JP2002074072A - Cooperative auction system and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sell a large amount of general consumer goods, while reducing the risk of a purchaser and a seller by auction. SOLUTION: A current price determination operating part 391 obtains the total number of bids by adding up bid information by internet auction stored in a bid information DB 36 to determine a current market price by the obtained value and a bid number versus price correspondence table showing the market price to the number of bids stored in a table DB37 by a table-creating part 381, and displays the market prices on an auction executing WWW server 31 by an auction page updating part 392. After the end of auction, the bid information is compiled, to obtain the total number of bids by a successful bid price determining part 401, the successful bid price is determined by the obtained value and the above number of bids vs price correspondence table, and the successful bid price is displayed on the auction-executing WWW server by a result presenting page creating part 402.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a cooperative auction conducted using a telecommunications network.
The present invention relates to a cooperative auction system capable of selling a large number of products in a lump, and a computer-readable recording medium storing instructions for causing a computer to execute the operation of such a cooperative auction system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the market size of the Internet auction has rapidly expanded in Japan. There are several auction sites on the Internet that offer various types of auctions. Needless to say, the auction itself is one of the traditional pricing mechanisms that have been handed down since ancient times, and its equality and transparency have been highly evaluated to this day.

[0003] With the recent spread of the Internet, an auction that can be implemented by an unspecified number of people, which has been embodied by the Internet, has been market-determined in the form of a market price, which has been determined by supply or distribution. Mechanisms are making pricing and market formation in a very different system.

[0004] An auction conducted on the Internet is characterized by the fact that the participation scale can theoretically be all members of the market, depending on the target product. At present, an environment in which hundreds of thousands of people can participate in auctions has been realized, and Internet auctions are expected to be a mechanism for determining new market prices from these auctions.

[0005]

However, the auction is originally a mechanism for appropriately allocating rare and indivisible items, and is a method of selling consumer goods such as general agricultural products and industrial products. Was not as appropriate. In particular, when an auction is conducted on a large number of products, it is easy to generate a consciousness that "there was a successful bid at a high price." This is a cause of trouble in buying and selling. Certainly, there is such a risk, but if you want to sell a large amount of a certain product, there is also a method of selling the product in bulk at a time in the form of an auction. actually,
Although a method of auctioning a relatively large number of commodities in a lump is being accepted, from the merchandise provider side, if executed frequently, there is a high risk that the price will be too low, and the risk is large. It is also known that, when the auction is repeatedly performed by this method, the bidder side does not compete to raise the price by learning to some extent, and eventually starts cooperating to lower the price.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and reduces the risk that both buyers and sellers must take by auction, and does not sell small quantities of highly scarce ones. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cooperative auction system and a recording medium capable of selling a large amount of consumer goods.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To achieve the above object, a cooperative auction system according to the present invention determines the number of bids of a product for which an auction is to be performed or a selling price that decreases with an increase in the number of bids. A correspondence table storing means for storing a correspondence table of the number of bids or the selling price to the number of bids, and displaying product information for executing an auction through a telecommunication network and displaying a form for bidders to bid. WW to do
W server, bid information storage means for storing bid information of the auction, and bid information stored in the bid information storage means are totaled to obtain a total number of bids or a total number of bids. Current price determination operation means for determining a sales price predicted at the present time by the correspondence table stored in the WWW, and the total number of bids or the total number of bids obtained by the current price determination operation means and the sales price are calculated by the WWW.
The updating means to be displayed on the server, and after the auction ends, the bid information accumulated in the bid information accumulating means is totaled to determine the total number of bids or the total number of bids, and the value and the correspondence table stored in the correspondence table storage means are used. It is characterized by comprising a successful bid price determining means for determining a successful bid price, and a result display means for displaying the successful bid price determined by the successful bid price determining means on the WWW server.

