JP2021002198A - Recommended-product presenting system and recommended-product presenting method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a technique of presenting information about a tobacco-related product to be recommended.SOLUTION: A recommended-product presenting system includes means for acquiring a customer identifier with which a customer or an item carryable by the customer can be identified, means for consulting a purchase history storage unit in which information about a tobacco-related product purchase history of each customer is stored in association with the corresponding customer identifier, means for specifying a recommended tobacco product from among a plurality of types of tobacco-related products the product information of which is stored in a product information storage unit, on the basis of the information about the tobacco-related product purchase history of the customer that is stored in association with the acquired customer identifier in the purchase history storage unit, and means for displaying, on a display unit, information about the specified recommended tobacco product.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for presenting information on a tobacco-related product to be recommended (hereinafter, may be referred to as a tobacco-recommended product).

In stores such as convenience stores, various brands of tobacco products are displayed in so-called tobacco fixtures for each brand, and when purchasing tobacco products, the clerk selects the brand of tobacco products specified by the customer from the tobacco fixtures. Is taken in the form of. Tobacco products are generally delivered to stores in the form of cartons and sold in carton units or in individual packaging with the carton unwrapped.

Patent Document 1 below discloses a user-operated terminal capable of performing appropriate cross-selling even for over-the-counter products that are not easily accessible by general users, such as cigarette packs. This user-operated terminal is attached to the sales processing device, switches and displays the product selection screen according to the input operation on the touch panel by a general user, and is based on the product ID data of the over-the-counter products selected by the product selection screen. To extract cross-selling product data and display a product selection screen for cross-selling cross-selling products.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-24569

According to the above-mentioned user operation terminal, the product selection screen of the cross-selling product corresponding to the product selected by the touch panel operation by the user is displayed.
However, there are problems with cross-selling based on the premise of product selection that accompanies user operations, and there is still room for improvement in recommending tobacco-related products. For example, if a customer has already decided on a tobacco-related product that he / she has purchased and is searching for that tobacco-related product by touch panel operation, the cross-selling product presented in the process of searching does not become a product that attracts the customer's interest. there is a possibility.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a technique for presenting information on tobacco-related products to be recommended.
As used herein, the term "tobacco-related product" means a tobacco accessory product provided as an accessory to a tobacco product such as a tobacco product and an accessory.
A "cigarette product" is an individual cigarette product in which a plurality of cigarettes (for example, 20 cigarettes) or other cigarettes are packaged, or a plurality of individual cigarette products of the same type (for example, 10), which are purchase units. Pieces) Means a carton of tobacco products packaged together. Examples of other cigarettes include snuff, pipe tobacco, electronic cigarettes, heat-not-burn tobacco, and other cartridges used for tobacco.
When it is necessary to distinguish between individual packaging and carton in the present specification, the individually packaged tobacco product shall be referred to as "individual packaging product" and the carton tobacco product shall be referred to as "carton product".

According to the present invention, an identifier acquisition means for acquiring a customer or a customer identifier capable of identifying a portable object, and a purchase history storage for storing purchase history information of each customer's tobacco-related products in association with each customer identifier. The product information is stored in the product information storage unit based on the history reference means for referring to the unit and the purchase history information of the customer associated with the acquired customer identifier and stored in the purchase history storage unit. Provided is a recommended product presentation system including a product specifying means for identifying a tobacco recommended product from a plurality of types of tobacco-related products and a display processing means for displaying information on the specified tobacco recommended product on a display unit. ..

In addition, as another aspect, according to the present invention, a recommended product presentation method performed by a system including at least a display unit and one or more processors, wherein a customer or a customer identifier capable of identifying a portable object by the customer is used. Refers to the purchase history storage unit that is acquired and stores the purchase history information of each customer's tobacco-related products in association with the customer identifier of each customer, and is stored in the purchase history storage unit in association with the acquired customer identifier. Based on the purchase history information of the customer, the recommended tobacco product is specified from among a plurality of types of tobacco-related products whose product information is stored in the product information storage unit, and the information on the specified tobacco recommended product is obtained. A recommended product presentation method including displaying on the display unit is provided.
Further, as another aspect, according to the present invention, it is also possible to provide a program for causing one or more computers to execute the above recommended product presentation method, or a storage medium that can be read by one or more computers on which such a program is recorded. it can.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technique for presenting information on recommended tobacco-related products.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the tobacco product management system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the installation example of the tobacco product management system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a perspective view of an individual fixture. It is a side view of the partial enlargement of the individual fixtures which concerns on this embodiment, and is the figure which shows one magazine and the surrounding part. It is a schematic diagram which shows the hardware configuration of the support PC and the order terminal. It is a block diagram which shows the processing configuration example of the support PC, the order terminal, the 1st control part and the 2nd control part. FIG. 7A is a diagram showing an example of a customer information table, and FIG. 7B is a diagram showing an example of a purchase history table. FIG. 8A is a diagram showing an example of a brand master table, and FIG. 8B is a diagram showing an example of a brand information table for each store. It is a figure which shows an example of a brand selection screen. It is a figure which shows the example of the brand order screen. It is a figure which shows the example of the brand order screen. It is a sequence chart which shows the operation example about ordering and taking out of a tobacco product in the tobacco product management system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the display example of the brand order screen when the tobacco recommended product is specified from the budget information.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiments listed below are examples, and the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the following embodiments.
In the following, a tobacco product management system (hereinafter, may be referred to as the present system) is exemplified as an embodiment of the present invention. In this system, tobacco products are mainly handled, but tobacco accessories may be further handled.
Since this system presents tobacco-related products (tobacco recommended products) that should be recommended, it can also be called a recommended product presentation system.

[Overview]
Before explaining the details of this system, the outline of the features of this system will be described.
This system is composed of one or a plurality of computers, and includes an identifier acquisition means, a history reference means, a product identification means, and a display processing means. The computer constituting this system may include a general-purpose computer such as a PC (Personal Computer), a dedicated computer such as an embedded microcomputer, or both of them. Further, the computer may be only a stationary computer, only a portable computer such as a smartphone, or both of them.

The identifier acquisition means acquires a customer identifier that can identify a customer or a thing that the customer can carry.
The customer identifier here only needs to be able to distinguish an individual within this system, and may not be able to identify an individual customer. That is, the acquired customer identifier may be an identifier that can identify the customer, such as an e-mail address, an SNS (Social Network Service) account, or the customer's biometric information (blood vein, fingerprint, face shape, iris, etc.). However, it may be an identifier uniquely assigned to an item that can be carried by the customer, such as a tablet, a smartphone, or an IC card. Even if it is a customer identifier that can identify a portable object as in the latter case, it is possible to distinguish an individual who carries (owns) the object.

The method of acquiring the customer identifier by the identifier acquisition means is not limited in any way. For example, the identifier acquisition means may hold the correspondence information between the customer identifier and the customer's biometric information, extract the biometric information from the biometric image captured by the customer, and specify the customer identifier from the biometric information. it can. Further, the identifier acquisition means can also acquire the customer identifier from the display screen of the customer mobile terminal that displays the barcode or two-dimensional code in which the customer identifier is encoded, and communicates from the customer's mobile terminal, IC card, or the like. It is also possible to obtain the customer identifier directly by.

The history reference means refers to the purchase history storage unit.
The purchase history storage unit stores the purchase history information of each customer's tobacco-related product in association with each customer identifier.
The "purchase history storage unit" may be provided by another computer outside the system, or may be provided by the computers constituting the system.
The purchase history information only needs to show the history of tobacco-related products purchased by each customer, and the specific content thereof is not limited. For example, in the purchase history information, an identifier (ID) of a tobacco-related product, a purchase date, a quantity, and the like are shown in association with each other.

The product identification means refers to the purchase history information of the customer associated with the customer identifier acquired by the identifier acquisition means and stored in the purchase history storage unit, and based on the purchase history information, the product information storage unit. Identify the recommended tobacco products from among multiple types of tobacco-related products whose product information is stored in.
The "product information storage unit" may be provided by another computer outside the system, or may be provided by the computers constituting the system. The "product information storage unit" may be provided in a computer having a "purchase history storage unit", or may be provided in a computer different from the computer.
The plurality of types of tobacco-related products in which product information is stored in the product information storage unit may be only brands that are handled or in stock at the target store, or brands that are not handled or are not in stock at the target store. May include.
The method for identifying the recommended tobacco product by the product specifying means may be based on the purchase history information of the customer's tobacco-related product, and a specific example thereof will be described later.
The customer management unit 102 will be described later as a specific example of such an identifier acquisition means, a history reference means, and a product identification means. Further, the purchase history storage unit corresponds to the purchase history table of the customer management DB 105 or the memory of the customer management server device described later, and the product information storage unit is a store-specific brand information table or brand master table of the store DB 106 described later. Alternatively, it corresponds to the memory of the customer management server device.

The display processing means causes the display unit to display information on the tobacco recommended product specified by the product specifying means.
The "display unit" may be provided by another computer outside the system, or may be provided by the computers constituting the system.
The information displayed on this display unit may be any information regarding recommended tobacco products.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the customer identifier is acquired, the tobacco recommended product is specified based on the purchase history information of the customer's tobacco-related product corresponding to the customer identifier, and the tobacco recommended product is displayed.
The purchase history information of the customer's tobacco-related products reflects the customer's tastes and changes in the tobacco-related products. Therefore, by displaying the tobacco recommended products specified based on the purchase history information, it is possible to present the tobacco-related products that are of interest to the customer.
In addition, by displaying such a recommended tobacco product on the ordering terminal, the customer can immediately present the product he / she wants to purchase, so that the customer can smoothly order the tobacco-related product. In addition, by displaying the tobacco recommended product together with the tobacco product of the brand registered in advance in this system, it is possible to cross-sell the tobacco recommended product in addition to the registered brand to the customer.

[Tobacco product management system]
Hereinafter, the tobacco product management system (this system) 1 according to the present embodiment having the above-mentioned characteristics will be described in detail.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the configuration of the tobacco product management system 1 according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an installation example of the tobacco product management system 1 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram. It is a perspective view of the individual fixture 50, FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged side view of the individual fixture 50 according to the present embodiment, shows one magazine 500 and its surroundings, and FIG. 5 is a support PC 10 It is a schematic diagram which shows the hardware composition of the order terminal 20 and the order terminal 20.

As shown in FIG. 2, the system 1 is installed in a store such as a convenience store. Hereinafter, the store in which the system 1 is installed may be referred to as the main store or the target store.
As shown in FIG. 1, the system 1 includes a support PC (Personal Computer) 10, an ordering terminal 20, a first control unit 30, a second control unit 40, individual fixtures 50, carton fixtures 60, and fixture management terminals 70. It is composed of etc.

The support PC 10 is a so-called computer, and has a CPU 11, a memory 12, an input / output interface (I / F) 13, a communication unit 14, and the like, as shown in FIG. The CPU 11 is connected to each of the other units by a communication line such as a bus.
The CPU 11 includes, in addition to a general CPU, an MCU, an MPU, an integrated circuit for a specific application (ASIC), a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), and the like.
The memory 12 is a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and an auxiliary storage device (hard disk or the like).

The input / output I / F 13 can be connected to a user interface device such as a display device 15 and an input device 16. The display device 15 is a device that displays a screen corresponding to drawing data processed by a CPU 11 or the like, such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display. The input device 16 is a device that receives input of a user operation such as a keyboard and a mouse. The display device 15 and the input device 16 may be an integrated touch panel or may not be connected.
The communication unit 14 performs wired communication or wireless communication with another computer, exchanges of signals with other devices, and the like. In the present embodiment, the communication unit 14 communicates with the first control unit 30, the second control unit 40, the order terminal 20, and the server device (not shown). The communication method executed by the communication unit 14 is not limited in any way. A portable recording medium or the like may also be connected to the communication unit 14.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ordering terminal 20 is a stationary computer installed on the cashier counter of the main store so that the customer and the clerk can operate it. However, the installation location of the order terminal 20 may be other than the cashier counter.
As shown in FIG. 5, the order terminal 20 includes a CPU 21, a memory 22, a touch panel unit 23, a communication unit 25, an image pickup unit 26, and the like. The CPU 21 is connected to each of the other units by a communication line such as a bus.
The touch panel unit 23 includes a display unit that includes a monitor and performs display processing, and a touch sensor that detects a contact or proximity state from the outside. In the present embodiment, two touch panel units 23 are provided in opposite directions back to back, one is provided in a direction facing the customer and the other is provided in a direction facing the store clerk. The same display is output to each display panel of the two touch panel units 23. As a result, the clerk can confirm the touch panel operation by the customer, and the customer can confirm the touch panel operation by the clerk. Further, a series of tobacco product ordering operations using the touch panel can be executed in cooperation with the customer and the clerk.

The image pickup unit 26 is a unit that captures an image. In the present embodiment, the imaging unit 26 includes a barcode scanner capable of reading a barcode, a two-dimensional bar code (QR code (registered trademark), etc.), and a vein imaging unit for vein authentication. The barcode scanner can read barcodes and QR codes (registered trademarks) attached to the packaging of tobacco products or displayed on the customer's mobile terminal, and the vein imaging unit can read vein images from a person's finger or palm. Can be imaged. The specific imaging method of the imaging unit 26 is not limited in any way.
The communication unit 25 performs wired communication or wireless communication with another computer, exchanges of signals with other devices, and the like. In the present embodiment, the communication unit 25 performs short-range wireless communication with the customer's mobile terminal, and also performs wired communication or wireless communication with the order terminal 20. The communication method executed by the communication unit 25 is not limited in any way.
The CPU 21 and the memory 22 are the same as the CPU 11 and the memory 12 described above.

The hardware configurations shown in FIG. 5 are examples, and the hardware configurations of the support PC 10 and the ordering terminal 20 are not limited to the examples shown in FIG. The support PC 10 and the ordering terminal 20 can have other hardware elements (not shown), and the number of each hardware element is not limited to the example of FIG. For example, the support PC 10 or the ordering terminal 20 may have a plurality of CPUs.

The first control unit 30 is a control board that controls the individual fixtures 50, and the second control unit 40 is a control board that controls the carton fixtures 60. Specifically, the first control unit 30 and the second control unit 40 are embedded systems each having a CPU, a memory, a communication unit, an input / output interface, and the like, and a control program stored in the memory is executed by the CPU. This controls the individual fixture 50 or the carton fixture 60, respectively. The details of the control of the individual fixture 50 by the first control unit 30 and the details of the control of the carton fixture 60 by the second control unit 40 will be described later.

The first control unit 30 is connected to the components of the individual fixture 50 via a communication unit or an input / output interface, and exchanges signals with each component. The second control unit 40 is connected to the components of the carton fixture 60 via a communication unit or an input / output interface, and exchanges signals with each component.
Further, the first control unit 30 and the second control unit 40 are communicably connected to the support PC 10 via a communication unit, and exchange signals with the support PC 10.

