TWI876319B - Information providing method of a service server, service server configured to provide information and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

An information providing method of a service server is disclosed, in which the information providing method includes obtaining, from a user terminal, information about a goal and a budget associated with marketing of a store, identifying information about the store, identifying, based on the information about the store, a marketing solution for achieving the goal with the budget, and providing the marketing solution to the user terminal.

Description

Information providing method of service server, service server configured to provide information, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing marketing information.

As Internet usage becomes more prevalent, the market for e-commerce and food delivery intermediary services is expanding. In particular, with the spread of infectious diseases, the proportion of people visiting offline restaurants for meals is declining, and the proportion of people using smartphones to order food for delivery through applications related to food delivery intermediary services is rapidly increasing.

As the number of stores selling food via delivery or takeout services increases, there is a need to create a marketing strategy to differentiate the store from competitors. Marketing may refer to the process of conceptualizing ideas or goods and services, determining prices, and planning and executing distribution and promotions to create transactions that meet the store's goals. To achieve maximum sales results using a limited budget, stores may create a marketing plan suitable for each store, which may be implemented with the help of a professional marketing company. For example, Korean Patent Publication No. 2017-0108483 discloses a method and apparatus for optimizing the allocation of a store's marketing budget.

At the same time, a method is needed to provide marketing information capable of achieving a maximum goal with a minimum budget based on the sales characteristics and historical information of a store accessible from a delivery intermediary service at the request of the store.

A profile provides for identifying a marketing solution and providing it to a store based on marketing-related goals and budgets obtained from the store and information about the store.

According to one aspect, a method for providing information of a service server is provided, the method comprising: obtaining information about a goal and a budget associated with marketing of a store from a user terminal; identifying information about the store; based on the information about the store, identifying a marketing solution for achieving the goal using the budget; and providing the marketing solution to the user terminal.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the marketing solution includes one or more marketing channels and an allocation of the budget for each of the one or more marketing channels.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the one or more marketing channels include at least one of a price discount on at least some menu items at the store, an offer of a coupon redeemable at the store, an advertisement for the store, and an offer of a subscription offer at the store.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the advertisement comprises a banner advertisement on an application that provides an e-commerce service related to the service.

According to an exemplary embodiment, providing the marketing solution further includes proposing a downward adjustment of one of the goals when it is determined that the goal cannot be achieved using the budget.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the goal includes a number of orders for the store to be increased within a time frame.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the time frame is determined based on the budget and marketing history of the store.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the goal includes an average amount per order for the store.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the information about the store includes information about at least one of the sales characteristics of the store, the order history of the store, and the marketing history of the store.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the information about the store further includes information about a promotion of another store located within a specific distance from the store.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the specific distance is determined based on a cumulative number of orders from the store.

According to another aspect, a service server configured to provide information is also provided, which includes a transceiver configured to send information to another device and receive information from another device, and a processor configured to: control the transceiver; obtain information about a goal and a budget associated with marketing of a store from a user terminal; identify information about the store; based on the information about the store, identify a marketing solution for achieving the goal using the budget; and provide the marketing solution to the user terminal.

According to yet another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium is also provided, which includes a medium configured to store computer-readable instructions, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: obtain information about a goal and a budget associated with marketing of a store from a user terminal; identify information about the store; based on the information about the store, identify a marketing solution for achieving the goal using the budget; and provide the marketing solution to the user terminal.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the service server identifies an optimal marketing solution based on information about marketing-related goals and budgets obtained from the user terminal and information about the store and provides it to the user terminal, thereby providing the store with marketing information including a budget allocation plan, which is related to how much budget the store will invest in which of the various marketing channels to achieve the goal, in the hope that the user's enthusiasm for the store's marketing and satisfaction with the use of the service will increase.

In addition, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the service server identifies and provides a marketing solution optimized for the store by considering information about the store's sales characteristics, the store's order history, the store's marketing history, and promotions of other stores located within a specific distance from the store, thereby helping to increase user satisfaction with the service and increase the overall profit of the service.

