KR20040100666A - A method and system for providing joint purchase based on the Internet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and a system for offering group buying enabling buyers to buy articles more inexpensively are provided to enable the buyers to confirm a current price/quantity in real-time by offering a detail supply graph to the buyers and offer the articles at a more inexpensive price as a number of the buyers gets larger. CONSTITUTION: Supply condition information is received from a supplier(S301). The supply graph is generated by using the received supply condition information and is provided to the buyers(S303). A request associated with the group buying is received from the buyers(S305). In response to the request, the supply graph is updated and the updated supply graph is provided to the buyers(S306).

Description

A method and system for providing joint purchase based on the Internet}

The present invention relates to a method of providing a joint purchase through a communication network, and more particularly, a joint purchase for generating a supply graph using a supply condition information received from a supplier and a purchase request received from a purchaser and providing the same to a purchaser. A method and system are provided.

Today, as the Internet becomes active, e-commerce is becoming commonplace, where products and payments are sold in cyberspace without consumers and suppliers meeting in person. In addition to the convenience of electronic commerce, a new purchasing method of joint purchase is increasing for cheaper and more stable quality transaction.

"Co-purchase" means that several purchasers wishing to purchase the same goods apply for the purchase of goods jointly using a joint purchase site or the like to purchase the goods. Co-purchase allows consumers to purchase goods at lower prices through several advantages, such as cost reduction due to large orders, planned ordering, and reduction of distribution costs, and benefits suppliers from increased sales volume. Provide the opportunity to

As these joint purchases are activated, various methods for expanding the sales network have been proposed.

1 illustrates a general network connection of a system for providing a joint purchase through a joint purchase site, according to the prior art.

As shown in FIG. 1, the joint purchase site server 140 receives a supply condition such as a supply price from the supplier 130. The purchaser 110 connects to the joint purchase site server 140 through the communication network 120 using wired or wireless terminals 111 and 112 such as a PC or a mobile phone. The joint purchase site server 140 provides the purchase conditioner 110 with the supply condition received from the supplier 130 again. The purchaser decides whether to purchase in consideration of the supply condition, and if a purchase is desired, a purchase request is transmitted to the joint purchase site server 140.

As an example according to the related art, as shown in FIG. 2A, there is a method in which a supplier presents a predefined purchase quantity and receives an order on a first-come, first-served basis from a purchaser at a predetermined supply price. In FIG. 2A, the supplier limits 50 purchase quantities and presents one supply price of 11,000 won which is discounted from the market price of 58,000 won. Therefore, all purchasers have no choice but to buy the goods at the same price, and by using the first-come, first-served method, only some buyers have the opportunity to purchase.

According to Figure 2a, if you sell the goods with a final price set from the beginning, even when five people and 50 people have to buy the same price. Therefore, in FIG. 2A, when only one supply price is provided, there is a problem in that it does not coincide with the intention of the joint purchase system, in which more discount is provided to the purchaser as the purchase quantity increases.

In addition, since the purchaser should purchase only the price of the goods pre-set by the supplier, the purchaser's choice is narrowed because the purchaser's right to make a decision is excluded. Another problem is that limited supplies of goods, so when all 50 items are sold out, as in the example shown in Figure 2a, the rest of the consumers have to buy at the normal price, not the discounted price, so only the limited customers will benefit. .

To solve this problem, FIG. 2B shows another example of the supply condition suggested by the supplier. As shown in FIG. 2B, the more the purchase quantity increases for a product having a market price of 17,000 won, the greater the discount width is intended to take advantage of the inherent advantages of joint purchase.

However, in most current joint purchase sites including FIG. 2B, prices cannot be presented for individual quantities, and it is common to present prices for each of the sections by dividing the quantity into several sections. Therefore, it is difficult for the purchaser to know exactly how much the current purchase quantity is, and it is difficult to predict the degree of the additional price discount for the additional purchase quantity in the future.

