JP4077547B2 - Reward point management method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a privilege point addition technique for a card use customer of a specific credit company in a credit system in which a tenant store terminal and a credit company computer are connected to a host computer of a management office which is a developer of a shopping center through a line. .
[0002]
[Prior art]
Purchase forms such as goods or services by credit cards issued based on customer credit information are now indispensable in modern society, but in this credit system tenant form (including directly managed form) An operation system using a computer is generally operated in a form as shown in FIG. 6, and in many cases, a point addition system as a service policy for a customer is simultaneously implemented.
[0003]
In this figure, each terminal (tenant) used by a consumer is provided with a credit terminal A, which is connected to a host computer B installed in a management office for performing various credit paperwork by LAN (Local In addition, the host computer is operated in such a manner that it is connected to a computer C installed in each credit company via an external line E.
[0004]
As a processing form, first, (1) the credit card possessed by the customer is read from the terminal A of each store, and is transmitted together with the purchase data to the host computer B (the store terminal is automatically determined by the host computer B). The host computer B determines (2) the credit company written in the credit card and (3) makes a credit inquiry to the credit company.
[0005]
The inquired credit company computer C checks {4} the credit of the customer and returns the result to the host computer B again. If the credit check result is good for the host computer B that has received the reply, (5) 2 points per 100 yen, for example, depending on the purchase amount of the customer (thus, if the purchase price is 10,000 yen, 200 points) ) Etc., and (6) the calculated point result is transmitted to the terminal A of the store.
[0006]
The terminal A of the store issues the point notification receipt and the transaction slip including the point result information transmitted (7), and passes them to the customer to complete the one-customer handling process.
[0007]
Although not shown in the figure, in this point system, a specific credit company gives bonus points in addition to the normal points for a limited time, for example, in the above example, the purchase amount is 100 yen ( 2 points (magnification) per standard amount) is a normal point, but 1 point may be added for every ¥ 100 purchased, and this may be delivered as a bonus point. In order to calculate the contribution amount of a specific credit company for each period and issue an invoice to the credit company, this reward point and the above-mentioned regular points (no special charge to the credit company) are separated. It is necessary to manage it separately.
[0008]
Therefore, the point calculation process related to this privilege point is a delayed time process by batch according to the closing date, etc., and there is no notification to the customer regarding the privilege point, and how many total points have been delivered to date during the period. It is not possible to accurately grasp in time, and when issuing points, the magnification (variable) can be manipulated very easily to increase the total number of points, and computerization of processing of claims to credit companies has also progressed. It is also a cause of mistakes such as missing bills.
[0009]
In addition, the customer rebate for the points issued to the customer is performed with, for example, a gift certificate (service ticket) of 500 yen per 100 points, and the point balance of the customer is subtracted simultaneously with the issue of the ticket.
[0010]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, when a customer uses a reward point, it can be used only about one month to one month later, and the total number of points issued cannot be accurately grasped. In some cases, the issuance of points was overrun by raising the grant ratio to several times due to the judgment of the experienced person based on the actual results, etc., and the burden of customer rebate costs was a burden on fund management.
[0011]
In view of these points, the present invention enables early use of privilege points by the customer and accurately grasps the total number of points issued at the present time, thereby reducing the occurrence of point issuance and using cards of specific credit companies. The purpose is to provide a means for optimizing the burden of customer rebate costs while maintaining the rate.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
Said subject is solved by the privilege point system comprised as follows.
[0013]
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of the present invention. That is,
A privilege point system that provides privilege points for credit card use by a network computer,
Benefit calculation means for calculating customer privilege points based on the customer's credit information read at the terminal of the store, and a charge request for calculating and charging the calculated bonus points for the credit company concerned By providing the means, it becomes possible to notify the privilege point information to the customer in real time, and the total number of issued points at the present time can be accurately grasped.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The outline of the point issue operation process of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
First, {circle around (1)} the credit card possessed by the customer is read from the terminal A of each store, and is sent to the host computer B via the line D together with the purchase data. At this time, the host computer B automatically determines the store terminal.
