WO2016151679A1 - Information processing device, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to extract a product that has a factor as a product which is likely to sell during a certain period but the sales of which during said period has not increased under current circumstances: a sales increase period for each product is specified by using purchase history information in which the date and time each product was purchased are stored; a product having a plurality of sales increase periods is specified as a comparative product; a product whose sales increase period partially matches those of the comparative product is extracted as a recommended product; and, for the extracted recommended product, a period that is one of the sales increase periods of the corresponding comparative product but is not a sales increase period of said recommended product is set as a recommendation period of said recommended product.

Description

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program, and more particularly to a technical field relating to extraction of products expected to increase in sales.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-316776

It has become common for various stores to open in a virtual shopping mall operated by an electronic commerce system and for general users to purchase products through online transactions.
Among the various products that are traded, there are seasonal products that increase sales at specific times. For this reason, it is important for the store side to determine the time when various products can be sold and to develop a marketing strategy in accordance with the time.
Patent Document 1 discloses a macro trend calculation method capable of intuitively grasping the degree of temporal change as a whole from a table of items and numerical values collected for each period. For example, by using this method or the like, it is possible to analyze the time when the product is sold from the purchase history of the product.

By the way, as a product with seasonality, there is a case where there is a need in a time other than the time when the product has been confirmed as a result among the products that are confirmed to increase in sales at a certain time. However, it is difficult to grasp the “needs at a time when there is no track record” for each product.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily determine a product that can be estimated to be sold at a specific time other than the time when it is actually sold.

The information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a sales increase timing specifying unit that specifies a sales increase timing of each product using purchase history information in which the purchase date and time for each product is stored, and the sales increase timing specifying unit specifies A product having a plurality of sales increase periods is used as a comparison product, and the recommended product extraction unit that extracts a product having a part of the sales increase timing as a recommended product for the comparison product is extracted by the recommended product extraction unit. A recommended time setting unit that sets the recommended product's recommended time as the recommended product's recommended time when the recommended product has a sales increase time of the corresponding comparative product and is not the sales increase time of the recommended product. It is a thing.
When a product having a plurality of sales increase periods is used as a comparative product, a product in which a part of the sales increase period coincides with the comparative product can be estimated to have similar sales factors to the comparative product. Therefore, it can be estimated that the time when the sales of the recommended product can be expected is the time when the sales of the comparative product is not yet the time of the recommended product. In this way, by comparing the sales increase time of a product, it is possible to easily estimate the sales promotion possibility at a specific time other than the time when a certain product is currently sold.

In the information processing apparatus described above, the recommended product extraction unit is a product whose sales increase time partly matches the comparative product, and is related by the relevance determination with the comparative product. It can be considered that a product determined to be present is the recommended product.
That is, not only does the comparison product and the sales increase time partially match, but also the relevance condition is added to extract the recommended product, thereby improving the reliability of the recommended time set by the recommended time setting unit.

In the information processing apparatus described above, the recommended time setting unit is a sales increase time of the corresponding comparative product for the recommended product, and is not a sales increase time of the recommended product. It is conceivable that the time excluding the non-recommended time set for the recommended product is set as the recommended time for the recommended product.
That is, a time that is not suitable as a recommended time for a product is set as a non-recommended time. The deprecated time is not set as the recommended time.

In the information processing apparatus described above, the recommended product extracted by the recommended product extraction unit and the recommended time information set by the recommended time setting unit for the recommended product for the terminal device of the store selected as the transmission target store It is conceivable to include a sales proposal information providing unit that controls transmission of sales proposal information.
In other words, by providing the store with a recommended product that is presumed to be a product that is likely to be sold at the recommended time, an opportunity for sales preparation is provided.

In the information processing apparatus described above, the sales proposal information providing unit may select, as the transmission target store, a store handling the recommended product or a store having handleability for the sales proposal information of a certain recommended product. Conceivable.
That is, by not providing the sales proposal information related to the recommended product to stores that are not related to the recommended product, that is, stores that are not handled, notification that is recognized as useless by the store side is avoided. On the contrary, the sales proposal information becomes effective information because the store to be transmitted becomes a store related to the recommended product.

In the information processing apparatus described above, the sales proposal information providing unit sends, for the sales proposal information of a certain recommended product, a handling store of the comparison product corresponding to the recommended product or a store having a handling possibility to the transmission target. It is possible to select as a store.
If the recommended product and the corresponding comparison product are related products, the sales proposal information related to the recommended product is also effective information for stores that handle the comparison product.

In the information processing apparatus described above, the sales proposal information providing unit transmits the sales proposal information to the transmission target store at a time before a predetermined date and time from the start date of the recommended time notified by the sales proposal information. It is conceivable to perform control.
That is, the sales proposal information is transmitted at an appropriate timing so that the store can prepare for the sale of the product in accordance with the sales increase timing.

In the information processing apparatus described above, control is performed so that the product introduction information about the recommended product extracted by the recommended product extraction unit is presented to the user terminal at the recommended time set by the recommended time setting unit for the recommended product. It is conceivable to provide a product introduction control unit.
The recommended product is a product that is estimated to be likely to be sold at a time (recommended time) that has not been particularly noticeable until now, based on the comparison of the sales increase time with the comparative product. Therefore, the product is introduced on the user terminal at a certain recommended time when there is a possibility of selling.

In the information processing apparatus described above, the product introduction control unit is configured such that, at a recommended time of a recommended product, the user terminal in which a specific user action is performed on the comparison product corresponding to the recommended product. It may be possible to control so that product introduction information about recommended products is presented.
A user who has performed a specific user action such as browsing a product web page for a certain comparative product can be estimated to be a user who is considering purchasing the comparative product for a certain purpose. Then, it can be estimated that the user is also interested in the recommended product corresponding to the comparative product. Therefore, as the product introduction information, recommended products estimated to be products that meet the user's purpose are presented at the recommended time.

In the information processing apparatus described above, the product introduction control unit includes the product introduction information about the recommended product in which the product included in the purchase history of the user using the user terminal is the comparison product, and the recommended time of the recommended product. In addition, it is conceivable to perform control so as to be presented at the user terminal.
A user who has purchased a certain comparison product can be estimated as a user who is also interested in the recommended product corresponding to the comparison product. Therefore, as the product introduction information, recommended products estimated to be products that meet the user's purpose are presented at the recommended time.

The information processing method according to the present invention is an information processing method executed by the information processing apparatus, which specifies a sales increase timing for specifying a sales increase timing of each product using purchase history information in which the purchase date and time for each product is stored. A product having a plurality of sales increase times specified in the step and the sales increase time specifying step as a comparative product, and extracting a product having a part of the sales increase time corresponding to the comparative product as a recommended product For the recommended product extracted in the step and the recommended product extraction step, the time when the corresponding comparative product is increased in sales and is not the sales increase time of the recommended product is determined as the recommended time of the recommended product. And a recommended time setting step for setting.
With this information processing method, it is possible to estimate the sales promotion possibility at a specific time other than the time when a certain product is currently sold.
The program according to the present invention is a program that causes an information processing apparatus to execute the processing of each step as each of the above information processing methods.

According to the present invention, there is an effect that it is a certain product that has been sold significantly at a certain time, and it is possible to easily determine a certain product that is likely to be sold at another time and the time.

It is a block diagram of the electronic commerce system of an embodiment of the invention. It is a block diagram of the computer apparatus used by embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the function structure and database of an electronic commerce server of an embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of goods with a season. It is explanatory drawing of the time management database and purchase history database of embodiment. It is a flowchart of the sales increase time specific process of an embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the sales increase time of goods. It is a flowchart of the 1st example of the recommended goods and time determination process of embodiment. It is a flowchart of the recommended time setting process of an embodiment. It is a flowchart of the 2nd example of the recommended goods and time determination process of embodiment. It is a flowchart of the sales proposal information transmission process of an embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the presentation aspect of the sales proposal of embodiment. It is a flowchart of merchandise introduction control processing of an embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the presentation aspect of the introduction goods of embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the presentation aspect of the introduction goods of embodiment. It is a flowchart of the 2nd example of the merchandise introduction control process of an embodiment. It is a flowchart of the 3rd example of the merchandise introduction control process of an embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in the following order.
<1. Electronic Commerce System Configuration>
<2. EC Server Functional Configuration and Database>
<3. Recommended product and recommended time setting>
<4. Sales proposal to store ＞
<5. Product introduction to users>
<6. Summary and Modification>
<7. Program and Storage Medium>

In the embodiment, an electronic commerce server (EC server) that provides an electronic commerce system will be described as an example of the information processing apparatus described in the claims of the present invention. The electronic commerce server is realized by one or a plurality of information processing apparatuses. Therefore, the information processing apparatus according to the claims of the present invention is realized by one information processing apparatus or a plurality of information processing apparatuses in cooperation.
Further, main terms used in the embodiments have the following meanings.
User: A user who browses and purchases products using the electronic commerce system. Product: Products that are targeted for commercial transactions on the electronic commerce system. Including not only products as physical items but also products as various services ・ Stores: Stores opened in the e-commerce system ・ User actions: A general term for actions performed by the user using a user terminal, for example, link images Examples include click operations, search word input, search execution operations, favorite registration operations, purchase operations, and login operations.

