JP2002197298A - Purchase support method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a purchase support method, which responds to needs of purchasers more properly and enables to reduce the cost of sellers. SOLUTION: General customers log on to a system, proceeds from a main menu to a product selection menu, and selects products which they like. At that time, the customers refer to the information regarding the combination of the products they like or the combination of the products. Trend-setting customers selected from the general customers provide the information. The trend-setting customers are privileged to be able to buy products at special price preferentially, and are responsible to feedback information regarding the products to the sellers. The general customers are able to properly purchase the products they like based on the detailed information provided by the trend- setting customers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for providing various kinds of purchase support at the time of product purchase via a network such as the Internet or the World Wide Web.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the number of personal computers owned by retailers has increased, and many of them have access to the Internet and computer network services that provide access to the World Wide Web (WWW). Is possible. Among them, an Internet shopping service has been started through the WWW where a customer of a retail store can purchase a product online while staying at a place where a computer is installed at home or the like.

[0003] These services are provided not only by conventional general retailers alone, but also by product manufacturers selling directly to customers or by forming a shopping mall to provide a large number of services. Systems and services are provided to sell products to customers across industries and products, and to perform sales operations such as receiving orders, settlement, and customer management over a network.

In such a system, generally, when a customer selects a desired product from among available products,
You have to select and purchase from a large catalog of products.
To achieve this, the shopping service provider (hereinafter referred to as the store) provides the customer with information such as product specifications and appearance, as well as the type, name, Provides an interface for searching product information by specifying the format.

[0005] In addition, customer preferences and requests are stored in advance as customer information, matched with product information, and
A sales assistant system of a type in which a store proposes a recommended product candidate to a customer already exists as a known system.

[0006]

As the sale of goods on the Internet expands, the types of goods handled and the goods themselves are subject to complicated products, while customers are faced with conventional face-to-face sales at retail stores. If so, it is necessary to determine the purchase by looking at the product information on the WWW before purchasing the product description that was received at the time of product purchase and the description of information necessary for product selection. Of these product information, very basic items such as specifications, appearance, precautions at the time of purchase, etc. are provided to customers, but for example, products that use multiple peripheral devices such as personal computers in combination There is a so-called compatibility problem with the equipment that makes the purchase, especially when purchasing such as whether the product A1 of one manufacturer A and the product B1 of another manufacturer B can be connected and used. Is often not described in the product information provided by Company A or the product information provided by Company B. For this reason, it is difficult for the customer to obtain necessary information when selecting this kind of product, which causes a problem such as a problem after the purchase, which causes an increase in trouble such as a return of the product.

[0007] Alternatively, in the case of apparel-related products such as clothes and accessories, customers simply select colors, shapes,
Even if an interface is provided that allows individual selection by type or the like, it is difficult for customers to express their preferences under simple conditions. Rather, when selecting a product, it is often not exactly determined which product is desired, and the user often selects the desired product while browsing the product. Furthermore, in addition to selecting a single product for each product category, such as shirts, skirts, bags, etc., accessories such as accessories that are commonly used in face-to-face sales and for your image Since it has not been realized to make a selection in consideration of a product configuration such as a certain accessory, a method of selecting a product becomes uniform.

In order to solve such a problem, for example, in the former case, each manufacturer selects connection devices of some other company's products and independently performs a connection operation test with its own device to obtain product information. They provide to customers as a part, and provide examples of construction with a system composed of only their own products to assist customers in purchasing.
However, in practice, customers may want to connect to and use products of other companies that have already been introduced.Connectivity in the configuration desired by the customer is determined only by the product information provided by the manufacturer. Getting from is not easy.

What can be said in common between the two examples described above is that the customer who purchases a product not only purchases the product alone, but also the product already purchased and the product purchased this time.
Or, although it is important to receive information on the products to be purchased this time and also on the combination of products for future purchase at the time of purchase, the information that can be obtained at present is the product information of each product alone Is the center.

[0010] On the other hand, considering the problems that occur on the side of selling the product, the customer who purchases the product is presented with the product information on the example of the configuration and combination of the product as described above, However, if the information is used as reference information when selecting a product, there is a problem that the cost for creating the product information regarding the combination of the products is actually large. For example, in the case of the above-described example of the configuration of the personal computer with peripheral devices, the types of products of the respective companies are extremely large, and it is actually difficult to confirm the operation of the configuration combining these. In addition, there are a variety of customer requests, and it is costly to listen to each customer's wishes and propose a product configuration that matches them, at a low price that suppresses the margin, which is a major merit of Internet shopping. Can no longer be sold. Some attempts have been made to automate this service among a single manufacturer's product group, but in practice there is not a very effective solution available for product configurations from multiple manufacturers. It is.

According to the present invention, by providing the customer with information on the configuration and combination of the product when the customer purchases the product as described above, the customer can obtain the wrong configuration when purchasing the product. Avoids the problem of not being able to perform the desired action or purchasing an extra one by selecting it.In addition, when selecting the desired product from among many products, Specifying simple selection criteria for products will help you choose the types of products that are difficult to express your wishes, and
An object of the present invention is to provide a purchasing support system for providing product information while suppressing costs for proposing a product configuration, which is an advantage of a product seller, and a method therefor.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a purchasing support method that can more accurately respond to the needs of a purchaser and can reduce the cost of the seller.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A purchasing support method according to the present invention is a method of providing information that meets the needs of a customer and supporting the purchase so that the customer can purchase more effective products. A specific customer selecting step of selecting a specific customer from general customers; a product information collecting step of collecting information on products purchased by the specific customer from the specific customer; An information presenting step of presenting information on the product obtained from the specific customer when purchasing the product.

