JP2002329099A - Sales management device, sales management method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sales management device for determination of an appropriate sales price. SOLUTION: The sales management device managing sales of a plurality of commodities is provided with a scheduled return amount determination part determining a scheduled return amount which is a predetermined limit of a return amount of a commodity to be returned to a purchaser purchasing a commodity when a plurality of commodities are sold, and a commodity return amount allocation part allocating a part of scheduled return amount to a commodity as the commodity return amount to be received from the purchaser of the commodity when a plurality of commodities of same kind from a plurality of commodities are sold. The commodity return amount allocation part allocates to at least one commodity from a plurality of commodities a different commodity return amount from the remaining commodities of the same kind.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a sales management device, a sales management method, and a program. In particular, the present invention
The present invention relates to a sales management device for determining a sales price, a sales management method, and a bath gram.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when selling merchandise at a store, the merchandise may be sold at a discount rate obtained by discounting a merchandise selling price determined for each merchandise. In some cases, a bargain is negotiated between a salesperson and a purchaser to sell the product at a price lower than the price displayed at the store.

[0003]

The salesperson wants to sell the product at a higher price, and the purchaser wants to purchase the product at a lower price. Therefore, it is necessary to determine a more appropriate product selling price.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a sales management device, a sales management method, and a program that can solve the above-mentioned problems. This object is achieved by a combination of features described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous embodiments of the present invention.

[0005]

That is, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sales management device for managing the sale of a plurality of products. A planned return amount determining unit that determines a planned return amount, which is a planned frame of the product return amount to be returned to the purchaser; And a merchandise return amount allocating unit to be allocated to the merchandise as a merchandise return amount to be returned to a purchaser of the merchandise when the merchandise is sold. The merchandise return amount allocating unit allocates, to at least one of the plurality of products, a merchandise return amount that is different from the remaining commodities of the same type.

[0006] When a purchase offer is received from a purchaser who purchases the product, the product return amount allocating unit may allocate the product return amount to be returned to the purchaser.

[0007] A sales price determining unit for determining a selling price of the product according to the product return amount allocated by the product return amount allocating unit may be further provided.

[0008] The expected return amount determining unit may determine the expected return amount based on a past profit amount for the sale of the plurality of commodities.

[0009] An investment amount determining unit for determining an overall investment amount to be invested in selling the plurality of commodities may be further provided. The expected return amount determining unit may determine the expected return amount according to the total investment amount.

[0010] The investment amount determination unit may determine the total investment amount according to a ratio of sales to past investments.

[0011] The investment amount determining unit may determine the total investment amount according to a ratio of an increase in sales to a past investment.

[0012] A sales prediction unit for predicting the degree of sales increase for investment may be further provided. The investment amount determination unit may determine the investment amount according to a degree of the increase in the sales.

[0013] The sales management device may manage sales of commodities handled in a sales mall including a plurality of dealers, and the expected return amount determining unit may determine the expected return amount for the sales mall. .

[0014] The sales mall may be an electronic mall for performing electronic commerce.

[0015] The sales management device may manage sales of commodities handled in a plurality of different industries, and the expected return amount determining unit may determine the expected return amount for each industry.

[0016] The sales management device may manage sales of commodities handled in a sales mall including a plurality of stores, and the expected return amount determining unit may determine the expected return amount for each store.

[0017] The sales management device may sell a plurality of different types of commodities, and the expected return amount determining unit may determine an expected return amount for each type of the product.

[0018] The expected return amount determining unit may determine the expected return amount for each purchaser who purchases the product.

[0019] The expected return amount determining unit may determine the expected return amount according to the purchase history of the purchaser.

[0020] The expected return amount determining unit may determine the expected return amount according to the amount of profit obtained from the purchaser.

[0021] The estimated return amount determining unit may increase the expected return amount when the past purchase amount indicated in the purchase history is increasing.

The expected return amount determining unit may increase the expected return amount when the number of purchases of the product in the past shown in the purchase history is increasing.

[0023] For each of the plurality of commodities, there may be further provided a redemption frame determining unit for determining a redemption frame indicating a width of the commodity redemption amount to be returned to a purchaser of the commodity. The merchandise return amount allocating unit may allocate the merchandise return amount within the determined return frame to the product.

The apparatus may further include a random number generator for generating a random number. The merchandise return amount allocator may determine the merchandise return amount using the random number, and allocate the merchandise return amount to the product.

[0025] The merchandise return amount allocating unit may determine the merchandise return amount according to a purchaser who purchases the merchandise, and allocate the merchandise return amount to the merchandise.

[0026] The merchandise return amount allocating unit may determine the merchandise return amount according to the purchase history of the purchaser, and allocate the merchandise return amount to the merchandise.

The merchandise return amount allocating unit may increase the merchandise return amount when a past purchase amount indicated in the purchase history of the purchaser is increasing.

The merchandise return amount allocating unit may increase the merchandise return amount when the number of past purchases of the merchandise shown in the purchase history is increasing.

[0029] The apparatus may further include a receiving unit that receives an input from the purchaser. The merchandise return amount allocating unit may determine the merchandise return amount based on the input received by the receiving unit, and allocate the merchandise return amount to the product.

[0030] A merchandise return amount holding unit for holding the plurality of merchandise return amounts in association with a plurality of input information to be input by the purchaser may be further provided. The reception unit,
Upon receiving one input information from the purchaser, the merchandise return amount allocating unit is associated with the input information input from the purchaser among the merchandise return amounts held by the merchandise return amount holding unit. The merchandise return amount may be assigned to the merchandise.

A random number generator for generating a random number, and a merchandise return amount candidate determining unit for determining the plurality of merchandise return amounts to be held in the merchandise return amount holding unit using the random numbers generated by the random number generator. May be further provided.

[0032] When a purchase offer is received from the purchaser, the random number generator may generate the random number.

[0033] The information processing apparatus may further include a purchaser history database storing the merchandise return amount selected by the purchaser via the reception unit in association with purchaser identification information for identifying the purchaser. The merchandise return amount allocating unit may allocate the merchandise return amount determined according to the past merchandise return amount stored in association with the purchaser in the purchaser history database to the product.

