 118 calculates yesterday's variable point sales amount and the number of variable point sales for the selected product (step S304). The processing in step S304 may be the same as the processing in step S302, except that the purchase log to be processed is different.

Next, the sales information transmitting unit 118 calculates the yesterday's variable-magnification point grant fee and point difference for the selected product (step S305). For example, the sales information transmission unit 118 may calculate the tax-excluded sales amount by multiplying the tax-excluded price of the selected product by the number of purchases for each purchase log via operational point scaling. The sales information transmission unit 118 may calculate the point grant fee for each purchase by multiplying the sales amount by a point grant rate corresponding to the point multiplier included in the purchase log. Then, the sales information transmitting unit 118 may calculate yesterday's operational type point variable-magnification point grant fee by totaling the point grant fees for all purchase logs. In addition, the sales information transmission unit 118 determines, for each purchase log via operational type point scaling, the difference in the point grant rate corresponding to the difference between the maximum point multiplier included in the purchase log and the point multiplier included in the purchase log. can be calculated. The sales information transmission unit 118 may calculate the point difference for each purchase by multiplying the sales amount by the difference in the point award rate. Then, the sales information transmission unit 118 may calculate yesterday's point difference by totaling the point difference for all purchase logs.

Next, the sales information transmission unit 118 transmits the product sales information including the product ID and store ID of the selected product, the total sales amount, the total number of sales, the variable point sales amount of the operation type, and the number of variable point sales of the operation type. , is stored in the product sales DB 14e (step 306), and the product sales tallying process ends.

When the product sales tallying process ends, as shown in FIG. 10, the sales information transmitting unit 118 determines whether or not all the products of the store have been selected (step S203). If there are products that have not been selected yet (step S203: NO), the sales information transmission unit 118 selects one of the products that have not been selected (step S204), and executes product sales tallying processing. (step S202).

On the other hand, if all products have been selected (step S203: YES), the sales information transmission unit 118 totals the total sales amount of all products to calculate the total sales amount of the selected store. Also, the sales information transmission unit 118 calculates the total number of sales of the selected store by adding up the total number of sales of all products (step S205). Next, the sales information transmission unit 118 calculates the variable operation type point-magnified sales amount of the selected store by totaling the variable operation type point-magnified sales amount of all products. In addition, the sales information transmission unit 118 calculates the number of variable point-magnification sales of the selected store by totaling the number of variable point-magnification sales of all products. Next, the sales information transmitting unit 118 calculates the variable point allocation fee for the selected store by totaling the variable point allocation fee for all products (step S206).

Next, the sales information transmitting unit 118 searches the purchase logs of the selected store for purchase logs indicating purchases made via the programmatic point variable-magnification origin advertisement (step S209). For example, the sales information transmission unit 118 may acquire a purchase log including the store ID of the selected store, the order date and time indicating yesterday, and the tracking ID from the purchase history DB 14b. The sales information transmission unit 118 may acquire the campaign ID associated with the tracking ID included in each acquired purchase log from the advertisement selection history DB 14g. The sales information transmitting unit 118 may search for a campaign ID that is the same as the acquired campaign ID from the operational type point scaling origin advertising budget DB 14f. When the corresponding campaign ID is stored in the management type point variable origin advertising budget DB 14f, the sales information transmitting unit 118 acquires the shop ID associated with the campaign ID from the management type point variable magnification origin advertising budget DB 14f. You may Then, the sales information transmission unit 118 detects the purchase log in which the store ID acquired from the programmatic point variable-magnification advertising budget DB 14f matches the store ID of the selected store, indicating the purchase via the programmatic point variable-magnification source advertisement. You may specify as a purchase log showing.

Next, the sales information transmitting unit 118 calculates the advertising sales amount based on the programmatic point variable magnification based on the searched purchase log (step S210). For example, the sales information transmission unit 118 may calculate the sales amount for the purchase by multiplying the unit price of the product included in each searched purchase log by the number of purchases. Then, the sales information transmitting unit 118 may calculate the operation-type point variable-magnification origin advertising sales amount by totaling the sales amounts for all the searched purchase logs.