According to the present invention, since detailed product information (feedback information) can be obtained from a specific customer (charismatic customer) selected from general customers, the general customer can obtain information from the charismatic customer. It is possible to purchase products with few failures by referring to the selection and combination of products that meet the needs of the user and the precautions when purchasing products.

[0015] In addition, on the side of selling goods, it is not necessary for the seller to independently generate the goods information, so that costs in selling goods can be suppressed.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present invention, various purchase supports are provided at the time of product purchase via a network such as the Internet or the World Wide Web.

According to the degree of knowledge of the product among the customers and the degree of influence of the remarks of the customer on other general customers, the store sets in advance a standard according to the purpose. The specific customer selected based on the criteria is a leader customer (hereinafter called a charismatic customer)
To be elected. When choosing other products, charismatic customers can refer to additional product information, such as the structure of the products already selected by the charismatic customer, the benefits and problems discovered after purchase, and precautions when selecting products. The desired product can be purchased.

The charismatic customer, prior to the general customer,
You will be given the authority to try and buy new products, and will receive benefits such as receiving incentives such as discounts on product prices as needed,
As a price, it has an obligation to feed back the information, problems, notes, etc. of the product after purchase to the seller of the product.

According to the present invention, additional merchandise information such as information on merchandise known by a charismatic customer who purchased the merchandise prior to a general customer and items considered when selecting the merchandise is transmitted to the store. By providing a mechanism for providing feedback and managing the information on the store side and providing it as needed, ordinary customers refer to those additional product information in addition to general product information when selecting products By doing
This makes it possible to know the compatibility between products and examples of combinations of products that could not be known so far, and can be added to the judgment at the time of purchase.

In order to ensure that this is done, the embodiment of the present invention manages charismatic customers in addition to general customer management data, merchandise information and mechanisms and data necessary for sales and settlement operations. It has a mechanism and data for performing the operation, additional product information fed back from charismatic customers, and a mechanism for managing the information.

An embodiment of the present invention comprises a series of steps performed at a central center cooperating with a communications device at a customer location. This step includes: (1) A step in which a charismatic customer selected in advance from the customers logs in to the central center on the store side using an identification code through a communication network. (2) Priority sales of new products to charismatic customers,
Alternatively, providing incentives such as trial and discount sales. (3) Step of feeding back information such as matters that the charismatic customer considered when purchasing the product or problems that occurred after purchasing the product to the store (4) Utility of the store with respect to the information provided by the charismatic customer to the store And adding incentive points according to the evaluation to charismatic customers. (5) A step where the information provided by the charismatic customer to the store side is processed as necessary and stored and managed at the central center. (6) A step where a general customer logs in to the central center at the store side through a communication network using an identification code. . (7) A step of presenting information such as a product configuration and notes on selection when a general customer selects a product desired to be purchased from a product list, and assisting in product selection. (8) General customer Performing a sales procedure for the desired product selected by the user.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the overall process of the system according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a general customer logs in to the central center via a network such as the Internet connecting the customer and the product sales system (S1). After logging in, general customers can use the main menu to select sub-menus such as product selection to select desired products, product configuration examples to see examples of product combinations, and purchase procedures to determine actual purchases. (S2, S3, S4, S5, S6), while freely browsing and purchasing products.

At this time, a general customer information database 10 for managing customer information, a product information database 11 for managing information on products, a configuration example database 1
2. Various information stored in the additional information database 13 can be referred to as needed. The record of the product purchased by the customer is stored in the purchase history database 14.

In this embodiment, in addition to the conventional system, there is a processing process relating to a charismatic customer selected from general customers. Charismatic customers are managed independently of general customers, and go through a dedicated login process (S10), focus on charismatic customer-specific menus (S11), refer to incentives (S12), and select priority purchase products. While going back and forth between submenus such as (S13) and transmission of feedback information (S14), the user transmits to the system, as feedback information, items considered when purchasing the product, the configuration of the product, and problems that occurred after the purchase. (S15) Based on the information, the merchandise information stored in the configuration example database 12 and the additional information database 13 is registered and updated.

A general customer can refer to information provided by a charismatic customer at the time of selecting a product and receive assistance in selecting the product. Charismatic customers can receive incentives from stores depending on the usefulness of the information provided.
The incentive includes provision of an incentive point that can be used as a discount point when the product is purchased later, and the right to purchase or discount the product prior to general customers. Further, by shifting from the dedicated menu (S11) of the charismatic customer to the main menu (S2) of the general customer, it is possible to receive services such as product selection, purchase procedures, and reference to information on products similar to general customers.

In the conventional system, the configuration example and the product information of the product are prepared in advance by the store and provided to the customer. In this method, the store had to spend a large amount of money to create the information. In the present embodiment, the cost is reduced by selecting a charismatic customer from the customers and registering the configuration information and the additional information of the product by utilizing the information fed back from the charismatic customer to the store.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process in which a charismatic customer pre-selected from the customers logs in to the store-side central center using the identification code through the communication network.