The above summary of the present invention does not list all of the necessary features of the present invention, and a sub-combination of these features can also be an invention.

[0035]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the present invention. However, the embodiments do not limit the claimed invention, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are described. Is not necessarily essential to the solution of the invention.

The “discount amount” and the “discountable frame” described in the detailed description are examples of the “commodity return amount” and the “planned return amount” described in the claims. In addition, the "discount amount storage unit", "discount amount determination unit",
The "discountable frame determination unit" is an example of the "commodity return amount holding unit", "commodity return amount allocation unit", and "planned return amount determination unit" described in the claims. The “discount amount determination unit” described in the detailed description is an example of the “return amount determination unit” and “commodity return amount candidate determination unit” described in the claims.

FIG. 1 shows the entire sales system according to the present embodiment. The sales system includes the sales management device 100
And a plurality of dealers 30 and a purchaser terminal 20.
The plurality of stores 30 form a so-called electronic mall that sells products via a network.

The sales management device 100 includes a plurality of dealers 30
Manage transactions of commodities in the electronic mall including. The sales management device 100 may communicate with the store 30 via the Internet 10, and as another example, the sales management device 100 communicates with the store 30 and a LAN (Local Area).
Communication may be performed via a dedicated line such as a network. As still another example, the sales management device 100 and the plurality of stores 30 may be realized in the same device.
Thus, the form of the device is not limited.

The purchaser terminal 20 accesses the electronic mall via the Internet 10 and purchases a product from the store 30 in the electronic mall. The purchaser terminal 20 may be a personal computer or a mobile terminal with a communication function.

In the present embodiment, when purchasing a product using the electronic mall, the purchaser purchases the product at the price determined by discount negotiation. That is, the purchaser uses the purchaser terminal 20 to negotiate a discount with the sales management device 100. As described above, in the present embodiment, each time a product is sold, the sales management device 100 negotiates a discount with the purchaser terminal 20 of the purchaser who sells the product, and based on the result of the discount negotiation. Then, a sales price is determined by discounting a predetermined amount statement from the standard price of the product. That is, when selling the product to the purchaser, the sales management device 100 returns the difference between the standard price and the sales price of the product to the purchaser. In this way, since the buyer purchases the product at the selling price according to the discount negotiation, depending on the discount negotiation,
Even the same product can be purchased more cheaply.

FIG. 2 shows that when the buyer is negotiating a discount with the sales management device 100, the buyer terminal 2
5 shows a screen displayed on the display unit 22 of “0”. Buyer terminal 2
0 receives the information on this screen from the sales management device 100. Thus, the display unit 22 displays the character of the negotiator who performs the discount negotiation and the character of the clerk who is receiving the discount negotiation, as in the actual discount negotiation.
Here, the negotiator character is a character who negotiates a discount on behalf of the purchaser, and the clerk character is a store 30 that handles a product that the purchaser desires to purchase.
Clerk character. The purchaser can purchase the product at an amount obtained by subtracting the discount amount determined by the discount negotiation between the negotiator character and the clerk character from the standard price specified for the product, that is, the selling price. Hereinafter, the sales management device 100 in this system will be described.

In the system of this embodiment, the purchaser
An arbitrary negotiator character and a clerk character are selected from the plurality of negotiator characters and the clerk character. At this time, the sales management device 100 may collect a negotiator employment fee from the purchaser terminal 20 in response to causing the negotiating character to perform the discount negotiation. The negotiator character and the clerk character are set in advance so that the better the compatibility, the more the discount negotiation proceeds. That is, the more the purchaser selects a combination of the negotiator character and the clerk character that are compatible, the more the sales management device 10
0 determines a high discount. Therefore, the purchaser can purchase the product at a low price.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the sales management apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the sales management device 100. A series of operations of the sales management device 100 are mainly realized by the cooperation of the CPU and the programs stored in the ROM and the RAM. However, the sales management device 100 may be realized by other components, and the degree of design freedom is high. The sales management device 100
An input unit 110, a settlement unit 120, a sales unit 130, an output unit 160, and a sales database 200 are provided. The sales unit 130 includes a sales prediction unit 132 and an investment amount determination unit 1
34, a discountable frame determining unit 136, a discount candidate determining unit 138, a random number generating unit 140, and a discount candidate holding unit 14.
2, a discount amount determining unit 144, and a selling price determining unit 146. Further, the sales database 200 has a sales table 210, a product table 220, a purchaser table 230, a purchaser history table 240, and a discount amount determination table 250.

The input unit 110 receives various information from the purchaser terminal 20 via the Internet 10. The sales unit 130 determines the selling price when selling the product to the purchaser when receiving the offer for purchase from the purchase terminal 20 via the input unit 110. Sales unit 130 performs processing related to the features of the system according to the present embodiment. The configuration and operation of each unit in the sales unit 130 will be described later. When the settlement unit 120 receives the offer for settlement to purchase the product at the sale price determined by the sales unit 130, the settlement unit 120 performs settlement processing at the sale price. When the settlement unit 120 further performs the settlement process, the settlement unit 120 updates the related information among the information stored in the sales database 200, such as the information on the stock of the product, according to the settlement process.

The output unit 160 outputs the sales price determined by the sales unit 130, the transaction result performed by the settlement unit 120, and the like. The output unit 160 transmits the information to the purchaser terminal 20 via the Internet 10.

The sales database 200 stores information on products handled in the electronic mall and the sales management device 100.
Information on past sales, information on product transactions, information on purchasers who use the electronic mall, information on purchases using the electronic mall, and discount negotiations with purchasers At this time, information related to discount negotiations such as a negotiator character and a clerk character to be displayed on the display unit 22 of the purchaser terminal 20 is stored. The sales database 200 includes a sales table 210
, A product table 220, a purchaser table 230,
Buyer history table 240 and discount amount determination table 25
0. The sales database 200 can manage a plurality of pieces of stored information in association with each other by using these tables. The various information stored in the sales database 200 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The sales forecasting unit 132 stores the sales database 2
Based on the past sales of the entire electronic mall stored in 00, the future sales amount of the entire electronic mall is predicted. The sales prediction unit 132 further predicts the degree of increase in sales with respect to the investment amount based on the degree of increase in sales with respect to past investments in the electronic mall. Specifically, the sales prediction unit 132 calculates the correlation between the total amount of discount discounted from the standard price of the product and the sales when the product was sold in the entire electronic mall in the past, and calculated Based on the correlation with the sales amount, the sales amount relative to the total amount of the investment, that is, the discount amount may be predicted.

