KR102141565B1 - Technique of providing member grade-divided marketing service based on social networking activity information and purchasing pattern - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method performed by a relay server device for providing a marketing service using a social networking service (SNS). According to the present invention, disclosed is the method comprising the steps of: acquiring a direct purchase history of a customer from an operating business server device in which information on the membership of a shopping facility is stored (the customer is a member of the shopping facility and has an account for SNS); acquiring an SNS activity history of the customer from an SNS server device providing the SNS; determining that the customer belongs to a specific customer group among a plurality of customer groups, based on the history of direct purchase and SNS activity; and requesting the SNS server device to issue an electronic coupon configured to respond to the specific customer group and for use in the shopping facility to the customer′s account.

Description

TECHNIQUE OF PROVIDING MEMBER GRADE-DIVIDED MARKETING SERVICE BASED ON SOCIAL NETWORKING ACTIVITY INFORMATION AND PURCHASING PATTERN}

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a technique for providing a marketing service using a social networking service (SNS), and more specifically, provides a member class division marketing service based on social networking activity information and a purchase pattern It is related to the technique.

As various online businesses are activated, the traditional retail business is also under pressure to develop differentiated services. For example, a business operating a shopping facility (which is typically associated with an online counterpart website) (hereinafter referred to as an "operating business" or "retail business") is a member of the shopping facility. The information is managed with his consent and a marketing policy is implemented based on this. On the one hand, such retailers continue to attempt to adapt to changing market conditions, such as opening pages on SNS such as Facebook and WeChat, which are increasingly influential day by day. However, marketing on the SNS separately from marketing to members of the existing shopping facility is not only desirable in terms of time and cost, but also in terms of efficiency. Therefore, there is a need to solve such a problem.

Improved techniques for providing marketing services are disclosed herein.

The embodiments of the present invention allow for the following. If a member of a shopping facility has an account on an SNS, the retail business that operates the shopping facility provides services provided by the SNS (eg, questionnaire, coupon, member card, vote, game, quiz, album, e-commerce). It may be efficient and/or necessary to conduct marketing activities for an offline shopping facility (and/or its website online) against him via a store, widget, application, or the like. Moreover, if a retail business has an account for a shopping facility on the SNS (especially a commercial account or an official account such as a service-like account) and the member is following, the member of the shopping facility and the follower of the SNS ( It is beneficial in many ways (e.g., in terms of increase in brand awareness, number of followers, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, number of transactions, sales, etc.) to manage both by matching or linking them rather than separately. Can.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method performed by a relay server device for providing a marketing service using SNS is provided. The above method comprises the steps of obtaining a customer's direct purchase history from an operating business server device in which information on membership of a shopping facility is stored (the above customer is a member of the shopping facility and has an account for the above SNS) and the above SNS. Obtaining the SNS activity history of the customer from the provided SNS server device, and determining that the customer belongs to a specific customer group among a plurality of customer groups based on the direct purchase history and the SNS activity history, And requesting the SNS server device to issue an electronic coupon configured for use in the shopping facility and corresponding to the specific customer group.

The electronic coupon issued above may be stored in an electronic wallet associated with the above account.

The electronic coupon issued above may be time limited.

The method estimates the purchase amount associated with the use of the other electronic coupon in response to receiving a notification from the operating business server device that another electronic coupon configured for use in the shopping facility was used prior to the above determination. It may further include a step.

The above determination may also be based on the estimated purchase amount above.

The above notification may indicate that the other electronic coupon has been used by the customer.

The above notification may indicate that the above other electronic coupon has been used by the above other person because the above other electronic coupon is delivered from the above account of the above customer to another account for the above SNS possessed by someone other than the above customer.

The above other electronic coupons were issued to the above customer's account before the above decision, or were transferred from another account for the above SNS held by someone other than the above customer to the above customer's above account and remained in the above customer's above account before the above decision. Can.

The other electronic coupon may be transferred from the above account of the above customer to another account for the above SNS possessed by a person other than the above customer before the above determination, and may remain in the above other account.