<1. Electronic Commerce System Configuration>
FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a network system that functions as an EC (electronic commerce) system that realizes a virtual shopping street in which a plurality of stores open. An electronic commerce server (hereinafter referred to as “EC server”) 2 in FIG. 1 corresponds to an embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the EC system according to the present embodiment, an EC server 2, a plurality of store terminals 4, and a plurality of user terminals 5 are connected via a network 1 so that they can communicate with each other. The EC server 2 can access the electronic commerce database 6.
Hereinafter, “database” is referred to as “DB”.

Various examples of the configuration of the network 1 are assumed. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN (Local Area Network), CATV (Community Antenna TeleVision) communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication network, etc. are assumed. The
Various examples of transmission media that constitute all or part of the network 1 are also assumed. For example, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394, USB (Universal Serial Bus), power line carrier, telephone line etc. wired, infrared such as IrDA (Infrared Data Association), Bluetooth (registered trademark), 802.11 wireless It can also be used by radio such as a mobile phone network, satellite line, and digital terrestrial network.

The EC server 2 is a virtual shopping mall server that functions as a portal of a virtual shopping mall, for example. The EC server 2 executes processing based on the processing request received from the store terminal 4 or the user terminal 5. For example, providing search pages for products and services to users, providing store pages for each store, searching for products and services according to user searches, displaying a list of search results, advertising on each page, and recommended products for users Etc., processing related to product purchase, store management, user management, etc.

The store terminal 4 is shown as an information processing device used at a store opening a store in a virtual shopping mall. The store terminal 4 is used for registering information on products sold in the virtual shopping mall in the electronic commerce DB 6 via the EC server 2. For example, a dedicated screen provided from the EC server 2 is displayed on the display unit of the store terminal 4. The person in charge of the store registers product information and the like in the electronic commerce DB 6 via this dedicated screen.

The user terminal 5 is shown as an information processing apparatus operated by a user who purchases goods and services using a virtual shopping mall. The user terminal 5 is realized by an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, a mobile phone, or a portable information terminal.

In the present embodiment, for example, an HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) daemon is activated in the EC server 2. In addition, a browser is activated at the store terminal 4 or the user terminal 5, and a processing request (HTTP request) is transmitted from the store terminal 4 or the user terminal 5 to the EC server 2 via the browser. From the EC server 2, a processing result (HTTP response) corresponding to the processing request is transmitted to the store terminal 4 or the user terminal 5. For example, page data described in a web page description language is transmitted to the store terminal 4 or the user terminal 5. And based on this page data, the web page (screen) based on a processing result is displayed on the display part of the shop terminal 4 or the user terminal 5. FIG.
The EC server 2 provides a web page as a virtual shopping mall to the user terminal 5 through such operations, and performs product search, product presentation, advertisement presentation, settlement processing, etc. in response to a request from the user terminal 5. The EC server 2 performs the same operation on the store terminal 4 as well, providing a product registration page, registering a product in response to a request from the store terminal 4, and the like.

Information necessary for the EC server 2 to perform these processes is stored in the electronic commerce DB 6. In the figure, user DBs 6a, store DBs 6b, product DBs 6c, advertisement DBs 6d, purchase history DBs 6e, and time management DBs 6f are illustrated as DBs related to the processing described later in the present embodiment. Of course, there are various other DBs necessary for functioning as a portal of a virtual shopping mall.

In the user DB 6a, data related to users who use the virtual shopping mall is registered. For example, for each registered user, a user ID (identification) which is user identification information, a login password, an address, a name, attribute information such as sex and age, payment information, an e-mail address, and the like are registered. In addition, data relating to the history of transactions performed in the virtual shopping mall is registered as the purchase history of each user. For example, for each user ID, the product ID of the purchased product, information about the product, the purchase store, the purchase date and time, the purchase price, and the like are registered. Furthermore, browsing history of each user, favorite registration information, and the like are also stored.

In the store DB 6b, data related to stores that open in the virtual shopping mall is registered. For example, for each store, store ID, name, address, telephone number as store identification information, link information (URL (Uniform Resource Locator)) to a web page (store page) related to the store, and the like are registered.
Data related to products handled in the virtual shopping mall is registered in the product DB 6c. For example, in the product table 6b, for each product (including services), a product ID as product identification information, a store ID of a store selling the product, a product category, a name, a price, a stock, a web page (product) Link information (URL) to (page) is registered.
In addition, as product ID, ID which identifies one product corresponding to the model number etc. of goods, or ID which identifies the product of each store (that is, the same product, different ID in each store) may be used. However, the product ID in the present embodiment will be described assuming the former example. However, even in the latter example, the same processing as in the embodiment is possible.

Advertisement information registered by the store is registered in the advertisement DB 6d. Each advertisement information is associated with an advertisement image such as a product or a store photo or logo, text information as an advertisement text, a keyword for selecting an advertisement, a URL link, performance information, and advertisement unit price information. The performance information includes the display count (impression), click count, CTR (Click Through Rate), access count, conversion count, CVR (Conversion Rate), merchandise sales value, and the like.
The EC server 2 can display the advertisement image and text selected from the advertisement DB 6e on various web pages.

The purchase history DB 6e and the time management DB 6f will be described later.
In the present embodiment, the EC server 2 accesses such an electronic commerce DB 6 and acquires information necessary for various processes.
The electronic commerce DB 6 may be constructed in a server computer different from the EC server 2 or may be constructed in the EC server 2.
For convenience of illustration and description, the electronic commerce DB 6 is shown. However, the user DB 6a, the store DB 6b, the product DB 6c, the advertisement DB 6d, the purchase history DB 6e, and the time management DB 6f can be accessed by the EC server 2. It may be realized in any form. For example, all of the DBs may be formed in a storage unit in the same system as the EC server 2, or a part or all of each DB may be provided in a computer system such as a separate body or a remote place. Of course, each DB does not need to be formed in one device (for example, one HDD). Each DB does not need to be configured as one DB. For example, information stored as the user DB 6a may be stored and managed by a plurality of user DBs (for example, a login user DB and a transaction user DB). Each of the above-described DBs described in the embodiments is merely an example of a storage unit for information related to the processing of the embodiment in the form of one DB.

Next, FIG. 2 shows the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus that constitutes the EC server 2, the store terminal 4, and the user terminal 5 shown in FIG. Each device shown as EC server 2, store terminal 4, and user terminal 5 can be realized as a computer device as shown in FIG. 2 capable of information processing and information communication.

In FIG. 2, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101 of a computer apparatus performs various processes according to a program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 102 or a program loaded from a storage unit 108 to a RAM (Random Access Memory) 103. Execute the process. The RAM 103 also appropriately stores data necessary for the CPU 101 to execute various processes.
The CPU 101, ROM 102, and RAM 103 are connected to each other via a bus 104. An input / output interface 105 is also connected to the bus 104.
The input / output interface 105 includes an input unit 106 composed of a keyboard, mouse, touch panel, etc., an output unit composed of a display or speaker composed of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), an organic EL (Electroluminescence) panel, etc. 107, a storage unit 108 composed of an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory device, and the like, and a communication unit 109 for performing communication processing and inter-device communication via the network 1 are connected.
A media drive 110 is also connected to the input / output interface 105 as necessary, and a removable medium 111 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory is appropriately mounted, and information can be written to the removable medium 111. Reading is performed.

