JPH08329148A - Catalog preparing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a catalog preparing system capable of preparing a catalog matched with each customer's taste. CONSTITUTION: This catalog preparing system is constituted of an automatic proposal engine 6 for automatically determining a member, commodities to be proposed to the member and a format for proposing the commodities based upon various data stored in a personal information DB 1 in which customer's personal information are stored, a commodity DB 2 in which commodity data, are stored, a purchased commodity DB 3 in which the data of commodities purchased in the past are stored and a special date DB 4 in which events such as birthday are stored, and an automatic personal catalog preparing system 7 for preparing a personal catalog 8 based upon matters determined by the engine 6 and a proposal sheet pattern DB 5 in which various patterns of personal catalog are stored.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a catalog creating system for creating a different catalog for each customer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in mail order sales, catalogs have been mainly used as a medium for presenting products to customers.
Generally, in a catalog, texts and tables showing specifications and the like are posted together with images (such as photographs) of products. Usually, such a catalog is distributed to customers who may purchase the product free of charge or at a fee. Therefore, the number of catalogs to be distributed will be enormous, and the price will be set low to distribute the catalog to a large number of customers even if it is a free distribution, and even if it is a paid distribution, the catalog creation cost will be as low as possible. It is required to keep it low.

For this reason, conventionally, a catalog in which the products to be handled are published in a flower-like manner has been prepared, and a large amount of this catalog has been printed and distributed to customers. That is, the cost of creating a catalog has been reduced by mass printing. However, such a comprehensive flower catalog is very difficult to use after all because many products that are completely unnecessary for individual customers are posted.

[0004]

From the above, in the mail-order industry, efforts are made to divide customers into newly-married households, single women, mature couples, etc., and separately create a catalog suitable for each group. Has been done. By doing so, although the cost of creating a catalog increases, it is possible to create a catalog that suits the taste of the customer to some extent. However, individual customers in the same group have different tastes, so with this level of grouping,
For individual customers, many unnecessary products will be posted. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a catalog creation system capable of creating a catalog that suits the tastes of individual customers.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a catalog creating system comprising: a personal information database storing personal information of a customer; a product database storing product data; and a pattern database storing catalog patterns. It is characterized by comprising selection means for selecting product data and catalog patterns for catalog creation based on the personal information database, and layout means for laying out personal information and product data based on the selected patterns.

The catalog creating system according to claim 2 is
The item of claim 1 is characterized in that the selecting means selects the pattern of the product data and the catalog based on a predetermined event. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the catalog creating system according to the second aspect, wherein the selecting means executes the selecting process when an event occurs. A catalog creating system according to claim 4 is the system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises means for creating a common catalog common to a plurality of customers.

[0007]

According to the above structure, the selecting means selects the product data for catalog creation and the pattern of the catalog based on the personal information database, and the layout means lays out the personal information and the product data based on the selected pattern. (Claim 1). Further, the selecting means selects the pattern of the product data and the catalog based on a predetermined event (claim 2). Further, the selecting means executes the selecting process when an event occurs (claim 3). Further, a common catalog common to a plurality of customers is created (claim 4).

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a catalog creating system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system shown in this figure is, for example, a computer, a storage means such as a hard disk, a CRT (cathode ray tub).
It is realized by a computer system including display means such as e), input means such as a keyboard, and a high-quality color printer. The catalog creating system shown in FIG. 1 is used for creating a mail order catalog.

In FIG. 1, reference numerals 1 to 5 are databases (hereinafter abbreviated as DB) stored in a storage means, respectively, a personal information DB, a product DB, a purchased product DB, a special day DB, and a proposal pattern. It is DB. Below, each D
B1 to B5 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the personal information DB 1, and the personal information DB 1 shown in this figure has as many records as the personal information of the members stored therein. In the example shown in this figure, the personal ID, name, and
There are multiple columns such as address, gender, age, date of birth, member registration date, and family structure. Each field of one example record is T80625, Toppan Hanako, Tokyo ..., Woman , 21, 1974/04/01, ..., The data is stored.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of the product DB 2. The product DB 2 shown in this figure has as many records as the product information stored therein. In the example shown in this figure, the product DB 2 is provided with a plurality of columns such as product number, list price, special price, purchase price, product classification (major classification, middle classification, small classification), target layer, and special proposal group. ,
In each field of one exemplified record, data such as PN520OA-B, 30,000, 25,000, 12,000, women's accessories, necklaces, European style, around 20 years old, presents are stored.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of the purchased product DB 3, and the purchased product DB 3 shown in this figure has as many records as the records storing the information of the products purchased by the member in the past. However, for example, the product A is 3
When one member places an order for two products, one for B and one for B, a record for A and a record for B are generated and stored. In the example shown in this figure, the purchased product DB 3 is provided with a plurality of columns of individual ID, product part number, unit price, number of products, and order date, and each field of one exemplified record has T80625. , PN520OA-B, 30,000, 1, 1994/08/25
Such data is stored.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the construction of the special day DB 4, and the special day DB 4 shown in this figure has as many records as the number of kinds of special days (events). In the example shown in this figure, the special day DB 4 is provided with a plurality of columns of a special day name and a suggested product rule, and each field of one exemplified record has a birthday and a past purchase item, respectively. Medium-sized items × Target group × Gift items × Season ×
Data such as random numbers are stored.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of the proposal book pattern DB (pattern database) 5. The proposal book pattern DB 5 shown in this figure has records for the number of types of special days. In the example shown in this figure, the proposal pattern D
B5 is provided with a plurality of columns including a special day name and a proposal pattern ID, and each field of one exemplified record has a birthday, B-1, B-, respectively.
Data such as 2, ... Is stored. B-1 and B-
The data of 2 indicates the format of the proposal (personal catalog) that is different for each member. Figure 7
Shows an example of a format in which the proposal pattern ID is B-1.
Each record of each of the above DBs 1 to 5 may have a fixed length or a variable length.