The charismatic customer inputs an identification code (ID) and a password given in advance and makes a login request to the central center to connect to the system of the present embodiment (step S20). At this time, the system checks the validity of the login request by querying the customer information stored in the charisma customer database (step S21) (step S22). If the request is valid, it leads to the charismatic customer's dedicated menu (step S
23). If the request is invalid in step S22, the process is repeated from the login request again.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process for providing incentives such as preferential sale of a new product or trial use or discount sale to a charismatic customer. In the present embodiment, it is necessary for charismatic customers to provide effective feedback information. for that reason,
By matching products in the field that the customer is good at with the product attributes according to the customer attributes and purchase history, etc., it is possible to determine which charismatic customers will preferentially sell which products prior to other general customers. This is very important. Here, when a charismatic customer inquires about products that can be purchased preferentially, customer information stored in the charismatic customer database and product information stored in the product information database,
The company processes matching information between purchase history and other information, and preferentially provides products to charismatic customers who are likely to provide more useful information. Also, in that case, it is possible to reflect the store's intention by weighting products and customers considered to be particularly important for the store's intention when matching customer attributes and product attributes. It can be so.

The charismatic customer can select and purchase a desired product from among the products that he / she can preferentially purchase. At that time, information on which charismatic customer has selected which product is registered in the charismatic customer database, and when the store later receives the feedback information, the charismatic customer who has made a priority purchase but has not yet sent feedback is received. It is important to make decisions and ensure that the same charismatic customer does not purchase the same product over and over again.

Further, in order to provide merchandise in preference to a charismatic customer who provides more useful feedback information, it is important to provide merits to the charismatic customer as well.
Charismatic customers receive incentive points based on the usefulness of the information they provide. In addition, the charismatic customer can refer to how many points he currently has as necessary. By discounting priority-purchased products in accordance with the incentive points, charismatic customers can benefit from being able to preferentially purchase the next product at a lower price if they feed back valid information.

Hereinafter, the flowchart of FIG. 3 will be described. First, in step S30, a charismatic customer accesses the system and opens a charisma customer-specific menu. The charismatic customer selects an incentive reference menu or a preferentially-purchasable product introduction menu from the charisma customer-specific menu. In step S31, when the incentive reference menu is selected, step S32
In, the charismatic customer makes an incentive point inquiry. In response to this inquiry, the system proceeds to step S
At 33, an incentive point is displayed on the terminal screen of the charismatic customer. This allows the charismatic customer to check his incentive points. When the display of the incentive points is completed in step S33, the process returns to step S30.

When the preferentially-purchasable product introduction menu in step S34 is selected from the menu displayed in step S30, the matching between the customer attribute and the product attribute is performed in step S35. At this time, it is possible to perform weighting based on the promotion on the store side. In step S35, matching is performed with reference to the product information database, purchase history database, and charisma customer database.

As a result of the matching, in step S36, the preferentially purchasable product candidates are displayed.
At 37, the charismatic customer selects a priority purchaseable product. The selection result made in step S37 is
Stored in the charisma customer database. Upon completion of the selection, the process returns to the step S30.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of feeding back information such as a matter that a charismatic customer considers when purchasing a product or a problem that has occurred after the purchase of a product to the store.

The charismatic customer, for example, considers why he / she selected the product, advantages and disadvantages when compared with other products, considerations when selecting a purchased product, and which product to use when purchasing a product. Items related to the structure of the product as purchased in combination, and items related to the configuration at the time of use, such as what type of product you already have and used when you actually used the purchased product Further, items relating to a problem occurring after purchase, a problem occurring in combination with a specific product, and the like are transmitted to the store in the form of feedback information.

The flowchart of FIG. 4 will be described. First,
In step S30, the charisma customer proceeds from the charisma customer-specific menu to the main menu in step S40. Then, in step S41, a product is selected. Then, in step S42, a purchase procedure is performed, and in step S43, after the product is obtained, the purchased product is used by combining it with another product. Then, in step S44, if a problem occurs, the type of the problem is examined. Then, after these series of steps, the considerations of the product selection performed at the time of product selection, the configuration of the purchased product, the configuration at the time of use, the problem that occurred after the purchase, and the like are sent to the central center as feedback information in step S45. Send.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process in which the store evaluates the usefulness of the information provided by the charismatic customer to the store, and adds incentive points corresponding to the evaluation to the charismatic customer.

In the present embodiment, it is important to determine the usefulness of the feedback information from the charismatic customer, and to give the charismatic customer an incentive accordingly. The charismatic customer opens the menu dedicated to the charismatic customer in step S50, and transmits the feedback information to the store in step S51 by performing the steps described above. The store receives the feedback information transmitted from the charismatic customer (step S52), registers the feedback information (step S53), and determines its usefulness (step S54).

At that time, the information is collated with the information stored in the additional information database, the configuration example database, and the product information database, and if it is already known information (step S55), or it can be applied to other products. An evaluation is performed based on criteria such as whether there is versatility (step S57) or whether there is no inconsistency between information and high reliability (step S59), and an incentive according to the evaluation is given to the charismatic customer who provided the information. Points are added (steps S56, S58, S60). Also, at this time, what kind of product was provided preferentially to the charismatic customer is registered, and if the charismatic customer sends feedback information on the product, more incentive points are given. It is also possible to take such measures.