The fixture management terminal 70 is a portable so-called computer, and has the same hardware configuration as the order terminal 20. Although the fixture management terminal 70 is not shown in FIG. 2, the fixture management terminal 70 is installed around the individual fixture 50, for example, a side surface portion of the individual fixture 50.
The fixture management terminal 70 has a touch panel, and the fixture management menu that enables management of the individual fixture 50 or the carton fixture 60 is displayed on the touch panel. The fixture management terminal 70 is communicably connected to the support PC 10 via a communication unit, and sends information corresponding to the contents operated in the fixture management menu to the support PC 10.
Further, a barcode scanner may be connected to the fixture management terminal 70. In this case, the barcode attached to the packaging of the individually packaged product or the carton product to be replenished is read by the barcode scanner, and the read information is sent from the fixture management terminal 70 to the support PC 10.

In the example of FIG. 2, the individual fixtures 50 and the carton fixtures 60 are stacked one above the other and installed on the back surface (back counter side) of the cashier counter of the main store. However, the positional relationship and installation position of the individual fixture 50 and the carton fixture 60 are not limited to the example of FIG. 2, such that the individual fixture 50 is installed on the back counter and the carton fixture 60 is installed under the back counter.
In the following description, for the sake of clarity, one individual fixture 50 and one carton fixture 60 will be described, but the individual fixture 50 and the carton fixture 60 are each formed of two units. May be good. That is, two carton fixtures 60 may be arranged side by side, and one individual fixture 50 may be arranged side by side on each carton fixture 60. The number of individual fixtures 50 and carton fixtures 60 installed in this store is not limited.
Further, in order to explain the positional relationship of each component in an easy-to-understand manner, there are cases where the directions such as front-back, left-right, up-down, etc. are defined. That is, the front side of the individual fixture 50 and the carton fixture 60 is the front direction, the back side is the rear direction, and the horizontal direction perpendicular to the front-rear direction is called the lateral direction. When the fixture 50 and the carton fixture 60 are viewed from the front side, the left side is referred to as the left direction and the right side is referred to as the right direction. However, the provisions of these directions are for convenience only, and do not limit the directions at the time of manufacture or use of the product in which the present invention is implemented.

The individual fixture 50 includes a plurality of shelves 550 capable of supporting a plurality of magazines 500 side by side. In the examples of FIGS. 2 and 3, the individual fixture 50 includes 7-stage shelf boards 550, and 8 magazines 500 are supported side by side on each shelf board 550. The number of stages of the shelf board 550 included in the individual fixture 50 and the number of magazines 500 supported by the shelf board 550 are not limited to such an example.

On the upper surface of the shelf board 550, insertion recesses 555 having a shape into which the protrusions 501 of the magazine 500 can be inserted are formed at positions corresponding to the protrusions 501 (see FIG. 4). That is, with the magazine 500 mounted on the shelf plate 550, each protrusion 501 is inserted into the corresponding insertion recess 555. As a result, each magazine 500 can be mounted on the shelf board 550 in a horizontally positioned state.
The magazines 500 are arranged side by side on the shelf board 550 at equal intervals, and in this arrangement state, the front wall portions 503 of the flaps 502 of each magazine 500 are flush with each other. Further, the front wall portion 503 of the flap 502 of each magazine 500 is flush with the front end surface of the shelf board 550.

The magazine 500 urges the mounting portion 504 on which a plurality of individually packaged products 5 can be mounted side by side in the front-rear direction, the pressing slider 507 provided so as to be movable back and forth along the mounting portion 504, and the pressing slider 507. A wire rod reel 514 is provided.
The mounting portion 504 is a box-shaped container that is long in the front-rear direction and opens upward, and a plurality of individually packaged products 5 can be mounted vertically in a row. That is, the individually packaged product 5 is mounted on the mounting portion 504 in a posture in which the longitudinal direction thereof is the vertical direction and the thickness direction thereof is the front-rear direction.
The mounting portion 504 is composed of a mounting portion main body 505 and a flap 502 provided at the front end portion of the mounting portion main body 505.

The mounting portion main body 505 includes a bottom portion 506 that slidably supports a plurality of individual packaged products 5 toward the front, and a head portion of the individual packaged product 5 that is pushed by the pressing slider 507 and reaches the front end portion of the bottom portion 506. It has a front plate portion 508 that regulates forward movement. The front plate portion 508 stands upward at the front edge of the mounting portion main body 505, and the plate surface faces the front-rear direction.
Further, the bottom raising member 509 can be detachably attached to the mounting portion main body 505. FIG. 4 shows an example in which the bottom raising member 509 is mounted on the mounting portion main body 505.
The bottom raising member 509 has a second bottom portion 510 that slidably supports the article toward the front. By mounting the bottom raising member 509 on the mounting portion main body 505, the upper end position of the individual packaged product 5 at the front end portion of the magazine 500 can be raised as compared with the case where the bottom raising member 509 is not used. Therefore, when the individually packaged product 5 mounted on the magazine 500 is a brand with a relatively small height dimension, by using the bottom raising member 509, the individually packaged product with a relatively large height dimension is used. The individually packaged product 5 can be taken out from the magazine 500 with the same workability as when the 5 is taken out.

The flap 502 is formed by a flat plate-shaped front wall portion 503 and a pair of left and right flat side wall portions 511, respectively, and the flap 502 is formed by a pair of left and right shaft portions 512 provided at the front end portion of the mounting portion main body 505. It is pivotally supported. The flap 502 is pivotally supported by a pair of shaft portions 512 and is guided by a pair of left and right guide pins 513 provided on the mounting portion main body 505 so that the flap 502 can swing in a forward tilting direction.
The flap 502 shields the front surface of the individual packaged product 5 mounted on the mounting portion 504 by the plate surface of the front wall portion 503 standing substantially vertically when the flap 502 is not tilted forward. The flap 502 is urged by the wire rod reel 514 in the upright direction, so that the flap 502 is normally maintained in the upright state. On the other hand, when the flap 502 is tilted forward by an external force, the individually packaged product 5 can be taken out.
In the following description, setting the plate surface of the front wall portion 503 of the flap 502 in the upright state may be described as closing the magazine 500, and setting the flap 502 in the forward tilted state may be described as opening the magazine 500. ..

Further, at the rear end portion in the individual fixture 50, a distance measuring sensor 520 is provided for each magazine 500 (see FIG. 4).
In the example of FIG. 4, the distance measuring sensor 520 includes a distance measuring light emitting unit 521 that irradiates light toward the front and a light receiving unit (not shown) that receives the reflected light of the light emitted from the distance measuring light emitting unit 521. It is composed of. The distance measuring sensor 520 detects the distance between the distance measuring sensor 520 and the pressing slider 507, the distance between the distance measuring sensor 520 and the wire rod reel 514, or the distance between the distance measuring sensor 520 and the last individual product 5.
For example, the distance measuring sensor 520 may start distance measuring when the flap 502 is returned from the forward tilted state to the standing state. In this case, a structure may be provided in which the distance measuring light emitting unit 521 emits light when the flap 502 is returned from the forward tilted state to the standing state. According to this, the distance measurement can be performed after the individual packaged product 5 is taken out and after it is replenished, and the number of stored individual packaged products 5 can be detected each time.
The detection signal by each ranging sensor 520 is sent to the first control unit 30.
However, the measuring method, the installation position, and the like of the distance measuring sensor 520 are not limited as long as the number of individually packaged products 5 accommodated in the magazine 500 can be detected. Further, in the present embodiment, the distance measuring sensor 520 is used to detect the number of individually packaged products 5 housed in each magazine 500, but the detection method for the number is distance measuring such as weight and pressure. Not limited to only.

Further, an individual packaging position notification LED 551 for notifying the position of each magazine 500 is provided on the front end surface of each shelf board 550.
The individual packaging position notification LED 551 notifies the mounting position of each magazine 500 on the shelf board 550. That is, the individual packaging position notification LED 551 is provided at a portion located below each magazine 500 on the front end surface of the shelf board 550. That is, in the examples of FIGS. 2 and 3, the front end surface of each shelf board 550 is provided with individual packaging position notification LEDs 551 for several minutes (8 pieces) of the magazines 500 to be mounted.
As a result, the individual packaging position notification LED 551 provided below the magazine 500 on the shelf board 550 on which the magazine 500 containing the individual packaging product 5 of the brand to be taken out is housed is lit.

Further, the individual packaging position notification LED 551 in the present embodiment can be lit in a plurality of colors. Specifically, the lighting color when the individual packaging product 5 is taken out and the lighting color when the individual packaging product 5 is replenished can be switched. The switching of the lighting color of the individual packaging position notification LED 551 may be realized by configuring the individual packaging position notification LED 551 with a plurality of LED chips and switching the LED chip to emit light, or may be realized by another method. .. Further, instead of the lighting color, the lighting mode may be switched between the time of taking out and the time of replenishment, such as blinking and lighting.
Although details will be described later, the lighting and extinguishing of the individual packaging position notification LED 551 and the lighting color are controlled by the first control unit 30.

Further, the individual fixture 50 is provided with a display panel 119 which is elongated to the left and right at the front end portion at the center in the vertical direction. In the examples of FIGS. 2 and 3, the display panel 119 is provided below the shelf board 550 on the third stage from the top.
The display panel 119 is provided with an order number display unit 117 and a terminal number display unit 118. The order number display unit 117 displays the number of orders specified by the order terminal 20, and the terminal number display unit 118 displays the number of the order terminal 20. In the example of FIG. 2, since only one ordering terminal 20 is provided, the terminal number display unit 118 displays "1". However, when a plurality of order terminals 20 are provided, the number of the order terminal 20 for which the order instruction has been issued is displayed on the terminal number display unit 118.
For example, the order quantity display unit 117 and the terminal number display unit 118 are composed of a 7-segment display. In the examples of FIGS. 2 and 3, the order quantity display unit 117 is composed of two 7-segment displays, and the terminal number display unit 118 is composed of one 7-segment display. However, the method for realizing the order quantity display unit 117 and the terminal number display unit 118 is not limited to such an example, and may be realized by a liquid crystal monitor or the like.
Although the details will be described later, the display of the order number display unit 117 and the terminal number display unit 118 is controlled by the first control unit 30.

From the above, for example, when two individually packaged products 5 of brand A are ordered by the ordering terminal 20 of the terminal number 1, "2" is displayed on the order quantity display unit 117 and the terminal number display unit 118. Along with displaying "1", the individual packaging position notification LED 551 below the magazine 500 on the shelf board 550 on which the magazine 500 containing the individual packaging product 5 of the brand A is housed lights up.
The clerk can easily grasp that the number (2 pieces) of the individual packaged products 5 displayed on the order quantity display unit 117 should be taken out from the magazine 500 above the lit individual package position notification LED 551. Can be done.

In the present specification, "replenishment" of a tobacco product is loaded with the tobacco product in the storage area of the magazine 500 of the individual packaging fixture 50 or the drawer shelf 61 of the carton fixture 60 in which the tobacco product was previously stored. In addition to this, it is also applicable to newly load the newly-handled tobacco products into the storage area of the magazine 500 or the drawer shelf 61.

The carton fixture 60 includes a rectangular parallelepiped frame and a plurality of drawer shelves 61 held by the frame. In the example of FIG. 2, eight drawer shelves 61 are shown, but the number of drawer shelves 61 included in the carton fixture 60 is not limited to the example of FIG.
Each drawer shelf 61 includes a tray-shaped shelf body that supports a plurality of carton products with a bottom plate, and a front wall portion that is provided at the front end of the shelf body and stands vertically, and an operator can operate from the frame body. It can be pulled out and housed in a frame. When the drawer shelf 61 is housed in the frame body, the front wall portion thereof is substantially flush with the front end portion of the frame body and the front surface portion of the individual fixture 50.

The shelf body of each drawer shelf 61 has a plurality of vertical partitions extending in the front-rear direction to divide the inside of the drawer shelf 61 in the left-right direction, and a plurality of horizontal portions in which each internal area divided by the vertical partition portions is divided in the front-rear direction. A partition is provided. As a result, in the present embodiment, the internal area of each drawer shelf 61 is divided into four front and rear nine on the left and right, and a total of 36 storage areas are formed, and one carton product is stored in each storage area. To. That is, in the present embodiment, each drawer shelf 61 can accommodate 36 carton products.

Further, a carton position notification LED 62 for notifying the position of the accommodation area of each drawer shelf 61 is provided on the upper portion of the front wall portion of each drawer shelf 61 and the vertical partition portion of each drawer shelf 61.
The carton position notification LED 62 provided on the front wall portion notifies the drawer shelf 61 in which the accommodation area is formed, and the left and right separated by the vertical partition portion in which the accommodation area is arranged in the drawer shelf 61. Notify the position of the direction. The carton position notification LED 62 provided in the vertical partition portion of each drawer shelf 61 notifies the position in the front-rear direction divided by the horizontal partition portion in which the accommodation area is arranged in the drawer shelf 61.
That is, the carton position notification LED 62 provided on the front wall portion notifies the positions of the drawer shelf 61 and the drawer shelf 61 in the left-right direction, and the carton position notification LED 62 provided on the vertical partition portion of the drawer shelf 61. Since the position in the front-rear direction is notified, the operator can immediately access the target accommodation area.

Further, each drawer shelf 61 is provided with a detection sensor (not shown) that detects the carton product when the carton product is stored in the individual storage area. The detection sensor can be, for example, a weight sensor provided on the bottom plate of the shelf body. However, the detection sensor may be another type of sensor such as an optical sensor or a capacitance sensor.

Further, the carton fixture 60 is provided with a lock mechanism for allowing each drawer shelf 61 to be selectively pulled out from the frame. In the normal state, the lock mechanism is locked so that all the drawer shelves 61 cannot be pulled out from the frame, and only the designated drawer shelves 61 are controlled from the frame by the control of the second control unit 40. It is selectively unlocked so that it can be pulled out. Therefore, the drawer shelf 61 and its locking mechanism in the present embodiment are stocker access units that make at least a part (accommodation area) of the plurality of product stocker units accessible or inaccessible to the operator. It can be said.
By providing the lock mechanism on the drawer shelf 61, it is possible to prevent unauthorized access to the storage area of the carton product.

[Processing configuration]
Next, the processing configurations of the support PC 10, the ordering terminal 20, the first control unit 30, and the second control unit 40 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a processing configuration example of the support PC 10, the order terminal 20, the first control unit 30, and the second control unit 40.

[First control unit]
The first control unit 30 includes a position notification processing unit 31, a remaining number management unit 32, an operation determination unit 33, and the like. These are software elements, and are embodied when a control program stored in a memory such as RAM or ROM is executed by the CPU.

