SE544311C2 - Point of sale system for suggesting a price of a product based on identified geographical position and financial transaction data - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a point of sale, POS, system (1) comprising at least one database (12) storing financial transaction data on products purchased by customers at different business establishments (5A-5E), the financial transaction data comprising, for each of a plurality of financial transactions, a product type indicator (27) indicating a type of product purchased, a purchase price indicator (45) indicating a purchase price of the product purchased, and a geographical position indicator (47) indicating a geographical position of the business establishment from which the product was purchased. The POS system (1) further comprises a POS terminal (9) for use by a merchant (3) offering products for sale at a merchant establishment (5). The POS terminal is configured to obtain information on a product to be priced, identify, in the database (12), financial transaction data relating to products of a same or similar type as the product to be priced, determine a suggested price for the product to be priced based on the purchase price indicators (45) and the geographical position indicators (47) of the identified financial transaction data, and present the suggested price to the merchant.

Description

PÜÉNT ÖF SALE SYSTEM FÜR QJQGESTÉNG .Å PREÛE GF Å FRÜÜUCTBÅSEÜ GN ÉÜENTHFÉEE ÉSEÜGRAPHEÅIÅL PÛSETEQN ÅNÜ FENÅNQHÅE..

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY The present disclosure relates to a point of sale (POS) system, a computer programand a method for supporting merchants in decisions relating product pricing, productassortment, or merchant establishment location. ln particular, the present disclosure relates to a POS system, a computer program and a method for product pricing.

BACKGROUND Product assortment and pricing are key features in nearly any business. There aredifferent types of sales support systems for facilitating product assortment andpricing strategies at merchant establishments. Nevertheless, analysis andevaluation of product assortment and pricing strategies are often performed manually through sales trend analysis.

Evaluating and deciding on product assortment and pricing strategies are non-trivialand time-consuming tasks, and merchants are at risk of revenue loss if the productselection and pricing at the merchant establishment is not properly adapted to thedemand and purchase pattern of potential customers in the geographical area of the merchant establishment.

Another problem is that decisions on product assortment and pricing strategies areoften made from sale trend analyses that are based on an insufficient amount ofsales data, sales data not truly reflecting the circumstances of the sales, or both. lnparticular for small merchant establishments and merchants offering durable goods,the amount and reliability of available sales data may be insufficient to allow any conclusions to be drawn from sale trend analysis.

Another challenge, which may be particularly relevant to merchants running mobile merchant establishments, is the challenge of deciding on where to set up the merchant establishment in order to maximise revenue. Today, most merchantsaddress this challenge by observing the geography, the presence of other businessestablishments, and the population of different geographical areas, and guessing onwhere the merchant establishment will generate the most revenue based on the observations. lt is thus a need for tools that can support merchants in decisions relating to product pricing, product assortment and merchant establishment location.

SUMMARY lt is an object of the present disclosure to present means for supporting merchantsin decisions relating to product pricing, product assortment and/or merchant establishment location. lt is also an object of the present disclosure is to present means for eliminating or at least mitigating one or more of the above mentioned shortcomings of the prior art.

These and other objects, which will become apparent in view of the detaileddescription following hereinafter, are achieved by a point of sale (POS) system, aPOS terminal, a method, and a computer program as defined by the appended claims.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a POS system forsupporting merchants in decisions on product pricing, the POS system comprising: ~ at âeast one database storind financšaâ transactâon data cm arddutzts purchased bv customers att different tausírzess esiabiiafzments. the fínanciai transaciian tjata comnrisirtd for each of a nluraištv of financiai trartaactiona. a product type irtdicater inditäatizta a tvne of product purchaaed, a purchase price inditïatfta' inditzatiztq a purchase erâce of the product ptsrchased. and a aectdrarahšcai position iridicatda* índicatiric: a deatqraattirçat position of the tausíness estabâiattmerii from vvhict: the ~ a niitraiâtxf of POS terntânais for use by fšiffareitt merchanta offerind products for safe at a respective nterchant estabâishment. ânciudind a first POS termšnai of a firsï nwarcnanï asïabâiarranaawí, aaah POS ïarminaš bošno confâourad io. upon confirmed poronaaa of a product ai the rnarahaní asíabšäarzrraani, aaaocšaíšvašv stora än tha at âaasï ona ríaiabasa: a product type indicator' šncšâcaišno tha ïvpa of ina purcnasad product: a purchase pršca änoicator inošoatino tha prurcnaaa price of the purchase-d product.and a oaooragvšwšcai position šnoicaïor' šrwoicatšno a oaoorapšripër! poašiiorw of the marchanï aaíapišanmanï. nfharain ai Eaasí said fšrsï POS torrnšnai äs oonfšourarí io: obtain information on a product io ba. pricaa; idantäfxr, in ina database finanošaë iranaaotšon dara raiaiino to products of a sanna or aärnäšar type aa ina rrroouct to bo prisad, purcnasad from rnarcnant asíašaišsnrnonts other than said fšrsï nwarcnant asraoišsnnwanï; :jatarmšna a suooaaïao priaa for ina product io pa pricaa based on the poronasa price irrdšoaiora and ina oaofrragvrršcaš posšišorw inoicators of 'ina ioantifšao fšnancia! transaotâon riata. anfš :rraaaní ina arrooesïao price to a :narnnant of tha firar rnarpnanr aaiabëishmant. ----aï--iaas-'r--ana--aaëašaaaa-aioring--rraanaía-i--tranaaaáifan--aaia--ezn»praaaaáa-parprraaaeš än;-araaëanra:fa-a-t-aššfaraaï--šaraainaas--aaëašašás-rrrrranï-s;-frin-a-íšnanaáaš--rrans-aatioa-a-aïa- inaiaaëing»a--farnfarraaa--pafâraa--aí-éna--pafaaaaè-parrarraaaa-r-aaeš--a-goagafapniaaâ aosrrion--infåiaa-'rfar--šnfáiraaràag--a-gaezgraprxiraaš-paašáian--faš--tåra-šaraainaaa ooraaiåanmanfa--érra--F29å;-fsarfmâna-š-åaoiafig--aaaaššgaraa-êaz-vå- .~ Pš-»uin inf rrnrš-É n n o: r\r'.~ rån i' EH. rxri ß i'ÄJIà iii i i íii! (ÅK \Ji! \Ji! V! \Å\Å<.¿ \J \4' bl! \J\ŧ r-Énë m i; n: 4: nncfi* få riv f i* ršxafië? h if* A kf' « r-š *Hmmi K) ifli ia.) \,.i \,)\Å\jd~l \,)\.vi FJ i i i ii\,) fJViKJ i »l in KIK.) fßriix) n Äf¶.45\.)\,& i \. raarana-sa-priaa-inoiaaiors--ano-iš-ra--gaagraprš-riaaà-posnron--inara-arara--ezí-ër-ra Accordingly, the POS terminal may automatically suggest a price for a product to beoffered for sale at a merchant establishment, based on the purchase prices of sameor similar products purchased from other business establishments, and thegeographical positions of the other business establishments. Putting it differently,the POS system is configured to present a price suggestion for a product based on historical and geo-tagged purchase prices of same or similar products.