[0015]
The host computer B determines (2) the credit company written on the credit card, and (3) makes a credit inquiry to the credit company via the network E.
The inquired credit company computer C checks {4} the credit of the customer and returns the result to the host computer B via the network E again. If the credit check result is good for the host computer B that has received the reply, (5) 2 points per 100 yen, for example, depending on the purchase amount of the customer (thus, if the purchase price is 10,000 yen, 200 points) ), Etc., and if the credit company has issued bonus points, the bonus points are calculated (the bonus points are, for example, 1 point for every 100 yen and the purchase amount is 10,000 yen. In this case, the privilege point is 100 points), and (6) the point result is transmitted to the terminal A of the store via the line D.
[0016]
The terminal A of the store issues the point notification receipt and the transaction slip including the point result information transmitted (7), and passes them to the customer to complete the one-customer handling process.
[0017]
In addition, when the credit company issues bonus points, the host computer B calculates (8) a specific credit company's contribution for the bonus points at regular intervals and sends it to the credit company via the network E. A bill is issued, and the computer C receives (9) this bill.
[0018]
Next, the processing in the host computer B will be mainly described with reference to FIGS.
In step 30 in FIG. 3, credit data (card issuing company, membership number, handling date, information on automatically detected member store terminals, total transaction amount, etc.) is received from the member store. (Card issuer) is determined.
[0019]
When a credit company is found, a credit inquiry is made to the credit company. As a result, if the credit transaction is impossible in the determination of step 33, a message is notified to the member store terminal to perform another transaction such as a cash transaction. The subsequent processing is omitted because it is outside the scope of the present invention. If it is determined in step 33 that a credit transaction is possible, calculation of normal points is performed in step 34 in accordance with the normal point delivery reference information in the reference master file shown in FIG. This normal point delivery reference information is composed of a unit reference amount and a magnification (point), for example, a unit reference amount of 100 yen is 2 points of magnification.
[0020]
Next, in step 35, it is determined whether or not the credit company has issued bonus points based on the contents of the bonus master file shown in FIG. 4 (2), that is, the credit company name and bonus point grant period information. In the case where it corresponds to a so-called specific credit company that has issued privilege points, in step 36, the above-mentioned unit reference amount and magnification, which is the privilege point issue reference information in the privilege master file, for example, unit reference amount 100 yen. At the same time, the bonus point is calculated based on information such as 1 point magnification, and at the same time, the bonus points of the calculation result are cumulatively added to the bonus point total amount value in the bonus master file.
[0021]
In step 37, the value of the bonus point total amount limit set in advance in the privilege master file is compared with the calculated bonus point total amount value, and a message output condition that is also set in advance in the privilege master file, for example, “privilege points”. A total amount check such as “output warning message when total amount value exceeds 80% of bonus point total amount limit” is performed, and if it exceeds, a warning message to that effect is displayed on the display terminal connected to host computer B in step 38 Output to etc.
[0022]
Thereafter, when the privilege point is not issued in the determination of the previous step 35 (the privilege point is issued but includes the outside of the issue period), or when the total amount check is not performed in the determination of step 37, the process proceeds to the process of step 39 .
[0023]
In step 39, the processing result so far is a point detail file (credit company name, member number, transaction date, transaction management number, member store name, total transaction amount, transaction details, credit inquiry result as shown in FIG. 4 (3). , And normal / privilege items, etc.) at the same time, the point balance file for each membership number for each participating card company as shown in FIG. It is updated for each normal / privilege point, and the total point balance of normal / privilege points is also stored. Note that the * mark in the credit company name column in the point details file means that bonus points are issued, and this is a target record for later calculation of contributions.