The investment amount deciding section 134 includes the sales forecasting section 13
The total investment amount is determined in accordance with the degree of increase in sales with respect to past investments predicted by 2. Here, the total investment amount is an amount to be invested in the electronic mall.
Here, for example, an administrator of the sales management apparatus 100 may invest, or for example, an administrator of the store 30 constituting the electronic mall may invest.

The discountable frame determining unit 136 determines a discountable frame based on the total investment amount determined by the investment amount determining unit 134. At this time, the discountable frame determination unit 136 determines
Information about the sales of the product stored in the sales database 200, that is, the past sales in the industry to which the product belongs, the past sales in the store 30 selling the product, and the past sales of the product in the entire electronic mall. Based on this, a discountable frame of the product is determined. For example, the estimated return amount determining unit 136 may determine 10% of past sales as a discountable frame. It should be noted that the discountable frame determination unit 136 determines whether the purchaser terminal 20
When a request is made to purchase a product, a discountable frame for the specified product is determined. Therefore, the discountable frame determining unit 136 can determine the discountable frame of the product using the information on the sales up to the timing of purchase.

Here, the discountable frame will be described. For example, if the discount price is 300 yen for a product with a standard price of 1000 yen, the selling price when actually selling the product may be set between 1000 yen and 700 yen. As described above, the discountable frame determination unit 136 determines the maximum discount amount that can be discounted for the product.

As described above, the discountable frame determining unit 136 determines
The discountable frame of the product is determined based on the sales of the product in the entire electronic mall as well as the sales of the product at the store that sells the product. Therefore, the estimated return amount determining unit 136 can set more discountable frames than the discountable frame set at one store.

The operation of each unit of the sales management apparatus 100 linked to the discount negotiation described with reference to FIG. 2 will be described below.

The discount amount candidate determination unit 138 extracts information on the negotiation level of the purchaser from the sales database 200. The negotiation level is an index set for each buyer based on the number of past purchases, the purchase price, and the like.
The higher the negotiation level, the higher the probability that the discount amount will be set higher. The higher the number of past purchases and the higher the purchase price, the higher the negotiation level is set. The discount amount candidate determination unit 138 selects a combination of a negotiator character and a clerk character that can be selected by the purchaser based on the negotiation level of the purchaser. The discount amount candidate determination unit 138 outputs the selected negotiator character and the clerk character to the output unit 160.
To the purchaser terminal 20 via.

At this time, the purchaser terminal 20 receives the negotiator character and the clerk character from the sales management device 100, and displays them on the display unit 22. Buyer terminal 2
When the purchaser 0 selects each of the negotiator character and the clerk character displayed on the display unit 22, the input unit 1
Reference numeral 10 designates information specifying each character as a purchaser terminal 20.
Receive from.

The discount candidate determination unit 138 checks the purchaser terminal 2
0 receives information specifying each character from the input unit 110. Based on the received combination of the negotiator character and the clerk character, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 determines a purchase reference value serving as a reference when determining a selling price for selling the target product to the purchaser. Here, the purchase reference value is a discount rate serving as a reference when determining a selling price of a product for a buyer who is negotiating.

For example, even if the discountable frame is 300 yen for a product with a standard price of 1000 yen, discounting is possible if the purchase reference value is determined to be 0.8 by the purchaser's character selection. The frame is reduced to 240 yen and the selling price is 7
It is determined between 60 yen and 1000 yen.

As described above, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138
A purchase reference value range according to the buyer's negotiation level is set, and within this range, a purchase reference value that is a reference for determining the selling price of the product is set based on the selection from the purchaser. Therefore, the sales management device 100 can determine the sales price of the product based on the buyer's negotiation level.

The discount candidate determination unit 138 further determines a discount candidate using the purchase reference value and the random number received from the random number generation unit 140 described later. The discount amount candidate determination unit 138 according to the present embodiment determines three discount amount candidates. The discount amount candidate determination unit 138 sends the determined three discount amount candidates to the discount amount candidate holding unit 142.

When receiving an offer to purchase from purchaser terminal 20 via input unit 110, random number generation unit 140 generates three random numbers and sends them to discount candidate determination unit 138. The random number generator 140 generates a random number for determining the selling price of each product at the timing when the discount candidate determiner 138 determines the discount for the purchaser.

As described above, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138
A discount amount candidate is determined based on a random number in addition to the buyer's negotiation level. Therefore, even when the negotiation level of the buyer is low, a high discount amount candidate can be determined for this buyer. Therefore, for example, the random number generation unit 140 is set so that a discount amount candidate corresponding to the buyer's negotiation level as a whole is determined, and a random number corresponding to the discount amount candidate exceeding the negotiation level is generated with a predetermined probability. I do. Thus, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 can set a low selling price with a predetermined probability even for a purchaser whose negotiation level is not so high, so that the purchaser's willingness to purchase can be increased. . In addition, since the sales management device 100 is configured to manage the sales of the entire electronic mall as a whole and to perform a discount according to the negotiation level of the purchaser, the discount amount is thus high with a predetermined probability. Even if candidates are set, profits can be generated for the entire electronic mall.

The discount amount candidate holding unit 142 receives three discount amount candidates from the discount amount candidate determining unit 138. The discount amount candidate holding unit 142 further extracts four options to be selected by the purchaser from the sales database 200. Here, the option to be selected by the purchaser is a negotiation word corresponding to a word spoken by the negotiator character to the clerk character when the bargain negotiation is performed on the screen of the purchaser terminal 20.
The sales database 200 stores a plurality of negotiation words, and the discount candidate holding unit 142 extracts any four of them. The discount amount candidate holding unit 142 may extract any four. For example, four negotiation words may be selected based on the random numbers generated by the random number generation unit 140.

