JP2006127227A - Point management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a point management system that enables effective promotion by automatically varying points given to a customer with the customer's evaluation rank. <P>SOLUTION: According to rules B that a higher point addition factor is given to a higher purchaser in a table A calculating expected amounts of purchase per month on the expedient simplification of one month to four weeks, points that are a normal point conversion rate from an amount of purchase multiplied by the point addition factor are given to the customer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention provides a point management system that gives points in accordance with customer purchase activities, and points that can be effectively promoted by automatically increasing or decreasing points given to customers in conjunction with customer evaluation ranks. Regarding management system.

  Conventionally, services such as discounts in retail trade have a privilege according to the total purchase amount for each member by introducing a point card and a privilege according to the usage frequency for each member (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  In the past, however, it was only possible to determine the total purchase amount and frequency of use, so it was not possible to determine whether the customer's purchase record was recent or past, whether it was a current customer or a past customer, There was a problem that the benefits for both were not differentiated.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-187820

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems. The purpose of the present invention is to give a new customer a fixed customer by giving a large point to customers who have recently visited the store compared to the purchase price. It is to provide a point management system for automatically performing promotion.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configurations.
The gist of the invention described in claim 1 is a point management system that generates points that can be exchanged for useful services or money according to the purchase activity of a customer, and prints and stores these points on a point card. The point card records information that can be used to calculate the cumulative number of visits to the customer or the average visit interval, and the customer evaluation value is determined using an evaluation function that is appropriately determined from at least two of these and the purchase amount of the customer. It is a point management system characterized in that the points to be calculated and given to customers are increased or decreased.
The gist of the invention described in claim 2 is the point management system according to claim 1, wherein the average visit interval is calculated and predicted based on a period from the present to the latest visit.
The present invention utilizes RFM analysis or IR analysis, which is a well-known analysis method for evaluating customers.
Usually, date data at the time of the previous visit (purchase) is recorded in the point card in order to set the expiration date of the card and the point exchange point.
Therefore, the visit frequency of the customer can be predicted from the time from the previous visit to the current visit, and points with a higher exchange rate than the normal points are given to the purchase amount for customers with high visit frequency By doing so, customer satisfaction can be improved and new customers can be locked into fixed customers.

In the point management system of the present invention, not only the customer evaluation of the purchase result that a customer with a large total number of visits and the total purchase amount can collect points and exchange them for goods and services, but also for new customers who have recently come to the store Even if you give a high customer rating and give you an advantageous point, you can be a fixed customer.
And since the points stored in the point card can be exchanged for money and useful services at the store as before, activities for fixing new customers can be performed without labor and effort.

  And since the above customer evaluation criteria are calculated based on not only the purchase price but also the period from the present to the most recent visit, it is possible to automatically make an effort to connect new customers with few visits .

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a point management system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of member information stored in a member data storage unit shown in FIG.

  The point management system according to the present embodiment is a system that provides service points using a point card 1 that is used in an automobile supply store and issued to a member. Referring to FIG. Reading unit 3, printing unit 4, management unit 5, member data storage unit 6, service information storage unit 7, input unit 8, display unit 9, notification unit 10, and print data generation unit 11 Consists of.

  The point card 1 is a so-called rewritable card that can rewrite the printing contents, and the printing surface (front surface) of the point card 1 is a rewritable area in which a thermoreversible recording layer is formed. Further, an information storage area such as a magnetic stripe is provided on the back side of the point card 1, and member information including at least a member number is stored in the information storage area.

  The magnetic data reading unit 3 and the printing unit 4 are reader / writers that read information stored in the information storage area of the point card 1 and print on the rewritable area of the point card 1. The magnetic data reading unit 3 By detecting the change of the magnetic field in the information storage area of the point card 1 by the magnetic head, the member number is read from the information storage area of the point card 1, and the printing unit 4 performs printing in the rewritable area of the point card 1. It has a head and an erasing head for erasing the printed contents printed in the area where the point card 1 can be rewritten, and the area where the point card 1 can be rewritten is rewritten.

  The management unit 5 includes a store visit management unit 51, a point management unit 52, a mileage management unit 53, a period management unit 54, and a keep product management unit 55.

  The store visit management unit 51 reads the previous visit date, updates the visit date stored in the member data storage unit 6, calculates the average visit interval from the member number, the previous visit date, and the current visit date, which will be described later. Used for point addition rate generation (step 7).

