JP7515195B2 - SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, SERVER APPARATUS, COMPUTER PROGRAM, AND/OR METHOD - Google Patents

Description

The technology disclosed in this application relates to a system, an information processing device, a server device, a computer program, and/or a method.

In recent years, support methods using the Internet and information processing technology have begun to be introduced to use data in various ways.

JP 2014-52823 A JP 2020-14423 A

However, there are situations in which information processing technology has not been utilized to realize a so-called virtual store in which physical products are sold face-to-face in a so-called brick-and-mortar store, but instead are sold over the Internet. Therefore, various embodiments of the present invention provide a system, an information processing device, a server device, a computer program, and/or a method to solve the above problem.

One embodiment of the present application is
One or more information processing devices,
An acquisition means for acquiring product data relating to the brick-and-mortar store from an information processing device relating to the brick-and-mortar store;
a common rule application means for applying a common rule for the physical store to the product data to generate common product data;
A generating means for generating data of the product of the real store when sold in the virtual store by using the common product data;
A computer program for operating as a

Another embodiment of the present application is
An acquisition unit that acquires product data related to the brick-and-mortar store from an information processing device related to the brick-and-mortar store;
a common rule application unit that applies a common rule for the physical store to the product data to generate common product data;
a generation unit that generates data of the product of the physical store when sold in a virtual store by using the common product data;
A system comprising:

Another embodiment of the present application is
One or more information processing devices,
An acquisition step of acquiring product data related to the brick-and-mortar store from an information processing device related to the brick-and-mortar store;
A common rule application step of applying a common rule for the physical store to the product data to generate common product data;
a generating step of generating data of the product of the physical store when sold in a virtual store by using the common product data;
How to do it.

One embodiment of the present invention can be more appropriately used in online sales, where products sold in physical stores are sold via the Internet.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of functions provided in a system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example showing the relationship of a system according to an embodiment to other devices. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another example showing the relationship of the system according to one embodiment to other devices. FIG. 4 is an example of a data structure for a system according to one embodiment. FIG. 5 is an example of a data structure for a system according to one embodiment. FIG. 6 is an example of a process flow related to a system according to an embodiment. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an information processing device in a system according to an embodiment.

1. Overview The technology of the present application is aimed at realizing a so-called online supermarket, which sells physical products in a so-called brick-and-mortar store via the Internet, in a situation where information processing technology is not being utilized.

2. Functions The present invention may include some or all of an acquisition unit, a processing unit, and a communication unit, which will be described below, as shown in Fig. 1. For example, the present invention may include an acquisition unit and a processing unit (particularly some or all of the functions of the processing unit).

2.1. Acquisition Unit The acquisition unit has a function of acquiring real store product data described below. The acquisition unit may acquire the real store product data from the enterprise product management system, one or more multiple real store information processing devices, and/or one or more independent real store information processing devices. The acquisition unit may acquire the real store product data at various times, may acquire the real store product data at a predetermined specific time, or may acquire the real store product data in response to a predetermined event in the enterprise product management system, one or more multiple real store information processing devices, and/or one or more independent real store information processing devices.

In addition, instead of the above-mentioned configuration, the acquisition unit may acquire physical store product data from a storage device within an information processing device in which the acquisition unit is provided.

2.2 Data Generation Unit The data generation unit has a function of performing various processes to generate data. The data generation unit may generate data by using actual store product data.

The data generation unit may, for example, use the physical store product data to generate physical store common product data. The data generation unit may also apply common rules to the physical store product data to generate physical store common product data.

The data generation unit may also use the common product data to generate data for the products from the physical store that are sold in a virtual store on the Internet.

For example, the data generation unit may generate data such as the number of items in stock at a physical store, the number of items available for sale at a virtual store, the selling price of items at a virtual store, and/or the product names of items at a virtual store.

2.3. Communication Unit The communication unit has a function of communicating the data about the physical store generated by the processing unit using the physical store product data to an information processing device related to a consumer of the product at the physical store.

3. Embodiment One form of selling products via the Internet is EC, where products are sold from a warehouse without a sales floor on-site. When an organization without a warehouse wants to enter the market, it is necessary to set up a new warehouse, which is a high barrier to entry. In particular, when the number of products reaches tens of thousands, it becomes complicated to prepare a warehouse that can handle that many products and to build a corresponding product management system.

In response to this type of EC, a store that can sell products face-to-face and that has product inventory (sometimes referred to as a "physical store" in this application) can set up a sales channel (sometimes referred to as a "virtual store" in this application) to sell the products handled at the physical store via the Internet. This virtual store corresponding to the physical store does not require the establishment of a new warehouse, so it is very attractive for the physical store as it increases its sales channels, leading to increased sales revenue.

In addition, customers have the advantage of being able to purchase items that they would normally have to visit a physical store, such as raw fish or raw meat, from a physical store they normally use (one that is within the consumer's social life range), making it easy to use.

Therefore, this application describes a system that supports the sale of products from real stores in virtual stores that correspond to those stores.

The system of this embodiment may be capable of communicating data (note that in this application, the term "communication" may be a concept that includes at least one-way or two-way data transmission) between one or more information processing devices (sometimes referred to in this application as "multiple physical store information processing devices") related to the function of managing products in multiple physical stores, and/or one or more information processing devices (sometimes referred to in this application as "single physical store information processing devices") provided in each physical store related to the function of managing products in such physical stores.

For example, consider a company that has multiple physical stores or is affiliated with multiple physical stores. In this case, such a company may use a management system (sometimes referred to as a "corporate product management system" in the present application) that has multiple information processing devices for the products handled by the company. The corporate managed product system may include a central server 001 that can centrally manage the products of the multiple physical stores as an example of such a multiple physical store information processing device, a server 002 that processes the products handled by the multiple physical stores as an example of a multiple physical store information processing device, and/or one or more terminal devices 003 provided in each physical store as an example of a single physical store information processing device.

