JP2005108078A - Coupon management device and coupon management method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To construct a market system allowing the issue and distribution of a coupon issued by a service entrepreneur as nonfree negotiable securities. <P>SOLUTION: In a coupon management system, the service entrepreneur of a restaurant or the like establishes issue conditions and issues the coupon for marketing through a WEB or a portable network and the like. A consumer purchases the coupon, or resells the coupon after purchase. In using the coupon, the electronic coupon is downloaded from the management system and presented to a store. The present system provides service (a right) contents provided to each service entrepreneur with an opportunity for diversification, or optimization in accordance with cost effectiveness. The construction of a distribution market for the issued coupon allows an approach to many consumers, providing the effect of increasing the number of customers. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a coupon management apparatus and coupon management method for electronically issuing coupons (various rights granting securities, service options) and managing use and trading.

For service providers, such as restaurants, barbers, and hotels, whose profitability varies greatly depending on the number of customers coming to the store, it is always possible to secure customers, visit customers, and even stabilize customers.・ This has led to an increase in profits. At present, these businesses use coupons (discount coupons) mainly for discount services as a means of securing customers. These are issued and distributed through storefront distribution, flyers, posting on advertising media, mail distribution to mobile phone terminals, etc., and downloads by users from websites. For example, the following patent document discloses a system in which a user downloads a free coupon from a website.
JP 2002-109353 A

  However, the conventional free coupon method as described above has the following problems. In other words, it is difficult to grasp the total cost (total cost) including advertising costs other than service provision costs, and as a service provider, it is the most important purpose to secure customers, cost effectiveness of visits, and most importantly It is difficult to measure the fixed rate of customers.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and coupons (rights securities, discounts, benefits, etc.) issued by service providers (restaurants / barbers / hotels, etc.) currently used merely as a free service. The purpose of this is to establish a market system that makes it possible to issue and distribute seat reservation rights as paid securities.

The most important feature of the present invention is that it has the following three functions.
(1) When a service provider issues coupons (rights securities) that give customers some kind of advantageous / privileged condition (rights, rights exercise period, number of issuances, paid / free, and paid) Is an online coupon issuing system that sets the price of the rights itself and issues it through an electronic medium (WEB, mobile network, etc.).

(2) A market system (including a coupon pricing function) that allows a consumer to purchase a newly issued coupon and then resell it after the purchase.
(3) Coupon balance (exercise status, remaining rights, right validity period, etc.) management system for each consumer.

  According to the present invention, each service provider is provided with an opportunity to diversify and optimize the contents of services (rights) to be provided according to cost effectiveness, and a large number can be obtained by building a distribution market for issued coupons. This approach is effective in increasing the number of customers. Furthermore, since the status of the right holder's exercise of rights can be ascertained online, the immobilization rate can be ascertained and increased.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a coupon management method of the present invention. For example, a coupon issuer 12 such as a restaurant determines coupon issue conditions according to a recommended coupon issue from the coupon management company 10 and requests coupon issue.
The coupon management company 10 sells coupons for a fee on a website or the like to consumers 11 registered in advance based on the issuance request. However, at the time of sale, it is only registered that the user has purchased the coupon in the database of the website. The sale price of this coupon is the income of the coupon management company.

  The consumer 11 requests the coupon management company 10 to use a coupon from a mobile phone terminal, for example. In the coupon management company 10, the fact that the user has used the coupon is registered in the database, and coupon data including a coupon image, for example, is transmitted to the terminal. The consumer 11 requests a discount by presenting the coupon image of the terminal at the restaurant, and the restaurant discounts the food and drink price after confirming the image of the consumer's mobile terminal.

  The coupon management company statistically processes information on coupons sold in the past, and presents optimal coupon issuance conditions as a proposal for new coupon issuance requests based on data such as the number of visitors desired by the coupon issuer. . In addition, the consumer 11 can sell, for example, a purchased coupon to other users using the website of the coupon management company 10.

  By using the above method, for restaurants, for example, the optimal coupon can be issued based on the number of visitors you want to increase. Variable costs. As a result, the rate of return can be improved and the advertising costs are not incurred in a lump, thereby reducing the risk. For the consumer 11, there is a merit that a fee is discounted. For the coupon management company 10, the merit can be presented to both the coupon issuer and the consumer, so there is an effect that more coupon issuers and consumers can be acquired.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the entire system including the coupon management device (server) of the present invention. In addition, although any communication network and any portable terminal can be used as the communication network and terminal used when implementing the present invention, in the following embodiment, accessible from the Internet and a mobile phone terminal, An example of constructing a Web site having the function of the present invention will be disclosed.

  The coupon management server 20 includes a user database (hereinafter referred to as DB) 21 and a coupon DB 22 and is connected to the Internet and a mobile phone network 26 connected to the Internet. The coupon management server 20 has a Web function, a DB function, an application function for performing a coupon management process of the present invention, which will be described later, and the like, and constructs a system using a well-known server on the market to execute the coupon management process of the present invention. This is realized by creating and installing a program to be executed.

  For example, a coupon issuer terminal 23 and a user terminal 25 which are personal computers and a user terminal 24 which is a mobile phone terminal are connected to the Internet so as to be accessible to the coupon management server 20.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the contents of user access processing executed in the coupon management server 20. In S10, it waits until there is access to the server 20, and in S11, an ID and a password are input, and it is determined whether or not the user is registered in advance (consumer or coupon issuer).

  In S12, it is determined whether or not the accessing user is a coupon issuer. If the determination result is affirmative, the process proceeds to S13, but if not, the process proceeds to S17. In S13, it is determined whether or not it is a coupon issue request (confirmation of sales and usage status). If the determination result is affirmative, the process proceeds to S15, but if not, the process proceeds to S14. In S15, coupon issue condition input screen data is transmitted, and the coupon issue condition input by the coupon issuer is read.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a coupon issue condition input screen. A condition is input by inputting a numerical value or selecting it in a portion surrounded by a frame in FIG. For example, (1) coupon expiration date, (2) content of rights (service), (3) number of coupons that can be exercised, (4) unit price of coupons, (5) total issue of coupons Number, (6) coupon usable area (store location), and the like. In addition, since the sales unit price of the coupon is the income of the coupon management company, the coupon management company may determine it.

  Returning to FIG. 3, in S <b> 16, a coupon is issued according to the input issuance conditions and registered in the coupon DB. In S14, the number of daily sales, the number of uses, etc. are graphed and displayed on the terminal for coupons that are likely to be sold by the user and still have valid rights.

  In S17, it is determined whether or not the accessing user is a registered user. If the determination result is affirmative, the process proceeds to S19. If the determination result is negative (new user), the process proceeds to S18. In S18, user registration screen data is transmitted, and the user is read by inputting, for example, a name, age, rough address, password, and the like. In S19, coupon purchase and use processing described later is performed.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of coupon purchase and use processing. In S20, it is determined whether or not the user's request is a coupon purchase. If the determination result is affirmative, the process proceeds to S22. In S22, the coupon currently being sold is read from the coupon DB, and the list is transmitted to the user terminal for display. This list includes both newly-sold coupons and coupons that other users wish to resell. The user selects a coupon to purchase from the list.

In S23, the coupon selected by the user is additionally registered in the user-owned coupon list. In S25, information such as a credit card number necessary for settlement is read. This information may be registered in advance at the time of user registration, or may be input at the time of purchase.
In S25, when the coupon purchased by the user is resold by another user, the original owner is notified that the coupon has been resold. In addition, payment processing is performed offline. The resale price may be refunded to the original user, but may be stored as points and used when the user purchases another coupon.

  In S21, it is determined whether the coupon is used or not (registration for resale desired). If the determination result is affirmative, the process proceeds to S26, but if not, the process proceeds to S29. In S26, a list of coupons owned by the user is displayed on the terminal. In S27, the coupon selected by the user is rewritten as used. In S28, coupon data is transmitted to the user's mobile phone terminal.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a coupon on the mobile phone terminal. On the coupon screen, for example, a store name (store logo), an expiration date, service contents, and the like are described. For example, a restaurant clerk confirms this screen and discounts the fee. In order to confirm the coupon more securely, for example, a unique and random number is displayed on the coupon, and the number is entered into the personal computer etc. manually, infrared communication, wireless communication etc. It may be determined whether or not.

In S29, a list of coupons owned by the user is displayed on the terminal. In S30, the desired sale price of the coupon selected by the user is input. In S31, information on the coupon is registered in the desired coupon list for sale. In addition, even if it is registered in the sale request coupon list, the user can use it before sale, and is deleted from the sale request list when used.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the contents of statistical processing. This process is executed regularly or irregularly. In S40, the statistical data is updated by calculating the correlation between the issuance conditions such as the coupon period length, discount rate, etc., and the sales rate, usage rate, and the like. For example, by comparing and examining coupon digestion rates under the same issuance conditions between each area (coupon issuing store location area), the competition coefficient in each area is calculated from the difference in digestion rate, and reference data at the time of coupon issuance It becomes possible to make it. In S41, for example, a person in charge of the coupon management company consults with a restaurant and inputs data such as the number of visitors desired by the coupon issuer.

In S42, by referring to the statistical data regarding the coupon, in order to obtain the result desired by the coupon issuer (for example, the number of visitors), for example, an optimal coupon issue condition is generated for the period, the discount rate, the number of issued cards, etc. Output. The person in charge of the coupon management company presents this coupon proposal to a restaurant and consults to determine coupon issuance conditions.
With the configuration and operation as described above, a coupon suitable for the coupon issuer's request is issued and used.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the coupon management method of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the whole system. It is a flowchart which shows the content of a user access process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a coupon issue condition input screen. It is a flowchart which shows the content of coupon purchase and a use process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of the coupon in a mobile telephone terminal. It is a flowchart which shows the content of statistical processing.

Explanation of symbols

10 Coupon Management Company 11 Consumer 12 Coupon Issuer 20 Coupon Management Server 21 User DB
22 Coupon DB
23 Coupon issuer terminal 24, 25 User terminal

Claims (5)

Coupon database means that can register the owner for each coupon,
Coupon issuing means for inputting coupon issuing condition data from a coupon issuer, generating an electronic coupon and registering it in the coupon database means;
Coupon sales means for selling issued electronic coupons to users and registering the owner of the coupon in the coupon database means;
A coupon management apparatus comprising: a coupon use means for receiving a coupon use request from a user and changing a coupon state of the coupon database means to used and transmitting an electronic coupon to a user terminal. .   The coupon management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising user registration means for acquiring a user attribute, wherein the coupon is sold to a registered user.   The coupon management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising statistical data generating means for generating statistical data from data relating to a purchaser, sales, and use of a coupon issued in the past.   The coupon management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising resale means for reselling a coupon owned by the user to another user. Inputting coupon issue condition data from a coupon issuer, generating an electronic coupon and registering it in the coupon database;
Selling the issued electronic coupon to the user and registering the coupon owner in the coupon database;
A coupon management method comprising: receiving a coupon use request from a user, changing the coupon state in the coupon database to used, and transmitting an electronic coupon to the user terminal.

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