JP2002208070A - Method for giving award point and system for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To give a customer award points for encouraging the customer to repeatedly visit a store. SOLUTION: A plurality of receivers 20 for receiving radio waves transmitted from a transmitter 10 held by a customer 5, and for detecting identification information stored in the transmitter from the radio waves are installed in a plurality of sales floors in a store. A data managing server 30 detects the action amount of the visiting customer in the store based on the detected result of the receivers 20, and decides award points to be given to the customer based on the action amount detected for each customer, and stores the accumulated award points decided by the deciding means for the different opportunities to visit the store of the same customer. The moving distance of the customer in the store is used as one component of the action amount.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a privilege point giving method and a system for giving privilege points to a customer who visits a store providing goods or services or an area where a plurality of stores exist.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, privilege points have been given to customers for sales promotion. In many cases, each time a customer purchases a product or service, the customer is given a reward point according to the value of the purchased product or service, and when the customer later purchases the product or service,
This is to discount the amount in proportion to the total number of privilege points given to the customer. Service goods according to privilege points are also given to customers.

[0003]

However, in order to promote sales, even if you do not plan to purchase goods or services,
It is desirable to operate the store so that more customers come to the store more frequently. As customers have more opportunities to visit the store, they can increase their knowledge of the store or existing products, and more quickly gain knowledge of new products. As a result, it is expected that the customer's willingness to purchase increases and sales are promoted. In addition, when the customer actually looks at the product, the desire to purchase a product that was not scheduled to be purchased increases, and so-called impulse buying can be induced to actually purchase the product on the spot, thereby increasing sales.

[0004] Conventionally, in order to encourage customers to come to the store, a lottery opportunity is given to the customer who came to the store, and if the lottery is won, a product prepared for a privilege is given. However, the merchandise for a privilege given to a customer by such a sales promotion measure is often not what the customer wants or is pleased with, and the merchandise for such a privilege has weak customer attraction. Moreover, such sales promotion measures are often implemented during a specific sales expansion period. For this reason, the effect is often temporary and it is not possible to keep customers coming to the store.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a privilege point giving method and system for giving privilege points to a customer to encourage the customer to visit the store continuously and repeatedly.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for awarding privilege points, wherein each customer visits one store or visits a predetermined area where a plurality of stores exist. The amount of activity of each customer in the store or the local place is detected, and based on the amount of activity detected for each customer, privilege points to be given to the customer are determined, and different visits or visit opportunities of the same customer are determined. And storing a total of a plurality of privilege points determined for each of them.

[0007] Thereby, every time the customer comes to the store or visits, the customer can be given privilege points according to the amount of action. This motivates the customer to visit or visit the store. The more opportunities to visit or visit the store, and the greater the amount of activity at the time of visiting or visiting the store, the more knowledge about the product or the customer's knowledge about the new product can be increased, and the customer's willingness to purchase can be increased, which leads to impulse buying. And increase sales.

[0008] The privilege point providing system according to the present invention receives a radio wave transmitted from a transmitter held by a customer and detects the identification information stored in the transmitter from the radio wave. A plurality of receivers provided at different places in a predetermined local place where a sales floor or a plurality of stores exist, and an amount of activity of each customer holding a transmitter based on detection results of the plurality of receivers Means for determining the privilege points to be given to the customer based on the amount of activity detected for each customer holding the transmitter, and for each of different visits or visit opportunities of the same customer. Means for storing a total of a plurality of privilege points determined by said determining means.

[0009] Thus, when the customer moves in the store or in the predetermined area where a plurality of stores exist, it is possible to easily detect the customer's activity, and to give the customer a response in accordance with the activity. Award points can be given. This motivates the customer to visit or visit the store. As the number of visits or visits increases, the customer's knowledge of the product or the new product increases, which can increase the customer's willingness to purchase, which can lead to impulse buying and lead to sales expansion.
Here, the identification information stored in the transmitter may be any information that can be used to identify the transmitter or a customer holding the transmitter. For example, the transmitter identification information assigned to the transmitter or the information allocated to the customer may be used. It may be customer identification information provided.

[0010] Specifically, the amount of action detected for each customer is, for example, the amount of movement of the customer in a store or in the above-mentioned local place. More specifically, the movement amount detected for each customer is, for example, the movement distance of the customer within the store or the above-mentioned local location, or the total number of sales floors or stores where the customer has stopped. Alternatively, the amount of action detected for each customer may be the sum of the stay times at any of the sales floors of the customer or at any of the stores in the local location. With these, it is possible to measure the magnitude of customer behavior in the store or in the above-mentioned local place,
It can be used to determine points to be awarded according to the amount of customer activity.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of a method and system for giving privilege points according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of a privilege point giving system according to the present invention. In the figure, a privilege point providing system 100 is provided inside a store such as a department store or department store, and includes a transmitter 10 held by a visiting customer 5 and a plurality of receivers 20 arranged at different sales floors in the store. And a plurality of receivers 20
An information processing device 30 (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as a data management server 30) which determines and stores privilege points (hereinafter, simply referred to as points) to be given to customers who visit the store based on the output of the plurality of receivers 20 And data management server 3
0, and an in-house network 40 such as a local area network (LAN) for connecting to a local area network (LAN).

The transmitter 10 is provided with customer identification information (information different for each customer, which is given in advance to the customer.
(Which may be referred to as a customer ID) is transmitted by radio waves, the details of which will be described later. Each receiver 20 receives a radio wave transmitted by the transmitter 10 held by the customer 5 approaching the receiver 20, and receives a customer ID from the radio wave.
The details of the receiver 20 will be described later. The data management server 30 detects the amount of activity of the customer who came to the store based on the outputs of the plurality of receivers 20 and determines a point to be given to the customer depending on the amount of activity. Specifically, the amount of action is, for example, the amount of movement of the customer in the store, and the amount of movement may be, for example, the distance traveled in the store or the number of stops at each counter.

The data management server 30 is further connected to a wide area network such as the Internet 50 via the in-house network 40, and also manages a homepage for selling goods or services via the Internet 50. Reference numeral 60 denotes an information terminal such as a personal computer (personal computer) at home of the customer used by the customer or an information terminal such as a mobile phone which is always carried by the customer.
The user can access the homepage provided by and purchase products or services. In this case, the customer can confirm the points acquired by the customer himself, and can purchase goods or services at a discount price using the points given by the data management server 30 so far.

The transmitter 10 can be constituted by a so-called non-contact type electronic tag. Electronic tag is RF
-Also called an ID tag (Radio Frequency-Identifier tag) or an RF tag. The reader / writer can write predetermined information into the electronic tag, for example, a customer ID described later, or read the customer ID therefrom.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a circuit used in the transmitter 10. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes an antenna coil, and reference numeral 12 denotes a power supply circuit that generates electric power to be supplied to each part of an internal circuit from a radio wave received by the antenna coil 11. Reference numeral 13 denotes a demodulation circuit that demodulates information superimposed thereon from radio waves received by the antenna coil 11. Reference numeral 14 denotes a central processing unit (CPU) for controlling the operation of a circuit in the transmitter 10. Reference numeral 15 denotes a fixed storage device (ROM) that stores a program for controlling the CPU 14 and data used by the program.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a nonvolatile ID memory for storing a customer ID assigned to a customer who owns the transmitter 10. Reference numeral 17 denotes a modulation circuit for transmitting the customer ID stored in the ID memory 16 from the antenna coil 11 under the control of the CPU 14. These circuits are
For example, it is incorporated into a resin card. In this case, the transmitter 10 is also called a so-called IC card. Alternatively, these circuits may be incorporated in a wristwatch or a mobile phone. Alternatively, it may be incorporated in another card such as a credit card or a member card issued by each store.

The customer ID is stored in the ID memory 16 in the transmitter 10.
Is written to the transmitter 10 from a reader / writer (not shown) with a predetermined frequency modulated by the customer ID. In the transmitter 10, the antenna coil 11
Receives electric waves from a reader / writer or other external devices, the power supply circuit 12 self-charges with the received electric waves to generate electric power, and supplies electric power to each circuit in the transmitter 10. Thus, the demodulation circuit 13, the CPU 14, the modulation circuit 1
Internal circuits such as 7 are driven. The demodulation circuit 13 demodulates the received radio wave, detects a customer ID superimposed on the radio wave, and supplies the detected customer ID to the CPU 14. The CPU 14 has the ROM 1
The demodulated customer ID is written into the ID memory 16 under the control of the program stored in 5. In this way, the customer ID is written and the transmitter 10 is passed to the customer 5.

On the other hand, when the transmitter 10 approaches a transmitter 20 which will be described in detail later, the stored customer ID is read. That is, the antenna coil 11 is
When a radio wave having a predetermined frequency from 0 is received, the power supply circuit 12 operates in the same manner, the CPU 14 reads out the customer ID from the ID memory 16, the modulation circuit 17 modulates the customer ID to be transmitted, and the antenna coil 11. A modulated radio wave is transmitted via the.

When the transmitter 10 is an IC card, in this system, the customer has the transmitter 10 store the customer ID in the store in advance by a reader / writer (not shown) for each visit and stores the transmitter 10 in the store. A system that returns the customer when leaving the store, or takes it home without returning the transmitter 10 having the customer ID stored therein, and carries the transmitter at the next and subsequent visits. I do. Note that the transmitter 10 can be prepared by the shop or by the customer himself / herself.
The transmitter 10 storing D may be sent from a sales company by mail or the like, and may be brought to the store with this. Alternatively, the transmitter 10 may be purchased in a wristwatch or a mobile phone in advance.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an example of the circuit of the receiver 20 arranged in the store. This receiver 20
It has a reader function among the reader / writer functions for the electronic tag described above. The receiver 20 includes the antenna 2
1, transmitting / receiving unit 22, A / D converter 23, CPU 24, R
OM 25 and RAM 26 are included. The transmitting / receiving unit 22
Radio waves of a predetermined frequency are always transmitted from the antenna 21 at a predetermined cycle and are received.

When the customer 5 who comes to the store approaches the receiver 20 in the store, the customer ID is transmitted from the transmitter 10 as described above.
The modulated radio wave is transmitted, and the receiver 20
When this radio wave is received by 1, the radio wave is demodulated by the transmission / reception unit 22 to detect an analog signal indicating the customer ID, and the A / D converter 23 converts the analog signal into a corresponding digital signal. The customer ID detected in this way is processed by the CPU 24 under the control of a program stored in the ROM 25, and as a result, activity data is detected and stored in the RAM 26. In addition,
The CPU 24 controls the data management server 30 via the line 24A.
It operates according to the time data supplied from.

A preferred example of the placement of the receivers 20 in a store is to place at least one receiver 20 in each counter. FIG. 4A illustrates an example of a plan view of a counter where the receiver 20 is arranged, and illustrates an example of an arrangement of the receiver 20 in a store. In the figure, one rectangle indicates one block of the sales floor, and a horizontally or vertically extending area between different square areas indicates a passage. In the figure, a circle indicates the position of the receiver 20, and A or B attached to the circle indicates the name of the sales floor. In the figure, the counter A is composed of two blocks, and the counter B is the same. Receiver 20
Are arranged at a plurality of main positions in each block of the counter A. The same applies to the counter B.

FIG. 2B shows another example of a plan view of a counter where the receiver 20 is arranged. In the figure, sales floor A is 4
It consists of three blocks. In the figure, a pair of receivers 20 are provided at each of a pair of entrances of the counter A.
Of course, the receiver 20 may be arranged in a different manner from these figures, and it goes without saying that the number of receivers provided in the same counter may be different from that shown. A store to which the present invention is applied may occupy a plurality of floors. In this case, FIG. 4A or 4B shows a sales floor on one floor of the store. The store to which the present invention is applied may exist on only one floor. In this case, FIG. 4 (a) or (b) represents all the sales floors of the store.

In order for the receiver 20 to be able to detect the customer ID from the radio wave transmitted by the transmitter 10, the distance between the transmitter 10 and the receiver 20 needs to be smaller than the limit distance.
The limit distance depends particularly on the size of the antenna coil 11, but it is easy to set the limit distance to 10 cm or more. If the limit distance is small, when the customer arrives at the sales floor, the customer sends the transmitter 10 to one of the receivers 20.
May be requested to the customer in advance so as to intentionally come closer. If the limit distance is large, the customer does not have to take such an intentional operation.

FIG. 5 shows a customer ID storage area 261 and a detection time storage area 262 provided in the RAM 26 of each receiver 20. Each time each of the receivers 20 detects the customer ID of the customer approaching, the CPU 24 stores the detected customer ID and the detection time in the customer ID storage area 261 and the detection time storage area 262. In this case, the detection time is set to hour and minute data. If the same customer ID has already stored the same time data, the storage operation is canceled and the same data is not stored.

In the case of FIG. 4 (a), when a customer holding the transmitter 10 comes to, for example, the sales floor A, every time the customer approaches any of the receivers 20 in the same sales floor, the receiver 20
Detects the customer ID from the transmitter 10 held by the customer. Therefore, while the customer is at the same sales floor, the plurality of receivers 20 arranged at the sales floor can transmit the transmitter 1 of the customer.
From 0, the same customer ID may be detected and stored at different times. In an extreme case, the same receiver 20 may detect and store the same customer ID at different successive times, that is, every minute. In some cases, the same customer may return a few minutes after leaving the counter. In this case, the same receiver 20 detects and stores the same customer ID.

In the case of FIG. 4 (b), when the customer holding the transmitter 10 enters, for example, the sales floor A, the customer ID of the customer is detected by the receiver 20 provided at the entrance and exit.
Thereafter, when the same customer leaves the counter A from any of the entrances, the customer ID of the customer is detected by the receiver 20 provided at the entrance.

The receiver 20 transmits the customer data detected up to that time and the customer detection data indicating the detection time to the data management server 30 via the line 24B at a predetermined time or at the end of the business day. To send. FIG.
Shows an example of customer detection data transmitted by each receiver 20. The customer detection data includes a plurality of sets of a customer ID (241), a detection time 242, and a sales floor code 243 for identifying a sales floor.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an example of the data management server 30. The data management server 30 includes, for example, a web server 31, an email server 32,
A processing server 33, a database storage device 34, and a bus 35 for connecting them are provided. The bus 35 is connected to a company network 40. The database storage device 34 includes a plurality of auxiliary storage devices 341, 342, 343, such as magnetic disk storage devices.

Web server 31, e-mail server 3
2. The management / processing server 33 is composed of a workstation or a personal computer. Each of the servers has a control unit (not shown) including a CPU, a ROM storing a control program, and a RAM serving as a main memory. An auxiliary storage device, a display unit using a CRT or a liquid crystal display device, an input unit including a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and an input / output unit for connecting peripheral devices such as a printer. And these circuits are interconnected by an internal bus. In the auxiliary storage device, for example, a program executed by the server is stored.

The web server 31 is connected to the in-house network 4
0, a server that communicates with the customer's information terminal 60 via the Internet 50. The web server 31 provides and manages a homepage for selling goods or services. The auxiliary storage device 341 is provided with an area for storing display data of a homepage and the like. The electronic mail server 32 is used, for example, to notify the customer's information terminal 60 of the points given to the customer by e-mail. The auxiliary storage device 342 is provided with an area for storing electronic mail data such as a mail transmitted to a customer or a mail received from a customer. The management / processing server 33 includes, for example, a customer ID of the customer, a name of the customer,
It manages customer data such as addresses, telephone numbers, mail addresses and the like, and point data given to customers. The auxiliary storage device 343 is provided with an area for storing these data.

The data management server 30 may be connected to the Internet 50 instead of being connected to the company network 40. Alternatively, the data management server 30 includes a server that determines points, which is connected to the in-house network 40, and the Internet 50.
May be divided into servers that sell products or services.

The auxiliary storage device 343 in the database storage device 34 (FIG. 7) is provided with an area for storing a plurality of customer detection data transmitted from a plurality of receivers 20 in the store. The auxiliary storage device 343 is provided with an area for storing various data generated during execution of a point totalization program described later.

The management / processing server 33 is connected to the receiver 2 in the store.
0, a point totalizing program that totalizes the point data of customers who visit the store in accordance with a plurality of customer detection data stored in the auxiliary storage device 343.
For example, every day. FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of an example of the point totalizing program 36. First, the plurality of customer detection data stored in the auxiliary storage device 343 is sorted according to the customer ID (step S361). Thereafter, the plurality of customer detection data having the same customer ID is sorted according to the detection time (step S362).

In the sorted customer detection data, there may be a plurality of customer detection data having the same customer ID and the same sales floor code. These customer detection data are transmitted to the same customer ID by a plurality of receivers 20 provided on the same floor while the customer is on the same floor.
Indicates that was detected. Therefore, it is desirable to merge these plurality of customer detection data into one customer detection data (step S363). For example, of the plurality of customer detection data, the customer detection data other than the customer detection data with the oldest time is deleted. Or conversely,
The customer detection data other than the customer detection data with the latest time among the plurality of customer detection data may be deleted.

Thereafter, if necessary, the stay time of each customer at each counter is calculated, and the customer detection data whose stay time is equal to or less than a predetermined value may be deleted (step S36).
4). This is because such customer detection data may indicate that the customer has just passed the sales floor, or that the customer has mistakenly arrived at one sales floor and immediately moved to another sales floor. Note that the customer's stay time at a certain store is, for example, the same customer ID as the customer ID of the customer, the detection time included in the customer detection data having the store code of the store, and the temporally next customer ID. And the detection time indicated by the customer detection data having another sales floor code.

In this way, a group of corrected customer detection data is obtained and stored in the auxiliary storage device 343. FIG. 9 illustrates an example of an area provided in the auxiliary storage device 343 for storing a group of corrected customer detection data. Auxiliary storage device 34
3 includes a customer ID storage area 361 and a time storage area 36
2. A sales floor code storage area 363 is provided. The group of corrected customer detection data includes a group of customer detection data having the same customer ID and different sales floor codes. These groups of customer detection data are arranged in the order in which the same customer visited different sales floors in the store. In the example of FIG. 9, it is shown that a certain customer visits counter A at time 10:00, then moves to counter B, and visits counter B at time 10:15.

Returning to FIG. 8, the activity data for each customer is calculated from the group of customer detection data after such correction (step S365). Here, the amount of customer activity represents the degree of customer activity in the store. As will be described later, points are given to the customer according to the amount of activity of the customer. Therefore, the amount of action only needs to be suitable for the purpose of giving points. The amount of action may indicate, for example, the amount of movement of the customer in the store. As the movement amount, for example, the movement distance of the customer in the store can be used. As the movement amount, the total number of sales floors visited by the customer can be used. In this case, there is an advantage that the calculation is simpler than in the case where the moving distance is used as the moving amount, and that the customer's action amount can be evaluated by a number that is not related to the distance such as the number of sales floors. Instead of the movement amount, the time during which the customer stayed in the store can be used as the activity amount. Calculation of stay time is easy and good. The amount of movement or the product of the number of sales floors visited by the customer and the in-store stay time can be used. This product expresses the customer's activity in both time and space, and the activity can be more finely evaluated.

Since the movement amount directly indicates the degree of the customer's action, it is suitable to be used as an action amount used as a reference when giving points. When the moving distance is used as the moving amount, a storage area for storing data indicating the distance between the counters is provided in the auxiliary storage device 343 in advance. FIG. 10 shows such a distance data storage area.
The distance data storage area includes an area 36 for storing a set of sales floors.
4 and an area 365 for storing the distance between the counters.

A group of modified customer detection data for the same customer may be represented as the order of the store where the customer visited, eg, A,
In the case of indicating B, C, and the like, the travel distance of the customer in the store can be obtained by adding the distance between the counters AB and the distance between the counters BC. In this way, the activity data indicating each customer ID and the moving distance is generated and stored in the activity data storage area provided in the auxiliary storage device 343. FIG.
Shows an example of an activity amount data storage area provided in the auxiliary storage device 343. The customer ID is stored in the activity amount data storage area.
A storage area 366 and a moving distance storage area 367 are provided.

As described above, when the activity data of each visiting customer is detected, points to be given to the customer (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as points on the day) are determined according to the detected activity data. (Step S366). When the movement distance is used as the activity amount, the auxiliary storage device 3
In the area 43, an area for storing moving distance / point relation data is provided in advance. FIG.
3 shows an area for storing point-related data. This area has an area 368 for storing a range of the moving distance and an area 369 for storing points on the day given to the customer who moved the moving distance in the range. In the above step S366,
The moving distance range to which the moving amount determined in step S365 belongs is determined, and points corresponding to the range are determined as points to be given to the customer.

When the current day points to be given to each visiting customer are determined in this way, the current day points are added to the total points given to the customer so far, and the total points of the customer are updated (step S367).

The auxiliary storage device 343 is provided with a customer data / point data storage area for storing customer data and point data given to the customer. FIG.
Shows an example of such a region. This area includes customer I
D storage area 371, customer data storage area 372, total point storage area 373, date storage area 374, today's point storage area 375, date storage area 376, and today's point storage area 377. The customer data storage area 372 includes a name storage area 372A, an address storage area 372B, a telephone number storage area 372C, and a mail address storage area 372D.

The current day point for a certain customer determined in step S366 (FIG. 8) is additionally stored together with the date in the customer's customer data / point data storage area and used as history data of the customer's point acquisition. You. The calculation of the total points in step S367 is performed by adding the value of the added point on the day to the total points previously stored in the total point storage area 373, and the obtained new total points are , Are stored in the same total point storage area 373. Thus, the total points of the customer are updated.

As will be described later, in order to use the total points when purchasing a product or service, it is necessary to define a usage rule of the total points such that the total points must exceed a predetermined minimum value. it can. In such a case, it is desirable to notify the customer when the value of the updated total points exceeds the minimum value. Therefore, in FIG. 8, this notification is made by e-mail (step S368). This notification is performed using the e-mail server 32 (FIG. 7).

By executing the above-mentioned point totaling program every day, points are given to customers who visit the store every day. When the total points exceed the above-mentioned minimum value, a privilege according to the points is given when the customer purchases a product or service. For example, it is conceivable to discount the price of a product or service according to points obtained by a customer. Discounts can be given not only to purchases of goods or services at stores, but also to customers who purchase goods or services using a homepage on the Internet. The sale of goods or services on a homepage on the Internet is executed by, for example, the web server 31.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a change in the screen displayed by the browser program incorporated in the information terminal 60 (FIG. 1) of the customer who accessed the homepage. First, an initial screen 70 for purchasing a product is displayed. On this screen, as an example, a list of product names and prices is displayed, a check button for inputting a purchase request is displayed in front of each product name, and a customer point is displayed at the bottom of the screen. A point check button for checking the value and a discount price check button for confirming the discounted price are displayed.

When the point check button or the discount price check button is clicked, the web server 31
The sales management program is executed in order to display the points of the customer in response to the inquiry of the accessed customer or to display the discounted price.

FIG. 15 is a schematic flowchart of an example of the sales management program 38. When the button operated by the customer is the point check button (step S38)
1) The customer ID input window is displayed, and the customer I
A request for input of D is made (step S382). Screen 71 in FIG. 14 shows an example of a screen when a customer ID input window is displayed. When the customer enters the customer ID, the screen 72
As shown in (1), the number of points of the customer is displayed (step S383). When the customer clicks the OK button on the screen 72, an initial screen 70 of FIG. 14 is displayed,
The sales management program 38 waits for a button operation of the customer (step S381).

On the other hand, when the customer clicks the discount price check button while the initial screen 70 is displayed and the customer checks a product, for example, A (step S381), the customer ID is already input. Is determined (step S384), and if the customer ID has not been entered, a customer ID input window is displayed and the customer is requested to enter the customer ID (step S385). A screen 73 in FIG. 14 shows an example of a screen displayed at this time.

When the customer inputs the customer ID, as shown in a screen 74 in FIG. 14, for example, the product name and price of the product A that the customer has checked first, the customer points, and the discounted price Is displayed (step S386). On this screen 74, a purchase button and a cancel button are displayed. When the customer clicks the purchase button (step S387), the sales processing of the product is executed and the points are updated (step S388). finish. When the customer clicks the cancel button on the screen 74 (step S387), the sales management program 38 ends.

After the sales management program 38 ends, the initial screen 70 is displayed again. When the customer checks Product B and clicks the Discount Price Check button again,
At this time, since the customer ID has already been input (step S384), the customer ID input window as shown in the screen 73 is not displayed. As shown in the screen 75, the product name and price of the product B checked by the customer first, the customer points, and the discounted price are displayed (step S3).
86). Subsequent processing is the same as that described when the product A was selected.

The discounted price displayed in step S386 can be determined by various methods. For example,
The discounted price may be obtained by discounting an amount proportional to the number of points from the commodity price. However, in many stores,
In some cases, a service that gives a customer who has purchased a product points according to the price of the purchased product and gives a discount in proportion to the accumulated amount of the points when the product is purchased thereafter has already been implemented. Since points related to the present invention are points for visiting customers and are given without purchasing a product, it may be effective to distinguish discounts based on these points from discounts given when purchasing a product.

For example, it is conceivable to discount a fixed amount of money from the price of the product according to the value of the points. When the discount is determined in this way, for example, the auxiliary storage device 34
In FIG. 1, an area for storing the point / discount rate related data as shown in FIG. 16 is provided in advance, and the data stored here is determined such that, for example, the larger the number of points, the higher the discount rate. As a result, a greater discount rate can be obtained for a customer who has a larger total amount of activity when visiting the store. In addition, the discount amount when using the points increases as the purchase of a high-priced product increases. For these reasons, the customer's willingness to increase the chances of visiting the store can be increased.

The updating of points performed in step S388 can also be performed in various ways. For example, as described above, if the discounted price is the price obtained by discounting the amount proportional to the number of points from the product price,
It is reasonable to delete all points used for the discount. As a result, when a product is purchased using a discount based on points, the points after purchase are generally “0”. However, as described above, when a discount rate determined according to the point value is used as the point discount when purchasing the product, another updating method is desirable.

When a discount rate according to points is applied at the time of purchasing a product, the discount amount increases as the customer purchases a higher-priced product, and the discount amount decreases as the customer purchases a lower-priced product. Therefore, if the points are reduced according to the discount amount, when a small amount of goods is purchased, the amount of reduction of the points is small, and the points do not become “0”, and the customer purchases a large amount of goods later. Sometimes, the benefits of the remaining points can be enjoyed, the desire to purchase products using the points increases, and the desire to visit and increase the points increases.

It is apparent that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment or the modifications described in connection therewith. For example, in the above embodiment, the customer ID is stored in the transmitter held by the customer, and the customer ID is detected by the receiver provided at the sales floor. However, the transmitter may store other identification information instead of the customer ID. For example, the transmitter identification information assigned to the transmitter may be stored, and the transmitter identification information may be detected by the receiver at the counter. Even if each customer is given a transmitter dedicated to the customer before visiting the store, if the correspondence between the transmitter identification information of the transmitter and the customer ID is stored in the data management server, it is detected by the receiver at the sales floor. Since the customer holding the transmitter can be determined from the transmitter identification information, the amount of customer activity can be detected by the method described in the embodiment. Or, when a customer lent a transmitter when he came to the store and had the transmitter returned when he left the store, when the transmitter was lent to the customer, the customer ID and the transmitter lent were given. May be stored in a similar manner.

Further, the transmitter may be a wristwatch or a mobile phone as described above.
uetooth "standard.
Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which the system according to the present invention is applied to one store having a plurality of sales floors, for example, a department store or a department store, has been described. However, a plurality of stores are gathered like a shopping center or a shopping street. The present invention can also be applied to a predetermined local place. In this case, in the above embodiment, one store such as a department store or a department store is read as an aggregate of a plurality of stores, the inside of one store is read as the above-mentioned regional location, and each sales floor of one store is referred to as The technology described in the above embodiment may be applied in place of each store in the local place.

[0060]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Points are given to the customer in accordance with the customer's activity amount in the store or in a predetermined area where a plurality of stores are gathered, so it is possible to increase the customer's visit or visit opportunity, and The greater the opportunity, the greater the amount of activity at the store or visit, the greater the customer's knowledge of the product or the new product, which can increase the customer's willingness to purchase and, consequently, the effect of expanding sales. can get.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a privilege point giving system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a circuit used for a transmitter provided to a customer.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a circuit of a receiver arranged in a store.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an arrangement of receivers in a store.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of data detected by a receiver.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of customer detection data transmitted by a receiver.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic block diagram of an example of a data management server.

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of an example of a point totalizing program.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of an area provided in the auxiliary storage device for storing a group of corrected customer detection data;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a storage area of data indicating a distance between counters, which is provided in an auxiliary storage device.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of an activity amount data storage area provided in an auxiliary storage device.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a moving distance / point relation data storage area provided in an auxiliary storage device.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a customer data / point data storage area provided in an auxiliary storage device.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a change in a screen displayed by a browser program incorporated in an information terminal of a customer who has accessed a homepage.

FIG. 15 is a schematic flowchart of an example of a sales management program.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of an area provided in an auxiliary storage device for storing point / discount rate related data.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... antenna coil, 40 ... company network, 50
…the Internet

Claims (8)

[Claims] The present invention detects the amount of activity in a store of each customer who visits a store, determines a bonus point to be given to the customer based on the amount of activity detected for each customer, and determines each of different opportunities for the same customer to visit the store. Storing a cumulative total of a plurality of privilege points determined for the privilege point. 2. A plurality of receivers, which are provided at different sales floors in a store and receive radio waves transmitted from a transmitter held by a customer and detect identification information stored in the transmitter from the radio waves, Means for detecting the amount of in-store activity of each customer holding the transmitter based on the detection result of the receiver, and the privilege points given to the customer based on the amount of activity detected for each customer holding the transmitter A privilege point providing system, comprising: a determining means; and a means for storing a total of a plurality of privilege points determined by the determining means for each of different visit opportunities of the same customer. 3. The privilege point providing system according to claim 2, wherein the amount of activity detected for each customer is an amount of movement of the customer in the store. 4. The customer privilege point providing system according to claim 3, wherein the moving amount detected for each customer is a moving distance of the customer within the store. 5. The privilege point giving system according to claim 3, wherein the movement amount detected for each customer is the total number of sales floors where the customer has stopped. 6. The privilege point giving system according to claim 2, wherein the amount of action detected for each customer is a total of the stay time of the customer at any sales floor in the store. 7. An activity amount of each customer in a predetermined area where a plurality of stores exist is detected, and a privilege point to be given to the customer is determined based on the activity amount detected for each customer. Storing a cumulative total of a plurality of privilege points determined for each of different visit opportunities of the same customer in the local place. 8. A radio wave transmitted from a transmitter which is provided at a different location from a predetermined area where a plurality of stores exist and which is held by a customer, and identification information stored in the transmitter based on the radio wave. A plurality of receivers for detecting the activity amount of each customer holding the transmitter in the local place based on the detection results of the plurality of receivers; and for each customer holding the transmitter. Means for determining a privilege point to be given to the customer based on the detected amount of action; and a plurality of privilege points determined by the determination means for each of different visit opportunities of the same customer to the local place. Means for storing a cumulative total of: a privilege point providing system.