  The point management unit 52 calculates points from the point addition rate derived from the customer evaluation rank described later and the amount of purchased goods, and adds the calculated points to the effective points stored in the member data storage unit 6. The effective point is updated, and the updated effective point is output to the print data generation unit 11.

  The mileage management unit 53 creates the replacement distance information of the distance deteriorated product when the replacement of the deteriorated product is performed in the past and at the store, and outputs the generated replacement distance information to the print data generation unit 11. When the distance deteriorated product has not been exchanged in the past and at the store visit, the distance deteriorated product service information related to the distance deteriorated product is read from the service information storage unit 7, and the read distance deteriorated product service information is read as the print data generating unit 11. Output to.

  When the time-deteriorated product has been exchanged in the past and at the store, the period management unit 54 creates time-degraded product replacement time information and outputs the created replacement time information to the print data generation unit 11. When the distance deteriorated product has not been exchanged in the past and at the store visit, the time deteriorated product service information related to the time deteriorated product is read from the service information storage unit 7 and the read time deteriorated product service information is read to the print data generating unit 11. Output.

  The member data storage unit 6 is a storage means such as a hard disk, and includes member information including a member number and an issue date, point information indicating valid points generated by a purchase activity, and a distance indicating a distance when a distance deteriorated product is replaced. The deteriorated product information and the time deteriorated product information indicating the replacement date of the time deteriorated product are stored. Although the vehicle inspection is not an article, it is managed as a time-degraded product because the period for receiving the vehicle inspection is fixed.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, tires, ATF (transmission oil for automatic vehicles), and coolant (liquid that enters the radiator of the water-cooled engine) are managed as distance degradation products. It is good also as a management object what deteriorates by. In this embodiment, oil, battery, and vehicle inspection are managed as time-deteriorated products, but those that deteriorate with other times may be managed.

  The service information storage unit 7 is a storage unit such as a hard disk in which various service information is stored. The service information storage unit 7 is used to promote the purchase of distance deteriorated products and the time deteriorated products. Time deteriorated product service information is stored.

  The input unit 8 is an input means such as a keyboard through which various information is input by an operator. The input of the travel distance of the car, the input of the deteriorated distance product that has been replaced, and the input of the deteriorated product that has been replaced Then, the purchase amount is input.

  The display unit 9 and the notification unit 10 are a display unit such as a display and a voice output unit such as a buzzer. The replacement distance for each of the distance deteriorated products stored in the member data storage unit 6 is determined from the travel distance at the time of visit. When there is a distance-degraded product whose subtraction result is less than or equal to the preset distance, a message and a sound are output to notify that the replacement distance of the distance-degraded product is close, and the member data is stored. If there is a time-degraded product in which the result of subtracting the replacement date for each time-degraded product stored in the unit 6 from the current date is equal to or less than a preset period, the time-degraded product is replaced. Outputs a message and sound to notify that the time is near.

  The print data generation unit 11 generates print data including store visit information, valid points, replacement distance information or distance deteriorated product service information, replacement time information or time deteriorated product service information, and generates the generated print data. Printing is performed by the printing unit 4.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the point management system according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a print example when the point card shown in FIG. 1 is issued. These are figures which show an example of the function table | surface which described the point conversion rule of the point card | curd shown in FIG.

  After completing a series of purchasing activities such as purchasing car supplies and replacing distance-degraded products and time-degraded products as necessary, the store clerk or customer inserts the point card 1 into a card slot (not shown) of the point management device 2 Then, the magnetic data reading unit 3 reads the member number stored in the information storage area of the point card 1 (step A1), and outputs the read member number to the management unit 5. In addition, the management unit 5 instructs the display unit 9 to input the purchase amount, and inputs the purchase amount from the input unit 8 (step A2).

  Next, the store clerk inputs the travel distance of the car at the store as the travel distance at the store from the input unit 8 (step A3), inputs the replaced distance deteriorated product (step A4), and the time when the replacement was performed. Input the deteriorated product (step A5). It should be noted that the input of the travel distance at the time of visiting the store in step A3 can be omitted when the distance deteriorated product has not been exchanged in the past and this time. Further, the input of the distance deteriorated product and the time deteriorated product in step A4 and step A5 may be input from another device such as a register, and may be omitted if there is no purchase this time.

  The store visit management unit 51 updates the previous visit date stored in the member data storage unit 6 (Step A6), reads the interval until the current visit date, and creates a member number and a point addition rate (Step A7). The generated point addition rate information is output to the print data generation unit 11.

  The point management unit 52 calculates points from the amount of purchased goods at the time of visit, and adds a value obtained by multiplying the calculated points by the point addition rate to the valid points stored in the member data storage unit 6. The effective point is updated (step A8), and the updated effective point is output to the print data generation unit 11.

  The mileage management unit 53 updates the mileage at the time of visit stored in the member data storage unit 6 with the mileage at the time of visit inputted from the input unit 8 (step A9), and replacement of the deteriorated product at the time of visit is made. It is determined whether or not it has been performed (step A10), and when the distance deteriorated product is not exchanged when visiting the store, the distance at the time of replacement is stored in the distance deteriorated product information stored in the member data storage unit 6. Whether or not the distance deteriorated product has been exchanged in the past (step A11), and if the distance deteriorated product has not been exchanged in the past, the service information storage is performed. The distance degraded product service information related to the distance degraded product is read from the unit 7 (step A12), and the read distance degraded product service information is output to the print data generating unit 11.

  When the distance deteriorated product is exchanged at the time of visiting the store in step A10, the travel distance management unit 53 receives the distance deteriorated product input from the input unit 8 of the distance deteriorated product information stored in the member data storage unit 6. In the column corresponding to, the travel distance at the time of the store input in step A3 is stored as the replacement distance, and the replacement distance of the distance deteriorated product information stored in the member data storage unit 6 is read for each distance deteriorated product. , Subtract the replacement distance for each read distance deteriorated product from the travel distance at the store, and subtract the calculated results for each distance deteriorated product from the preset service distance for each distance deteriorated product. Each exchange distance information is created (step A13), and the created exchange distance information is output to the print data generation unit 11.

  When the distance deteriorated product has been exchanged in the past in step A11, the travel distance management unit 53 sets the distance at the time of replacement of the distance deteriorated product information stored in the member data storage unit 6 as the distance deteriorated product. Read each time, subtract the replacement distance for each read distance deteriorated product from the travel distance at the store, and subtract the calculation results for each distance deteriorated product from the preset useful distance for each distance deteriorated product Exchange distance information for each distance deteriorated product is created (step A13), and the created exchange distance information is output to the print data generation unit 11. If there is a distance-degraded product in which the result of subtracting the replacement distance for each read distance-degraded product from the travel distance at the store is equal to or less than the preset distance, the replacement distance of the distance-degraded product It is preferable to output a message and a sound for notifying that the sound is approaching from the display unit 9 and the notification unit 10, respectively.

  The period management unit 54 determines whether or not the time-deteriorated product has been exchanged when visiting the store (step A14), and if the time-degraded product has not been exchanged when visiting the store, the period management unit 54 stores it in the member data storage unit 6. It is determined whether or not the replacement date / time is stored in the time-degraded product information that has been stored, that is, whether or not the time-degraded product has been exchanged in the past (step A15). If the replacement has not been performed, the time-degraded product service information regarding the time-degraded product is read from the service information storage unit 7 (step A16), and the read time-degraded product service information is output to the print data generation unit 11.

  When the time-deteriorated product is exchanged at the time of visiting the store in step A14, the period management unit 54 uses the time-degraded product information input from the time-degraded product information input unit 8 stored in the member data storage unit 6. The current date is stored as a replacement date in the corresponding column, the replacement date of the time-degraded product information stored in the member data storage unit 6 is read for each time-degraded product, and the read replacement date for each time-degraded product is read. Subtract each from the current date, subtract the calculation result for each time-degraded product from the preset lifetime for each time-degraded product to create replacement time information for each time-degraded product (step A17), The created replacement time information is output to the print data generation unit 11.

  When the time-deteriorated product has been exchanged in the past in step A15, the period management unit 54 sets the replacement date of the time-degraded product information stored in the member data storage unit 6 for each time-degraded product. Read and subtract the replacement date for each time-degraded product from the current date, and subtract the calculation results for each time-degraded product from the preset lifetime for each time-degraded product. Replacement time information is created (step A17), and the created replacement time information is output to the print data generation unit 11. If there is a time-degraded product in which the result of subtracting the replacement date for each read time-degraded product from the current date is less than or equal to the preset period, the time for replacement of the time-degraded product is approaching. It is preferable to output a message and a sound informing the user from the display unit 9 and the notification unit 10, respectively.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the print data generation unit 11 assigns the rewritable area of the point card 1 to a store visit printing area, a point printing area, a travel distance printing area, and a replacement time printing area. Visit date information input from the store visit management unit 51 is displayed in the visit date print area, valid points input from the point management unit 52 are displayed in the point print area, and travel distance management unit 53 is displayed in the travel distance print area. The replacement distance information or the distance deteriorated product service information input from is generated in the replacement time print area, and the replacement time information or the time deteriorated product service information input from the period management unit 54 is generated respectively. The generated print data is printed by the printing unit 4 (step A18).

  FIG. 4 is an example of printing of the point card 1. On the date of issuing the point card 1, the tire, ATF and coolant which are distance deteriorated products, the oil and battery which are time deteriorated products, and the keep products are kept. A certain oil and gasoline are purchased, tire, ATF, and coolant replacement distance information is printed in the mileage printing area, and oil and battery replacement time information is printed in the replacement time printing area. The service (car wash) that can be used at the accumulated points is printed.

Next, the RFM analysis used for customer evaluation according to the present invention will be briefly described.
RFM analysis is a technique that analyzes customers from three aspects: who is the most recent customer, who is the most frequent customer, and who is using the most money.
For example, each item is evaluated in five stages (the number is actually any number, but it is assumed that it is 5 for convenience), and 555 customers with the highest rank in each item of RFM are considered as the best customers.
On the other hand, 111 customers are considered to be opposite customers to the superior customers.
For example, continuing to send direct mail to 111 customers who are not likely to purchase in the future is a waste of money.

R stands for Recency, which uses the date of the last purchase by a customer as the basis for judgment. Customers who bought recently are better than customers who bought many years ago. It is what you think.
In other words, if only the last purchase date of all customers is picked up and rearranged in the new order, the customer at the top becomes a good customer.
Specifically, if a customer has two purchase histories on September 11, 2004 and May 20, 2004, the last purchase date is September 11, 2004.
The fact that the time has not passed since purchase means that there is a solid memory of the company and the product, so when a company takes a sales approach, it is Higher effect than expected.

F means Frequency (purchasing frequency), which is used as a criterion for determining how often a customer has purchased, and the higher the frequency, the better the customer.
If the number of purchases in the past is picked up from the purchase history of the customer and arranged in the order of the highest number of times, the customer at the top becomes the customer with the highest F.
Of course, if the business period of a company becomes longer, the value of F will increase overall, so it may be necessary to determine the period.
In addition, when there are many customers with low F, there is a possibility that the service level does not give satisfaction to the customers in the service industry. On the other hand, when there are many customers with high F, there are many regular customers, and when there are few customers with low F instead, there are few new customers, so it is necessary to plan for acquiring new customers. Come.

M means Monetary (Purchase Amount), and the total purchase amount of customers. Generally, the larger this amount, the better the customer.
If the total of the purchase amount for each customer is calculated from the purchase history and arranged in descending order, the customer at the top becomes the most monetary customer.
As with F, the amount of money increases depending on the business period of the company, so it is necessary to analyze the business period by defining the period. Also, because the high rank of M means that the potential purchasing power is high, it is a pleasure for companies to have many such customers. This is because if such customers' F and R increase, it will contribute to corporate profits.

Next, the ranking method and determination will be described. For example, it is assumed that the items can be rearranged in each RFM item. Next, it must be classified into five stages, but the method must be determined after careful consideration according to the type of business. This is because the result of RFM analysis varies greatly depending on how each rank range is determined.
It is common to classify customers by determining the period, number of times, and amount of money for each RFM, but there is also a method of classifying by number of people as if from the top.
If the rank of R is 5, the rank of F is 5, and the rank of M is 5, it is expressed as 555.
There is no doubt that 555 customers are good customers, no matter what criteria they are classified.
Also, 111 customers are not good customers. The problem is the middle customer.

For example, consider 511 customers. The customer is buying today or yesterday, but the purchase frequency is low and the purchase price is low. In this case, since it can be considered that there is a possibility that F and M will increase in the future, it may be more promising than 551 customers who purchase frequently but have low purchasing power.
In the case of a customer of 155, although the purchase frequency and the purchase price are high, it can be considered that the customer has been robbed by a competitor because it has not been purchased by plating recently.
In addition, customers are categorized by various numbers, but by looking at the RFM numbers, it can be determined to some extent whether the customer will contribute to corporate profits in the future, or will be, or will not. That is why.
What is important is to find a customer who is likely to be a good customer and bring it closer to 555 and to identify a customer who is likely to contribute to future corporate profits.

A brief explanation of how to rank RFM is as follows.

1. The higher the rank of R, the more likely it will contribute to future corporate profits
2. If the rank of R is low, there is a high possibility that other companies are robbed even if the rank of F or M is high
3. If the rank of R is the same, the higher the rank of F, the more regular customers
4. If the rank of R is the same, the higher the rank of F and M, the more customers who have purchasing power
5. Even if R and F ranks are high, customers with few Ms have low purchasing power
6. Customers with lower F rank and higher M are better customers with higher R
7. Customers who do not go up or down in F rank are likely to be taken away by other companies
8. For customers with low RFM, consider rounding down

From the above, R is the most important in RFM analysis, and it is highly probable that customers who have no recent purchase record even if F and M are high have already been taken away by competitors.
In other words, the movement of R is very important for grasping the trend of each customer, and if R's rank starts to fall, a sales approach may not be taken away by other companies. . Also, based on the results of the RFM analysis, how to make each customer's rank closer to 555 is considered, but it is important that all customers use the same strategy.
Customers who start to fall in R rank will need to plan to purchase again, as will customers who do not grow F. Customers with a low M rank need to pay attention to F, and a high F rank is considered to have a low purchasing power. Customers with lower ranks and higher M ranks may have higher purchasing power, so a plan to increase purchase frequency should be implemented.

  The present invention pays attention to this point, and as a result, not only the conventional customer evaluation that customers with large visit frequency and total purchase amount are accumulated and given preferential treatment, but also for new customers who have recently come to the store However, it is possible to automatically carry out effective promotional activities without labor and cost by giving high customer evaluation, giving advantageous points and giving preferential treatment.

Here, a specific customer evaluation method will be described with reference to FIG.
(A) is a monthly average purchase price list. For convenience, one month is simply calculated as four weeks, and the expected value of the monthly average purchase amount is calculated.
(B) is a point addition rate list.
In the monthly average purchase price table in (A), a high point addition rate is given sequentially from the high-value purchaser.
(C) is a purchase ranking table. (A) is ranked in the order of the largest purchasers.

  In this embodiment, a point addition rate is generated according to the rule of FIG. 5 in step A7 of FIG. 3, and a point obtained by multiplying the normal point conversion rate obtained from the purchase amount by this point addition rate is given.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a high customer evaluation is given to customers with a high visit frequency, including new customers who have recently come to the store, and fixed by giving favorable points and giving preferential treatment. The points accumulated in the point card can be exchanged for money and useful services at the store as before, so activities to keep fixed customers over a long period of time, There is an effect that it can be performed automatically without taking any effort.

  Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, when the distance at the time of replacement of the deteriorated product is stored in the member data storage unit 6, the exchange distance information created by the travel distance management unit 53 can be rewritten to the point card 1. When the distance at the time of replacement of the deteriorated product is not stored in the member data storage unit 6, the distance deteriorated product service information stored in the service information storage unit 7 is stored in the rewritable region of the point card 1. By being configured so as to be printed on, it is possible to promote the sales of distance deteriorated products to users who do not leave the management of distance deteriorated products to the service station.

  Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, when the replacement date of the time-degraded product is stored in the member data storage unit 6, the replacement time information created by the period management unit 54 is stored in the rewritable area of the point card 1. When the member data storage unit 6 does not store the replacement date for the time-degraded product, the service unit stores the time-degraded product service information stored in the service information storage unit 7 in the rewritable area of the point card 1. With this configuration, it is possible to promote sales of time-degraded products to users who do not leave the service station to manage time-degraded products.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it is obvious that the embodiments can be appropriately changed within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. In addition, the number, position, shape, and the like of the constituent members are not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be set to a suitable number, position, shape, and the like in practicing the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of embodiment of the point management system which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of member information memorize | stored in the member data storage part shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of embodiment of the point management system which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of printing at the time of issuance of the point card | curd shown in FIG. It is a function table | surface which shows the rule which produces | generates a point addition rate in step A7 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Point card 2 Point management device 3 Magnetic data reading unit 4 Printing unit (printing means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 5 Management part 6 Member data storage part 7 Service information storage part 8 Input part 9 Display part 10 Notification part 11 Print data generation part 51 Visit management part 52 Point management part 53 Travel distance management part 54 Period management part

Claims (2)

  In the point management system that generates points that can be exchanged for useful services or goods according to the customer's purchase activities, and prints and stores these points on a point card, the point card is a cumulative customer visit Record information that can be used to calculate the number of visits or average visit interval, calculate the customer evaluation value using an appropriate evaluation function based on at least two variables, one of these and the purchase amount of the customer, and increase or decrease the points given to the customer A point management system characterized by The point management system according to claim 1, wherein the average store visit interval is calculated and predicted based on a period from the present to the latest store visit.

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