[0008] Further, the computer-readable recording medium according to the present invention provides a cooperative auction through a telecommunications network. A process of preparing a table of correspondence between the number of bids or the selling price for determining the price, displaying product information for conducting an auction through a telecommunication network, and providing a form for a bidder to bid. Display processing, processing for accumulating the bid information of the auction, and totaling the accumulated bid information to obtain the total number of bids or the total number of bids, which are predicted at the present time by the value and the prepared correspondence table. Processing to determine the selling price and displaying the total number of bids or the total number of bids and the selling price determined above Processing, after the end of the auction, the accumulated bid information is totaled to determine the total number of bids or the total number of bids, and the processing of determining the winning bid based on the value and the prepared correspondence table is performed. A program including an instruction for causing a computer to execute the displaying process is stored.

That is, according to the cooperative auction system of the present invention and a computer-readable recording medium storing a program including instructions for causing a computer to execute the operation of such a cooperative auction system,
When the number of bids or the number of bids increases, the actual successful bid price is configured to decrease according to the correspondence table between the number of bids or the number of bids presented by the seller in advance and the selling price. While reducing the risks that must be borne, it is possible to sell large quantities of general consumer goods instead of selling small quantities of highly rare ones.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before describing the embodiments of the present invention in detail, first, the principles of the present invention will be described to facilitate understanding of the present invention.

The present invention is a cooperative auction that has merits for both sellers and purchasers, based on the premise that bidders cooperate with the original auction.

[0012] This cooperative auction is based on the condition that a bid is made at the upper limit price presented by the seller and that a bid is always made at a price lower than the upper limit price. The actual purchase price is reduced according to the correspondence table between the number of bids and the sales price presented by the user, and there is an auction element where the final purchase price is undecided. The feature of this mechanism is that this increase in the number of bids provides an incentive to lower prices.

For example, the applicant of the present invention actually sold shochu in this manner in order to verify the present invention. 2,
A bid was made on the condition of purchase at a fixed price of 300 yen, and as the number of bids increased, the selling price was reduced as shown in FIG.

The price according to the number of bids is obtained as follows. That is, the maximum planned number of products sold is n,
Start price (maximum price, bid price) is P _max ,
Minimum selling price (the price when the maximum sales volume is achieved)
Is P _min , the price y corresponding to each number of bids x of this product is calculated based on the following quadratic function calculation formula.

Here, when x = n, if the price is considered to be a quadratic function having the lowest price, the following form is obtained. However,
a, c, and n are constants.

Y = a (x-n) ² + c When x = n, y = P _min , so P _min = c. When x = 0, y = P _max , P _max = an ² + P _{min Thus, a = (P max -P min} ) / n 2 in other words, sales price y _{is, y = {(P max -P} min) / n 2} (x-n) 2 + P min ... (1) Can be calculated based on

According to this price setting method, the profit gradually increases as the number of sales increases. However, if this is not the case, for example, if the price is reduced linearly, the problem arises that the overall profit is reduced when the number of sales increases. The above-described price setting method can avoid such a risk, and at the same time, on the purchaser side, the price drops significantly immediately after the start with a small number of bids, thereby making it possible to further impact and induce a bid.

According to the above-mentioned price setting method, in the case of the above-mentioned shochu, if the number of bids is 50 or more, the price is 2,
300 yen, 2,260 yen for 60 or more, 2,220 yen for 70 or more, 2,19 for 80 or more
0 yen, 2,150 yen for 90 or more, 2,110 yen for 100 or more, 1,73 for 250 or more
0 yen, 350 sold out, 1,610 yen, but since it is an auction for verifying the present invention, it gives more impact to the buyer side so that more participants can be obtained. Therefore, immediately after the start, the price is adjusted so as to be much lower than the calculated price, and the price is as shown in FIG.

The transition of the bid is shown in FIG. The auction sent out e-mail advertisements to approximately 500,000 people six hours after its launch. Immediately after that, the tender began to flourish, and after about 24 hours, it passed through a slightly lower second bid peak again, and ended with the sold out goods.
This result is well above the expectations of the implementer,
350 bottles were sold out in three days. In particular, there was a tendency to bid more at once, hoping that prices would fall.

According to such a cooperative auction,
For bidders, the price does not rise, and it is characterized by the risk of "bid too high", which is called auction blue. Also, after the price has dropped to some extent, it is possible to confirm the bid and make a bid, thereby further reducing the risk of the bidder.