In this case, the system of this embodiment may be capable of data communication with such a corporate management product system. In addition, the system of this embodiment may be capable of data communication with a central server 001 that can centrally manage products of such multiple physical stores, as an example of a multiple physical store information processing device. In addition, the system of this embodiment may be capable of data communication with a server 002 related to a center that processes products such as meat and fish handled by such multiple physical stores, as an example of a multiple physical store information processing device. Such a center may, for example, generate products (so-called "unfixed weight", and the term "unfixed weight" used in this technical field is used in the present application documents) in which meat, fresh fish, and/or fruits and vegetables are modified to a form suitable for cooking by consumers, sliced or cut so that they are easy for consumers to use, and the individual prices are determined (even if the weights are different for each product). In addition, the unfixed weight may be processed for grilled meat, curry, shabu-shabu, etc., in the case of meat, and similarly, fresh fish and fruits (vegetables and fruits) may be processed so that they are easy for consumers to use in cooking. Therefore, the server 002 at the center may have product data related to fixed weights. In addition, the system of this embodiment may be capable of communicating data with one or more terminal devices 003a to 003 provided at each physical store as an example of a standalone physical store information processing device.

In FIG. 2, an example is shown in which a corporate product management system 001X used by company A includes a central server 001, a server 002, and terminal devices 003a-. In this case, the system 000 of this embodiment may be capable of communicating data with the corporate product management system and information processing devices 004a-004b related to multiple consumers. As shown in this figure, with regard to the terminal devices, terminal devices 003a and 003b may be connected to the central server 001, and terminal devices 003c and 003d may be connected to the server 002.

In addition, in FIG. 3, company A may use a central server 001, a processing server 002, and terminal devices 003a-. In this case, the system 000 of this embodiment may be capable of communicating data with the central server 001, the server 002, the terminal devices 003a-, and information processing devices 004a-004b related to multiple consumers.

In particular, as shown in this figure, for the servers, the system 000 may be capable of data communication via the central server 001, as in the case of server 002a, or may be capable of data communication without the central server 001, as in the case of server 002b. Also, for the terminal devices, the system 000 may be capable of data communication via the central server 001, as in the case of terminal devices 003a and 003b, or may be capable of data communication via the server 002a and the central server 001, as in the case of terminal devices 003c and 003d, or may be capable of data communication via the server 002b without the central server 001, as in the case of terminal devices 003e and 003f, or may be capable of data communication without the central server 001 or the server 002, as in the case of terminal devices 003g and 003h.

The system of this embodiment may cooperate with a plurality of companies that manage a plurality of physical stores as described above. That is, the system of this embodiment may be capable of communicating data with each company-managed product system used by the plurality of companies. The system of this embodiment may also be capable of communicating data with each central server 001, each server 002, and/or each terminal device 003 used by the plurality of companies.

In the above description, the central server 001, the server 002, and the terminal device 003 may each be equipped with one or any number of information processing devices, and there is no specific limit to the number of information processing devices.

In addition, in the above, a cloud may be used in place of or in combination with a server. Also, in the above, a cloud and/or a server may be used in place of or in combination with a terminal device.

In the present application, the term "system" may include one or more information processing devices. Such information processing devices may be various general-purpose or dedicated information processing devices. In addition, such information processing devices may have a specific function in the invention of the present application. For example, the one or more information processing devices may be one or more information processing devices related to a physical store. Such one or more information processing devices related to a physical store may be one or more information processing devices related to the function of managing products in multiple physical stores, and/or one or more information processing devices related to the function of managing products in each physical store. In addition, in the present application, a "server" may be a type of information processing device. In addition, a "terminal device" may be a type of information processing device. For this reason, the terminal device in the present application may not only perform processing such as displaying data, but may also have a calculation function and a storage function, as the information processing device described below has, and may be capable of various calculations by executing a computer program, and may be capable of executing various functions described in the present application.

In addition, in the present application, the data communication itself may use well-known technology. For example, it may be the Internet and/or an intranet.

The above-mentioned standalone physical store information processing device may have product data relating to a physical store (sometimes referred to as "physical store product data" in the present application documents). The physical store product data may be data on products sold at such a physical store. The physical store product data may be, for example, data on one or more products sold at a physical store, and may include the category of products sold at the physical store, the product name of the product, discount data for the product, the selling price of the product, and/or the number of products. The selling price of the product may be the amount after discount or the amount before discount.

The physical store product data does not have to include data on all products sold at the physical store. For example, the above-mentioned indeterminate weight may be sold on the day it arrives at the physical store, and data on indeterminate weight may not be included in the physical store product data depending on the judgment and operation of the physical store. The product data may be stored in a single physical store information processing device in one or multiple file formats.

The multiple physical store information processing device, such as the above-mentioned central server 001 and processing server 002, may have physical store product data relating to multiple physical stores. The physical store product data relating to multiple physical stores may be associated with data indicating the physical store where the product is planned to be sold (e.g., an ID indicating the physical store) and stored in the multiple physical store information processing device.

Next, the processing flow of an example of the system of this embodiment will be explained using FIG. 6.

<Step 1>
The system of this embodiment may acquire and store physical store product data from a corporate product management system, one or more multiple physical store information processing devices, and/or one or more single physical store information processing devices.

The timing of acquisition may vary. For example, the expected arrival date for each store may be acquired on a monthly, biweekly, daily, or other basis. Furthermore, for a particular physical store, physical store product data may be acquired from different information processing devices. In particular, depending on the physical store, the above-mentioned indefinite weight product data may be acquired from an information processing device related to a center, or from a single physical store information processing device. Note that when indefinite weight product data is acquired for the same product from multiple physical store information processing devices related to a center, it does not have to be acquired from a single physical store information processing device.

In addition, the stand-alone physical store information processing device may have physical store product data input by an on-site staff member of the physical store. For example, meat and fresh fish may be processed by an on-site staff member to prepare variable weights of meat and variable weights of fresh fish. In this case, the number and price of the variable weights are determined by the processing by the staff member. Therefore, the on-site staff member may determine the number of variable weights after such processing, and may input the number of variable weights and the corresponding amount into the stand-alone physical store information processing device. Even in such a case, the system of this embodiment may obtain the determined number of variable weights and the corresponding amount from the stand-alone physical store information processing device. Note that the amount here may have a range (upper and lower limits) because the amount is based on the weight of the variable weight.