When the position notification processing unit 31 receives a take-out instruction or a replenishment instruction from the support PC 10, the position notification processing unit 31 lights the corresponding individual packaging position notification LED 551 provided in the individual fixture 50 based on the instruction. Specifically, the take-out instruction and the replenishment instruction include an identifier (magazine ID) of the magazine 500 to take out or replenish the individual packaged product 5, and the position notification processing unit 31 uses the identifier. The specified individual packaging position notification LED 551 is taken out or lit with a lighting color corresponding to replenishment. The position notification processing unit 31 holds the association information between the identifier of each magazine 500 and the corresponding individual package position notification LED 551, and based on the association information, the magazine 500 included in the take-out instruction or the replenishment instruction. The individual packaging position notification LED 551 corresponding to the identifier can be specified.
When the removal or replenishment of the plurality of magazines 500 should be performed, the removal instruction and the replenishment instruction may include the identifiers of the plurality of magazines 500. In this case, the position notification processing unit 31 may collectively light a plurality of individual package position notification LEDs 551 corresponding to the plurality of identifiers.

Further, when the position notification processing unit 31 receives the take-out instruction, the terminal number included in the take-out instruction is displayed on the terminal number display unit 118 of the display panel 119, and the number of take-outs included in the instruction is ordered by the display panel 119. It is displayed on the number display unit 117. The display of the order number display unit 117 and the terminal number display unit 118 displayed in this way is deleted when, for example, the operation determination unit 33 described later determines that the take-out operation is normal. However, these displays may be erased by opening the magazine 500 (tilting the flap 502 forward), which is the target of the take-out instruction, or may be erased after a certain period of time has passed after the display.

When the remaining number management unit 32 receives the detection signal from the distance measuring sensor 520 of the individual fixture 50, the remaining quantity management unit 32 calculates the remaining number of the individual packaged products 5 accommodated in the corresponding magazine 500 based on the detection signal. For example, the remaining quantity management unit 32 holds in advance a calculation formula for calculating the remaining quantity of the individual packaged product 5 from the distance indicated by the detection signal, and applies the distance indicated by the received detection signal to the calculation formula. Then, the remaining number can be calculated. However, the method for calculating the remaining number of individually packaged products 5 housed in the magazine 500 is not limited to such an example. If the detection signal sent from the individual fixture 50 indicates weight or pressure, the remaining number may be calculated from it.
The remaining number management unit 32 sends the calculated remaining number to the support PC 10 together with the identifier of the corresponding magazine 500.

The operation determination unit 33 determines whether the operator takes out the individual product 5 from the magazine 500 or replenishes the magazine 500 with the individual product 5 normally or abnormally.
For example, when the operation determination unit 33 receives the take-out instruction or the replenishment instruction, the operation determination unit 33 takes out the individual packaged product 5 with respect to the target magazine 500, depending on which ranging sensor 520 subsequently receives the detection signal. It is possible to determine whether or not replenishment has been performed. Specifically, the operation determination unit 33 receives a take-out instruction or a replenishment instruction, and when a detection signal is received from the distance measuring sensor 520 corresponding to the target magazine 500, the take-out operation or the replenishment operation is normal. Can be determined. On the other hand, when the detection signal is received from the distance measuring sensor 520 corresponding to the non-target magazine 500, it can be determined that the extraction operation or the replenishment operation is abnormal.
Further, the operation determination unit 33 determines a normal extraction operation by determining whether or not the remaining number has decreased after receiving the extraction instruction by using the remaining number calculated by the remaining number management unit 32. You may. Similarly, the operation determination unit 33 may determine a normal replenishment operation by determining whether or not the remaining number has increased after receiving the replenishment instruction.

When the operation determination unit 33 determines that the take-out operation or the replenishment operation is normal, the operation determination unit 33 notifies the support PC 10 of the completion of take-out or replenishment together with the remaining number newly calculated by the remaining number management unit 32. On the other hand, when the operation determination unit 33 determines that the take-out operation or the replenishment operation is abnormal, the individual packaging position notification LED 551 corresponding to the magazine 500 to be taken out or replenished may be blinked, or a buzzer or the like may be blinked. An error may be output.

[Second control unit]
The second control unit 40 includes a position notification processing unit 41, an operation determination unit 42, a drawer shelf management unit 43, and the like. These are software elements, and are embodied when a control program stored in a memory such as RAM or ROM is executed by the CPU.

When the position notification processing unit 41 receives a take-out instruction or a replenishment instruction from the support PC 10, the position notification processing unit 41 lights the corresponding carton position notification LED 62 provided in the carton fixture 60 based on the instruction. Specifically, the take-out instruction and the replenishment instruction include the position information of the storage area in the drawer shelf 61 to take out or replenish the carton product, and the position notification processing unit 41 corresponds to the position information. The carton position notification LED 62 is turned on. The position notification processing unit 41 holds the association information between the position of each accommodation area and the corresponding carton position notification LED 62, and based on the association information, the position of the accommodation area included in the take-out instruction or the replenishment instruction. The carton position notification LED 62 corresponding to the information can be specified.
The retrieval instruction for batch retrieval may include location information of a plurality of accommodation areas. In that case, the position notification processing unit 41 may collectively turn on the plurality of carton position notification LEDs 62 corresponding to the plurality of position information.

The operation determination unit 42 determines whether the operation of taking out the carton product from the storage area of the drawer shelf 61 by the operator or the operation of replenishing the carton product to the storage area is normal or abnormal.
When the take-out instruction is received, the motion determination unit 42 subsequently confirms that the carton product has been taken out from the target accommodation area based on the sensing information from the detection sensor, and determines that the take-out operation is normal. judge. On the other hand, when it is confirmed that the carton product has been taken out from the storage area other than the target storage area, it is determined that the removal operation is abnormal.
Further, when the replenishment instruction is received, after that, the operation determination unit 42 confirms that the carton product is housed in the target storage area based on the sensing information from the detection sensor, and then the replenishment operation is performed. When it is determined that the product is normal and it is confirmed that the carton product is stored in the storage area other than the target storage area, it is determined that the replenishment operation is abnormal.

When the operation determination unit 42 determines that the take-out operation or the replenishment operation is normal, the operation determination unit 42 notifies the support PC 10 of the completion of the take-out or the replenishment. On the other hand, when the operation determination unit 42 determines that the take-out operation or the replenishment operation is abnormal, the carton position notification LED 62 corresponding to the accommodation area to be taken out or replenished may be blinked, or an error such as a buzzer may occur. You may let it output.
By the way, when the removal or replenishment of a plurality of carton products is instructed, the removal instruction or the replenishment instruction may include the position information of the plurality of accommodation areas. In this case, the position notification processing unit 41 lights a plurality of carton position notification LEDs 62 corresponding to the position information of the plurality of accommodation areas, and the operation determination unit 42 takes out the carton products from the plurality of accommodation areas. Alternatively, the replenishment operation may be determined.

The drawer shelf management unit 43 controls the lock mechanism of the drawer shelf 61. Specifically, the drawer shelf management unit 43 unlocks the lock mechanism of the corresponding drawer shelf 61 after the corresponding carton position notification LED 62 is turned on based on the take-out instruction or the replenishment instruction sent from the support PC 10. .. When the drawer shelf management unit 43 subsequently detects that the drawer shelf 61 is completely accommodated, the drawer shelf management unit 43 locks the lock mechanism of the drawer shelf 61.

[Support PC]
The support PC 10 includes a fixture support unit 101, a customer management unit 102, an order terminal support unit 103, a management operation processing unit 104, a customer management database (DB) 105, a store database (DB) 106, and the like. These are software elements, and are embodied by executing a control program stored in the memory 12 such as RAM and ROM by the CPU 11.

The customer management DB 105 stores customer registration information and purchase history information.
FIG. 7A is a diagram showing an example of a customer information table, and FIG. 7B is a diagram showing an example of a purchase history table. In the present embodiment, the customer registration information is stored in the customer information table, and the purchase history information is stored in the purchase history table.

As shown in FIG. 7A, the customer information table stores a customer ID, a main brand ID, and the like for each customer. The customer registration information stored in such a customer information table is managed by the customer management server device external to the system 1 and reflected in the customer management DB 105.
The customer ID is an identifier that can distinguish a customer (smoker). The customer ID in this embodiment is unique identification information for all the customers managed by the customer management server device. The customer ID corresponds to the customer identifier described above, and the content thereof is as described above as the customer identifier.
The main brand ID is the brand ID of the customer's main brand. The brand ID is an identifier that can identify the brand of the tobacco product, may be an identifier uniquely assigned by this system, or is an identifier assigned outside the system such as a JAN (Japan Article Number) code. There may be. In the present embodiment, it is not possible to distinguish between an individual packaged product and a carton product of the same brand only by the brand ID.
In the present specification, the "main food brand" means a brand of tobacco products registered for each customer (smoker) in the system 1, and can also be called a registered brand. A plurality of main product IDs may be registered for one customer (smoker), and in this case, a plurality of main product IDs are associated with one customer ID.

In the present embodiment, there are no restrictions on the method of registering the customer ID and the main brand ID in the customer registration information managed by the customer management server device. The system 1 may also be equipped with a well-known function for registering an identifier related to a customer, or the function may be realized outside the system 1. Further, the main brand ID may also be registered in the customer management server device via the application installed on the customer's mobile terminal, or the customer management server device may use the purchase history information for each customer described later. The main brand ID may be automatically selected and registered. For example, the most recently and most frequently purchased stock may be selected as the main stock based on the purchase history information.
In the present embodiment, the customer registration information stored in the customer information table also includes a customer record in which the main brand ID is not registered.

The purchase history table stores information indicating the history of each purchase of tobacco-related products for each customer, and as shown in FIG. 7 (b), the customer ID, purchase date, purchase brand ID, number of purchases, etc. To store. The purchase history information stored in such a purchase history table is managed by the customer management server device external to the system 1 and reflected in the customer management DB 105.
The customer management server device shall manage all possible purchase history information, including not only purchases at the main store but also purchases at other stores. At this time, the purchase history table may reflect all the purchase history information for each customer, or may reflect partial purchase history information as in the last six months.
The customer ID is the same as the customer ID stored in the customer information table.
The purchase date and time indicate the date (year, month, day) and time of the purchase unit. Therefore, when the tobacco-related products are purchased multiple times on the same day, the purchase information is stored in a plurality of records for each purchase.
The purchased brand ID indicates the brand ID of the purchased tobacco product.
The individual carton flag is a flag indicating either an individual product or a carton product.
The number of purchased cigarettes indicates the number of purchased tobacco products. When the individual carton flag indicates an individual product, the purchase quantity indicates the number of individual products, and when the individual carton flag indicates a carton product, the purchase quantity indicates the number of carton products.

The store DB 106 stores brand master information, store-specific brand information, tobacco product-related master information, furniture setting information, furniture event logs, and the like.
FIG. 8A is a diagram showing an example of a brand master table, and FIG. 8B is a diagram showing an example of a brand information table for each store. In the present embodiment, the brand master information is stored in the brand master table, and the brand information for each store is stored in the brand information table for each store.
As shown in FIG. 8A, the brand master table contains a brand ID, a brand name, a brand image, a price, a tar amount, a nicotine amount, a number of individual packages, an individual package code, a carton code, a maker ID, and taste information. , A master table that stores brand information such as revision / abolition information for each brand. In the present embodiment, the brand master table stores the brand information of all the brands whose information can be obtained from the cigarette maker. That is, the stock master table contains information on newly released stocks and rare stocks that have not yet been handled at the main store, as well as unhandled stocks that were previously handled at the main store but are not currently handled, and discontinued stocks that have been abolished. It is stored. However, the stock master table does not have to store information on discontinued stocks.

The individual packaging code is a JAN code attached to the packaging of the individual packaging product of the corresponding brand, and the carton code is the JAN code attached to the packaging of the carton product of the corresponding brand.
The maker ID is an identifier for identifying the maker of the corresponding brand of tobacco products in the system 1.
The taste information is information indicating the taste.
In the present specification, "taste" or "taste" means a sensation that a smoker mainly receives as a sense of taste or smell when smoking, for example, a flavor or taste during smoking, an aftertaste, a feeling of sucking, a feeling of menthol, etc. There is. The taste information can be generated as information quantified for each one or more taste elements that can exhibit such a taste. For example, the taste information can be expressed as a vector having five taste elements of flavor, taste, aftertaste, sucking response, and menthol feeling. In this case, for example, the flavor element is the intensity of the flavor quantified, the taste element is the depth of the taste quantified, and the aftertaste element is the quantified feeling of the aftertaste. Can be a numerical value of the weight of the sucking response, and a menthol feeling element can be a numerical value of the strength of the menthol feeling.
The taste information may be information obtained by such sensory evaluation, or may be information obtained by chemical analysis such as component analysis.
The revision / abolition information is information indicating a stock that is scheduled to be abolished or renewed, and indicates whether or not the abolition or renewal is planned, and also indicates the scheduled date of the abolition or renewal.
In addition, other brand information not illustrated in FIG. 8A may be stored in the brand master table.
The support PC 10 obtains the latest brand information from an external server device and reflects it in the brand master table.

As shown in FIG. 8B, the store-specific brand information table is a table that stores brand information of items (fields) similar to the brand master table. However, the brand information table for each store is different from the brand master table in that it stores only the brand information of the brands currently handled at this store.

The fixture setting information includes individual fixture management information, carton fixture management information, and discontinuation information.
The individual fixture management information stores magazine information in which the brand ID, the magazine ID of the magazine 500, and the remaining number are associated with each other for the total number of magazines 500 provided in the individual fixture 50.
The magazine ID is information for specifying the individual packaging position notification LED 551 that notifies the position of the target magazine 500 as described above. As described above, the correspondence relationship between the magazine ID and the corresponding individual packaging position notification LED 551 is held by the first control unit 30.

The carton fixture management information includes the position information of the accommodation area for all the accommodation areas formed in the carton fixture 60, the brand ID indicating the brand of the carton product accommodated in the accommodation area, and the carton product. The information is associated with the accommodation state (presence / absence). The position information of each accommodation area included in the carton furniture management information is formed by, for example, the number of the drawer shelf 61, the column number in the left-right direction in the drawer shelf 61, and the division number in the front-rear direction in the drawer shelf 61. To. However, for the position information of each accommodation area, it is sufficient that the position notification processing unit 41 of the second control unit 40 can specify the carton position notification LED 62 corresponding to each accommodation area, and the accommodation area identifier capable of identifying each accommodation area. It may be.

The handling discontinuation information is information that is set by the operator in the menu displayed on the fixture management terminal 70 by designating a brand that is currently being handled but will be discontinued in the future, and is a brand that will be replaced in the future. It can be said that it is information for designated reservation.
In addition to stocks that are scheduled to be abolished or renewed (also referred to as revised or abolished stocks), stocks that will be discontinued in the future include stocks that are sold at other stores but will not be handled at the target stores. .. Hereinafter, such issues that will be discontinued in the future will be referred to as discontinued issues and will be distinguished from revised and abolished issues. The discontinuation information includes the issue ID of the discontinued issue.