110: User terminal

120: Service server

205: Operation

210: Operation

215: Operation

220: Operation

610: User terminal

612: Transceiver

614: Controller

616: Input section

618: Display part

620: Service server

622: Transceiver

624: Controller

626: Storage section

S510: Operation

S520: Operation

S530: Operation

S540: Operation

FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration of an information providing system for providing marketing information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing information exchange and corresponding operations of each node involved in a method for providing marketing information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an exemplary diagram of input from a store and marketing output from a service server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an exemplary diagram of a method for predicting a promotion type and a budget based on information about a store according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG5 is a flow chart showing the process of a method for providing marketing information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing some components of a system for providing marketing information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In the following, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Detailed descriptions of technical specifications that are well known in the art and not directly related to the present invention may be omitted. This is intended to make the subject matter of the present invention clearer and not to obscure the subject matter of the present invention by omitting unnecessary explanations.

For the same reason, some elements are exaggerated, omitted or simplified in the drawings, and in practice, the elements may have sizes and/or shapes different from those shown in the drawings. Throughout the drawings, the same or equivalent parts are indicated by the same element symbols.

The advantages and features of the present invention and the methods of implementing the same can be more easily understood by referring to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings of exemplary embodiments. However, the present invention can be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments described herein. In fact, these exemplary embodiments are provided so that the present invention will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the concept of the present invention to those skilled in the art, and the present invention will be defined only by the scope of the accompanying invention application. Throughout the specification, the same component symbols refer to the same components.

It will be understood that each block of the flowchart and/or block diagram and the combination of blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagram can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce components for implementing the functions/actions specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable memory, which may direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable memory produce a product with an instruction component embedded to implement the functions/actions specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram. Computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device to cause a series of operation steps to be executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer implementation program, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions/actions specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram.

Furthermore, each block diagram may depict a module, a segment or a portion of a program code that includes at least one or more executable instructions for performing (some) specific logical functions. Furthermore, it should be noted that the functions of the blocks may be executed in a different order in some modifications. For example, two consecutive blocks may be executed substantially simultaneously, or may be executed in reverse order according to their functions.

As used herein, the term "component" refers to software or a hardware component (such as an FPGA or ASIC), where the "component" performs a role. However, "components" are not limited to software or hardware. "Components" can be configured to reside on an addressable storage medium or can be configured to execute one or more processors. Therefore, in one example, "components" include components (such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components), processes, functions, properties, procedures, subroutines, snippets of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality provided in the components and "~parts" may be combined into a smaller number of components and "~parts" or further separated into additional components and "~parts". In addition, the components and "~parts" may be implemented to play one or more CPUs within a device or secure multimedia card.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration of an information providing system for providing marketing information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 , an information providing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a user terminal 110 and a service server 120. In the exemplary embodiment, the service server 120 can process information related to the operation of the service and provide it to the user.

Using the user terminal 110, an e-commerce user can access the service server 120. The user terminal 110 may have installed an e-commerce or delivery intermediary application, can use the application to access the service server 120, and can use the e-commerce or delivery intermediary service based on information exchange with the service server 120. The user terminal 110 can be a mobile device (such as a smart phone and a tablet PC), or a stationary device (such as a desktop PC), and any device that can install and run an e-commerce or delivery intermediary application can be used as the user terminal 110 without limitation. In an exemplary embodiment, the user of the user terminal 110 may include a user who orders food through a food delivery intermediary service and receives food delivery. In an exemplary embodiment, the user of the user terminal 110 may include an owner of a store that sells and delivers food through a food delivery intermediary service.

The service server 120 may include a server operated by a business providing e-commerce or delivery intermediary services. The service server 120 communicates with the user terminal 110 and provides service-related information to the user terminal 110. The service server 120 may provide a list of items as a search result from a database, or may provide details of each item stored in the database.