A single physical store may also have multiple standalone physical store information processing devices. For example, a single physical store may have a standalone physical store information processing device used by a person in charge of the meat section and a standalone physical store information processing device used by a person in charge of fresh vegetables. In this case, for example, when potatoes arrive, the potatoes may be sold as fresh vegetables in the fresh vegetable section, or the potatoes may be sold as ingredients for croquettes in the meat section. In this case, the number of potatoes sold when the potatoes are sold as fresh vegetables may be input as data in the standalone physical store information processing device used by the person in charge of fresh vegetables, and the number of croquettes sold when the potatoes are processed and sold as croquettes may be input as data in the standalone physical store information processing device used by the person in charge of the meat section. In this case, the system of this embodiment may be capable of communicating data between a single physical store information processing device used by a person in charge of the meat section and a single physical store information processing device used by a person in charge of fresh vegetables within a single physical store. Furthermore, the timing of such data communication may be a predetermined, specified timing.

On the other hand, the timing of inputting these data may be multiple times in a day, and the one or more timings may not be predetermined. For example, after potatoes received in the morning are allocated to the fresh vegetable section and the meat section, the potatoes in the fresh vegetable section may be allocated to the meat section at noon, depending on the sales situation in each section (e.g., after a predetermined time has passed). In this case, the system of this embodiment may acquire the actual store product data from the single actual store information processing device used by the person in charge of the meat section in one actual store, and the timing of acquiring the actual store product data from the single actual store information processing device used by the person in charge of fresh vegetables, each of which may correspond to multiple inputs in a day. In this case, there is an advantage that even if the person in charge on-site inputs data and forgets to upload the data to the system of this embodiment, the system of this embodiment can acquire the data.

In this case, the advantage of a standalone brick-and-mortar store information processing device is that if it is a mobile terminal, staff at each site can easily input data.

In addition, when the system of this embodiment acquires physical store product data from one or more standalone physical store information processing devices, the system may acquire and store the physical store product data in association with data indicating the physical store for the standalone physical store information processing device from which the data was acquired.

<Step 2>
The system of this embodiment may apply common rules for the physical store to generate and store common product data.

The common rule may be a rule for changing actual store product data into common product data. For example, when a product name is present in a specific location in a specific file format as the actual store product data, the common rule may include a rule for storing the product name in association with the location of the product name in the common product data. For example, when the product name of the actual store product data is stored in column A of a file in Excel file format, the common rule may include a rule for storing the product name in association with column D of the file in Excel file format. In addition, when the actual store product data is composed of multiple file formats, the common rule may include a rule for storing specific data in the multiple file formats in association with a specific location in one file as the common product data. In addition, the common rule may include a rule for associating one item of the actual store product data with multiple items of the common product data. In addition, the common rule may include a rule for associating multiple items of the actual store product data with one item of the common product data. In addition, the above-mentioned association rule may include a process for processing the common product data to match the format of the common product data.

The common rules may be created in advance by a programmer, and may be determined by an administrator of the system of this embodiment through discussions or contracts with real stores and/or managers of the real stores. Previously, products were managed in a unique way by each real store or the company that operated the real store, and the product data formats were different for each store, which was a major obstacle when introducing sales in virtual stores. In particular, when there are tens of thousands of products, there are major obstacles to standardizing the product data systems, making it a major challenge to handle products from real stores in virtual stores. The above common rules are effective as a means of solving such practical problems.

The shared product data may be, for example, as shown in FIG. 3. For example, the shared product data may be data with a data structure including items such as data indicating a company (e.g., a company ID), data indicating a physical store operated or affiliated with the company (e.g., a physical store ID), data indicating a product category (e.g., a product category ID), product name, product price, product stock quantity, and/or future stock quantity. Note that the future stock quantity may be a pair of a scheduled arrival date and a corresponding scheduled arrival quantity. For example, FIG. 4 is an example of data indicating future stock quantities.

The common product data may include all corresponding data for each item (such as the above-mentioned product name and inventory quantity), or may be missing some data. In particular, the physical store product data acquired by the system of this embodiment may differ between multiple physical stores operated by a single company. Furthermore, the physical store product data acquired by the system of this embodiment may differ from company to company. The common product data is commonized so that the system of this embodiment can commonly handle such product data that differs between companies and physical stores. Therefore, as mentioned above, the common product data may not include all data corresponding to each item.

<Step 3>
The system of this embodiment may generate data for products from a physical store when they are sold in a virtual store.

For example, the system of this embodiment may first calculate the inventory quantity of a product in a physical store.

The common product data may not be usable as is for various reasons. For example, the enterprise management product system, the multiple real store information processing device, and/or the single real store information processing device may not originally contain the stock number of a specific product, or even if the stock number is included, the incorrect number may be included. In such a case, the stock number is set to 0 and the product cannot be sold in the virtual store. There is no point in developing a new sales channel via the Internet, and there may be a problem of reducing sales opportunities and decreasing sales revenue via the Internet. Furthermore, from the consumer's point of view, seeing the stock of a product with an unspecified weight on the Internet may give the wrong impression that such a product with an unspecified weight does not exist in the real store. Furthermore, if an incorrect number is included, selling such a product in the virtual store may cause confusion. Therefore, the inventor of the present invention devised the following processing.

First, the system of this embodiment may determine the validity of the inventory of each product in the shared product data. Here, the validity of the inventory may be determined, for example, using past inventory numbers. For example, for a target product, the validity of the inventory number in the shared product data may be determined using past inventory numbers such as the average inventory number for a predetermined number of consecutive days in the past, such as the most recent three days, or the inventory number on the same day of the previous week and/or the week before that. More specifically, for example, if the inventory number is within a range (e.g., 25 to 35) of a predetermined threshold (e.g., 5 units) of the average inventory number (e.g., 30 units) for a predetermined number of consecutive days in the past (e.g., 3 days), it may be determined to be valid, and if the inventory number is not within such range, it may be determined to be invalid. In this way, for food products that do not fluctuate in stock from week to week, there is an advantage in that the most recent value can be used to make a highly accurate determination using the trend of the most recent inventory number. Also, for example, if the stock quantity is within a range (e.g., 33 to 47 units) of a predetermined threshold (e.g., 7 units) of the average stock quantity (e.g., 40 units) on the same consecutive days of the week, such as the previous week, the week before, and/or the week before last, it may be determined to be valid, and if the stock quantity is not within this range, it may be determined to be invalid. In this way, in the case of products whose arrival varies from week to week (e.g., products that are scheduled to arrive on Mondays and Thursdays), there is an advantage in that the stock quantity can be determined with high accuracy while minimizing errors due to such fluctuations in the day of the week.