In addition, it is also possible to add an incentive point when information considered to be particularly important is provided by the store side (step S61). The added incentive points are stored in the charisma customer database.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process for determining the versatility of additional information and configuration information of a product fed back from a charismatic customer. First, step S65
, The classification hierarchy to which the product belongs is acquired from the product database. Next, in step S66, it is determined whether the provided information is applicable to other products in the same category. Then, in step S67, it is determined whether the provided information is applicable to other categories included in the higher-level category. In step S68, it is determined whether the field that the charismatic customer is good at widely includes the category. Is determined, and versatility is scored.

In these processes, it is possible for a person to participate in the work and judge the versatility of information, which cannot be obtained by the versatility judgment by the classification hierarchy shown in the above step, and score the versatility. preferable. In other words, the above steps can be automatically executed by a program, but it is difficult to algorithmize the criterion when making an ambiguous evaluation of versatility. It is not always possible to evaluate gender. Therefore, the above steps can be performed semi-automatically, or can be performed entirely by humans, to better reflect customer needs.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process for determining the reliability of additional information and configuration information of a product fed back from a charismatic customer. First, step S70
In step S71, the reliability of the charismatic customer is determined from the past information provision record. In step S71, information provided by other charismatic customers regarding the same product is totaled, and consistency with the majority opinion is determined. In step S72, Existing additional information about products in the same or related categories,
Determine the consistency with the configuration information.

In this process, too, as in the case of FIG. 6, it is necessary to make a judgment having an ambiguous criterion of reliability. , It is preferable to make all decisions by human judgment. As a result, a delicate judgment that cannot be obtained by the automatic judgment can be made, and the reliability of the information from the charismatic customer can be more finely judged.

The determination result obtained in this way is scored in step S73. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process in which the information provided by the charismatic customer to the store side is processed as necessary and stored and managed in the central center.

In the present embodiment, it is important to determine the usefulness of the information fed back from the charismatic customer and to register it in the additional information database or the configuration example database without inconsistency as needed. At that time, registration of information having low usefulness is suspended, or information is registered after being associated with existing information as necessary.

Further, by registering the completion of the registration of the feedback information in the charisma customer database, it is possible to determine a charismatic customer who has not sent the feedback information.

The flowchart of FIG. 8 will be described. First,
In step S75, feedback information is received, and in step S76, usefulness is determined. First, in step S77, it is determined whether the usefulness is high. If the usefulness is determined to be low, step S77 is performed.
Proceed to 79 to suspend the registration. If it is determined in step S77 that the usefulness of the feedback information is high, the process proceeds to step S78 to determine whether or not processing is necessary. If it is determined that the processing is necessary, the process proceeds to step S80, where the information is processed. In step S81, the information is associated with known information, and in step S82, feedback information is registered. Step S78
When it is determined that the processing of the feedback information is unnecessary, the process proceeds to step S82 and the feedback information is registered. The feedback information is registered in a charisma customer database, an additional information database, a configuration example database, and the like. In step S81, the known information thus registered is read from these databases and used for processing the fed back information.

Also in the processing of FIG. 8, a human intervenes,
It is effective to judge usefulness. Usability is ambiguous, and rough judgments can be made automatically, but detailed judgments are difficult to make into algorithms, so humans judge the usefulness of feedback information and decide whether to register In providing product information,
We can provide products that better reflect customer needs.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a process in which a general customer logs in to the central center on the store side using the identification code through the communication network. The general customer inputs the identification code (ID) and the password given in advance and makes a login request to the system to connect to the system (step S85). At this time, the system checks the validity of the login request by querying the customer information stored in the general customer database (step S86) (step S87). If the request is valid, it leads to the main menu of the general customer (step S
88). If it is determined in step S87 that the request is invalid, the process returns to step S85.

FIG. 10 shows a process of presenting information such as a product configuration and notes for selection when a general customer selects a product desired to be purchased from a product list, and assisting in product selection. It is a flowchart shown.

In this embodiment, in order to avoid a complicated product search such as which product should be combined with which product when selecting a product, if there is a product selection request in step S90, the process proceeds to step S91. Then, it is determined whether the search condition is clear. If the search condition is not clear, it is possible to select from among the product configuration examples (step S94). The general customer refers to the configuration example registered in advance from the configuration example database based on the information that the charismatic customer has purchased in advance, or that has been fed back with the results of using and composing the product already possessed after the purchase (step (S95), a product candidate is displayed (step 93), and a configuration close to the desired configuration can be selected. In addition, by referring to information on products already purchased by general customers from the purchase history database,
It is also possible to present a configuration example including the product.

If it is determined in step S91 that the search condition for the product desired by the general customer is already clear, the search condition can be input and the product can be selected in step S92. The search condition at that time may be a combination of a product classification, a function, a price, a maker, a model, and the like. The products that match the search conditions and the products included in the referenced configuration example are presented to general customers as product candidates (step S93).