Thereby, the POS terminal enables the merchant to optimise product pricing at themerchant establishment based on purchasing and consumption behaviours in specific geographical areas.

An important feature of the proposed POS system is the accessibility to thedatabase storing financial transaction data on products purchased by customers atdifferent business establishments by the POS terminal. The database enables thePOS terminal to use data related to sales at business establishments other than themerchant's own business establishment, thus offering the price suggestion to bebased on a large set of statistical data. This is particularly important for smallmerchant establishments and merchant establishments offering durable goods,because, in these types of establishments, the amount of financial transaction dataoriginating from own sales is often insufficient to serve as a basis for sale trend and pricing analysis.

Another advantage of the proposed POS system is the use of financial transactiondata on completed financial transactions, reflecting the actual purchase price ofpurchased products. Existing tools for use by merchants in the pricing process, suchas sale trend analysis tools, often take the list prices of purchased products as inputparameters. By using the actual purchase price instead of a list price, the pricesuggestion provided by the proposed POS system is based on data more accuratelyreflecting the true value of the product to the paying customer. This is particularlyimportant when considering small merchant establishments and merchantestablishments offering durable goods, because, in these types of establishments,the purchase price of a product may deviate substantially from the list price of the product.

The POS terminal may further be configured to use a geographic location of the merchant establishment in the determination of the suggested price.

This enables the POS terminal to determine the suggested price based on purchaseprices of the same or similar products purchased from business establishments inthe geographical area of the merchant establishment. This is advantageous in thatthe suggested price can be optimised in relation to the price of same or similar products offered by nearby competitors.

The POS softvvare application may, for instance, be configured to calculate anaverage purchase price of the same or similar products purchased in thegeographical area of the merchant establishment, and to determine the suggested price based on the calculated average price The POS terminal may comprise a geographical positioning device, such as a globalpositioning system (GPS) receiver, configured to determine the geographicalposition of the POS terminal. The POS terminal may be configured to use thegeographical position determined by the geographical positioning device as the geographic location of the merchant establishment.

Alternatively, the POS terminal may be configured to receive user input indicating ageographical position, e.g. via a user interface of the POS terminal, and to use theindicated geographical position as the geographic location of the merchant establishment.

The POS terminal may further be configured to take a sales volume of the productsof the same or similar type into account in the determination of the suggested price.This may allow for even more precise price optimisation. Preferably, the POSterminal is configured to determine a sales volume of the products of the same orsimilar type in a particular geographical area, e.g. the geographical area of themerchant establishment, and to use the calculated sales volume in the determination of the suggested price.

Another advantage of the proposed POS system is that the geo-tagged purchaseprices comprised in the financial transaction data may provide information on thelevel of price sensitivity in different geographical areas. This information may beused by the POS terminal to suggest a product price that is adapted to the level ofprice sensitivity of a particular geographic area, and thus tailored to a specific market or customer category.

Accordingly, the POS terminal may be configured to use the financial transactiondata in the at least one database to determine a level of price sensitivity for one ormore geographical areas, and to use the determined level of price sensitivity in thedetermination of the suggested price. The level of price sensitivity in the one or moregeographical areas may be determined by the POS terminal from purchase prices ofa reference product that is different than the product to be priced. Preferably, thePOS terminal is configured to determine a level of price sensitivity in thegeographical area of the merchant establishment, and to use the determined level ofprice sensitivity in the geographical area of the merchant establishment in the determination of the suggested price.

As understood from the above, the POS terminal may be configured to derivestatistical data from the financial transaction data in the at least one database, andpresent the statistical data, or suggestions or recommendations that areautomatically generated by the POS terminal, based on the derived statistical data,to the merchant. Non-limiting examples of statistical data that may be presented tothe merchant are: - product type/geolocation correlation data, indicating what products arepurchased in different geographical areas, or at least the geographicaldistribution of purchases of a particular type of product; - product type/time correlation data, indicating what products are purchased ondifferent times, or at least the distribution in time of purchases of a particular type of product.

Non-limiting examples of suggestions or recommendation that may be presented to the merchant by the POS terminal based on the derived statistical data are: - a suggested price for a product to be offered for sale at the merchantestablishment; - a recommendation on whether or not a particular product should be offered forsale at the merchant establishment, and - a suggested geographic location for the merchant establishment. ln some embodiments, the POS terminal may be configured to present the statisticaldata with reference to a digital map that is displayed on a display of the POSterminal. The digital map may be a density map illustrating the geographicaldistribution of purchases of a particular type of product by indicating differentgeographical areas in the map in different ways in dependence of the number ofproducts of the particular product type purchased in the respective geographical area.

The POS terminal may further be configured to display a time control, such as slidebar, in association with the digital map. The time control is configured to enable theuser (i.e. the merchant) to change a time for which the geographical distribution of purchases of the particular product type should be displayed in the map.

The product type/geolocation correlation data typically comprises the number ofproducts of a particular type purchased from business establishments withindifferent geographical areas. This data may be used by the POS terminal to presentany or both of a recommendation on whether or not a particular product should beoffered for sale at the merchant establishment and a suggested geographic location for the merchant establishment.

Consequently, according to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a POS system for supporting merchants in decisions on product assortment or merchant establishment location, comprising: - at least one database storing financial transaction data on products purchasedby customers at different business establishments, the financial transaction datacomprising, for each of a plurality of financial transactions, a product type indicator indicating a type of product purchased, and a geographical position indicator indicating a geographical position of the business establishment fromwhich the product was purchased; - a POS terminal for use by a merchant offering products for sale at a merchantestablishment, the POS terminal being configured to: o derive statistical data from the financial transaction data in the at leastone database based on the product type indicators and the geographicalposition indicators of the financial transaction data, and o present the statistical data to the merchant, or o present a recommendation to the merchant relating to any of a productassortment or a geographical location of the merchant establishment, based on the statistical data.

The at least one database of the POS system typically comprises a productdatabase and a financial transaction database, where the product database and thefinancial transaction database are designed to associatively store the product typeindicators, the purchase price indicators and the geographical position indicatorssuch that each of a plurality of financial transactions stored in the financialtransaction database is associated with at least one purchased product and apurchase price of said product, which purchase price has been paid through the financial transaction.

The POS terminal of the POS system may be configured to, upon completion of afinancial transaction involving a purchase of at least one product at the merchantestablishment, associatively store financial transaction data in the at least onedatabase, the financial transaction data comprising: - a product type indicator identifying the purchased product; - a purchase price indicator indicating the purchase price of the purchased product, and- a geographical position indicator indicating a geographical position of the merchant establishment.

By storing the above mentioned data in the at least one database, the proposed POS terminal enables other POS terminals that are equipped and devised in a same or similar manner to use the financial transaction data in accordance with the principles described herein.