In an exemplary embodiment, the service server 120 may be associated with a food delivery intermediary service, and the food delivery intermediary service may not only provide a service of intermediating between a store that sells food and a delivery person, but may also provide information related to the store's marketing in response to a request from the store. For example, an owner of a store (e.g., a restaurant) may set a business goal (such as the number of orders, operating income, sales, or users) that the store hopes to achieve within a specific time frame, and may estimate a budget to invest in order to achieve the goal. The food delivery intermediary service associated with the service server 120 may include the following services: obtaining information about goals and budgets from a store owner; identifying a marketing strategy or solution to achieve the goals with the budget; and providing the marketing strategy or solution to the store owner. The marketing strategy or solution may include one or more marketing channels for achieving the store's sales goals, and an allocation solution for the budget for each of the one or more marketing channels. The service server 120 can retrieve data associated with the store (such as the store's sales history, promotion history, and subscription history stored in the database) and data associated with marketing (such as one or more marketing channels, the cost of each marketing channel, and the results achieved by using each marketing channel), predict the performance of the store's marketing solution, and provide the store with a marketing solution that achieves the goal with a given budget. In the following, a method for providing a marketing solution to a user from a service server is described in detail with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing information exchange and corresponding operations of each node involved in a method for providing marketing information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an information exchange and an operation method between a user terminal and a service server at each node are disclosed.

In operation 205, the user terminal may transmit information about a goal and a budget associated with the marketing of a store to the service server. The user terminal may obtain information about a goal and a budget associated with the marketing of a store from a user, and the user may include a store owner.

In an exemplary embodiment, a goal associated with marketing may include a target number associated with the store's sales that the store wants to achieve through marketing. For example, the goal associated with marketing may include various goals, such as increasing the number of orders for the store, increasing the average amount per order, increasing the number of customers visiting the store, increasing the reorder rate, increasing the number of new users, reducing the cancellation rate, and increasing review ratings. The budget associated with marketing may include a budget set as an amount that the user is willing to spend to achieve the goal associated with marketing.

In an exemplary embodiment, a user may set a marketing time frame in which the user wishes to achieve a goal and a marketing-related goal. For example, the user may enter the number of orders for a store that the user wishes to increase within a time frame (e.g., increase 100 orders within three months) as a marketing-related goal provided to the service server.

In an exemplary embodiment, the time frame may be determined based on a budget. The service server may preset a configurable marketing time frame based on the budget entered by the user, and may restrict the user from setting a time frame beyond the preset time frame. If the marketing time frame is set too long, the range of marketing channels available under a given budget may be overly limited, and the marketing effectiveness experienced by the user may be relatively reduced due to the increase in marketing numbers relative to the store's goals, which may lead to user dissatisfaction.

In an exemplary embodiment, the time frame may be determined based on the store's marketing history. If the store has a past experience of receiving a previous marketing solution from the service server, the service server may offer a user associated with the store an offer to receive a marketing solution with a longer time frame. This may encourage the user to continue to use the service server's marketing solution to provide services.

In this way, the service server determines a marketing time frame corresponding to a goal associated with marketing based on at least one of the store's budget and marketing history, so that the user can set an appropriate time frame for achieving the goal and the user experience can be improved.

In an exemplary embodiment, the service server may provide a page associated with a marketing solution to the user terminal. For example, if a user subscribes to a service to use a food delivery intermediary service, the service server may provide the service user with a page associated with the marketing solution. This may be provided during the user's service subscription period. The page associated with the marketing solution may include a description of the service providing a marketing solution, and may contain an area for the user to enter information about a goal and a budget for achieving the marketing solution. In an exemplary embodiment, the area for entering a goal may contain a drop-down list for selecting one of a plurality of candidate goals set by the service server, and an area for entering a number corresponding to the selected goal. In an exemplary embodiment, the user may directly type a goal that the user wishes to enter in addition to the goals included in the drop-down list. In an exemplary embodiment, the user may further set a time frame in which the user wishes to achieve the goal. In an exemplary embodiment, the service server may view the marketing history of multiple other users in a database and recommend to the user at least one of the goals, numbers, and time frames selected by the multiple other users.