The discount amount candidate holding unit 142 associates the negotiation word extracted from the sales database 200 with each discount amount candidate received from the discount amount candidate determining unit 138. The discount amount candidate holding unit 142 holds one of the four negotiation words that is not associated with the discount amount candidate as a doubt word. Buyer terminal 2
When Doubtwer is selected from 0, discount negotiation between the buyer terminal 20 and the store 30 is interrupted. That is, the doubly word is associated with information indicating that the discount negotiation is stopped.

The discount amount candidate holding unit 142 stores the four negotiating words held by the buyer terminal 20 via the output unit 160.
Send to The purchaser terminal 20 causes the display unit 22 to display the received four negotiation words. When the purchaser of the purchaser terminal 20 selects one of the four negotiation words, the input unit 110 receives information specifying one negotiation word.

The discount amount determining unit 144 receives information specifying one negotiation word from the input unit 110, and determines a discount amount candidate corresponding to the specified negotiation word as a discount amount for the product.

As described above, even when the electronic mall handles a plurality of the same products, the sales management device 100 keeps the random number generated by the random number generation unit 140 and the Determine the discount amount based on your selection. Therefore, the sales management apparatus 100 can assign a different discount amount to one product than the remaining products of the same type.

The selling price determination unit 146 is a discount amount determination unit 1
Subtract the discount amount assigned by 44 from the standard price of the product,
Determine the selling price when selling the product.

FIG. 4 shows the data structure of the sales table 210 of the data stored in the sales database 200.
The sales database 200 stores data on products, data on sales, and information on purchasers. The sales table 210 indicates the correspondence of information on sales among the data stored in the sales database 200. The sales table 210 has a transaction ID field, a use date and time field, a store ID field, a product ID field, a sales price field, and a profit field.

The transaction ID stores transaction identification information for identifying each transaction. One transaction may include transactions relating to a plurality of products. That is, when a plurality of products are traded in one transaction, the transactions of the plurality of products are managed with the same transaction identification information. As described above, it is possible to recognize from the transaction identification information that a transaction has been made in the same transaction.

The date and time of use field stores the date and time when the transaction was made. The store ID field stores store identification information for identifying a store that handles a product to be traded. The sales price field stores the sales price at which the product was actually sold. The profit amount field stores the amount of profit obtained by selling the product.

As described above, the sales database 200
Stores information on transactions of all commodities traded in the electronic mall managed by the sales management device 100. Therefore, for example, the sales prediction unit 132
Using 0, information on past sales can be obtained. Also, as described above, the sales table 210
Since the store identification information and the product identification information are associated with each transaction, the sales for each store and the sales for each product can also be managed.

FIG. 5 shows the data structure of the product table 220. The product table 220 stores the sales database 20
The correspondence relation of the information on the product among the data stored in 0 is shown. The product table 220 has a product ID field, a product name field, and a sales standard price field. The product ID field stores product identification information. The product name field stores a product name. The wholesale price field stores wholesale prices purchased from manufacturers and retailers. The standard price field stores a standard price that is a standard when selling this product in the electronic mall.

As described above, the merchandise table 220 determines the standard price of the merchandise.
Can determine a discountable frame of a product based on the standard price of the product that the purchaser intends to purchase.

As another example, the product table 220
A wholesale price field may be further provided. by this,
The discountable frame determination unit 136 can determine a discountable frame according to the wholesale price of each product.

FIG. 6 shows the data structure of the purchaser table 230. The purchaser table 230 indicates a correspondence relationship of information on products among data stored in the sales database 200. The buyer table 230 contains the buyer ID
Field, a buyer name field, a buyer information field, and a negotiation level field. Buyer I
The D field stores purchaser identification information for identifying the purchaser. The purchaser identification information may be, for example, a telephone number of a mobile phone of a mobile terminal owned by the purchaser or an e-mail address. The purchaser name field stores the name of the purchaser who owns the purchaser terminal 20. The purchaser information field stores personal information of the purchaser. The personal information of the purchaser information may be, for example, an address, a date of birth, and gender.

The negotiation level field stores an index to be used as a reference when determining a discount amount when a purchaser purchases a product in an electronic mall managed by the sales management device 100. The negotiation level is determined based on the number of times the purchaser has selected the doubly ward, the total amount of the discount, the number of times the electronic mall has been used, the total amount of payment to the electronic mall, and the like. In other words, the negotiation level is set to be higher as the profit that the purchaser has previously provided to the cyber mall and the profit that is to be provided to the cyber mall is expected to be larger in the future.

As described above, since the purchaser table 230 stores personal information about each purchaser, for example, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 uses the purchaser table 230 to determine the discount amount candidate. Discount price candidates suitable for each purchaser can be determined.

FIG. 7 shows the data structure of the purchaser history table 240. The purchaser history table 240 indicates a correspondence relationship of information regarding a purchaser history among data stored in the sales database 200. Buyer history table 24
0 has a table for each purchaser. The table for each purchaser has a use date field, a transaction ID field, a negotiation field, a purchase field, a discount amount field, and a doubt word field.

The date and time of use field stores the date and time when the purchaser used the electronic mall. The transaction ID field is
Stores transaction identification information for identifying a transaction performed by the user in the electronic mall. The negotiation field stores a flag indicating that discount negotiation has been performed when the user has performed discount negotiation in the transaction. In the purchase field, we negotiate discounts, and at the price determined by the discount negotiations,
When the purchaser terminal 20 has actually purchased, a flag indicating the purchase is stored. The return amount field stores a discount amount in the transaction. The doubt word field stores a flag indicating that the doubly word has been selected when the user has selected the doubly word in the discount negotiation.

The negotiation level stored in purchaser table 230 is determined based on information stored in purchaser history table 240.

As described above, the purchaser history table 240
Manages the purchase history of the past purchaser in the electronic mall for each purchaser. Accordingly, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138
When determining the discount amount candidate, the discount amount candidate can be determined using the negotiation level determined based on the product purchaser history table 240. That is, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 can determine a discount amount candidate according to the past history of the purchaser.