The proposed POS system may be a partially cloud-based POS system where theat least one database is comprised in one or more servers that are accessible toPOS terminals of different merchant establishments via a network, such as thelnternet. By having the POS terminals upload the above mentioned financialtransaction data upon completion of financial transactions, a large amount offinancial transaction data that can be used by the respective POS terminal to offer the proposed functionality is made available.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method forproduct pricing in a POS terminal for use by a merchant offering products for sale ata merchant establishment, the POS terminal being capable of retrieving informationfrom at least one database storing financial transaction data on products purchasedby customers at different business establishments, the financial transaction datacomprising, for each of a plurality of financial transactions, a product type indicatorindicating a type of product purchased, a purchase price indicator indicating apurchase price of the product purchased, and a geographical position indicatorindicating a geographical position of the business establishment from which the product was purchased. The method comprises: obtaining information on a product to be priced; identifying, in the at least one database, financial transaction data related toproducts of a same or similar type as the product to be priced; - determining a suggested price for the product to be priced, based on thepurchase price indicators and the geographical position indicators of theidentified financial transaction data, and - presenting the suggested price to the merchant.

The method may comprise using a geographic location of the merchant establishment in the determination of the suggested price.

The method may comprise determining a geographical position of the POS terminal by means of a geographical position device of the POS terminal, and using the geographical position of the POS terminal as the geographic location of the merchant establishment.

Alternatively, the method may comprise receiving user input indicating ageographical position, and using the indicated geographical position as the geographic location of the merchant establishment.

The method may further comprise determining a sales volume of products of thesame or similar type for a particular geographical area from the identified financialtransaction data, and using the determined sales volume in the determination of the suggested price.

For example, the method may comprise determining a price sensitivity level of ageographical area in which the merchant establishment is located, and taking theprice sensitivity level of the geographical area of the merchant establishment into account in the determination of the suggested price.

The method may further comprise a step of associatively storing, in the at least onedatabase, financial transaction data comprising a product type indicator indicatingthe type of the purchased product, a purchase price indicator indicating thepurchase price of the purchased product, and a geographical position indicatorindicating a geographical position of the merchant establishment. The step ofassociatively storing the financial transaction data may be performed upon orfollowing confirmation of a financial transaction involving a purchase of at least one product at the merchant establishment.

The above described method is typically a computer-implemented method that iscarried out by a computerised POS terminal through execution of a computerprogram, hereinafter referred to as the POS software. To this end, the POS terminalmay comprise at least one memory for storing the POS software, and at least one processor for execution of the POS software.

Consequently, according to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program for a POS terminal for use by a merchant offering 11 products for sale at a merchant establishment. The POS terminal is capable ofretrieving information from at least one database storing financial transaction dataon products purchased by customers at different business establishments, thefinancial transaction data comprising, for each of a plurality of financial transactions,a product type indicator indicating a type of product purchased, a purchase priceindicator indicating a purchase price of the product purchased, and a geographicalposition indicator indicating a geographical position of the business establishmentfrom which the product was purchased. The computer program comprisescomputer-readable code segments which, when executed by a processor of thePOS terminal, causes the POS terminal to:- obtain information on a product to be priced;- identify, in the at least one database, financial transaction data related toproducts of a same or similar type as the product to be priced;- determine a suggested price for the product to be priced, based on thepurchase price indicators and the geographical position indicators of theidentified financial transaction data, and - present the suggested price for the product to be priced to the merchant.

The computer program may further comprise computer-readable code segments forcausing the POS terminal to perform any of, or any combination of, the method steps described above.

More advantageous features of the proposed POS terminal, method and computerprogram will become apparent in view of the detailed description following hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detaileddescription provided hereinafter and the accompanying drawings which aregiven by way of illustration only. ln the different drawings, same reference numerals correspond to the same element. 12 Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a POS system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 illustrates a POS terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 illustrates a product registration view of a POS software application runningon the POS terminal, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates a product database table of a database of the POS system, according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 6 illustrates a checkout view of a POS software application running on the POS terminal, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 illustrates a financial transaction database table of a database of the POS system, according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for business support, according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method for automatic product pricing, according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present disclosure relates to a point of sale (POS) system through which amerchant can get support in decisions relating to product pricing, product assortment and merchant establishment location.

A POS system may comprise a computer, monitor, cash drawer, receipt printer,customer display, barcode scanner, and one or more readers for reading payment- facilitating information from a portable payment device, such as a credit card or a 13 mobile wallet of an electronic communication device, e.g., a mobile phone. Thecomputer that processes the payment-facilitating information and facilitates thepayment of the products to be purchased may be referred to as the paymentprocessing unit, or the POS terminal. To facilitate payment, most POS terminals areconnected to a backend payment system, typically including a payment gateway, a payment processor, a credit card network, an acquiring bank and an issuing bank.

Most POS terminals include card readers for processing chip cards that are insertedinto the card reader. Some POS terminals also process magnetic stripe cards that areswiped through a slot in the card reader. The customer is often required to enter aPersonal Identification Number, PIN, on a keypad of the POS terminal for the purposeof user authentication. Recent POS terminals also provide support for contactlesspayments using a short distance wireless technology, such as Near FieldCommunication (NFC) or Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), for communicating with the credit card.

Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a POS system 1 for use by a merchant3 that permanently or temporarily has set up a merchant establishment 5 at ageographical location represented by a geo pin 7. The POS system 1 comprises aPOS terminal 9 that is communicatively connectable to a server 11 via a network,such as the Internet. The POS terminal 9 comprises a reader (not shown) for readingpayment-facilitating information from a payment card or a mobile wallet, and isconnectable to a backend payment system (not shown) for facilitating payment ofproducts purchased at the merchant establishment 5. The server 11 may or may notform part of the backend payment system. The POS terminal 9 may be any knowntype of POS terminal for facilitating card, cash, mobile and/or invoice payments and may be a stationary POS terminal or a mobile POS terminal.

In the illustrated example, the POS terminal 9 is a mobile POS terminal. A mobilePOS terminal may be any type of mobile computing device, such as a tablet computeror a mobile phone. In this exemplary embodiment, the POS terminal 9 is a tablet computer running a POS software that will be described in more detail below. 14 With reference now simultaneously made to Fig. 2, the server 11 is configured tocollect financial transaction data both from the POS terminal 9 of the merchantestablishment 5 and from POS terminals 9A-9E of other business establishments 5A-5E, established at different geographical positions 7A-7E. The financial transactiondata is stored in at least one database 12. As will be described in more detail below,the financial transaction data includes data on confirmed purchases of products at thevarious business establishments 5A-5E, which data can be used by the POS terminal9 of the merchant establishment 5 to support the merchant 3 in decisions relating toproduct pricing, product assortment and even in decisions on where to set up the merchant establishment 5 geographically.

The logic for providing the above mentioned functionality is typically implemented bymeans of a POS software that is run on the POS terminals of the merchantestablishment 5 and the other business establishments 5A-5E. The POS softwaremay be realised in form of a POS software application that may be customised to different types of POS terminals.