In an exemplary embodiment, in response to a user inputting a goal on a page associated with a marketing solution, a service server may provide marketing information for the user's store associated with the goal. For example, if the user selects the number of orders as a goal associated with marketing, the service server may provide information about the average number of orders for the store associated with the user over a specific period of time in the past. As another example, if the user selects the number of new users added as a goal associated with marketing, the service server may provide information about the current number of users for the store associated with the user. In this way, depending on the type of goal the user has selected, the service server may display current information about the user's store corresponding to the selected goal to help the user understand the current status of the store and facilitate future goal adjustments.

In operation 210, the service server may identify information about the store. The information about the store is information that the service server uses to provide a marketing solution based on the information about the target and budget obtained in operation 205, and may include various information such as the store's sales characteristics, the store's order history, the store's marketing history, and promotions of other stores located within a certain distance from the store. If the service server provides a food delivery intermediary service, the service server may store data (such as the store's food sales characteristics, order history, marketing history, and other store marketing information) in a database and may be able to access this data more easily, and the service server may provide a more appropriate marketing solution to the store based on this data.

In an exemplary embodiment, the information about a store may include information about the store's sales characteristics. The store's sales characteristics may include various characteristics related to the store's sales or operations that will affect the store's marketing strategy, such as the store's location, menu, business hours, availability of in-store dining, in-store customer capacity, availability of takeout orders, average menu prices, number of users, and business hours. For example, if the store is a store that primarily completes takeout or delivery orders rather than dine-in orders, then offering a coupon for a delivery discount may be a more effective marketing tool than offering a coupon for a dine-in discount. As another example, if the store is only open from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., marketing using coupons that can be redeemed during lunch or early morning hours may not be effective at all. As another example, if the store is a restaurant specializing in beef dishes, it may be more effective to display a banner advertisement of the store only when a user searches for beef-related items on an application of an e-commerce service associated with a food delivery intermediary service in order to reduce advertising costs or simplify its appearance. However, these are merely exemplary, and various marketing strategies may be formulated taking into account the sales characteristics of the store. In this way, the service server can provide users with effective marketing solutions based on information about the sales characteristics of the store.

In an exemplary embodiment, the information about the store may include information about the store's order history. For example, the information about the order history may include information about the number of orders for the store in a recent period (e.g., 28 days, 14 days, 7 days), the number of orders by time of day (lunch, dinner) in a recent period, information about the average amount per order in a recent period, etc. Based on the information about the store's order history, the service server may provide the store with an appropriate marketing solution. For example, if it is determined that the store has a large number of recent orders, the store may use a marketing channel to improve the store's reorder rate (e.g., by providing a reorder discount) instead of promoting to new customers. As another example, if a store has a small number of recent orders, a marketing channel may be utilized to promote to new customers by providing a discount coupon for their first order. However, these are merely exemplary, and various marketing strategies may be formulated based on the store's order history. Thus, the service server may provide an effective marketing solution to the user based on information about the store's order history. In an exemplary embodiment, the period (e.g., 28 days, 14 days, 7 days) within which the service server collects the store's recent order history may vary depending on the store's sales characteristics.

In an exemplary embodiment, the information about a store may include information about the store's marketing history. For example, the service server may identify a marketing solution to provide to the user based on information about the number of discount events the store has had in a recent period, the amount of discounts in a recent period, the length of promotions in a recent period, etc.