According to another aspect of the invention, a computing device is provided. The computing device includes a processor and at least one computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is a computer that, when executed by the processor, causes the computing device to perform the above method. The executable instructions are stored.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer readable storage medium is provided. The computer readable storage medium includes computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the above method.

The foregoing summary is provided to introduce some aspects that are further described below in the detailed description in a simplified form. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to scope the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that provide any or all of the advantages discussed herein.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, through effective marketing for customers who follow the SNS account of a retail business, it is possible to increase loyal followers, increase customer satisfaction, and seek active and detailed marketing.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to reduce inconvenience and additional costs incurred in marketing while the shopping facility member and the SNS follower are separated.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to target a suitable customer group by classifying customers according to the shopping facility member class.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an effective marketing strategy can be introduced by identifying not only a follower who is merely a visit, but also a member who directly generates sales, and a member who has a high influence on indirectly driving sales.

1 schematically shows a system for providing an SNS-based marketing service according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 shows an exemplary four customer groups classified based on a customer's SNS activity history and direct purchase history according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 shows an exemplary electronic coupon issued for a customer's SNS account and displayed on the customer's mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 illustrates a process for providing a marketing service using SNS according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a schematic block diagram of a computing device suitable for an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The invention may have several embodiments, several of which are disclosed herein. It should be understood, however, that this is provided by way of illustration, not limitation, of the invention, and encompasses all transformations, equivalents, or substitutes falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. Specific details are provided in the following detailed description to assist in a comprehensive understanding of the method, apparatus, and/or system according to the disclosed embodiments, some of which may be practiced without some or all of these details. In addition, detailed descriptions of known techniques may be omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure various aspects of the present invention.

The terms described below are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to be considered in a limiting sense. Singular forms of expression include the meaning of the plural form, unless expressly used otherwise. Also, in this document, terms such as “include” or “have” are intended to indicate the presence of a certain feature, number, step, action, component, information, or combinations thereof, one or more other features, It should be understood that it does not exclude the presence or possibility of numbers, steps, actions, elements, information, or combinations thereof.

Now, providing a member class division marketing service based on social networking activity information and purchase patterns is described in detail below.

1 schematically shows a system for providing an SNS-based marketing service according to an embodiment of the present invention. The shopping facility 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes facilities such as a department store, a duty free store, a shopping mall, a supermarket, and a convenience store operated by the retail business 101. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a point-of-sale (POS) system 112 in a shopping facility 100 (which, although not shown, includes multiple POS terminals) and one or more beacons (beacon) device 113 may be located. The POS system 112 and each beacon device 113 may include a communication link and/or network (e.g., a wired network such as Ethernet, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) (e.g., Wi-Fi ( Wi-Fi), Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) (e.g., Bluetooth, Zigbee, Near Field Communication (NFC), Radio Frequency Identification: RFID )), a server device 120 operated by the business 101 through a wireless network such as a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), or any suitable combination thereof) (hereinafter referred to as an "operating business") Server device), and communicatively coupled to exchange information with the operating business server device 120 and/or to operate under the control of the operating business server device 120.

In addition, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the operating business server device 120 may provide a communication link and/or a relay server device 140 operated by the operating business 101 or a third party to provide SNS-based marketing services. Or communicatively coupled over a network (eg, on a leased line), and the relay server device 140 is a social networking service (SNS) server device over a communication link and/or network (eg, over the Internet). It is communicatively coupled with 160.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 116 used by the customer 115 within the shopping facility 100 may be communicatively coupled with the SNS server device 160. For example, the mobile terminal 116 can be any suitable type of portable computing device, such as a mobile phone, smartphone, tablet, laptop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), and the like, and a telecommunication network. (E.g., 3rd Generation (3G), 4th Generation (4G), 5th Generation (5G) or later next generation wireless communication networks) to WWAN, WLAN, WPAN and/or the like It may be communicatively coupled to other computing devices, such as the SNS server device 160, over a wireless network, a wired network such as Ethernet, or any suitable combination thereof. Additionally, the mobile terminal 116 can be communicatively coupled with the beacon device 113 mentioned above, for example, via a communication network such as Bluetooth.

Marketing service according to an embodiment of the present invention may involve operating the SNS account for the shopping facility 100 of the operating business 101 as follows.

First, service posting in the SNS account can be divided into text type, video type, and the like, and the operating business 101 can easily reflect the latest strategies and issues pursued for the shopping facility 100 in the posting and shopping Information such as shopping news related to the facility 100 can be quickly disseminated (eg, in the form of a push message).

In addition, by utilizing the online-to-offline (O2O) platform based on the SNS account, the operating business 101 can strengthen the customer factor and expect to increase sales online/offline. For example, the operating business 101 may provide a member card and/or an electronic/mobile coupon (eg, discount coupon, preferential ticket, exchange ticket, etc.) of the shopping facility 100 of the operating business 101 through SNS. As another example, the operating business 101 is a convenience function, such as a mobile guide (for example, including a map of each floor, a brand map, etc. of the shopping facility 100) to guide the stores in the shopping facility 100 through SNS Can provide As another example, the operating business 101 is an area (hereinafter referred to as a "service area") in which various services are available (including a marketing service according to an embodiment) in the area of the shopping facility 100 through an SNS. It may provide online and/or offline events by interworking with one or more beacon devices 113 located within. Such interworking may include, for example, shaking the Bluetooth-enabled mobile terminal 116 near the location where the beacon device 113 is installed, which will cause an event program, such as a free gift prize, to be displayed on the mobile terminal 116. In addition, it is possible to sign up as a member of the shopping facility 100, follow the SNS account of the shopping facility 100, allow matching between the shopping facility 100 membership and the SNS account ID, etc. The screen or web page that induces may be displayed on the mobile terminal 116.

Furthermore, in relation to the customer 115 who is a member of the shopping facility 100 and a member of the SNS (that is, having an account for SNS), the customer's SNS activity history of the customer 115 in the shopping facility 100 ( Since it can be managed integrally with the direct purchase history of 115), the operating business 101 can subdivide the customer 115 into one of several groups and selectively promote the customer by targeting the customer 115. You can proceed. Such integrated management will enable the operating business 101 to obtain meaningful marketing data and perform systematic customer management based on this.

To this end, when the account of the customer 115 follows the official account of the operating business 101 on the SNS, the relay server device 140, for example, an application programming interface (API) provided for the SNS By using, it is possible to obtain basic SNS information about the follower customer 115 from the SNS server device 160. In some embodiments, such SNS basic information may include the following parameters:

-openid: the unique ID of the user account of the SNS, and the plaintext ID may be encrypted;

-nickname: indicates the user's nickname;

-sex: indicates the gender of the user, for example, 1 indicates male, 2 indicates female, and 0 does not set;

-city: the city name included in the user's (office, residence or any other postal) address;

-country: the country name included in the user's address;

-province: the local name included in the user's address;

-language: indicates the user's preferred language;

-headimgurl: indicates the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the user's profile photo file (but is set to null if the user does not set a profile photo), for example, after the actual URL of the profile photo file A number indicating the size (eg 0 indicating a 640 x 640 image, or another number such as 46, 64, 96, 132, etc.) may be added; And/or

-subscribe_time: indicates the timestamp at the time when the user followed the business account (or the last follow-up time if the user followed multiple times).