Further, since the seller can set the price according to the number of sales in advance, there is no risk. This mechanism creates a sense of participation that the price will be reduced by bidding, which is the basis of the cooperative relationship on the network. On the other hand, the merchandise supply side can carry out mass sales while maintaining a certain level of profit.

As a result, it is possible to sell in large quantities, and it is possible to use the Internet auction more commercially.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a cooperative auction system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

That is, a plurality of customers 10 are connected to the auction site 30 via the Internet 20. In addition, each customer 10 and the auction site 30 are not limited to those directly connectable to the Internet 20, but may be connected via an Internet service provider. Also,
Each customer 10 may use any device connected to the Internet 20 to receive the service.

The auction site 30 includes a mail distribution server 31, an auction execution WWW server 32, a database server 33, and a product information database (DB) 3.
4. Customer information DB 35, bid information DB 36, table D
B37, an auction preparation unit 38, an auction execution unit 39, an auction processing unit 40, and an input / output unit 41.

Here, the mail distribution server 31 is for transmitting various electronic mails to the customer 10 based on the customer information registered in the customer information DB 35.

The auction execution WWW server 32 provides an Internet auction Web page created based on the product information registered in the product information DB 34. This Web page displays product information (product image, bid price, number of bids, number of bids, product description), forms for bidders to bid, and the like. The auction execution WWW server 32 also has a function of receiving a bid from the customer 10 via the Internet 20 and transferring the bid information to the database server 33.

The database server 33 has a product information DB
34, a customer information DB 35, and a bid information DB 36.
2 is registered in the bid information DB 36.

The merchandise information DB 34 registers information on merchandise to be auctioned.
The information on the product includes, for example, data such as a product ID, a product name, a product classification, the number of exhibits, a minimum price, an upper limit price (start price), a product outline, a product image, and the like.

The customer information DB 35 is for registering information of customers of the auction site 30. The customer information includes, for example, customer ID, name, gender, age, address, telephone number, e-mail address, product purchase history, and the like. The customer registered in the customer information DB 35 is the customer 1 who actually purchased the product in the past.
Not only 0, but also customers who inquire about the product by some method or customers who bid at an auction (customers who made a bid but did not make an actual purchase because the bid price did not meet the conditions) . Therefore, the auction execution WWW server 32 sends the database server 3
Based on the bid information passed to 3, the database server 33 registers the information of the customer who made the bid in the customer information DB 35 as well.

The bid information DB 36 stores bid information from the auction execution WWW server 32 via the database server 33. The bid information includes, for example, data such as a bid ID, a bidder ID, a product ID, a bid date, a bid amount, and the number of bids.

The table DB 37 stores, for example, a bid number vs. price correspondence table created by using the above-described formula (1) based on the minimum price and the maximum price and the number of exhibits presented by the seller, and a comment corresponding to the number of bids. It stores the described milestone table and the like.

The auction preparation unit 38 prepares for conducting an Internet auction, and includes a table creation unit 381, an auction page creation unit 382, and an advertisement mail creation unit 383.
Here, the table creation unit 381 creates the bid number vs. price correspondence table and the milestone table based on the information input from the input / output unit 41, and creates the table DB3
7 is registered. The auction page creation unit 382 creates a Web page for an Internet auction based on the information input from the input / output unit 41, and registers the Web page for the auction execution WWW server 32. Then, the advertisement mail creation unit 383 creates an e-mail for informing of the auction, and causes the mail distribution server 31 to distribute the e-mail to each customer.