With reference now made to Fig. 3, the POS terminal 9 of the merchant establishment will be described in more detail.

The POS terminal 9 comprises a processor 13, such as a micro-processor, and a non-volatile memory 15 storing the POS software application. The POS terminal furthercomprises a communication module 17 for communicating with the server 11 and abackend payment system for facilitating payment of products registered for purchaseby the POS terminal 9. The POS terminal 9 further comprises a display 19, such as atouch-screen, for the display of information to a user of the POS terminal, i.e. themerchant 3. Yet further, the POS terminal 9 comprises means for receiving user input,e.g. a keyboard, keypad, computer mouse, or the like. ln the exemplary embodimentwhere the POS terminal 9 is a tablet computer, the touch-screen of the tabletcomputer constitutes means for receiving user input. The POS terminal 9 may furthercomprise or be connected to known POS peripherals (not shown), including but notlimited to a reader for reading payment facilitating information, such as credit carddata, from a payment card or a mobile wallet, and a receipt printer for the printing of receipts.

The POS software application, which is launched upon execution by the processor 13of the POS software stored in the memory 15, comprises several functional blocks ormodules providing different functions or features of the POS software application. Forexample, the POS software application may comprise modules for: - product library management, including a module for product registration (i.e.registration of products that are to be offered for sale at the merchantestablishment), - cash register management, including a module for checkout and payment ofproducts purchased at the merchant establishment, and - sale trend analysis and statistics, including modules for presenting sales statistics and trends to the merchant.

Fig. 4 illustrates a schematic view of a graphical user interface (GUI) for a productregistration module of the POS software application. Before offering a product for saleat the merchant establishment 5, the merchant 3 registers the product in the productlibrary of the POS software application by entering product data in a productregistration view of the POS software application. As illustrated in the drawing, themerchant may be prompted to upload or select a product picture, e.g. by taking aphoto of the product with a camera 21 (see Fig. 3) of the POS terminal 9, and to entera product name ("product name"), a product category ("category"), a product sub-category ("sub-category") and a list price ("price") for the product to be registered.Upon confirmation of the entered product data, e.g. by the click of a confirmationbutton ("Register") in the product registration view, the product data are sent to theserver 11 for storage in the database 12. The product category and sub-category maybe selected from a pre-defined selection of product categories and sub-categories, asindicated by arrows illustrating drop-down menus from which the category and sub-category can be selected. lf a suitable product category or sub-category of the productto be registered cannot be found in the drop-down menus, the merchant may be giventhe option to define a new product category and/or product sub-category. Themerchant may, for instance, be given the opportunity to define new product categories and sub-categories via links in the category and sub-category drop down menus. 16 The product data may be stored in different ways in one or more database tables ofthe database 12. Fig. 5 shows an exemplary database table "DB_Products" 25 of thedatabase 12 in which the product data may be stored. The registered product may beassigned a unique product identifier 27 ("p_id"). The product identifier 27 is stored inthe database together with a product name indicator 29 ("p_name"), a productcategory indicator 31 ("p_cat"), a product sub-category indicator 33 ("p_sub_cat") anda product list price indicator 35 ("p_l_price"), each of which is assigned a value basedon the information given by the merchant in the product registration view, and a picture link 37 ("p_picture") to the uploaded or selected product picture.

Now turning to Fig. 6, illustrating a schematic view of a GUI for a checkout module ofthe POS software application. When a customer wants to purchase one or moreproducts at the merchant establishment 5, the merchant 3 is prompted to indicate theproducts to be purchased ("Products") in a checkout view of the POS softwareapplication. The indication or selection of products to be purchased may be made indifferent ways. For example, the merchant 3 may manually select the products to bepurchased from a drop down menu (not shown) of the GUI, listing all products thatare registered in the merchant's product library. According to another example, eachproduct may be associated with a barcode upon product registration, whereby the products to be purchased may be selected through barcode scanning.

Upon selection of a product to be purchased, the registered list price 35 of the productis retrieved from the database 12 or a local product database of the POS terminal 9and displayed ("Price") in association with the product name 29 in the checkout view.The list price of each product may be manually changed by the merchant to apurchase price that is different than the list price, if, for instance, an occasionaldiscount is to be given to the customer. Likewise, the total purchase amount ("Totalamount") may be changed by the merchant in the checkout view, in which case thePOS software application may be configured to automatically change the list price ofeach product to a purchase price making the sum of the purchase prices for theproducts to be purchased correspond to the changed total purchase amount, e.g. on a percentage basis. 17 Once the selection of products to be purchased is made, the merchant 3 may selecthow the purchase receipt is to be provided to the customer (e.g. via e-mail ortraditional printout of a paper receipt), and how payment is to be made (e.g. viapayment card, mobile wallet, cash or invoice). When all selections are made, themerchant may click a checkout confirmation button ("Checkout"). ln response to thecheckout confirmation, the POS software application may, e.g. in case the productsare to be paid by card, initiate an electronic payment process via the backendpayment system. Once the POS terminal 9 has received a confirmation of paymentfrom the backend payment system, indicating that the total purchase amount hasbeen paid or reserved for subsequent payment, a confirmation of payment may bedisplayed on the POS terminal 9 and data relating to the financial transaction, i.e. theactual purchase of the products, is sent to the server 11 for storage in the database12. ln case payment is made through a process where successful payment cannot beautomatically verified, e.g. through cash payment, the POS terminal 9 may beconfigured to prompt the merchant 3 to confirm payment manually, e.g. by clicking a payment confirmation button.

Once the payment has been automatically or manually confirmed, the POS softwareapplication sends data relating to the financial transaction, i.e. the purchase of theproducts, to the server 11 for storage in the database 12. These data are hereinreferred to as financial transaction data. The financial transaction data may be stored in different ways in one or more database tables of the database 12.

The financial transaction data comprises, for each of the products purchased throughthe financial transaction, at least a product identifier indicating the type of the productpurchased, a purchase price indicator indicating the purchase price of the product,and a geographical position indicator indicating a geographical position of themerchant establishment at which the product was purchased. Furthermore, thefinancial transaction data may comprise a transaction identifier that is unique for eachfinancial transaction, a merchant identifier indicating the merchant establishment atwhich the product was purchased, a date indicator indicating the date of the financial transaction, and a time indicator indicating the time of the financial transaction. 18 Fig. 7 shows an exemplary database table "DB_Fin_Trans" 39 of the database 12, inwhich the financial transaction data may be stored. The financial transaction isassigned a unique transaction identifier 41 ("ft_id"). For each product purchasedthrough the financial transaction, the product identifier 27 of that product is storedtogether with the transaction identifier 41, a merchant identifier 43 ("m_id") indicatingthe merchant establishment at which the product was purchased, a purchase priceindicator 45 ("p_p_price") indicating the purchase price of the product, a geographicalposition indicator 47 ("ft_geo") indicating the geographical position of the merchantestablishment at which the product was purchased, a date indicator 49 ("ft_date")indicating the date of the financial transaction, and a time indicator 51 ("ft_time")indicating the time of the financial transaction. This means that the product identifier27, the purchase price indicator 45 and the geographical position indicator 47 areassociatively stored in the database 12 and may be subsequently used together withthe stored product data to retrieve information on where and at which price variousproducts have been purchased. The product identifier 27 that is associatively storedwith, i.a., the purchase price indicator 45 and the geographical position indicator 47,serves as a product type indicator as it enables the POS software application to derivethe product type of the purchased product, as indicated by the parameters "p_cat" 31 and/or "p_sub_cat" 33, from the product database table 25.