The obtained SNS basic information can be used as follows. First, in the marketing service according to an embodiment of the present invention, matching between the membership of the shopping facility 100 and the SNS account ID (ID) may be required to integrally manage both the SNS activity history and the direct purchase history. A webpage may be provided that enables matching (eg, assuming that you follow the SNS account for the shopping facility 100). The customer 115 may have allowed their SNS account ID to be associated with their shopping facility 100 membership through such a web page. Then, the operating business server device 120 may associate the SNS account ID of the customer 115 with the shopping facility 100 membership, and store the associated ID in the membership information database 122. In particular, if the customer 115 follows the SNS account of the shopping facility 100, the operating business server device 120 may notify the relay server device 140 of the follower customer 115, and the relay server device 140, as mentioned above, obtains an SNS account ID (eg, openid) encrypted to have a unique value from the SNS server device 160, and obtains the encrypted ID, additional information required (eg , Authentication key), together with this, can be transmitted to the operating business server device 120 for storage in the database 122. Now, the obtained encrypted ID may be shared between the operating business server device 120 and the relay server device 140, and the relay server device 140 may perform other personal information regarding the customer 115 (eg, a shopping facility ( 100) associated with the membership of the operating business server device 120 (database 122 of the stored information, for example, name, telephone, address, credit card number, reserves / points, such as transaction history, such encrypted) As an ID, it is possible to communicate with the SNS server device 160 (for example, using a corresponding API) to provide an event, electronic coupon, convenience function, and other services for the SNS account of the customer 115. Therefore, the operating business server device 120 may share only the portion determined to be necessary for use in the relay server device 140 (eg, a purchase grade described below) among the information stored in the database 122 with the relay server device 140. Can. This suppresses the need for excessive and/or cumbersome sharing of personal information between the server devices 120, 140, especially when the relay server device 140 is operated by a third party other than the operating business 101. It will be advantageous in that respect.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the relay server device 140 receives the encrypted SNS account ID (eg, openid) of the customer (eg, the customer 115) from the operating business server device 120, (eg, It is configured to obtain information associated with such an ID from the SNS server device 160 (using the API provided for SNS). In particular, the relay server device 140 may provide customers of the shopping facility 100 with member conditions, such as a social activity rating indicating some of the SNS activity history and/or a purchasing activity grade indicating some of the direct purchase history, etc. It can also be configured to divide into a specific group according to) to collect and manage separate data for each group, and to send a different push message for each group from the SNS server device 160. Such grouping of customers can make it easier to inquire about SNS activities and purchase activities of customers, to view statistics on them, or to automatically generate reports showing them.

In some embodiments, the relay server device 140 dynamically classifies the customers of the shopping facility 100 into four customer groups based on their respective SNS activity history and direct purchase history, as shown in FIG. 2. (Of course, in other embodiments, it should be noted that it is possible to classify into a different number of customer groups):

-1st customer group 210: Customers with a lot of direct purchase history and SNS activity history belong to this;

-2nd customer group 220: Customers with a lot of direct purchase history but SNS activity history belong to this;

-Third customer group 230: Customers with a small history of direct purchases, but many SNS activity history belong to this; And

-4th customer group 240: Customers with little direct purchase history and low SNS activity history belong to this.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the amount of a customer's SNS activity history depends on the amount of activity he is performing on the SNS (eg, an activity to introduce the shopping facility 100 to neighbors such as friends, acquaintances, companions through SNS) Or indicate it. In some embodiments, regarding a customer following an SNS account of the shopping facility 100 (eg, the customer 115), SNS activity information including the following index to indicate social networking activity (eg, SNS) Can be obtained using the API provided for:

-Visits: indicates the number of times the customer visited the SNS page of the shopping facility 100;

-Coupon Share/Downloads: Indicates the number of times electronic coupons issued to a customer's SNS account in connection with the shopping facility 100 have been shared or downloaded to another account (eg, another user's SNS account); And/or

-Event Participation: Shows the number of times a customer participated in an event performed on the SNS page of the shopping facility 100 (for example, the number of times the “Like” was pressed and/or the number of comments).

The relay server device 140 may determine the amount of SNS activity of the customer based on the obtained SNS activity information. For example, for each of two or more of the above indices, customers having a mean value of each or more may be determined to have a large amount of SNS activity, and thus may be determined to belong to the first customer group or the third customer group. Otherwise, it can be determined that the customer belongs to the second customer group or the fourth customer group. Additionally, the determination of the amount of SNS activity of the customer may also be based on at least a portion of the basic information of the aforementioned SNS (eg, city, country, province), whereby the amount of SNS activity of the customer in a specific situation can be determined. .

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the amount of the customer's direct purchase history depends on or represents the amount and/or amount of sales generated by the shopping facility 100 as a direct purchase. In some embodiments, in connection with the customer, direct purchase information indicating the following may be obtained (eg, in conjunction with the POS system 112):

-Purchase amount: represents the amount of the customer's direct purchase at the shopping facility 100;

-Purchasing class: indicates a rating assigned according to the amount of direct sales that the customer has drawn to the shopping facility 100; And/or

-Purchase frequency: indicates the number of purchases made by the customer in the shopping facility 100 during a predetermined time period.

The relay server device 140 may determine the amount and/or degree of direct sales of the customer based on the acquired direct purchase information. In this regard, in particular, when the relay server device 140 is operated by a third party other than the operating business 101, the relay server device 140 may not be notified of the purchase amount for legal and/or business reasons. It should be noted that there is.

The grouping of customers by the relay server device 140 (for example, customer segmentation management as described above) is a member of the shopping facility 100 and a customer such as a customer 115 who is a follower of the SNS account of the shopping facility 100 actually shopping. A more efficient marketing service, considering not only the history of visiting and purchasing the facility 100, but also the history of driving sales by inducing purchases by nearby acquaintances through SNS activities such as sharing of electronic coupons. You can make it possible. For example, the relay server device 140 may enable promotion to a third customer group as needed, which is difficult to target with the sales record aggregated in the shopping facility 100 only. It should be noted. In addition, the relay server device 140 further divides the customers who have a direct purchase history into the first customer group and the second customer group according to the SNS activity history, thereby enabling more detailed marketing.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the relay server device 140 is an electronic coupon configured for use in the shopping facility 100 of the operating business 101 according to which of the plurality of customer groups the customer 115 belongs to. It may request the SNS server device 160 to issue to the SNS account of the customer 115. The electronic coupon issued to the SNS account of the customer 115 as such, for example, according to the purchase amount (for example, when the purchase amount is greater than or equal to the preset lower limit (and is less than the preset upper limit)) Alternatively, it may be a coupon that provides a discount at a specific rate of the purchase amount, a coupon that provides a discount at a specific amount regardless of the purchase amount, or a coupon that provides a discount at a specific rate of the purchase amount, and the SNS server device It may be provided/downloaded in the electronic wallet associated with the SNS account of the customer 115 by 160. Accordingly, the customer 115 can conveniently use the coupon stored in the electronic wallet, which is convenient. And, as shown in FIG. 3, a unique PIN (PIN) code for each electronic coupon 300 (this is, for example, on the electronic coupon 300 in the form of a barcode 310 and/or a numeric string 320) May be displayed), when the electronic coupon 300 displayed on the mobile terminal 116 is displayed at the stand at the time of purchase at the shopping facility 100, by the POS terminal provided at the stand The use of the coupon 300 may be checked through scan/read. Additionally, these pin codes can also be used to receive discounts at online shopping malls built on the website of the shopping facility 100.

In some embodiments, the electronic coupon described above may be provided for the customer 115's SNS account only if the mobile terminal 116 where the customer 115 logged into the SNS is located within the service area of the shopping facility 100. have. For example, only when the customer 115 shakes the Bluetooth-enabled mobile terminal 116 around the beacon 113 (the location of the mobile terminal 116 is relay server device 140 via operating company server device 120) ), the relay server device 140 may request the SNS server device 160 to issue an electronic coupon for the SNS account of the customer 115. As another example, if the customer 115 allows location information of the mobile terminal 116 to be available (eg, from the SNS server device 160), the relay server device 140 (eg, for SNS It may be determined whether the mobile terminal 116 is located within the service area of the shopping facility 100 (using the prepared API). On the other hand, additionally or alternatively, if the location information of the mobile terminal 116 is available as described above, the relay server device 140 may use the mobile terminal (eg, using an API provided for SNS) when issuing an electronic coupon ( 116).

In some embodiments, the electronic coupon provided to the customer's 115 SNS account will be distributed/delivered by the customer 115 to another person's (eg, the customer 115's friend, acquaintance, companion, etc.) SNS account. Can. As such, when a coupon is delivered to another person's SNS account and remains (e.g., in an electronic wallet associated with the account), the coupon is used for the SNS account of the customer 115 who was originally the holder of the coupon ( Not only can reserves be provided (eg, usable in the shopping facility 100), but the relay server device 140 is also notified that such electronic coupons have been used and/or the amount of sales estimated from the use of such electronic coupons and/or Alternatively, the amount of SNS activity of the customer 115 may also be determined based on the degree. (For how to notify that the electronic coupon is used, refer to the description below regarding the notification that the electronic coupon of the customer 115 has been used. Also, the customer is to estimate the amount and/or amount of sales from the use of the electronic coupon. See the description below on how to estimate the amount and/or degree of direct sales generated by 115.) Finally, the relay server device 140 not only acquires the SNS activity history and direct purchase history already obtained, , Based on the above estimation, it is possible to determine which customer group the customer 115 belongs to. This method (that is, the method of distributing rewarded coupons) drives the increase of the followers of the SNS account for the shopping facility 100 and the sales increase of the shopping facility 100 in a customer-friendly manner, and marketing collaboration with the corresponding SNS company Alternatively, it is possible to effectively promote the activities of buyers through purchasing agents or group leaders.

Additionally, the relay server device 140 may directly calculate the amount of sales generated by the customer 115 based on the notification that the electronic coupon remaining in the SNS account of the customer 115 was used, in addition to the acquired direct purchase information, and And/or to determine the degree. Such a configuration makes it possible, for example, to estimate the amount and/or degree of sales directly from the discount details presented by the used electronic coupon even when the purchase amount is not notified to the relay server device 140, as described above. It is useful in that it does. For example, suppose that the following coupon is provided for the SNS account of the customer 115: If the purchase amount is greater than or equal to the preset lower limit of \100,000 and less than the preset upper limit of \200,000, a discount of \10,000 is provided. Coupon to make. When the customer 115 makes a total of \110,000 worth of purchases at the shopping facility 100 and presents the above coupon displayed on the mobile terminal 116 at the stand, the customer 115 pays with the amount of the coupon applied The coupon may be scanned through the POS terminal, and the use of the coupon may be notified to the operating business server device 120. In response, the operating business server device 120 may transmit a notification that the corresponding coupon has been used to the relay server device 140. This notification from the operating business server 120 may also indicate, for example, that the SNS account in which the electronic coupon was maintained at the time of use of the electronic coupon is the account of the customer 115. Then, the relay server device 140 responds to the notification that the coupon has been used even if the purchase amount of the customer 115 is not received separately (for example, a coupon of a type having a specific discount history, including the coupon) When used, it is possible to estimate the approximate purchase amount resulting from the coupons used (from statistics on the average purchase amount). For example, in response to a notification that an electronic coupon of the “priority ticket” type that can receive a 2% discount upon purchase of \200,000 or more was used by the customer 115, the relay server device 140 uses the “priority ticket” coupon. The purchase amount of the customer 115 can be estimated based on the average purchase price of the city. Furthermore, the relay server device 140 may determine which customer group the customer 115 belongs to based on the estimated purchase price, as well as the SNS activity history and the direct purchase history.

Referring now to FIG. 4, additional aspects related to the exemplary embodiment are described.

The exemplary process 400 illustrated in FIG. 4 may be performed by a computing device, such as relay server device 140, to provide marketing services using SNS.

In operation 410, the relay server device 140 obtains a direct purchase history of the customer 115 from the operating business server device 120 in which information regarding membership of the shopping facility 100 is stored. The customer 115 is a member of the shopping facility 100 and has an account for the corresponding SNS. For example, the direct purchase history can be obtained using direct purchase information as described above.

In operation 420, the relay server device 140 obtains the SNS activity history of the customer 115 from the SNS server device 160 providing the SNS. For example, the SNS activity history can be obtained using SNS activity information as described above.