The auction execution unit 39 executes an Internet auction, and includes a current price determination calculation unit 391, an auction page update unit 392, and a milestone mail creation unit 393.
Here, the current price determination calculation unit 391 includes the totalization unit 391A
And a price determination unit 391B.
The number of bids is counted from the bid information stored in the bid information DB 36, and the price determination unit 391B calculates the table DB.
The current price is determined from the number of bids totaled by the totaling unit 391A with reference to the bidding number vs. price correspondence table stored in 37. The auction page update unit 392 updates the Web page of the Internet auction presented by the auction execution WWW server 32 according to the total number and the current price obtained by the current price determination calculation unit 391. Then, the milestone mail creating unit 393 refers to the milestone table stored in the table DB 37 and determines whether the total number obtained by the current price determination calculation unit 391 has reached a predetermined milestone. When the message is reached, an e-mail including a corresponding message is created, and the e-mail is delivered to each customer by the mail distribution server 31.

The auction processing unit 40 performs processing after the end of the Internet auction, and comprises a successful bid price determination unit 401, a result announcement page creation unit 402, a successful bid mail creation unit 403, and a product dispatch arrangement unit 404. You. Here, the successful bid price determination unit 401 totals the total number of bids based on the bid information stored in the bid information DB 36, and refers to the bid number vs price correspondence table stored in the table DB 37 to determine the final successful bid price. Is determined. The result announcement page creation unit 402 creates a web page of the result announcement indicating the successful bid price, and registers it in the auction execution WWW server 32, so that the customer 1
It makes it possible to browse to 0. Further, the successful bid mail creating unit 403 creates an electronic mail informing each successful bidder that a successful bid has been made, and causes the mail distribution server 31 to deliver the email to each successful bidder. Then, the product shipping arrangement section 40
No. 4 arranges the delivery of the actual product to each successful bidder.

The input / output unit 41 is a user interface unit including a keyboard, a pointing device such as a mouse, a display, a printer, and the like, and inputs product information. The mail delivery server 3
1. Auction implementation WWW server 32, database server 33, product information database (DB) 34, customer information DB 35, bid information DB 36, table DB 37,
The auction preparation unit 38, the auction execution unit 39, and the auction processing unit 40 can be realized by a personal computer.
Reference numeral 1 also includes a drive device for installing a program or the like for realizing the function of each unit from a storage medium such as an FD or a CD-ROM into a personal computer. Of course, such a program can be installed on a personal computer as a download via the Internet 20.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be described. FIG. 2A is a flowchart of an auction preparation operation in the cooperative auction system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

That is, first, the product information of the product to be exhibited in the Internet auction is input from the input / output unit 41 (step S101), and is input to the product information DB 3
4 (step S102). Here, as the product information, for example, as shown in FIG.
D, product name, start and end date and time of the auction, start price (upper limit price), lowest price (lower limit price), number of exhibits, maximum number of bids that can be bid by one bidder, actual product image, product Includes explanatory text, etc.

Thereafter, the table creation unit 381 of the auction preparation unit 38 creates a bid number vs. price correspondence table (step S103). That is, the product information D
From the product information registered in B34, the selling price corresponding to each bid quantity is determined from the start price, the lowest price, and the number of exhibitions, for example, according to the above equation (1), and the bidding as shown in FIG. A several vs. price correspondence table is created. That is, in the first embodiment, actually, the number of bids vs.
The price correspondence table is a bid quantity vs. price correspondence table that describes the selling price according to the bid quantity. Of course, a bid number vs. price correspondence table that describes the sales price according to the number of bids may be used. Then, the bid number vs. price correspondence table is registered in the table DB 37 (step S104).

The table creation unit 381 of the auction preparation unit 38 creates a milestone table (step S105), and registers it in the table DB 37 (step S106). Here, as shown in FIG. 3C, the milestone table describes a message corresponding to each bid quantity, and an arbitrary message is input by the input / output unit 41 as the message. Of course, a plurality of messages may be prepared in advance, and the message may be arbitrarily or automatically associated with each number of bids.

Next, the Web page of the Internet auction is created by the auction page creation unit 382 of the auction preparation unit 38 (step S10).
7), register it in the auction execution WWW server 32 (step S108). That is, a Web page is created by applying the product information registered in the product information DB 34 to a template registered in advance. In this case, it is needless to say that the page layout can be arbitrarily changed and set by the input / output unit 41.

