WO2008066352A1

WO2008066352A1 - Affiliate marketing service system and service method

Info

Publication number: WO2008066352A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/006156
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jin Yong Joo
Original assignee: Jin Yong Joo
Priority date: 2006-12-01
Filing date: 2007-11-30
Publication date: 2008-06-05
Also published as: KR20080050071A; KR100886450B1

Abstract

Disclosed herein are an affiliate marketing service system and method. The affiliate marketing service system includes an affiliate marketing server operated by an affiliate marketing company, an affiliate shopping mall server operated by an affiliate shopping mall company that enters into an affiliate marketing contract with the affiliate marketing company and provides a predetermined portion of a selling price to the affiliate marketing company, and one or more customer terminals configured to connect with the affiliate marketing server and the affiliate shopping mall server. The customer terminal includes an interface device that is provided with a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) detection module for detecting a URL of a website accessed by a customer and sending a result of the detection to the affiliate marketing server. The affiliate shopping mall server includes a purchasing information detection module. The affiliate marketing server includes an affiliate detection module and a service management module.

Description

AFFILIATE MARKETING SERVICE SYSTEM AND SERVICE

METHOD

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to an affiliate marketing service system and method that, even when members directly access an online shopping mall server that is affiliated with an affiliate marketing server without the intervention of the affiliate marketing server and then purchase products, enable the detection of the purchase of the product through an interface device provided by an affiliate marketing company, thereby increasing the efficiency of the process in which members purchase products and reducing the inconvenience of the purchasing process. Background Art

[2] Recently, e-commerce business using the Internet is booming. E-commerce companies using the Internet are in the actual situation in which they are engaged in intense marketing competition against each other by frequently organizing incentive campaigns, such as reduction in usage fees and the provision of prizes or prize money, so as to recruits netizen as members thereof.

[3] However, even when e-commerce companies organize campaigns as described above and provide content that can be used for free, an incremental marketing effect is not achieved due to excessive competition between companies conducting the same business.

[4] Accordingly, affiliate marketing has been proposed to overcome the limitations of direct marketing that are encountered by e-commerce companies.

[5] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a prior art affiliate marketing service system. With reference to this drawing, the following description will be given.

[6] According to the above-described affiliate marketing, when a customer visiting an affiliate website clicks on an advertisement that is linked to the affiliate website, the web browser of a customer terminal makes access to a relevant e-commerce company server based on URL information that is linked to the advertisement, for example, URL information indicative of transfer to the website of the e-commerce company through the affiliate website.

[7] The e-commerce company server detects the website server of an affiliate company, through which a customer has made access based on the URL information of a customer terminal, and pays the relevant affiliate company advertisement fees corresponding to a predetermined percentage. [8] However, in the above-described method, URL information is frequently lost due to communication errors or the like, so that disagreement over the results of advertisement between an e-commerce company and each affiliate company occurs in an actual situation.

[9] Furthermore, based on the development of affiliate marketing, in order to recruit more members, e-commerce companies provide service rewards to customers who have purchased products in their websites.

[10] In relation to this, in order to increase traffic and sales, an online shopping mall affiliates with a specific shopping mall company, and the relevant affiliate shopping mall company provides rewards, corresponding to a predetermined percentage of the selling prices of products, to an affiliate marketing company when the members of an affiliate shopping mall server access the affiliate shopping mall server by clicking on a shopping mall advertisement or an icon posted on an affiliate marketing server and purchase products.

[11] Furthermore, in order to activate affiliate marketing, an affiliate marketing company redistributes money or service corresponding to a certain percentage of rewards, provided by an affiliate shopping mall company, to members who purchased products in an affiliate shopping mall server by way of the marketing server thereof, as shown in FIG. 3.