As another example, the discount amount field may store a discount rate for a standard price instead of the discount amount. In this case, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 can determine the negotiation level of the user based on the discount rate.

FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the discount amount determination table 250. The discount amount determination table 250 is a discount amount determination table 2 that indicates a correspondence relationship among data stored in the sales database 200 and related to discount amount determination.
Reference numeral 50 stores a combination of a negotiator character and a clerk character as options to be selected when the buyer conducts discount negotiation.

FIG. 8A shows a discount amount determination table 250.
Shows the correspondence between the negotiator character and the clerk character associated with each other. The discount amount determination table 250 stores a purchase reference value in association with each combination of a purchaser character selected by the purchaser and a clerk character with whom the purchaser negotiates a discount. The discount amount determination table 250 associates the purchase character with the clerk character such that the higher the compatibility between the character and the clerk character, the higher the purchase reference value.

Therefore, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 determines a reference value of the discount amount candidate based on the purchase reference value associated with the combination selected by the purchaser terminal 20 in the discount amount determination table 250. can do.

FIG. 8B shows a discount amount determination table 250.
Shows the correspondence between the level of the purchaser and the negotiator character and the clerk character. The level field stores the negotiation level of the buyer. The negotiator character field stores a negotiator character that can be selected by the purchaser. The clerk character field stores clerk characters that can be selected by the purchaser. For example, when the negotiation level of the purchaser is 1, the negotiator character that can be selected by the purchaser is only the negotiator character A, and the clerk character that can be selected by the purchaser is only the clerk character A. When the purchaser's level is 2, the negotiator characters that can be selected by the purchaser are the negotiator character A, the negotiator character B, and the negotiator character C, and the clerk characters that can be selected by the purchaser are the clerk characters. , A clerk character A, and a clerk character B.

As described above, the discount amount determination table 250
Associates a combination of characters that can be selected by the purchaser with the level of the purchaser. Therefore, when the selection of the negotiator character and the clerk character is received from the purchaser, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 can determine the purchase reference value based on the received combination of the negotiator character and the clerk character. .

As described above, each character is A, B,.
.. Are stored, and the combination of characters closer to A is set to a lower purchase reference value.
Further, the higher the purchaser's negotiation level, the greater the number of combinations of the purchaser's selectable negotiator character and the clerk character. Therefore, the higher the buyer's negotiation level,
The possibility of selecting a high purchase reference value increases.

FIG. 9 shows the relationship between a plurality of negotiation words held in the discount amount candidate holding unit 142 and random numbers. The discount amount candidate holding unit 142 holds a plurality of negotiation words in association with the discount amount candidate received from the discount amount candidate determination unit 138. The sales database 200 stores a plurality of negotiation words, and the discount amount candidate holding unit 142 extracts any four negotiation words from the sales database 200 and associates them with each discount amount candidate as shown in the figure. At this time, the discount amount candidate holding unit 142 may associate any negotiation word with any discount amount candidate. The discount amount candidate holding unit 142 may associate the negotiation word with the discount amount candidate based on a predetermined rule, or as another example, may associate the negotiation word and the discount amount candidate at random.

Thus, every time the buyer conducts the bargain negotiation, the discount amount candidate holding unit 142 allocates the discount amount candidate to the negotiation word. Therefore, in different transactions, even if the buyer selects the same bargaining word, the buyer cannot select the same discount amount candidate. , You can avoid having to keep buying.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the sales management device 100. When there is an offer to purchase from the purchaser terminal 20 via the input unit 110 (S100), the sales forecasting unit 132 of the sales management device 100 based on the past sales of the entire electronic mall stored in the sales table 210. Then, the future sales amount for the investment amount is predicted (S102). Next, the investment amount determination unit 134 determines the total investment amount to be invested in the electronic mall according to the ratio of the increase in the sales to the past investment predicted by the sales prediction unit 132 (S104).

Next, the discountable frame determining unit 136 determines a discountable frame for the product for which purchase has been offered, based on the total investment amount (S106). Next, the discount amount determination unit 144 allocates a discount amount to the offered product (S108). Next, the selling price determination unit 14
6 determines the selling price when selling the product based on the discount amount allocated by the discount amount determining unit 144 (S11).
0). Next, the output unit 160 transmits the sales price determined by the sales price determination unit 146 to the purchaser terminal 20 (S11).
2). At this time, the buyer terminal 20 causes the display unit 22 to display the received sales price. The purchaser can determine whether or not to purchase a product by looking at the sales price displayed on the display unit 22.

Next, when the purchaser actually purchases the product, that is, the input unit 110 receives a payment request from the purchaser terminal 20 requesting payment at the sales price determined by the sales price determination unit 146. In this case (S114), the settlement unit 1
20 performs a settlement process (S116). Next, the settlement unit 1
20 stores the settled contents in the sales database 200 (S118). That is, the contents of the sales database 200 are updated. If the settlement request is not received from the purchaser terminal 20 in the settlement request receiving step S114, the process proceeds to the DB updating step (S118). When the sales database 200 is updated, the operation of the sales management device 100 ends.

As described above, since the settlement unit 120 updates the contents of the sales database 200 every time a transaction is performed, the sales database 200 can always store the sales situation of the goods in the electronic mall.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation of the sales management apparatus 100 in the discountable frame determining step (S106) in FIG. Discountable frame determination unit 1
36, using the sales table 210, determines a discountable frame of the entire electronic mall (S200). Next, the discountable frame determining unit 136 determines a discountable frame in the type of business to which the product to be purchased belongs, based on the discountable frame in the entire electronic mall (S202). Next, the discountable frame determining unit 136 determines a discountable frame in a store that sells the product based on the discountable frame in the entire electronic mall (S204). Next, the discountable frame determining unit 1
36 determines a discountable frame for the product to be sold to the buyer based on the discountable frame in the type of business to which the product belongs and the discountable frame in the store that sells the product (S2).
06).

At this time, the discountable frame determination unit 136 uses the sales table 210 to determine the past profit of the entire electronic mall, the profit of the business to which the product belongs out of a plurality of businesses managed by the electronic mall, and the electronic profit. Among the plurality of stores 30 managed by the mall, information on profit at the store that sells the product is extracted, and based on these information,
A discountable frame for the entire electronic mall, a discountable frame for the type of business to which the product belongs, and a discountable frame for the store that sells the product are determined.