Next, the sales information transmission unit 118 transmits the store ID of the selected store, the total sales amount, the total number of sales, the variable sales amount of operational type points, the variable number of sales of operational type points, the variable operational type point grant fee, Store sales information including the amount of advertising sales amount based on operational type point variable magnification is stored in the store sales DB 14d (step S211).

Next, the advertising budget allocation unit 116 calculates the point cost reduction amount by calculating the sum of the point difference amounts of all products (step S212). Next, the advertising budget allocation unit 116 adds the point cost reduction amount to the budget amount stored in the operational type point scaling origin advertising budget DB 14f in association with the store ID of the selected store, thereby obtaining the budget amount. is changed (step S213), and the store sales tallying process ends.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the online shopping mall server 1 acquires the maximum point scaling factor specified by the store. In addition, the online shopping mall server 1 provides information on the purchase status of the product when the point scaling ratio is set to the upper limit point scaling ratio, and the purchase status of the product when the point scaling ratio is set to a ratio less than the upper limit point scaling ratio. Acquire purchase information indicating the purchase status. Also, the online shopping mall server 1 determines the point scaling factor within a range less than the upper limit point scaling factor based on the purchase information. Here, the online shopping mall server 1 determines the point multiplier that will result in sales equal to or higher than the reference ratio to the sales when the point scaling ratio is set to the upper limit point scaling ratio. In addition, the online shopping mall server 1 allocates an amount corresponding to the difference between the upper limit point variable rate and the determined point rate to the advertising budget of the store. In this case, the maximum point scaling factor specified by the store is acquired. The cost corresponding to the upper limit point scaling factor is considered to be the cost assumed by the store for awarding points. Then, when the point variable rate for the purchaser is set to the upper limit point variable rate specified by the store, a rate that is equal to or greater than a predetermined percentage of the sales is determined as the point variable rate. The determined point scaling factor may vary depending on the consumer's sensitivity to the point scaling factor for a given product. In this way, it is possible to reduce the cost required for awarding points while suppressing a decrease in sales due to the point variable rate being set lower than the upper limit point variable rate. Also, the cost corresponding to the difference between the upper limit point variable rate and the determined point variable rate is allocated to the advertising budget of the store. As a result, at least part of the advertising budget may be used for advertising of the store. When a product is purchased through an advertisement, the sales of the store increase. Therefore, in order to give points to the purchaser of the product, the cost assumed by the store of the product can be effectively used based on the consumer's sensitivity to the multiplier of the points given to the purchaser. .

Here, even if the online shopping mall server 1 determines the point variable rate to be the lowest rate among the rates at which the sales are equal to or greater than the reference ratio to the sales when the point variable rate is set to the upper limit point variable rate. good. In this case, the cost required for giving points can be further reduced.

Further, the online shopping mall server 1 may change the point scaling factor within a range equal to or less than the upper limit point scaling factor. Further, the online shopping mall server 1 may acquire the purchase information of the predetermined product after the change of the scaling factor of the points is started. In this case, the point scaling factor changes within a range equal to or less than the upper limit point scaling factor. When the user purchases a predetermined product after the point scaling factor is changed, purchase information regarding the purchase can be obtained. Therefore, even if there is no purchase information necessary for determining the point variable rate at the time the store designates the upper limit point variable rate, necessary purchase information can be obtained thereafter.

Here, the online shopping mall server 1 may gradually decrease the point scaling factor from the upper limit point scaling factor. In this case, it is possible to appropriately acquire the purchase information necessary for determining the point scaling factor.

Here, the online shopping mall server 1 may further reduce the point scaling ratio when the sales of the predetermined product when the point scaling ratio is reduced to a certain ratio is equal to or higher than the reference ratio. Further, when the sales of the predetermined product are less than the reference rate when the point scaling rate is reduced to that rate, the online shopping mall server 1 determines the point scaling rate to be one step higher than that rate. may In this case, the point variable rate is reduced step by step until the sales become less than the reference ratio with respect to the sales when the point variable rate is set to the upper limit point variable rate. Then, the point variable rate is determined to be one level higher than the rate at which the sales are less than the reference rate. Therefore, it is possible to further reduce the cost required for awarding points.