The system of this embodiment may also calculate the number of units available for sale of a product group when products are sold in a specified combination of product groups. For example, consider calculating the number of units available for sale of a product group called a "sock set," which is a combination of socks of multiple colors. Here, assume that a sock set is composed of one black sock, two white socks, and three gray socks. Also assume that the stock quantities of each color of socks are five black socks, four white socks, and ten gray socks. In this case, the number of available items (black socks, white socks, gray socks) constituting a product group that is a "socks set" consisting of 5 black socks, 4 white socks, and 10 gray socks (5 black socks, 4 white socks, 10 gray socks) can be divided by a predetermined number of the corresponding items constituting the product group (1 for black socks, 2 for white socks, 3 for gray socks), and the smallest natural number among the divided values corresponding to the items constituting the product group (5÷1=5 for black socks, 4÷2=2 for white socks, 10÷3=3 for gray socks) can be calculated (2). By using such a method, even if the available number of each item constituting a product group is included in the shared product data and the inventory number of the product group is not included in the shared product data, the available number of the product group can be calculated, which has the advantage of improving sales opportunities in the virtual store.

The system of this embodiment may also have a function of calculating the number of stock units per group of a predetermined number based on the number of stock units in the case of bulk sales (individual sales), or calculating the number of stock units in the case of bulk sales based on the number of stock units in the case of bulk sales. For example, beer may be sold in packs of six cans (one group unit). In a physical store, the number of stock units in individual sales may be known but the number of stock units in groups may be unknown, or conversely, the number of stock units in groups may be known but the number of stock units in individual sales may be unknown. In particular, since beer can be packed in one cardboard box (one group unit) of 24 cans (one cardboard box is six packs), it may be preferable to calculate the relationship between group units and bulk sales.

Therefore, in the system of this embodiment, for example, if a physical store has a known stock of 500 individual cans of beer, and they are to be sold in groups (for example, a pack of 6 cans, or a cardboard box of 24 cans), the system may calculate a divided value by a predetermined number for the group (for example, if there are 6 cans in a pack, the predetermined number is 6, and if there are 24 cans in a cardboard box, the predetermined number is 24) (for example, if there are 6 cans in a pack, then 500 ÷ 6 = 83 (remainder 2), and if there are 24 cans in a cardboard box, then 500 ÷ 24 = 20 (remainder 20)), and these divided values (83 for a pack of 6 cans, 20 for 24 cans in a cardboard box) may be set as the number of beer cans available for sale in each group. In addition, after calculating the number of group units of cardboard boxes (20) based on the number of individual bottles (500 bottles), the number of packs (20÷6=3 (remainder 2)) can be further calculated based on this 20, and the number of individual bottles (500) can be calculated as 20 cardboard boxes, 3 packs, and 3 individual bottles. On the other hand, conversely, if the number of group units in stock is known at the actual store, the calculation can be performed by the inverse multiplication as described above. For example, in the above example of beer, if the number of packs in stock is known, the number of individual beers in stock can be calculated as 10×6=60, and if the number of beers in 5 cardboard boxes is known, the number of individual beers sold can be calculated as 24×5=120. Also, if the number of packs and the number of cardboard boxes are known, the sum of the corresponding individual numbers can be calculated.

In other words, the system of this embodiment may calculate a natural number division value by dividing the inventory quantity of each individual product in a physical store by a predetermined number when the individual products are sold in groups of a predetermined number, and set the division value as the number of groups of the products that can be sold in the physical store.

The system of this embodiment may also calculate a first division value and a first remainder, which are natural numbers, by dividing the number of individual products in stock at a physical store by a first predetermined number when the individual products are sold in first group units of a first predetermined number, set the first division value as the number of products that can be sold in the first group unit at the physical store, calculate a second division value and a second remainder, which are natural numbers, by dividing the first remainder by a second predetermined number when the individual products are sold in second group units of a second predetermined number, set the second division value as the number of products that can be sold in the physical store in the second group unit, and set the second remainder as the number of products that can be sold individually at the physical store.

The system of this embodiment may also calculate the inventory quantity of individual products in a physical store by multiplying the inventory quantity of a first group unit of a first predetermined number in the physical store by the first predetermined number.

The system of this embodiment may calculate the number of individual products in stock at the physical store by multiplying the number of products in stock at the physical store in a first predetermined number of first groups by the first predetermined number, calculate a first multiplication value by multiplying the number of products in stock at the physical store in a second predetermined number of second groups by the second predetermined number, and calculate a second multiplication value by multiplying the number of products in stock at the physical store in a second predetermined number of second groups by the second predetermined number, and calculate the total number of the first multiplication value and the second multiplication value.

<Available number of items sold in virtual stores>
Unlike EC, when a virtual store handles products owned by a real store, they are delivered from the real store. Therefore, the types and numbers of products handled by the virtual store are limited to the types and numbers of products actually existing in the real store. In this regard, it is possible to set the upper limit of the number of products sold in the virtual store to the number of products held by the real store. However, if the operation in the real store is not performed in real time, such as returning the number of products sold in the virtual store to the stock in the real store and reserving them immediately after the products are sold in the virtual store, sales at the virtual store may be hindered, such as the products sold in the virtual store being sold in the real store. In particular, when a consumer has already picked up an item in the real store but has not yet purchased it, the sale at the sales register cannot be detected, and the same problem as described above may occur. Furthermore, depending on the management policy of the real store, it may be considered that informing consumers who visit the real store that a product is out of stock will have a negative impact on the trust of the real store. In consideration of such cases, the problem of how to set the number of products sold in the virtual store arises.

In the system of this embodiment, the number of items available for sale in the virtual store may be the same as or different from the number of items in stock in the physical store.

