JP2002149941A - Marketing method using network, device thereof, and commodity information perusing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system allowing a commodity purchaser to read latest commodity information in a manner in which he/she can compare the information and allowing a commodity provider to quickly grasp a demand of the commodity purchaser. SOLUTION: The commodity information transmitted from terminal units 1 to 3 of the commodity providers A to C is edited into information every commodity category in a server computer 100 and is transmitted to terminal units 10 to 30 of the commodity purchasers a to c. On the other hand, the commodity category of the information that the commodity purchasers a to c peruse and perusing time tare transmitted to the commodity providers A to C through the server computer 100 from the terminal units 10 to 30 as perusing information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a marketing method and apparatus using a network, and a merchandise information browsing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of providing merchandise information handled by merchandise providers such as supermarkets and retail stores to merchandise purchasers, the merchandise providers have conventionally been commercialized by TV stations.
In addition, product information is provided to a product purchaser by placing the product information on an advertisement in a newspaper or a flyer distributed with the newspaper.

[0003]

However, in the conventional method of providing product information, the cost of a commercial request for a commercial to a television station or a fee for an advertisement to a newspaper is required for a product provider. The burden on small-sized product providers was large.

[0004] In addition, since a product purchaser usually deals with product information on items handled by the product provider, he or she must select the information he or she wants to know from a vast amount of product information. For this reason, when trying to compare the same or similar product categories handled by a plurality of product providers, the product information of each provider had to be collected, which was a very complicated task. .

In order to solve the above problems, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
JP-A-1-16333, JP-A-2000-148847 and JP-A-2000-148848 propose a system for selecting and providing product information desired by a product purchaser using recent information communication technology. I have.

[0006] In these systems, only the product information of interest to the user is provided to the user by using conditions preliminarily input by the user of the system.

However, of the above systems, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-17633 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-1488.
The system disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 47 merely provides product information for each product provider.

In the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-148848, the same or the same kind of product information provided by a plurality of product providers is provided to a product purchaser in a form that can be easily processed and compared. For the processing method, it is necessary for the product purchaser to input some conditions.

[0009] It is an object of the present invention to provide a system in which a product purchaser can browse the latest product information in an easy-to-comparison manner, and a product provider can quickly grasp a product purchaser's request.

[0010]

A marketing method via a network according to the present invention uses a server computer connectable to a plurality of merchandise provider terminals and a plurality of merchandise purchaser terminals via the network. A method of receiving product information transmitted from a plurality of product provider terminals and registering the product information in a product information database, classifying the product information for each product category, and providing a plurality of product information for each product category. Editing the product information into a mode that can be compared among the product providers, transmitting the edited product information to the terminals of a plurality of product buyers, and viewing the transmitted product information by the plurality of product buyers Receiving browsing information indicating the degree from the terminals of a plurality of purchasers and registering the browsing information in a browsing information database; And transmitting the viewing information registered in the scan into a plurality of product provider's terminal.

[0011] Preferably, each terminal of the purchaser is a personal computer. As a result, the product purchaser can browse the product information handled by a plurality of product providers as product information for each product category in an edited form that can be compared among the plurality of product providers. Becomes easier. In addition, by viewing the browse information, the merchandise provider can confirm which merchandise category the current merchant buyer is interested in.

[0012] More preferably, each terminal of the product purchaser has a TV tuner, and in the step of transmitting to a plurality of product purchaser terminals, the product information is transmitted via a television station.

[0013] Thus, by broadcasting the edited product information from the television station, the product purchaser can always compare and recognize the latest product information for each product provider, and furthermore, even the extra product information of the product purchaser can be obtained. It will not be saved on the terminal.

[0014] A marketing device via a network according to the present invention is a marketing device connectable to terminals of a plurality of product providers and terminals of a plurality of product purchasers via the network. A product information database for registering the product information transmitted from the terminal, and product information for classifying the product information for each product category and editing the product information for each product category in a manner that can be compared among a plurality of product providers. Editing means; transmitting means for transmitting the product information edited by the product information editing means to the terminals of a plurality of product purchasers; and a plurality of browsing information indicating the degree to which the plurality of product buyers viewed the transmitted product information. Receiving means for receiving from the terminal of the product purchaser, and a browsing information database for registering the browsing information received by the receiving means, Shin means transmits viewing information registered in the browsing information database to a plurality of product provider's terminal.

Preferably, each terminal of the purchaser is a personal computer. As a result, the product purchaser can browse the products provided by the plurality of product providers in a manner that can be compared among the plurality of product providers for each product category. The user's interest can be found in which product category.

[0016] More preferably, each terminal of the product purchaser has a television tuner, and the transmitting means transmits the product information via a television station.