The geographical position indicator 47 may be obtained by the POS softwareapplication through manual input of a geographic location of the merchantestablishment 5. For example, the POS software application may be configured toprompt the merchant 3 to indicate the geographic location 7 of the merchantestablishment 5 during a setup process of the POS software application, e.g. byentering a postal address for the merchant establishment or indicating the location ofthe establishment on a digital map. However, considering there are mobile merchantestablishments, it may be advantageous if the geographical position indicator 47 isobtained by the POS software application at or close to the point in time of the financialtransaction. Therefore, the POS terminal 9 may advantageously comprise ageographical position device 23 (see Fig. 3), such as a global positioning system(GPS) receiver, and the POS software application may be configured to obtain thegeographical position indicator automatically from the geographical position device.

Alternatively, the merchant 3 may be prompted by the POS software application to 19 indicate or confirm the geographic location 7 of the merchant establishment uponconfirmation of Checkout, before the financial transaction data is stored in thedatabase 12. According to yet another alternative, the merchant may be prompted bythe POS software application to indicate or confirm the geographic location 7 of themerchant establishment 5 upon initiation of the POS software application, typically atstart-up of the POS software application before opening the merchant establishment for daily business.

The product identifier 27 may be obtained by the POS software application from theproduct database table 25 upon selection of the product to be purchased.Alternatively, the product identifier 27 may be obtained by the POS softwareapplication from a local product database residing in the POS terminal 9, storingessentially the same information as the product database table 25 in Fig. 5. Themerchant identifier 43 may be obtained by the POS software application from amerchant database table (not shown) storing merchant information entered by themerchant during a preceding merchant registration process through which themerchant is registered as a user of the POS software application. The purchase priceindicator 45 may be obtained by the POS software application as the product pricestated in the checkout view upon confirmation of checkout. As mentioned above, thepurchase price that is displayed in the checkout view may initially be set to correspondto the list price of the product, e.g. as indicated by the list price indicator 35 in theproduct database table 25. lf, in the checkout view, the list price is changed into apurchase price that is different than the list price, the purchase price may be stored ina temporary data holder during the checkout process, for subsequent storage aspurchase price indicator 45 in the financial transaction database table 39 uponconfirmation of payment. The date indicator 49 and the time indicator 51 may beobtained from a real-time clock (not shown) of the POS terminal 9 or the server 11and may, for instance, be set in the financial transaction database table 39 as the date and time at confirmation of payment of the purchased product.

As appreciated by a person skilled in the art of databases, the database tables 25, 39in Figs. 5 and 7 are shown only for illustrative purposes and are not necessarilyoptimally designed to store the above-mentioned data parameters in the most functional and storage-efficient manner. As will be understood by the skilled person, the database 12 of the POS system 1 may be designed in many different ways inorder to create data parameter relations required for the POS system to function in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure.

With reference again made to Fig. 2, it should be appreciated that the POS terminals9A-9E of all business establishments 5A-5E are configured to upload product dataand financial transaction data in accordance with the principles described above withreference to the POS terminal 9 and the merchant establishment 5. This means thatthe database 12 will contain a large amount of data on products purchased fromdifferent business establishments 5A-5E at different geographical positions 7A-7Eand at different points in time. This statistical data, or sales data, may be used by thePOS software application of the POS terminal 9 to present useful information to themerchant 3, which information is intended to support the merchant in business critical decisions.

For example, the POS software application of the POS terminal 9 may be configured to derive statistical data from the financial transaction data in the database 12, and present the statistical data or suggestions or recommendations that are automatically generated based on the derived statistical data to the merchant, via the GUI of POS softvvare application. The statistical data may comprise any of, or any combination of: - product type/geolocation correlation data, indicating what products arepurchased in different geographical areas, or at least the geographicaldistribution of purchases of one particular type of product; - product type/time correlation data, indicating what products are purchased atdifferent points in time, or at least the distribution in time of purchases of aparticular type of product; - sales volume/geolocation correlation data, indicating sales volumes of differentproducts in different geographical areas, or at least sales volumes of a particularproduct in different geographical areas, and - sales volume/time correlation data, indicating sales volumes of different productsat different points in time, or at least sales volumes of a particular product at different points in time. 21 The POS software application may further be configured to use the derived statistical data to automatically present suggestions or recommendations relating to the merchant's business. For example, the POS software application may be configured to present: - a suggested price for a product to be offered for sale at the merchantestablishment; - a recommendation on whether or not a particular product should be offered forsale at the merchant establishment, or - a suggested geographic location for the merchant establishment. ln some embodiments, the POS software application may be configured to presentthe statistical data with reference to a digital map that is displayed on the display 19of the POS terminal 9. For example, the POS software application may beconfigured to present a digital map comprising at least an indication of ageographical hot spot area in which a certain product type is more frequentlypurchased than in other geographical areas. The digital map may be a type ofdensity map illustrating the geographical distribution of purchases of a particulartype of product by indicating different geographical areas in the map in differentways in dependence of the number of products of the certain product typepurchased in the respective geographical area. For example, a geographical area inthe map may be displayed in a colour that is selected in dependence of the number of products of the certain product type purchased in the geographical area.

The POS software application may further be configured to display a time control,such as slide bar, in association with the digital map. The time control enables theuser (i.e. the merchant 3) to change a time for which the geographical distribution ofpurchases of the certain product type should be displayed in the map. For example,the time control may be configured to enable the user to view the geographicaldistribution of purchases of the certain product type for different hours of the day,different months of the year, different years, etc. Preferably, the digital map is aninteractive map in which the geographical distribution of purchases of the certainproduct type is continuously updated on the map during manipulation of the timecontrol by the user. ln this way, both the geographical distribution and the distribution in time of purchases of the certain product type may be presented to the 22 merchant in a comprehensible and intuitive manner, allowing the merchant to study the purchasing behaviour in relevant geographical areas.

The geographical distribution of purchases of a particular type of product may bedetermined by the POS software application by determining, based on product typeindicators and geographical position indicators of the financial transaction data in thedatabase 12, the number of products of the particular type purchased from business establishments 5A-5E within different geographical areas.

This data may further be used by the POS software application to present arecommendation on whether or not a particular product should be offered for sale atthe merchant establishment 5, and/or to present a suggested geographic location for the merchant establishment.