The general customer determines a product to be purchased from the product candidates (step S98). At that time, the sales system presents information on the product from the product information database. At this time, when the merchandise information is presented to the general customer, if the merchandise has additional information, the additional information is also presented (steps S96 and S97). The additional information is registered based on information that the charismatic customer considers when selecting a product, a problem that occurs when the product is used, and the like are fed back to the store. As a consumer, when deciding what products to buy,
By referring to such additional information, there is an advantage that a problem that may occur after purchase can be known in advance, or a requirement required when used in combination with another product. The advantage of the store side is that when providing such information to customers in the past, the store side had to prepare the information, which was a huge cost, but in addition to being able to reduce that cost, It is possible to disclose to the customer in advance any problems that may occur in the future, and it is possible to prevent the cause of the trouble.

When a general customer refers to the additional information, the system records the number of times the additional information has been referred to in the additional information database, and uses it as one of the indexes for evaluating the usefulness of the information. Is also possible.

The general customer can refer to the additional information on the product, obtain the knowledge necessary for selecting the product, select the product to be purchased, and proceed to the purchase procedure (step S99).
FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a process of performing a sales procedure for a desired product selected by a general customer.

A general customer purchases a product after going through the above-described process regarding product selection. In the present embodiment, it is important to know which customer has purchased which product. For this reason, after the payment procedure, the system stores the products purchased by the customer in the purchase history database. Based on this purchase history information, the next time a product to be used in combination with the product is selected, it can be used as a condition for determining a product candidate. Further, by recording that the general customer refers to the additional information and the configuration example and then purchasing the product, it is possible to use the usefulness of the information fed back by the charismatic customer as an evaluation index.

The flowchart of FIG. 11 will be described. First, in step S100, the general customer accesses the main menu, and in step S101, selects a product. Next, in step S102, a payment procedure is performed, and in step S103, the system registers the customer's purchase history in the purchase history database. Then, in step S104, it is determined whether or not the purchase has been completed.
Returning to step 100, the process is repeated. Step S1
If the customer inputs that the purchase has been completed in 04, the customer logs out of the system in step S105.

FIG. 12 is a data structure diagram showing an example of the configuration of a product configuration management database for presenting information such as the configuration of products and precautions for selection and assisting product selection.

In the general customer database, customer attributes such as customer name, address, gender, age, hobbies, and interests are registered in correspondence with the customer ID. It is used to select a product suitable for a customer as a candidate by matching it with product information at the time of selection. In this case, a reference (pointer) to a purchase history database that records which merchandise the customer has purchased so far is included. In the purchase history database, a customer ID, a product ID, the number, simultaneous purchase (products), additional information, a configuration example (an example of a combination of products), and a purchase date and time are registered in correspondence with the purchase ID.

In the charisma customer database, in addition to the information contained in the general customer database, information on the field in which the customer has the product, the incentive status, information on the product for which priority purchase was made, and feedback were provided. References (pointers) to information and the like are included. When giving an incentive to a charismatic customer, reference is made to the age, occupation, characteristics, hobbies, abilities, etc. of the charismatic customer stored in the charismatic customer database, and it is determined whether to provide the product preferentially according to these. Decide and give incentives to preferentially purchase specific products.

The product information database contains attributes for each product as general product management information. In addition, the information includes a reference (pointer) to additional information on the product, a reference (pointer) to a charismatic customer who has knowledge of the product, and a date and time when the information is registered.

In the purchase history database, information on which customer purchased which product and when is registered. Further, the information includes a reference (pointer) to another product purchased at the same time, additional information presented at the time of purchase, a configuration example, and the like.

The additional information database contains items to be considered when selecting a product for each product, information for simultaneous purchase, information for configuring with other products, and product information such as problems found after use. The information includes information indicating what attribute the product is suitable for the customer, the date and time when the information was registered, the number of times the additional information was referenced, the usefulness of the information, and the like.

In the configuration example database, examples of combinations in the case where some products are used in combination are registered. In addition, the charisma customer who fed back the configuration, the product included in the configuration, information indicating what attribute the product is suitable for the customer, reference to additional information on the configuration (pointer), and a combination of the configuration And the number of times that the additional information has been referred to, the number of times a general customer has made a purchase with the configuration, the usefulness of the information, and the like.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a process of selecting a charismatic customer from general customers in the present embodiment. In this embodiment, it is important to select a customer who will provide useful product information from general customers as a charismatic customer.

When a general customer uses the system of the present embodiment for the first time, he makes a customer registration request and inputs customer information such as the attributes of the customer. The entered customer information is registered in the general customer database.

That is, in step S110, the general customer makes a customer registration request, in step S111, inputs customer information, and in step S112, the customer information is registered in the general customer database.

The general customer can make a self-recommendation and apply to be registered as a charismatic customer (step S113). In addition to the general customer's self-application, it is also possible to extract good customers from information registered in the purchase history database and to recommend them at the store's will. The system examines the received application (step S114). In that case, in addition to the customer information registered in the general customer database, the customer's qualifications to be registered as a charismatic customer based on the customer's previous purchase history and weighting based on the store's will, etc. Determine if there is. This judgment may be made automatically by executing a program using a specific algorithm. However, a more detailed examination can be made by a human looking at the data and making a judgment. In fact, from a variety of information, when automatically determining whether a particular customer deserves a charismatic customer, it is necessary to algorithmize evaluation criteria that are difficult to replace with numerical values when humans evaluate humans, Building a good algorithm is difficult. Therefore, it is preferable that a human be involved in the situation in order to compensate for this and make a more appropriate examination.