In order to solve the above problems, Korean Patent Application No. 10-2001-0030515 (name of the invention: "co-purchasing method, and a co-purchasing device suitable for this") discloses a new co-purchasing method. According to the above application, a supply price suggestion method is proposed in which a price is determined by mutual agreement between a purchaser and a supplier after receiving a purchase price from a purchaser. However, the application adopts an auction method in which the price with the highest number of applications is won by the price calculation formula.

Therefore, the present invention still reflects only the intention of many purchasers, but still implies that the intention of a purchaser including a purchaser who wishes a price lower than other successful bidders is not sufficiently reflected.

In addition, the joint purchase presentation method currently in progress at various joint purchase sites does not notify the current purchase quantity and current price of the purchaser in advance. Therefore, such a joint purchase presentation method cannot predict how much further discount is possible in the future because the purchaser cannot estimate the current purchase quantity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to improve the prior art as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for providing a purchaser with a detailed supply graph, so that the current price and quantity can be confirmed in real time.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for providing an article at a lower price as there are more buyers.

Still another object of the present invention is to increase the participation of the joint purchaser in the purchase decision of the purchaser by allowing the purchaser to present a desired purchase price.

Another object of the present invention is to make a joint purchase, so that more buyers can purchase the goods at a lower price, and provide the supplier with the opportunity to gain more profits by increasing the sales volume.

1 illustrates a general network connection of a system for providing a joint purchase, according to the prior art.

2A and 2B illustrate an example of a method of presenting a joint purchase price in accordance with the prior art.

3 is a flow chart for showing a method of providing a joint purchase according to the present invention.

Figure 4 shows an example of a supply price corresponding to the purchase quantity information presented by the supplier in accordance with the present invention.

5A and 5B illustrate an example of a method for providing a purchaser with a supply price corresponding to purchase quantity information in accordance with the present invention.

6 is a diagram illustrating a change in a current price with respect to time according to a purchase request.

7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration inside a system for providing a joint purchase in response to a purchase request according to the present invention.

8 is an internal block diagram of a general purpose computer device that may be employed to perform the method of providing a knowledge sharing service according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

740: co-purchase receiving means

750: data storage means

760: preferred purchase price processing means

770: supply graph supply means

In order to achieve the above object and to solve the problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a method and means for providing a joint purchase in response to a purchase request entered through the communication network from the purchaser.

According to an aspect of the invention, the step of receiving supply condition information from the supplier and generating a supply graph using the received supply condition information, providing the generated supply graph to the purchaser and the purchase and purchase from the buyer Receiving an associated request and updating the supply graph in response to a request associated with the purchase and providing the updated supply graph to a purchaser.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, in a system for providing a joint purchase in response to a purchase request inputted through a communication network from a purchaser, receiving a request associated with a purchase from a purchaser and supply condition information about a sale item from a supplier The joint purchase receiving means for generating a supply graph using the received supply condition, and the graph generating means for updating the supply graph in response to a request associated with the purchase, and the request associated with the purchase includes a desired purchase price; And price comparison processing means for determining whether the current price ratio of the desired purchase price is consistent, and providing means for providing a plurality of purchasers with the generated and updated supply graph or a current price matched with the desired purchase price. A joint purchase provision system is provided.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing a joint purchase according to the present invention.

First, in step S301, the supplier provides the supply condition information to the joint purchase provision system. According to the present invention, the supply condition information includes purchase quantity information and supply price information discounted corresponding to the purchase quantity.

In the present invention, the purchase quantity information is not provided for each division by dividing the purchase quantity into several sections, and more detailed supply price information is provided for each quantity, thereby providing more detailed discount information to the purchaser. In addition, the supply condition information includes general market price information when the item is purchased as a general purchase (or an individual purchase) instead of a joint purchase, thereby enabling the purchaser to compare prices at the joint purchase and the general purchase.

After describing FIG. 4 as a preferred embodiment of the above steps, the steps of FIG. 3 will be described.

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of supply price information corresponding to purchase quantity information presented by a supplier according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the supply price is presented from the supplier corresponding to each purchase quantity. For example, if a purchaser wants to purchase one item, the supply price is 50,000 won, if two purchases are 49,000 won, and if three purchases are 48,000 won, the purchase quantity increases. In response, the supply price is reduced. Therefore, the purchaser can purchase the goods more cheaply as the purchase quantity increases.