The fixture event log contains, for each event that occurred in the individual fixture 50 or the carton fixture 60, the date and time when the event occurred (simply expressed as the date and time), the fixture ID that identifies the fixture in which the event occurred, and the event ID that identifies the event content. Includes information such as brand ID and quantity.
The fixture ID includes an ID indicating an individual fixture 50 and an ID indicating a carton fixture 60.
The event ID is an ID indicating that the individual packaged product or the carton product has been taken out, an ID indicating that the individual packaged product or the carton product has been replenished, and a carton of the same brand for replenishing the individual packaged product. Includes an ID or the like indicating that the product has been taken out.
The issue ID and quantity indicate the issue and quantity handled at the corresponding event.
Such a fixture event log is updated by the fixture support unit 101, which will be described later.

The fixture support unit 101 supports and manages the operations of the individual fixture 50 and the carton fixture 60 by communicating with the first control unit 30 and the second control unit 40.
When the furniture support unit 101 acquires the order brand information from the order terminal 20, it sends an instruction regarding the order brand to the first control unit 30 or the second control unit 40 based on the order brand information. Specifically, the furniture support unit 101 identifies that the order unit is either one or both of individual products and carton products based on the order unit ID included in the order brand information, and the order unit is an individual unit. If the packaged product is included, a take-out instruction is sent to the first control unit 30. At this time, the furniture support unit 101 is based on the brand ID of the ordered brand included in the order brand information, and from the individual fixture management information included in the fixture setting information of the store DB 106 described above, the magazine 500 corresponding to the brand ID The magazine ID is extracted, and the magazine ID and the quantity included in the ordered brand information are included in the extraction instruction.
On the other hand, when the furniture support unit 101 includes a carton product in the order unit, the fixture support unit 101 sends a take-out instruction to the second control unit 40. At this time, the furniture support unit 101 is based on the brand ID of the ordered brand included in the order brand information, and from the carton fixture management information included in the fixture setting information of the store DB 106 described above, the position of the accommodation area corresponding to the brand ID. Information is extracted, and this location information and the quantity included in the ordered brand information are included in the extraction instruction.
Further, the furniture support unit 101 includes the terminal number of the order terminal 20 which is the transmission source of the order brand information in the above-mentioned retrieval instruction. However, in the present embodiment, since there is only one ordering terminal 20, the fixed terminal number "1" may be set in the take-out instruction, or the terminal number may not be included in the take-out instruction.

After that, when the notification of the completion of removal is received from the first control unit 30, the fixture support unit 101 receives the target magazine 500 in the individual fixture management information of the fixture setting information of the store DB 106 based on the remaining number included in the notification. Update the remaining number of. The target magazine 500 can be specified by the magazine ID set in the take-out instruction. In addition, the fixture support unit 101 adds a record relating to the retrieval of the individual packaged product to the fixture event log of the store DB 106. The date and time, fixture ID (individual fixture 50), event ID (take-out), brand ID (brand ID of the ordered brand), and quantity (number of ordered brands) are set in this record.
Similarly, upon receiving the notification of the completion of retrieval from the second control unit 40 (operation determination unit 42), the furniture support unit 101 receives the brand ID of the record of the target accommodation area in the carton furniture management information of the furniture setting information of the store DB 106. And update the containment status to "None". The target storage area can be specified by the record in which the brand ID of the ordered brand set in the take-out instruction is set. In addition, the fixture support unit 101 adds a record regarding the retrieval of carton products to the fixture event log of the store DB 106. In this record, the date and time, fixture ID (carton fixture 60), event ID (takeout), brand ID (brand ID of the ordered brand), and quantity (number of ordered brands) are set.

Further, when the fixture support unit 101 receives a notification of the completion of retrieval from the first control unit 30 or the second control unit 40, the fixture support unit 101 adds a record of the fixture event log as described above and is external to the system 1. Sends purchase information for holding purchase history information to the customer management server device of. In the purchase information, in addition to the customer ID, the take-out date and time is set as the purchase date and time, the brand ID of the ordered brand is set as the purchased brand ID, and the number of ordered brands is set as the purchased quantity. Here, the customer ID is set when the customer management unit 102, which will be described later, has acquired the customer ID from the order terminal 20. Therefore, if the customer ID has not been acquired, the purchase information may not be transmitted.

On the other hand, when the fixture support unit 101 acquires the order brand information from the order terminal 20 while the lock mechanism of at least one drawer shelf 61 in the carton fixture 60 is in the unlocked state, the lock mechanism is released. The transmission of the withdrawal instruction accompanying the order brand information is suspended until it is locked. The furniture support unit 101 can acquire the state of the lock mechanism of the drawer shelf 61 from the drawer shelf management unit 43 of the second control unit 40.
Further, the fixture support unit 101 may suspend the transmission of the take-out instruction, and the management operation processing unit 104, which will be described later, may output a display for notifying the fixture management terminal 70 that an order has arrived. In this way, the operator (clerk) who performs the replenishment work toward the carton fixture 60 can immediately grasp that the order has arrived.

When a replenishment request operation is performed on the fixture management terminal 70, the fixture support unit 101 allocates the replenishment brand targeted by the replenishment request operation to the storage area of the magazine 500 of the individual fixture 50 or the carton fixture 60. After determining whether or not it is, an instruction regarding the supplementary brand is sent to the first control unit 30 or the second control unit 40. The replenishment brand means the brand of the tobacco product to be replenished.

Here, when the replenishment request operation is performed on the furniture management terminal 70, there are cases where the tobacco product is replenished and cases where the tobacco product is newly loaded. When the tobacco product is replenished, the replenished brand of tobacco product is already stored in the individual packaging fixture 50 or the carton fixture 60, so that the brand information of the replenished brand is stored in the store-specific brand information table of the store DB 106. There is. On the other hand, when a new tobacco product is loaded, the replenished brand of tobacco product is not yet stored in either the individual packaging fixture 50 or the carton fixture 60, so the replenished brand is listed in the brand information table for each store. Brand information is not stored.
Therefore, the fixture support unit 101 refers to the store-specific brand information table of the store DB 106 based on the brand ID, individual packaging code, or carton code related to the supplementary brand, so that the supplementary brand is the magazine 500 or carton of the individual fixture 50. It can be determined whether or not the fixture 60 is allocated to the accommodation area.
Further, in the present embodiment, whether or not there is a record in which the brand ID of the supplementary brand is set in the individual fixture management information and the carton fixture management information of the fixture setting information stored in the store DB 106. It can be determined whether or not the replenishment brand is assigned to the storage area of the magazine 500 of the individual fixture 50 or the carton fixture 60.
In the following description, any of these determinations may be referred to as a determination as to whether or not the brand is assigned to the magazine 500 or the accommodation area.

Here, there are roughly three types of replenishment request operations when replenishing tobacco products.
The first is a replenishment request operation in which the operator (clerk) selects a brand to be replenished from the list of brand of tobacco products stored in the individual packaging fixture 50 or the carton fixture 60. The display and selection of the brand list is performed on the fixture management terminal 70. Hereinafter, this will be referred to as the first replenishment request operation.
The second is a replenishment request operation in which the operator specifies the brand to be replenished by having the bar code scanner connected to the fixture management terminal 70 read the JAN code of the individually packaged product to be replenished. Also in this case, the "scan and replenish individual packaged products" menu is selected from the menu displayed on the fixture management terminal 70. Hereinafter, this will be referred to as a second replenishment request operation.
The third is a replenishment request operation in which the operator specifies the brand to be replenished by having the bar code scanner connected to the fixture management terminal 70 read the JAN code of the carton product to be replenished. Also in this case, the "scan and replenish carton product" menu is selected from the menu displayed on the furniture management terminal 70. Hereinafter, this will be referred to as a third replenishment request operation.

The fixture support unit 101 obtains an operation ID capable of specifying such first, second, and third replenishment request operations from the fixture management terminal 70, and based on the operation ID, replenishes as follows. Perform processing.
When the furniture support unit 101 acquires the operation ID indicating the second replenishment request operation and the JAN code of the individually packaged product from the furniture management terminal 70, the store DB 106 stores the brand information in which the JAN code is stored as the individual packaging code. Identify from the brand information table by store. Further, the furniture support unit 101 is based on the brand ID of the specified brand information, and from the individual fixture management information of the fixture setting information of the store DB 106, the magazine of the individual fixture 50 associated with the brand ID. The magazine ID of 500 is extracted, and a replenishment instruction including the extracted magazine ID is sent to the first control unit 30. As a result, in the individual packaging fixture 50, the individual packaging position notification LED 551 corresponding to the magazine ID is lit in the lighting color corresponding to the replenishment.
After that, when the fixture support unit 101 receives the notification of the completion of replenishment from the first control unit 30, the fixture support unit 101 of the target magazine 500 in the individual fixture management information of the fixture setting information of the store DB 106 is based on the number included in the notification. Update the remaining number. In addition, the fixture support unit 101 adds a record relating to the replenishment of individual packaging products to the fixture event log of the store DB 106. The date and time, fixture ID (individual fixture 50), event ID (replenishment), brand ID (brand ID of replenishment brand), and number (replenishment number) are set in this record.

When the furniture support unit 101 acquires the operation ID indicating the third replenishment request operation and the JAN code of the carton product from the furniture management terminal 70, the furniture support unit 101 stores the brand information in which the JAN code is stored as the carton code in the store DB 106. Identify from another brand information table. The fixture support unit 101 sends a replenishment instruction including the brand ID of the brand information to the second control unit 40. As a result, in the carton fixture 60, the carton position notification LED 62 that notifies the position of the storage area to which the brand ID of the replenishment brand is assigned lights up, and the lock mechanism of the drawer shelf 61 having the storage area is unlocked. , The carton product can be replenished in the storage area.
After that, when the furniture support unit 101 receives the notification of the completion of replenishment from the second control unit 40, the furniture support unit 101 sets the brand ID of the replenishment brand in the record of the target accommodation area in the carton furniture management information of the furniture setting information of the store DB 106. In addition, the accommodation state "Yes" is set. In addition, the fixture support unit 101 adds a record regarding the replenishment of carton products to the fixture event log of the store DB 106. The date and time, fixture ID (carton fixture 60), event ID (replenishment), brand ID (brand ID of replenishment brand), and number (replenishment number = 1) are set in this record.

When the fixture support unit 101 acquires the operation ID indicating the first replenishment request operation and the brand ID of the replenishment brand from the fixture management terminal 70, the fixture support unit 101 first sends a take-out instruction including the brand ID of the replenishment brand to the second control unit 40. send. As a result, in the carton fixture 60, the carton position notification LED 62 that notifies the position of the storage area that houses the carton product of the replenishment brand is lit, and the lock mechanism of the drawer shelf 61 having the storage area is unlocked. To.
As a result, the operator (clerk) can take out the replenishment brand carton product from the storage area of the drawer shelf 61. When the removal of the carton product is detected by the detection sensor of the drawer shelf 61, the second control unit 40 completes the removal, and the furniture support unit 101 may instruct the furniture management terminal 70 to start the barcode scanner. it can.
At this time, the fixture support unit 101 sets the accommodation state "none" in the record of the target accommodation area in the carton fixture management information of the fixture setting information of the store DB 106 in response to the reception of the completion of the removal, and the fixture of the store DB 106. Add a record for carton merchandise payouts to the event log.

The operator (clerk) tears the packaging of the carton product taken out, takes out a plurality of individually packaged products, and replenishes the individual packaged product to the individual packaging fixture 50. At this time, the operator causes the barcode scanner of the fixture management terminal 70 to read the JAN code of the individually packaged product.
The fixture support unit 101 acquires the JAN code of the individual packaging product of the supplementary brand from the fixture management terminal 70, and identifies the brand information in which the JAN code is set as the individual packaging code from the store-specific brand information table of the store DB 106. , The brand ID corresponding to the JAN code is extracted from the brand information. As a result, the furniture support unit 101 confirms that the brand ID acquired earlier together with the operation ID of the first replenishment request operation matches the brand ID corresponding to the JAN code of the individually packaged product, and the store DB 106 The magazine ID of the magazine 500 to which the brand ID is assigned is extracted from the individual fixture management information of the fixture setting information, and a replenishment instruction including the magazine ID is sent to the first control unit 30. As a result, in the individual packaging fixture 50, the individual packaging position notification LED 551 corresponding to the magazine ID is lit in the lighting color corresponding to the replenishment.
After that, when the fixture support unit 101 receives the notification of the completion of replenishment from the first control unit 30, the fixture support unit 101 of the target magazine 500 in the individual fixture management information of the fixture setting information of the store DB 106 is based on the number included in the notification. Update the remaining number. In addition, the fixture support unit 101 adds a record relating to the replenishment of individual packaging products to the fixture event log of the store DB 106. The date and time, fixture ID (individual fixture 50), event ID (replenishment), brand ID (brand ID of replenishment brand), and number (replenishment number) are set in this record.

The second and third replenishment request operations described above are also performed when a new tobacco product is loaded.
In this case, the brand information in which the JAN code of the individually packaged product sent from the fixture management terminal 70 is stored as the individual packaging code is not stored in the store-specific brand information table of the store DB 106. In addition, the brand information in which the JAN code of the carton product sent from the furniture management terminal 70 is stored as the carton code is also not stored in the store-specific brand information table. In addition, the record in which the brand ID corresponding to the JAN code of the individual packaged product or the carton product is set does not exist in the individual packaged fixture management information and the carton fixture management information of the fixture setting information of the store DB 106.
Therefore, the fixture support unit 101 searches for the magazine 500 to which the brand is not assigned by referring to the fixture setting information of the store DB 106 in response to the second replenishment request operation. Similarly, the fixture support unit 101 searches for a storage area to which no brand is assigned in response to the third replenishment request operation.
The magazine 500 to which the brand is not assigned can be identified by searching for the magazine ID of the magazine 500 for which the brand ID is not set in the individual fixture management information. The accommodation area to which the brand is not assigned can be specified by searching for the location information of the accommodation area in which the brand ID is not set in the carton fixture management information.

When the furniture support unit 101 can identify the magazine 500 to which the brand is not assigned, the furniture support unit 101 sends a replenishment instruction including the magazine ID of the unassigned magazine 500 to the first control unit 30, and thereafter, the above-mentioned tobacco product The same processing as at the time of replenishment will be performed.
On the other hand, when the furniture support unit 101 can identify the accommodation area to which the brand is not assigned, the fixture support unit 101 sends a replenishment instruction including the position information of the unallocated accommodation area to the second control unit 40, and the above-mentioned description will be described thereafter. The same processing as when replenishing tobacco products will be performed.

The brand ID of the newly loaded brand is acquired from the brand master table of the store DB 106. Specifically, the fixture support unit 101 specifies the brand information in which the JAN code of the individual packaged product sent from the fixture management terminal 70 is stored as the individual packaging code in the brand master table of the store DB 106, and from the brand information. The brand ID can be acquired as the brand ID of the newly loaded brand. Further, the furniture support unit 101 identifies the brand information in which the JAN code of the carton product sent from the fixture management terminal 70 is stored as the carton code in the brand master table of the store DB 106, and newly loads the brand ID from the brand information. It can be acquired as the brand ID of the brand.

However, there may be cases where there is no magazine 500 or storage area to which no brand has been assigned. In this case, the fixture support unit 101 confirms whether or not the handling discontinuation information is set in the fixture setting information of the store DB 106. When the handling discontinuation information is set, the furniture support unit 101 handles the handling from the individual fixture management information of the furniture setting information of the store DB 106 based on the brand ID of the discontinued brand indicated by the handling discontinuation information. All the magazine IDs of the magazine 500 of the individual fixture 50 associated with the brand ID of the canceled brand are extracted, and a take-out instruction including all the extracted magazine IDs is sent to the first control unit 30. In addition, the fixture support unit 101 extracts all the location information of the accommodation area of the carton fixture 60 associated with the brand ID of the brand whose handling is discontinued from the carton fixture management information of the fixture setting information of the store DB 106, and the location information thereof. A take-out instruction including all the extracted position information is sent to the second control unit 40. As a result, in the individual packaging fixture 50, the positions of all the magazines 500 to which the brand IDs of the discontinued brands are assigned are collectively notified by the individual packaging position notification LED 551, and all the storage areas for accommodating the carton products of the discontinued brands. The position of is collectively notified by the carton position notification LED 62.

When the discontinued brand of tobacco products is taken out from the individual packaging fixture 50 and the carton fixture 60 by the operator in accordance with the above-mentioned batch notification, the same as in the case where the above-mentioned second or third replenishment request operation is performed thereafter. Is processed. That is, the fixture support unit 101 issues a replenishment instruction including the magazine ID of the magazine 500 to which the discontinued brand to which the individually packaged product and the carton product of the newly loaded brand should be loaded, or the position of the storage area. By sending to 30 or the second control unit 40, it is possible to replenish the newly loaded brand of tobacco products.

On the other hand, when the handling discontinuation information is not set, the fixture support unit 101 instructs the management operation processing unit 104, which will be described later, to display the handling discontinuation brand selection screen on the fixture management terminal 70. After that, the fixture support unit 101 acquires the handling discontinuation brand designation information sent from the fixture management terminal 70, and thereafter, the same processing as when the handling discontinuation information is set is performed.

The customer management unit 102 mainly manages customer registration information and identifies recommended tobacco products.
Specifically, when the customer management unit 102 acquires the customer ID from the order terminal 20, it extracts the main brand ID corresponding to the customer ID from the customer management DB 105 and sends the extracted information to the order terminal 20. When the main product ID corresponding to the customer ID is not stored in the customer management DB 105, the customer management unit 102 provides the main product unset information indicating that the main product ID has not been set to the order terminal 20. Send to.
As a result, when the main brand ID is sent to the ordering terminal 20, as will be described later, the display so that the tobacco product of the brand identified by the main brand ID can be easily ordered on the order terminal 20 (as described later). The brand order screen described later) is output.

When a plurality of main brand IDs are associated with the customer ID in the customer management DB 105, the customer management unit 102 extracts the plurality of main brand IDs from the customer management DB 105, and the extracted plurality of main brand IDs are extracted. The brand ID is sent to the order terminal 20.
As a result, the ordering terminal 20 is displayed so that it is possible to collectively specify a plurality of brands of tobacco products identified by the plurality of main brand IDs. Therefore, even a smoker (customer) who changes the brand according to the environment, the situation, etc. can easily specify the tobacco product of the desired brand on the order terminal 20.

When the customer ID is acquired from the order terminal 20, in addition, the customer management unit 102 identifies the recommended tobacco product, and together with the main brand ID or the main brand unset information, the brand ID of the recommended tobacco product and the recommended reason information To the order terminal 20.
Specifically, the customer management unit 102 extracts the purchase history information associated with the customer ID from the purchase history table of the customer management DB 105, and based on the extracted purchase history information, the store-specific brand information of the store DB 106. Tobacco products to be recommended are specified as tobacco recommended products from a plurality of types of brands indicated by the brand information stored in the table.
In the present embodiment, the recommended tobacco products are specified from the brands of tobacco products handled at the main store in this way. However, the present invention is not limited to such an example, and a tobacco recommended product may be specified from the brands indicated by the brand information stored in the brand master table of the store DB 106. In this way, the recommended tobacco products can be identified from all the brands regardless of whether or not they are handled at the main store.

Here, various methods can be considered as a method for identifying recommended tobacco products based on purchase history information.
For example, the customer management unit 102 can estimate the smoking suppression behavior of the customer based on the extracted purchase history information. According to the purchase history information, the frequency of purchase of tobacco products by the customer can be obtained, and the consumption pace or smoking pace of the customer's tobacco product (how many days are consumed per tobacco product, what is per day) from the purchase frequency. You can estimate whether you are smoking a book, etc.). For example, if an average of three cigarette products containing 20 cigarettes are purchased per month, it can be estimated that an average of two cigarettes are consumed per day. Furthermore, according to purchase history information, there is also a recent trend in smoking pace, such as whether the estimated customer smoking pace (for example, the number of cigarettes smoked per day) is rising, falling, or unchanged. Obtainable. According to this recent trend of smoking pace, it is possible to estimate that the customer is refraining from smoking, that is, the customer's smoking suppression behavior.
When the customer's smoking suppression behavior is presumed in this way, the customer management unit 102 identifies and presents a brand that assists the smoking suppression behavior as a tobacco recommended product, which is interesting and meaningful to the customer. Tobacco products can be recommended. For example, as a brand that assists smoking suppression behavior, a brand with a small amount of tar or nicotine, a heat-not-burn tobacco, and the like can be considered.

In addition, the customer management unit 102 can also estimate the brand selection tendency of the customer based on the extracted purchase history information. For example, when a plurality of different stocks are purchased, the customer's stock preference can be obtained as a stock selection tendency from the common characteristics among the stocks. In the present embodiment, at least one of the price, tar amount, nicotine amount, maker ID, and taste information included in the brand information in the store-specific brand information table of the store DB 106 is common or approximates in a plurality of purchase units. In some cases, at least one of the common or similar factors is considered to represent the brand preference of the customer. For example, the brand preference of customers who purchase only brands of the same manufacturer but different brands is manufacturer-oriented, and the brand preference of customers who purchase only brands of different brands but similar taste information is taste. Oriented. In addition, the brand preference of a customer who purchases only brands having similar taste information and a price of a predetermined price or less is taste-oriented and price-oriented. The customer management unit 102 can specify another brand having the same or similar at least one element obtained in this way as a tobacco recommended product that suits the customer's brand preference.

Further refined, the similarity of the taste information can be calculated as follows. Since the taste information is quantified for each one or more taste elements as described above, the tobacco product uses the taste feature amount (taste feature vector) indicated by a plurality of elements including at least the taste information. It is possible to calculate the similarity between the stocks of.
The taste feature amount may be generated only by the taste information, or the taste information is used as one element, and at least one of the price, the tar amount, the nicotine amount, the packaging form (individual packaging or carton), and the manufacturer information is used. It may be generated in addition as an element. Further, when other information such as a tobacco material type is included as the brand information in the store-specific brand information table of the store DB 106, such information may be used as one element of the taste feature amount.
The similarity between the taste features can be calculated by using a well-known calculation method for the similarity between the features, such as a method for calculating the distance between vectors.
Further, the customer management unit 102 can calculate the taste feature amount for each brand of the tobacco products included in the purchase history information, and set the average feature amount of the calculated taste feature amount as the brand preference of the customer. ..

Further, according to the purchase history information, the transfer tendency of the issue can also be obtained as the issue selection tendency. For example, it is possible to obtain a transfer tendency of a brand for each customer, such as a customer whose purchasing brand changes frequently and a customer whose brand hardly changes. When a customer ID of a customer whose brand hardly changes is acquired due to such a transfer tendency of a brand, for example, the customer management department 102 identifies a brand that is frequently purchased as a tobacco recommended product. May be good. Further, when the switching of the brand is patterned such as brand A, brand B, brand C, brand A, brand B, and brand C, the customer management unit 102 uses the switching pattern as the brand transfer tendency. It is also possible to specify a tobacco recommended product according to this pattern.
In this way, the customer management unit 102 can be rephrased as an estimation means for estimating the smoking suppression behavior or the brand selection tendency of the customer based on the purchase history information.

When the main product ID is associated with the customer ID, the customer management unit 102 tobaccos a tobacco product of another brand having a taste similar to that of the tobacco product of the brand indicated by the main brand ID. It can also be specified as a recommended product.
The degree of similarity in taste between brands may be calculated using the above-mentioned taste feature amount based on the brand information in the brand information table for each store in the store DB 106, or may be determined using predetermined similar information. Good. In the latter case, a similar brand table that stores a set of brand IDs for each brand group determined to have similar tastes by sensory evaluation is managed in advance in the store DB 106, and the taste can be determined by using the information of the similar brand table. Similar stocks may be identified.
The customer management unit 102 can also specify a tobacco recommended product by using both the main brand and the purchase history information. For example, when the customer's smoking suppression behavior is estimated based on the purchase history information, the customer management unit 102 identifies a group of brands having similar tastes to the main brand using the taste feature amount, and the brand group It is possible to identify a brand with a small amount of tar and nicotine as a recommended tobacco product.

The specific method for specifying a tobacco-recommended product using either or both of the main brand and purchase history information is not limited to the above-mentioned example.
The customer management unit 102 can also identify tobacco recommended products using the trained AI model. For example, by using a learned AI model that inputs a purchase history of a tobacco product and outputs a recommended tobacco product, it is possible to identify the recommended tobacco product. For example, this AI model includes necessary brand information of all brands stored in the brand information table or brand master table for each store in the store DB 106, the purchase history of tobacco products of a plurality of people in the past, and the tobacco products actually purchased. You can learn from the brands of.
The customer management unit 102 calculates the number of purchase units included in the purchase history information, and if the number is less than or equal to the predetermined number, identifies the recommended tobacco product using only the main brand without using the purchase history information. You may try to do so. This is because when the number of purchase units included in the purchase history information is small, the customer's smoking suppression behavior and brand selection tendency cannot be obtained with high accuracy from the purchase history information.

Further, the customer management unit 102 can also determine the necessity or frequency of displaying the recommended tobacco products based on the purchase history information. For example, the customer management unit 102 determines whether the target customer is a customer who frequently changes the brand or a customer who hardly changes the brand based on the purchase history information, and is a customer who hardly changes the brand. In some cases, it may be decided not to display the recommended tobacco products, and in the case of a customer who frequently changes brands, it may be decided to display the recommended tobacco products. Customers who rarely change stocks are unlikely to be interested even if other stocks are recommended, and the recommendations of other stocks may be annoying. Therefore, the customer management unit 102 displays the recommended tobacco products less frequently when the customer rarely changes the brand, and displays the recommended tobacco products when the customer frequently changes the brand. You may decide whether or not to label the recommended tobacco products so that the frequency is high. The frequency of such display can be realized by lottery with different winning probabilities, or the displayed achievements may be managed and determined according to the achievements. However, the method for determining the necessity or frequency of labeling of recommended tobacco products based on purchase history information is not limited to such an example.
By determining the necessity of labeling in this way, it is possible to effectively present tobacco recommended products for each customer.

In addition, the customer management unit 102 can also determine the necessity or frequency of displaying the recommended tobacco products depending on whether or not the main brand is scheduled to be revised or abolished. The customer management unit 102 can determine whether or not there is a plan to revise or abolish the tobacco product of the main brand based on the revision / abolition information in the brand information of the store-specific brand information table of the store DB 106. As a result, the customer management unit 102 displays the recommended tobacco products more frequently when the main brands are scheduled to be revised or abolished than when the main brands are not scheduled to be revised or abolished. It is possible to determine the necessity or frequency of display of. At this time, the display of the recommended tobacco product may be determined only when there is a plan to revise or abolish the main food brand, and it may be determined that the display of the recommended tobacco product is unnecessary when there is no plan to revise or abolish the main food brand.
In this way, it is possible to encourage the customer to transfer to another brand before the main brand is renewed or abolished, so that the usefulness of presenting the recommended tobacco product can be improved.
Further, the customer management unit 102 calculates the number of purchase units included in the purchase history information, and if the number is less than or equal to the predetermined number and the main brand is not registered, the customer management unit 102 decides not to display the recommended tobacco products. You may try to do so.
When it is decided to hide the tobacco recommended product, the customer management unit 102 sends only the customer ID to the order terminal 20, and does not send the brand ID of the tobacco recommended product and the recommendation reason information.

When the customer management unit 102 specifies a tobacco recommended product as described above, the customer management unit 102 selects recommended reason information according to the specifying method. A plurality of types of recommendation reason templates consisting of character strings indicating the recommendation reasons are stored in advance, and the customer management unit 102 selects a template corresponding to the method of identifying the tobacco recommended product this time from among these templates, and the customer management unit 102 selects the template. The template is sent to the ordering terminal 20 as recommended reason information.
For example, if a tobacco recommended product is identified according to the customer's estimation of smoking suppression behavior, the recommendation reason information such as "If you are trying to refrain from smoking, please try the following product" is selected. Will be done. If a brand with a similar taste to the main brand is identified as a recommended tobacco product, recommended reason information such as "Please try the next product with a similar taste" is selected. When a tobacco recommended product that has a similar taste to the main brand and is identified according to the customer's smoking control behavior is identified, "If you are trying to refrain from smoking, the taste is similar to the registered brand. Please try the next product that gives you a feeling. "
In addition, if the labeling of recommended tobacco products is decided because the main brand is scheduled to be abolished, and a brand with a similar taste to the main brand is specified as a recommended tobacco product, "the above brand of your choice" Will be discontinued. Please try the next product that has a similar taste. "
By presenting not only the tobacco recommended product but also the reason for the recommendation in this way, it is possible to attract customers more strongly to the tobacco recommended product.
However, the specific content of the recommended reason information and the selection method thereof are not limited to such examples. The recommendation reason information does not have to be transmitted to the order terminal 20.

The order terminal support unit 103 supports processing on the order terminal 20, and in particular, manages various screens displayed on the order terminal 20. In the present embodiment, the order terminal support unit 103 generates or updates the screen data of the brand selection screen to be displayed on the order terminal 20, and transmits the screen data to the order terminal 20.
For example, the order terminal support unit 103 selects a brand so that when the tobacco product of the newly loaded brand described above is loaded, the tobacco product of the newly loaded brand can be selected on the brand selection screen of the order terminal 20. The screen data of the screen is automatically updated, and the updated screen data is sent to the ordering terminal 20. Further, the order terminal support unit 103 prevents the tobacco products of the discontinued brand from being selected on the brand selection screen of the order terminal 20 when the tobacco products of the discontinued brand are paid out in a lump sum. Is automatically updated, and the updated screen data is transmitted to the order terminal 20.