[0017] Thereby, the product purchaser can browse the products provided by the plurality of product providers in a manner comparable among the plurality of product providers for each product category. It is possible to know which product category interests the product purchaser.

A product information browsing device according to the present invention is a product information browsing device connectable to a server computer via a network, and includes a product information master file storing edited product information transmitted from the server computer. When the product purchaser browses the edited product information, the browse information master file storing the browsed information and the product category and browse time of the browsed edited product information are stored in the browse information master file. Transmission means for transmitting the browsing information to the server computer.

As a result, the product purchaser can browse the product information at any time. In addition, the product supplier can know the contents of the product information browsed by the product purchaser, and can understand the product that the product purchaser is still interested in.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding portions have the same reference characters allotted, and description thereof will not be repeated.

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a marketing system using a server computer connectable to a plurality of merchandise provider terminals and a plurality of merchandise purchaser terminals via a network according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the entire configuration of the embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, server computer 10
0 is assigned to terminals 1 to 3 owned by merchandise providers A, B, and C, which are supermarkets and retail stores, and terminals 10 to 30 owned by merchandise purchasers a, b, and c, via the network 40. Connected. FIG. 1 shows a server computer 100.
There are three terminals of the product provider and three terminals of the product purchaser connected to the server computer 100, respectively, but it is of course possible to connect more terminals to the server computer 100.

The server computer 100 includes a hard disk 101, a product information editing unit 102, a browsing information editing unit 103, and a receiving unit that receives product information transmitted from a product provider and browsing information transmitted from a product purchaser. 104
And a transmission unit 10 for transmitting the product information and the browsing information.
5 is included.

The hard disk 101 has a merchandise information database 106 for storing merchandise information transmitted from the merchandise provider terminals 1 to 3 and a browsing information database 107 for storing browsing information transmitted from the merchandise purchaser terminal. Including. The merchandise information editing unit 102 classifies merchandise information transmitted from a plurality of merchandise providers for each merchandise category, and edits the merchandise information for each merchandise category into a form that can be compared among the plurality of merchandise providers. It has a function to do. Further, the browsing information editing unit 103 has a function of totalizing browsing information sent from the terminals 10 to 30 owned by the product purchaser for each product category.

On the other hand, the terminals 10 to 10 of the purchasers a, b, c
Reference numeral 30 denotes a hard disk 11 and a browsing information recording unit 12
And a receiving unit 13 and a transmitting unit 14. The hard disk 11 stores a product information master file 15 for storing product information sent from the server computer 100 and a browsing information master file 16 for storing browsing information such as the content and browsing time of the product information browsed by the product purchaser. Including.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the marketing system shown in FIG.

When a merchandise provider A who is an employee of a supermarket or a retail store provides merchandise purchasers who are consumers with information on merchandise handled at their own supermarket or the like, the merchandise provider A owns the merchandise. Enter product information into the terminal 1 (step S1
1). The product information input to the terminal 1 is transmitted to the network 40
Is transmitted to the server computer 100 via the server (step S12). After the server computer 100 receives the product information transmitted from the terminal 1 (step S1001),
The product information is stored in the product information database of the hard disk 101 (step S1002).

The operation of the marketing system when the merchandise provider A provides merchandise information as described above is similarly performed for the merchandise providers B and C. That is, when the product provider B provides the product information, the product information is input to the terminal 2 owned by the product provider B (step S21), and then transmitted to the server computer 100 via the network 40 (step S22). . The server computer 100 receives the product information transmitted from the product provider B (step S1003) and stores it in the product information database 106 in the hard disk 101 (step S1004). Since the same operation is performed for merchandise provider C, the description will not be repeated.

Subsequently, the server computer 100 edits the merchandise information of the merchandise providers A to C stored in the hard disk 101 as a merchandise information database.

In the editing, the merchandise information transmitted by each merchandise provider is classified for each merchandise category, and the merchandise information is edited for each merchandise category into a form that can be compared among a plurality of merchandise providers (step S1007). ).

For example, when the merchandise providers A to C are employees of a supermarket or a retail store, and the merchandise information transmitted by each merchandise provider to the server computer 100 is about food, the server computer 100 starts off. The product information is classified by type of food, that is, by product category.

After classification for each product category, product information is further provided for each product category to product providers A to
C Edit to an aspect that can be compared between each other.

Table 1 is a comparison table in the case where the merchandise category is "tofu" and the merchandise providers A to C are edited so that they can be compared with each other.

[0034]

[Table 1]

Here, information such as the manufacturer, selling price, and expiration date of "Tofu" is edited in a manner that can be compared by the merchandise providers A to C.