Referring again to FIG. 1, reference numeral 6 denotes an automatic suggestion engine (selection means) which operates by preprogrammed logic, and includes a personal information DB 1, a product DB 2, and a purchased product D.
Based on various data stored in B3 and the special day DB4, it is automatically determined which product and what format to propose to which member. An automatic personal catalog creation system (layout means) 7 creates a personal catalog 8 based on the items determined by the automatic suggestion engine 6 and the proposal pattern DB 5. Although not shown, this system includes means for creating a common catalog for common distribution to each member.

The process of creating the personal catalog 8 according to each member's preference in such a configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. As a premise, it is assumed that sufficient data is stored in each of the DBs 1 to 5, the computer system is powered on, and the automatic suggestion engine 6 and the automatic personal catalog creation system 7 are in an executable state. .

In this state, when the operator inputs, via the input means, an instruction to send the catalog to the member whose birthday is imminent, the process proceeds to step SA1 in FIG. Then, the automatic suggestion engine 6 creates a list of members who will have their birthday one month later, and outputs this to the automatic personal catalog creation system 7 (steps SA1, SA2). In addition, the automatic suggestion engine 6 creates a list of suggested products for each member based on the DBs 1 to 4 and selects a proposal pattern (step SA3). For example, a list is created by randomly extracting products from products included in the middle category of products that the target member purchased in the past, products that match the target layer, gifts, and products that match the season. It should be noted that this extraction method is defined by the proposed product rule of the special day DB 4 and can be arbitrarily changed. Of course, the operator may be allowed to select from a plurality of rules.

Next, the automatic personal catalog creating system 7 creates a proposal (step SA4). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, an image or a character (resource) corresponding to the product is searched based on the extracted product list (step SB1), and the image of the product is searched according to the proposal pattern. The magnification is changed (step SB2), and the typesetting is performed (step SB3). Furthermore, P that represents the product layout
Creation of S (PostScript) data (step SB4), reading of PS data representing a proposal pattern (step S4)
B6), PS data of the personal catalog is created by combining both PS data (step SB7). At this time, as shown in the personal catalog 8 of FIG. 1, information such as the name and age of the member (age is obtained from the date of birth and the current date of birth) is also taken into consideration in the personal catalog. PS data is created.

Then, the process proceeds to step SA5 in FIG. 8, where the automatic personal catalog creating system 7
Outputs the personal catalog 8. The personal catalog 8 thus output is attached to the common catalog and sent to the target members.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, a unique personal catalog can be created based on the purchase history and personal information of each member.
Since it is possible to carefully select and propose a product that suits the taste of the member, it is possible to provide the member with a sufficiently high quality service. It should be noted that in the above-described embodiment, the example in which the special day is set as the birthday is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this. Further, it goes without saying that it can be applied to services using catalogs other than mail order.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The selection means selects the product data for catalog creation and the pattern of the catalog based on the personal information database,
The layout means lays out the personal information and the product data based on the selected pattern. Therefore, it is possible to create a catalog that suits the taste of each customer (claim 1). Further, the selecting means selects the product data and the catalog pattern based on a predetermined event. Therefore, more advanced services can be provided (claim 2). Further, the selecting means executes the selecting process when the event occurs. Therefore, it is possible to provide a service according to time (claim 3).
Also, a common catalog common to a plurality of customers is created. Therefore, it is possible to surely prevent the information published in the catalog from running out (claim 4).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a catalog creating system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a personal information DB 1 in the system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a product DB 2 in the system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a purchased product DB 3 in the system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a special day DB 4 in the same system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a proposal pattern DB 5 in the system.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a proposal pattern in the system.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an operation of the system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a part of the operation of the same system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Personal Information DB 2 Product DB 3 Purchased Product DB 4 Special Day DB 5 Proposal Pattern DB 6 Automatic Proposal Engine 7 Automatic Personal Catalog Creation System 8 Personal Catalog

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A personal information database that stores personal information of a customer, a product database that stores product data, a pattern database that stores catalog patterns, and product data and catalogs for catalog creation based on the personal information database. And a layout means for laying out personal information and product data based on the selected pattern. 2. The catalog creating system according to claim 1, wherein the selecting means selects the product data and the catalog pattern based on a predetermined event. 3. The catalog creating system according to claim 2, wherein the selecting means executes the selecting process when an event occurs. 4. The catalog creating system according to claim 1, further comprising means for creating a common catalog common to a plurality of customers.