Here, various forms can be considered for the screen data sent by the order terminal support unit 103 to the order terminal 20 and the display method of the changed brand selection screen in the order terminal 20 in order to change the brand selection screen. The embodiments do not limit them in any way. For example, brand information including a brand name and a brand image and position information for displaying the brand information are sent to the ordering terminal 20 as screen data, and the ordering terminal 20 automatically changes the brand selection screen based on the screen data. , The changed brand selection screen may be displayed. In addition, the order terminal support unit 103 generates Web page data of the brand selection screen in HTML (HyperText Markup Language), XML (Extensible Markup Language), etc., sends the data to the order terminal 20, and the order terminal 20 uses a browser to display the data. The data may be read and the brand selection screen may be displayed.

The management operation processing unit 104 manages the fixture management terminal 70, and in particular, controls the display of the fixture management terminal 70 and manages information related to the individual fixture 50 or the carton fixture 60 set by the operation on the fixture management terminal 70. And so on.
For example, when the order brand information is acquired from the order terminal 20 during the replenishment work of the tobacco product, the management operation processing unit 104 displays the fixture management terminal 70 for notifying that the order has arrived, as described above. To output to.

Further, when a certain brand is selected by the menu displayed on the fixture management terminal 70 and the reservation for discontinuing the handling of the brand is selected, the management operation processing unit 104 includes the handling discontinuation information including the brand ID of the brand. Is acquired from the fixture management terminal 70, and the acquired handling discontinuation information is set in the fixture setting information of the store DB 106.
Further, the management operation processing unit 104 displays a brand list for allowing the operator to select the discontinued brand on the fixture management terminal 70 when the discontinued brand is not set when replenishing the newly loaded brand of tobacco products. Instruct to do. As a result, the fixture management terminal 70 displays the brand list and causes the operator to select the discontinued brand, and the management operation processing unit 104 provides the discontinued brand designation information including the brand ID of the selected discontinued brand to the fixture management terminal. Obtained from 70.

[Furniture management menu]
Next, the fixture management menu displayed on the fixture management terminal 70 will be described.
The fixture management menu includes a replenishment request menu, a discontinued brand selection menu, and the like. The replenishment request menu and the discontinued brand selection menu, which are part of the fixture management menu, will be described below.
The replenishment request menu includes a menu for selecting the brand to be replenished by operating the screen, a "scan and replenish individual packaged product" menu, and a "scan and replenish carton product" menu.
When the menu to be selected by screen operation is executed, the stock list is displayed and the operator is made to select the stock to be replenished. The operator operation according to this menu corresponds to the above-mentioned first replenishment request operation.
When the "Scan and replenish individual products" menu or the "Scan and replenish carton products" menu is executed, the barcode scanner connected to the furniture management terminal 70 is activated and attached to the packaging of the tobacco products. The barcode becomes readable. The operator operation according to these menus corresponds to the above-mentioned second or third replenishment request operation.

When the discontinued stock selection menu is executed, the discontinued stock selection screen is displayed so that the stocks that are currently being handled but will be discontinued in the future can be selected. The discontinued stock selection screen includes a stock list, and if this menu is executed when it is not the time of new replenishment of tobacco products, the stock selected in the stock list will be in the reserved state of the discontinued stock. That is, as described above, the handling discontinuation information including the brand ID of the selected brand is sent from the fixture management terminal 70 to the support PC 10 and stored.
In addition, the discontinued brand selection screen may be displayed when a new tobacco product is replenished. In this case, as described above, the handling discontinuation information including the brand ID of the selected brand is sent from the fixture management terminal 70 to the support PC 10.

[Order terminal]
The order terminal 20 has an information acquisition unit 201, a display processing unit 202, an order reception unit 203, and the like. These are software elements, and are embodied by executing a control program stored in the memory 22 such as RAM and ROM by the CPU 21.

The information acquisition unit 201 can acquire an captured image from the imaging unit 26, and can further acquire customer information received from the customer's mobile terminal from the communication unit 25.
When the acquired captured image indicates a barcode attached to the packaging of the tobacco product, the information acquisition unit 201 acquires the JAN code by applying an existing barcode reading process to the captured image. can do.
When the acquired captured image indicates a two-dimensional code (QR code (registered trademark), etc.) displayed on the customer's mobile terminal, the information acquisition unit 201 reads an existing two-dimensional code for the captured image. By applying the processing, the brand ID or JAN code of the main brand can be obtained. In this case, a dedicated application is provided, which is installed and executed on the customer's mobile terminal to carry a two-dimensional code in which the customer's main brand ID stored in the mobile terminal is encoded. It can be displayed on the terminal. When the customer causes the imaging unit 26 of the ordering terminal 20 to capture the display of the two-dimensional code, the information acquisition unit 201 can acquire the main brand ID from the two-dimensional code.

Further, when the acquired image is a biometric image for biometric authentication (for example, a vein image), the information acquisition unit 201 can acquire biometric identification information from the biometric image. The acquired biometric identification information may be used as a customer ID as it is, or may be used for user authentication. The information acquisition unit 201 sends the acquired biometric identification information to the support PC 10.
Further, the information acquisition unit 201 can acquire the customer ID from the customer information acquired by communication. Even in this case, the customer ID can be sent from the mobile terminal to the ordering terminal 20 by short-range wireless communication or the like by executing the dedicated application installed on the customer's mobile terminal.
In addition, the information acquisition unit 201 can also acquire an identification number (IC card ID, etc.) registered in the IC card as a customer ID from an IC card carried by the customer as electronic money or the like by short-range wireless communication or the like. ..
The information acquisition unit 201 sends the acquired customer ID to the support PC 10.

The display processing unit 202 displays the brand order screen on the display unit of the touch panel unit 23 in addition to the brand selection screen described above, and the user operation on the brand selection screen or the brand order screen is detected by the touch sensor of the touch panel unit 23. Then, various processes are executed according to the detected user operation.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a brand selection screen, and FIGS. 10 and 11 are diagrams showing an example of a brand order screen.

The brand selection screen displayed on the order terminal 20 displays brand information of a plurality of brands of tobacco products belonging to the brand group selection unit G1 for selecting the brand group and the brand group selected by the brand group selection unit G1. It is formed from the individual brand selection unit G2.
In this way, the brand group of tobacco products is divided into brand groups according to the common name (brand name) included in each brand name. In the example of FIG. 9, the brand group "A family" including the common brand name "A" in the brand name is selected by the brand group selection unit G1, and all the brands including the common brand name "A" are selected. The brand information of the tobacco product is displayed in the individual brand selection unit G2 in a predetermined arrangement. If all the brand information cannot be displayed on one screen, the brand information group that is a subset of the brand group "A family" is sequentially displayed by scrolling or the like.

When the order terminal 20 is operated to order a tobacco product of a desired brand, the customer or a clerk operates such a brand selection screen to search for the desired brand, and the desired brand is displayed on the brand selection screen. By pressing the image portion, the brand order screen G3 as shown in FIG. 10 is popped up for the tobacco product of the brand.
Therefore, it can be said that the brand selection screen is a brand operation display that enables a designation operation for designating the brand of the tobacco product to be taken out from the tobacco products of a plurality of brands.

The brand order screen G3 is a screen for confirming the order of the tobacco product of the brand selected on the brand selection screen, and includes the brand information of the tobacco product of the selected brand, as well as the order unit designation unit G31 and the order. The confirmation operation unit G32 and the order cancellation operation unit G33 are included.

In the order unit designation unit G31, the order quantity of individual packaged products is "1", "2", "3" and "4", and the order quantity of carton products is "1 carton" and "2 cartons". Is made into a button so that each can be specified by one operation. As a result, the customer or the clerk can input the order unit and the quantity by a simple operation without performing a complicated operation such as the quantity input. On the other hand, if you want to specify a unit other than those order units, you can select "Enter quantity" to display another screen for entering the quantity of individual packaging products or carton products.
When the customer or the clerk presses the order confirmation operation unit G32, the customer or the clerk can order the tobacco products of the selected brand in the specified order unit and quantity.
Therefore, it can be said that the brand order screen G3 is a brand operation display that enables ordering operations for tobacco products of the target brand.

Further, the brand order screen G3 may include a recommended product presentation area G4.
As illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11, the recommended product presentation area G4 includes a display area G41 for information on the recommended tobacco product, a display area G43 for the reason for recommending the recommended tobacco product, and a button for selecting the recommended tobacco product. G42 is included. When the selection button G42 is selected, the brand order screen G3 related to the presented tobacco recommended product is displayed.
In the example of FIG. 10, the recommendation reason information that "please try the next product that can taste a similar taste" is displayed in the display area G43, and in the example of FIG. 11, "the above brand that the customer likes is It will be discontinued. Please try the next product that has a similar taste. " The method for determining these recommended reason information is as described above.
The recommended product presentation area G4 may be displayed at any time when the brand order screen G3 is displayed, may be displayed or hidden depending on the customer or arbitrarily, and the frequency of display may be switched. May be done. Details regarding the display processing of the recommended product presentation area G4 will be described later.

When the brand ID or JAN code is acquired by the information acquisition unit 201, the display processing unit 202 does not require a desired brand selection operation on the brand selection screen, and the display processing unit 202 identifies the brand by the brand ID or JAN code. The display similar to the state in which the tobacco product is selected on the above-mentioned brand selection screen, that is, the brand order screen G3 related to the tobacco product of the brand can be displayed at once on the brand selection screen.
Further, in the display processing unit 202, when the customer ID is sent to the support PC 10 by the information acquisition unit 201 and the main product ID is acquired from the support PC 10 (customer management unit 102), the same as described above. , The brand order screen G3 related to the tobacco product of the brand identified by the main brand ID can be displayed at once on the brand selection screen.
As a result, the customer can communicate with the ordering terminal 20 of the customer's mobile terminal, have the ordering terminal 20 image his / her own biometric information, or have the ordering terminal 20 image the two-dimensional code displayed on the mobile terminal. It is possible to easily order a desired brand of tobacco product without having to search for a desired brand of tobacco product from among the brand of tobacco products.

Further, when a plurality of main product IDs are acquired from the support PC 10 (customer management unit 102), the display processing unit 202 displays a plurality of brands identified by the plurality of main product IDs on the brand selection screen. It is also possible to display the batch brand order screen that enables the batch ordering of tobacco products at once.
The batch brand order screen is divided into, for example, each of a plurality of brands of tobacco products, includes brand information and an order unit designation unit, and further includes an order confirmation operation unit and an order cancellation operation unit. Can be formed into.
The customer or clerk confirms the order for one or more brands of tobacco products (all brands may be used) among the multiple brands of tobacco products displayed on the batch brand order screen, with the order unit specified. By pressing the operation unit, it is possible to place an order in the specified order unit and quantity for one or more brands of tobacco products for which the order unit is specified.

In the present embodiment, when the display processing unit 202 acquires the brand ID of the tobacco recommended product and the recommendation reason information together with the brand ID of the main brand from the support PC 10, it is recommended as illustrated in FIG. The brand order screen G3 related to the main brand is displayed at once while the product presentation area G4 is included. At this time, the display area G41 displays information about the tobacco product of the brand identified by the brand ID of the tobacco recommended product, and the display area G43 displays the recommendation reason information. In this way, the tobacco recommended product specified by the support PC 10 is presented.
On the other hand, when the display processing unit 202 obtains only the brand ID of the main product from the support PC 10 without the brand ID of the recommended tobacco product and the recommendation reason information, the recommended product presentation area G4 is not included. The brand order screen G3 related to the main brand is displayed at once. In this case, no tobacco recommended products will be offered.

Further, the display processing unit 202 displays the brand selection screen when the main brand unset information is acquired from the support PC 10 (customer management unit 102).
In the present embodiment, when the brand ID of the tobacco recommended product and the recommended reason information are acquired together with the main brand unset information, the display processing unit 202 is accompanied by the operation of selecting the desired brand on the brand selection screen. The brand order screen G3 related to the selected brand is displayed in a state including the recommended product presentation area G4. In the recommended product presentation area G4, information on the recommended tobacco product identified by the acquired brand ID together with the main brand unset information and information on the reason for recommendation are displayed. In this case, since the recommended tobacco product is not specified in relation to the brand selected on the brand selection screen, the information on the recommended tobacco product specified based on the purchase history information is in the recommended product presentation area G4. It will be displayed.

However, by doing the following, it is also possible to present the recommended tobacco product specified in relation to the brand selected on the brand selection screen. For example, the display processing unit 202 may specify the tobacco recommended product by the same processing as the customer management unit 102 described above, or the cigarette recommended product may be sent to the support PC 10 by sending the brand ID of the brand selected on the brand selection screen. The brand ID and the recommended reason information may be obtained from the support PC 10. In the latter case, the customer management unit 102 of the support PC 10 may execute the process related to the recommended tobacco product as described above based on the brand ID sent from the order terminal 20.
In addition, when the brand order screen G3 is displayed by selecting a desired brand on the brand selection screen, such as when the customer ID is not acquired or when the main brand is not registered, the brand order is displayed. The screen G3 may not include the recommended product presentation area G4.

When the operation of pressing the order confirmation operation unit G32 is performed and the order brand information is sent to the support PC 10 by the order reception unit 203 as described later, the display processing unit 202 deletes the brand order screen.

When the order receiving unit 203 detects an operation of pressing the order confirmation operation unit G32 or G42 on the brand order screen G3, the order receiving unit 203 indicates an order indicating the brand ID of the selected tobacco product, individual packaging product, carton product, or both. Specify the unit ID and the number.
The order receiving unit 203 sends the order brand information including the specified brand ID, the individually packaged product, the carton product, or both of them to the support PC 10. This order brand information is acquired by the fixture support unit 101 of the support PC 10, and the individual fixture 50 or the carton fixture 60 is controlled.
On the other hand, when the order cancel operation unit G33 on the brand order screen G3 is pressed, the brand order screen G3 is erased and the selected brand, quantity, etc. are cleared.

[Operation example of support PC 10]
Next, an operation example of this system 1 will be described. In particular, with reference to FIG. 12, an operation example of the support PC 10 and the ordering terminal 20 when the tobacco product is ordered using the ordering terminal 20 will be described. FIG. 12 is a sequence chart showing an operation example relating to ordering and taking out of tobacco products in the system 1.
Here, it is assumed that the customer holds his / her mobile terminal or IC card over the ordering terminal 20 and the customer ID is sent from the mobile terminal to the ordering terminal 20 by wireless communication.

The order terminal 20 (information acquisition unit 201) acquires the customer ID from the customer's mobile terminal by wireless communication (S101). The order terminal 20 sends the acquired customer ID to the support PC 10 (S102).