As described above, the server computer 100
After editing the product information for each product category common to each product provider from the product information transmitted by each product provider, the terminals 10 to 3 owned by the product buyers a to c
Then, the edited merchandise information is transmitted via the network 40 (step S1008).

The transmission may be performed at regular intervals or when information is updated for each product category.

The edited product information is received by the terminals 10 to 30 owned by the product purchasers a to c (step S).
101, 201, 301).

Attention is now paid to the product purchaser a. The edited product information is stored in the product information master file 15 in the hard disk 11 of the terminal 10 owned by the product purchaser a (step S102). When the product purchaser a wants to know the product information, he outputs the product information from the product information master file 15 and browses it on the screen of the terminal 10 (step S103). At this time, the product information master file 1
It is possible to browse only the product information of the product category that the user wants to know from among the product information stored in No. 5. For example, if the product purchaser a wants to know the product information about “Tofu”, Table 1 Is displayed on the screen of the terminal 10 of the product purchaser a. Further, it is naturally possible to output the product information on a paper using a printer or the like.

At this time, the terminal 10 of the product purchaser a sequentially records the content of the product category browsed by the product purchaser a and the browsing time in the browsing information recording unit 12, and the browsing information in the hard disk 11 is browsed. Information master file 16
(Step S104). The browsing information is transmitted to the server computer 100 via the network 40 periodically or according to a command from the server computer 100 (step S105).

Step S10 in the product purchaser a
The operations of 1 to S105 are performed in the same way for the purchasers b and c (steps S201 to S205 and steps S301 to S305). Therefore, the description will not be repeated.

Subsequently, the terminals 10 to 10 of the product purchasers a to c
The browsing information transmitted from the server computer 1
00 (step S1009) and stored in the browse information database 107 in the hard disk 101 of the server computer 100 (step S101).
0).

When the product provider A wants to know the product category of interest of the product purchaser who is a consumer, the product provider A inputs a request for obtaining browsing information at the terminal 1 (step S13). The input acquisition request is sent to the network 40
(Step S1011). After receiving the browse information acquisition request, the server computer 100 edits the browse information of each product purchaser stored in the browse information database 107 in the hard disk 101 for each product category (step S1).
012). The edited browse information is displayed, for example, as shown in Table 2.

[0044]

[Table 2]

The server computer 100 transmits the edited browsing information to the terminal 1 of the goods provider A (step S1013).

The edited browse information is received by the terminal 1 of the product provider A (step S14), and the product provider A can browse the browse information as shown in Table 2 on the screen of the terminal 1. It becomes possible (step S15).

When merchandise providers B and C want to know the merchandise category in which the merchandise purchaser is currently interested, since the operation is the same as that of merchandise provider A, the description will not be repeated.

As described above, according to this embodiment, commodity information provided by a plurality of commodity providers, which is previously edited for the same commodity or the same commodity category, is periodically provided to the commodity purchaser. As a result, the product purchaser can always compare and recognize the latest product information for each product provider. On the other hand, the merchandise provider can easily and quickly know the merchandise category that the merchandise purchaser is currently interested in.

[Second Embodiment] The embodiment of the present invention has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in other embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the marketing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

As compared with FIG. 1, the server computer 10
0 indicates a new television station 200 via the network 40.
Is connected to In addition, the terminal 10 of the product purchaser ac
30 includes a TV tuner 17 newly. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the marketing system shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, since the operation of storing and editing the merchandise information transmitted from each merchandise provider in server computer 100 (steps S1001 to S1007) is the same as that of FIG. The description will not be repeated.

The edited product information is sent to the network 40
Is transmitted to the television station 200 via the network (step S10).
08). The transmitted product information is received by the television station 200 (step S2001), and is stored in a hard disk (not shown) in the television station 200 (step S200).
2). Then, the television station 200 starts broadcasting the edited product information (step S2003).

Therefore, the product purchasers a to c can browse the product information using the terminals 10 to 30 provided with the TV tuner 17 when they want to know the product information.

Here, paying attention to the product purchaser a, if the product purchaser a wants to know the product information, the TV tuner 17
Using the attached terminal 10, product information constantly transmitted from the television station 200 is received (step S101). In the product information, for example, channels are set for each product category, and the product purchaser a can always browse the channel of the product information that he or she wants to know (step S10).
2). In addition, while receiving the product information, the received product information is stored in the hard disk 1 of the terminal 10 as a backup function.
1 is stored in the product information master file 15 (step S103). Thereby, when a part of the product information being received is missed, the information can be confirmed again. While the product purchaser a is receiving the product information, the browse information recording unit 12 of the terminal 10 records the channel and the reception time of the browsed product information, and the information is stored in the browse information master file 16 in the hard disk 11. It is stored (step S104). These steps S101 to S
The operation of 104 is performed simultaneously.