As described above, the discountable frame determining unit 136 determines
Since the discountable frame is determined based on the type of business to which the product belongs and the sales of each store that sells the product, for example, in the case of a product that sells well in an electronic mall, set the discountable frame of the product high. Is also good. Further, for example, even if a product sells well in an electronic mall, if the sales of the store that sells the product is poor, the discountable frame may be set low.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the detailed operation of the sales management apparatus 100 in the discount amount stage (S108) described in FIG. Discount amount candidate determination unit 1
38 extracts the negotiation level of the purchaser from the purchaser table 230 (S300). The purchaser history table 2
For a purchaser whose negotiation level is not stored in 40, a preset default value is used as the negotiation level. Next, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 uses the discount amount determination table 250 based on the extracted negotiation level.
A negotiator character and a clerk character are extracted according to the negotiation level (S302). Next, the output unit 160 transmits the negotiator character and the clerk character extracted by the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 to the purchaser terminal 20. On the other hand, when information specifying the negotiator character and the clerk character is received from the purchaser terminal 20 (S304), the discount amount determination table 250 is associated with the specified combination of the negotiator character and the clerk character. The purchase reference value is extracted (S306).

Next, the random number generation section 140 generates a random number (S308). Next, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 receives the random number from the random number generation unit 140, and determines three discount amount candidates based on the purchase reference value and the random number (S31).
0). Next, the discount amount candidate holding unit 142 extracts four negotiation words from the sales database 200 (S31).
2). Next, the discount amount candidate holding unit 142 holds the determined three discount amount candidates and the doubly words in association with the four negotiation words (S314). Next, the output unit 160 transmits the four negotiation words held by the discount amount candidate holding unit 142 to the purchaser terminal 20. On the contrary,
Information specifying one of the four negotiation words is received from the purchaser terminal 20 (S316). If the designated negotiation word is a doubt word, the transaction ends. If the designated negotiation word is not a doubt word, the discount amount candidate holding unit 142 determines a discount amount candidate associated with the designated negotiation word as a discount amount (S320).

As described above, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138
The discount amount of the product can be determined based on the buyer's negotiation level, the random number, and the designation from the buyer. Therefore, if the buyer gives a large profit to the mall,
A higher discount amount can be set, and a discount amount equal to or higher than the negotiation level can be set with a predetermined probability based on the random number and the designation from the purchaser. Therefore, the purchase motivation of the purchaser can be increased.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation of the sales management apparatus 100 in the DB update stage (S118) described with reference to FIG. When the settlement is completed, the settlement unit 120 updates the content stored in the sales database 200 based on the information regarding the settlement (S40).
0). The purchase amount of the past purchaser stored in the purchaser history table 240 is confirmed (S402). Here, if the purchase amount stored in the purchaser history table 240 is increasing, the discount amount is increased. Further, the discount amount may be increased when the total purchase amount is equal to or more than a predetermined amount.

Next, the settlement unit 120 checks the number of purchases (S404). For example, if the number of purchases of past products shown in the purchase history stored in the purchaser history table 240 is increasing, the discount amount is increased. Next, the settlement unit 120 confirms the number of times the user has selected the doubly word in the past (S406). If the number of times the doubt word is selected is small, the discount amount is increased.

As described above, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138
Since the discount amount candidate is determined according to the purchaser's past purchase history, a large return amount can be returned to the purchaser who has made many past purchases. In addition, merchandise return amount allocating unit 1
Since the discount amount is determined for each purchaser in this way, the discount amount suitable for each purchaser can be set.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the sales management device 100. As shown in FIG. The sales management device 100 is a CP
U700, ROM 702, RAM 704, communication interface 706, hard disk drive 708
, A database interface 710, a floppy (registered trademark) disk drive 712, and a CD-ROM
And a drive 714. The CPU 700 has a ROM 7
02 and the program stored in the RAM 704. The communication interface 706 communicates with the outside via the Internet 10. The database interface 710 writes data to the database and updates the contents of the database. A hard disk drive 708 as an example of a storage device stores setting information and a program for operating the CPU 700.

The floppy disk drive 712 reads data or a program from the floppy disk 720 (trademark) and provides it to the CPU 700. CD-ROM
The drive 714 reads data or a program from the CD-ROM 722 and provides it to the CPU 700. The communication interface 706 transmits and receives data by connecting to the Internet 10. Database interface 71
0 transmits and receives data by connecting to various databases 724.

The software executed by the CPU 700 is
It is stored in a recording medium such as the floppy disk 720 or the CD-ROM 722 and provided to the user. The software stored on the recording medium may be compressed or uncompressed. The software is installed from the recording medium to the hard disk drive 708 and the RAM 704
And executed by the CPU 700.

The software provided by being stored in the recording medium, that is, the software installed in the hard disk drive 708 has, as functional components, an input module, a settlement module, a sales module, and an output module. The sales module includes a sales prediction module, an investment amount determination module, a discountable frame determination module, a discount amount candidate determination module, a random number generation module, a discount amount determination module, and a sales price determination module. The processing performed by each of the modules by the computer and performed by the CPU 700 is the same as the function and operation of the corresponding member in the sales management device 100 of the present embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

A floppy disk 720 or CD-ROM 722 as an example of a recording medium shown in FIG. 14 stores a part or all of the functions of the sales management apparatus 100 in all the embodiments described in the present application. can do.

These programs are directly stored in R
The program may be read out to the AM and executed, or may be read out to the RAM and executed once after being installed in the hard disk drive. Further, the program may be stored on a single recording medium or a plurality of recording media. Also, it may be stored in an encoded form.

As a recording medium, a floppy disk,
In addition to CD-ROM, optical recording media such as DVD, MD
, A magneto-optical recording medium such as a PD, a tape medium, a magnetic recording medium, and a semiconductor memory such as an IC card or a miniature card. Further, a storage device such as a hard disk or a RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the Internet may be used as a recording medium, and the program may be provided to the sales management device 100 via the communication network. Such a recording medium is used only for manufacturing the sales management device 100, and the manufacture and sale of such a recording medium as a business constitutes infringement of a patent right based on the present application. Is clear.