[12] However, although the affiliate shopping mall company provides rewards to the affiliate marketing company, this method is placed in the situation in which the affiliate marketing company cannot be provided with any rewards by the affiliate shopping mall company in the case where a member of the affiliate marketing company does not purchase a product through the affiliate marketing server to which the members subscribed, but directly accesses the affiliate shopping mall server and purchases a product. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[13] Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an affiliate marketing service system and method that provides an interface device to individual members who subscribed to an affiliate marketing company and, even when the members of the affiliate marketing company access an affiliate shopping mall server without the intervention of an affiliate marketing server to which the members subscribed, by entering the URL of the affiliate shopping mall server of an online shopping mall company that is affiliated with the affiliate marketing company or using a search box, and then purchase products, can accurately detect the purchase of the products through the installed interface device, thereby increasing the efficiency of the process in which members purchase products, reducing the inconvenience of the purchasing process, and providing appropriate rewards. Technical Solution

[14] In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides an affiliate marketing service system, including an affiliate marketing server operated by an affiliate marketing company, an affiliate shopping mall server operated by an affiliate shopping mall company that enters into an affiliate marketing contract with the affiliate marketing company and provides a predetermined portion of a selling price to the affiliate marketing company, and one or more customer terminals configured to connect with the affiliate marketing server and the affiliate shopping mall server, wherein:

[15] the customer terminal includes an interface device that is provided with a Uniform

Resource Locator (URL) detection module for detecting a URL of a website accessed by a customer and sending a result of the detection to the affiliate marketing server;

[16] the affiliate shopping mall server includes a purchasing information detection module for detecting purchasing information of the customer and sending a result of the detection to the affiliate marketing server; and

[17] the affiliate marketing server includes an affiliate detection module for searching an affiliate company DB, storing information of affiliate shopping mall servers, for data of the affiliate shopping mall server related to the received URL, and a service management module for detecting the purchasing information sent from the purchasing information detection module.

[18] In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides an affiliate marketing service method using an affiliate marketing service system, the affiliate marking service system including an affiliate marketing server operated by an affiliate marketing company, an affiliate shopping mall server operated by an affiliate shopping mall company that enters into an affiliate marketing contract with the affiliate marketing company and provides a predetermined portion of a selling price to the affiliate marketing company, and one or more customer terminals configured to connect with the affiliate marketing server and the affiliate shopping mall server and provided with an interface device for detecting a URL of a website that was accessed by a customer and sending the URL to the affiliate marketing server, the method including:

[19] a URL detection step of the interface device detecting a URL of a website that was accessed by the customer terminal and sending the URL to the affiliate marketing server; [20] an affiliation checking step of the affiliate marketing server checking whether the website is an affiliate shopping mall server based on the received URL;

[21] a purchasing information detection step of, when the website is determined to be an affiliate shopping mall server and the customer has purchased a product, the affiliate shopping mall server sending purchasing information to the affiliate marketing server; and

[22] a step of the affiliate marketing server providing a relevant service to the customer according to a selling price included in the purchasing information.

Advantageous Effects

[23] As described above, according to the present invention, an interface device is provided to individual members who subscribed to an affiliate marketing company, and the purchase of products can be accurately detected through the installed interface device, even when the members of the affiliate marketing company access an affiliate shopping mall server without the intervention of an affiliate marketing server to which the members subscribed, by entering the URL of the affiliate shopping mall server of an online shopping mall company that is affiliated with the affiliate marketing company or using a search box, and then purchase products, thereby increasing the efficiency of the process in which members purchase products and reducing the inconvenience of the purchasing process.

[24] Furthermore, affiliation rewards are appropriately provided to the affiliate marketing company that distributes the interface device for access and marketing and, in turn, are appropriately distributed to the members, thereby enabling active marketing by increasing the efficiency with which the rewards are distributed.

[25] Furthermore, the interface device of the present invention is provided in association with paid service program provision companies, thereby enabling efficient marketing.

[26] Furthermore, rewards, such as bonus points, which are provided to members by shopping malls at the time of transactions, are integrally managed by a single affiliate marketing server and are provided to the members, so that rewards, which are dispersed in small amounts and cannot be used effectively, can be efficiently used, with the result that there is an effect in that practical benefits can be provided to members.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[27] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a prior art affiliate marketing service system; [28] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an affiliate marketing service system according to the present invention; [29] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the constructions of an affiliate marketing server, a customer terminal and an affiliate shopping mall server according to the present invention;

[30] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of the affiliate marketing service method according to the present invention;

[31] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of the affiliate marketing service method according to the present invention; and

[32] FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a product purchasing process according to the present invention. Mode for the Invention

[33] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[34] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an affiliate marketing service system according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the constructions of an affiliate marketing server, a customer terminal and an affiliate shopping mall server according to the present invention. With reference to this drawing, the following description will be given.