If the number of items available for sale in the virtual store is different from the number of items in stock at the physical store, the system of this embodiment may use a specified function to calculate the number of items available for sale in the virtual store based on the number of items in stock at the physical store. Here, the specified function may be a function that can be calculated by any computer. For example, the specified function may be composed of arithmetic operations.

For example, if the specified function is f(n) = n/2, the number of items available for sale in the virtual store will be half the number in stock in the physical store.

Furthermore, in the system of this embodiment, the predetermined function may depend on the products sold in the virtual store. For example, in the system of this embodiment, the predetermined function for calculating the stock quantity of milk as the number available for sale in the virtual store and the predetermined function for calculating the stock quantity of bread may be different. Therefore, the system of this embodiment may calculate the number of a first food item available for sale in the virtual store using a first predetermined function, and the number of a second product that is different from the first product available for sale in the virtual store using a second predetermined function that is different from the first predetermined function.

The system of this embodiment may also calculate the number of products that can be sold in a real store in a virtual store that corresponds to the real store, using the expected arrival date of the products in the real store.

In real stores, products are generally handed over to the customer on the spot. There are methods such as reservations, but these are exceptions. In contrast to sales in real stores, products sold in virtual stores are generally shipped to the consumer before they reach the user. In this case, the period during which the product reaches the consumer may be the same day or it may be several days (for example, within 2 or 3 days). In this case, when the product is shipped to the consumer several days later, even if the ordered product is not actually available in the real store on the day of the order, it is sufficient that it arrives at the real store by the day it is shipped to the consumer. Setting the number of products that can be sold in the virtual store in this way has the advantage of making it possible to receive more orders. Having noticed this, the inventors came up with the following method.

For example, suppose that the number of units of a certain product in stock at a physical store on the order date, D1, is X0. Furthermore, suppose that the number of units of such product scheduled to arrive on the following day, D2, is X1, and the number of units of such product scheduled to arrive on the day after that, D3, is X2. In such a case, the number of such products available for sale in a virtual store, on the assumption that the products will be shipped within three days including the order date, may be calculated by applying a specified function to X0 + X1 + X2.

In addition, in the system of this embodiment, when calculating the number of items that can be sold at the virtual store, the date used as the expected arrival date of future products may be the same as the scheduled delivery date or may be earlier than the scheduled delivery date.

In addition, in the above, we have described a case where the current inventory quantity held by the physical store is known, but as mentioned above, an estimated inventory quantity may be used instead of the known inventory quantity.

<Calculating the selling price of products in a virtual store>
The system of this embodiment uses discount data included in the actual store product data to
A selling price may be calculated. The selling price may be the amount sold to consumers. In the present application, the selling price may be the price before tax is applied or the price after tax is applied. The selling price may be the amount per unit of weight in the case of an unfixed weight, or the amount sold by a specific weight in a specific unfixed weight. For example, in the case of selling an unfixed weight of pork that costs 150 yen per 100 g in 300 g, the selling price per unit in the present application indicates 150 yen, which is the amount per unit per 100 g, and the selling price in the present application indicates 450 yen, which is the amount for 300 g of the specific unfixed weight.

In this embodiment, for a particular product, if the discount data is, for example, a 20% discount, the system may apply a 20% discount to the product price of 500 yen, calculating the price as 400 yen.

The selling price may be calculated using multiple discount data. For example, consider a case where the system of this embodiment applies a 10% discount to a specific product in the shared product data, but applies an additional 50 yen discount from three days before the expiration date.
In this case, the system of this embodiment may apply a 10% discount to the undiscounted price of the product from three days before the expiration date, and also apply a 50 yen discount to calculate the selling price.

Discounts may be given in response to social events. For example, emergency discounts may be given in connection with the victory of a sporting event supported by an affiliate of the sales company. Discounts may also be regular discounts (such as discounts for multiple products purchased together), seasonal discounts (such as discounts corresponding to annual schedules such as summer holidays and Christmas holidays), and strategic discounts in physical stores (such as discounts when there is a large amount of stock even though the best-before date or expiration date is approaching), and these discounts may be applied in combination to a single product. In such cases, the system of this embodiment may apply multiple discount data even if they are obtained from the same or different information processing devices at different times. When the system of this embodiment has such a configuration, it has the advantage of being able to appropriately reflect the above-mentioned circumstances in the selling price.

<Product name including selling price in virtual store>
In the case of products with variable weight, the product name may include the selling price per unit of the product. For example, 250 yen per 100g of beef from XX. In this case, unlike other products, the product name of a product with variable weight will not always be the same. This is because the selling price of the product is after discount, and the product name is determined only after one or more discount data are applied. In this regard, as mentioned above, discounts can change from moment to moment, and the product name can also change from moment to moment accordingly.

As mentioned above, the variable weights of fresh foods such as meat, fish, and vegetables can vary greatly depending on the day's stock situation, and it is a big burden for on-site staff to change not only the price but also the product name every time there is a change. With this in mind, the inventor of the present application has invented the following process.

The system of this embodiment acquires discount data for products with a fixed weight and the amount of the products with a fixed weight before applying the discount data,
applying the discount data to the amount before the discount data is applied to generate a selling price per unit after the discount data is applied;
Processing may be performed in which the selling price per unit after the discount data is applied is made part of the name of the product of the variable weight.

In this case, the on-site staff only needs to input the selling price per unit of the unfixed weight into a standalone brick-and-mortar store information processing device, which has the advantage of eliminating the need to input the product name separately.

In addition, in the present application, the update of the common data may be implemented in such a way that data within the data structure of the common data is updated, or in such a way that data with a data structure different from the data structure of the common data is generated.

<Step 4>
The system of this embodiment may communicate the generated data to an information processing device associated with a user associated with the physical store.

For example, an application (sometimes referred to as a "user app" in this application) for purchasing products in a virtual store may be downloaded and installed in advance on an information processing device related to a user. The user app may have a function for identifying the user by well-known authentication techniques such as an ID and password. In the user app, the user may input user data, and the user app may store such user data. The user data may include, for example, the user's name, the user's address, and/or the user's means of payment (such as a credit card or cash on delivery).

In the system of this embodiment, when a user app acquires a user's address, the system may acquire the user's address from the user app. The system of this embodiment plans to deliver products from a real store that corresponds to the user's address, and may determine products from a virtual store based on the user's address.

That is, the system of this embodiment may have data in advance that associates a physical store with a user's address area. For example, the system of this embodiment may have data (sometimes referred to as "address-physical store correspondence data" in the present application) that associates an address with a corresponding physical store, such as a user's address of 1-chome, 2-chome, and 3-chome in A city being associated with physical store X, and a user's address of 4-chome and 5-chome being associated with physical store Y. The address-physical store correspondence data may allow a corresponding physical store to be identified from an address. Note that the address-physical store correspondence data may be data that associates only one physical store with one address, or may be data that associates multiple physical stores with one address. Note that the information processing device related to a user associated with a physical store may be an information processing device used by a user who is associated with such a physical store by the address-physical store correspondence data.

The system of this embodiment may use the user's address and address-physical store correspondence data to identify the physical store corresponding to the user's address. Note that if multiple physical stores are identified corresponding to the user's address, the physical store selected by the user from among these multiple physical stores may be identified.

The system of this embodiment may communicate data on products at a physical store corresponding to the user's address to a user app used by the user, and the user app may display the product data (or processed data thereof).

Although the above describes an example of a user app installed on an information processing device used by a user, instead of such an embodiment, a user may use a browser. In this case, the user may use a user account using a well-known authentication technology such as an ID and password on the browser, and user data such as the user's address may be entered in association with such an account and stored on the browser. The system of this embodiment may use the user data on the browser, in particular the user's address, to transmit product data for a physical store corresponding to the user's address to an information processing device related to the user, as described above, and the information processing device may display the product data (or processed data) transmitted on the browser.

In addition, in the present application, the consumer display data may be generated in a manner that updates the data in the data structure of the common data, or the consumer display data may be generated as data with a data structure different from the data structure of the common data.

4. In various embodiments, the computer program according to the first aspect includes:
One or more information processing devices,
An acquisition means for acquiring product data relating to the brick-and-mortar store from an information processing device relating to the brick-and-mortar store;
a common rule application means for applying a common rule for the physical store to the product data to generate common product data;
A generating means for generating data of the product of the real store when sold in the virtual store by using the common product data;
Here, the information processing device related to the physical store may be one or more information processing devices, and may be an information processing device provided in the physical store, an information processing device that stores product data of products sold in the physical store, and/or an information processing device used by a person in charge of the physical store.

The computer program according to the second aspect is the same as in the first aspect above, in which "the generating means applies a predetermined function to the inventory quantity for a single product in the product data at the physical store to generate the sellable quantity of the single product when sold at the virtual store."

The computer program according to the third aspect is, in the first or second aspect, "determines the number of items available for sale in a virtual store using the total number of items scheduled to arrive within a predetermined number of days before the scheduled delivery date of the items and the number of items available for sale at the time of ordering the items." For example, as described above, suppose that the number of items in stock at a physical store on the order date, D1 (at the time of ordering) is X0, the number of items scheduled to arrive on the following day, D2, is X1, and the number of items scheduled to arrive on the day after that, D3, is X2. In such a case, if the scheduled delivery date is within three days including the order date (for example, D1 on the same day, D2 the next day, or D3 the day after), the total number of the products scheduled to arrive within a specified number of days (for example, if the specified number of days is three, then X1 + X2 is the total number of products scheduled to arrive from that day to the day after, or if the specified number is two days, then X1 is the total number of products scheduled to arrive from that day to the day after) and the number available for sale at the time of the order, X0, may be used to determine the number available for sale in the virtual store (for example, the total number may be added together and the number may be used as is to determine the number available for sale in the virtual store, or a specified function may be applied to the number to determine the number available for sale in the virtual store).

The computer program according to the fourth aspect is any one of the first to third aspects of the present invention.
The acquisition means acquires the number of a first food product based on a specific ingredient and the number of a second food product based on the specific ingredient available for sale from one or more information processing devices related to the brick-and-mortar store,
The one or more information processing devices,
The generating means generates the number of the first foodstuffs and the number of the second foodstuffs available for sale when sold in the virtual store by utilizing the number of the first foodstuffs available for sale and the number of the second foodstuffs available for sale when sold in the virtual store. For example, as described above, the generating means may obtain the number of a first foodstuff, a potato set comprising a plurality of specific ingredients called potatoes, available for sale in a real store, and the number of a second foodstuff, a croquette made from the specific ingredients called potatoes, available for sale in a real store, and may apply a predetermined function for the potato set and a predetermined function for the croquette to each number to determine the number of the potato sets available for sale in the virtual store and the number of the croquettes available for sale in the virtual store.

The computer program according to the fifth aspect is any one of the first to fourth aspects of the present invention.
The acquisition means includes:
Obtaining the number of the first food item available for sale in the first specific food item sales category from a first information processing device related to the first specific food item sales category in the physical store;
and obtain the number of the second food item available for sale in the second specific food sales category from a second information processing device related to a second specific food sales category in the physical store that is different from the first specific food sales category. For example, in the above-mentioned example of potatoes, the number of potato sets available for sale may be obtained from an information processing device provided in the first specific food sales category, the fresh food section where potatoes are sold, or a mobile terminal used by a person in charge of the fresh food section, and the number of croquettes available for sale may be obtained from an information processing device provided in the second specific food sales category, the meat section where croquettes are sold, or a mobile terminal used by a person in charge of the meat section.

The computer program according to the sixth aspect is any one of the first to fifth aspects,
The one or more information processing devices,
The purpose of the common product data is to operate the common product data as a means for calculating the selling price of a certain product by utilizing multiple discount data of the certain product in the common product data. For example, as described above, consider a case where a discount on a certain product is normally 10% off, but an additional 50 yen discount is applied from three days before the expiration date. In this case, from three days before the expiration date, a 10% discount and a 50 yen discount may be applied to the undiscounted price of the product to calculate the selling price. Note that up to four days before the expiration date, only a 10% discount may be applied to the undiscounted price of the product to calculate the selling price.

The computer program according to the seventh aspect is any one of the first to sixth aspects described above, which "uses the selling price of the variable weight product in the shared product data to determine the product name of the variable weight product."