In addition, when the point scaling factor has been set to any scaling factor equal to or less than the upper limit point scaling factor before the online shopping mall server 1 acquires the upper limit point scaling factor information from the shop terminal 3. , purchase information including the purchase status of the predetermined product when the point scaling factor is set to that factor may be acquired. Also, the online shopping mall server 1 may be prevented from setting the point scaling ratio to that ratio. In this case, if the point variable rate has been set to any rate below the upper limit point variable rate, after the store designates the upper limit point variable rate, setting the point variable rate to that rate is suppressed. be done. If it is possible to acquire the purchase information when the point scaling rate was set to that magnification before the maximum point scaling rate was acquired, after the maximum point scaling rate is specified, the point scaling rate will be set to that magnification again. It may not be necessary to set. Therefore, the point scaling factor can be determined efficiently.

Alternatively, the online shopping mall server 1 may determine the reference ratio. Here, the online shopping mall server 1 may determine the reference rate for each set magnification based on the difference between the upper limit point scaling rate and the set point magnification. In this case, for each set point multiplier, the sales ratio for determining the point multiplier is determined based on the difference between the upper limit point multiplier and the set point multiplier. Therefore, the percentage of sales can be determined appropriately.

[2. Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, the advertising budget allocation unit 116 can use the point cost reduced by the variable point management system for the advertisement of any product among the products of the store where the variable scale management type point is set. allocated as an advertising budget. In this embodiment, the advertising budget allocation unit 116 allocates the reduced point cost as an advertising budget that can be used only for advertisements of products for which programmatic point scaling is set. The second embodiment may be the same as the first embodiment, except as described below.

As an example of how to manage the advertising budget, there are cases where the advertising budget is managed for each product for which programmatic point scaling is set, and where the advertising budget is shared among products for which programmatic point scaling is set. .

When managing the advertising budget for each product, the advertising budget DB 14f for management type point scaling origin stores, for example, the campaign ID, store ID, product ID, budget amount, etc. for each product for which the management type point scaling is set. may be stored. The campaign ID may differ for each product. In addition, the advertising fee DB 14h may store the store ID, product ID, target period, billing amount, and the like for each product.

The advertising budget allocating unit 116 may allocate the advertising budget in the product sales totaling process shown in FIG. 11 instead of allocating the advertising budget in the store sales totaling process shown in FIG. For example, after calculating the point difference in step S305, the advertising budget allocation unit 116 calculates the budget stored in the management type point variable origin advertising budget DB 14f in association with the combination of the store ID and product ID of the selected product. The budget amount may be updated by adding the point difference amount to the amount.

When transmitting the search result page including the search-linked advertisement in step S11 shown in FIG. You may search from budget DB14f. Thereby, the advertisement distribution unit 117 may extract products for which combinations of store IDs and product IDs are stored. The advertisement distribution unit 117 may acquire the budget amount stored in the operational type point variable magnification origin advertising budget DB 14f in association with the combination of the store ID and the product ID of the extracted product. Further, the advertisement distribution unit 117 may acquire the billing amount stored in the advertisement fee DB 14h in association with the combination of the store ID and the product ID of the product. Then, the advertisement distribution unit 117 may post the search-linked advertisement on the search result page for the product for which the billed amount is less than the budgeted amount.

When updating the billing amount of the advertisement fee in step S14, the advertisement distribution unit 117 updates the billing amount stored in the advertisement fee DB 14h in association with the combination of the store ID and the product ID included in the product page request. You can add the unit price.

When advertising budgets are shared between products, the configuration of the management type point variable-magnification origin advertising budget DB 14f and the advertising fee DB 14h may be the same as in the case of the first embodiment. The advertising budget allocation unit 116 may allocate the advertising budget by the same method as in the first embodiment.