Next, in step S115, if the customer is qualified as a result of the determination, the customer makes a registration request as a charismatic customer (step S116), and inputs customer information unique to the charismatic customer (step S11).
7). The input customer information is registered in the charisma customer database (step S118). Step S115
If it is determined that the customer is not suitable for the charismatic customer, the application is rejected (step S119).

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a process of setting a screening standard in a process of selecting a charismatic customer from general customers. First, step S
At 120, a human defines the rules for charismatic customer selection. Then, in step S121, a charismatic customer is selected based on the customer information and the purchase history according to the rule. In step S122, a feature common to the selected charismatic customers is extracted by data mining or the like, and in step S123, a human reviews the addition, change, deletion, and the like of rules using the extracted feature as a new determination criterion. .

According to this process, a rule for selecting a charismatic customer is first determined, and basically a human selects a charismatic customer based on the rule, and a new rule is created from the characteristics of the selected charismatic customer. Discover and gradually update the optimal rules for automatically selecting charismatic customers. If it is determined that the optimal rules are finally obtained, this rule is applied to the algorithm. Automatically reviewing charismatic customers using a program will reduce the amount of work performed by humans on the system side.

FIG. 15 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system that provides information on sales of commodities and configuration examples of commodities to provide sales support. The system includes a merchandise provider 50 including a retail store and a maker, a purchase support system 51, and a general customer 52 and a charismatic customer 53.
Consists of The purchase support system 51 includes a product information management unit 54 that manages information on products registered by the product provider 50, a sales management unit 55 that manages product sales and its history, and a connection between customers and the sales system. A communication management unit 56 for managing the customer information, and a customer management unit 57 for managing the customer information and selecting the charismatic customer 53 from the general customer 52
Consists of

The product information registered by the product provider 50 is stored in the product information management unit 54 in a product information database, an additional information database, a configuration example database, and the like. The sales management unit 55 has a purchase history database that manages the history of a general customer logging in to the purchase support system 51 via the communication management unit 56, and after selecting a product, purchasing the product. In addition, the charismatic customer 53 logs in to the purchase support system 51 via the communication management unit 56 and performs information feedback. The fed-back information is registered in the additional information database or the configuration example database of the product information management unit 54. When a charismatic customer is selected from the general customers 52, the customer management unit 57 selects a charismatic customer in response to self-recommendation from the general customer. At this time, the information of the general customer and the information of the existing charismatic customer are referred to.
They are stored in the general customer database and the charisma customer database, respectively.

FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram of a product information providing system that provides a service of providing information on a configuration example of a product independently of the sale of the product in the embodiment of the present invention.

In the configuration of the present system, the process of the above embodiment is implemented as a product information providing system, and provides a service for providing useful information to a sales system when a customer selects a product in a conventional product sales system.

In the conventional merchandise sales system, there is also a method of comparing customer attribute information and merchandise information to propose and sell merchandise suitable for each customer. In this form, in practice, a large cost is required to create a rule that determines which product is to be offered to a customer having what attribute,
Also, there is a similar cost problem on the store side when a product combination is proposed. In the embodiment of the present invention, a service for providing additional information and configuration information of a product is enabled.

That is, in FIG. 16, the purchase support system of FIG. 15 is divided into a product information providing system 60 and a product sales system 61, and the product sales system 61
Specializes in selling merchandise to general customers 52. Therefore, the general customer performs a product selection, a purchase procedure, and the like in the product sales system 61, and a general customer database for storing general customer information is also provided in the product sales system 61.
Is provided. However, in this case, what is different from the past is that
When a general customer selects a product, the product sales system 61 presents the product additional information from the product information providing system 60 to the general customer, and performs a service that enables the general customer to purchase more effectively.

The merchandise information providing system 60 may be, for example, a company different from the merchandise sales system 61. In particular, a form in which profits are obtained by selling merchandise information to a company having the merchandise sales system 61 is considered. Can be The merchandise information providing system 60 receives merchandise registration from the merchandise provider 50 and collects additional information on the merchandise from the charismatic customer 53. These are stored in the additional information database and the configuration example database together with the product information database, and the product sales system 61 is provided with the product additional information.

Here, it is necessary to select a charismatic customer from general customers. In this case, the merchandise sales system 6
1 and the merchandise information providing system 60 cooperate with each other to select a charismatic customer from general customers by the method of the above-described embodiment or the like.

FIG. 17 is a display example of the product configuration information and the additional information in the embodiment of the present invention in the case of a personal computer selling system as an example. Suppose a customer wants to purchase a printer that connects to a previously purchased personal computer. In this embodiment, for the customer, the model of the personal computer previously purchased is extracted from the purchase history database, and the product configuration including the personal computer and the printer the customer wants to purchase this time is extracted from the configuration example database. Then, it is presented to the customer along with the product information of the printer.

In this configuration example, configuration information and additional information are registered, and the customer can refer to them. In this case, in the configuration information, the format of an interface card and a cable, which are devices required for connecting the printer to the personal computer, are presented as the configuration information. In addition, since product information on unreachable cables is also presented,
The customer accidentally purchases a cable that cannot be connected or can determine whether or not the cable that he or she already has can be connected, so that the customer can know which product to purchase. Further, as an example of the product additional information, it is possible to know information such as a restriction on a cable length and a maintenance contract necessary for actual use.