The computer program according to the eighth aspect is any one of the first to seventh aspects,
The number of available products in a product group consisting of a plurality of predetermined products is
"The number of each of the constituent products that make up the product group that can be sold is divided by a predetermined number of the corresponding constituent products that make up the product group to calculate a division value, and the smallest natural number among such division values that corresponds to each of the constituent products that make up the product group is calculated."

The computer program according to the ninth aspect is any one of the first to eighth aspects,
The method involves dividing the inventory of individual products in a physical store by a specified number that would be required if the individual products were sold in groups of a specified number to calculate a natural number, and then setting the natural number as the number that can be sold in the physical store per group.

The system according to the tenth aspect includes:
An acquisition unit that acquires product data related to the brick-and-mortar store from an information processing device related to the brick-and-mortar store;
a common rule application unit that applies a common rule for the physical store to the product data to generate common product data;
and a generation unit that uses the common product data to generate data on the product of the physical store when it is sold in the virtual store.

The system according to the eleventh aspect is the system according to the tenth aspect, "wherein the system includes a memory."

The method according to the twelfth aspect includes:
One or more information processing devices,
An acquisition step of acquiring product data related to the brick-and-mortar store from an information processing device related to the brick-and-mortar store;
A common rule application step of applying a common rule for the physical store to the product data to generate common product data;
a generating step of generating data of the product of the physical store when sold in a virtual store by using the common product data;
"How to do it."

The method according to the thirteenth aspect is the method according to the twelfth aspect above, in which "the information processing device includes a memory."

In the present application, the data of the actual store product when it is sold in a virtual store may be data of the product sold in the virtual store. For example, as described above, since the products sold in the virtual store are products stocked in the actual store, the number of products available for sale in the virtual store may be determined based on the number of products stocked in the actual store. Furthermore, the number of products available for sale in the virtual store may be the number of products in stock that can be sold in the virtual store. For example, it may be the number displayed to consumers as the number of products in stock that can be sold in the virtual store (assuming a specified shipping period), or the number of products in stock that is planned to be sold in the virtual store.

4. Information Processing Device The mobile terminal, server, or cloud used in the above-mentioned system may be composed of one or more information processing devices. The information processing device 10 may have a bus 11, a calculation device 12, a storage device 13, an input device 14, a display device 15, and a communication IF 16, as shown in FIG. 7. The information processing device 10 may be directly or indirectly connected to another information processing device via a network 19. The information processing device 10 may be connected to a database (not shown). The database may be included in the information processing device 10.

The bus 11 may have the function of transmitting information between the calculation device 12, the storage device 13, the input device 14, the display device 15, and the communication IF 16.

An example of the computing device 12 is a processor. This may be a CPU or an MPU. It may also have a graphics processing unit, a digital signal processor, etc. In short, the computing device 12 may be any device that can execute program instructions.

The storage device 13 is a device that records information. This may be either an external memory or an internal memory, and may be either a main storage device or an auxiliary storage device. It may also be a magnetic disk (hard disk), an optical disk, a magnetic tape, a semiconductor memory, etc. It may also have a storage device via a network, or a storage device on the cloud via a network.

Note that in the schematic diagram of this figure, registers, L1 cache, L2 cache, and the like, which store information close to the arithmetic unit, may be included within the arithmetic unit 12, but in computer architecture design, the storage device 13 may include these as devices that record information. In short, it is sufficient that the arithmetic unit 12, storage device 13, and bus 11 are configured to cooperate to execute information processing.

The storage device 13 can be equipped with a program for executing a service related to the present invention. It can also appropriately record data required for executing a service related to the present invention.

In addition, the above describes a case where the arithmetic unit 12 is executed based on a program stored in the memory device 13, but as one form of combination of the above bus 11, arithmetic unit 12 and memory device 13, the information processing related to the present system may be realized by a programmable logic device that can change the hardware circuitry itself, or a dedicated circuit in which the information processing to be executed is predetermined.

The input device 14 is used to input information, but may have other functions. Examples of the input device 14 include a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, or a pointing device such as a pen-type pointing device.

The display device 15 may be, for example, a display, but may also have other functions. The display device 15 may also be a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, an organic EL display, or the like. In short, it may be any device that can display information. It may also be equipped with an input device 14, such as a touch panel, in part.

The network 19 transmits information together with the communication IF 16. In other words, it has a function that allows information from the information processing device 10 to be transmitted to another information terminal 18 via the network. The communication IF 16 may be of any connection type, such as USB, IEEE 1394, Ethernet (registered trademark), PCI, SCSI, etc. The network 19 may be either wired or wireless, and may use optical fiber, coaxial cable, Ethernet cable, etc.

In this figure, one information processing device 10 has been described, but the information processing device 10 may be composed of multiple information processing devices. The multiple information processing devices may be connected internally or externally. Furthermore, when the information processing device 10 is composed of multiple information processing devices, the owners of the multiple information processing devices may be different. Furthermore, the person who operates the information processing device 10 as a system related to the present invention may be different from the owner of the information processing device 10. Furthermore, the above server may be a physical entity or a virtual entity. For example, the information processing device 10 may be virtually realized using cloud computing.

In addition, in the description of each embodiment in this application document, what is described as server processing may be processed by one or more servers, a cloud, or one or more servers and a cloud.

The invention examples described in the examples of this application document are not limited to those described in this application document, and needless to say, can be applied to various examples within the scope of the technical concept.

The processes and procedures described in this application document may be realizable not only by those explicitly described in the embodiments, but also by software, hardware, or a combination of these. The processes and procedures described in this application document may be implemented as computer programs and executed by various computers. For example, the processes and procedures that realize the systems of each of the above-mentioned embodiments may be implemented as computer programs and executed by various computers. These computer programs may be stored in a storage medium. These programs may be stored in a non-transient or temporary storage medium.