Hereinafter, step S302 of FIG. 3 will be described.

Step S302 is a step of generating a supply graph based on the supply condition information received from the supplier. By providing the generated supply graph to the purchaser, the purchaser decides whether to request a joint purchase (S303).

Step S304 is a step in which a purchaser receives a request associated with a joint purchase, and in this step, a purchase request request is received from a purchaser or a purchase cancellation request for a purchase request. Upon receiving the request associated with the joint purchase (step S305), the joint purchase providing system updates the information of the supply graph (step S306). The information of the supply graph updated in the above step is transmitted in real time to the purchaser or other purchaser who requested a joint purchase through the Internet (step S307).

Hereinafter, the steps of generating and updating the supply graph will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B.

5A is a diagram illustrating an example of a supply graph in which information corresponding to a purchase quantity and a supply price presented by a supplier is displayed on a graph. Referring to FIG. 5A, a supply price that decreases at a constant rate corresponding to an increased purchase quantity is represented by an inverse curve. The supply graph is a graph provided when a purchaser wishes to access a joint purchase site through the Internet.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the supply graph information updating step (S306) may include generating current cumulative purchase quantity information by reflecting a request associated with the joint purchase, and supplying the supply graph and the calculated current cumulative purchase quantity information. Generating current supply price information using the same; and displaying the generated current supply price information on the graph.

The "current cumulative purchase quantity" means the sum of the purchase quantities received so far, and referring to the supply graph using the cumulative purchase quantity, it is possible to obtain "current supply price information" corresponding to the cumulative purchase quantity. do.

The reference numeral 501 on the graph indicates the current supply price. When receiving a purchase request from the purchaser in real time, the cumulative purchase quantity increases, and the reference numeral 501 moves to the right along the graph, and the purchase cancellation is made. When the request is received, the cumulative purchase quantity decreases and the reference numeral 501 moves to the left along the graph. Therefore, the reference numeral 501 indicates the purchase quantity and the supply price that change in real time at the request from the purchaser, so that the purchaser can easily check the current supply price and predict the future supply price.

FIG. 5B is an enlarged view of reference numeral 502 of the supply graph shown in FIG. 5A, and illustrates in more detail the supply price according to each purchase quantity. Reference numeral 511 of FIG. 5B denotes a point indicating a current supply price, as shown by reference numeral 501 of FIG. 5A.

By providing these updated supply graphs to the prospective buyers, the prospective buyers will be able to see the current supply price and at the same time easily anticipate how much more discounted supply prices will be available in the future. It can be activated more.

Hereinafter, step S308 of FIG. 3 will be described. The joint purchase providing method according to the present invention may further include a step (S308) of receiving a desired purchase price from the purchaser. In step S308, the desired purchase price is received from the purchase applicant. The purchaser may present a desired purchase price for the purchase item he or she wishes to purchase with or separately from the purchase request. For example, for an item with a current price of 30,000 won, if the purchaser wants to purchase less than 25,000 won, the purchaser may propose 25,000 won as a desired price for the item.

When receiving the desired purchase price from the purchase applicant in the joint purchase providing system, the method may further include displaying the desired purchase price on the supply graph (step S309).

In step S310, it is determined whether the current supply price is close to the desired purchase price, and in step S311, the determination result is immediately notified to the purchaser. In step S310, determining whether the current supply price is close to the desired purchase price. When the difference between the current supply price and the desired purchase price is within a predetermined value is determined to be close. Information about the predetermined value may be received from the purchaser or automatically set by the joint purchase providing system. The determination result is immediately notified to the purchaser's wireless terminal using an SMS service.

FIG. 6 is a graph of price fluctuations showing the change in the current supply price over time according to the present invention. FIG. Since the current supply price fluctuates according to the purchase request and the cancellation of purchase by the purchaser, it is preferable to provide the price fluctuation graph until the end of the joint purchase period.