[35] An affiliate marketing service system (hereinafter referred to as the 'service system') according to the present invention includes a customer terminal 100, which is a typical Personal Computer (PC) that can access the Internet, an affiliate marketing server 20, which communicates with the customer terminal 100 over the Internet, an affiliate shopping mall server 30, which is a typical e-commerce website, and an affiliate website server 40.

[36] In this case, an interface device 110, which is provided by the affiliate marketing server 20, is installed in the customer terminal 100. Such a customer terminal 100 may be a mobile device or a digital Television (TV), including an IPTV and an Internet TV, besides a typical PC. That is, the customer terminal 100 according to the present invention is not limited to any specific class of device as long as such devices can access a specific shopping mall and support e-commerce.

[37] The interface device 110 may be a typical device, such as a set-top box, or may be a program that is supplied by the affiliate marketing server 20 online. However, the set- top box is also merely a separate device for executing such a program.

[38] Accordingly, in the present invention, when a customer accesses the affiliate marketing server 20 using his or her own customer terminal 100 and consents to the installation of the interface device 110, the program can be sent online from the affiliate marketing server 20 to the customer terminal 100 and then be installed.

[39] The interface device 110 for performing the above-described operation includes a

URL detection module 111 and an input detail checking module 112. The URL detection module 111 is executed in conjunction with an Internet access program (a web browser), such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Safari, installed in the customer terminal 100 when the Internet access program is executed. The interface device 110 detects the address of the website and then sends information about the address to the affiliate marketing server 20 when a customer accesses a specific website by entering an address in a URL entry box or selecting a banner box registered in a specific website or one from among search results.

[40] Accordingly, the URL detection module 111 detects an Internet website being accessed by a customer through the relevant customer terminal 100 while communicating with the affiliate marketing server 20.

[41] Meanwhile, the input detail checking module 112 detects a word input by a customer in a specific website through the manipulation of a keyboard, and sends information about the word to the affiliate marketing server 20. The input detail checking module 112, as well as the URL detection module 111, communicates with the affiliate marketing server 20.

[42] An affiliate marketing service method (hereinafter referred to as a 'service method') according to the present invention, which is performed while the customer terminal 100 and the affiliate marketing server 20 communicate with each other via the above- described interface device 110 according to the present invention, and a service system according to the present invention will be described below.

[43] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of the affiliate marketing service method according to the present invention. The following description will be given with reference to this drawing.

[44]

[45] SlO; Browser execution step

[46] A customer may access the Internet using the customer terminal 100, which is his or her own PC. In general, Internet access is conducted using a web browser, which is an Internet access program. For this purpose, the customer must execute the web browser.

[47]

[48] S 15; Interface device execution step

[49] The interface device 110, installed in the customer terminal 100, detects the execution of the web browser and is then executed along with the web browser. Of course, the interface device 110 may be executed independent of the execution of the web browser at the time that the customer terminal 100 boots up.

[50]

[51] S20; Member identification step

[52] When the interface device 110 is executed, the interface device 110 identifies the customer manipulating the relevant customer terminal 100 while communicating with the affiliate marketing server 20.

[53] In order to download the interface device 110 of the present invention to the customer terminal 100, install the interface device 110 in the customer terminal 100, and execute the interface device 110, the customer in question must subscribe to an affiliate marketing website and be a member thereof. Accordingly, the customer who uses the interface device 110 of the present invention may be a member who has subscribed to the affiliate marketing website.

[54] Naturally, even in the case where the relevant customer is not a member of the affiliate marketing company, the customer can download and install the interface device 110. Accordingly, even if a customer executing the interface device 110 is not a member of an affiliate marketing company according to the present invention, the interface device 110 is executed. When a customer who is not a member accesses the affiliate shopping mall server 30, the interface device 110 checks access status and an access location (URL) and sends the results of the check to the affiliate marketing server 100.

[55] In this case, when a customer who is not a member accesses the affiliate shopping mall server 30 and then purchases a product in the relevant shopping mall server 30 in the state in which the interface device 110 has been installed, the following points may be generated. Accordingly, since a target for which generated points are accumulated is required, points generated for a non-member customer may be accumulated for the member customer who recommended the non-member customer. That is, it is not necessary to determine whether a user accessing a shopping mall is a member of an affiliate marketing company.

[56] However, since it is necessary for a relevant customer to be a member of an affiliate marketing company in principle in order to effectively use the interface device 110, the embodiments of the present invention will be described on the assumption that the customer who is using the interface device 110 is a member of an affiliate marketing company.

[57] When a customer subscribes to the affiliate marketing website, the unique code for the relevant customer is created. When the interface device 110 is executed, data including the code is sent from the interface device 110 of the customer terminal 100 to the affiliate marketing server 20. As a result, the affiliate marketing server 20 can detect which customer is currently executing the interface device 110.

[58] Furthermore, when a customer separately executes the interface device 110 and logs on by entering an ID and a password into the interface device 110, the affiliate marketing server 20 determines whether the interface device 110 is executed by detecting the logon, and may check the membership of the customer who is related to the interface device 110. [59] The member module 22 of the affiliate marketing server 20 searches a member

DataBase (DB) 27 for the data sent from the interface device 110, and then identifies the member who is using the relevant interface device 110.

[60]

[61] S30; Website access step

[62] The customer, who is determined to be a member, accesses the website.

[63] In general, methods of a customer accessing a website include various methods, such as a method of accessing a website by directly entering an address into the URL box of a web browser, a method of accessing a website by clicking on one of search results on a typical search website, such as a portal, and a method of accessing a website by clicking on an advertisement or public information box, such as a banner box.

[64] However, regardless of which method is exploited, the final result is access to a relevant website.

[65]

[66] S40; URL detection step

[67] The URL detection module 111 detects the URL of the website that is currently accessed by the customer, and sends information about the URL to the affiliate marketing server 20.

[68]

[69] S50; Affiliation checking step

[70] The affiliate detection module 21 of the affiliate marketing server 20 receives the information about the URL from the interface device 110, and searches the affiliate company DB 26 for the same URL.

[71] Of course, if the relevant URL is found in the affiliate company DB 26, the relevant website is a website that is affiliated with the affiliate marketing server 20. If the relevant URL is not found in the affiliate company DB 26, the relevant website will not be an affiliate website.

[72] Meanwhile, a method of checking affiliation status is not limited to the searching of the contents of the affiliate company DB 26, that is, information possessed by the affiliate marketing server 20 itself, in the affiliate marketing server 20, which has been described above.

[73] For example, a method of storing an affiliate company record for each user terminal and then directly notifying the affiliate marketing server 20 of the record and a method of the affiliate shopping mall directly notifying the affiliate marketing server 20 of the fact that a shopping mall in question is an affiliate company can be used.

[74] Additionally, since the method of determining whether a shopping mall is an affiliate company may be presented through various embodiments, the method may be realized through various modifications within a range that does not depart from the accompanying claims.

[75]

[76] S60; Product purchasing step

[77] The customer performs Internet shopping in the (non-) affiliate shopping mall server 30 or 50 regardless of the status of affiliation. Since an e-commerce process in a shopping mall is well known, a description of the e-commerce process in the (non-) af filiate shopping mall server 30 or 50 will be omitted here.

[78]

[79] S70; Purchasing information checking step

[80] When the customer purchases a product by performing an e-commerce process in the affiliate shopping mall server 30, the affiliate marketing server 20 checks the purchasing information.

[81] Here, the purchasing information is data such as information about a purchased product, a purchase price and payment means.

[82] The affiliate shopping mall server 30 checks whether the customer who has performed the relevant e-commerce process is a member of the affiliate marketing website. If the customer is a member thereof, the purchasing information detection module 31 detects the purchasing information of the relevant member and sends the purchasing information to the purchasing information affiliate marketing server 20.

[83]

[84] S80; Member DB update step

[85] The affiliate marketing server 20, having received the purchasing information from the affiliate shopping mall server 30, updates the information of the relevant customer, stored in the member DB 27, through the service management module 23.

[86] The affiliate marketing server 20 according to the present invention provides more benefits and convenience to customers who use Internet e-commerce, and such benefits and convenience cause customers to actively use e-commerce, so that not only the customers, but also the e-commerce operators, can obtain benefits. In particular, since the affiliate marketing server 20 provides various reliable services to customers under the affiliate marketing server's own responsibility, the affiliate shopping mall server 30, which is affiliated with the affiliate marketing server 20, can expect patronage from more customers.

[87] The benefits and convenience for these purposes may be represented and implemented in various forms. In the embodiment of the present invention, the service is realized in the form of the provision of points.

[88] The points can be used like actual money that is used by the affiliate marketing company, which operates the affiliate marketing server 20, to purchase products in the shopping mall server. After a predetermined number of points has been accumulated, they can be used as a gift coupon for receiving a gift, or a voucher for enjoying entertainment, such as a tour, an amusement or the like, or downloading and using Internet telephony service, a useful program such as an antivirus program, an online movie, a music MP3 file, or the like.

[89] Accordingly, in order to provide the above-described service, a business relationship may be established with the affiliate company of the affiliate website server 40, which provides many paid service programs, that is, media players, P2P programs, antivirus programs, compressed files, MP3 music files or Internet telephony service, in an online environment, besides the affiliate shopping mall company operated by the affiliate shopping mall server 20.

[90] For reference, the affiliate marketing company may provide convenience to customers, who are members of the affiliate marketing server 20, by paying fees for the use of services provided by such an affiliated company.

[91] The service management module 23 updates the member DB 27 by calculating the number of points that are subtracted because they are used in the affiliate shopping mall server 30 or the affiliate website server 40 by the customer, who is a member, and the number of points that are provided based on a purchase price that is paid by the customer in the affiliate shopping mall server 30.

[92] According to the above-described service method of the present invention, even when a customer who is a member of the affiliate marketing server 20 accesses the affiliate shopping mall server 30 without going through the affiliate marketing server 20, the interface device 110 itself detects the access of the customer, who is a member, to the affiliate shopping mall server 30 and notifies the affiliate marketing server 20 of the access. Through this, the affiliate marketing server 20 acquires a basis on which the affiliate marketing server 20 can request rewards from the affiliate shopping mall company, even when a member of the affiliate marketing company does not purchase a product through the affiliate marketing server 20 to which the member subscribed, but directly accesses the affiliate shopping mall server 30 and purchases a product. That is, the affiliate marketing company can detect the access of the customer to the affiliate shopping mall server 30 through a virtual banner box.

[93] Meanwhile, when the customer accesses the affiliate shopping mall server 30 through the customer terminal 100 in which the interface device 110 is installed and makes a final decision to purchase a product, the affiliate shopping mall server 30 provides notification of the fact that points are generated and accumulated as a result of the purchase of the product as a shopping mall that is affiliated with the affiliate marketing company, and outputs accumulated points and the details of the use of the points during a specific period through a separate box. Accordingly, the customer notes the accumulation of points and checks the continuously accumulating points in real time, so that the customer's desire to purchase products can be stimulated through the affiliate shopping mall.

[94] For reference, although the interface device 110 may be downloaded from the affiliate marketing server 20 and then installed, it may be downloaded from the affiliate shopping mall server 30 or the affiliate website server 40 and then be installed.

[95] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of the affiliate marketing service method according to the present invention. The following description will be given with reference to this drawing.

[96] Descriptions of the portions of the second embodiment of the service method of the present invention that are the same as those of the first embodiment of the service method are omitted here.

[97]

[98] S51 ; Subscribing member checking step

[99] When the member customer of the affiliate marketing company accesses the affiliate shopping mall server 30, the service management module 23 checks whether the customer is a subscribing member of the relevant affiliate shopping mall server 30.

[100] This is performed so that the affiliate marketing server 20 can take necessary measures after checking this, even when the customer, who is a member of the affiliate marketing company, accesses an affiliate shopping mall server 30 with which the customer is not affiliated. The necessary measure will be described in detail below.

[101] The member DB 27 stores the information of the affiliate shopping mall server to which the customer subscribed and in which the customer is a subscribing member. The service management module 23 can check whether the customer has subscribed to the specific affiliate shopping mall server by searching the member DB 27.

[102] Information about a subscribing member may be provided by the affiliate shopping mall server 30, or may be directly input by the customer accessing the affiliate marketing server 20.

[103] Furthermore, whether the customer who accesses the shopping mall server is a subscribing member of the relevant shopping mall server can be checked through various means. In an embodiment thereof, the interface device 110 according to the present invention checks whether the customer who accesses the shopping mall server logs in, and considers the customer to be a non-member if the customer searches for a product or makes a purchase and payment without logging in.

[104]

[105] S52; Subscription request step

[106] If, as a result of the checking by the service management module 23, the relevant customer is determined not to be a subscribing member of the affiliate shopping mall server 30, the service management module 23 sends information about the relevant affiliate shopping mall server 30 to the interface device 110, and the guide box output module 113 of the interface device 110 guides the customer through subscription to the affiliate shopping mall server 30, which is currently accessed by the customer, as a subscribing member, and requests subscription from the customer.

[107] The guidance may be performed in such a way as to be displayed or output onto the vacant space of a screen or a toolbar region, or to be output onto a separate popup window.

[108] Meanwhile, if, as a result of the check by the service management module 23, the relevant customer is determined to be a subscribing member, the process follows a typical commercial transaction procedure and then performs a product purchasing step S60.

[109]

[110] S53; Subscription step

[111] The customer subscribes to the relevant affiliate shopping mall server 30 while viewing the guidance provided at the subscription request step S52.

[112] A subscription procedure is processed in the affiliate shopping mall server 30. Since this procedure is well known, a description thereof will be omitted here.

[113] In contrast, if the customer disregards the guidance provided at the subscription request step S52 and proceeds with e-commerce in the affiliate shopping mall server 30 as a non-subscribing member, the customer can perform the product purchasing step S60 without particular restriction.

[114] In this case, although the customer who is a member of the affiliate marketing company does not subscribe to the affiliate shopping mall server 30 but purchases a product in the role of a non-subscribing member, the relevant customer is provided with the service (points) because the customer is a member of the affiliate marketing company.

[115]

[116] S54; member DB update step

[117] When the customer becomes a subscribing member of the affiliate shopping mall server 30 through the subscription step S53, related information is sent to the affiliate marketing server 20 via the interface device 110. The member module 22, having received the information, updates the member DB 27 by storing the information in the member DB 27.

[118] Meanwhile, in the case where the customer has newly subscribed, service (points) may be provided to a new subscribing member. Accordingly, the service management module 23 provides service (points) to a new subscribing customer, and stores the details of the provision in the member DB 27. [119] Of course, when a member of the affiliate marketing server 20 has newly subscribed to the affiliate shopping mall server 30, rewards may be given according to a contract between the affiliate marketing company and the affiliate shopping mall company.

[120] Thereafter, the product purchasing step S60 is performed without restriction regardless of whether the customer has subscribed as a member.

[121]

[122] S90; Visit history management step

[123] After the subscription step S53 or member DB update step S54 has been normally performed and then the purchasing information checking step S70 and the member DB update step S 80 have been gone through, a log, including information about the affiliate shopping mall server 30 that was accessed by the customer and information about a product that was purchased by the customer, is stored in a visit history DB 25. If necessary, information about the non-affiliate shopping mall server 50 that was accessed by the customer and information about a product that was purchased there may be stored in the visit history DB 25.

[124] The collection of the information is performed such that the affiliate marketing company can reference the information to analyze customers' preferences and make business plans. This information may be basic material based on which the affiliation between a non-affiliate shopping mall company that is frequently visited by customers and the affiliate marketing company can be established.

[125] Furthermore, the interface device 110 may analyze the Internet access pattern and purchasing pattern of the customer terminal 100, in which the interface device 110 has been installed, and send the results of the analysis to the visit history DB 25 of the affiliate marketing server 20.

[126] In greater detail, the interface device 110 detects websites that are accessed by customers without distinguishing between an affiliate shopping mall website and a non-affiliate shopping mall website, sends information about the websites to the visit history DB 25, stores the information in the visit history DB 25, and detects the most frequently accessed shopping mall server among them. Here, the term 'frequently' implies the number of accesses to a shopping mall server that falls within a predetermined range of ranks when ranking is determined in descending order of the numbers of accesses to shopping mall servers within a predetermined period, the number of accesses exceeding a predetermined reference number of accesses, or the number of accesses to a shopping mall website larger exceeding a predetermined number of accesses after averaging the numbers of accesses to respective shopping malls within a predetermined period. However, these are only some of numerous methods for calculating the number of accesses. The technical spirit of the present invention may be variously modified and realized within the range that does not depart from the attached claims.

[127] FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a product purchasing process according to the present invention.

[128]

[129] S61; Product searching and checking step

[130] A customer, having accessed the (non-) affiliate shopping mall server 30 or 50, searches for a desired product to purchase the product. To search for the product, the customer enters the name of the product in a search box.

[131] The interface device 110 according to the present invention is provided with the input detail checking module 112, and the input detail checking module 112 checks input details in a kernel region (a keyboard region) and sends the results of the checking to the affiliate marketing server 20.

[132] Here, the product that is searched for in the (non-) affiliate shopping mall server 30 or 50 is not limited to the above-described method.

[133]

[134] S62; Similar product searching step

[135] If the shopping mall server that is accessed by the customer is determined to be a non-affiliate shopping mall server 50 at the affiliation checking step S50, the product checking module 24 of the affiliate marketing server 20 checks the sent name of the product and searches the product DB 28 for the presence of information about the same or a similar product.

[136] Here, the information possessed by the product DB 28 relates to images of products, the selling prices of the products, and affiliate marketing servers, in which the products are being sold.

[137] Of course, the disposition of the product DB 28 is not limited to the affiliate marketing server 20. That is, the product DB 28 is disposed in the affiliate shopping mall server 30. When information about the name of a product input by a customer is sent by the interface device 110, the product checking module 24, having received the information, sends the information to the affiliate shopping mall server 30, so that the affiliate shopping mall server 30 may search its own product DB 28 for the information.

[138] Meanwhile, in the case where the product DB 28 exists in the affiliate marketing server 20, it is preferred that the product DB 28 be periodically updated by the affiliate shopping mall server 30 in communication with the affiliate shopping mall server 30.

[139]

[140] S63; Similar product information output step

[141] When the customer searches for a product of the affiliate shopping mall server 30 that is identical or similar to a product that was searched for in the non- affiliate shopping mall server 50, the product checking module 24 sends related information to the interface device 110, and the guide box output module 113 outputs the information to the customer terminal 100, thereby prompting that customer to purchase the relevant product via the affiliate shopping mall server 30.

[142] In this case, a window output to the customer terminal 100 is linked to the relevant affiliate shopping mall server 30, and thus the customer can easily access the affiliate shopping mall server 30.

[143] Of course, the customer may either move to the affiliate shopping mall server 30 with reference to the information in the output window (website access step; S30), or may disregard the information and purchase the relevant product in the non-affiliate shopping mall server 50 at step S64.

[144]

[145] S65; Product purchasing step

[146] According to the customer's selection, a product is purchased in the non-affiliate shopping mall server 50.

[147] Meanwhile, in the present invention, a program related to the interface device 110 can be downloaded from the affiliate marketing server 20 itself so as to effectively distribute the interface device 110, and a predetermined portion of rewards for a product that is purchased by a member recommended by a recommender through an individual recommender system can be provided as a promotion fee, thereby promoting active marketing.

[148] Furthermore, when the number of members of the affiliate marketing company reaches a predetermined number, the members' purchasing intentions may be collected by the affiliate shopping mall server and cooperative purchasing may be allowed, thus enabling volume discounts on product prices.

[149] Furthermore, the affiliate marketing company can help affiliate members make selection by posting the enterprise credit grades of enterprises in the non-affiliate shopping mall.