In an exemplary embodiment, the information about a store may include information about promotions of other stores located within a certain distance from the store. For example, the service server may determine a budget allocation for one or more marketing channels of the store based on the number and type of other competing stores located near the store. As another example, the service server may plan an appropriate promotion for the store based on information about promotions of other competing stores located near the store. This may be referred to as promotion density. If other competing stores nearby are all running a promotion of 3,000 won discount on delivery fees, the service server may suggest that the user's store allocate a marketing budget to discount 4,000 won on delivery fees, because if the user's store allocates its marketing budget to run the same promotion of 3,000 won discount on delivery fees, marketing through delivery fee discounts may be ineffective. However, these are merely exemplary, and various marketing strategies may be formulated based on information about promotions from other stores nearby the store. In this way, the service server can provide the user with an effective marketing solution based on information about promotions from other stores nearby the store.

In an exemplary embodiment, a specific distance may be determined based on the number of cumulative orders of a store. For example, if the store is a very popular and well-known restaurant that has a large number of cumulative orders, the marketing of the store may be relatively less affected by the promotions of neighboring stores. Therefore, the amount of calculation may be reduced by narrowing the range of nearby stores from which information about promotions is viewed, and further reducing the weight of information about promotions of other stores among the various factors considered when determining marketing solutions.

In this way, the service server can identify and provide a marketing solution optimized for the store by considering information about the store's sales characteristics, the store's order history, the store's marketing history, and promotions of other stores located within a certain distance from the store, thereby helping to increase user satisfaction with the service and increase the overall profit of the service.

In operation 215, the service server may determine a marketing solution for achieving the goal using the budget based on the information about the store. The service server may search for an optimal marketing solution from a plurality of candidate marketing solutions stored in a database based on the information about the store, or may generate a new optimal marketing solution for achieving the goal using the budget. In an exemplary embodiment, the marketing solution may include one or more marketing channels and a budget allocation for each of the one or more marketing channels. Based on the information about the store, the service server may formulate a budget allocation plan related to which of the various marketing channels to invest how much budget, and the budget allocation plan may be determined to be a marketing solution. The database associated with the service server can store digital data about the history of marketing through various marketing channels and the return on investment (ROI) of each channel, and the service server can use this data to generate a marketing solution suitable for the current status of the store. In an exemplary embodiment, the service server can use machine learning (such as an artificial neural network) to train a marketing engine using the data stored in the database, and can output an optimal marketing solution through the trained marketing engine.

In an exemplary embodiment, one or more marketing channels may include, for example, at least one of price discounts on at least some menu items in a store, providing coupons redeemable in a store, advertising for the store, and providing subscription offers for the store. The service server may return a portion of the budget used for marketing to the user through price discounts, loyalty points, coupons, and the like, which may increase user satisfaction with the store in the long run, thereby promoting the store. In an exemplary embodiment, the service server may encourage users to subscribe to a specific store to receive notifications of the specific store (such as promotions and new menu releases) and enjoy offers available only to users.

In an exemplary embodiment, one or more marketing channels may include a discount on a store's delivery fees. The service server may provide a delivery fee discount to a user who places an order with the store by allowing the store's budget to cover a portion of the delivery fees that the user would otherwise have to pay to a delivery intermediary. In doing so, the service server may increase user satisfaction with ordering from the store and increase the store's publicity effect.

In an exemplary embodiment, promotion of a store may include a banner advertisement on an application that provides an e-commerce service related to a food delivery intermediary service. The services provided by the service server may include a food delivery intermediary service, and the service server may run a banner advertisement promoting the store on the application of the e-commerce service associated with the food delivery intermediary service. By promoting the store on the application of the e-commerce service associated with the service provided by the service server, the service server may more effectively attract users of the e-commerce application and increase the promotion effect.

In operation 220, the service server may deliver the marketing solution to the user terminal. In an exemplary embodiment, the service server may display information about the marketing solution on a page associated with the marketing solution provided to the user terminal. On the page associated with the marketing solution, the user may enter a goal associated with the marketing and a budget that the user is willing to commit to achieve the goal, and the user may receive a marketing solution from the service server for achieving the goal using the budget.