The customer refers to the product related information,
It is possible to proceed with the purchase procedure while reducing the risk of making a wrong choice as a product to be purchased. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the customer can receive the information on the configuration and combination of the products at the time of purchase when purchasing the product. It is possible to avoid the problem of not being able to perform the operation or purchasing extra items.

Further, when selecting a desired product from a large number of products, it is difficult for the customer to express his / her wish by simply specifying a selection condition for a single product. Can assist in the selection of products.

Further, the merchandise seller can provide merchandise information while suppressing the cost for proposing a configuration of a certain merchandise. In addition, charismatic customers can receive incentives by giving information to the store side and receive benefits such as preferential purchase of products, as well as excellent products that have not been used in the past. The knowledge of the products held by the customer can be widely used and utilized by general customers. (Supplementary Note 1) A method of providing information that meets the needs of customers and supporting purchasing so that customers can purchase more effective products. A specific customer is selected from general customers. A specific customer selecting step, a product information collecting step of collecting information on a product purchased by the specific customer from the specific customer, and a product information obtaining step from the specific customer when the general customer purchases the product. An information presenting step of presenting information about the purchased product.

(Supplementary Note 2) The specific customer may be determined in advance according to the degree of knowledge of the commodity among the general customers and the degree of influence of the customer's remarks on other general customers. 3. The purchasing support method according to claim 1, wherein the method is selected based on a set criterion.

(Supplementary Note 3) The information on the product includes additional product information such as the configuration of the product already selected by the specific customer, advantages and problems found after purchase, and notes on product selection. The purchase support method according to supplementary note 1, characterized in that:

(Supplementary Note 4) The supplementary note 1 characterized by further comprising an incentive providing step of providing an incentive such as preferential sale of a new product or trial use or discount sale to the specific customer. Purchasing support method.

(Supplementary Note 5) An incentive adding step of evaluating usefulness of the product information collected from the specific customer and adding an incentive point according to the evaluation to the specific customer is further provided. The purchase support method according to claim 4, characterized in that:

(Supplementary Note 6) The purchasing support method according to Supplementary Note 1, further comprising a step of processing the product information collected from the specific customer as needed and storing and managing the product information.

(Supplementary Note 7) A list of items that can be purchased and information on the product according to the customer's request are transmitted to the customer's terminal via the network, and the purchase procedure of the product selected by the customer from the product list is performed online. The purchase support method according to Supplementary Note 1, wherein the purchase support method is performed.

(Supplementary Note 8) In the incentive providing step, it is determined which product is to be provided preferentially according to the age, occupation, feature, interest, ability, etc. of the specific customer to whom the incentive is to be given. Appendix 4
Purchasing support method described in.

(Supplementary note 9) The purchasing support method according to supplementary note 4, wherein it is determined whether or not the product information collected from the specific customer is information on a product that has been preferentially purchased based on an incentive.

(Supplementary Note 10) The purchasing support method according to Supplementary Note 1, wherein usefulness is evaluated for the product information collected from the specific customer. (Supplementary Note 11) The evaluation of the usefulness is performed based on whether the product information is already known, whether the product information has versatility,
And a purchase support method according to Supplementary Note 10, wherein the method is performed based on criteria such as whether the reliability of the product information is high.

(Supplementary Note 12) A purchase example according to Supplementary Note 1, wherein a configuration example of a product based on product information collected from the specific customer is listed in response to a product purchase request from the general customer. How to help.

(Supplementary Note 13) This is a system that provides information that meets the needs of customers and supports purchasing so that customers can purchase more effective products, and is selected from general customers. Product information collecting means for collecting information on the product purchased by the specific customer from the specific customer, and presenting information on the product obtained from the specific customer when the general customer purchases the product A purchase support system comprising: information presenting means.

(Supplementary Note 14) The specific customer is determined in advance according to the degree of knowledge of the commodity from the general customers and the degree of influence of the customer's remarks on other general customers. 13. The purchase support system according to supplementary note 13, wherein the purchase support system is selected based on a set criterion.

(Supplementary Note 15) The information on the product includes additional product information such as the configuration of the product already selected by the specific customer, advantages and problems found after purchase, and precautions when selecting the product. The purchase support system according to supplementary note 13, characterized in that:

(Supplementary note 16) The purchase support system according to supplementary note 13, wherein the specific customer is provided with incentives such as preferential sale of a new product, trial use, and discount sale.

(Supplementary Note 17) The utility information is evaluated for the product information collected from the specific customer, and an incentive point corresponding to the evaluation is added to the specific customer. Purchasing support system as described.

(Supplementary note 18) The purchase support system according to supplementary note 13, wherein the merchandise information collected from the specific customer is processed as necessary and stored and managed. (Supplementary Note 19) A list of items that can be purchased and information on products according to the customer's request are transmitted to the customer's terminal via the network, and the purchase procedure of the product selected by the customer from the item list is performed online. Appendix 1
3. The purchasing support system according to 3.