[150] Although the present invention has been described using the above-described embodiments, it will be apparent that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, but may be modified in various ways within the range that does not depart from the object and purpose of the present invention.

Claims

[1] An affiliate marketing service system, comprising an affiliate marketing server operated by an affiliate marketing company, an affiliate shopping mall server operated by an affiliate shopping mall company that enters into an affiliate marketing contract with the affiliate marketing company and provides a predetermined portion of a selling price to the affiliate marketing company, and one or more customer terminals configured to connect with the affiliate marketing server and the affiliate shopping mall server, wherein: the customer terminal comprises an interface device that is provided with a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) detection module for detecting a URL of a website accessed by a customer and sending a result of the detection to the affiliate marketing server; the affiliate shopping mall server comprises a purchasing information detection module for detecting purchasing information of the customer and sending a result of the detection to the affiliate marketing server; and the affiliate marketing server comprises an affiliate detection module for searching an affiliate company DB, storing information of affiliate shopping mall servers, for data of the affiliate shopping mall server related to the received URL, and a service management module for detecting the purchasing information sent from the purchasing information detection module.

[2] The affiliate marketing service system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the affiliate marketing server further comprises a service management module that, if, as a result of the detection by the affiliate detection module, the URL is found to be a URL of the affiliate shopping mall server, detects the purchasing price from the purchasing information, provides a relevant service to the customer, and performs recording/update on the member DB.

[3] An affiliate marketing service method using an affiliate marketing service system, the affiliate marketing service system including an affiliate marketing server operated by an affiliate marketing company, an affiliate shopping mall server operated by an affiliate shopping mall company that enters into an affiliate marketing contract with the affiliate marketing company and provides a predetermined portion of a selling price to the affiliate marketing company, and one or more customer terminals configured to connect with the affiliate marketing server and the affiliate shopping mall server and provided with an interface device for detecting a URL of a website that was accessed by a customer and sending the URL to the affiliate marketing server, the method comprising: a URL detection step of the interface device detecting a URL of a website that was accessed by the customer terminal and sending the URL to the affiliate marketing server; an affiliation checking step of the affiliate marketing server checking whether the website is an affiliate shopping mall server based on the received URL; a purchasing information detection step of, when the website is determined to be an affiliate shopping mall server and the customer has purchased a product, the affiliate shopping mall server sending purchasing information to the affiliate marketing server; and a step of the affiliate marketing server providing a relevant service to the customer according to a selling price included in the purchasing information.

[4] The affiliate marketing service method as set forth in claim 3, further comprising: a subscribing member checking step of the affiliate marketing server checking whether the customer is a subscribing member of the affiliate shopping mall server; a subscription request step of, if the customer is determined not to be a subscribing member of the affiliate shopping mall server, the affiliate marketing server sending/outputting subscription guide information to the customer terminal; and a step of, when the customer subscribes to the affiliate shopping mall server, the affiliate shopping mall server providing relevant service to the customer.

[5] The affiliate marketing service method as set forth in claim 3 or 4, further comprising: a product searching and checking step of, if, as a result of the affiliation checking step, the website is determined to be a non-affiliate shopping mall server, the interface device checking a product found based on the customer's input details and sending a result of the checking to the affiliate marketing server; a similar product searching step of the affiliate marketing server searching for information about a product that is identical or similar to the desired product among products that are being sold in the affiliate shopping mall server; and a similar product information output step of the interface device outputting a result of the similar product search, sent from the affiliate marketing server, onto the customer terminal.

[6] The affiliate marketing service method as set forth in claim 3, wherein the affiliate marketing company provides programs, files and Internet telephony services to customers at low prices or free of charge using the rewards, provided by the affiliate shopping mall company, as funds in affiliation with specific service companies that supply the programs, files and Internet telephony services. [7] The affiliate marketing service method as set forth in claim 3, wherein the interface device can be downloaded from the affiliate marketing server itself so as to effectively distribute the interface device, and a predetermined portion of rewards for a product that is purchased by a member recommended by a recommender through an individual recommender system can be provided as a promotion fee.