In an exemplary embodiment, when determining a marketing solution, the service server may first determine whether the goal can be achieved using the budget, and if it is determined that the goal cannot be achieved using the budget, the service server may propose to adjust one of the goals downward or one of the budgets upward. In an exemplary embodiment, if the marketing budget obtained from the user is insufficient to achieve the goal, the service server may request the user to add more budget or propose to adjust the goal downward in order to maximize the effectiveness of the marketing solution provided by the service server. Conversely, in an exemplary embodiment, if the budget obtained from the user is too much compared to the budget required to achieve the goal, the service server may propose to adjust one of the goals upward or one of the budgets downward to prevent the user from wasting unnecessary budget.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an exemplary diagram of input from a store and marketing output from a service server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the store may provide the service server with information about a goal and a budget associated with marketing. A marketing engine in the service server may generate a method for allocating budgets to one or more marketing channels to achieve the goal, and may output a budget allocation for the one or more marketing channels. In an exemplary embodiment, a database associated with the service server may store digital data about the history of marketing through each marketing channel and the return on investment of each channel, and the marketing engine in the service server may use this data to generate a marketing solution suitable for the current state of the store. The one or more marketing channels may include various channels such as, for example, offering offers, discounts, advertising based on subscriptions to the store, advertising on e-commerce applications associated with the service, and offering loyalty-related offers (e.g., points/credits, coupons).

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an exemplary diagram of a method for predicting a promotion type and a budget based on information about a store according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4 , a service server may obtain information about a goal and a budget from a store. The goal is a marketing-related number that the store hopes to achieve within a predetermined period of time and may include specific numerical information (e.g., N orders, N new customers, and an average amount per order). To achieve the goal using a given budget, the service server may identify information about the store, such as the store's characteristics, the store's order history, the store's promotion history, and the marketing of neighboring stores (e.g., promotion density). In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 , the service server may arrange multiple promotion settings based on the identified store information to predict the effectiveness of the promotion and determine an optimal budget allocation solution for each marketing channel.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the process of a method for providing marketing information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The operation shown in FIG. 5 can be performed by the service server 120 shown in FIG. 1 or the service server shown in FIG. 2 , and the description of the aforementioned content can be omitted in this article.

In operation S510, the service server may obtain information about a goal and a budget associated with marketing of a store from a user terminal. The user terminal may obtain information about the goal and budget associated with marketing of the store from a user, and the user may include a store owner. In an exemplary embodiment, the goal associated with marketing may include a target number associated with the sales of the store that the store wants to achieve through marketing. For example, the goal associated with marketing may include various goals, such as increasing the number of orders for the store, increasing the average amount per order, increasing the number of customers visiting the store, increasing the reorder rate, increasing the number of new users, reducing the cancellation rate, and increasing the review rating. A marketing-related budget may include a budget set as an amount that a user is willing to spend to achieve a marketing-related goal.

In operation S520, the service server may identify information about the store. The information about the store is information that the service server uses to provide a marketing solution based on the information about the target and budget obtained in operation 205, and may include various information such as sales characteristics of the store, order history of the store, marketing history of the store, and promotions of other stores located within a certain distance from the store.

In operation S530, the service server may determine a marketing solution for achieving a goal using a budget based on information about the store. The service server may search for an optimal marketing solution from a plurality of candidate marketing solutions stored in a database based on information about the store, or may generate a new optimal marketing solution for achieving a goal using a budget. In an exemplary embodiment, the marketing solution may include one or more marketing channels and a budget allocation for each of the one or more marketing channels. Based on information about the store, the service server may formulate a budget allocation plan related to which of the various marketing channels to invest how much budget, and the budget allocation plan may be determined to be a marketing solution.