(Supplementary Note 20) In the step of providing an incentive, it is determined which product is to be provided preferentially according to the age, occupation, feature, interest, ability, etc. of the specific customer to whom the incentive is to be given. 24. A purchasing support system according to claim 16, wherein

(Supplementary note 21) The purchase support system according to supplementary note 16, wherein it is determined whether or not the product information collected from the specific customer is information on a product that has been preferentially purchased based on an incentive.

(Supplementary note 22) The purchase support system according to supplementary note 13, wherein the utility information is evaluated for the product information collected from the specific customer. (Supplementary Note 23) The evaluation of the usefulness is based on whether the product information is already known, whether the product information has versatility,
23. The purchase support system according to Supplementary Note 22, wherein the purchase information is performed based on criteria such as whether the reliability of the product information is high.

(Supplementary note 24) A purchase example according to Supplementary note 13, wherein an example of a configuration of a product based on product information collected from the specific customer is listed in response to a product purchase request from the general customer. Support system.

[0107]

According to the present invention, it is possible to construct a purchase support system on a network which can more appropriately respond to customer needs and can reduce costs on the sales side of goods.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an overall process of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process in which a charismatic customer pre-selected from customers logs in to a store-side central center using an identification code through a communication network.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process for providing incentives such as preferential sale of a new product or trial use or discount sale to a charismatic customer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of feeding back information such as a matter that a charismatic customer considers when purchasing a product or a problem that occurs after the purchase of the product to a store.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process in which the store evaluates the usefulness of the information provided by the charismatic customer to the store, and adds incentive points according to the evaluation to the charismatic customer.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process for determining the versatility of additional information and configuration information of a product fed back from a charismatic customer.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process for determining the reliability of additional information and configuration information of a product fed back from a charismatic customer.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process in which information provided by a charismatic customer to the store side is processed as necessary and stored and managed in a central center.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a process in which a general customer logs in to a store-side central center using an identification code through a communication network.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a process of presenting information such as a product configuration and precautions for selection when a general customer selects a product desired to be purchased from a product list, and assisting in product selection. is there.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a process of performing a sales procedure for a desired product selected by a general customer.

FIG. 12 is a data structure diagram showing an example of the configuration of a product configuration management database for presenting information such as a product configuration and notes at the time of selection and assisting product selection.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a process of selecting a charismatic customer from general customers in the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a process for setting a screening standard in a process of selecting a charismatic customer from general customers.

FIG. 15 is a configuration diagram of a system that provides information related to sales of a product and a configuration example of the product and provides sales support according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram of a product information providing system that provides a service of providing information on a configuration example of a product independently of the sale of the product in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a display example of product configuration information and additional information in a case where a system for selling personal computers is taken as an example in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 General customer database 11 Product information database 12 Configuration example database 13 Additional information database 14 Purchase history database 50 Product provider 51 Purchasing support system 52 General customer 53 Charisma customer 54 Product information management unit 55 Sales management unit 56 Communication management unit 57 Customer management Department 60 Product information provision system 61 Product sales system

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G09F 19/00 G09F 19/00 Z

Claims (11)

[Claims] Claims 1. A method of providing information that meets the needs of a customer and supporting the purchase so that the customer can purchase more effective products. A step of selecting a specific customer to be selected; a product information collecting step of collecting information on a product purchased by the specific customer from the specific customer; and a step of collecting information from the specific customer when the general customer purchases the product. An information presenting step of presenting information on the obtained product;
A purchasing support method, comprising: 2. The specific customer according to a degree of knowledge of a product from among the general customers, a degree of influence of the customer's remarks on other general customers, and the like.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the selection is made based on a preset criterion. 3. The information relating to the product includes additional product information such as a configuration of the product already selected by the specific customer, advantages and problems found after the purchase, and precautions when selecting the product. The purchasing support method according to claim 1, wherein 4. The purchase according to claim 1, further comprising an incentive providing step of providing an incentive such as preferential sale of a new product or trial use or discount sale to the specific customer. How to help. 5. A method for transmitting a list of items that can be purchased and information relating to a product according to a customer's request to a terminal of the customer via a network, and performing a purchase procedure of a product selected by the customer from the item list online. 2. The purchasing support method according to claim 1, wherein: 6. In the incentive providing step, it is determined which product is to be provided preferentially according to the age, occupation, characteristics, interest, ability, etc. of the specific customer to whom the incentive is to be given. The purchase support method according to claim 4. 7. The product information collected from the specific customer,
The purchasing support method according to claim 4, wherein it is determined whether or not the information is information on a preferentially purchased product based on the incentive. 8. The purchasing support method according to claim 1, wherein usefulness is evaluated for the product information collected from the specific customer. 9. The evaluation of the usefulness includes determining whether the product information is already known, whether the product information has versatility,
9. The purchasing support method according to claim 8, wherein the method is performed based on whether the reliability of the product information is high. 10. The purchase support according to claim 1, wherein an example of a product configuration based on product information collected from the specific customer is listed in response to a product purchase request from the general customer. Method. 11. A method of providing information that meets the needs of a customer and supporting the purchase so that the customer can purchase more effective products, wherein a specific customer is selected from general customers. A step of selecting a specific customer to be selected; a step of collecting information on a product purchased by the specific customer from the specific customer; and a step of collecting information from the specific customer. An information presenting step of presenting information about the obtained product;
A program for causing an information processing apparatus to implement a purchase support method, comprising: