JP2002288410A - Method and device for collecting marketing information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To collect marketing information of high value by providing commodity information so that commodities supplied from different makers can be easily compared with each other. SOLUTION: A user who wants to obtain commodity information previously registers himself or herself in a server 200. The user accesses the server 200 from a user-side terminal 300 to obtain a comparison table generated on the basis of commodity information collection data obtained from a plurality of makers. This comparison table consists of items set in common to classifications of commodities. The user selects an item of the comparison table in order to obtain detailed information or determines a commodity entered in the comparison table. Information showing this selection or determination is sent to the server 200 and is stored as an access history or a purchase history in relation to user information. When the user transmits information showing purchase determination to the server 200, a coupon is issued on condition that the user has been registered. When the user actually purchases the commodity, cash is repaid on the basis of the coupon.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for providing merchandise information to a consumer via a communication network such as the Internet and collecting marketing information through the provision of the merchandise information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, introduction of products and provision of product information such as specifications on the Internet have been performed on homepages of manufacturers who manufacture and sell the products. However, even for products of the same type that share a common use, the method of displaying specifications often differs depending on the manufacturer, and it is not always easy to correctly compare the performance and the like of the same type of product from different manufacturers. In addition, in order for consumers to select products from the same type of products from different manufacturers, it is necessary to access the homepage of each of multiple manufacturers,
It was complicated.

[0003]

Therefore, a site that provides product information that enables comparison of specifications and prices of products of the same type from different manufacturers on a unified scale, ie, a site common to each product type It is required to provide a site on the Internet for providing product information using a comparison table including comparatively set comparison items.

On the other hand, there are many sites on the Internet as virtual shopping malls where various products can be purchased. There are also sites on the Internet for manufacturers to sell their products. As described above, there are many merchandise sales sites on the Internet, but at present, it is difficult to find a difference between these merchandise sales sites other than a price difference and an assortment of goods. For this reason, it is difficult for several merchandise sales sites to compete with each of the characteristics, since consumers think that the merchandise is purchased from any site.

[0005] However, in the future, with the increase in sales of goods using the Internet, consumers will be clarified and competition between product sales sites will become intense. There is a need to improve the products and how to sell them on the Internet. In other words, in order to realize a product sales site that is attractive to consumers, one-
One to one marketing
It is necessary to use such methods.

Accordingly, the present invention provides one-to-one marketing and the like by providing consumers with product information that allows easy and accurate comparison of the same types of products supplied from different manufacturers. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for collecting valuable marketing information.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention The first invention is an information providing and collecting apparatus for collecting marketing information by providing merchandise information to a user via a communication network. Storage means for storing, for each type of product, information corresponding to each of items commonly set for each type of product as items to be added, and the user in response to a request from a user receiving the product information. By storing information about the user including the identification information of the user, a user registration unit for registering the user and a communication terminal communicably connected to the communication terminal via the communication network. A request receiving means for receiving an information request for product information on a type of product, and the type of product as an item characterizing the product Is a table creation means for creating a comparison table using items set in common with each other as comparison items, comprising a comparison item for comparing a plurality of products belonging to the specific type in response to the received information request. Table creating means for creating a comparison table based on information stored in the storage means, table sending means for sending the comparison table created in response to the information request as the product information to the communication terminal, Purchase information receiving means for receiving, from the communication terminal, purchase information indicating a product determined to be purchased by the registered user among the products of the specific type to be compared by the comparison table, and determining the purchase By storing the purchase information in association with the information of the user, the purchase history accumulation means for accumulating the purchase history of the product, and the credit value corresponding to the product indicated by the purchase information is stored. The coupons and a coupon issuing means for issuing to the user who determines the purchase, characterized in that it collects marketing information by the accumulation of the purchase history.

According to the first aspect of the invention, in response to a user request transmitted from the communication terminal, the information providing / collecting device sets the identification table as a comparison table for comparing a plurality of products belonging to a specific type. Create a comparison table consisting of comparison items that are commonly set as items that characterize types of products,
This is transmitted to the communication terminal. Therefore, the user can quickly and accurately evaluate each product by comparing a plurality of products of the same type with the same scale using the comparison table. When the user decides to purchase a product based on the comparison table, purchase information indicating the decision is transmitted to the information provision collection device and accumulated as a purchase history. This purchase history
It can be used for selling or improving the corresponding type of product. In addition, a user as a subject who decides to purchase a product is registered as a user in advance, information about the user is stored by a user registration unit, and information of a purchase history is associated with individual user information. Therefore,
The purchase history information can be used as high-value marketing information by combining it with user information based on user registration. In addition, this makes it possible to grasp preferences and replacement demand for each user.
The one-to-one marketing approach becomes available.
Furthermore, when purchase information is transmitted to the information provision and collection device based on a decision on product purchase by a registered user, a coupon is issued to the user, and user registration is promoted. Therefore, by issuing a coupon, high-value marketing information can be efficiently collected.

According to a second invention, in the first invention, the coupon registration means for registering the coupon by storing identification information of the coupon issued by the coupon issuing means as a coupon ID in association with the purchase information. Proof information receiving means for receiving proof information indicating the actual purchase of the product indicated by the purchase information together with a coupon ID; purchase information stored in the coupon registration means in association with the received coupon ID; And a payment determining unit that determines whether payment based on the coupon identified by the received coupon ID should be performed by comparing the received coupon ID with the received certification information.

[0010] According to the second aspect of the invention, when the cashback or the like based on the issued coupon is paid,
You ’ll get proof of your purchase,
From this certification information, information indicating the store of purchase can be stored in association with the purchase history. As a result, more valuable marketing information can be obtained.
In addition, since the user can receive the benefit based on the coupon by actually purchasing the product, issuance of the coupon facilitates accumulation of the purchase history corresponding to the actual purchase.

[0011] In a third aspect based on the first aspect, the selection information indicating an item selected by the registered user from among the comparison items in the comparison table transmitted to the communication terminal is transmitted to the communication terminal. A selection information receiving means for receiving from the terminal, when the selection information is received, information corresponding to the comparison item indicated by the selection information, which is more detailed than the information included in the comparison table already transmitted to the communication terminal; Detailed information extracting means for extracting appropriate information from the storage means as relevant detailed information, detailed information transmitting means for transmitting the relevant detailed information to the communication terminal, and a user who has selected an item indicated by the selection information. Access history storage means for storing the selection information as an access history in association with information, wherein the access history is stored in addition to the purchase history. Characterized in that it collects Ketingu information.

According to the third aspect, the user who has received the comparison table can obtain more detailed information on the selected item by selecting any of the comparison items in the comparison table. . Information indicating the user's selection operation at this time is stored in the access history storage unit as an access history. The access history indicates a process up to the purchase of a product or an item that has affected a purchase decision, and can be used for selling or improving a corresponding type of product. In addition, the user who selects an item in the comparison table is registered as a user in advance, information about the user is stored by the user registration unit, and information of the access history is associated with individual user information. Therefore, the access history information can be used as high-value marketing information by combining it with user information based on user registration. In addition, this makes it possible to grasp tastes, replacement demands, and the like for each user, which is useful for utilizing the one-to-one marketing method.

[0013] A fourth invention is a method for collecting marketing information by a computer as a server for providing merchandise information to a user via a communication network. The method is common for each type of merchandise as an item characterizing the merchandise. A product information obtaining step of obtaining information corresponding to each of the items set in the plurality of manufacturers and storing the obtained information in the server; and By storing information about the user in the server, a user registration step of registering the user, and a communication terminal communicably connected to the server via the communication network to specify the user by the registered user A request receiving step of receiving an information request for product information on a specific type of product; Creating a comparison table using items commonly set for each product type as comparison items, and comparing a plurality of products belonging to the specific type in response to the received information request; Creating a comparison table composed of comparison items for use based on information stored in the server, and transmitting a comparison table created in response to the information request to the communication terminal as the product information. A table transmitting step, and a purchase information receiving step of receiving, from the communication terminal, purchase information indicating a product determined to be purchased by the registered user among the products of the specific type to be compared by the transmitted comparison table. And storing the purchase information in the server in association with the information of the user who has determined the purchase, so that the purchase An accumulating step, a coupon issuing step of issuing a coupon having a credit value corresponding to a product indicated by the purchase information to the user who has decided to purchase, and the purchase using the issued coupon identification information as a coupon ID. A coupon registration step of storing in the server in association with information, a certification information receiving step of receiving certification information indicating an actual purchase of a product indicated by the purchase information together with a coupon ID,
By matching the purchase information stored in the server with the received certification information in association with the received coupon ID, payment based on the coupon identified by the received coupon ID is performed. And a payment determining step of determining whether or not it should be performed, wherein marketing information is collected by accumulating the purchase history.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. <1. Configuration of Product Information Providing System> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a product information providing system using an information providing and collecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The product information providing system includes a maker terminal 100, a product information providing server 200, a user terminal 300, and the Internet 500 communicably connecting the terminals 100 and 300 and the product information providing server 200. Is done. Product information providing server (hereinafter simply "server")
Also provides product information on the Internet as information for the user to determine a product to be purchased from various products manufactured and sold by a plurality of manufacturers without depending on a specific manufacturer. It is used to implement a website, and information on various products from a plurality of manufacturers is posted on a predetermined page of the website (hereinafter referred to as a "product information providing page"). The server 200 collects marketing information by providing product information to the user, and functions as an information provision collection device according to the present embodiment. The maker side terminal 100 is used when the maker requests the server 200 to provide information (specifications, prices, and the like) on the products of the company by the product information providing server 200. User terminal 3
00 is used by a consumer or the like who considers purchasing a product (hereinafter referred to as a “user”) to access the product information providing server 200 to obtain useful information for determining a product to be purchased. Note that, in FIG.
And the user side terminal 300 is depicted one by one, but in the present embodiment, these terminals 100 and 300
Are connected to the Internet 500 at a time.

The maker terminal 100 is realized as, for example, a personal computer (personal computer) having a communication function, and provides a data processing unit 101 including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory, and product information via the Internet 500. A communication unit 105 that enables communication with the server 200, an input operation unit 107 including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and a display unit 108 implemented as a CRT or a liquid crystal display are provided.

The server 200 is a server computer for providing merchandise information on the Internet 500, and functions as an information providing and collecting device for collecting marketing information through the provision of the merchandise information.
Processing device 201 composed of memory and memory
And a communication device 20 that enables communication between the first external storage device 203 and the second external storage device 204 realized as, for example, a hard disk device, and the manufacturer terminal 100 and the user terminal 300 via the Internet 500.
5 is provided. The first external storage device 203 is an access indicating the product information collection data 251 including information obtained from a plurality of manufacturers to provide the product information to the user, and a history of access from the user terminal 300 to the product information providing page. History 252, purchase history 2 showing the history of product purchase decisions by the user using the user terminal 300
53 is stored. In addition, the first external storage device 203 stores data indicating an input format for acquiring information on various products from a manufacturer in the format data 250.
Is stored in advance. Here, the input format is
It is determined in advance as a common item for each type of product, and includes items that characterize each type of product. For example, a format as shown in FIG. 3 is predetermined as an input format for a product called “washing machine”. As will be described later, merchandise information is collected in the server 200 when information corresponding to each item is input from the manufacturer terminal 100 by an operator of the manufacturer according to these formats. The second external storage device 204 includes user registration data 261 for registering a user who intends to receive provision of product information from the server 200, and a user registration data 261 issued to a user who has decided to purchase a product based on the product information. And coupon management data 262 for managing the coupon of the coupon. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1,
The external storage device for storing the data 250 to 253, 261, and 262 is divided into a first external storage device 203 and a second external storage device 204. Even if these are realized as one external storage device. Alternatively, it may be realized as three or more external storage devices.

The user terminal 300 is connected to the maker terminal 10.
0, a data processing unit 301 including a CPU, a memory, and the like;
And a communication unit 305 that enables communication with the product information providing server 200 via a PC, an input operation unit 307 including a keyboard and a mouse, and a display unit 308 realized as a CRT or a liquid crystal display. .

<2. Acquisition of product information> In this embodiment,
A maker who wishes to provide information (specifications, prices, etc.) relating to the company's products by the product information providing server 200 requests product listing from the maker-side terminal 100, which is a communication terminal of the manufacturer, and uses a predetermined input format. According to the information of the manufacturer, and transmits the information to the server 200. The server 200 receives this information, and stores it in the first external storage device 203 as product information constituting the product information collection data 251. In this way, the merchandise information to be provided by the server 200 on the Internet 500 is obtained from each manufacturer and stored.
At this time, the maker terminal 100 is connected to the data processing unit 101.
In FIG. 2, the CPU executes a predetermined program (hereinafter, referred to as a “product listing request program”) to
2A, the server 200 operates as shown in FIG. 2B when the CPU in the data processing device 201 executes a predetermined program (hereinafter referred to as a “product information acquisition program”). I do.

Hereinafter, a procedure for obtaining such product information will be described in detail with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. In a maker who wants to provide information on its own products by the server 200, an operator of the maker performs a predetermined operation on the input operation unit 107 of the maker-side terminal 100. As a result, the maker-side terminal 100 transmits a product posting request Ru for the product desired to be posted on the product information providing page to the server 200 (step 10).
2). The product posting request Ru is accompanied by type information Cid for specifying the type of the product desired to be posted (for example, “washing machine”, “microwave oven”, or “PC”).

When the server 200 receives the product posting request Ru from the maker terminal 100 (step S20)
2) First, a predetermined input format Fm for the product of the type specified by the type information Cid accompanying the product posting request Ru is stored in the first external storage device 2.
Then, the input format Fm is taken out from the format data 250 in step 03 (step S204), and the input format Fm is transmitted to the manufacturer terminal 100 (step S206). For example,
If the type information Cid accompanying the product posting request Ru indicates “washing machine”, the server 200 converts the input format Fm as shown in FIG.
Send to 00. In the following, it is assumed that the product posting request Ru accompanied by the type information Cid indicating “washing machine” is transmitted from the maker terminal 100, and in response to this, the input format Fm as shown in FIG. Proceed with explanation.

The maker terminal 100 receives the input format Fm from the server 200 (step S10).
4), the input format Fm (FIG. 3) is displayed on the display unit 10
8 (step S106). Manufacturer terminal 10
By operating the input operation unit 107 while watching this display, the operator of the operator 0 inputs information corresponding to each item according to the input format Fm (step S1).
08). That is, information corresponding to predetermined items (washing / dehydrating capacity, price, washing method, etc.) as items characterizing a product called “washing machine” is input for a washing machine manufactured by the manufacturer. In this way, the product information Du about the product "washing machine" is taken into the maker terminal 100, and the maker terminal 100 transmits this product information Du to the server 200 (step S11).
0). Thereby, the maker terminal 100 ends the process according to the product listing request program.

Upon receiving the product information Du from the manufacturer terminal 100 (step S208), the server 200 stores the product information Du in the external storage device 203 as a part of the product information collection data 251 (step S210).
This means that the product information collection data 251 has been updated. Thereafter, the process returns to step S202, and waits until the product posting request Ru is received again (reception standby state).
Becomes In the reception standby state, the manufacturer terminal 10
0, a new product information request Du is received from the first external storage device 203 in the same manner as described above.
And the product information collection data 251 is updated. Although only one maker-side terminal 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1, in reality, a plurality of maker-side terminals 100 are connected to the Internet 500 corresponding to a plurality of maker, so that a new product The maker that has requested posting is not necessarily the same as the maker that has requested product posting before that.

As described above, the server 200 collects product information on various products provided by a plurality of manufacturers as product information collection data 251. At this time, for the same type of product, product information input according to the same input format is collected. Also,
Manufacturers can expect the advertising effect of their products by posting their products on the product information page accessible on the Internet as described above, but at the time of this posting request, a fee will be charged Never. However, as described above, the manufacturer whose product is posted on the product information providing page, if a user who accesses the product information providing page purchases the product, according to the frequency of such purchase, Preferably, a listing fee is charged to the manufacturer.

<3. User Registration> In the product information providing system, a user who wants to receive product information provided from the server 200 registers in the site (hereinafter referred to as “product information providing site”) realized by the server 200, When a product purchase is determined based on the provided product information, a payment based on issuance of a coupon (specifically, cashback) can be received. Below,
This user registration will be described.

At the time of user registration, the manufacturer terminal 100
When the CPU in the data processing unit 101 executes a predetermined program (hereinafter referred to as a “registration request program”), the CPU operates as shown in FIG.
Operates as shown in FIG. 4B when the CPU in the data processing device 201 executes a predetermined program (hereinafter, referred to as “user registration program”). Hereinafter, such a user registration procedure will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

A user who intends to register on the merchandise information providing site performs a predetermined operation on the user terminal 100 to transmit a request for registration of the user to the server 200 as a registration request Rr (step S30).
2). At this time, based on the above operation, information about the user including the user's identification information (hereinafter referred to as “user information”) is input to the user terminal 100 and transmitted to the server 200 together with the registration request Rr. The user information includes, for example, information indicating a name, an age, a gender, an address, a gender, an occupation, and a product to be purchased.

When the user registration program is started, the server 200 enters a standby state (reception standby state) until a registration request Rr is received from the user terminal 300 (step S212). In this reception standby state, the registration request Rr
Is received, the server 200 assigns a user identifier (hereinafter, referred to as “user ID”) to the user specified by the user information accompanying the registration request Rr (step S214). Then, this user ID along with the user information accompanying the registration request Rr is stored in the second
It is added to the user registration data 261 in the external storage device 204 (step S216). Updating of the user registration data 261 by this addition means that user registration has been performed. The server 200 notifies the user registration by transmitting the assigned user ID to the user terminal 300 (step S218).

When receiving the user ID from the server 200 (step S304), the user terminal 300 displays this user ID on the display unit 308 (step S30).
6), end the registration request program. User terminal 3
The user who operates 00 recognizes that the user registration is completed by looking at this display.

After transmitting the user ID, the server 200 returns to step S212 and waits until a new registration request Rr is received.

In the above description, an example in which user registration is performed online using the Internet has been described.
The server 200 is provided with input operation means and display means,
The server-side operator may perform an operation for user registration on the server 200 based on a user registration request sent from the user by mail, facsimile, or the like.

<4. Provision of Merchandise Information and Collection of Marketing Information> In the present embodiment, the server 200 belongs to the type of merchandise that the user wants to purchase in response to a request from the user terminal 300 by the user who wants to purchase the merchandise. A comparison table for comparing a plurality of products is transmitted to the user terminal 300. Items to be compared in the comparison table (hereinafter referred to as “comparison items”) are predetermined for each type of product. After the user terminal 300 receives the comparison table, when the user decides to purchase a product based on the comparison table, the user transfers the purchased product to the user terminal 3.
From 00, the server 200 is notified. Information indicating the product purchase decision at this time is stored as the purchase history 253 in the first external storage device 203. After the user terminal 300 receives the comparison table, if the user wants to obtain detailed information on any of the comparison items in the comparison table, the user performs an operation for selecting the item. Thereby, more detailed information on the item is stored in the server 20.
0 is transmitted to the user terminal 300. The information indicating the history of selection of the comparison item is stored in the first external storage device 203 as the access history 252, and the access history 252 includes information indicating the number of times each comparison item is selected in each comparison table. .

As described above, in the present embodiment, by operating the user side terminal 300, the product information for the user to determine the purchased product is provided from the server 200, and based on the user operation at that time, Purchase histories and access histories that can be used as marketing information are accumulated in the server 200. In order to realize such product information provision and marketing information collection, the user side terminal 300
5A operates as shown in FIG. 5A by executing a predetermined program (hereinafter, referred to as a “product information request program”), and the server 200
In FIG. 5, the CPU executes a predetermined program (hereinafter referred to as an “information provision collection program”) to
It operates as shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, a procedure for providing product information and collecting marketing information will be described in detail with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. When the user performs a predetermined operation including designation of the type of product to be purchased and designation of the user ID on the user terminal 300, the user terminal 3
00 transmits a request for information on a product belonging to the specified type to the server 200 as a product information request Rd (step S332). The product information request Rd includes the type of product (for example,
Type information Cid as information for specifying a "washing machine", "microwave oven", or "personal computer", and a user ID for identifying the user are accompanied.

When the information provision collection program is started, the server 200 enters a standby state (reception standby state) until it receives the product information request Rd from the user terminal 300 (step S220). When receiving the product information request Rd in the reception standby state, the server 200 extracts the type information Cid accompanying the product information request Rd,
A comparison table Tc for comparing a plurality of products belonging to the type specified by the type information Cid (hereinafter referred to as “applicable type”) is created (step S222). Specifically, information corresponding to each of the comparison items corresponding to the corresponding type is extracted from the product information collection data 251 in the first external storage device 203, and the extracted information is summarized in a table format. For example, if the type is "washing machine",
A comparison table Tc as shown in FIG. 6 is created. in this case,
Washing and dewatering capacity, price,
Fifteen items such as color, product weight, waterproof floor, and washing method are determined in advance, and information corresponding to each comparison item of five washing machines A, B, C, and D is provided as product information on “washing machine”. It is stored in advance as product information collection data 251. In this example, the manufacturers of the washing machines A and B are the same, but the manufacturers of the washing machines A and B, the washing machine C and the washing machine D are different from each other. Hereinafter, the description will proceed assuming that the comparison table Tc illustrated in FIG. 6 is created in step S222. After creating such a comparison table Tc, the server 200 transmits this to the user terminal 300 (step S224).

When receiving the comparison table Tc (step S334), the user terminal 300 displays the comparison table Tc on the display unit 308.
To be displayed. The user can look at this display and make a comparison while comparing specific types of products to be purchased for each comparison item. That is, it is possible to consider which of the washing machines A to D should be purchased while comparing every 15 items.

After displaying the comparison table Tc, the user terminal 300
Repeats the loop processing of steps S338 to S350 until an operation for notifying that the processing for receiving the provision of the product information is to be ended (hereinafter, referred to as “end notification”) is performed.

In the above-described loop processing, when the user determines a purchased product (one of the washing machines A to D) and performs an operation for selecting the purchased product, the user terminal 30
0 transmits the purchase information (information designating any of the washing machines A to D) Db indicating the purchased product to the server 200 (step S340). Upon receiving the purchase information Db (step S226), the server 200 uses the information as the information indicating the user's decision to purchase the product, together with the user's ID, that is, the user ID associated with the received product information request Rd, First external storage device 203
Is added to the purchase history 253. This means that the purchase history 253 has been updated (step S227).
Next, the server 200 issues a coupon having a credit value corresponding to the purchased product indicated by the received purchase information Db to the user on condition that the user is registered as a user (step S228). . Specifically, based on the user ID, the second external storage device 204
After confirming that the user has been registered with reference to the user registration data 261 in, a coupon ID is generated as identification information of a coupon to be issued and transmitted to the user terminal 300 (step S228). After that, the server 200 updates the coupon management data 262 by storing the coupon ID together with the user ID in the second external storage device 204 in association with the purchase information added to the purchase history 253 (step). S229). This means that the coupon has been registered in the server 200, that is, the product information providing site.

In the above loop processing, the user
When an operation is performed to select one of the comparison items in the comparison table Tc (15 items such as washing / dewatering capacity, price, color, product weight, waterproof floor, and washing method in the comparison table Tc in FIG. 6), the operation is performed. Selection information Ds indicating item selection is transmitted to server 200 (steps S342 and S34).
4). Upon receiving the selection information Ds, the server 200 extracts the detailed information Dd for the item indicated by the selection information Ds from the product information collection data 251 in the first external storage device 203, and extracts the detailed information Dd from the user-side terminal. 300 (steps S230 to S23).
4). Upon receiving the detailed information Dd, the user side terminal 300 displays it on the display unit 308 (step S3).
46, S348).

For example, in the comparison table Tc of FIG. 6, only the presence or absence of a countermeasure is shown as information corresponding to the noise reduction countermeasure item (eighth item) among the 15 comparison items. Is transmitted from the user side terminal 300 as the detailed information Dd corresponding thereto,
Information as shown in FIG. 7 is obtained. In other words, information indicating the noise level at the time of washing can be obtained for a washing machine for which noise reduction measures have been taken. Here, when it is desired to obtain further detailed information on the noise reduction measure, the detailed information D shown in FIG.
In d, the user performs an operation of selecting the item of “measures for noise reduction”. With this operation, the user side terminal 300
The selection information Ds is transmitted in the same manner as described above, and in response to this, the server 200 extracts further detailed information Dd on noise reduction measures from the product information collection data 251 and transmits it to the user terminal 300 (step 312). , S34
4, S230 to S234). As a result, information as shown in FIG. 8 is obtained as further detailed information on the “noise reduction measure”. That is, with respect to the washing machine for which noise reduction measures have been taken, information indicating the noise level at the time of washing for each washing method and information indicating the noise level at the time of dehydration are obtained. In addition, as information corresponding to the item of noise reduction measures (eighth item), whether detailed information more than the presence or absence of the measures shown in the comparison table Tc in FIG. It depends on the user whether to acquire the detailed information as shown in FIG. 8 or more detailed information as shown in FIG. 8, and to what level of detail to acquire the information depends on the user's interest in the noise reduction measures. It is considered to reflect the degree. Since the access history 252 described later includes information indicating whether or not such detailed information has been obtained, the access history 252 becomes useful marketing information indicating the user's preference and interest.

Further, for example, in the comparison table Tc of FIG. 6, only the standard time is shown as information corresponding to the item of “washing standard time” (the ninth item), but the selection information Ds indicating this item is shown. Is transmitted from the user side terminal 300,
Information as shown in FIG. 9 is obtained as corresponding detailed information Dd. In other words, the standard time for each of the five courses “Standard”, “Blanket (4 kg or less)”, “Kisoki”, “Hurry (low water level)”, and “Gluing” set as the washing course can be obtained.

When the selection information Ds is transmitted from the user terminal 300 to the server 200 as described above, the server 200
Updates the access history 252 by adding information indicating the item selection specified by the selection information Ds to the access history 252 together with the user ID accompanying the received product information request Rd (step S2).
36).

The server 200 stores the access history 25
After the update of No. 2, a comparison table configuration change process of changing the configuration of the comparison table Tc according to the number of times of selection of the comparison item is executed (step S238). In this comparison table configuration change processing, the number of selections of each of the comparison items in the comparison table Tc corresponding to the type is extracted from the access history 252, and the comparison in the comparison table Tc corresponding to the type is extracted in accordance with the number of selections. Change the order of items or add new comparison items. That is, the order of the comparison items is changed so that the comparison items that are selected more frequently are located closer to the head, and for the comparison items whose selection frequency exceeds a predetermined value, the information corresponding to the item is Also adds a comparison item corresponding to detailed information to the comparison table Tc. By such a comparison table configuration change process, the configuration of the comparison table as product information provided to the user is changed so as to be more user-friendly. For example, FIG.
In the case where the selection frequency of the "price" (second item) in the comparison table Tc is higher than the selection frequency of the immediately preceding item "washing / dewatering capacity" (first item) and the difference is equal to or more than a predetermined value. Replaces the first and second items in the comparison table Tc of FIG. As a result, if a comparison table of “washing machine” is created thereafter (step S
222), a comparison table with “price” as the first comparison item is obtained.

The user terminal 300 performs the above-described loop (step S338) in the flowchart shown in FIG.
When the user performs an operation for an end notification while repeatedly performing steps S350 to S350), the user side terminal 300
An end notification Nt is transmitted (step S352), and the processing by the product information request program ends.

Until the server 200 receives the end notification Nt from the user terminal 300, the server 200 performs steps S226 to S226.
40 is repeatedly executed, but upon receiving the end notification Nt, the process returns to step S220, and the new product information request R
It is in a standby state (reception standby state) until d is received. In this reception standby state, when a new product information request Rd is received from the user-side terminal 300,
The product information such as a comparison table is transmitted from the server 200 to the user terminal 300 in response to the new product information request Rd. Although only one user terminal 300 is illustrated in FIG. 1, a plurality of user terminals 300 are actually connected to the Internet 500.

<5. Coupon Based Payment> As described above, in the present embodiment, the user determines product purchase by looking at product information such as a comparison table provided from the server 200, and sends purchase information Db indicating the purchase determination to the server 200. Upon transmission, a coupon is issued to the user (steps S338 to S341 and S226 to S229 in FIG. 5). Thereafter, when the user actually purchases the product and the purchase is confirmed, cashback (cash return) is performed on the user as payment based on the issued coupon.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for performing cashback as payment based on a coupon issued in the present embodiment. The user who has issued the coupon actually purchases the product corresponding to the coupon, and documents or data certifying the purchase (for example, as a receipt issued by the supplier or as a signature based on a digital signature by the supplier). Is presented to the operator of the merchandise information providing site together with the ID of the coupon (the coupon ID received in step S341 in FIG. 5). Certificate information ”) is input to the server 200 (step S60). Alternatively, purchase proof information may be input together with the coupon ID from the user terminal 300 and transmitted to the server 200.

When the coupon ID and the purchase certification information are input or received, the server 200 performs the following processing. First, by referring to the coupon management data 262 and the purchase history 253, purchase information and a user ID corresponding to the coupon ID are obtained (step S62).
Then, the acquired purchase information is compared with the above-mentioned purchase certification information (step S64), and based on the comparison, the actual purchase corresponding to the coupon ID is confirmed (step S66). As a result, when the actual purchase corresponding to the coupon ID is confirmed, a process for cashback is performed for the user specified by the user ID. This cashback is performed, for example, by mailing a check or transferring cash to a bank account specified by the user, and the amount is a value set according to the purchased product. On the other hand, if the actual purchase corresponding to the coupon ID cannot be confirmed in step S66, a notification is sent to the user notifying that the purchase cannot be confirmed, and cashback is not performed. This notification may be transmitted from the server 200 to the user terminal 300 via the Internet 500, for example.

<6. Effect> In the present embodiment, the merchandise information on various merchandise provided from a plurality of manufacturers is collected in the server 200. At the time of this collection, merchandise information of the same kind of merchandise is collected according to the same input format. Is entered. Then, a comparison table is created which enables the same type of product to be compared for each item set in common, and this comparison table is used as product information by the server 20.
0 is transmitted to the user terminal 300. Therefore,
The user can accurately evaluate each product by comparing products of the same type from a plurality of manufacturers on the same scale, and can find a product that meets his or her requirements accurately and quickly.

According to this embodiment, in the process of providing the merchandise information such as the comparison table from the server 200 to the user terminal 300 as described above, the selection information indicating the selection of the comparison item in the comparison table includes the access history. As 252, the purchase information indicating the purchase decision of the product is stored in the server 200 as the purchase history 253. These pieces of history information indicate a process up to the purchase of a product and items that have affected the purchase decision, and can be used for selling or improving the corresponding product. In addition, a user as a subject who selects a comparison item and decides to purchase a product is registered as a user in advance, and information about the user (user information) is stored in the server 200 (FIG. 4).
2 and the purchase history 253 are associated with individual user information. Therefore, these history information
By combining with user information based on user registration, it becomes high-value marketing information, and marketing information that can be sold to a third party can be extracted from such information. Further, this allows the user to grasp the preference and replacement demand for each user, so that the one-to-one marketing method can be used.

In this embodiment, a coupon is issued to a user who has decided to purchase a product by looking at the product information such as a comparison table provided from the server 200 (step S3 in FIG. 5).
38 to S341, S226 to S229), and the coupon issuance is conditioned on user registration, so that user registration by the user is promoted. The user information stored in the server 200 by this user registration is used as high-value marketing information in combination with the access history 252 and the purchase history 253 as described above.

Further, in the present embodiment, at the time of cashback based on the issued coupon, purchase proof information for confirming the actual purchase is obtained, and the purchase proof information is used to indicate the store of purchase. Information is purchase history 25
3 and can be stored. As a result, more valuable marketing information can be obtained.
In addition, since the user can receive a cashback by actually purchasing the product, issuance of the coupon has an effect of promoting accumulation of a purchase history corresponding to the actual purchase without fail.

<7. Modification> In the above embodiment, the access history 252 and the purchase history 253 are accumulated in the server 200 based on the user's operation on the user terminal 300 for obtaining the product information, and these histories can be used as marketing information. However, in addition to this, marketing information is collected in the server 200 by performing a questionnaire on the Internet, for example, asking which items of the comparison table are emphasized and how much in the user's product purchase decision. You may.

In the above embodiment, cashback is performed from the operator of the product information providing site as a benefit based on the issued coupon on condition that the product is actually purchased. By making an alliance with the manufacturer, cashback may be performed from the manufacturer. In this case, it is effective to carry out a cashback campaign with a maker or the like. In this case, the purchase price may be discounted instead of cashback.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a product information providing system using a server as an information providing and collecting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of a maker-side terminal and the operation of a server when obtaining product information from a manufacturer in the product information providing system.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an input format transmitted from a server to a maker terminal when acquiring product information on a washing machine in the product information providing system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of a maker terminal and the operation of a server at the time of user registration in the product information providing system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of a user terminal and the operation of a server when providing product information and collecting marketing information in the product information providing system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a comparison table transmitted from a server to a user terminal in order to provide product information on a washing machine in the product information providing system.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of detailed information transmitted from the server to the user terminal based on a selection operation at the user terminal in the product information providing system.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of further detailed information transmitted from the server to the user terminal based on a selection operation at the user terminal in the product information providing system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another example of detailed information transmitted from the server to the user terminal based on a selection operation at the user terminal in the product information providing system.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for performing cashback based on a coupon issued in the commodity information providing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Maker-side terminal 101 Data processing unit 105 Communication unit 107 Input operation unit 108 Display unit 200 Product information providing server 201 Data processing device 203 First external storage device 204 Second external storage device 205 Communication device 250 ... format data 251 ... product information collection data 252 ... access history 253 ... purchase history 261 ... user registration data 262 ... coupon management data 300 ... user terminal 301 ... data processing unit 305 ... communication unit 307 ... input operation unit 308 … Display unit 500… Internet

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/60 330 G06F 17/60 330

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An information providing and collecting apparatus for collecting marketing information by providing merchandise information to a user via a communication network, wherein an item is set as an item characterizing the merchandise in common for each type of merchandise. A storage unit that stores information corresponding to each of the various products, and, in response to a request from a user who is provided with the product information, by storing information about the user including identification information of the user. A user registration unit for registering the user; and a request for receiving, from a communication terminal communicably connected via the communication network, an information request for product information on a specific type of product specified by the registered user. Receiving means and the ratio of items that are commonly set for each product type as items that characterize the product as comparison items A table creating unit for creating a table, based on the information stored in the storage unit, based on the information stored in the storage unit, in response to the received information request, based on information stored in the storage unit, for comparing a plurality of products belonging to the specific type Table creating means for creating; a table sending means for sending a comparison table created in response to the information request to the communication terminal as the product information; and the specific type to be compared by the sent comparison table A purchase information receiving unit that receives, from the communication terminal, purchase information indicating a product determined to be purchased by the registered user among the products, and stores the purchase information in association with information of the user who has determined the purchase. By doing so, a purchase history accumulating means for accumulating the purchase history of the product, and a coupon having a credit value corresponding to the product indicated by the purchase information, And a coupon issuing means issued to the information providing collecting apparatus characterized by collecting marketing information by the accumulation of the purchase history. 2. A coupon registration unit for registering the coupon by storing identification information of the coupon issued by the coupon issuing unit as a coupon ID in association with the purchase information, and an actual product indicated by the purchase information. A proof information receiving unit for receiving proof information indicating purchase of the coupon together with a coupon ID; and comparing the purchase information stored in the coupon registration unit with the received proof information in association with the received coupon ID. The information providing and collecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a payment determining unit configured to determine whether a payment should be made based on the coupon identified by the received coupon ID. 3. Selection information receiving means for receiving, from the communication terminal, selection information indicating an item selected by the registered user from comparison items in a comparison table transmitted to the communication terminal; When the selection information is received, the information corresponding to the comparison item indicated by the selection information and more detailed information than the information included in the comparison table already transmitted to the communication terminal is stored as the corresponding detailed information. Detailed information extracting means for extracting from the means, detailed information transmitting means for transmitting the corresponding detailed information to the communication terminal, access history of the selected information in association with information of a user who has selected an item indicated by the selected information Access history accumulating means for accumulating as, and collecting marketing information by accumulating the access history in addition to accumulating the purchase history. The information providing and collecting apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: 4. A method for collecting marketing information by a computer as a server for providing product information to a user via a communication network, wherein the method is a common item set for each product type as an item characterizing the product. Product information obtaining step of obtaining information corresponding to each of the items from a plurality of manufacturers and storing the obtained information in the server; and information on the user including identification information of a user who receives the product information. A user registration step of registering the user by storing the user in the server; and a specific type of product designated by the registered user from a communication terminal communicably connected to the server via the communication network. A request receiving step of receiving an information request for product information regarding the product, and characterizing the product A step of creating a comparison table using items commonly set for each type of product as items as comparison items, and for comparing a plurality of products belonging to the specific type in response to the received information request. A table creation step of creating a comparison table including comparison items based on information stored in the server; and a table transmission of transmitting a comparison table created in response to the information request to the communication terminal as the product information. A purchase information receiving step of receiving, from the communication terminal, purchase information indicating a product determined to be purchased by the registered user among the products of the specific type to be compared by the transmitted comparison table; By storing the purchase information in the server in association with the information of the user who has determined the purchase, purchase history storage for accumulating the purchase history of the product A product step; a coupon issuing step of issuing a coupon having a credit value corresponding to a product indicated by the purchase information to a user who has decided to purchase; and the purchase as identification information of the issued coupon as a coupon ID. A coupon registration step of storing in the server in association with information; a certification information receiving step of receiving certification information indicating an actual purchase of the product indicated by the purchase information together with a coupon ID; and a certification information receiving step of relating to the received coupon ID. A payment determining step of determining whether payment based on the coupon identified by the received coupon ID should be performed by comparing purchase information stored in the server with the received certification information; And collecting marketing information by accumulating the purchase history. And the method characterized by the above.