In operation 430, the relay server device 140 is based on the direct purchase history and the SNS activity history, the customer 115 among a plurality of customer groups (eg, four customer groups 210, 220, 230, 240). It is judged that it belongs to a specific thing.

In operation 440, the relay server device 140 sends an electronic coupon (eg, a time-limited electronic coupon available only within a predetermined period of time) configured for use in the shopping facility 100 to the SNS account of the customer 115. Requests to the SNS server device 160 to be issued. In some embodiments, such electronic coupons may be unique to a group of customers. For example, the electronic coupon requested when the customer 115 belongs to the first customer group 210 may be different from the electronic coupon requested when the customer 115 belongs to another customer group 220, 230, or 240. have.

On the other hand, as shown, before operation 430, relay server device 140 may receive a notification from operating business server device 120 that other electronic coupons configured for use in shopping facility 100 have been used. Yes (operation 450). Such notification may indicate, for example, the following: The corresponding electronic coupon was used by the customer 115; Alternatively, the electronic coupon was delivered from the SNS account of the customer 115 to the SNS account of someone other than the customer 115, and the electronic coupon was used thereby. In some embodiments, this electronic coupon (eg, may be time-limited) is an electronic coupon that was left in the customer 115's SNS account (eg, issued to the customer 115's SNS account prior to operation 450) and/or , May be delivered to the SNS account of the customer 115 from another account for SNS owned by a person other than the customer 115 before the operation 450. The notification that this electronic coupon has been used may also indicate that the electronic coupon has been used by the customer 115 by indicating the SNS account of the customer 115. In some embodiments, this electronic coupon (eg, which may be time-limited) is sent from the customer 115 to the SNS account of another person (eg, the customer 115's friend, acquaintance, companion, etc.) before the operation 450. It may be an electronic coupon that has been shared or delivered. Notification that this electronic coupon has been used may also indicate that the electronic coupon has been used by the other person by indicating the other person's SNS account, and/or electronically from the customer 115 by indicating the customer 115's SNS account. It can also indicate that the coupon was derived. In response to receiving at operation 450, relay server device 140 may estimate the purchase amount associated with the use of this electronic coupon (operation 460). For example, when an electronic coupon is used by the customer 115, the purchase amount of the customer 115 may be estimated. As another example, if another SNS user who received an electronic coupon from the customer 115 used the coupon, the purchase amount of the other person may be estimated, and the estimated amount is used to estimate the amount of SNS activity of the customer 115 It can be used by the relay server device 140. When the purchase amount associated with the use of the electronic coupon presenting a specific discount history is estimated, in operation 430, determining the customer group to which the customer 115 belongs is only the SNS activity history and the direct purchase history of the customer 115. No, it can also be based on the estimated purchase amount.

Now, referring to FIG. 5, another aspect related to an exemplary embodiment is described.

The various server devices 120, 140, 160 shown in FIG. 1 can be any suitable type of computing device. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a computing device 500 suitable for an exemplary embodiment. In FIG. 5, an exemplary computing device 500 is coupled to one or more processors 510, a processor 510, and a computer-readable storage medium 520 readable by the processor 510. And various peripheral devices 530. In some embodiments, computing device 500 may be implemented as relay server device 140 for providing exemplary marketing services.

The processor 510 may include processing circuitry for controlling the operation of the computing device 500. For example, the processor 510 may include a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a processor core, a microprocessor, and a microcontroller. , Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), other hardware and logic circuits, or Any suitable combination thereof.

The computer readable storage medium 520 is any non-transitory for storing computer executable instructions or program code, program data and/or other suitable forms of information in a computer readable form. ), computer readable storage media. For example, the computer-readable storage medium 520 may be read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), volatile memory, or non-volatile Memory, removable memory, non-removable memory, hard disk, flash memory, magnetic disk storage medium, optical disk storage medium, other storage devices and storage media, or any suitable thereof Combinations. In some embodiments, processor 510 may execute computer-executable instructions stored on computer-readable storage medium 520, which instructions, when executed by processor 510, cause computing device 500 to present the invention. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, for example, at least a part of the exemplary process 400 described above may be performed.