The straight line 601 displayed on the graph indicates a desired purchase price of 32,000 won for the purchaser. It is determined whether the current supply price, which changes over time, is close to the desired purchase price, and if it is determined that the current supply price is close, the determination result is immediately notified to the purchaser. As an example of a notification method, a short message service (SMS) may be used to transmit to a wireless terminal of the purchaser. The difference between the current supply price and the desired purchase price is determined as a predetermined value, and the predetermined value will be described with reference to FIG. 6 as follows.

For example, the desired purchase price of the purchaser may be 32,000 won, and the predetermined value may be set to 2000 won. If the purchase request from the purchaser is continuously received, and the supply price continues to decrease, the joint purchase providing system at 5 o'clock at the time when the current supply price is close to 34,000 won, which is within 2000 won compared to the desired purchase price, The desired purchaser will be notified of the determination result.

As another example, if the purchase cancellation request from the purchaser is continuously received, and the supply price increases again, the decision is made to the purchaser when the current supply price is closer to 30,000 won within 2000 won compared to the desired purchase price. You will be notified again.

As another example, the desired purchase price of the purchaser is 32,000 won, and the predetermined value may be set to 30,000 won or more and 35,000 won or less. When the current supply price fluctuates in response to a purchase request from a purchaser, the purchaser of the purchase price reaches 30,000 won and 35,000 won. You will be notified of the decision.

In addition, as a preferred embodiment of the step, if the current supply price is lower than the desired purchase price specified by the purchasers at the end of the joint purchase period, payment for the purchase request is automatically made, and the current supply price than the desired purchase price In this high case, it is possible to prevent payment for the purchase request. Alternatively, if the current supply price is higher than the desired purchase price, it is preferable that payment is made after receiving the purchase confirmation of the purchaser.

7 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a joint purchase providing system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, the joint purchase providing system includes a joint purchase receiving unit 740, a data storing unit 750, a desired purchase price processing unit 760, and a supply graph providing unit 770.

The joint purchase receiving means 740 is connected to the supplier's PC 720 via a communication network such as the Internet, and receives supply condition information about the article from the supplier. It is also coupled with the purchaser's PC 710 to receive a request associated with the joint purchase from the purchaser. It also receives a desired purchase price from the purchaser.

The data storage means 750 is means for storing the received supply condition information and purchase request.

The desired purchase price processing means 760 determines whether the desired purchase price received from the purchaser is close to the current supply price information. The result determined by the desired purchase price processing means 760 is immediately notified to the wireless terminal of the purchaser through an SMS service.

Supply graph providing means 770 is means for generating supply graph information based on supply condition information stored in the data storage means 750 and updating the supply graph in response to a request associated with the joint purchase. The supply graph information generated by the supply graph providing means 770 is transmitted in real time to the purchaser.

In the above embodiments, a straight line is illustrated in the form of a supply graph, but the technical spirit of the present invention can be applied to other types of graphs, for example, three-dimensional graphs and bar charts.

Embodiments of the invention include a computer readable medium containing program instructions for performing various computer-implemented operations. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The program instructions on the media may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well-known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape, optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, and magnetic disks, such as floppy disks. Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. The medium may be a transmission medium such as an optical or metal wire, a waveguide, or the like including a carrier wave for transmitting a signal specifying a program command, a data structure, or the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine code generated by a compiler, but also high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

8 is an internal block diagram of a general purpose computer device that may be employed to perform the method for providing local information search results according to the present invention.

Computer device 800 includes one or more processors 810 coupled with a main memory device including random access memory (RAM) 820 and read only memory (ROM) 830. The processor 810 is also called a central processing unit (CPU). As is well known in the art, the ROM 830 serves to transfer data and instructions to the CPU unidirectionally, and the RAM 820 typically transfers data and instructions bidirectionally. Used to. RAM 820 and ROM 830 may include any suitable form of computer readable media. Mass storage 840 is bidirectionally coupled to processor 810 to provide additional data storage capability, and may be any of the computer readable recording media described above. The mass storage device 840 is used to store programs, data, and the like, and is a secondary memory device such as a hard disk which is generally slower than the main memory device. Certain mass storage devices such as CD ROM 860 may be used. The processor 810 may include one or more input / output interfaces, such as video monitors, trackballs, mice, keyboards, microphones, touchscreen displays, card readers, magnetic or paper tape readers, voice or handwriting readers, joysticks, or other known computer input / output devices. 850 is connected. Finally, the processor 810 may be connected to a wired or wireless communication network through the network interface 870. Through this network connection, the procedure of the method described above can be performed. The apparatus and tools described above are well known to those skilled in the computer hardware and software arts.