When the support PC 10 (customer management unit 102) receives the customer ID from the order terminal 20, the support PC 10 searches the customer ID from the customer management DB 105 and determines whether or not the main brand ID is associated with the customer ID. (S103). The support PC 10 extracts the main product ID when the main product ID is associated (S103; YES), and when the main product ID is not associated (S103; NO). , Generates information on unset main brand.

Further, the support PC 10 (customer management unit 102) extracts the purchase history information associated with the customer ID from the purchase history table of the customer management DB 105, and extracts the purchase history information associated with the customer ID from the brand information of the store-specific brand information table of the store DB 106. The brand information associated with the brand ID is extracted, and one or both of the purchase history information and the brand information is used to determine whether or not to display the recommended tobacco product (S104).
When the support PC 10 (customer management unit 102) determines the display of the recommended tobacco product (S104; YES), the support PC 10 identifies the recommended tobacco product, further generates the recommended reason information, and the main brand ID or the main brand unset information. At the same time, the brand ID of the recommended tobacco product and the recommended reason information are sent to the ordering terminal 20 (S106).
On the other hand, the support PC 10 (customer management unit 102) decides not to display the recommended tobacco product (S104; NO), and does not have the brand ID of the recommended tobacco product and the reason for recommendation information, but only the main brand ID or the main brand not yet. Only the setting information is sent to the order terminal 20 (S106).

When the order terminal 20 (display processing unit 202) receives the main product ID from the support PC 10 (S108; YES), the order terminal 20 (display processing unit 202) does not require a desired brand selection operation on the brand selection screen, and the main product is displayed on the brand selection screen. The brand order screen G3 relating to the tobacco product of the brand identified by the brand ID is displayed (S110).
At this time, when the ordering terminal 20 (display processing unit 202) receives the brand ID of the recommended tobacco product and the recommended reason information from the support PC 10, the recommended product presents the information on the recommended tobacco product and the recommended reason information. The brand order screen G3 related to the main brand is displayed in a state including the presentation area G4 (S110). On the other hand, when the order terminal 20 (display processing unit 202) does not receive the brand ID of the recommended tobacco product and the recommended reason information from the support PC 10, the main brand is not included in the recommended product presentation area G4. The brand order screen G3 related to is displayed (S110).

On the other hand, when the order terminal 20 (display processing unit 202) receives the main brand unset information from the support PC 10 (S108; NO), the order terminal 20 displays the brand selection screen (S109). When the image portion of the desired brand on the brand selection screen is pressed, the ordering terminal 20 pops up the brand order screen G3 relating to the tobacco product of the brand (S110).
At this time as well, if the ordering terminal 20 (display processing unit 202) receives the brand ID of the recommended tobacco product and the recommended reason information from the support PC 10, it is recommended to present the information on the recommended tobacco product and the recommended reason information. The brand order screen G3 related to the selected brand is displayed in a state including the product presentation area G4 (S110). On the other hand, when the order terminal 20 (display processing unit 202) does not receive the brand ID of the recommended tobacco product and the recommended reason information from the support PC 10, the order terminal 20 (display processing unit 202) is selected without including the recommended product presentation area G4. The brand order screen G3 related to the brand is displayed (S110).

On the brand order screen G3, an order unit of either one or both of the order quantity of the individually packaged product and the order quantity of the carton product is specified, and the order confirmation operation unit G32 is pressed (S111).
However, although not shown in FIG. 12, when the order canceling operation unit G33 is pressed on the brand order screen displayed when the main brand ID is received from the support PC 10, the brand order screen is displayed. Is deleted and the brand selection screen is displayed (S109).

When the operation of the order confirmation operation unit G32 is detected, the order terminal 20 (order reception unit 203) displays the brand ID of the selected tobacco product, the individual packaging product, the carton product, or the order unit ID indicating both of them, and The number is specified (S112).
At this time, the specified brand ID may be the main brand ID itself transmitted in (S104), or may be different from the main brand ID. In the latter case, for example, the order cancellation operation unit G33 is operated on the brand order screen displayed for the tobacco product of the main brand, and the tobacco product of another brand is selected and displayed on the brand selection screen. This corresponds to the case where the order confirmation operation unit G32 is operated in.
The order terminal 20 (order reception unit 203) sends the order brand information including the specified brand ID, the individually packaged product, the carton product, or both of them to the support PC 10 (S113).
When the operation of the order confirmation operation unit G32 is detected, the brand order screen is deleted.

When the support PC 10 (furniture support unit 101) receives the order brand information from the order terminal 20, it determines whether or not the individual packaged product is included in the order unit based on the order unit ID included in the order brand information (the order unit). S114), if an individual packaged product is included (S114; YES), a take-out instruction is sent to the first control unit 30 (S115). At this time, the support PC 10 (furniture support unit 101) is a magazine corresponding to the brand ID from the individual fixture management information included in the fixture setting information of the store DB 106 based on the brand ID of the ordered brand included in the order brand information. 500 magazine IDs are extracted, and the number and terminal number (1) included in the magazine ID and the order brand information are included in the extraction instruction.
As a result, the first control unit 30 (position notification processing unit 31) lights the individual packaging position notification LED 551 corresponding to the magazine ID in the individual fixture 50 based on the take-out instruction, and identifies by the brand ID. The position of the magazine 500 accommodating the individually packaged product of the brand to be sold is notified.

On the other hand, the support PC 10 (furniture support unit 101) determines whether or not the carton product is included in the order unit (S116), and if the order unit includes the carton product (S116; YES), A take-out instruction is sent to the second control unit 40 (S117). At this time, the support PC 10 (furniture support unit 101) has a storage area corresponding to the brand ID from the carton fixture management information included in the fixture setting information of the store DB 106 based on the brand ID of the ordered brand included in the order brand information. The location information of is extracted, and this location information and the quantity included in the ordered brand information are included in the extraction instruction.
As a result, the second control unit 40 (position notification processing unit 41) lights the carton position notification LED 62 corresponding to the position information based on the position information included in the take-out instruction.

After that, when the support PC 10 (furniture support unit 101) receives the notification of the completion of the removal from the first control unit 30, the support PC 10 adds a record related to the removal of the individual packaged product to the furniture event log of the store DB 106 (S118). The date and time, fixture ID (individual fixture 50), event ID (take-out), brand ID (brand ID of the ordered brand), and quantity (number of ordered brands) are set in this record.
Similarly, when the support PC 10 (furniture support unit 101) receives the notification of the completion of removal from the second control unit 40, the support PC 10 adds a record related to the removal of the carton product to the furniture event log of the store DB 106 (S118). In this record, the date and time, fixture ID (carton fixture 60), event ID (takeout), brand ID (brand ID of the ordered brand), and quantity (number of ordered brands) are set.
In addition, the support PC 10 (furniture support unit 101) transmits purchase information for holding the purchase history information to the customer management server device external to the system 1 (S119). In the purchase information, in addition to the customer ID, the take-out date and time is set as the purchase date and time, the brand ID of the ordered brand is set as the purchased brand ID, and the number of ordered brands is set as the purchased quantity.

[Modification example]
The above-described embodiment is an example, and the above-mentioned contents can be appropriately modified without departing from the spirit.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the first control unit 30 for controlling the individual fixture 50 and the second control unit 40 for controlling the carton fixture 60 are separately provided, but the individual fixture 50 and the carton fixture 60 are provided separately. It can be replaced with one control unit that controls both. Further, the support PC 10 and its control unit may also be realized as one control device.
Further, the individual packaging fixture 50 and the carton fixture 60 are not limited to the above-described configuration.
The individual packaging fixture 50 is not in the form of notifying the position of the magazine 500 by the individual packaging position notification LED 551 as in the above embodiment, but is a projection image of the projector 56 or an electronic shelf tag provided on the front surface of the magazine 500 of the magazine 500. It can be in the form of notifying the position.
Further, the individual packaging fixture 50 and the carton fixture 60 may be devices having an automatic payout function.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the correspondence between the magazine ID in the individual fixture 50 and the brand ID of the individual packaged product accommodated in the magazine 500, the position of the accommodation area in the carton fixture 60, and the accommodation in the accommodation area. Fixture setting information such as the correspondence with the brand ID of the carton product is managed by the support PC 10, but the fixture setting information is shared between the first control unit 30 and the second control unit 40 and the support PC 10. It may be managed only by the first control unit 30 and the second control unit 40.
As described above, the customer management DB 105 and the store DB 106 stored in the support PC 10 may be stored in any device in the system 1, and further, if communication with the support PC 10 is possible, the system 1 It may be stored in an external device.

For example, the customer management DB 105 may be provided in an external server device capable of communicating with the support PC 10.
Further, the customer ID and the main brand ID are stored in the customer's mobile terminal, and the application installed in the mobile terminal may manage them. In this case, the ordering terminal 20 can directly acquire the customer ID and the main brand ID from the mobile terminal.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the support PC 10 (customer management unit 102) identifies the recommended tobacco product and determines the necessity of presenting the recommended product, but the external server device or the order terminal 20 capable of communicating with the support PC 10 Such processing may be performed.

Furthermore, the display of the recommended product presentation area G4 may be displayed on the display unit of the customer's mobile terminal instead of the order terminal 20. In this case, the application installed on the customer's mobile terminal may specify the tobacco recommended product in the same manner as the above-mentioned support PC 10 (customer management unit 102), and the application may specify the above-mentioned support PC 10 (customer management unit 102). The recommended product presentation area G4 may be displayed by receiving the information on the recommended product for tobacco and the information on the reason for recommendation from the server device capable of executing the same processing as in).
At this time, when the selection button G42 is selected on the display of the recommended product presentation area G4, the customer mobile terminal may be able to provide the brand ID of the tobacco recommended product to the order terminal 20. For example, a barcode in which the brand ID of the recommended tobacco product is encoded may be displayed on the customer's mobile terminal, or the brand ID may be sent from the customer's mobile terminal to the ordering terminal 20 by wireless communication.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that the customer ID is acquired, but the customer ID is not acquired, the desired brand is selected from the brand selection screen, and the brand order screen related to the brand is displayed. In this case, the recommended product presentation area G4 may be included in the brand order screen. In this case, another brand different from the brand selected on the brand selection screen may be specified as a tobacco recommended product. For example, another brand having a similar taste to the brand selected on the brand selection screen may be specified as a tobacco recommended product. In addition, although the purchase history and information on the main brand for each customer cannot be used, the recommended tobacco products are identified from the individual packaging product or carton product extraction history from the individual packaging fixture 50 or carton fixture 60 or the sales history of the target store. You may. For example, a well-selling or taken-out tobacco product may be identified as a tobacco-recommended product, or a recently arrived product or a product in a campaign may be identified as a tobacco-recommended product.

Further, as described above, the method for specifying the recommended tobacco product is not limited to the method described in the present embodiment. For example, a budget for tobacco products may be managed for each customer, and tobacco recommended products may be specified based on the budget and the purchase history information of the customer.
Specifically, the external customer management server device manages the budget information for each customer in association with the customer ID together with the purchase history information, and these are reflected in the customer management DB 105. The customer management unit 102 acquires budget information corresponding to the customer ID (for example, the upper limit of the amount of money that can be used for tobacco products in one month) from the customer management DB 105, and further, a predetermined period (for example, the target month) from the purchase history information of the customer. (One month)) Calculate the total purchase price of the customer's tobacco products. The customer management unit 102 can identify the recommended tobacco product based on the calculated total purchase price and budget information, and the brand information in the store-specific brand information table of the store DB 106. For example, based on the budget balance of the target month, the purchase pace (smoking pace) of the customer's tobacco products, and the price of the main brand, whether or not the budget will be exceeded if the main brand is purchased at that purchase pace. Can be determined. If it is determined that the budget is exceeded, a brand with a lower price than the main brand may be specified as a recommended tobacco product. At this time, it is more preferable to select a brand that is similar in taste to the main brand and has a low price.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a display example of a brand order screen when a recommended tobacco product is specified from budget information.
In the example of FIG. 13, in the display area G41 of the recommended product presentation area G4, information on a brand (350 yen) cheaper than the brand (500 yen) of the tobacco product targeted by the brand order screen G3 is displayed. Therefore, it is presented in the display area G43 that the budget is exceeded as a recommended reason.
By doing so, the customer can purchase the tobacco product with peace of mind according to the budget by registering the budget information that can be used for the tobacco product in the system 1 in advance.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the taste information is used for determining the similarity between the brands of the tobacco products, but the customer feels visually, tactilely or audibly from the tobacco products in addition to or in place of the taste (taste). Sensory information may be used.
Visual information includes package design of tobacco products. In this case, the feature quantity of the package design image of the tobacco product may be used to identify another brand of tobacco product having a similar package design.
The tactile information includes information indicating the tactile sensation when the filter is held, and the tactile sensation when the capsule is crushed in the tobacco product in which the capsule is mounted in the filter. Such information can be obtained, for example, by quantifying the result of the sensory evaluation, and the information may be used to identify other brands of tobacco products having similar tactile sensations.
As the information obtained by hearing, if there is a cigarette product that makes a sound when inhaled, the feature amount of the sound can be considered. Tobacco products of other brands with similar output sounds may be identified.
The visual information, tactile information, or auditory information may be stored in the store-specific brand information table or the brand master table for each brand. Using these visual information, tactile information, or auditory information, it is possible to estimate a customer's brand selection tendency based on purchase history information. In addition, the similarity between stocks may be calculated using a feature vector containing such information as an element.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the recommended product presentation area G4 is included in the brand order screen is shown, but information on the tobacco recommended product and recommended reason information are operated by the order confirmation operation unit G32 on the brand order screen G3. It may be displayed after the brand order screen G3 is deleted. For example, the recommended product presentation area G4 may be included in the waiting screen that says "I'm taking out cigarettes from furniture right now."
As described above, the timing of presenting the recommended tobacco product is not limited to the above-mentioned example of the present embodiment.

If the customer ID has not been acquired when displaying the brand selection screen or the brand order screen G3, the display processing unit 202 deletes the brand order screen G3 and then guides the customer ID registration to the ID registration guide screen. Can also be displayed.
The ID registration guidance screen may include the URL information of the WEB page for registering the customer ID or the destination address information to which the e-mail is sent, and the URL information or the two-dimensional code in which the destination address information is encoded may be included. It may be included. As a result, the customer can perform the customer ID registration work by reading the two-dimensional code displayed on the order terminal 20 with the customer mobile terminal.
Further, the customer ID can be registered in the server device via the support PC 10 by operating the order terminal 20 via the ID registration guidance screen. For example, by performing a predetermined operation on the ID registration guidance screen, the imaging device of the order terminal 20 is activated, a biological image such as a face image, a vein image, or a fingerprint image is captured, and the living body extracted from the biological image. The information may be registered as a customer ID, or may be registered in association with a separately acquired customer ID. In this case, the customer management unit 102 may request the external server device to extract the biometric information from the biometric image acquired from the order terminal 20 and register the biometric information as a customer ID or in association with the customer ID. it can. Further, the customer management unit 102 may send a registration request for biometric information, generate application information for the target campaign, and send it to an external sales promotion support server device.
Further, the display processing unit 202 can replace the ID registration guidance screen or display an application download guidance screen that guides the customer to download the dedicated application to the mobile terminal. Further, the order terminal 20 causes the customer mobile terminal to activate a predetermined application (dedicated application, mail application, etc.) installed in the customer mobile terminal by communicating with the customer mobile terminal by short-range wireless communication or the like. You can also instruct

Further, in the above-mentioned sequence chart, a plurality of steps (processes) are described in order, but the execution order of the steps executed in the present embodiment is not limited to the order of description. In the present embodiment, the order of the illustrated steps can be changed within a range that does not hinder the contents.
In addition, a part or all of the above-mentioned contents can be specified as follows. However, the above contents are not limited to the following descriptions.