Claims (21)

An acquisition means for acquiring product data relating to the physical store from one or more information processing devices related to the physical store, and a common rule application means for applying a common rule for the physical store to the product data to generate common product data;
A generating means for generating data of the product of the physical store when sold in the virtual store by using the common product data;
A communication means for transmitting the generated data to an information processing device related to a user associated with the brick-and-mortar store;
a means for determining a product to be purchased by the user, acquiring the address of the user, and shipping the product from the physical store;
The acquisition means acquires the number of a first food product based on a specific ingredient and the number of a second food product based on the specific ingredient available for sale from one or more information processing devices related to a physical store, and the generation means is a computer program for using the number of the first food product available for sale and the number of the second food product available for sale to generate the number of the first food product and the number of the second food product available for sale when sold in the virtual store using the number of the first food product and the number of the second food product available for sale . the generating means generates a sellable quantity of the one product when sold in the virtual store by applying a predetermined function to an inventory quantity of the one product in the product data in the physical store;
2. The computer program product of claim 1. determining the number of items available for sale in the virtual store based on the total number of items to be delivered within a predetermined number of days prior to the scheduled delivery date of the items and the number of items available for sale at the time of ordering the items;
2. The computer program product of claim 1 . The acquisition means includes:
Obtaining the number of the first food item available for sale in the first specific food item sales category from a first information processing device related to the first specific food item sales category in the physical store;
Obtaining the number of the second food items available for sale in a second specific food sales category in the physical store from a second information processing device related to the second specific food sales category different from the first specific food sales category;
4. A computer program according to claim 3. The one or more information processing devices,
A means for calculating a selling price of a certain product by using a plurality of discount data of the certain product in the common product data;
2. A computer program product as claimed in claim 1 for operating as: determining a product name of the product having an unfixed weight by using a selling price of the product having an unfixed weight in the common product data;
2. The computer program product of claim 1 . The number of available products in a product group consisting of a plurality of predetermined products is
Calculating a quotient by dividing the number of each of the constituent products constituting the product group that can be sold by a predetermined number of the corresponding constituent products constituting the product group, and calculating the smallest natural number among such quotients that correspond to each of the constituent products constituting the product group;
2. The computer program product of claim 1 . calculating a divisor value of a natural number by dividing the number of individual products in stock at the physical store by a predetermined number when the individual products are sold in groups of a predetermined number, and setting the divisor value of the natural number as the number of products that can be sold in the physical store in groups;
2. The computer program product of claim 1 . One or more information processing devices,
An acquisition step of acquiring product data related to the brick-and-mortar store from an information processing device related to the brick-and-mortar store;
A common rule application step of applying a common rule for the physical store to the product data to generate common product data;
A generation step of generating data of the product of the physical store when sold in the virtual store by using the common product data;
A transmission step of transmitting the generated data to an information processing device related to a user associated with the brick-and-mortar store; and
A shipping step is executed in which the user decides on a product to be purchased, the address of the user is acquired, and the product is shipped from the physical store;
The method includes: the acquisition step acquiring the available number of a first food product based on a specific ingredient and the available number of a second food product based on the specific ingredient from one or more information processing devices associated with a physical store; and the generation step generating the available number of the first food product and the available number of the second food product when sold in the virtual store using the available number of the first food product and the available number of the second food product.
How to do it. The information processing device includes a memory.
The method of claim 9 . An acquisition means for acquiring product data relating to the physical store from one or more information processing devices related to the physical store, and a common rule application means for applying a common rule for the physical store to the product data to generate common product data;
A generating means for generating data of the product of the physical store when sold in the virtual store by using the common product data;
A communication means for transmitting the generated data to an information processing device related to a user associated with the brick-and-mortar store;
A means for determining a product to be purchased by the user, acquiring the address of the user, and shipping the product from the physical store;
A computer program for operating as a determination means for determining the product name of an item with an unfixed weight by utilizing the selling price of the item with an unfixed weight in the common product data . the generating means generates a sellable quantity of the one product when sold in the virtual store by applying a predetermined function to an inventory quantity for the one product in the product data in the physical store;
12. A computer program according to claim 11 . determining the number of items available for sale in the virtual store based on the total number of items to be received within a predetermined number of days prior to the scheduled delivery date of the items and the number of items available for sale at the time of ordering the items;
12. A computer program according to claim 11 . The computer program of claim 11, wherein the acquisition means acquires the number of a first food product based on a specific ingredient and the number of a second food product based on the specific ingredient available for sale from one or more information processing devices associated with a physical store, and the generation means uses the number of the first food product available for sale and the number of the second food product available for sale to generate the number of the first food product and the number of the second food product available for sale when sold in the virtual store .
Computer program. The acquisition means includes:
Obtaining the number of the first food item available for sale in the first specific food item sales category from a first information processing device related to the first specific food item sales category in the physical store;
Obtaining the number of the second food items available for sale in a second specific food sales category in the physical store from a second information processing device related to the second specific food sales category different from the first specific food sales category;
15. A computer program according to claim 14 . The one or more information processing devices,
A means for calculating a selling price of a certain product by using a plurality of discount data of the certain product in the common product data;
2. A computer program product as claimed in claim 1 for operating as: determining a product name of the product having an unfixed weight by using a selling price of the product having an unfixed weight in the common product data;
16. A computer program product as claimed in claim 15 . The number of available products in a product group consisting of a plurality of predetermined products is
Calculating a quotient by dividing the number of each of the constituent products constituting the product group that can be sold by a predetermined number of the corresponding constituent products constituting the product group, and calculating the smallest natural number among such quotients that correspond to each of the constituent products constituting the product group;
2. The computer program product of claim 1 . calculating a divisor value of a natural number by dividing the number of individual products in stock at the physical store by a predetermined number when the individual products are sold in groups of a predetermined number, and setting the divisor value of the natural number as the number of products that can be sold in the physical store in groups;
2. The computer program product of claim 1 . One or more information processing devices,
An acquisition step of acquiring product data related to the brick-and-mortar store from an information processing device related to the brick-and-mortar store;
A common rule application step of applying a common rule for the physical store to the product data to generate common product data;
A generation step of generating data of the product of the physical store when sold in the virtual store by using the common product data;
A transmission step of transmitting the generated data to an information processing device related to a user associated with the brick-and-mortar store; and
The method includes a shipping step of determining the product to be purchased by the user, obtaining the user's address, and shipping the product from the physical store, and a product name of the product with an unfixed weight is determined using the selling price of the product with an unfixed weight in the common product data.
How to do it. The information processing device includes a memory.
21. The method of claim 20 .

Images