Next, a sales management apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment will be described. The discountable frame determining unit 136 of the sales management device 100 according to the second embodiment determines a discountable frame for each purchaser who uses the electronic mall. In this respect, the present embodiment is different from the sales management device 100 according to the first embodiment in which a discountable frame is determined for each product.

For example, the discountable frame determining unit 136 determines the discountable frame corresponding to the profit given by the purchaser to the electronic mall based on the purchaser's past usage history for all the users who use the electronic mall. The decision may be made for each purchaser. Accordingly, the discountable frame determination unit 136 can set a higher discount amount for a customer who can expect higher profit.

In this case, the purchaser table 230 may further store a discountable frame for each purchaser. Further, in this case, the discountable frame determining unit 136 may determine the discountable frame for each purchaser every time there is an offer to purchase from the purchaser.

The remaining configuration and operation of the sales management device 100 according to the present embodiment are the same as the operations of the sales management device 100 described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13 in the first embodiment. Omitted.

As described above, the present invention has been described using the embodiment. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiment. Various changes or improvements can be added to the above embodiment. It is apparent from the description of the appended claims that embodiments with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

As a first modification, the investment amount determination unit 134 in the present embodiment determines the total investment amount according to the degree of increase in sales relative to the investment amount. The investment amount determination unit 134 may determine an amount corresponding to a predetermined ratio in the sales amount as the total investment amount. Specifically, the investment amount determination unit 134 may determine 10% of the sales as the total investment amount.

As a second modification, the discountable frame determining unit 136 may determine in advance the discountable amounts for all the products handled by the sales management apparatus 100 for each product. In this case, the discountable frame determination unit 136 stores the determined discountable amount in the sales database 200 in association with the product. Furthermore, in this case, when a purchase request is received from the purchaser terminal 20, the discount amount candidate determination unit 13
8 may extract a discountable frame from the sales database 200 and determine a discount amount candidate for the product based on the extracted frame.

A third modification will be described. In the present embodiment, in the discount amount determination table 250, the purchase reference value for the combination of the negotiator character and the clerk character is associated with a smaller purchase reference value as each character is closer to A. On the other hand, when the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 receives the buyer's negotiation level from the sales database 200, the discount amount determination table 2
50 may assign a discount reference value to each character combination. In this case, the discount amount candidate determination unit 1
When 38 receives the buyer's negotiation level, the random number generator 140 generates a random number according to the negotiation level. The discount amount determination table 250 determines a discount reference value using the random number generated by the random number generation unit 140 and associates the discount reference value with each character combination.

Further, in this case, the discount amount determination table 25
0 is assigned so that the purchase reference value tends to be higher as a whole as each character advances from A to Z. Therefore, also in this case, the discount amount candidate determination unit 138 statistically uses the discount amount determination table 250 to set a purchase reference value according to the negotiation level of the purchaser for the product purchased by each purchaser. Can be assigned.

As a fourth modification, the sales management device 10
0 may further distribute advertisement information to the purchaser. In this case, the discount amount may be increased for the purchaser who has viewed the advertisement information. In addition, an advertisement fee may be collected from an advertisement source for distributing advertisement information. In this case, the investment amount determination unit 134 may set the advertisement fee as the total investment amount.

[0121]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the sales management apparatus 100 can sell a product at an appropriate product selling price.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an entire sales management system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on a display unit 22 of a buyer terminal 20 at the time of discount negotiation.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the sales management device 100.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data configuration of a sales table 210.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data configuration of a product table 220.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data configuration of a purchaser table 230.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data configuration of a purchaser history table 240.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data configuration of a discount amount determination table 250.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a plurality of negotiation words held in a discount amount candidate holding unit 142 and random numbers.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the sales management device 100.

FIG. 11 shows a step of determining a discountable frame in FIG. 10 (S10);
It is a flowchart which shows the detailed operation | movement of the sales management apparatus 100 in 6).

FIG. 12 shows a discount amount step (S10) described in FIG.
It is a flowchart which shows the detailed operation | movement of the sales management apparatus 100 in 8).

FIG. 13 shows the DB update stage (S1) described with reference to FIG.
It is a flowchart which shows the detailed operation | movement of the sales management apparatus 100 in 18).

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the sales management device 100.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Internet 20 Buyer terminal 30 Distributor 100 Sales management device 110 Input unit 120 Settlement unit 130 Sales unit 132 Sales prediction unit 134 Investment amount determination unit 136 Discountable frame determination unit 138 Discount amount candidate determination unit 140 Random number generation unit 142 Discount amount Candidate holding unit 144 Discount amount determination unit 146 Sales price determination unit 160 Output unit 200 Sales database 210 Sales table 220 Product table 230 Buyer table 240 Buyer history table 250 Discount amount determination table 700 CPU 702 ROM 704 RAM 706 Communication interface 708 Hard disk Drive 710 Database interface 712 Floppy disk drive 714 CD-ROM drive 720 Floppy disk 722 CD-ROM 724 Various data Database

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Shigeo Sakakibara 5-6-13 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F-term in Shiski Co., Ltd. 3E042 AA05 CC06 EA01

Claims (31)