The peripheral device 530 may include various input/output (I/O) devices, which may be used by the computing device 500 to communicate with other devices, devices, devices, or the like, or the computing device 500 ) May be used to receive user input of commands, data and/or information, and/or may be used to present output from the computing device 500 to the user. For example, the peripheral device 530 may include a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a keypad, a microphone, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a touch-sensitive display, speaker, printer, communication interface card, serial It may include a serial port, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, and the like.

Exemplary embodiments are non-transitory computer readable storage media including computer programs embodying the disclosed operations, techniques, processes, or any aspect or portion thereof, such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tapes. Magnetic media, optical recording media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, magnetic-optical media such as floptical discs, and memory devices such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and solid-state memory. Such computer-readable storage media may include program instructions, local data files, local data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The disclosed operations, techniques, processes, or programs capable of implementing or using any aspect or portion thereof are any type of computer-executable (eg, compiled or interpreted) programming language, such as, for example, It can be implemented in assembly, machine language, procedural language, object-oriented language, etc., and can be combined with a hardware implementation.

Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail, they should be regarded as illustrative and not restrictive. Those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains will appreciate that various changes may be made to the details of the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the following claims and equivalents thereto.

100: shopping facilities
120: operating business server device
140: relay server device
160: SNS server device

Claims (9)

It is communicatively coupled with an operating business server device in which information regarding membership of a shopping facility is stored, and communicatively coupled with an SNS server device providing a social networking service (SNS), using the SNS A method performed by a relay server device for providing a marketing service,
Obtaining from the operating business server device, instead of the amount of the customer's direct purchase, obtaining a purchase grade assigned according to the amount-the customer is a member of the shopping facility and has an account for the SNS, the ID of the account Is shared between the operating business server device and the relay server device, and the relay server device communicates with the SNS server device with the ID without other personal information related to the customer stored in the operating business server device in association with the membership. - Wow,
Obtaining an index associated with the ID and indicating the SNS activity of the customer from the SNS server device;
By estimating the amount of the direct purchase based on the acquired purchase grade and estimating the amount of the SNS activity based on the obtained index, the estimated amount of the direct purchase and the estimated amount of the SNS activity Based on the step of determining that the customer belongs to a specific customer group of the plurality of customer groups,
And requesting the SNS server device to issue an electronic coupon for the account corresponding to the specific customer group and configured for use in the shopping facility.
Way. According to claim 1,
The issued electronic coupon is stored in an electronic wallet associated with the account,
Way. According to claim 1,
The issued electronic coupon is time limited,
Way. According to claim 1,
Before the determination, in response to receiving a notification from the operating server server that another electronic coupon configured for use in the shopping facility has been used, further estimating a purchase amount associated with the use of the other electronic coupon. Containing,
Way. According to claim 4,
When the other electronic coupon is used by the customer, the amount of the direct purchase is also estimated based on the estimated purchase amount, and when the other electronic coupon is used by someone other than the customer The amount of the SNS activity is estimated based also on the estimated purchase amount, so that the determination is also based on the estimated purchase amount,
Way. According to claim 4,
The notification indicates that the other electronic coupon has been used by the customer, the other electronic coupon being issued to the account of the customer before the determination or from another account for the SNS held by a person other than the customer before the determination. It was delivered to the customer's account and remained in the customer's account,
Way. According to claim 4,
The notification indicates that the other electronic coupon was used by someone other than the customer, the other electronic coupon being delivered from the customer's account to another account for the SNS owned by the other person before the determination. Which remained in another account,
Way. As a computing device,
At least one processor,
Claims 1 to 7 of any one of claims 1 to 7, comprising at least one computer readable storage medium coupled to the processor, wherein the computer readable storage medium when executed by the processor Computer-executable instructions to perform the method are stored,
Computing device. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the method of claim 1.

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