JP2007133548A - Settlement processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a settlement processing system for increasing the number of goods per one buying/selling transaction. <P>SOLUTION: In this POS system, settlement processing is executed by counting the number of goods per one buying/selling transaction (step S6), and when the number exceeds 20 as a reference number (step S7; Yes), discount processing is executed (step S8). Thus, it is possible to give motivation to purchase goods more than 20. As a result, it is possible to expect the increase of the number of goods per one buying and selling transaction and the increase of the number of goods to be sold to every customer, thereby increasing a customer unit price. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a checkout processing system that performs checkout processing for a product that a customer desires to purchase.

  In various stores such as a supermarket and a convenience store, a settlement processing system called a POS system or a cash register, which performs a settlement process for a product that a customer desires to purchase, is used.

  Further, in stores where such a settlement processing system is introduced, in order to increase the customer's willingness to purchase a product, the price of the product is frequently reduced. Such discounting is performed when the product settlement process is performed by the settlement processing system (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Japanese Patent No. 2566849 Japanese Patent No. 2552378

  By the way, the discount as described above is generally performed for a specific product. For this reason, the effect of increasing the customer's purchase motivation is not necessarily exhibited for products other than the discount target products, and the number of products per sales transaction is not directly increased.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a settlement processing system that can increase the number of products per sales transaction.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention of claim 1 is a settlement processing system for performing a settlement process for a product that a customer desires to purchase, wherein a total sales price that is a sum of prices of products related to one sales transaction is calculated. Deriving means for deriving, counting means for counting the number of commodities related to the one trading transaction, and discount means for discounting the total selling price if the number of commodities exceeds a predetermined reference number, It has.

  Further, the invention according to claim 2 is the settlement processing system according to claim 1, wherein the discount means discounts a predetermined number of discounted products in descending order from among the products related to the one sales transaction. The price of the discount target product is discounted at a predetermined discount rate.

  Further, the invention according to claim 3 is the settlement processing system according to claim 2, wherein the discount means sets the total discount amount as a result of multiplying the total price of the discount target product by the discount rate. When the discount amount exceeds a certain limit amount, the limit amount is discounted from the total selling price.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the settlement processing system according to the second aspect, the discount means sets the total discount amount as a result of multiplying the total price of the discount target product by the discount rate, The result of multiplying the sales price by a predetermined limit rate is set as the limit amount, and when the total discount amount exceeds the limit amount, the limit amount is discounted from the total sale price.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the settlement processing system according to the second aspect, the discount means sets only the products whose price does not exceed a predetermined limit price as the discount target products.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the settlement processing system according to the second aspect, the counting means counts the number of only the products whose price exceeds a predetermined reference price.

  Further, the invention of claim 7 is the payment processing system according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the preferential information for preferentially discounting the total selling price is input, and the preferential information is input. And a means for reducing the reference number.

  Further, the invention according to claim 8 is the payment processing system according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the preferential information for preferentially discounting the total selling price is input, and the preferential information is input. And a means for increasing the discounted number in response to.

  Further, the invention according to claim 9 is the payment processing system according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein input means for inputting preferential information for preferentially discounting the total selling price, and input of the preferential information And a means for increasing the discount rate.

  Further, the invention according to claim 10 is the settlement processing system according to any one of claims 7 to 9, and means for deriving a total price of products excluding the discount target product among the products related to the one sales transaction. And a means for issuing a coupon indicating the preferential information when the total price of the products excluding the discount target product exceeds a predetermined reference amount.

  According to the first to tenth aspects of the present invention, when the number of products exceeds a predetermined reference number, the total selling price is discounted, so that the customer is motivated to purchase products exceeding the reference number. Yes, it is possible to increase the number of commodities per trading transaction.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 2, since only a predetermined number of discounted products are targeted for discounting in descending order of price, the apparent discount rate is increased compared to the case where all the products are targeted for discounting. can do.

  In particular, according to the invention of claim 3, since the actual discount amount is limited to a certain limit amount, it is prevented that the discount amount becomes excessive.