Then, the advertisement mail creating unit 383 of the auction preparation unit 38 creates an e-mail for informing of the auction (Step S109), and distributes it to each customer by the mail distribution server 31 (Step S11).
0). In this case, the email address of the customer to be delivered is
It is automatically determined based on the customer information registered in the customer information DB 35.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an auction execution operation in the cooperative auction system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

That is, the current price determination calculation unit 391 of the auction execution unit 39 calculates the current date and time and the product information DB3
7 is compared with the end date and time of the auction included in the product information registered in step 7 to determine whether or not the auction execution period has ended (step S201). It is determined whether a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the Web page was updated (step S202). If the fixed period has not elapsed, the process returns to step S201. Here, the certain period indicates the update timing of the Web page, for example, every 10 minutes or every hour. If this fixed period is set to the time required for the computer to execute the following processing, it is possible to make it appear as if it is updating in real time.
In addition, the process of step S202 can be modified so as to update each time a bid is made by determining whether or not a bid has been made, instead of determining whether a certain period has elapsed.

If it is determined in step S202 that the predetermined time has elapsed, the current price determination operation unit 3
The totaling unit 391A of 91 collects the number of bids and the number of bids from the bidding information accumulated in the bidding information DB 36 (step S203), and the selling price corresponding to the totaled bidding number is calculated by the price determining unit 391B. The above table DB3
The current price is determined by searching the number-of-bids vs. price correspondence table stored in 7 (step S204). In addition,
As described above, the bid information stored in the bid information DB 36 is sequentially updated by the database server 33 in response to a bid from the customer 10.

Next, the auction page updating unit 392 of the auction execution unit 39 calculates the number of bids and the number of bids counted by the tallying unit 391A of the current price determination calculation unit 391, and the price determination unit of the current price determination calculation unit 391. 39
An updated Web page including the current price determined in 1B is created (step S205). For example, as shown in FIG. 3D, the number of bids may be described in the form of a current list of bidders. Then, the created updated Web page is transmitted to the auction execution WWW.
By registering in the server 32, it is made possible for each customer 10 to browse (step S206).

The milestone mail creating section 393 of the auction execution section 39 sends the table DB3
With reference to the milestone table stored in No. 7, it is determined whether or not the total number obtained by the totaling unit 391A of the current price determination calculating unit 391 has reached a predetermined milestone (step S207). If not, the process returns to step S201. On the other hand, when the milestone is achieved, an e-mail including a corresponding message is created (step S208). Then, after the created e-mail is distributed to each customer 10 by the mail distribution server 31 (step S209), the process returns to step S201.

If it is determined in step S201 that the auction execution period has ended, the auction execution operation ends, and the process proceeds to the next auction processing operation.

FIG. 2B is a flowchart of an auction processing operation in the cooperative auction system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

That is, after the end of the Internet auction, the successful bid price determining section 401 of the auction processing section 40 totals the total number of bids and the total number of bids from the bid information accumulated in the bid information DB 36 (step S30).
1) The final successful bid price is determined with reference to the bidding number vs. price correspondence table stored in the table DB 37 (step S302).

Then, the result announcement page creating section 402 of the auction processing section 40 executes the above-mentioned successful bid price determining section 401.
A Web page of the result announcement indicating the successful bid price determined in step (a) is created (step S303), and is registered in the auction execution WWW server 32 so that the customer 10 can browse (step S304).

Then, the successful bid e-mail creating unit 403 of the auction processing unit 40 creates an e-mail notifying each successful bidder that a successful bid has been made (step S305), and distributes the e-mail to each successful bidder by the mail distribution server 31. (Step S306). In this case, the highest bidder may be all bidders, and if there are more bids than the number of exhibitors, the highest bidder is determined according to some arrangement such as first-come-first-served basis. The e-mail to the successful bidder may include, for example, the URL and password of a Web page on which a bargain item is placed. That is, a certain privilege may be given to the successful bidder.