(1)
An identifier acquisition means for acquiring a customer or a customer identifier that can identify a portable object,
A history reference means that refers to a purchase history storage unit that stores purchase history information of each customer's tobacco-related products in association with each customer identifier.
Among a plurality of types of tobacco-related products in which product information is stored in the product information storage unit based on the purchase history information of the customer associated with the acquired customer identifier and stored in the purchase history storage unit. Product identification means to identify recommended products for empty tobacco,
A display processing means for displaying information on the specified tobacco recommended product on the display unit, and
Recommended product presentation system with.
(2)
An information acquisition means for acquiring the budget information of the customer and further acquiring the purchase price information of the tobacco-related product of the customer in a predetermined period based on the purchase history information of the customer.
With more
The product identifying means identifies the tobacco recommended product based on the acquired purchase price information for the predetermined period, the customer's budget information, and the product information stored in the product information storage unit.
The recommended product presentation system described in (1).
(3)
Further provided with an estimation means for estimating the smoking suppression behavior or brand selection tendency of the customer based on the purchase history information of the customer.
The product identifying means identifies the tobacco recommended product based on the estimated smoking suppression behavior or brand selection tendency.
The recommended product presentation system according to (1) or (2).
(4)
The display processing means displays information on the tobacco product of the target brand on the display unit so that the customer can be the target of the order operation, and the display of the information on the target brand or the order operation for the target brand is accepted. After that, information on the tobacco recommended product different from the tobacco product of the target brand is displayed on the display unit.
The recommended product presentation system according to any one of (1) to (3).
(5)
The product identifying means identifies a tobacco product of another brand having a taste similar to that of the tobacco product of the target brand as the tobacco recommended product based on the product information stored in the product information storage unit.
The recommended product presentation system described in (4).
(6)
The identifier acquisition means further acquires a registered brand identifier that identifies the registered brand of the customer, which is a brand of a type of tobacco product of a tobacco-related product.
The display processing means displays the tobacco product of the registered brand as the tobacco product of the target brand on the display unit so that it can be the target of the order operation by the customer with the acquisition of the registered brand identifier.
The product identifying means identifies a tobacco product of another brand having a taste similar to that of the tobacco product of the registered brand as the tobacco recommended product, based on the product information stored in the product information storage unit.
The recommended product presentation system described in (5).
(7)
The product information stored in the product information storage unit includes at least one of tobacco grade, tar amount, nicotine amount, price, packaging form, and manufacturer information related to the tobacco product, and at least one taste information indicating the taste. Including
The product identifying means calculates the degree of similarity between brands of tobacco products by using the taste feature amount represented by a plurality of elements including at least the taste information.
The recommended product presentation system according to (5) or (6).
(8)
When the information about the tobacco product of the target brand is displayed on the display unit, there is a plan to revise or abolish the tobacco product of the target brand based on the product information about the target brand stored in the product information storage unit. Further equipped with a determination means for determining whether or not
Information about the recommended tobacco products is displayed on the display unit more frequently when the target brand is scheduled to be revised or abolished than when the target brand is not scheduled to be revised or abolished.
The recommended product presentation system according to any one of (4) to (7).
(9)
Further provided with a determination means for determining the necessity or frequency of displaying the tobacco recommended product based on the purchase history information of the customer.
Based on the determined necessity or frequency, the necessity of specifying the tobacco recommended product by the product specifying means or displaying information about the tobacco recommended product by the display processing means is controlled.
The recommended product presentation system according to any one of (1) to (8).
(10)
An ordering terminal that can display brand information of multiple brands of tobacco products and can accept ordering operations for the brand that the customer wants to order from among the multiple brands.
A support device that supports the removal of tobacco products of the brand that is the target of the order operation received at the order terminal, and
With more
The display processing means relates to a brand operation display that enables a designated operation for designating a tobacco product of the target brand to be taken out from the tobacco products of the plurality of brands or the ordering operation, and the specified tobacco recommended product. Information is displayed on the display unit of the ordering terminal.
The recommended product presentation system according to any one of (1) to (9).
(11)
A recommended product presentation method performed by a system with at least a display and one or more processors.
Obtain a customer identifier that can identify the customer or what the customer can carry
Refer to the purchase history storage unit that stores the purchase history information of each customer's tobacco-related products in association with the customer identifier of each customer.
Among a plurality of types of tobacco-related products in which product information is stored in the product information storage unit based on the purchase history information of the customer associated with the acquired customer identifier and stored in the purchase history storage unit. Identify recommended products for cigarettes
Information about the specified tobacco recommended product is displayed on the display unit.
Recommended product presentation method including that.
(12)
Obtain the budget information of the customer and
Acquires the purchase price information of the tobacco-related product of the customer in a predetermined period based on the purchase history information of the customer.
Including that
In the identification of the recommended tobacco product, the recommended tobacco product is specified based on the acquired purchase price information for the predetermined period, the budget information of the customer, and the product information stored in the product information storage unit. Be done,
The recommended product presentation method according to (11).
(13)
Further including estimating the smoking suppression behavior or brand selection tendency of the customer based on the purchase history information of the customer.
In the identification of the tobacco recommended product, the tobacco recommended product is identified based on the estimated smoking suppression behavior or brand selection tendency.
The recommended product presentation method according to (11) or (12).
(14)
Information about the tobacco product of the target brand is displayed on the display unit so that the customer can be the target of the order operation.
Along with displaying information on the target brand, or after an order operation for the target brand is accepted, information on the tobacco recommended product different from the tobacco product of the target brand is displayed on the display unit.
The recommended product presentation method according to any one of (11) to (13), further including the above.
(15)
In the identification of the tobacco recommended product, the tobacco product of another brand having a similar taste to the tobacco product of the target brand is specified as the tobacco recommended product based on the product information stored in the product information storage unit.
The recommended product presentation method according to (14).
(16)
Obtain a registered brand identifier that identifies the registered brand of the customer, which is a brand of tobacco products that are a type of tobacco-related product.
With the acquisition of the registered brand identifier, the tobacco product of the registered brand is displayed on the display unit as the tobacco product of the target brand so that it can be the target of the order operation by the customer.
Including that
In the identification of the tobacco recommended product, the tobacco product of another brand having a taste similar to that of the registered brand tobacco product is specified as the tobacco recommended product based on the product information stored in the product information storage unit (the tobacco recommended product). The recommended product presentation method described in 15).
(17)
The product information stored in the product information storage unit includes at least one of tobacco grade, tar amount, nicotine amount, price, packaging form, and manufacturer information related to the tobacco product, and at least one taste information indicating the taste. Including
In the identification of the tobacco recommended product, the similarity between the brands of the tobacco product is calculated by using the taste feature amount indicated by a plurality of elements including at least the taste information.
The recommended product presentation method according to (15) or (16).
(18)
When the information about the tobacco product of the target brand is displayed on the display unit, there is a plan to revise or abolish the tobacco product of the target brand based on the product information about the target brand stored in the product information storage unit. Judge whether or not
Including that
Information about the recommended tobacco products is displayed on the display unit more frequently when the target brand is scheduled to be revised or abolished than when the target brand is not scheduled to be revised or abolished.
The recommended product presentation method according to any one of (14) to (17).
(19)
Further including determining the necessity or frequency of displaying the tobacco recommended product based on the purchase history information of the customer.
Based on the determined necessity or frequency, the necessity of specifying the tobacco recommended product by the product specifying means or displaying information about the tobacco recommended product by the display processing means is controlled.
The recommended product presentation method according to any one of (11) to (18).
(20)
The system has an order terminal capable of displaying brand information of a plurality of brands of tobacco products and can accept an order operation of a brand that a customer wants to order from the plurality of brands, and an order operation received by the order terminal. It is equipped with a support device that assists in the removal of the target brand of tobacco products.
A designated operation for designating a tobacco product of the target brand to be taken out from the tobacco products of the plurality of brands or a brand operation display capable of the ordering operation and information on the specified tobacco recommended product are displayed on the ordering terminal. Including displaying on the display unit,
The recommended product presentation method according to any one of (11) to (19).
(21)
A computer program that causes a system including at least a display unit and one or more processors to execute the recommended product presentation method according to any one of (11) to (20).

1 Tobacco product management system (this system)
10 Support PC
11 CPU
12 Memory 13 I / O I / F
14 Communication unit 15 Display device 16 Input device 101 Furniture support unit 102 Customer management unit 103 Order terminal support unit 104 Management operation processing unit 105 Customer management DB
106 store DB
20 Order terminal 20
21 CPU
22 Memory 23 Touch panel unit 25 Communication unit 26 Imaging unit 201 Information acquisition unit 202 Display processing unit 203 Order reception unit 30 First control unit 31 Position notification processing unit 32 Remaining quantity management unit 33 Operation judgment unit 40 Second control unit 41 Position notification Processing unit 42 Operation judgment unit 43 Drawer shelf management unit 5 Drawer shelf management unit 5 Individually packaged product 50 Individually packaged furniture 500 Magazine 501 Protruding part 502 Flap 503 Front wall part 504 Mounting part 505 Mounting part Main body 506 Bottom part 507 Pressing slider 508 Front plate part 509 Bottom raising member 510 2nd bottom 511 Side wall 512 Shaft 513 Guide pin 514 Wire rod reel 520 Distance measurement sensor 521 Distance measurement light emitting unit 550 Shelf board 551 Individual packaging position notification LED
555 Insertion recess 560 Display panel 561 Order quantity display unit 562 Terminal number display unit 60 Carton fixture 61 Drawer shelf 62 Carton position notification LED
70 Furniture management terminal

Claims (11)

An identifier acquisition means for acquiring a customer or a customer identifier that can identify a portable object,
A history reference means that refers to a purchase history storage unit that stores purchase history information of each customer's tobacco-related products in association with each customer identifier.
Among a plurality of types of tobacco-related products in which product information is stored in the product information storage unit based on the purchase history information of the customer associated with the acquired customer identifier and stored in the purchase history storage unit. Product identification means to identify recommended products for empty tobacco,
A display processing means for displaying information on the specified tobacco recommended product on the display unit, and
Recommended product presentation system with. An information acquisition means for acquiring the budget information of the customer and further acquiring the purchase price information of the tobacco-related product of the customer in a predetermined period based on the purchase history information of the customer.
With more
The product identifying means identifies the tobacco recommended product based on the acquired purchase price information for the predetermined period, the customer's budget information, and the product information stored in the product information storage unit.
The recommended product presentation system according to claim 1. Further provided with an estimation means for estimating the smoking suppression behavior or brand selection tendency of the customer based on the purchase history information of the customer.
The product identifying means identifies the tobacco recommended product based on the estimated smoking suppression behavior or brand selection tendency.
The recommended product presentation system according to claim 1 or 2. The display processing means displays information on the tobacco product of the target brand on the display unit so that the customer can be the target of the order operation, and the display of the information on the target brand or the order operation for the target brand is accepted. After that, information on the tobacco recommended product different from the tobacco product of the target brand is displayed on the display unit.
The recommended product presentation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The product identifying means identifies a tobacco product of another brand having a taste similar to that of the tobacco product of the target brand as the tobacco recommended product based on the product information stored in the product information storage unit.
The recommended product presentation system according to claim 4. The identifier acquisition means further acquires a registered brand identifier that identifies the registered brand of the customer, which is a brand of a type of tobacco product of a tobacco-related product.
The display processing means displays the tobacco product of the registered brand as the tobacco product of the target brand on the display unit so that it can be the target of the order operation by the customer with the acquisition of the registered brand identifier.
The product identifying means identifies a tobacco product of another brand having a taste similar to that of the tobacco product of the registered brand as the tobacco recommended product, based on the product information stored in the product information storage unit.
The recommended product presentation system according to claim 5. The product information stored in the product information storage unit includes at least one of tobacco grade, tar amount, nicotine amount, price, packaging form, and manufacturer information related to the tobacco product, and at least one taste information indicating the taste. Including
The product identifying means calculates the degree of similarity between brands of tobacco products by using the taste feature amount represented by a plurality of elements including at least the taste information.
The recommended product presentation system according to claim 5 or 6. When the information about the tobacco product of the target brand is displayed on the display unit, there is a plan to revise or abolish the tobacco product of the target brand based on the product information about the target brand stored in the product information storage unit. Further equipped with a determination means for determining whether or not
Information about the recommended tobacco products is displayed on the display unit more frequently when the target brand is scheduled to be revised or abolished than when the target brand is not scheduled to be revised or abolished.
The recommended product presentation system according to any one of claims 4 to 7. Further provided with a determination means for determining the necessity or frequency of displaying the tobacco recommended product based on the purchase history information of the customer.
Based on the determined necessity or frequency, the necessity of specifying the tobacco recommended product by the product specifying means or displaying information about the tobacco recommended product by the display processing means is controlled.
The recommended product presentation system according to any one of claims 1 to 8. An ordering terminal that can display brand information of multiple brands of tobacco products and can accept ordering operations for the brand that the customer wants to order from among the multiple brands.
A support device that supports the removal of tobacco products of the target brand that is the target of the order operation received at the order terminal, and
With more
The display processing means relates to a brand operation display that enables a designated operation for designating a tobacco product of the target brand to be taken out from the tobacco products of the plurality of brands or the ordering operation, and the specified tobacco recommended product. Information is displayed on the display unit of the ordering terminal.
The recommended product presentation system according to any one of claims 1 to 9. A recommended product presentation method performed by a system with at least a display and one or more processors.
Obtain a customer identifier that can identify the customer or what the customer can carry
Refer to the purchase history storage unit that stores the purchase history information of each customer's tobacco-related products in association with the customer identifier of each customer.
Among a plurality of types of tobacco-related products in which product information is stored in the product information storage unit based on the purchase history information of the customer associated with the acquired customer identifier and stored in the purchase history storage unit. Identify recommended products for cigarettes
Information about the specified tobacco recommended product is displayed on the display unit.
Recommended product presentation method including that.

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