When transmitting a search result page containing a search-linked advertisement, the advertisement distribution unit 117 selects from among the searched products, and converts the operational type points stored in the product DB 14a in association with the combination of the store ID and the product ID. Products for which the setting is set to "yes" may be extracted. The advertisement distribution unit 117 may acquire the budget amount stored in the management type point variable magnification origin advertisement budget DB 14f in association with the store ID of the extracted product. Further, the advertisement distribution unit 117 may acquire the billing amount stored in the advertisement fee DB 14h in association with the store ID of the extracted product. Then, the advertisement distribution unit 117 may post the search-linked advertisement on the search result page for the product for which the billed amount is less than the budgeted amount. The billing amount update method may be the same as in the first embodiment.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the advertising budget allocated from the programmatic point scaling is used for the advertisement of the product for which the programmatic point scaling is set. Therefore, it can be expected that advertisements will increase the sales of products for which the programmatic point variable rate is set.

[3. Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, the advertising budget allocation unit 116 allocates the point cost reduced by the variable scale of the programmatic points to the products for which the variable scale of the programmatic points has been set, among the products of the store where the variable scale of the programmatic points is set. Allocate available advertising budget to any ad of the same type as the type. The second embodiment may be the same as the first embodiment, except as described below.

Examples of product types include category, manufacturer, brand, series, and the like. The category of the product can be specified based on the category ID stored in the product DB 14a. Also, it may be possible to identify the manufacturer, brand, or series from the product code stored in the product DB 14a. For example, the storage unit 14 of the online shopping mall server 1 may store a catalog DB. The catalog DB is a database that stores information indicating the catalog of each product. For example, the catalog DB may store a product code, product name, manufacturer ID, brand ID, series ID, etc. for each product. The maker ID is identification information that identifies the maker. A brand ID is identification information that identifies a brand. A series ID is identification information that identifies a series.

In addition to the campaign ID, store ID, and budget amount, one or a plurality of product type identification information may be stored in the management type point scaling origin advertising budget DB 14f, for example, for each store where management type point scaling is set. good. The product type identification information is identification information that identifies the type of product for which the investment type point variable magnification is set. The product type identification information may be category ID, manufacturer ID, brand ID, or series ID, for example.

When storing information such as the upper limit point scaling ratio in the product DB 14a in accordance with the setting of the management type point scaling by the store, the point reference value acquisition unit 111 stores the information of the store in the management type point scaling origin advertising budget DB 14f. In association with the ID, the product type identification information of the product for which the investment type point variable magnification is set may be stored. The advertisement budget allocation method by the advertisement budget allocation unit 116 may be the same as in the first embodiment.

When transmitting the search result page including the search-linked advertisement in step S11 shown in FIG. You may search from origin advertising budget DB14f. The advertisement distribution unit 117 publishes the search-linked advertisement on the search result page for the products for which the combination of the store ID and the product type identification information is stored and for which the billed advertising fee is less than the budgeted amount. may The billing amount update method may be the same as in the first embodiment.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the advertising budget allocated by the programmatic point variable rate is set to which of the products provided by the store belongs to the product for which the programmatic point variable rate is set. It can also be used for advertisements of products. Therefore, it can be expected that advertisements will increase the sales of products of the same type as the products for which the programmatic point variable magnification is set.

1 electronic shopping mall server 2 point management server 3 store terminal 4 user terminal 11 system control unit 12 system bus 13 input/output interface 14 storage unit 15 communication unit 14a product DB
14b Purchase history DB
14c Point magnification change history DB
14d Store sales DB
14e Product Sales DB
14f Advertisement budget DB based on operational type point scaling
14g Advertisement selection history DB
14h Advertising fee DB
111 Point standard value acquisition unit 112 Purchase information acquisition unit 113 Point value determination unit 114 Ratio determination unit 115 Point value change unit 116 Advertising budget allocation unit 117 Advertising distribution unit 118 Sales information transmission unit NW Network S Information communication system

Claims (13)