Finally, the merchandise dispatch arrangement unit 404 of the auction processing unit 40 arranges the actual merchandise to be delivered to each successful bidder (step S307). this is,
For example, according to the customer information of the successful bidder registered in the customer information DB 35, the delivery slip is printed out, or when the auction is commissioned from another manufacturing or sales company, etc., It includes a process of creating an e-mail for a delivery request including necessary information from the customer information of the person, and distributing the e-mail from the mail distribution server 31 to the outsourcer.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, it can be positioned as a sales form on the Internet that has advantages for both the selling side and the purchasing side. At present, it is still in the tens to hundreds of units, but with the addition of new media such as Internet and mobile phone interconnects and interactive TVs, tens of millions of units will be finally available. Product sales system can be constructed.

In addition, when there is no bid above a certain level, a method of establishing an auction or a method of starting the production of goods when the number of people is available can be used, and unnecessary production and inventory can be avoided. Is possible.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
An embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, 1
Although this is an example in the case of an auction for an item, a cooperative auction can be implemented even in the case of a plurality of items.

That is, in this case, a correspondence table of the price of each product with respect to the total number of bids of a plurality of products may be created, and the successful bid price of each product may be determined based on the table.

Such a cooperative auction linked with a plurality of commodities is a concept that further expands the cooperative auction carried out independently, and is a mechanism in which the prices of all commodities are reduced according to the number of bids of all the linked commodities. Further, in this case, since the user browses and bids the products according to a preset route for circulating all the products, the degree of exposure of the product information is increased, which increases the product purchase rate.

Further, the mechanism of the cooperative auction in which a plurality of products are linked is a mechanism on the premise that the profits of a plurality of products are secured as a whole rather than the profits of individual products. Therefore, by using this method,
Defective stock items can be sold very efficiently.

[Third Embodiment] Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
An embodiment will be described. Although the first and second embodiments are examples in which the auction site is configured by one store site, the auction site may be configured to include a plurality of store sites.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the auction site includes five store sites (store A site, store B site, store C site, store D site, store E site), the merchandise of any store site is , Regardless of the number of bids on that store site,
Decrease the winning bid. In this case, it is sufficient to create a correspondence table of the price with respect to the total number of bids in all stores for each product in each store. Thus, for example, the number of bids at the store E site is 200, but the total number of bids with other store sites is 800, and the selling price of the product at that time is 1,600 yen.

Further, in this case, as a bidder benefit (incentive), the bidder who bid on all five store sites also has the total number of bids of all stores less than the predetermined minimum total bid. In such a case, the purchase may be made at the lowest price. For example, the store E
In the case of merchandise on the site, even if the total number of bids is 800, the merchandise can be purchased at 1,400 yen, which is the price when there are 1,000 or more bids. Of course,
Such a privilege may be obtained by bidding at a plurality of predetermined store sites, such as three store sites or four store sites, instead of all store sites.

In addition to simply encouraging patrols by visiting a plurality or all of the store sites for a discount, it is possible to provide a certain game-like or story-like nature, so that those who participated in the auction can increase the number of merchandise items. You may be guided to bid. For example, if you offer a rally that bids for specialty products around stores from Tokyo to Kagoshima, and if you start from the Tokyo store site and reach the Kagoshima store site, set the winning bid to the lowest price Things are conceivable. In this case, the rally may be achieved if all stores are visited and bids for a predetermined number or more of products are made without bidding at all store sites.

In order to implement such a bidder privilege, the cooperative auction system according to the third embodiment has a configuration as shown in FIG. That is, in the configuration of the cooperative auction system according to the first embodiment,
The rally achiever DB 42 is added, the rally planning unit 384 is added to the auction preparation unit 38, and the rally achiever processing unit 394 is added to the auction execution unit 39.

Then, in the merchandise information input process of step S101 in the auction preparation operation described above, the rally planning unit 384 also inputs rally achievement conditions such as patrol of all store sites, and inputs the conditions to the rally of the auction execution unit 39. It is set in the achiever processing unit 394.

Thereafter, in the actual auction, as shown in FIG. 7A, if the customer goes around the store site and bids on all the store sites, the rally is achieved, Register in the rally achiever DB42. That is, after the e-mail delivery to the bidder in step S209 in the auction execution operation described above, the rally achiever processing unit 394 of the auction execution unit 39 determines whether or not there is a rally achiever as shown in FIG. Is determined (step S210), and if there is a rally achiever, the rally achiever is registered in the rally achiever DB 42 (step S211).