For example, the POS software application may be configured to identify financialtransaction data relating to purchases of a particular product type in thesurroundings of the merchant establishment 9, and to use the number of productspurchased in the surroundings of the merchant establishment as a basis for therecommendation. Thereby, the POS terminal may assist the merchant 3 inoptimising the product assortment of the merchant establishment 9, e.g. byrecommending the offering for sale of product types not offered for sale elsewhere inthe geographical area of the merchant establishment, or recommending the offeringfor sale of product types that are frequently purchased and hence apparently popular in the geographical area of the merchant establishment.

Alternatively, the POS software application may be configured to identify financialtransaction data relating to purchases of a particular product type in a geographicalarea other than the geographical area of the merchant establishment. For instance,the particular geographical area may be a neighbouring geographical areaaccommodating a shopping centre. ln this instance, the POS software applicationmay recommend the offering for sale of product types that are frequently purchasedin the neighbouring geographical area. Alternatively, the particular geographicalarea may be a geographical area that is similar to the geographical area of the merchant establishment 5 with respect to geography and/or population. ln this case, 23 the POS software application could recommend the offering for sale of product types that are popular in the similar geographical area.

The POS terminal may be configured to determine the particular geographical areafrom positional data obtained by the geographical positioning device 23 of the POS terminal 9, or from information obtained from manual input on the POS terminal.

The one or more product types to which the recommendations or statistical datarelates may be selected by the merchant 3 through manual input of information onthe POS terminal 3. For example, the POS soft\Nare application may be configuredto obtain information on the product type by prompting the merchant 3 to enter aproduct name or product type in a text field, or prompting the merchant to select aproduct name, product type or product picture from a displayed list of predefinedproduct names, product types and/or product pictures. Relevant product typeindicators for the selected product may then be obtained by the POS softwareapplication by matching the product name, product type or product picture with theproduct data in the database 12. The POS softvvare application may also beconfigured for image recognition, allowing the merchant 3 to take a photo of aproduct and submit the photo to the POS softvvare application, whereby the POSsoftware application may be configured to obtain the information on the product typethrough a matching process where the product image of the photo is matched with product pictures in the database 12. ln accordance with these principles, the POS system 1 may comprise: - at least one database 12 storing financial transaction data on productspurchased by customers at different business establishments 5A-5E, thefinancial transaction data comprising, for each of a plurality of financialtransactions, a product type indicator 27 indicating a type of product purchased,and a geographical position indicator 45 indicating a geographical position of thebusiness establishment from which the product was purchased; - a POS terminal 9 for use by a merchant 3 offering products for sale at a merchant establishment 5, the POS terminal being configured to: 24 o derive statistical data from the financial transaction data in the at leastone database 12 based on the product type indicators 27 and thegeographical position indicators 47 of the financial transaction data, and o present the statistical data to the merchant 3, or o present a recommendation to the merchant relating to any of a productassortment or a geographical location of the merchant establishment 5, based on the derived statistical data.

As described above, the statistical data may comprise product type/geolocationcorrelation data, indicating the geographical distribution of purchases of a particulartype of product, which data may be presented with reference to a digital map that isdisplayed on the display 19 of the POS terminal 9. ln order data on the purchasedistribution in time, as also described above, the derived statistical data would haveto be based also on the date indicators 49 and/or the time indicators 51 of the financial transactions data.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for business decision support, inaccordance with the above described principles. The method is carried out in a POSterminal 9 for use by a merchant 3 offering products for sale at a merchantestablishment 5. The POS terminal is part of a POS system 1 further comprising atleast one database 12 storing financial transaction data on products purchased bycustomers at different business establishments 5A-5E, where the financialtransaction data comprises, for each of a plurality of financial transactions, a producttype indicator 27 indicating a type of product purchased, and a geographical positionindicator 45 indicating a geographical position of the business establishment at which the product was purchased. ln a first step, S81, statistical data is derived by the POS terminal 9 from thefinancial transaction data in the database 12. The selection of data is based on theproduct type indicators 27 and the geographical position indicators 47 of the financial transaction data.

Depending on the configuration of the POS software application of the POS terminal 9, and/or depending on a request by the merchant 3 for sales statistics or sales recommendations, the method may proceed to either of a step S82A or a stepS82B. ln step S82A, the derived statistical data, i.e. the sales statistics, is presented to the merchant on the display 19 of the POS terminal 9. ln step S82B, a recommendation relating to any of a product assortment or ageographical location of the merchant establishment 5 is presented to the merchanton the display 19 of the POS terminal 9, which recommendation is based on the derived statistical data.

According to one particular aspect of the present disclosure, the POS terminal 9 isconfigured to automatically suggest a price for a product to be offered for sale at themerchant establishment 9, based on the purchase prices of corresponding productspurchased from other business establishments, and the geographical positions ofthe other business establishments, as indicated by the financial transaction data stored in the database 12.

To this end, the POS terminal 9, through the execution of the POS softwareapplication, may be configured to obtain information on a product to be priced,identify financial transaction data related to purchases of products of the same orsimilar type in the database 12, analyse the identified financial transaction data withrespect to the purchase prices and the geolocations of the purchases, and present a suggested price for the product to be priced based on the result of the analysis.

The information obtained by the POS terminal 9 on the product to be priced may beany information allowing the POS software application to identify the type of theproduct. For instance, the POS software application may be configured to promptthe merchant 3 to indicate the product type of the product to be priced, preferably byselecting a product type from a predefined list of product types. Alternatively, thePOS software application may be configured to prompt the merchant 3 to enter aproduct name via the POS terminal 9, whereby the POS software application maybe configured to automatically determine the product type of the product to be priced based on the product type (e.g. as defined by the product category indicator 31 or 26 product sub-category indicator 33) of one or more products having a same or similarproduct name, stored in the database 12. According to yet another alternative, themerchant may submit a photo of the product to be priced to the POS softwareapplication, whereby the POS software application may identify the type of the product to be priced through image recognition technology, as described above.

The financial transaction data identified in the database 12 will contain data from anumber of financial transactions involving a purchase of a same or similar productas the product to be priced. For each transaction, a purchase price of the purchasedproduct and a geographical position of the merchant establishment from which itwas purchased are made available to the POS software application for subsequentanalysis. The POS software application may be configured to analyse the identifiedfinancial transaction data in various ways in order to determine an optimal product price to be suggested to the merchant.