The hardware device described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the present invention.

While specific embodiments of the present invention have been described so far, various modifications are possible 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 not only by the claims below, but also by the equivalents of the claims.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a method and apparatus for providing a supply graph to a purchaser, so that the current price and purchase quantity can be confirmed in real time.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an effect of providing the current purchaser with accurate supply price information and easily predicting the finally determined supply price.

According to the present invention, as the number of purchasers increases, the purchase desire of the purchasers can be increased by providing goods at a lower price, and the sales network can be further activated.

In addition, according to the present invention, the purchaser can directly present the desired price, thereby increasing the participation of the joint purchase by reflecting the price determination intention of the purchaser.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain cost competitiveness by significantly reducing the distribution cost by improving the pre-modern distribution structure of the conventional manufacturing-wholesale-retail-consumer.

Claims (13)

A method of providing a joint purchase in response to a joint purchase request entered through a communication network from a purchaser, Receiving supply condition information from a supplier, the supply condition information including purchase quantity information and supply price information corresponding to the purchase quantity information; Generating supply graph information based on the received supply condition information, and providing the generated supply graph information to a plurality of purchasers; Receiving a request associated with the joint purchase from the purchaser; And Updating the supply graph information in response to a request associated with the joint purchase, and transmitting the updated supply graph information to a purchaser Joint purchase providing method using the Internet, characterized in that it comprises a. The method of claim 1, The purchase quantity information is a joint purchase providing method using the Internet, characterized in that the information on the purchase quantity corresponding to each supply price is individually determined. The method of claim 1, The step of updating the supply graph information Generating current cumulative purchase quantity information by reflecting a request associated with the joint purchase; Generating current supply price information using the supply graph and the calculated current cumulative purchase quantity information; And Displaying the generated current supply price information on the graph Joint purchase providing method using the Internet, characterized in that it comprises a. The method of claim 1, The request associated with the joint purchase is one of a purchase request or purchase cancellation, characterized in that the joint purchase providing method using the Internet. The method of claim 1, Receiving a desired purchase price from a purchaser; And Displaying the desired purchase price on the supply graph Joint purchase method using the Internet, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 5, Determining whether the current supply price is close to the desired purchase price; And Immediately notifying the purchaser of the determination result when the proximity is made; Joint purchase providing method using the Internet, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 6, The determining of whether the current supply price is close to the desired purchase price comprises determining that the current supply price is close when the difference between the current supply price and the desired purchase price is within a predetermined value. The method of claim 7, wherein And the information about the predetermined value is received from the purchaser. The method of claim 6, And the step of immediately notifying the purchaser of the determination result is notified to the wireless terminal of the purchaser by using an SMS service. The method of claim 5, And if the current supply price is lower than the desired purchase price, payment is automatically made in response to a request associated with the joint purchase. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 10. A system for providing a joint purchase in response to a purchase request entered through a communication network from a purchaser, Joint purchase receiving means for receiving supply condition information from a supplier and receiving a request associated with a joint purchase from a purchase candidate; Data storage means for storing the received supply condition information; And Supply graph information means for generating supply graph information based on the stored supply condition information, updating the supply graph information in response to a request associated with the joint purchase, and transmitting the updated supply graph information to the purchaser Including, And the supply graph providing means generates current supply price information by reflecting the request associated with the joint purchase and displays the generated current supply price information on the graph. The method of claim 11, The joint purchase providing system further includes a desired purchase price processing means, The joint purchase receiving means receives a desired purchase price from the purchase candidate, And the desired purchase price processing means determines whether the received desired purchase price and the current supply price information are close to each other, and transmits the determination result to the purchaser.