In step S302 of the auction processing operation described above, when a successful bid price is determined by the successful bid price determining unit 401 of the auction processing unit 40, rally achievers are read out from the rally achiever DB 42 and the rally achievers are read out. The lowest price may be determined as the winning bid.

As described above, in the case of a cooperative auction that is conducted for a plurality of products, in order to induce a participant in the auction to bid for more products, the same auction is performed during the same auction period. When a bid is continuously made for a certain number of products or more, it is possible to purchase more types of products by giving a privilege such as a present or a discount sale in response to the bid.

Of course, various conditions can be set.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to divide a plurality of store sites into red and white, and to set such that a certain degree of competition occurs in the sites while cooperating. This is a competition in which the number of bids is red and white, and gives a privilege that another product can be purchased at a low price to a group having many bids at the end. Of course, the final selling price at this time is
Regardless of red and white, the price is reduced according to the total number of bids.

According to the third embodiment of the present invention, as a result of the cooperative auction, it is expected that the effect is three to six times as large as that of the monthly sales of the normal sales. As described above, this method is a method that enables mass sales by effectively using the Internet, and also enables the customer to obtain the price advantage of joint purchase, which is advantageous for both the sales side and the purchase side, so-called It is considered that it will further develop and spread as a new win-win type sales method in the future.

Although the present invention has been described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and applications are possible within the scope of the present invention. Of course.

For example, in the first to third embodiments, the bid amount is fixed. However, the bid amount can be set freely, and the bidder is asked to bid according to the affordability of the bidder. A "cooperative auction" of the type in which the price is reduced when the number of bids at or above the corresponding price becomes equal to or more than the corresponding number of bids is considered.

In this case, since a bidder can bid according to his / her reasonable price, there is a possibility that a bid may be made earlier than a fixed bid price, and it is considered that an efficient auction can be conducted.

In this case, a process of determining how many (how many) bids can be awarded at the price, a process of determining whether or not the number of the bids (number) corresponds to the number of bids vs. price correspondence table, If there is one that corresponds to the correspondence table, processing for displaying the price, processing for displaying the number of bids, and the like may be added.

In the cooperative auction based on such an indefinite price bidding type, the cooperative auction described in the first to third embodiments is a constant price bidding system with the highest price, but the bidder side is free. This makes it possible to bid at a reasonable price. Therefore, it is possible to bid from the beginning at a reasonable price, and unlike a fixed price bid, the bidder does not have to wait for the price to drop before bidding. Can be sold.

[0077]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
A cooperative auction system and record that enables auctioners to sell large quantities of general consumer goods, rather than small-scale sales, while reducing the risks that both buyers and sellers must take. A medium can be provided.

That is, while the conventional auction has been competing for goods with the participants by financial competition, according to the present invention, it is possible to generate a financial merit by completely reverse cooperation. It becomes possible. This is characterized in that, unlike the so-called reverse auction, the fixed price of the price depends on the number of bids = the number of buyers. In addition, since the seller side shows the correspondence table between the number of sales and the price in advance to the purchaser, it is possible to avoid unnecessary price risk of the price. Further, the bidder can declare a bid = purchase when the number of bids has increased and the price has decreased, and it is possible to avoid a successful bid at a price higher than its own affordable price. As a result, merits can be provided to both the selling side and the purchasing side.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a cooperative auction system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of an auction preparation operation in the cooperative auction system according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an auction in the cooperative auction system according to the first embodiment; It is a figure showing a flow chart of processing operation.

FIG. 3A is a diagram for explaining product information, and FIG.
Is a diagram showing a bid number vs. price correspondence table, (C) is a diagram showing a milestone table, and (D) is a diagram showing a display example of a Web page during an auction.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flowchart of an auction execution operation in the cooperative auction system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a concept of a cooperative auction system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a cooperative auction system according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 7A is a diagram for explaining achievement of a rally, and FIG. 7B is a diagram showing a characteristic portion of a flowchart of an auction execution operation in the third embodiment.

FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating a display example of a selling price corresponding to the number of bids in an Internet auction performed to verify the present invention, and FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating a transition of bids; .

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 customer 20 Internet 30 auction site 31 mail distribution server 32 auction execution WWW server 33 database server 34 product information DB 35 customer information DB 36 bid information DB 37 table DB 38 auction preparation unit 381 table creation unit 382 auction page creation unit 383 advertising mail Creation section 384 Rally planning section 39 Auction execution section 391 Current price determination calculation section 391A Aggregation section 391B Price determination section 392 Auction page update section 393 Milestone mail creation section 394 Rally achiever processing section 40 Auction processing section 401 Contract price determination section 402 Result announcement page creation section 403 Successful bid email creation section 404 Commodity shipping arrangement section 41 Input / output section 42 Rally achiever DB

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A correspondence table storage means for storing a correspondence table of the sale price to the number of bids or the number of bids for determining a sale price that decreases with an increase in the number of bids or the number of bids of the products to be auctioned. A WWW server for displaying product information for executing an auction through a telecommunication network and displaying a form for a bidder to bid on; a bid information storage unit for storing bid information of the auction; A current price determination operation for calculating the total number of bids or the total number of bids by aggregating the bid information stored in the storage means and determining a sales price predicted at the present time based on the value and the correspondence table stored in the correspondence table storage means. Means, and the total number of bids or the total number of bids obtained by the current price determination calculating means and the selling price are calculated by the WW Update means to be displayed on the server; and after the auction, bid information accumulated in the bid information accumulation means is totaled to determine the total number of bids or the total number of bids, and the value and the correspondence table stored in the correspondence table storage means are used. A cooperative auction system comprising: a contract price determining means for determining a contract price; and a result display means for displaying the contract price determined by the contract price determining means on the WWW server. 2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a successful bid price notifying means for notifying a successful bidder determined based on the bid information stored in said bid information storing means of a successful bid price. Cooperative auction system. 3. The cooperative auction system according to claim 2, wherein said successful bid price notifying means causes said WWW server to display information on a successful bidder along with said successful bid price by said result display means. 4. The cooperative auction system according to claim 2, wherein said successful bid price notifying means notifies the successful bidder of a successful bid by e-mail. 5. The cooperative auction system according to claim 1, further comprising an e-mail transmitting means for notifying an auction to be held by e-mail via a telecommunication network. 6. The correspondence table storage means according to claim 1, wherein when there are a plurality of products for which the auction is performed, a correspondence table for each product is stored.
6. The cooperative auction system according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. A correspondence table for each commodity stored in the correspondence table storage means, which indicates a selling price of the commodity with respect to a total number of bids of all the commodities or a total number of bids. The cooperative auction system described in. 8. The successful bid price determining means, for a successful bidder who satisfies a predetermined condition, irrespective of the total number of bids of all the goods or the total number of bids, each product stored in the correspondence table storage means. 8. The cooperative auction system according to claim 7, wherein the lowest selling price in the correspondence table of the auction is determined as the contract price. 9. The cooperative auction system according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined condition is a bid for a predetermined number or more of goods or a bid for all kinds of goods. 10. When conducting a cooperative auction through a telecommunications network, the number of bids or the number of bids for determining the number of bids or the selling price that decreases with an increase in the number of bids of the products to be auctioned. A process of preparing a correspondence table of sales prices for, a process of displaying product information for conducting an auction through a telecommunications network, and displaying a form for a bidder to bid on, and storing bid information of the auction. Processing to calculate the total number of bids or the total number of bids by aggregating the accumulated bid information, and to determine the sales price to be predicted at the present time based on the value and the prepared correspondence table; A process of displaying the total number or the total number of bids and the selling price; and, after the auction ends, the accumulated bid information described above. The process of summarizing the information to obtain the total number of bids or the total number of bids, determining the winning bid price based on the value and the prepared correspondence table, and displaying the determined winning bid price, is executed by the computer. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program including the program.