Regarding the operation after step S105,
Since it is the same as FIG. 2, the description will not be repeated.

The browsing information of the product purchaser received by the terminals 1 to 3 of the product providers A to C at steps S15, S25 and S35 is displayed in a table as shown in Table 3, for example.

[0059]

[Table 3]

As described above, according to the second embodiment,
By broadcasting the product information edited by the server computer 100 from the television station 200, the product purchaser can always compare and recognize the latest product information for each product provider, and further purchase the product as in the first embodiment. Unnecessary product information is not stored in the product information master file 15 in the hard disk 11 of the product purchaser's terminal.

[Embodiment 3] Embodiments 1 and 2 above
In the above, a marketing system using one server computer is assumed. However, it is also possible to install one server computer in each city or each region and connect the server computers to each other via a network.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a marketing system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, server computer 100 in city A further includes server computer 30 in city B.
0 and the server computer 400 in the city C via the network 40.

As a result, a product purchaser having an address in the city a can quickly obtain not only the product information of the city in which he lives but also the product information of the neighboring cities B and C. On the other hand, a product provider who has a sales office in city a does not only have information about products of interest to product buyers in the city where it has its business office, but also has information about the interests of product buyers in other cities b and c. Information about a certain product can also be easily obtained.

The embodiments disclosed this time are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the embodiments described above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

[0066]

According to the present invention, merchandise information provided by a plurality of merchandise providers can be provided to the merchandise purchaser in advance edited for the same merchandise or the same kind of merchandise category. The purchaser can always compare and recognize the latest product information for each product provider. On the other hand, the merchandise provider can easily and quickly know the merchandise category that the merchandise purchaser is currently interested in.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a marketing system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the marketing system shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a marketing system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the marketing system shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a marketing system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-3, 10-30 terminal, 11, 101 hard disk, 12 browsing information recording unit, 13, 104 receiving unit,
14, 105 transmission unit, 15 product information master file, 16 browse information master file, 17 TV tuner, 40 networks, 100, 300, 400
Server computer, 102 Product information editing unit, 103
Browsing information editorial department, 200 TV stations.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/30 220 G06F 17/30 220Z

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A server computer connectable to a plurality of merchandise provider terminals and a plurality of merchandise purchaser terminals via a network, comprising: receiving merchandise information transmitted from the plurality of merchandise provider terminals; Registering the product information in a product information database; classifying the product information for each product category; and editing the product information for each of the product categories in a form that can be compared among the plurality of product providers; Transmitting the obtained product information to the terminals of the plurality of product purchasers; and displaying, from the terminals of the plurality of product purchasers, browsing information indicating the degree to which the plurality of product purchasers viewed the transmitted product information. Receiving and registering the information in the browsing information database; and transmitting the browsing information registered in the browsing information database to the terminals of the plurality of product providers. And a step of faith,
Marketing method using network. 2. The marketing method using a network according to claim 1, wherein each terminal of the product purchaser is a personal computer. 3. The step of transmitting to the terminals of the plurality of commodity purchasers, wherein each terminal of the commodity purchaser has a TV tuner;
The marketing method using a network according to claim 1, wherein the product information is transmitted via a television station. 4. A marketing device connectable to a plurality of merchandise provider terminals and a plurality of merchandise purchaser terminals via a network, wherein merchandise information transmitted from the plurality of merchandise provider terminals is registered. A merchandise information database, merchandise information editing means for classifying the merchandise information for each merchandise category, and editing the merchandise information for each merchandise category in a manner that can be compared among the plurality of merchandise providers; Transmitting means for transmitting the product information edited by the information editing means to the terminals of the plurality of product purchasers; and browsing information indicating the extent to which the plurality of product purchasers viewed the transmitted product information. A receiving unit that receives from the terminal of the product purchaser; and a browsing information database that registers the browsing information received by the receiving unit. Transmitting browsing information registered in the browsing information database to the terminals of the plurality of product providers;
Marketing device using network. 5. The marketing device using a network according to claim 4, wherein each terminal of the product purchaser is a personal computer. 6. The marketing device using a network according to claim 4, wherein each terminal of the product purchaser has a TV tuner, and the transmitting unit transmits the product information via a television station. 7. A merchandise information browsing apparatus connectable to a server computer via a network, wherein a merchandise information master file storing edited merchandise information transmitted from the server computer; When browsing the edited product information, the browsing information stored in the browsing information master file includes a browsing information master file storing the product category and the browsing time of the browsed edited product information as browsing information. Transmitting means for transmitting to the server computer,
Product information browsing device.