Indicates a reference value specified by a provider as a point value of points that can be used for transactions, which is a point value that is given to a purchaser for a predetermined transaction provided by the provider. a standard value information acquiring means for acquiring standard value information;
A purchasing situation of the predetermined transaction object when the granted point value is set to the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information; and the granted point value is set to a value less than the reference value. purchase information acquisition means for acquiring purchase information indicating the purchase status of the predetermined transaction target in the case;
Determining means for determining the granted point value within a range less than the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information, based on the acquired purchase information, wherein the granted point value is the reference value Determining means for determining the value of sales equal to or greater than a predetermined percentage of sales when set to
allocation means for executing a process of allocating an amount corresponding to the difference between the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information and the determined value to the advertising budget of the provider;
An information processing device comprising: 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said determination means determines said assigned point value to be the lowest value among values that result in sales equal to or greater than said predetermined percentage. further comprising changing means for changing the given point value within a range equal to or less than the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information;
The purchase information acquisition means acquires the purchase information including the purchase status of the predetermined transaction object after the point value given to the purchaser is changed by the change means. Item 3. The information processing device according to Item 1 or 2. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said changing means gradually lowers said given point value from said reference value indicated by said acquired reference value information. The changing means further reduces the given point value when the sales of the predetermined transaction object when the given point value is reduced to a certain value by the changing means is equal to or greater than the predetermined percentage. let
If the sales of the predetermined transaction object when the given point value is reduced to the certain value by the changing means is less than the predetermined percentage, the determination means reduces the given point value to 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a value one step higher than the certain value is determined. Before the standard value information is acquired by the standard value information acquiring means, the given point value has been set to any value below the standard value indicated by the standard value information. case, the purchase information acquisition means acquires the purchase information including the purchase status of the predetermined transaction target when the given point value is set to one of the values, and the change means obtains the given points 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein setting the value to any one of the values is suppressed. Further comprising a ratio determining means for determining the ratio,
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said determining means determines a value at which sales exceed said determined ratio with respect to sales when the value of said points to be given is set to said reference value. The information processing device described. The ratio determining means determines the ratio for each of the set values based on the difference between the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information and the set value. 8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein: 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said allocating means allocates an amount corresponding to said difference to said advertising budget of said predetermined transaction object among transaction objects provided by said provider. The allocating means assigns the amount equivalent to the difference to the advertising budget that can be used for advertisement of any transaction object belonging to the type of transaction object to which the predetermined transaction object belongs, among the transaction objects provided by the provider. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the allocation is performed as follows. First sales information indicating sales after the given point value is set to the determined value, and second sales information indicating sales generated via advertisements distributed by allocating the expenses to the advertising budget. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting means for transmitting sales information to said provider's apparatus. In a computer-implemented information processing method,
Indicates a reference value specified by a provider as a point value of points that can be used for transactions, which is a point value that is given to a purchaser for a predetermined transaction provided by the provider. a standard value information acquisition step for acquiring standard value information;
A purchasing situation of the predetermined transaction object when the granted point value is set to the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information; and the granted point value is set to a value less than the reference value. a purchase information acquisition step of acquiring purchase information indicating the purchase status of the predetermined transaction target in the case;
a determining step of determining the given point value within a range less than the reference value indicated by the obtained reference value information, based on the obtained purchase information, wherein the given point value is the reference value; a determining step of determining the value of sales equal to or greater than a predetermined percentage of sales when set to
an allocation step of executing a process of allocating an amount corresponding to the difference between the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information and the determined value to the advertising budget of the provider;
An information processing method comprising: the computer,
Indicates a reference value specified by a provider as a point value of points that can be used for transactions, which is a point value that is given to a purchaser for a predetermined transaction provided by the provider. a standard value information acquiring means for acquiring standard value information;
A purchasing situation of the predetermined transaction object when the granted point value is set to the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information; and the granted point value is set to a value less than the reference value. purchase information acquisition means for acquiring purchase information indicating the purchase status of the predetermined transaction target in the case;
Determining means for determining the granted point value within a range less than the reference value indicated by the acquired reference value information, based on the acquired purchase information, wherein the granted point value is the reference value Determining means for determining the value of sales equal to or greater than a predetermined percentage of sales when set to
allocation means for executing a process of allocating an amount corresponding to the difference between the reference value indicated by the obtained reference value information and the determined value to the advertisement budget of the provider;
An information processing program characterized by functioning as

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