In operation S540, the service server may provide a marketing solution to the user terminal. In an exemplary embodiment, the service server may display information about the marketing solution on a page associated with the marketing solution provided to the user terminal. On the page associated with the marketing solution, the user may enter a goal associated with the marketing and a budget that the user is willing to commit to achieve the goal, and the user may receive a marketing solution from the service server for achieving the goal using the budget.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing some components of a system for providing marketing information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6 , a system for providing information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown, and the system includes a user terminal 610 and a service server 620 that can communicate with each other.

The user terminal 610 may execute an e-commerce client program or a food delivery client program, and may include a transceiver 612, a controller 614, an input portion 616, and a display portion 618.

The transceiver 612 can send information to other nodes including the service server 620 and receive information from other nodes. The transceiver 612 can communicate with various types of external devices using various types of communication methods. The transceiver 612 can include at least one of a Wi-Fi chip, a Bluetooth chip, a wireless communication chip, and an NFC chip. The Wi-Fi chip and the Bluetooth chip can perform communication using a WiFi method and a Bluetooth method, respectively. In the case of using a Wi-Fi chip or a Bluetooth chip, connection information such as an SSID and a session key can be first transmitted and received to establish a communication connection, and various types of information can be transmitted and received thereafter. A wireless communication chip refers to a chip that performs communication according to various communication standards such as IEEE, ZigBee, third generation (3G), third generation partnership project (3GPP), long term evolution (LTE), etc. An NFC chip refers to a chip that operates in a near field communication (NFC) method using a 13.56MHz band among various RF-ID bands (such as 135kHz, 13.56MHz, 433MHz, 860MHz to 960MHz, 2.45GHz, etc.).

The input portion 616 can receive an input from a user and can include a touch screen, a microphone, and a button. The input portion 616 can receive various commands from the user. The input portion 616 can be implemented in various ways including keys, touch panels, and the like. The keys can include various types of keys formed on various areas (such as the front, side, and back) outside the main body of the user terminal 610, such as mechanical buttons, wheels, and the like. The touch panel can detect a touch input from a user and output a touch event value corresponding to the detected touch signal. When a touch panel is combined with a display panel to form a touch screen, various types of touch sensors (such as capacitive, piezoresistive, piezoelectric, and the like) may be used to implement the touch screen. Capacitive touch sensors utilize a dielectric coated on the surface of the touch screen to detect the tiny electric force generated by the user's body when a part of the user's body touches the surface of the touch screen to calculate the touch coordinates. Piezoelectric touch sensors include two electrode plates embedded in the touch screen, and when the user touches the screen, the touch causes current to flow through the upper and lower plates of the touch point, and the touch coordinates are calculated. Touch events on touch screens can be primarily generated by human fingers, but can also be generated by objects made of conductive materials that can impart a capacitance change.

The display portion 618 can display information related to the operation of the user terminal 610 and can display a page containing information described in the exemplary embodiment. In an exemplary embodiment, the display portion 618 can include various types of configurations, such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), and the like. Depending on the exemplary embodiment, the display portion 618 can be wired to the configuration within the user terminal 610 and can be wirelessly connected to the configuration included in the user terminal 610 (such as the transceiver 612).

The controller 614 may perform control to enable the user terminal 610 to perform the operations described in the exemplary embodiment. The controller 614 may also include at least one processor configured to perform the operations of the user terminal 610.

The processor may include at least one of RAM, ROM, CPU, GPU (graphics processing unit) and bus. RAM, ROM, CPU, GPU, etc. may be connected to each other via a bus. The CPU accesses the memory and uses the OS stored in the memory to perform booting. In addition, various programs, contents, data, etc. stored in the memory are used to perform various operations. The ROM stores an instruction set for system booting. For example, when a boot command is input to the user terminal 610 and power is supplied, the CPU may copy the OS stored in the memory to the RAM according to the command stored in the ROM, and execute the OS to boot the system. When the boot is completed, the CPU copies various programs stored in the memory to the RAM, and executes the programs copied to the RAM to perform various operations. When the boot is completed, the GPU displays a UI screen in an area of the display portion 618. Specifically, the GPU can generate a screen that displays an electronic document containing various objects such as content, icons, menus, and the like. The GPU calculates the attribute values (such as coordinate values, shapes, sizes, colors, and the like) of each object to be displayed according to the layout of the screen. Based on the calculated attribute values, the GPU can generate a screen with various layouts containing objects. The screen generated by the GPU can be provided to the display portion 618 and can be displayed in the respective areas of the display portion 618.