The suggested product price may be presented to the merchant 3 in different waysand in different views of the POS software application. For example, a suggestedproduct price may be presented by the POS software application in response to arequest for product price suggestion from the merchant 3, or be automaticallypresented by the POS software application upon indication of a product name orproduct type by the merchant 3 during the product registration process. Themerchant 3 may, for instance, request the POS software application for a pricesuggestion by clicking a GUI object, such as a button or link. ln the exemplaryembodiment of a product registration view illustrated in Fig. 4, the GUI objectlabelled "suggest price" may be clicked by the merchant 3 to have a pricesuggestion presented in the price field above. Alternatively, the POS softwareapplication may be configured to automatically display an amendable pricesuggestion in the price field upon indication of the product type by the merchant 3through the selection of product category ("Category") or sub-category ("Sub-category"). ln an exemplary embodiment, the POS terminal 9 may be configured to determinethe suggested price for the product to be priced based on purchase prices of the same or similar products purchased from business establishments in the 27 surroundings, e.g. in the geographical area of the merchant establishment. ln thisway, the suggested price can be optimised in relation to the pricing of same or similar products offered by nearby competitors.

The geographic location 7 of the merchant establishment 5 may be obtained by thePOS software application through manual input by the merchant 3 on the POSterminal 9 or from a geographical positioning device 23 of the POS terminal 9, asdescribed above. The geographical area of the merchant establishment 5 may beautomatically defined by the POS software application as a geographical areasurrounding the merchant location 7. Alternatively, the POS software applicationmay be configured to enable a user, i.e. the merchant, to define the geographicalarea of the merchant location 3 through manual input of information on the POSterminal 9, e.g. by allowing the user to indicate a geographical area on a digital map that is display to the user on the POS terminal 9.

The POS software application may, for instance, be configured to calculate anaverage purchase price of the same or similar products purchased in thegeographical area of the merchant establishment, and to determine the suggestedprice for the product to be priced based on the calculated average price. ln anexemplary embodiment, the POS software application may be configured to set the suggested price to correspond to the calculated average price.

The POS software application may further be configured to take a profit margin ofthe product to be priced into account in the determination of the suggested price. Tothis end, the POS software application may be configured to obtain information onthe cost price of the product to be priced, e.g. through manual input by the merchantduring product registration, and to use the cost price information in the determinationof the suggested price. ln this way, the POS software application can suggest a competitive price for the product while ensuring that the product is not sold at a loss.

The POS software application may further be configured to take a sales volume ofthe same or similar product into account in the determination of the suggested price.Preferably, the POS software is configured to determine a sales volume of the same or similar product in a particular geographical area, and to use the calculated sales 28 volume in the determination of the suggested price. For example, the POS softwareapplication may be configured determine a sales volume of same or similar productsin the geographical area of the merchant establishment and, if same or similarproducts have been frequently purchased in the surroundings of the merchantestablishment 5, the POS software application may be configured to suggest aproduct price that is relatively high in relation to an average purchase price of thesame or similar products purchased in the surroundings of the merchantestablishment. lf, on the other hand, same or the similar products have been rarelypurchased in the surroundings, the POS software application may be configured tosuggest a product price that is relatively low in relation to the average purchaseprice of the same or similar products purchased in the surroundings of the merchant establishment.

The POS software application may further be configured to use the financialtransaction data in the database 12 to determine a level of price sensitivity for one ormore geographical areas, and to use the determined level of price sensitivity in the determination of the suggested price.

The level of price sensitivity for a specific geographical area is typically notdetermined by the POS software application from financial transaction data relatingto the product to be priced. lnstead, the POS software application may beconfigured to use a frequently purchased product type, such as milk or coffee, as areference product in the determination of the level of price sensitivity in a specificgeographical area. For instance, the POS software application may be configured toidentify financial transaction data relating to financial transactions involving thepurchase of the reference product in different geographical areas, and to determinea level of price sensitivity for each geographical area based on an average purchaseprice of the reference product in that geographical area. ln this way, the POSsoftware application may be configured to determine a price sensitivity index for each of a plurality of geographical areas.

Once the level of price sensitivity has been determined for one or more geographicalareas, the POS software application may be configured to use the level of price sensitivity in the determination of the suggested price for the product to be priced. 29 Putting it differently, the POS software application may be configured to usepurchase prices of a reference product (that is different than the product to bepriced) to determine a level of price sensitivity in one or more geographical areas,and to use the determined level of price sensitivity in the determination of thesuggested price. For example, if the POS soft\Nare application concludes, from theidentified financial transaction data, that the product to be priced has beenfrequently purchased even in price sensitive areas, it may be configured to suggesta price that is relatively high in relation to an average purchase price of the same orsimilar product in the price sensitive areas. Likewise, if the POS software applicationconcludes, from the financial transaction data, that the product to be priced is rarelypurchased even in non-price sensitive areas, it may be configured to suggest a pricethat is relatively low in relation to an average purchase price of the same or similarproduct in the non-price sensitive areas. Consequently, as illustrated by thisexample, the feature of determining the suggested price based on the level of pricesensitivity in one or more geographical areas may be advantageous even withoutknowing the level of price sensitivity in the geographical area of the merchant establishment.

Nevertheless, the POS software application is advantageously configured todetermine also a level of price sensitivity in the geographical area of the merchantestablishment, and to use the determined level of price sensitivity in thegeographical area of the merchant establishment in the determination of thesuggested price. The POS softvvare application may be configured to define thegeographical area of the merchant establishment in accordance with the principlesdescribed above. Once the relevant geographical area of the merchantestablishment has been defined, the level of price sensitivity in the area may bedetermined from the average purchase price of a reference product, as described above. ln some embodiments, the POS softvvare application may be configured todetermine the suggested price based on the level of price sensitivity in thegeographical area of the merchant establishment 5, the price sensitivity levels in thegeographical areas of other business establishments 5A-5E at which the same or similar product have been purchased, and the purchase prices of the same or similar products purchased at the other business establishments. For example, thePOS software application may be configured to determine the suggested pricebased on the price sensitivity indexes of the geographical areas of the otherbusiness establishments, the price sensitivity index of the geographical area of themerchant establishment, and the average purchase prices of the same or similarproduct in the geographical areas of the other business establishments. ln this way,the suggested price can be made to correspond to a weighted average purchaseprice of same or similar products, weighted based on the level of price sensitivity in the relevant geographical area.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method for automatic product pricing in accordancewith the above described principles. The method is carried out in a POS terminal 9for use by a merchant 3 offering products for sale at a merchant establishment 5.The POS terminal is part of a POS system 1 further comprising at least onedatabase 12 storing financial transaction data on products purchased by customersat different business establishments 5A-5E, where the financial transaction datacomprises, for each of a plurality of financial transactions, a product type indicator27 indicating a type of product purchased, a purchase price indicator 45 indicating apurchase price of the product purchased, and a geographical position indicator 45indicating a geographical position of the business establishment from which the product was purchased. ln a first step, S91, information on a product to be priced is obtained by the POSterminal 9, e.g. through manual input of information on the POS terminal by the merchant 3. ln a second step, S92, financial transaction data relating to products of a same or similar type as the product to be priced is identified in the database 12. ln a third step, S93, a suggested price for the product to be priced is determinedbased on the purchase price indicators and the geographical position indicators of the identified financial transaction data. 31 ln a fourth and final step, S94, the suggested price is presented to the merchant 3on the display 19 of the POS terminal 9.