[0024]
In step 40, the calculated normal / privilege points in the transaction and the total point balance information so far are transmitted to the store terminal in real time, and the process is terminated. At this time, at the store terminal, as point information, privilege points are output on the transaction slip shown as a sample in FIG. 5, and a copy thereof is sent as detailed evidence of a claim for contribution to the credit company, and on the point notification receipt. , Which outputs the normal points in the current transaction and the total point balance described above.
[0025]
Next is the calculation of contributions to a specific credit company that issues privilege points. This is based on the contents of the point details file created and accumulated as a result of the processing described in FIG. 3 at regular intervals. This is a process to be performed, and records with * mark (indicating privilege point issuance records) are extracted from each record in the point details file to the credit company name column, and the total value of privilege points for each specific credit company is calculated. calculate.
[0026]
From the calculated privilege point total value, the credit company's contribution is calculated in accordance with the burden ratio determined for each specific credit company, and this is charged to the credit company.
[0027]
The computer processing according to the present invention is executed by the computer program on the main storage device of the computer. The computer program is provided in the form of an auxiliary storage device connected to the computer, a floppy disk, Provided by being stored in each recording medium such as a portable storage device such as a CD-ROM or a main storage device and an auxiliary storage device of another computer connected to a network. Are loaded and executed on the main storage device.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, since the process of granting privilege points is performed in real time, the use of privilege points by a customer can be performed immediately, leading to the acquisition of fixed customers, and the point operator As the total number of points granted at the present time can be grasped in a timely manner, the overuse of point issuance due to easy multiplication operation is reduced, and the rebate cost burden is optimized while maintaining the card usage rate of a specific credit company. There is a remarkable industrial effect that the contribution from the credit company becomes smooth and the financial system operation is improved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
1 is a system configuration diagram of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an outline flow of point issuing processing according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a processing flow of a host computer. FIG. 4 is an example of a file layout. Point delivery process outline flow [Explanation of symbols]
A terminal
B Host computer
C computer
D line
E network

Claims (3)

In addition to the normal points that are normally issued for the use of a credit card of a specific credit company, it is a privilege point management method that issues privilege points,
Management computer
A receiving step of receiving credit information including a membership number, a credit company and a transaction amount transmitted from the store terminal;
Normal point table that usually the number of points that do not charge a cost burden to the credit card company that the transaction amount associated with, and, privilege number of points the specific credit card company said usually be the same type and point to bear costs and the transaction amount credit With reference to the privilege point table associated with each company, it is determined whether the credit company in the received credit information is managed in the privilege point table, and if so , based on the received transaction amount While calculating the number of normal points and the number of privilege points for the customer, the number of privilege points is recorded by accumulatively adding to the total value of privilege points in the privilege point table. On the other hand, if it is not managed in the privilege point table, A point calculating step for calculating the number of points ,
For each of the received credit information, the credit company included in the credit information, and, if the privilege point is calculated, the credit company, the privilege A detail recording step for recording the number of points;
A member who updates the normal point balance and the privilege point balance managed in the member table corresponding to the member number based on the calculated normal point number and privilege point number, and calculates the total point balance obtained by adding up the balances of both. Point balance calculation step,
A step of transmitting the total point balance for the store terminal to output to the point notification receipt and the privilege point number for the store terminal to output to the credit transaction slip to the store terminal ; ,
For each predetermined period, a target record including the number of privilege points is extracted from the point detail table, a privilege point total value is calculated for each credit company included in the extracted target record, and the privilege point total value is calculated. Contribution request step to send contribution invoice based on ,
The privilege point management method characterized by comprising . In the privilege point table, a privilege point issue period is further managed, and the privilege point calculation step calculates the number of privilege points only when the date and time received by the reception step is within the privilege point issue period. Do
Benefits point management method according to claim 1, wherein the this. In the privilege point table, a total amount limit that further defines a limit of the total amount of privilege points is managed, and the privilege point calculating step compares the total amount value of privilege points with the total amount limit, and alarms based on the comparison result benefits point management method according to claim 1, characterized in that the output.

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