In such a computer apparatus, it is possible to upload and download data and programs through communication by the communication unit 109, and to transfer data and programs via the removable medium 111.
When the CPU 101 performs processing operations based on various programs, necessary information processing and communication as the EC server 2, the store terminal 4, and the user terminal 5 are executed.
Note that the information processing apparatus that constitutes the EC server 2, the store terminal 4, and the user terminal 5 is not limited to a single computer apparatus as shown in FIG. 2, and a plurality of computer apparatuses are systematized. May be. The plurality of computer devices may be systemized by a LAN or the like, or may be arranged at a remote place by a VPN using the Internet or the like.

<2. EC Server Functional Configuration and Database>
FIG. 3 shows a functional configuration as the EC server 2 configured by one or a plurality of information processing apparatuses.
Each function as the EC server 2 is a function realized by processing executed by the CPU 101 in accordance with the program in the information processing apparatus. However, all or a part of the processing described below may be realized by hardware.
Further, when each function is realized by software, each function need not be realized by an independent program. Processing of a plurality of functions may be executed by one program, or one function may be realized by cooperation of a plurality of program modules.

The EC server 2 includes a communication unit 21, a web server 22, a management unit 23, a search unit 24, a sales increase time specifying unit 25, a recommended product extraction unit 26, a recommended time setting unit 27, a sales proposal information providing unit 28, and a product introduction control. Part 29.

The communication unit 21 performs various communications with the user terminal 5, the store terminal 4, or other information processing apparatuses via the network 1. For example, the communication unit 21 transmits HTML data that constitutes a web page presented on the browser at the user terminal 5 or the store terminal 4, or the input information on the web screen performed at the user terminal 5 or the store terminal 4. Receive etc. The communication unit 21 also includes a function of performing e-mail transmission to the user terminal 5 and the store terminal 4.

The web server 22 generates various web pages constituting the virtual shopping mall (HTML data generation). For example, various page data such as a portal screen, a search screen, a search result screen, a product screen, and a store screen are generated. For this purpose, necessary information is also acquired from the user DB 6a, the store DB 6b, the product DB 6c, and the advertisement DB 6d.
The management unit 23 performs processing necessary for the electronic commerce system, such as user registration, store registration, product registration, login processing from the user terminal 5 or the store terminal 4, advertisement registration, and payment processing. Further, according to these processes, management such as registration / update of information of the user DB 6a, the store DB 6b, the product DB 6c, the advertisement DB 6d, and the purchase history DB 6e is also performed.
The search unit 24 performs product search using the product DB 6c, product search using the store DB 6b, advertisement search using the advertisement DB 6e, and the like, and acquires information on products, stores, advertisements, and the like to be presented on the web page. These pieces of information are transferred to, for example, the web server 22 and used to generate a web page.

The sales increase time specifying unit 25 specifies the sales increase time of each product using the purchase history information stored in the purchase history DB 6e and storing the purchase date and time for each product. In other words, it specifies the best selling time of seasonal products.
FIG. 4A exemplifies the number of sales per month of two products “barbecue supplies” and “insect repellent spray”. For example, it is assumed that the number of sales of these products in the entire virtual shopping street. FIG. 4B is a graph of FIG. 4A. Solid lines indicate insect repellent sprays, and broken lines indicate barbecue items.
In this example, sales of barbecue goods increased significantly in May and August compared to other months. On the other hand, sales of insect repellent sprays increased significantly in August compared to other months.
In this case, sales of barbecue products are in May and August, and sales of insect repellent sprays are in August. In this way, the sales increase timing specifying unit 25 specifies the sales increase timing based on the number of sales in each month for each product.

The sales increase period is a period when the number of products sold increases significantly. Various periods are assumed as the “time” here, but in this embodiment, for the sake of simplification of description, an example in units of months from January to December will be described.
Of course, in the processing of the embodiment, the “time” as the sales increase time is not limited to a monthly unit. For example, the unit may be a week unit, a day unit, or an hour unit. The period may include an arbitrarily set period, season (spring period, summer period, autumn period, winter period), summer vacation period (July and August), and New Year period. (January 1 to January 5), Bon Festival (for example, August 5 to August 15), Christmas period (for example, December 15 to December 25), especially when the general reason is unknown (For example, June 5 to June 7) is also assumed. In any case, if sales of a certain product have increased remarkably during a certain period, this is the time when sales of the product have increased.

The recommended product extraction unit 26 shown in FIG. 3 recommends a product having a plurality of sales increase times specified by the sales increase time specifying unit 25 as a comparative product, and recommends a product with a part of the sales increase time corresponding to the comparative product. Process to extract as a product.
For example, in the case of the example of FIG. 4A, there are two barbecue goods, sales increase periods in May and August. Therefore, the barbecue article is set as a comparative product. And the sales increase time of barbecue goods and the sales increase time of each other product are compared, and the product which partially matches is made into a recommended product. For example, insect repellent spray is recommended because May coincides with barbecue supplies.
FIG. 4C shows the number of sales of the products M10 and M20 per month. In this case, the sales of the product M10 are in March and June, and the sales of the product M20 are in June and September. It is time to increase. Since both have multiple sales growth periods, they can be considered as comparative products.
When the product M10 is selected as the comparison product, since the sales increase time coincides with June, the product M20 is the recommended product. Further, when the product M20 is selected as the comparison product, since June coincides as the sales increase time, the product M10 becomes the recommended product.
Note that the recommended product extraction unit 26 sets the recommended product as a product whose sales increase timing partially matches the comparative product. Products that match all are not recommended products. For example, when the barbecue article in FIG. 4A is selected as the comparison article, if the sales increase time of a certain product is May and August, the product is not a recommended product.

The recommended time setting unit 27 in FIG. 3 indicates the time when the recommended product extracted by the recommended product extraction unit 26 is the sales increase time of the corresponding comparative product and is not the sales increase time of the recommended product. A process for setting the recommended time of the recommended product is performed.
The corresponding comparative product is a comparative product in which a part of the sales increase period is the reason why the recommended product is recommended. For example, when “insect repellent spray” in FIG. 4A is a recommended product, the corresponding comparative product is “barbecue goods”. The period when the sales of the comparative product (barbecue goods) is increased (May, August) but not the sales increase time (August) of the recommended product (insect repellent spray). The recommended time is May.

The recommended time is a time when sales of the recommended product have not significantly increased, but it is also a time when it is expected to sell. In other words, a recommended time is set based on the concept that it is estimated that a product for which a part of the sales increase time coincides with the comparative product if the comparative product is sold.
In fact, products that can be sold at the same time often have some relationship that is the reason for selling. In the present embodiment, by paying attention to this point, it is determined when a product is likely to sell out of the times when it is not sold, and the recommended time is set. For example, insect repellent spray is a product that is often used in outdoor barbecue, and in fact, it is often needed around May, but at the time of May (a time when you don't care much about insects) When preparing a barbecue, insect repellent spray is often unthinkable. In other words, insect repellent spray is currently a product that does not increase sales in May, but has a factor to sell in May together with barbecue goods.

The sales proposal information providing unit 28 in FIG. 3 selects the recommended product extracted by the recommended product extracting unit 26 and the recommended time set by the recommended time setting unit 27 for the recommended product for the store terminal 4 selected as the transmission target store. The transmission control of sales proposal information including the information of is performed.
That is, the sales proposal information providing unit 28 performs processing for proposing a store with a product that is likely to be sold at a specific time.

The product introduction control unit 29 controls the product introduction information about the recommended product extracted by the recommended product extraction unit 26 to be presented to the user terminal 5 at the recommended time set by the recommended time setting unit 27 for the recommended product. To do.
That is, the product introduction control unit 29 performs processing for introducing a product that is likely to be sold at a specific time to the user at the specific time. In particular, since the recommended product is not sold at the specific time (recommended time), the processing of the product introduction control unit 29 has a meaning of newly introducing a product appropriate for the user at that time. It can also be a process.

The purchase history DB 6e and the time management DB 6f used by the EC server 2 having these functions for extracting recommended products, setting the recommended time, making proposals to the store terminal 4, and introducing the user terminal 5 will be described.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the time management DB 6f and the purchase history DB 6e.
The time management DB 6f is a DB in which various products are registered with product IDs (M1, M2,...), And sales increase time, recommended flag, recommended time, non-recommended time, and comparative products are registered for each product. .
The product entered in this time management DB 6f is a product having a sales increase time. That is, the sales increase timing specifying unit 25 registers a product for which a certain period is set as the sales increase timing in the time management DB 6f.
Note that the product IDs (M1, M2,...) Of the products to be entered are registered with a product ID common to the product DB 6c, which is convenient when referring to the contents of the product DB 6c.

As the sales increase time for each product in the time management DB 6f, the time specified by the sales increase time specifying unit 25 for the product is registered. The figures in the figure represent the month.
The recommended flag is a flag indicating that the recommended product is determined as a recommended product by the processing of the recommended product extraction unit 26. Here, “1” indicates that the recommended product and “0” does not indicate the recommended product.
The recommended time (for example, month) set by the recommended time setting unit 27 for the product (recommended product) is registered as the recommended time.
As the non-recommended time, a time (for example, month) that is not suitable for the recommended time is registered in advance for each product. For example, when the product M3 is a winter product, July, August, and September are registered as non-recommended times.
As the comparative product, information (for example, a product ID) indicating the comparative product when the product is a recommended product is registered. Here, since it is sufficient that the comparative product registered in the time management DB 6f can be shown at a minimum, it may be information indicating the comparative product by an address (or address offset) in the time management DB 6f.

In the figure, the sales increase time, the recommended time, and the non-recommended time are each set as monthly information. However, as described above, the information is not limited to monthly, and a certain period may be indicated.
Moreover, you may comprise the above time management DB6f as a part of merchandise DB6c, for example. In other words, in the product DB, the sales increase time, the recommended flag, the recommended time, the non-recommended time, and the comparative product may be registered for some products for which the sales increase time exists.

The purchase history DB 6e is a DB in which the date and time when each product is purchased from various users in the virtual shopping mall is registered. For example, as shown in the figure, for each product ID indicating one product, date and time information on the purchase of the product is registered.
Note that the purchase history DB 6e may be such that the product ID and purchase date and time are arranged along the time axis in a format such as purchase history log information, for example. In any case, the purchase history DB 6e only needs to be able to detect the date and time when purchase occurred for each product.

<3. Recommended product and recommended time setting>
Hereinafter, the recommended product extraction and recommended time setting processing executed by the EC server 2 will be described. This is a process of extracting a recommended product, setting a recommended time, and registering it in the recommended product DB 6g. Broadly speaking, the process of specifying the sales increase time for each product by the function of the sales increase time specifying unit 25 and the process of recommended product extraction / recommended time setting by the functions of the recommended product extraction unit 26 and the recommended time setting unit 27 are EC. Performed on server 2.

First, the sales increase timing specifying process for each product will be described with reference to FIGS.
The EC server 2 performs the sales increase timing specifying process shown in FIG. This is a process of investigating the sales increase time of each product and registering, for example, the product ID and the sales increase time in the time management DB 6f for the product having the sales increase time.
Among various products, there are some products whose sales increase at specific times. Now, using an example in which the time is in units of months, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, sales of various products vary (or do not vary) from month to month depending on their properties.
In FIG. 7, the sales of the products m1 and m3 are in December, January and February.
Sales of the product m2 will be in July, August, and September.
The merchandise m4 is a merchandise that has no sales increase in particular and that has sales throughout the year.

The processing in FIG. 6 is processing for specifying such sales increase timing or determining that there is no sales increase timing for each product sold in the online shopping mall. Of course, this process may target all products handled in the online shopping mall, or may target a part of the products. Some products are, for example, selected products of one or more genres, selected products of one or more price ranges, and products whose annual sales are a predetermined number or more.
The EC server 2 performs the processing of FIG. 6 for each product for all or some of the products handled in the online shopping mall.

First, in step S101, the EC server 2 specifies one product ID to be processed as a product for which the sales increase timing is specified.
In step S102, the EC server 2 obtains purchase history information about the identified product from the purchase history DB 6e. That is, the date and time information on the purchase of a specific product ID is acquired.
In step S <b> 103, the EC server 2 calculates the number of sales (number sold) for each period of the processing target product. For example, the number of purchases for each month is calculated. For example, if there is a DB in which the number of sales for each period is managed for each product, it is only necessary to acquire information on the number of sales for each period from the DB.

In step S104, the EC server 2 determines a temporal change in the number of sales for the product. That is, it is determined whether a specific period is a sales increase period or a sales increase period does not exist.
For example, for the number of sales per month, the standard deviation or variance value is obtained. If the value is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, that is, if the value of the number of sales varies depending on the season, the product is subject to seasonal variations. If the value of standard deviation or variance is less than a predetermined value, it can be determined that the product has no temporal variation.
In the case of a product that does not change with time, the processing of FIG. 6 for the product is finished from step S105. For example, this is the case for the product m4 in FIG. In other words, products that do not change with time are not registered in the time management DB 6f.

When it is determined that the product has a time variation (for example, in the case of the products m1, m2, m3, etc. in FIG. 7), the EC server 2 proceeds from step S105 to S106, and sets a criterion for determining the sales increase timing. The criterion is a value for comparing the number of sales in each period, and is a threshold for determining whether each period is a sales increase period.
For example, a value obtained by adding a certain added value to the average value of the number of sales in units of months is set as a determination criterion. FIG. 7 shows an example of determination criteria rf1, rf2, and rf3 set for each of the products m1, m2, and m3. For example, the determination criterion rf1 is a value obtained by adding an addition value to the average value of the number of sales per month of the product m1.
The reason why the added value is added to the average value is to determine the time when the sales are remarkably increasing.

In step S107, the EC server 2 identifies the sales increase time for the product. Now, assuming that the product m1 in FIG. 7 is a processing target, the EC server 2 compares the number of sales in each period (month) with the determination criterion rf1, and determines the time when the number of sales exceeds the determination criterion rf1 as the sales increase timing. Identify.
In step S108, information on the sales increase time of the product is stored.
That is, the product ID of the product is registered as a new entry in the time management DB 6f, and information on the sales increase time is registered.

By completing the processing of FIG. 6 for all products to be processed, it is possible to specify the sales increase timing of each product.
At this time, the product having the sales increase time is registered in the time management DB 6f.
Note that the determination criterion is set for each product in step S106, considering that the average number of sales differs for each product, so that the timing of sales increase can be specified by the determination criterion suitable for each product. It is to make it. In that sense, the added value may be set for each product. For example, 20% of the average value is added.

Next, a first example of recommended product and time determination processing will be described with reference to FIG.
The EC server 2 extracts recommended products for the products registered in the time management DB 6f by the process shown in FIG. 8, and sets their recommended times.
The process of FIG. 8 is performed, for example, by sequentially selecting products having a plurality of sales increase periods among the products registered in the time management DB 6f in the process of FIG.

In step S201, the EC server 2 selects a product having a plurality of sales increase times from the products registered in the time management DB 6f, sets the product as a comparison product, and acquires information on the sales increase time. For example, the product “M1” in FIG. 5 is used as a comparative product, and information “May, August” of the sales increase timing is acquired.
In step S202, the EC server 2 sets the number of products and the variable n = 1 in the variable N. The number of products to be assigned to the variable N is the number of products registered in the time management DB 6f.

Then, the EC server 2 performs the processing after step S203 for each product registered in the time management DB 6f.
That is, the EC server 2 first selects the (n) th product registered in the time management DB 6f in step S203. If the (n) th product is the comparison product selected in step S201, the process proceeds from step S204 to S209.
In step S209, the EC server 2 determines whether or not the variable n has reached the variable N (total number of products). If the processes after step S203 have been completed for all the products, the process ends. If not completed, the variable n is incremented in step S210 and the process returns to step S203. That is, the process proceeds to the next product.

If the (n) th product is not a comparative product, the EC server 2 proceeds to step S205, and acquires information on the sales increase timing for the (n) th product from the time management DB 6f.
In step S206, the EC server 2 compares the sales increase timing of the comparative product and the (n) th product, and determines whether or not a part of them matches.
If there is no coincidence time or if all coincide, the process proceeds from step S209 to S210 to S203, and the process proceeds to the next product.

When the sales increase time of the comparative product and the (n) th product partially match, the EC server 2 proceeds from step S206 to S207, and sets the (n) th product as a recommended product. Specifically, the recommended flag is set to “1” for the product, and information on the corresponding comparison product is registered. The comparative product is the product selected in step S201 (a product for which partial coincidence of sales increase timing has been confirmed).

Subsequently, in step S208, the EC server 2 sets a recommended time for the recommended product. A processing example of step S208 is shown in FIG. 9A.
The recommended time is a time when sales of the corresponding comparative product are increased, and is not a time when sales of the recommended product ((n) product) are increased. Therefore, in step S250 of FIG. 9A, the EC server 2 determines a time that is not included in the sales increase time of the recommended product among the sales increase times of the comparative product as a non-matching time.
In step S251, the EC server 2 sets the non-matching time determined in step S250 as the recommended time as it is, and registers information on the recommended time for the (n) th product.
For example, in the example in which the comparative product is the product M1 in FIG. 5 and the (n) th product is the product M2, May corresponds to the recommended time. Therefore, May is registered as information on the recommended time of the product M2, as shown.

The EC server 2 finishes the process of FIG. 8 when it is confirmed in step S209 of FIG. 8 that n ≧ N, that is, the process after step S203 has been completed for all products.
At this time, a recommended product and a recommended time that share a part of the sales increase time are registered with a certain product as a comparative product.
Subsequently, for example, the process of FIG. 8 is similarly performed in a state where another product is a comparative product. By such processing, the recommended product and the recommended time are managed in the time management DB 6f.

The recommended product is a product that is not expected to increase in sales at the recommended time, but is estimated to be likely to be sold at the recommended time.
For example, even if the product is still generally low-recognized or is already known, for example, the “insect repellent spray” in May mentioned above, the purchasing user may be convinced to purchase at a certain time. No products are assumed.

A second example of recommended product and time determination processing will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the same processes as those in FIG.
This second example is an example in which steps S220 and S221 are added between steps S204 and S205 of FIG.
In step S220, the EC server 2 determines the relevance of the comparative product and the (n) th product.
If it is determined that there is a relationship, the process proceeds from step S221 to S205, and a partial coincidence determination of the sales increase timing is performed. If it is determined that there is no relevance, the process proceeds to steps S221 → S209 → S210 → S203 to move to the next product process.

That is, in this second example, not only the comparative product and the sales increase timing partially match, but also a relevance condition is added as a recommended product condition.
For example, the following method can be considered as the relevance determination in step S220.
-Refer to the history information in the user DB 6a and the information in the purchase history DB 6e to check whether they have been purchased at the same time (or whether they have been purchased at the same time more than a predetermined number of times). If relevant.
-Refer to the user review in the product DB 6c, etc., and confirm whether the other product name appears in the review of the (n) th product or the comparison product (or whether the appearance has been found more than a predetermined number of times) Relevant if any. For example, if there is a wording such as “I use it in a barbecue” in the review of “Insect repellent spray”, it is relevant.
The relevance is determined by matching or approximating the product genre of the (n) th product and the comparative product.
-Prepare DB which shows the product relevance about each product, and judge the relevance with reference to the DB concerned.
For example, by determining the relevance by such a method and setting one of the recommended products to have a relationship with the comparison product, it is possible to avoid being a recommended product by comparison with a completely unrelated product.

By the way, in the time management DB 6f in FIG. 5, an example of registering information on the non-recommended time is given. However, when using the processing examples described so far, it is not always necessary to register the information on the non-recommended time.
Therefore, an example in which information on the deprecation time is used will be described with reference to FIG. 9B.
FIG. 9B is an example of the recommended time setting process in step S208 in FIG. 8 or FIG.

In step S250 of FIG. 9B, the EC server 2 determines a non-matching time that is not included in the sales increase time of the recommended product among the sales increase time of the comparative product.
Next, in step S255, the EC server 2 acquires information on the deprecation time of the (n) th product from the time management DB 6f.
In step S256, the EC server 2 compares the non-matching time determined in step S250 with the non-recommended time acquired in step S255, and confirms whether all the non-matching times correspond to the non-recommended time.
If all of the non-matching times do not correspond to the non-recommended time, the EC server 2 proceeds to step S257, sets the non-matching time not corresponding to the non-recommended time as the recommended time, and sets the recommended time information as the (n) Register for products.
For example, in the example in which the comparative product is the product M3 in FIG. 5 and the (n) th product is the product M4, the non-matching time of the product M4 with the comparative product (M3) is January and December. However, in December, the product M4 is set as a non-recommended time. Therefore, information on the recommended time of the product M4 is registered only in January as shown in the figure except December.

In step S256, if all the non-matching times correspond to the non-recommended time, there is no time that should be the recommended time. Therefore, the EC server 2 proceeds to step S258 and clears the recommendation flag set in the immediately preceding step S207 for the (n) th product. This is to prevent a product with no recommended time from being a recommended product.

In this way, the non-recommended time is not registered as the recommended time. For example, depending on the product, there are times when the recommended time is not very suitable. For example, the winter season for products related to bathing. By registering such a time as a non-recommended time, it is possible to prevent an inappropriate time from being set as a recommended time.

<4. Sales proposal to store ＞
Next, use of recommended product / recommended time information will be described. First of all, here are some sales proposals for stores. Since the recommended product is presumed to be sold at the recommended time, providing this information to the store creates a sales promotion opportunity for the store.

The EC server 2 performs the following sales proposal information transmission process of FIG. 11 mainly by the function of the sales proposal information providing unit 28.
In step S401 of FIG. 11, the EC server 2 confirms the date of today and extracts the recommended product that is the recommended time at today + α from the time management DB 6f. Here, “α” is the number of days in consideration of preparation for selling recommended products, and may be the number of days in consideration of, for example, sales planning and purchasing in stores. For example, α may be a fixed value such as 30 days, 45 days, or 60 days, or may be a value set for each genre or type of product.
The recommended product whose recommended time is + α today is, for example, a product for which the recommended flag is on (“1”) in the time management DB 6f, and the current date is the day before α from the registered recommended time. It is a commodity. For example, when α = 60 days, if today is October 2, recommended products whose recommended start date is December are extracted.

Subsequently, in step S402, the EC server 2 substitutes the variable Z for the number of recommended products extracted in step S401. In steps S403 to S409, the extracted recommended products are processed.
In step S403, the EC server 2 confirms whether or not the variable Z = 0. The variable Z = 0 is a case where there is no recommended product to be processed today, or processing for each recommended product extracted in step S401 is completed.

If the variable Z is not 0, in step S404, the EC server 2 selects one of the extracted recommended products as a processing target. Then, the product ID of the selected recommended product is acquired.
In step S405, the EC server 2 acquires the product information of the selected recommended product from, for example, the product DB 6c using the product ID. For example, product names, genre information, product codes, product images, etc. are acquired.

In step S <b> 406, the EC server 2 selects a supply destination store that provides information about the recommended product to be processed. For example, it is useless to notify information on recommended products to be processed to stores that do not handle such products.
Therefore, a store that handles the recommended product or a store that may be handled is selected. For example, using the information in the store DB 6b and the product DB, the products handled in each store are confirmed, and stores that already handle the recommended products are searched. Although not currently handled, stores that handle products of the same genre as the recommended product may be extracted as stores that may be handled.

Here, the handling of the comparative product corresponding to the recommended product, that is, the comparative product registered for the recommended product in the time management DB 6f (the product for which the sales increase timing has been compared when setting the recommended product). A store or a store having handleability may be selected.
This is because it is estimated that the recommended product is a related product and is likely to be handled at the same store because it is assumed to have a correlation in sales time with the corresponding comparative product.
Moreover, it is also because it is estimated that the recommended product is handled in the store that handles the comparative product, particularly when the recommended product is set when the relevance condition is satisfied as shown in FIG.

In step S407, the EC server 2 generates sales proposal information about the selected recommended product. For example, the information to be transmitted to one or a plurality of stores selected in step S406 is generated using information registered in the time management DB 6f for the target recommended product or information acquired from the product DB 6c. For example, sales proposal information including information on a product name, a product code, a reason for recommendation, and a recommendation time is generated.

FIG. 12 shows an example of the sales proposal information generated in step S407. For example, the product name, product code, reason for recommendation, recommended time, and product image are included.
The product is specified by the product name and product code. The product image is not always necessary, but it is useful for conveying recommended products to the store staff.
As a reason for recommendation, information on a comparison product corresponding to the recommended product may be used. For example, information on “insect repellent spray” is “possible to sell with barbecue supplies”. By including such a reason for recommendation, the store staff can easily understand why this product has been proposed for sale.
For the recommended time, the recommended time information registered in the time management DB 6f for the recommended product is used as it is.

In step S408 in FIG. 11, the EC server 2 performs processing for transmitting the sales proposal information to the store selected as the transmission target. The transmission may be in the form of e-mail, for example, and if there is any message transmission function to the store terminal 4, that function may be used.
The EC server 2 decrements the variable Z in step S409 and returns to step S403 in response to finishing the transmission processing of the sales proposal information for one recommended product.
If the variable Z = 0 in step S403, the process in FIG. 11 ends. If the variable Z is not 0, the processes in steps S404 to S409 are similarly performed for the other recommended products extracted in step S401.

As a result of the above processing, the recommended product information estimated that the EC server 2 is likely to be sold at a specific time is transmitted to an appropriate store at an appropriate time.

<5. Product introduction to users>
Next, first to third examples of introduction of recommended products to the user will be described.
The recommended product for which the EC server 2 sets the recommendation flag in the time management DB 6f is estimated as a product that is likely to be sold at the recommended time based on the correlation with a certain corresponding comparative product. Therefore, if information on recommended products is appropriately presented to the user, it is possible to introduce a product suitable for purchase for a user who is searching for the product for a certain reason.

A first example is shown in FIG. The EC server 2 performs the following product introduction control process of FIG. 13 mainly by the function of the product introduction control unit 29.
The EC server 2 monitors a specific user action in step S501 of FIG.
The user action is various actions performed by the user using the user terminal. Among them, for example, a product search operation, a purchase procedure operation (an operation for shifting to a purchase procedure, an operation in the process), etc. are specified. User action.
When it is detected that a specific user action is performed at a certain user terminal 5, the EC server 2 proceeds to step S502, and specifies a product that is the target of the user action. For example, in the case of a product search operation, a product to be searched based on a search word is specified as a target product. In the case of purchase procedure operation, the product to be purchased is the target product.

In step S503, the EC server 2 refers to information on products registered as recommended products in the time management DB 6f, and determines whether there is a recommended product in which the target product specified in step S502 is registered as a comparison product. Check. If it exists, the recommended product is extracted.
In step S504, the EC server 2 substitutes the variable W for the number of recommended products extracted in step S503. At this time, if the variable W = 0, that is, if the recommended product is not extracted, the processing is terminated without introducing the product in response to the specific user action detected this time.

If one or more recommended products are extracted and the variable W is not 0, the EC server 2 proceeds to step S506, and selects one of the extracted recommended products as a processing target. Then, the product ID of the selected recommended product is acquired.
In step S507, the EC server 2 checks the recommended time registered in the time management DB 6f for the recommended product to be processed, and checks whether the current time corresponds to the recommended time.
If the current time is within the recommended time of the recommended product, the EC server 2 proceeds to step S508, and acquires the product information of the selected recommended product from, for example, the product DB 6c or the advertisement DB 6d using the product ID. For example, product name, genre information, product code, product image, price information, advertisement information of the product, etc. are acquired.

In step S509, the EC server 2 generates product introduction information using all or part of the product information, advertisement information, and the like regarding the target recommended product, and processes the information as information to be presented in the user terminal 5 in step S510. For example, page data generation or transmission to the user terminal 5 is performed so that the product introduction information is displayed on the user terminal 5 in a state where the product introduction information is incorporated into predetermined page data.

Specifically, in this case, product introduction information is generated and output in a manner corresponding to a specific user action.
For example, in the case of a search operation, a display as shown in FIG.
FIG. 14 illustrates a search result screen 51. The search result screen 51 presents a list of products searched by the EC server 2 using the function of the search unit 24.
Here, as an example of the search result screen 51 when the user searches for barbecue goods, the search result area 53 shows a state in which various products as barbecue goods are presented. An introduction area 52 is set on the search result screen 51, and information on the recommended recommended product is presented here.

The processing in this case is as follows.
In step S501, the EC server 2 detects that a search operation for barbecue items has been performed on the user terminal 5 as a specific user action. In step S502, the EC server 2 specifies the barbecue article as a target product. In step S503, the time management DB 6f is referred to, and “insect repellent spray” is extracted as a recommended product in which barbecue goods are registered as comparative products. The EC server 2 sets “insect repellent spray” as a processing target in step S506. Since the present time is May registered as the recommended time for “repellent spray”, it is assumed that the process has proceeded to step S508. In step S508, the EC server 2 obtains necessary information from the product information, advertisement information, common element information, etc. of “insect repellent spray”, and generates product introduction information in step S509. For example, information introducing “insect repellent spray” is generated using advertisement information of “insect repellent spray” and common element information. This product introduction information is combined with page data by the function of the web server 22 together with the search result information of the barbecue goods, and is then transmitted to the user terminal 5 and displayed as shown in FIG.

Moreover, the example of presentation when a user action is detected as a purchase related operation is shown in FIGS. 15A and 15B.
FIG. 15A shows an example in which the user puts “barbecue goods” in the shopping basket and starts the purchase procedure. In this case, an introduction region 56 is set together with a cart product region 55 for presenting products in the shopping cart, and information on the recommended recommended product is presented here.
The processing in this case is as follows. In step S501, the EC server 2 detects that “barbecue goods” has been placed in the shopping basket and has shifted to the purchase procedure in the user terminal 5 as a specific user action. In this case, similarly to the above, “barbecue supplies” is the target product, and “insect repellent spray” is extracted as a recommended product in which “barbecue supplies” is a comparison product in step S503. In steps S508 and S509, the EC server 2 generates product introduction information for “repellent spray”. The product introduction information is combined with the page data of the purchase procedure by the function of the web server 22 and then transmitted to the user terminal 5 to display as shown in FIG. 15A.

FIG. 15B shows an example where the user has completed the procedure for purchasing “barbecue goods”. For example, an introduction area 58 is set together with a notification area 57 indicating the completion of purchase, and information on the recommended recommended product is presented here.
As processing in this case, the EC server 2 detects that the purchase procedure of “barbecue goods” has been completed in the user terminal 5 as a specific user action in step S501. The same processing is performed in step S502 and subsequent steps, product introduction information for “repellent spray” is generated, and the product introduction information is combined with purchase completed page data by the function of the web server 22, and then transmitted to the user terminal 5. Then, the display as shown in FIG. 15B is executed.

In the process up to step S510 in FIG. 13, the product introduction is performed in the user terminal 5 for one recommended product as in the above example.
The EC server 2 decrements the variable W in step S511 and returns to step S505.
If the variable W = 0 in step S505, the process in FIG. 13 ends. If the variable W is not 0, the processes in steps S506 to S511 are similarly performed for the other recommended products extracted in step S503.
When product introduction information is generated for a plurality of recommended products, the final transmission to the user terminal may be performed after the product introduction information for each recommended product is generated. For example, product introduction information of a plurality of recommended products may be combined as page data and then transmitted to the user terminal.

Incidentally, if it is determined in step S507 for a certain recommended product that the current time is not the recommended time for the recommended product, the process proceeds to step S511, the variable W is decremented, and the process returns to step S505. That is, the product introduction information for the recommended product is not generated, and the product introduction to the user is not performed.

In addition, as a specific user action serving as a trigger when introducing a product as shown in FIG. 12, a search operation and a purchase related operation are examples.
For example, a favorite registration operation for a certain product (comparison product) may be a specific user action. In that case, the recommended product may be introduced on the screen after favorite registration, for example, the favorite registration list screen. Alternatively, after a favorite is registered, recommended products may be introduced in the same manner as advertisements on various pages.
Also. Clicks on the search result screen for certain products (comparison products), clicks on advertisements, etc. as specific user actions, and information on recommended products on pages that transition in these cases, such as product details pages and store pages May be presented.
Of course, other user actions are possible. In any case, the same processing as in FIG. 13 may be performed.
In any case, since the specific user action for the comparison product is performed when the user is interested in the comparison product, subsequent screens such as a search result page, a purchase procedure page, and product details are displayed. By presenting recommended products on pages, favorite registration pages, etc., users can introduce products accurately.

Next, a second example as product introduction control will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 16 is an example in which the process of step S520 is added between steps S507 and S508 of FIG.
In step S520, the EC server 2 performs a process of confirming whether or not the recommended product to be processed is handled in the same store as the product targeted for the user action.
For example, when a purchase-related operation as a trigger in the example of FIGS. 15A and 15B is performed, it is confirmed from information such as the store DB 6b whether or not the recommended product is sold at the purchase store. Only when it is handled, the processing of steps S508 to S510 is performed.
Thus, the product introduction information of the recommended product is presented on the purchase procedure page, the store page, or the product detail page only when the recommended product is handled at the target store. Accordingly, the product introduction information can be information suitable for sales promotion at the store.

A third example of product introduction control will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 17, step S504 and subsequent steps are the same as FIG. Steps S530 and S531 are different from FIG.
In this example, recommended product introduction information is presented at a recommended time according to the purchase history of the user.

The EC server 2 acquires information on the user who has logged in in step S530 from the user DB 6a. In step S531, the EC server 2 confirms the purchase history of the user, and extracts recommended products in which the purchased product is a comparison product.
In other words, the EC server 2 compares the information of the comparison product for the product registered as the recommended product in the time management DB 6f with the purchase history of the user, and the product that the user has purchased is set as the comparison product. Extract recommended products.
In step S504, the EC server 2 substitutes the variable W for the number of recommended products extracted in step S503. At this time, if the variable W = 0, that is, if a recommended product is not extracted, the processing is terminated without particularly introducing the product. If the variable W is not 0, the processing after step S506 is performed on the extracted recommended product.

That is, in the example of FIG. 17, a process for introducing a recommended product to a user who has purchased a comparative product of a certain recommended product at a recommended time is performed.

The first example to the third example have been described as examples of the product introduction control so far, but other product introduction control examples can be considered.
For example, it is also conceivable that recommended product introduction information is presented regardless of user action and without targeting a specific user. For example, it is an example in which a recommended product whose current time is recommended is selected and transmitted to the user terminal 5 at an arbitrary time.
Alternatively, a process of displaying an advertisement for a recommended product that is currently recommended is also possible.

<6. Summary and Modification>
Although the embodiment has been described above, the following effects can be obtained according to the present embodiment.
The EC server 2 (information processing apparatus) according to the embodiment includes a sales increase timing specifying unit 25 that specifies the sales increase timing of each product using information in the purchase history DB 6e in which the purchase date and time for each product is stored. . Further, the EC server 2 uses a product having a plurality of sales increase times specified by the sales increase time specifying unit 25 as a comparative product, and extracts a product having a part of the sales increase time as a recommended product for the comparative product. A recommended product extraction unit 26 is included. Further, the EC server 2 determines the time when the recommended product extracted by the recommended product extraction unit 26 is the sales increase time of the corresponding comparative product and is not the sales increase time of the recommended product. A recommended time setting unit 27 for setting a recommended time is provided.
When a product having a plurality of sales increase periods is used as a comparative product, a product in which a part of the sales increase period coincides with the comparative product can be estimated to have similar sales factors to the comparative product. Therefore, it can be estimated that the time when the sales of the recommended product can be expected is the time when the sales of the comparative product is not yet the time of the recommended product.
Therefore, according to the EC server 2 of the embodiment, it is possible to easily determine a product that has a track record of being sold significantly at a certain time and that can be sold at another time, and that time. effective. By using this information, it becomes possible to provide efficient information and market operation using the recommended product and the recommended time.

In particular, extracting products that are not sold at a specific time for reasons that are likely to sell in the past has been attributed to the type, nature, function, price, etc. It has been considered that a very difficult analysis is required by collating sales performance data. On the other hand, according to the method of the embodiment, the recommended product and the recommended time are extracted by focusing on the correlation between the products that can be sold at the specific time, so the product that is likely to be sold at the specific time with a very simple process. Can be extracted.
In addition, it is difficult to easily estimate the time when a product is likely to be sold in this way by a technique such as so-called emphasis filtering. In collaborative filtering, for example, products that are estimated to be of interest to the target user are determined using the relevance of the product purchase history between users with common attributes. It cannot be judged. In the present embodiment, this is set as the recommended time for the recommended product, and information on the recommended product can be used at an appropriate timing.

Further, as shown in the example of FIG. 10, the EC server 2 (recommended product extraction unit 26) is a product whose sales increase time partly matches the comparative product and has a relationship with the comparative product. The products (S220, S221) determined to be related by sex determination are set as recommended products.
That is, not only does the comparison product and sales increase partly coincide, but also a relevance condition is added to extract a recommended product. In this way, a product having a certain degree of correlation with the comparative product is regarded as a recommended product, and thus the reliability of the recommended time to be set can be increased.

Further, as shown in the example of FIG. 9B, the EC server 2 (recommended time setting unit 27) is the sales increase time of the corresponding comparative product and the sales increase time of the recommended product for the recommended product. Among the periods that are not, the period (S256, S257) excluding the non-recommended period set for the recommended product is set as the recommended time for the recommended product.
Like the non-recommended time in the time management DB 6f in FIG. 5, a time that is not suitable as a recommended time for a product is set in advance as a non-recommended time. Then, by referring to the information on the non-recommended time, it is possible to prevent an inappropriate recommended time from being set. For example, January and February are not recommended times for bathing equipment. This makes it possible to avoid making sales proposals and product introductions when it is not very appropriate.
However, the recommended time is only a reference for sales proposals to stores and product introductions to users, and is not the time for selling products. For this reason, there is no major problem even if the recommended time is set to avoid the deprecated time, but the timely appropriateness of sales proposals and product introductions can be improved by setting the recommended time to avoid it It is.

Note that, for example, as shown in FIG. 9A, even when the non-recommended time is not considered in the setting of the recommended time, the sales proposal or the product introduction to the user can be performed at an appropriate time using the non-recommended time. For example, the recommended time referred to in step S401 in FIG. 11 may be set to a time excluding the non-recommended time among the recommended time and the registered time.
Further, for example, the recommended time in step S507 in FIG. 13 may be set to a time excluding the non-recommended time among the recommended time and the registered time.
In this way, it is possible to prevent sales proposals and product introductions to users that are not recommended.

Further, the EC server 2 (sales proposal information providing unit 28) controls the sending of sales proposal information including information on recommended products and their recommended times to the store terminal 4 selected as the store to be transmitted ( FIG. 11).
In this way, the recommended product is notified to the store as a product that is likely to be sold at the recommended time, thereby providing a sales preparation opportunity. In addition, since the store does not miss sales opportunities, electronic commerce can be activated.

Further, the EC server 2 (sales proposal information providing unit 28) selects, as the transmission target store, a store handling the recommended product or a store having the handleability for the sales proposal information of a certain recommended product (S406).
Thus, the sales proposal information related to the recommended product is not provided to stores that are not related to the recommended product, that is, stores that are not handled, and notifications that are recognized as useless by the store are avoided. On the contrary, the sales proposal information becomes effective information because the store to be transmitted becomes a store related to the recommended product.

Further, the EC server 2 (sales proposal information providing unit 28) selects, as a store to be transmitted, a store handling a comparative product or a store having a handling possibility corresponding to the recommended product for sales proposal information of a recommended product. (S406).
Since the comparative product corresponding to the recommended product is a product having a correlation with the recommended product, it is assumed that the store handling the comparative product handles the recommended product. Therefore, the sales proposal information related to the recommended product is also effective information for stores that handle comparative products.

Further, the EC server 2 (sales proposal information providing unit 28) controls to send the sales proposal information to the transmission target store at a time before the predetermined date (α) from the start date of the recommended time notified by the sales proposal information. This is performed (S401).
As a result, the sales proposal information can be transmitted at an appropriate timing at which the store can prepare for product sales in accordance with the sales increase timing.

The EC server 2 (product introduction control unit 29) controls the product introduction information about the recommended product to be presented to the user terminal 5 at the recommended time for the recommended product (FIGS. 13 and 16). , S507 in FIG. 17)
The recommended product is a product that is estimated to be likely to be sold at a time (recommended time) that has not been particularly noticeable until now, based on the comparison of the sales increase time with the comparative product. Therefore, it is a suitable introduction timing that the product is introduced on the user terminal at a certain recommended time of selling. In addition, it is possible to prevent the user from feeling annoying by introducing too much at other times.

In addition, the EC server 2 (product introduction control unit 29) performs the recommended product in the user terminal 5 in which a specific user action is performed on the comparison product corresponding to the recommended product at the recommended time of the recommended product. Control is performed so that product introduction information is presented (FIG. 13).
A user who has performed a specific user action such as browsing a product web page for a certain comparative product can be estimated to be a user who is considering purchasing the comparative product for a certain purpose. Then, it can be estimated that the user is also interested in the recommended product corresponding to the comparative product. Therefore, as the product introduction information, the recommended product estimated to be the product that meets the user's purpose is presented at the recommended time, so that the product can be accurately introduced to the user.

In addition, the EC server 2 (product introduction control unit 29), for a recommended product in which the product included in the purchase history of the user who uses the user terminal 5 is a comparative product, the product introduction information at the recommended time of the recommended product. The user terminal 5 may be controlled so as to be presented (FIG. 17).
A user who has purchased a certain comparison product can be estimated as a user who is also interested in the recommended product corresponding to the comparison product. Therefore, as the product introduction information, the recommended product estimated to be the product that meets the user's purpose is presented at the recommended time, so that the product can be accurately introduced to the user.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be considered.
For extracting recommended products, various conditions may be set in addition to the conditions for the sales increase timing in FIG. 8 or the conditions for the sales increase timing in FIG.
For example, it is conceivable that a price upper limit and a price lower limit are set as recommended products, and products that are too expensive or products that are too inexpensive are not set as recommended products.
In addition, as a recommended product condition, a condition may be set such that the number of stocks in the entire virtual shopping mall is a predetermined number or more, and the number of handling stores is a predetermined number or more. You may set the condition.

Also, as a product introduction to the user terminal 5, for example, a plurality of recommended products having a common recommended time may be extracted from the time management DB 6f, and a list of those products may be displayed at the recommended time.

Further, for example, when a plurality (n) of product introduction information can be presented on a web page, when m (m> n) recommended products are targets to be introduced, the recommended product to be presented to the user Various selection methods are conceivable. For example, it is conceivable to select one or a predetermined number of products to be introduced at random, or to select recommended products to be introduced according to the user's history and attributes. Alternatively, it may be selected depending on the number of stocks, sales results, and the like.

<7. Program and Storage Medium>
As described above, the EC server 2 as an embodiment of the information processing apparatus of the present invention has been described. However, the program of the embodiment has at least a sales increase time specifying unit 25, a recommended product extracting unit 26, a recommended time in the EC server 2. This is a program for causing the information processing apparatus (CPU or the like) to execute the processing of the setting unit 27.

The program according to the embodiment includes a sales increase timing specifying procedure (S101 to S108) for specifying a sales increase timing of each product using purchase history information storing the purchase date and time for each product, and the sales increase timing specification. A recommended product extraction procedure (S201 to S207), in which a product having a plurality of sales increase times specified in the procedure is set as a comparative product, and a product having a part of the sales increase time corresponding to the comparative product is extracted as a recommended product; For the recommended product extracted in the recommended product extraction procedure, the time when the corresponding comparative product is increased in sales and is not the sales increase time of the recommended product is set as the recommended time of the recommended product The information processing apparatus is caused to execute the recommended time setting procedure (S208).
That is, this program is a program that causes the information processing apparatus to execute the processing described with reference to FIG. 6, FIG. 8 (or FIG. 10), and FIG. Furthermore, it is good also as a program which performs the process of FIG. 11, FIG. 13 (or FIG. 16, FIG. 17).

The information processing apparatus as the EC server 2 described above can be realized by such a program.
Such a program can be stored in advance in an HDD as a storage medium built in a device such as a computer device, a ROM in a microcomputer having a CPU, or the like. Alternatively, it can be stored (stored) temporarily or permanently in a removable storage medium such as a semiconductor memory, memory card, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, or magnetic disk. Such a removable storage medium can be provided as so-called package software.
Further, such a program can be installed from a removable storage medium to a personal computer or the like, or can be downloaded from a download site via a network such as a LAN or the Internet.

1 network, 2 EC server, 4 store terminal, 5 user terminal, 6 e-commerce DB, 6a user DB, 6b store DB, 6c product DB, 6d advertisement DB, 6e purchase history DB, 6f time management DB, 21 communication department, 22 web server, 23 management unit, 24 search unit, 25 sales increase time specification unit, 26 recommended product extraction unit, 27 recommended time setting unit, 28 sales proposal information generation unit, 29 product introduction control unit

Claims (12)

1. A sales increase timing identifying unit for identifying the sales increase timing of each product using the purchase history information storing the date and time of purchase for each product;
   A product having a plurality of sales increase times specified by the sales increase time specifying unit as a comparative product, and a recommended product extracting unit for extracting a product with a part of the sales increase time as a recommended product for the comparative product,
   For the recommended product extracted by the recommended product extraction unit, the time when the corresponding comparative product is increased in sales and not the sales increase time of the recommended product is set as the recommended time of the recommended product An information processing apparatus comprising a recommended time setting unit.
2. The recommended product extraction unit is a product whose sales increase time is a part of the comparison product, and the product determined to be related by the relevance determination with the comparison product, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is a recommended product.
3. The recommended time setting unit is set for the recommended product in the time when the corresponding product is a sales increase time of the corresponding comparative product and is not the sales increase time of the recommended product. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a time excluding the non-recommended time is set as a recommended time of the recommended product.
4. Transmission of sales proposal information including the recommended product extracted by the recommended product extraction unit and the recommended time information set by the recommended time setting unit for the recommended product to the terminal device of the store selected as the transmission target store The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sales proposal information providing unit that performs control.
5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the sales proposal information providing unit selects, as the transmission target store, a store handling the recommended product or a store having a handleability for the sales proposal information of a certain recommended product.
6. The sales proposal information providing unit selects, as the transmission target store, a handling store or a store having a handling possibility of the comparative product corresponding to the recommended product for the sales proposal information of a certain recommended product. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5.
7. The said sales proposal information provision part performs control which transmits the said sales proposal information to the said transmission object store at the time before a predetermined date from the start date of the recommendation time notified with the said sales proposal information. Item 7. The information processing device according to any one of Items 6 to 7.
8. A product introduction control unit for controlling the product introduction information about the recommended product extracted by the recommended product extraction unit to be presented to the user terminal at the recommended time set by the recommended time setting unit for the recommended product The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.
9. The product introduction control unit has product introduction information about the recommended product at a user terminal in which a specific user action for the comparison product corresponding to the recommended product is performed at a recommended time of the recommended product. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the information processing apparatus is controlled to be presented.
10. The product introduction control unit presents, on the user terminal, product introduction information about a recommended product in which a product included in a purchase history of a user who uses the user terminal is the comparative product, at a recommended time of the recommended product. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the information processing apparatus is controlled so as to control the information processing apparatus.
11. As an information processing method executed by the information processing apparatus,
    A sales increase timing specifying step for specifying the sales increase timing of each product using the purchase history information storing the purchase date and time for each product;
    A product having a plurality of sales increase times specified in the sales increase time specifying step as a comparison product, and a recommended product extraction step of extracting a product with a part of the sales increase time as a recommended product for the comparison product;
    For the recommended product extracted in the recommended product extraction step, a time that is the sales increase time of the corresponding comparative product and is not the sales increase time of the recommended product is set as the recommended time of the recommended product An information processing method comprising a recommended time setting step.
12. A sales increase timing identification procedure for identifying the sales increase timing of each product using the purchase history information storing the purchase date and time for each product;
    A product having a plurality of sales increase times identified in the sales increase time specifying procedure as a comparison product, and a recommended product extraction procedure for extracting a product with a part of the sales increase time as a recommended product for the comparison product,
    For the recommended product extracted in the recommended product extraction procedure, the time when the corresponding comparative product is increased in sales and is not the sales increase time of the recommended product is set as the recommended time of the recommended product Recommended time setting procedure,
    For causing an information processing apparatus to execute the program.

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