The user terminal 610 may further include a speaker for outputting events, and may further include a storage portion (not shown) for storing at least some of the information transmitted and received via the transceiver 612 and information used for operation of the user terminal 610.

The service server 620 is a device on which an e-commerce server program or a delivery work information providing service program is run, and may include a transceiver 622, a controller 624, and a storage portion 626.

The transceiver 622 can send information to other nodes including the user terminal 610 and receive information from other nodes.

The controller 624 may perform control to enable the service server 620 to perform the operations described in the exemplary embodiment. The controller 624 may also include at least one processor.

The service server 620 may also include a storage portion 626 for storing at least some of the information transmitted and received via the transceiver 622 and information used for the operation of the server 620.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed in this specification and drawings. Although specific terms are used, they are only used in a general sense to easily explain the technical content of the present invention and help understand the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Those familiar with this technology understand that, in addition to the exemplary embodiments disclosed in this article, other modified examples based on the technical concept of the present invention can also be implemented.

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Claims (11)

An information providing method of a service server, the information providing method comprising: obtaining information about a goal and a budget associated with marketing of a store from a user terminal; identifying information about the store; based on the information about the store, identifying a marketing solution for achieving the goal using the budget; and providing the marketing solution to the user terminal, wherein the information about the store includes information about a promotion of other stores located within a specific distance from the store, wherein when a cumulative number of orders of the store increases, the specific distance is set to be shorter. The information providing method of the service server as claimed in claim 1, wherein the marketing solution includes one or more marketing channels and an allocation of the budget for each of the one or more marketing channels. The information providing method of the service server as claimed in claim 2, wherein the one or more marketing channels include at least one of the following: a price discount on at least some menu items at the store; an offer of a coupon redeemable at the store; an advertisement for the store; and an offer of a subscription offer at the store. The information providing method of the service server as claimed in claim 3, wherein the advertisement comprises a banner advertisement on an application providing an e-commerce service related to a service provided by the service server. The information providing method of the service server as claimed in claim 1, wherein providing the marketing solution further includes proposing a downward adjustment of one of the goals when it is determined that the goal cannot be achieved using the budget. The information providing method of the service server as in claim 1, wherein the target includes a number of orders of the store to be increased within a time frame. The information providing method of the service server as in claim 6, wherein the time frame is determined based on the budget and marketing history of the store. The information providing method of the service server as in claim 1, wherein the target includes an average amount per order of the store. The information providing method of the service server as in claim 1, wherein the information about the store includes information about at least one of the sales characteristics of the store, the order history of the store, and the marketing history of the store. A service server configured to provide information, comprising: a transceiver configured to send information to another device and receive information from another device; and a processor configured to: control the transceiver; obtain information about a goal and a budget associated with marketing of a store from a user terminal; identify information about the store; based on the information about the store, identify a marketing solution for achieving the goal using the budget; and provide the marketing solution to the user terminal, wherein the information about the store includes information about a promotion of other stores located within a specific distance from the store, wherein when a cumulative number of orders for the store increases, the specific distance is set to be shorter. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, comprising: a medium configured to store computer-readable instructions, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: obtain information about a goal and a budget associated with marketing of a store from a user terminal; identify information about the store; based on the information about the store, identify a marketing solution for achieving the goal using the budget; and provide the marketing solution to the user terminal, wherein the information about the store includes information about a promotion of other stores located within a specific distance from the store, wherein when a cumulative number of orders for the store increases, the specific distance is set to be shorter.