  In particular, according to the invention of claim 4, since the actual discount amount is limited to the limit amount corresponding to the total selling price, it is prevented that the discount amount becomes excessive.

  In particular, according to the invention of claim 5, since only products that do not exceed the predetermined limit price are discounted products, it is possible to prevent the discount amount from becoming excessive.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 6, since only products exceeding a predetermined reference price are counted, it is possible to prevent excessive discounts by combining a small amount of high-priced products and a large amount of small-price products. it can.

  In particular, according to the invention of claim 7, since the reference number can be lowered by the input of the preferential information and the conditions for generating the discount can be relaxed, the preferential service according to the customer can be provided.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 8, since the discount condition can be improved by increasing the number of discounts by inputting the preferential information, the preferential service according to the customer can be provided.

  In particular, according to the invention of claim 9, since the discount rate can be improved by inputting the preferential information and the discount condition can be improved, the preferential service according to the customer can be provided.

  In particular, according to the invention of claim 10, since a coupon indicating preferential information is issued when the total price of the products excluding the discount target product exceeds a predetermined reference amount, the product excluding the discount target product is expensive. Motivate customers to purchase goods.

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

<1. Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a POS system 100 that is a settlement processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The POS system 100 is employed in a store such as a supermarket or a convenience store, and includes a POS server 1 and a plurality of POS terminals 2. The POS server 1 and the POS terminal 2 are each connected to the LAN 3 and can communicate with each other.

  The POS server 1 controls the entire POS system 100 in an integrated manner, and is usually arranged in a management office or the like different from the store sales area. On the other hand, the POS terminal 2 is disposed in a sales area of a store, and is actually operated by a sales staff of the store as a seller at the time of a product sales transaction. Specifically, the POS terminal 2 is used for a settlement process for calculating a transaction price of a product, settlement of a sales transaction, and the like.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the POS server 1. The POS server 1 has the same hardware configuration as a general computer. That is, the POS server 1 has a configuration in which a CPU 11 that performs arithmetic processing, a ROM 12 that stores basic programs, a RAM 13 that is a work area for arithmetic processing, and a hard disk 14 that stores various data are connected to the bus line 10. ing. The POS server 1 further includes a display 15 that displays various information, an input unit 16 such as a keyboard and a mouse, and a communication unit 17 that communicates via the LAN 3, which are connected to the bus line 10. The

  A processing program is stored in the hard disk 14, and various functions as the POS server 1 are realized by the CPU 11 performing arithmetic processing according to the processing program. The hard disk 14 further stores data necessary for the checkout process such as a product master. The product master is data in a table format indicating various information (product data) about each product handled in the store. The product master includes a plurality of records. In each record, product data such as “product name” and “price” is associated with “product code” which is an identification code for identifying the product. . In the present embodiment, “price” simply means a normal price that is not discounted or discounted.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the POS terminal 2 in functional blocks. The POS terminal 2 includes a control unit 21 that controls the entire apparatus, two displays 22 and 23 that display various types of information, an input unit 24 that receives operator operations and inputs, and a barcode attached to a product. A barcode reader 25 to be read, a print issuing unit 26 that prints and issues a receipt, and a communication unit 27 that communicates via the LAN 3 are configured, and these are respectively connected to the bus line 20. The input unit 24 includes various buttons such as a subtotal key for instructing a subtotal process in the settlement process and a numeric keypad.

  The control unit 21 includes a CPU 201 that performs various arithmetic processes, a ROM 202 that stores a control program, a RAM 203 that is a work area for arithmetic processes, a battery-backed SRAM 204 that is a nonvolatile memory that stores various data, And a timer 205 having a time measuring function. The control function of each part of the apparatus and the data processing function for the settlement process are realized by the CPU 201 performing arithmetic processing according to the control program in the ROM 202.

  Of the two displays 22 and 23, one display 22 is a sales-side display 22 that displays information to be displayed on the side of a sales staff who is an operator, and the other display 23 is on the customer side. It is the customer side display 23 which displays the information which should be shown.

  The screen of the sales side display 22 is composed of a dot matrix type liquid crystal, and can display various information such as characters, figures and images in color. On the other hand, the screen of the customer-side display 23 is composed of a relatively simple VFD (fluorescent display tube), and can only display a single line of character strings in two lines. The orientation of the screen of the customer-side display 23 is adjusted so that the customer can easily see in the checkout process.

<2. Checkout process>
In the POS system 100, when the number of commodities related to one sales transaction exceeds 20 which is a predetermined reference number in the settlement process, the price is discounted from the total price of the commodities. Hereinafter, the settlement process of the POS system 100 will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the flow of the settlement process. The series of processes shown in FIG. 4 is performed for each sales transaction (for each product group that one customer desires to purchase).

  First, the bar code attached to one product in the product group that the customer desires to purchase is read by the bar code reader 25 of the POS terminal 2, whereby the “product code” of the product is read to the POS terminal 2. Obtained (step S1).

  The acquired “product code” is transmitted from the POS terminal 2 to the POS server 1. In response to this, the POS server 1 searches for a record including the “product code” from the product master, and returns the contents of the corresponding record to the POS terminal 2. As a result, product data such as “product name” and “price” of the product is acquired by the POS terminal 2. The acquired product data is stored in the RAM 203. Thereby, the merchandise registration of the merchandise is performed (step S2).

  Subsequently, when the product code related to the next product is acquired (Yes in step S3), the process in step S2 is performed again, and the product is registered in the same manner. Such processing is repeated in the same manner for all products that the customer desires to purchase, thereby registering products for all products. That is, product data such as “product name” and “price” related to all products is stored in the RAM 203.

  When all the products are registered in this way, the sales staff presses the subtotal key of the input unit 24. When the subtotal key is pressed (Yes in step S4), the CPU 201 derives a “total sales price” that is the sum of “price” for all the acquired products (step S5).

  Next, based on the number of product data stored in the RAM 203, the number of products related to the sales transaction is counted by the CPU 201 as the “product number” (step S6). Then, it is determined whether or not the “product number” exceeds a predetermined “reference number” (step S7). In the present embodiment, the “reference number” is 20 and is stored in advance in the RAM 203 or the like.

  When the “product quantity” exceeds the “reference quantity” (20 pieces) (Yes in step S7), a “discount process” for reducing the “total sales price” is performed (step S8), and the “discount process” is performed. Is the “transaction price” that is the amount that the customer should actually pay. On the other hand, if the “product number” does not exceed the “reference number” (20) (No in step S7), the “discount process” is not performed, and the “total selling price” is directly used as the “transaction price”. .

  The “transaction price” obtained in this way is displayed on the customer side display 23 together with the sales side display 22 and is shown to the customer (step S9). At this time, if the “number of products” does not exceed the reference number, the number of products necessary to exceed the reference number may be notified to the customer by displaying it on the customer-side display 23. .

  At this time, it is also possible to additionally acquire a product code and register the product. If an additional product code is acquired at this time (Yes in step S10), it is considered that the subtotal processing including the “discount processing” performed after the subtotal key was pressed was not reset. (Step S11), the process returns to Step S2 again, and the product registration of the product is additionally made.

  When no additional product registration is made, a settlement process for “transaction price” is performed. That is, the amount of cash for settlement received from the customer is input as the “deposit amount” via the input unit 24, and the result of subtracting the “transaction price” from the “deposit amount” is the “change amount”. The “change amount” is derived and displayed on the displays 22 and 23. Thereby, the settlement process of this sales transaction is completed (step S12). Next, a receipt indicating the contents of this sales transaction is issued by the print issuing unit 26 (step S13), thereby completing a series of payment processing.

  In this way, in the POS system 100, since “discount processing” is performed when the “product number” exceeds 20 which is the “reference number”, the customer is motivated to purchase more than 20 items. be able to. Accordingly, an increase in the number of products per sales transaction, that is, an increase in the number of products sold per customer, can be expected, leading to an improvement in the unit price of customers.

<3. Discount processing>
Next, the details of the “discount process” (step S8) will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a detailed flow of the “discount process”.

  In the “discount process”, first, product data stored in the RAM 203 by product registration is sorted in descending order of “price” (step S21). Then, the products related to the top two product data in that order, that is, the top two products of “price” are selected as the products to be discounted (hereinafter referred to as “discounted products”) ( Step S22). Note that the number (two) of products to be discounted products is called “discounted number” and is stored in advance in the RAM 203 or the like.

  Next, the prices of the two discount target products are summed to obtain a “total price”. The “total price” is multiplied by a predetermined “discount rate” of 10% by the CPU 201, and the result is set as the “total discount amount” (step S23). Then, the obtained “total discount amount” is discounted from the “total sales price”, and the result is set as the “transaction price” (step S24). This process is substantially equivalent to discounting the prices of two discount target products at a predetermined discount rate (10%).

  In this way, in the POS system 100, only products of a predetermined “discounted number” are set as discount target products in order of increasing price. For this reason, even when discounts are made within limited promotional resources, the apparent discount rate can be increased compared to discounting all products related to a single transaction. . In addition, if a product with a high “price” is purchased, the discount amount increases accordingly, so that the customer can be motivated to purchase a product with a higher “price”.

<4. Other embodiments>
Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment (hereinafter referred to as “first embodiment”), and various modifications are possible. Hereinafter, such other embodiments will be described.

<4-1. Second form>
In the first form, the top two products of “price” are set as discount target products. For example, a customer sets a small amount (2 pieces) of a high price product and a large amount (19 pieces) of a low price product. By purchasing together, it is assumed that the discount amount becomes excessive compared to the “total sales price” of the transaction. For this reason, you may make it add a fixed restriction | limiting to a discount amount.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a flow of “discount processing” (FIG. 4: step S8) when a certain restriction is applied to the discount amount as described above. First, the top two products of “price” are selected as discount target products in the same manner as in the first mode (step S31), and the total price and discount rate of these discount target products are also set in the same manner as in the first mode. And “total discount” is derived (step S32).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the derived “total discount amount” exceeds a certain “restricted amount” (for example, 1,000 yen) (step S33). This “limit amount” is stored in advance in the RAM 203 or the like.

  When the “total discount amount” does not exceed the “restricted amount” (No in step S33), the result obtained by discounting the “total discount amount” from the “total sales price” is “transaction price” as in the first embodiment. (Step S34). On the other hand, when the “total discount amount” exceeds the “restricted amount” (Yes in step S33), the result of discounting the “restricted amount” from the “total sales price” is set as the “transaction price”. (Step S35). That is, a small amount of “total discount amount” and “restricted amount” is discounted from “total sales price”.

  As a result of such processing, the discount amount is always limited to the “restricted amount” (for example, 1,000 yen), so that the discount amount can be prevented from becoming excessive.

<4-2. Third form>
In the second form, the “limit amount” is set to a fixed amount (for example, 1,000 yen). However, this may cause a discount amount to be too small for customers who purchase high-priced products. For this reason, this “restricted amount” may be determined according to the “total sales price”.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the flow of “discount processing” (FIG. 4: step S8) in this case. First, the top two products of “price” are selected as discount target products in the same manner as in the first mode (step S41), and the total price and discount rate of these discount target products are also set in the same manner as in the first mode. And “total discount” is derived (step S42).

  Next, the “total sales price” is multiplied by a predetermined limit rate (for example, 5%), and the result is derived as the “limit amount”. This limiting rate is stored in advance in the RAM 203 or the like. Thereby, based on the “total sales price”, the “restricted amount” is determined such that the higher the “total sales price”, the higher (step S43).

  Thereafter, in the same manner as in the second embodiment, a smaller amount of “total discount amount” and “restricted amount” is discounted from “total selling price”, and the result is set as “transaction price”. (Steps S44 to S46).

  By such processing, it is possible to give the customer the motivation to purchase a high-priced product while preventing the discount amount from becoming excessive.

<4-3. Fourth embodiment>
In the first mode, the top two products of “price” are set as discounted products. However, the price of the product selected as the discounted product is limited, and very expensive products are discounted. You may make it not select as object goods.

  In this case, when the product data is sorted in order of price in the “discount process” (FIG. 5: step S21), the product data of the product whose price exceeds a predetermined limit price (for example, 5,000 yen) It is excluded from the sorting result, or the sorting order is exceptionally the last. Thereby, in the next step S22, only products whose price does not exceed the limit price (5,000 yen) are selected as discount target products. This limit price is stored in advance in the RAM 203 or the like.

  Such a process can prevent the discount amount from becoming excessive.

<4-4. Fifth form>
In the first mode, the “number of products” is counted for all products related to one sales transaction, but the price of the products to be counted is limited, and very low-priced products are counted. You may be made not to be.

  In this case, when counting the number of products (FIG. 4: step S6), products whose price does not exceed a predetermined reference price (for example, 300 yen) among products related to sales transactions are excluded from the counting target, Only products whose price exceeds the base price are counted. This reference price is stored in advance in the RAM 203 or the like.

  By such processing, when the number of products whose prices exceed the reference price exceeds the reference number of 20, the “discount processing” is performed (steps S7 and S8). For this reason, it is possible to effectively prevent the discount from being excessively combined by combining a small amount of high-priced products and a large amount of small-priced products.

<4-5. Sixth Form>
In addition, a discount condition may be given preferential treatment according to the customer by presenting a coupon from the customer. For example, in the first embodiment, the discount was made uniformly by satisfying the condition that the number of products exceeds a certain reference number of 20, but the condition for generating this discount can be relaxed. Also good.

  In this case, when a coupon is presented by the customer, a coupon reading process for reading the coupon presented by the customer is performed before the series of processing shown in FIG. 4 is performed (before step S1). Will be made. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the flow of the coupon reading process.

  First, an input process for inputting information shown in the coupon is performed. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a coupon. As shown in the figure, the coupon 4 has a bar code 41 indicating preferential information for preferentially discounting the total selling price. Then, the bar code 41 is read by the bar code reader 25, whereby the preferential information is acquired by the POS terminal 2 (step S51).

  When the preferential information is acquired in the POS terminal 2, the CPU 201 next determines whether or not the preferential information is valid. That is, it is determined whether or not the read preferential information conforms to a predetermined format (step S52). If the preferential information does not follow a predetermined format (No in step S52), the coupon reading process is terminated as it is. This prevents unauthorized use of coupons.

  On the other hand, if the preferential information is valid, the reference number of 20 is changed, and is reduced to 18 for example (step S53). Thereby, in the subsequent settlement process, the discount process is performed only when the number of products exceeds 18. In this manner, in response to the input of the preferential information, the preferential service according to the customer can be provided by preferentially handling the discount condition.

<4-6. Seventh form>
In the sixth embodiment, the condition for generating the discount is relaxed in step S53, but the condition for the discount itself may be improved.

  For example, in response to the input of preferential information, the “discounted number” of the top two “prices” to be discounted products may be increased to, for example, three. Further, in response to the input of the preferential information, the “discount rate” of 10% may be increased to, for example, 12%. Such a process can also provide a preferential service according to the customer.

<4-7. Eighth form>
By the way, in the first form, the top two products of “price” are set as discounted products, and even if the price of the product that was not the discounted product is high, no privilege is granted, and the customer May be dissatisfied. For this reason, you may make it issue the coupon 4 used for a 6th, 7th form on fixed conditions.

  In this case, after the series of processes shown in FIG. 4 is performed (after step S13), the coupon issue process shown in FIG. 10 is performed. First, among the products related to one sales transaction, a product that has not become a discount target product is noted. Then, the prices of the products that are not discounted are added up and derived as “total price” (step S61).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the “total price” exceeds a predetermined reference amount (for example, 5,000 yen) (step S62). This reference amount is stored in advance in the RAM 203 or the like.

  If the “total price” exceeds the reference amount (Yes in step S62), a coupon 4 describing preferential information as shown in FIG. 9 is issued by the print issuing unit 26 and delivered to the customer (step S63). ).

  In this way, since the coupon 4 indicating preferential information is issued when the total price of the product excluding the discount target product exceeds a predetermined reference amount, the motivation to purchase a high price product for the product excluding the discount target product is also provided. It can be given to customers, and further improvement in the cost per customer can be expected.

<4-8. Other variations>
In the second form to the fifth form, the limiting methods for preventing the discount amount from becoming excessive have been described, but these may be applied alone or in combination with any method. .

  In the above description, the settlement processing system is described as the POS system 100 including the POS server 1 and the plurality of POS terminals 2. However, the settlement processing system may be configured as a single device such as a single cash register. The technique described above can be preferably applied.

  Further, in the sixth and seventh embodiments, it has been described that the preferential information is input by reading the barcode 41 of the coupon 4, but the preferential information is input by the operation of the input unit 24 by the operator. Also good.

It is a figure which shows the structure of a POS system. It is a figure which shows the structure of a POS server in a functional block. It is a figure which shows the structure of a POS terminal in a functional block. It is a figure which shows the flow of a payment process. It is a figure which shows the flow of a discount process. It is a figure which shows the flow of a discount process. It is a figure which shows the flow of a discount process. It is a figure which shows the flow of a coupon reading process. It is a figure which shows an example of a coupon. It is a figure which shows the flow of a coupon issue process.

Explanation of symbols

1 POS server 2 POS terminal 3 LAN
4 Coupons 41 Barcode 100 POS system

Claims (10)

A checkout processing system that performs checkout processing for a product that a customer wishes to purchase,
A deriving means for deriving a total selling price, which is the sum of the prices of commodities related to one sales transaction;
Counting means for counting the number of commodities related to the one sales transaction;
When the number of products exceeds a predetermined reference number, discount means for discounting the total selling price;
A checkout processing system comprising: In the payment processing system according to claim 1,
The discount means is
Among the products related to the one sales transaction, a predetermined discount number of products in descending order of price are set as discount target products,
A payment processing system for discounting the price of the discount target product at a predetermined discount rate. In the settlement processing system according to claim 2,
The discount means is
The result of multiplying the total price of the discounted product by the discount rate is the total discount amount,
When the total discount amount exceeds a certain limit amount, the settlement processing system is characterized in that the limit amount is discounted from the total selling price. In the settlement processing system according to claim 2,
The discount means is
The result of multiplying the total price of the discounted product by the discount rate is the total discount amount,
The result of multiplying the total selling price by a predetermined limit rate is the limit amount,
When the total discount amount exceeds the limit amount, the settlement processing system is characterized in that the limit amount is discounted from the total selling price. In the settlement processing system according to claim 2,
The discount processing system, wherein the discount means sets only the products whose prices do not exceed a predetermined limit price as the discount target products. In the settlement processing system according to claim 2,
The payment processing system characterized in that the counting means counts only the number of products whose price exceeds a predetermined reference price. In the settlement processing system according to any one of claims 2 to 6,
Input means for inputting preferential information for preferentially discounting the total selling price;
Means for reducing the reference number in response to the input of the preferential information;
A checkout processing system comprising: In the settlement processing system according to any one of claims 2 to 6,
Input means for inputting preferential information for preferentially discounting the total selling price;
Means for increasing the discount quantity in response to input of the preferential information;
A checkout processing system comprising: In the settlement processing system according to any one of claims 2 to 6,
Input means for inputting preferential information for preferentially discounting the total selling price;
Means for increasing the discount rate in response to input of the preferential information;
A checkout processing system comprising: In the settlement processing system according to any one of claims 7 to 9,
Means for deriving a total price of products excluding the discount target product among the products related to the one sale transaction;
Means for issuing a coupon indicating the preferential information when the total price of the product excluding the discount target product exceeds a predetermined reference amount;
A checkout processing system comprising:

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