Claims (16)

1. CLAIMS 1. A point of sale, POS, system (1) comprising: at least one database (12) storing financial transaction data on products purchased by customers at different business establishments (5A-5E), the financial transaction data comprising, for each of a plurality of financial transactions, a product type indicator (27) indicating a type of product purchased, a purchase price indicator (45) indicating a purchase price of the product purchased, and a geographical position indicator (47) indicating a geographical position of the business establishment from which the product was purchased; a plurality of POS terminals (9, 9A-9E) for use by different merchants (3, 3A-3E) offering products for sale at a respective merchant establishment (5, 5A- 5E), including a first POS terminal (9) of a first merchant establishment (5), each POS terminal being configured to, upon confirmed purchase of a product at the merchant establishment, associatively store in the at least one database (12): a product type indicator (27) indicating the type of the purchasedproduct; a purchase price indicator (45) indicating the purchase price of thepurchased product, and a geographical position indicator (47) indicating a geographical position of the merchant establishment, wherein at least said first POS terminal (9) is configured to: obtain information on a product to be priced; identify, in the database (12), financial transaction data relating toproducts of a same or similar type as the product to be priced,purchased from merchant establishments (5A-5E) other than saidfirst merchant establishment (5); determine a suggested price for the product to be priced based onthe purchase price indicators (45) and the geographical positionindicators (47) of the identified financial transaction data, andpresent the suggested price to a merchant of the first merchant establishment (5). _ The POS system (1) of claim 1, wherein the first POS terminal (9) is configured to use a geographic location (7) of the first merchant establishment (5) in the determination of the suggested price. _ The POS system (1) of claim 2, wherein the first POS terminal (9) comprises a geographical position device (23) configured to determine thegygeographicalposition of the first POS terminal, the POS terminal being configured to use thegeographical position determined by the geographical position device as the geographic location (7) of the first merchant establishment (5). _ The POS system (1) of claim 2, wherein the first POS terminal (9) is configured to receive user input indicating a geographical position, the first POS terminalbeing configured to use the indicated geographical position as the geographic location (7) of the first merchant establishment (5). _ The POS system (1) of any of the preceding claims, wherein the first POS terminal (9) is configured to determine a sales volume of products of the same orsimilar type for a particular geographical area from the identified financialtransaction data, and to use the determined sales volume in the determination of the suggested price. _ The POS system (1) of any of the preceding claims, wherein the first POS terminal (9) is configured to use the identšfšed finartcial transaction datathe in the at least one database (12) to determine a level of price sensitivity for one or more geographical areas, and to use the determined level of price sensitivity in the determination of the suggested price. _ The POS system (1) of claim 6, wherein the first POS terminal (9) is configured to determine a price sensitivity level of a geographical area in which the firstmerchant establishment (5) is located, and to take the price sensitivity level of the geographical area into account in the determination of the suggested price. The POS system (1) of any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least onedatabase (12) comprises at least a product database table (25) and a financialtransaction database table (39), the product database table and the financialtransaction database table associatively storing the product type indicators, thepurchase price indicators and the geographical position indicators such thateach of a plurality of financial transactions stored in the financial transactiondatabase table (39) is associated with at least one product and a purchase pricefor said product, which purchase price has been paid through said financial transaction. A POS terminal for use by a merchant (3) offering products for sale at amerchant establishment (5), the POS terminal being the first POS terminal (9) of any of the preceding claims. A method for product pricing in a POS terminal (9) for use by a merchant (3)offering products for sale at a merchant establishment (5), the POS terminal (9)being capable of retrieving information from at least one database (12) storingfinancial transaction data on products purchased by customers at differentbusiness establishments (5A-5E), the financial transaction data comprising, foreach of a plurality of financial transactions, a product type indicator (27)indicating a type of product purchased, a purchase price indicator (45) indicatinga purchase price of the product purchased, and a geographical position indicator(47) indicating a geographical position of the business establishment from whichthe product was purchased, the method comprising: - associatively storing in the at least one database (12), by each of a pluralityof POS terminals (9, 9A-9E) for use by different merchants (3, 3A-3E)offering products for sale at a respective merchant establishment (5, 5A-5E),including a first POS terminal (9) of a first merchant establishment (5), uponconfirmation of a financial transaction involving a purchase of at least oneproduct at the merchant establishment, financial transaction data comprising: o a product type indicator (27) indicating the type of the purchasedproduct;o a purchase price indicator (45) indicating the purchase price of the purchased product, and o a geographical position indicator (47) indicating a geographical position of the merchant establishment, and by means of at least said first POS terminal (9): - obtaining (S91) information on a product to be priced; - identifying (S92), in the at least one database (12), financial transaction datarelated to products of a same or similar type as the product to be priced,purchased from merchant establishments (5A-5E) other than said firstmerchant establishment (5); - determining (S93) a suggested price forthe product to be priced, based onthe purchase price indicators (45) and the geographical position indicators(47) of the identified financial transaction data, and - presenting (S94) the suggested price to a merchant of the first merchant establishment (5). .The method of claim 10, comprising using a geographic location (7) of the first merchant establishment (5) in the determination of the suggested price. .The method of claim 11, comprising determining a geographical position of the first POS terminal (9) by means of a geographical position device (23) of the firstPOS terminal, and using the geographical position of the first POS terminal as the geographic location (7) of the first merchant establishment (5). The method of claim 11, comprising receiving user input on the first POSterminal (9) indicating a geographical position, and using the indicatedgeographical position as the geographic location (7) of the first merchant establishment (5). The method of any of the claims 10-13, comprising determining, by the first POSterminal (9), a sales volume of products of the same or similar type for aparticular geographical area from the identified financial transaction data, and using the determined sales volume in the determination of the suggested price. The method of claim 14, comprising determining, by the first POS terminal (9), a price sensitivity level of a geographical area in which the first merchant establishment (5) is located, and taking the price sensitivity level of the geographical area into account in the determination of the suggested price. 16. A computer program for a POS terminal (9) for use by a merchant (3) offering products for sale at a merchant establishment (5), the POS terminal (9) being capable of retrieving information from at least one database (12) storing financial transaction data on products purchased by customers at different business establishments (5A-5E), the financial transaction data comprising, for each of a plurality of financial transactions, a product type indicator (27) indicating a type of product purchased, a purchase price indicator (45) indicating a purchase price of the product purchased, and a geographical position indicator (47) indicating a geographical position of the business establishment from which the product was purchased, the computer program comprising computer-readable code segments which, when executed by a processor (13) of the POS terminal (9), causes the POS terminal to perform the steps of - obtaining (S91) information on a product to be priced; - identifying (S92), in the at least one database (12), financial transaction datarelated to products of a same or similar type as the product to be priced,purchased from merchant establishments (5A-5E) other than the merchantestablishment (5) of the POS terminal (9); - determining (S93) a suggested price forthe product to be priced, based onthe purchase price indicators (45) and the geographical position indicators(47) of the identified financial transaction data, and - presenting (S94) the suggested price to the merchant (3).