[Claims] 1. A sales management device for managing the sale of a plurality of products, wherein when selling the plurality of products, a return frame which is a scheduled amount of a product return amount to be returned to a buyer who purchases the products. A planned return amount determining unit that determines a planned amount; and a product return that is to be returned to a purchaser of the product when a plurality of products of the same type among the plurality of products are sold. A merchandise return amount allocating unit for allocating the merchandise as the amount, wherein the merchandise return amount allocating unit allocates, to at least one of the plurality of products, a merchandise return amount that is different from the remaining products of the same type. A sales management device characterized by the following. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the merchandise return amount allocating unit allocates the merchandise return amount to be returned to the purchaser when a purchase offer is received from a purchaser who purchases the merchandise. 2. The sales management device according to 1. 3. The sales management according to claim 1, further comprising a sales price determining unit that determines a selling price of the product according to the product return amount allocated by the product return amount allocating unit. apparatus. 4. The sales management device according to claim 1, wherein the expected return amount determining unit determines the expected return amount based on the amount of past profit for selling the plurality of products. . 5. An investment amount determining unit for determining an overall investment amount to be invested in selling the plurality of products, wherein the estimated return amount determining unit is configured to return the return amount according to the overall investment amount. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the amount is determined.
The sales management device according to 1. 6. The sales management device according to claim 5, wherein the investment amount determination unit determines the total investment amount according to a ratio of sales to past investments. 7. The sales management device according to claim 6, wherein the investment amount determination unit determines the total investment amount according to a ratio of an increase in sales to a past investment. 8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a sales forecasting unit for predicting a degree of increase in sales with respect to the investment, wherein the investment amount determination unit determines the investment amount in accordance with the degree of increase in the sales. Claim 5
The sales management device according to 1. 9. The sales management device manages sales of products handled in a sales mall including a plurality of stores, and the estimated return amount determining unit determines the expected return amount for the sales mall. The sales management device according to claim 1, wherein: 10. The sales management device according to claim 9, wherein the sales mall is an electronic mall that performs electronic commerce. 11. The sales management device manages sales of commodities handled in a plurality of different industries, and the expected return amount determining unit determines the expected return amount for each industry. Item 2. The sales management device according to item 1. 12. The sales management device manages sales of products handled at a sales mall including a plurality of stores, and the estimated return amount determining unit determines the expected return amount for each of the stores. The sales management device according to claim 1, wherein 13. The sales management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sales management device sells a plurality of different types of products, and the expected return amount determining unit determines the expected return amount for each type of the product. The sales management device described. 14. The sales management device according to claim 1, wherein the expected return amount determining unit determines the expected return amount for each purchaser who purchases the product. 15. The sales management device according to claim 14, wherein the expected return amount determining unit determines the expected return amount according to a purchase history of the purchaser. 16. The sales management device according to claim 15, wherein the expected return amount determining unit determines the expected return amount according to the amount of profit obtained from the purchaser. 17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the expected return amount determining unit increases the expected return amount when the past purchase amount indicated in the purchase history is increasing. Sales management equipment. 18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the expected return amount determining unit increases the expected return amount when the number of purchases of the product in the past shown in the purchase history is increasing. The sales management device according to 1. 19. A merchandise return amount allocating unit, further comprising: for each of the plurality of products, a return frame determining unit that determines a return frame indicating a width of the merchandise return amount to be returned to a purchaser of the product. 2. The sales management device according to claim 1, wherein the assigning unit allocates the commodity return amount in the determined return frame to the commodity. 20. The method according to claim 10, further comprising a random number generation unit that generates a random number, wherein the commodity return amount allocating unit determines the commodity return amount using the random number, and allocates the commodity return amount to the commodity. The sales management device according to claim 1, wherein 21. The merchandise return amount allocating unit determines the merchandise return amount according to a purchaser who purchases the merchandise,
The sales management device according to claim 1, wherein the merchandise return amount is allocated to the merchandise. 22. The merchandise return amount allocating unit according to claim 21, wherein the merchandise return amount allocation unit determines the merchandise return amount according to the purchase history of the purchaser, and allocates the merchandise return amount to the product. Sales management equipment. 23. The merchandise return amount allocation unit increases the merchandise return amount when a past purchase amount shown in the purchase history of the purchaser is increasing. The sales management device according to 1. 24. The merchandise reimbursement amount allocation unit increases the merchandise reimbursement amount when the number of past purchases of the merchandise shown in the purchase history is increasing. The sales management device according to 1. 25. The method according to claim 25, further comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive an input from the purchaser; the merchandise return amount allocating unit determining the merchandise return amount based on the input received by the receiving unit; The sales management device according to claim 1, wherein an amount is allocated to the product. 26. A merchandise return amount holding unit that holds the plurality of merchandise return amounts and a plurality of input information to be input by the purchaser in association with each other. The commodity redemption amount allocating unit receives the commodity redemption amount associated with the input information input from the purchaser among the commodity redemption amounts held by the commodity redemption amount holding unit. 26. The sales management device according to claim 25, wherein the sales management device is assigned to the product. 27. A merchandise return amount candidate for determining the plurality of merchandise return amounts to be held in the merchandise return amount holding unit using a random number generated by the random number generator, the random number generation unit generating a random number. The sales management device according to claim 26, further comprising a determination unit. 28. The sales management device according to claim 20, wherein the random number generation unit generates the random number when receiving a purchase offer from the purchaser. 29. The product further comprising a purchaser history database storing the merchandise return price selected by the purchaser via the reception unit in association with purchaser identification information for identifying the purchaser. The redemption amount allocating unit allocates the commodity return amount determined according to the past commodity return amount stored in association with the purchaser to the product in the purchaser history database. Item 25
The sales management device according to 1. 30. A sales management method for managing sales of a plurality of commodities, wherein, when selling the plurality of commodities, a sales management device determines a merchandise return amount to be returned to a purchaser of the commodities. A planned return amount determining step of determining a planned return amount, which is a scheduled frame, when the sales management device sells each of a plurality of products of the same type among the plurality of products, A commodity return amount allocating step for allocating the commodity as a commodity return amount to be returned to a purchaser of the commodity; and the sales management device, in the commodity return amount allocation step, at least one of the plurality of commodities. A sales management method characterized by allocating a commodity return amount different from the remaining commodities of the same kind to the commodity. 31. A computer program for managing the sale of a plurality of commodities, wherein when the plurality of commodities are sold, a return frame which is a scheduled amount of a commodity return amount to be returned to a purchaser who purchases the commodities. A planned return amount determining module for determining a planned amount; and a product return to be returned to a purchaser of the product when a plurality of products of the same type among the plurality of products are sold. A merchandise return amount allocating module for allocating the merchandise as the amount, wherein the merchandise return amount allocating module allocates, to at least one of the plurality of commodities, a merchandise return amount that is different from the remaining commodities of the same type. A program characterized by: