JP2018063660A - Shopping support device and shopping support method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To generate an efficient travel route for a user to purchase desired commodities.SOLUTION: A shopping support device includes: purchase commodity acquisition means for acquiring a purchase commodity list, i.e. a list of purchase desired commodities, from a user; purchase plan generation means for determining a store to be an order destination for each of the purchase desired commodities included in the purchase commodity list; order placement means for transmitting order placement data to one or more stores, i.e. placement destinations, and receiving order reception confirmation data including deliverable time from the one or more stores; and route generation means for generating a route to go round the target stores on the basis of the deliverable time included in the order reception confirmation data and providing the user with it.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to technology for supporting shopping.

  In recent years, it has become possible to transport people and luggage at a low cost by improving the automatic driving technology of automobiles. On the other hand, securing transportation means in depopulated areas has become an issue due to the decrease in public transportation and the number of cars owned.

  Based on such a background, in recent years, research has been conducted to allocate and use an autonomous driving vehicle to a person who needs transportation. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that automatically generates a user's outing schedule based on a user's movement history, store inventory information, sale information, and the like, and dispatches an autonomous driving vehicle. According to such an apparatus, it is possible to prompt the user to go out based on the collected information, and it is possible to support consumption activities such as shopping.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 2 discloses an apparatus that generates a schedule for dispatching a mobile store to a person who needs a store.

JP2015-092327A Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2015-069594

  According to the system described in Patent Document 1, since the system actively generates an outing schedule, it can contribute to regional activation. However, in this system, although a proposal for shopping is made, a proposal is made without considering an article that the user desires to purchase, and thus there is a problem that an optimal outing schedule is not necessarily generated.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to generate an efficient movement route for purchasing an article desired by a user.

The shopping support apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus that generates a route for shopping around a plurality of stores.
Specifically, a purchase plan for determining a store to which an order is placed for each purchase desired product included in the purchase list and a purchase product acquisition means for acquiring a purchase product list that is a list of desired purchase products from the user. Included in the order confirmation data, the ordering means for transmitting the order data to one or more stores that are the order recipients and receiving the order confirmation data including the deliverable time from the one or more stores. And a route generating means for generating a route for visiting the target store based on the available delivery time and providing the route to the user.

  The purchased item list is a list of items that the user desires to purchase. The purchase item list may be acquired directly from the user, or may be acquired indirectly by presenting and selecting a list of commodities that can be purchased.

The purchase plan generation means is a means for determining which store to place an order for each of the purchase desired products.
It should be noted that the time at which the product can be delivered after placing an order varies depending on the store. Therefore, after the ordering unit obtains the deliverable time from the store, the route generation unit determines the order in which the plurality of stores are visited based on the deliverable time acquired from each store.
According to such a configuration, it is possible to generate an appropriate travel route for the user to purchase a product, and it is possible to minimize the travel cost for shopping.

  Moreover, the shopping support apparatus according to the present invention further includes inventory acquisition means for acquiring inventory information that is information relating to products that can be provided for each store, and the purchase plan generation means orders further based on the inventory information. It is good also as determining the store which becomes ahead.

  The inventory information is information related to products that can be provided at the corresponding store. The inventory information may be information indicating whether the product is in stock, for example. Further, when the product is a made-to-order product, information indicating whether or not the product can be ordered may be used. The inventory acquisition unit may collect and hold inventory information from the store in advance, or may acquire inventory information by communicating with the store in response to an inquiry from the user.

  In addition, the purchase plan generation unit stores a plurality of conditions to be satisfied when the user purchases a product, and determines an ordering store for each purchase desired product so as to satisfy the conditions selected by the user. This may be a feature.

  When the same product can be purchased at a plurality of stores, it is necessary to select which store to order. Therefore, for example, a plurality of conditions such as “the total amount does not exceed a predetermined amount” and “the travel distance when visiting the store does not exceed a predetermined distance” are set in advance, and the conditions selected by the user You may make it determine an order place store so that it may satisfy | fill.

  The condition may relate to a movement distance of the user or a total amount when all desired purchase items are collected at a store.

  By setting the travel distance of the user or the amount to be paid when visiting the store as a condition, a travel route more appropriate for the user can be generated.

  The ordering unit may settle the purchase desired product after receiving the order confirmation data for all purchase desired products.

  By performing the payment online in advance, the user only has to pick up the product, which improves convenience.

  The ordering data may include a desired delivery time by the user.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to prepare a product in time for the desired delivery time, instead of immediately starting preparation of the product after confirming the order.

  Moreover, the shopping support apparatus according to the present invention may further include a vehicle dispatching unit that dispatches a moving body on which the user gets on the basis of the route generated by the route generating unit.

The moving body may be any type of vehicle as long as it is a vehicle on which the user can ride. For example, it may be a taxi or a shared taxi, or may autonomously travel like an autonomous driving vehicle. When the vehicle is a manned vehicle, a route may be provided to the driver, and when the vehicle is an unmanned vehicle, control for automatically traveling based on the generated route may be performed.

  In addition, this invention can be specified as a shopping assistance apparatus containing at least one part of the said means. In addition, the shopping support method performed by the shopping support apparatus or a program for causing a computer to execute the shopping support method can be specified. The above processes and means can be freely combined and implemented as long as no technical contradiction occurs.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to generate an efficient movement route for purchasing an article desired by a user.

It is a system configuration figure of a shopping support system concerning an embodiment. 4 is a diagram illustrating information stored in a storage unit 22. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating information stored in a storage unit 22. FIG. It is a flowchart figure of the process which the assistance apparatus 20 performs. 4 is an example of a screen displayed on the user terminal 10. 4 is an example of a screen displayed on the user terminal 10. It is an example of order data transmitted to a store server. It is an example of order confirmation data transmitted from a store server. It is a figure explaining the path | route which goes around a some shop.

(System configuration)
A shopping support system according to an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1 which is a system configuration diagram. The shopping support system according to the present embodiment is a system for placing an order for a product from a store based on a request acquired from a user and generating a patrol route for picking up the ordered product at the store.

  The shopping support system according to the present embodiment includes a mobile terminal (user terminal 10) possessed by a user, a device that mediates an order between the user and the store (support device 20), and a server device arranged in the store. (Store server 30). Note that the user terminal 10 and the store server 30 can each be composed of a plurality of units.

  The user terminal 10, the support device 20, and the store server 30 can all be configured as an information processing device having a CPU, a main storage device, and an auxiliary storage device. Each unit shown in FIG. 1 functions by loading a program stored in the auxiliary storage device into the main storage device and executing it by the CPU. Note that all or part of the illustrated functions may be executed using a circuit designed exclusively.

First, the user terminal 10 will be described.
The user terminal 10 is a portable computer possessed by a user, and has a function of communicating with the support device 20. The user terminal 10 is a computer having an input / output device such as a smartphone, a mobile phone, a personal computer, a tablet terminal, a personal information terminal, and a wearable computer (smart watch or the like). Note that a plurality of user terminals 10 may be included in the system according to the present invention.

  In the present embodiment, the user terminal 10 is a computer on which an application corresponding to the present system operates, and the user interacts with the support apparatus 20 via the application.

Next, the support device 20 will be described.
The support device 20 is a device that places an order for products from a plurality of stores based on a request acquired from a user. In addition, the support device 20 has a function of generating a route for visiting the plurality of stores based on a response obtained from the store and providing the route to the user.

The communication unit 21 is means for communicating with the user terminal 10 and the store server 30 by accessing the network via a communication line.
The storage unit 22 is means for storing data necessary for the operation of the support apparatus 20. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 22 stores data related to products handled by the system (item master table), data related to stores (store master table), data related to users (customer master table), and data related to stock for each store (stock table). Remember.

Here, information stored in the storage unit 22 will be described. 2 and 3 are examples of information stored in the storage unit 22 in a table format.
(1) Item master table The item master is data for uniquely identifying a product handled in the system. In the present embodiment, a product code is assigned to each product. Type 1 represents a product that can be classified by a product identification code (JAN code), and type 2 represents a product that does not have a product identification code. Type 3 represents an original product for each store. The item master is generated in advance by the system administrator and is regularly maintained.

(2) Store master table The store master is data for uniquely identifying stores that have joined the system. In the present embodiment, the store name, business hours, and store location information (latitude, longitude) are recorded in the store master.
(3) Customer Master Table The customer master is data for uniquely identifying the system user. In the present embodiment, information necessary for authentication and home location information (latitude, longitude) are recorded in the customer master.

(4) Stock Table The stock table is a table that manages the status of product stock for each store. In this embodiment, a product code, a store code, the number of stocks, and a sales price are recorded in the stock table. The inventory table is updated as needed based on the inventory information transmitted from the store.

  The inventory management unit 23 is means for collecting inventory information (store code, product code, inventory quantity, sales price list) from the store and updating the inventory table to the latest information. In this embodiment, the store server 30 to be described later periodically transmits inventory information to the support device 20, and the inventory management unit 23 updates the inventory table based on the received inventory information.

The order processing unit 24 is a means for acquiring a list of desired products for purchase (hereinafter referred to as a purchased product list) from the user terminal 10, generating order data based on the purchased product list, and transmitting the order data to the store server 30. Specifically, (1) product information acquired from the item master table and the inventory table is provided to the user terminal 10, and (2) a purchase item list is acquired from the user terminal 10. Also, (3) the ordering store is determined based on the inventory table, (4) the ordering data is transmitted to the store server 30, and the order confirmation data as a response is received.

The route generation unit 25 is a means for generating a route for the user to go around a plurality of stores based on the deliverable date and time included in the order confirmation data transmitted from the store server. A specific generation method will be described later.
The payment processing unit 26 is means for performing online payment processing based on the credit card information acquired from the user.

  Next, the store server 30 will be described. The store server 30 is a server device that manages product orders and inventory. Store server 30 may manage a plurality of stores, or may manage a single store.

Since the function of the communication unit 31 is the same as that of the communication unit 21 described above, detailed description thereof is omitted.
The inventory information providing unit 32 is a means for generating information (inventory information) about the product inventory that the store has. The stock information may be generated manually by the store manager or automatically in conjunction with the POS system. The generated inventory information is periodically transmitted to the support device 20 (inventory management unit 23) and used for updating the inventory table.

  The order management unit 33 is means for acquiring the order data acquired from the support device 20 and notifying the store manager. The order management unit 33 has an input / output device and can notify the store manager of the contents of the order data. Further, the order management unit 33 acquires a response to the order data via the input / output device, generates order confirmation data, and transmits it to the support device 20. In the present embodiment, the order confirmation data includes the date and time when the ordered product can be delivered.

(Processing flowchart)
Next, a processing flow when the user performs shopping will be described with reference to FIG. The process illustrated in FIG. 4 is started when the user starts an application on the user terminal 10 and accesses the support apparatus 20.

  First, in step S <b> 11, the order processing unit 24 acquires the item master table from the storage unit 22, extracts the product name, manufacturer (production area), and genre, and transmits them to the user terminal 10. And the application which operate | moves on the user terminal 10 produces | generates the screen for selecting purchase desired goods based on the received data, and provides it to a user.

Here, a screen displayed on the user terminal 10 will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the user terminal 10 and a screen displayed on the user terminal 10. In the present embodiment, a product category (reference numeral 501) and a product (reference numeral 502) corresponding to the commodity category can be selected. In addition, the number of selected products can be input (reference numeral 503).
In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the user is not provided with information about the store or information about the price of the product, but only the item of the product. Further, it is assumed that the support device 20 automatically selects an optimal store and places an order (a specific method will be described later).

  Note that the example shown in FIG. 5 is an example, and any interface may be used as long as the desired purchase item can be selected.

When the user selects a desired product for purchase through the screen displayed on the user terminal 10 and then performs an operation of confirming the order, the purchased product list is transmitted to the support device 20 together with information for identifying the user (customer code). And acquired by the order processing unit 24 (step S12).
).

Next, in step S13, the order processing unit 24 generates order data to be transmitted to the store based on the acquired purchase item list.
Here, a method of determining which store to place an order for each of the purchase desired products included in the purchase product list will be described. Here, two criteria of the total amount and the movement distance (the number of stores) will be described as the criteria for determining the supplier store.

(1) Determining the supplier so that the total amount satisfies the condition The first method is to determine the supplier so that the total payment amount satisfies the condition. For example, the store with the lowest price is selected as the ordering destination for each item desired to be purchased. According to this method, it is possible to purchase goods cheaply because priority is given to the amount of money, but there is a possibility that the number of stores that must be visited increases.

(2) The ordering party is determined so that the total travel distance or the number of stores satisfies the conditions. The second method is to determine the ordering party so that the total travel distance (or the number of stores) when visiting the stores satisfies the conditions. It is a method to do. For example, the same store is selected as an ordering party as much as possible so that the number of stores to be visited is minimized. According to such a method, it is possible to reduce the cost of visiting the store, but the total payment may increase.

  In addition, although such a reference | standard may be used previously, you may make a user choose at the time of an order. For example, a screen as shown in FIG. 6 (reference numeral 601) may be presented to the user for selection or input.

  Further, in this example, two types of criteria are exemplified, but the ordering party may be determined using other criteria. Also, a plurality of different criteria may be weighted to balance each other.

In addition, the order processing unit 24 may obtain information from the user regarding the time at which the user wishes to collect the product (collection desired time). For example, a screen as shown in FIG. 6 (reference numeral 602) may be presented to the user for selection or input.
Further, when determining an ordering party, information on business hours recorded in the store master table may be considered. For example, if an order cannot be placed within business hours, the store may be excluded.

FIG. 7 is an example of order data generated by the order processing unit 24. In this example, the purchase item list, customer information, and order information are sent as a set to the store server 30 (order management unit 33) and processed by the store staff.
The customer information is information for identifying the orderer. Further, the ordering information is information including an ordering ID, an ordering destination store, an ordering date and time, a desired collection time, and the like.

The store person in charge prepares the product based on the received ordering data. Further, the person in charge of the store inputs, via the order reception management unit 33, confirmation that the order has been received and the date and time when the ordered product can be picked up (date and time when the order can be picked up). Further, the order management unit 33 generates data (order confirmation data) for confirming that an order has been received based on the input content, and returns the data to the support apparatus 20.
FIG. 8 is an example of order confirmation data. The order confirmation data includes the date and time (possible date and time) when the ordered product can be picked up. In the case of the example in FIG. 8, it is set that merchandise can be picked up after 17:30 on November 1, 2016.
In this example, the person in charge of the store confirms the order, but the store server 30 (order management unit 33) may automatically accept the order and transmit the order confirmation data.

In addition, when the ordered product cannot be prepared for some reason (for example, when the number of inventory managed by the system is different from the actual number or when the product cannot be prepared by the closing time), the order confirmation That may be included in the data.
The order confirmation data transmitted from the store server 30 is received by the order processing unit 24 (step S14). Further, the order confirmation data is transferred to the route generation unit 25 and the settlement processing unit 26.

When the order processing unit 24 receives the order confirmation data from all the stores where the order has been placed, the process proceeds to step S15.
In step S15, the payment processing unit 26 performs online payment processing using a credit card based on the acquired ordering data.

In this step, since it takes time to confirm the order, the user may be once released and a notification may be given when the payment is ready.
Further, if the order confirmation data does not return from the store where the order has been placed even after a predetermined time has passed, it may be determined that the order is not possible and the user may be notified accordingly. In this case, order data may be generated again in order to order a missing product from another store.

Next, in step S <b> 16, the route generation unit 25 generates a route for visiting the store in order to collect the ordered product.
Specifically, (1) referring to the customer master table and the store master table stored in the storage unit 22, the user's departure location (and arrival location) and the location information of a plurality of stores to be visited are obtained. (2) An optimum route is generated based on “acquisition date and time” included in the order confirmation data transmitted from a plurality of stores.

  FIG. 9 is an example of a route generated by the route generator 25. The route generation unit 25 calculates the time and distance required for movement based on the location of the store and the user's home, and then arrives at each store after the deliverable time and the cost is a predetermined condition. Generate a route that satisfies The predetermined condition is, for example, a condition related to the total travel distance, the total travel time, the time when the tour is finished, and the like, but is not limited thereto. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, when a condition regarding movement is specified, the condition may be satisfied.

For example, FIG. 9 shows an example in which the user leaves his home at 17:20 and visits three stores over 20 minutes.
Note that a method for generating a travel route in which the cost satisfies a predetermined condition while the time of arrival at each store satisfies the condition is known, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The generated route is transmitted to the user terminal 10 and provided to the user. The route may be notified by text or an image, for example, and when the route guidance application is operable on the user terminal 10, data may be interpreted by the application.

  According to the present embodiment, it is possible to place an order for a plurality of stores and obtain an optimum patrol route by simply selecting a product desired to be purchased. In addition, since products can be received at the store without waiting time, shopping can be completed in a short time.

(Modification)
The above embodiment is merely an example, and the present invention can be implemented with appropriate modifications within a range not departing from the gist thereof.
For example, in the description of the embodiment, an example in the case of mainly purchasing food is given, but the product to be purchased may be other than food.

  In the description of the embodiment, the product defined in the item master table is the purchase target, but the product may be a made-to-order product. For example, it may be a medicine dispensed based on a prescription. In this case, the support apparatus 20 may acquire data (for example, a prescription) regarding the product from the user and select a store (for example, a pharmacy) that can provide the corresponding product (for example, a medicine). Further, the order confirmation data may include information indicating whether or not the product can be manufactured.

  In the description of the embodiment, the user is only notified of the route for visiting the store. However, when a vehicle for visiting the store is available, route information is transmitted to the vehicle (or on-vehicle device). You may make it do. Moreover, when the said vehicle is an autonomous driving vehicle, you may make it drive a vehicle according to route information. In this case, the user does not necessarily need to get on.

  In the description of the embodiment, the inventory management unit 23 manages the inventory status of each store. However, the inventory management unit 23 may be omitted and the store may be inquired about the inventory status each time.

  In the description of the embodiment, only the item of the product is provided to the user. However, when the same product can be purchased at a plurality of stores, the store name and the price may be displayed so that they can be compared.

In the description of the embodiment, all products are ordered from the store in advance, and the products are collected by visiting the store. However, some products are purchased after the user confirms the actual product at the store. You may make it do. For example, it may be possible to input on the user terminal that a specific product is desired to be selected at the store. In this case, the order data may not be generated for the product, and only the store with stock may be taught to the user.
Further, when the route generation unit 25 generates a route, the route may be generated assuming that the user stays for a predetermined time for shopping at a store desired by the user.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... User terminal 20 ... Support apparatus 21, 31 ... Communication part 22 ... Memory | storage part 23 ... Inventory management part 24 ... Order processing part 25 ... Path | route production | generation part 26 ...・ Settlement processing unit 30 ... Store server 32 ... Inventory information providing unit 33 ... Order management unit

Claims (9)

Purchased item acquisition means for acquiring a purchased item list that is a list of desired items for purchase from the user,
A purchase plan generating means for determining a store to be an ordering party for each of the purchase desired products included in the purchase product list;
Ordering means for transmitting ordering data to one or more stores that are ordering parties, and receiving order confirmation data including delivery time from the one or more stores;
Based on the available delivery time included in the order confirmation data, generate a route for visiting the target store, and provide the user with a route generation means;
A shopping support device. It further has inventory acquisition means for acquiring inventory information, which is information on products that can be provided for each store,
The purchase plan generating means determines a store to be an ordering party based on the inventory information;
The shopping support apparatus according to claim 1. The purchase plan generation means stores a plurality of conditions to be satisfied when the user purchases a product, and determines an ordering store for each purchase desired product so as to satisfy the conditions selected by the user.
The shopping support apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The condition relates to the movement distance of the user when all desired purchase items are collected at the store, or the total amount,
The shopping support device according to claim 3. The ordering unit performs settlement of the purchase desired product after receiving the order confirmation data for all the purchase desired products.
The shopping support device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The order data includes a desired delivery time by the user,
The shopping support device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. Based on the route generated by the route generation unit, the vehicle further includes a vehicle allocation unit that distributes a moving body on which the user is boarded.
The shopping support device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. A shopping support method performed by a shopping support device,
Purchase item acquisition step for acquiring a purchase item list, which is a list of items desired to purchase, from the user;
A purchase plan generation step for determining a store to be a supplier for each of the purchase desired products included in the purchase item list;
An ordering step of sending ordering data to one or more stores that are ordering parties, and receiving order confirmation data including delivery time from the one or more stores;
A route generation step of generating a route for visiting the target store based on the available delivery time included in the order confirmation data and providing the route to the user;
Including shopping support methods.   A program for causing a computer to execute the shopping support method according to claim 8.

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