JP2002133515A - System for investigating customer purchase behavior, and customer support system, in shop - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To investigate a purchase behavior by an individual customer, to properly provide information about an article to the individual customer, and to make the customer discriminate own position and a position where a desired article is exhibited in a shop. SOLUTION: The whole floor 9 of an area 5 in the shop 3 is divided into plural small floors 91-98 classified by colors in response to the location of article display racks 111-116. The customer moves in the sales area 5 using a shopping cart 1. The shopping cart 1 is provided with a color discriminator 32 for discriminating the colors of the respective small floors 91-98 and a cart terminal 1 for transmitting discriminated color information to a customer support sever 17. The customer stores a moving history in the area 5 in an inserted customer card 51 by the cart terminal 1. Purchased article information is stored in the customer card 1 in settlement, and the moving history and the purchased article information are stored in a purchase behavior information DB 13. The purchase behavior of the customer is formed into a rule based on the information in the information DB 13, and the server 17 provides ruled information or information about the article to the customer based on the color information from the cart terminal 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technology for assisting a customer who visits a store to purchase the product. More specifically, the present invention investigates a customer's purchasing behavior in a store, and utilizes the result of the survey to sell the customer. Related to technology to support purchasing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, in various stores such as department stores and convenience stores, in order to meet customer needs and increase sales efficiency, a survey of customer purchasing behavior is conducted, and various products are displayed based on the survey results. I have. The surveyed customer's purchasing behavior focused on how the customer moved around the store from the time the customer entered the store and brought the product to be purchased to the cashier counter, or where on the shelf. As a result, it is determined whether the item has been picked up as a purchased product.

[0003] A customer determines a product to be purchased based on product information described on a sticker, a leaflet, or the like in the store, product information obtained by asking a store clerk, and the like.

[0004]

By the way, the above-mentioned survey of the customer's purchasing behavior shows that a specific employee in the store
This is done by accompanying some of the customers selected by sampling or by traveling around the entire store. However, according to these methods, it is impossible to investigate all the customers, and since the customers are not distinguished, it is impossible to accumulate the purchase behavior of each customer as data. For this reason, the result obtained by the survey can perform mass marketing, but cannot perform marketing for each customer.

[0005] Further, in the conventional method, even though information on merchandise to be displayed at a store (for example, bargain merchandise information and time sale information) can be provided in a mass on a poster or a flyer, it can be provided for each customer. No information can be provided.

[0006] In the conventional method, even when a customer calls a clerk to inquire about a product (for example, a high-tech device) that requires advanced product knowledge, the customer does not have the product knowledge. May be aroused. In this case, the customer calls another clerk, or
They give up buying the product or give up. For this reason,
The customer is dissatisfied, and the store may not be able to respond to the customer's needs and may suffer from management damage.

[0007] From a customer's point of view,
You can't get personalized marketing services.

Further, according to the conventional method, in the case of a large-scale store, the customer has a large store, and cannot know where he or she is and where a desired product is displayed. There is. In other words, a large store may be inconvenient for customers.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to enable the purchase behavior to be investigated for each customer.

It is another object of the present invention to provide information on products for each customer.

Yet another object of the present invention is to enable a customer to identify his or her position in a store or a position where a desired product is displayed.

[0012]

A customer purchasing behavior survey system according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a customer terminal system carried by a customer in a store, and a server system communicable with the customer terminal system. The terminal system has a means for transmitting a signal capable of detecting the position of the customer, and the server system obtains information on the travel route in the store of the customer based on the signal from the customer terminal system. And means for storing information on the travel route.

According to the customer purchase behavior survey system,
Using the customer terminal system of each customer who visits the store, information on the travel route of the customer can be obtained, so that the travel routes of all customers who visit the store can be investigated for each customer. That is,
Marketing tailored to individual customers can be achieved.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment, the server system comprises:
There is means for obtaining information on purchased goods (purchased goods information) in the travel route. More preferably, the customer terminal system has means for reading the barcode attached to the product and transmitting the barcode to the server system.
A settlement register having means for reading a barcode attached to the product and transmitting the barcode to the server system, wherein the server system receives the barcode information received from the customer terminal system or receives the information from the settlement register. Based on the information of the bar code thus obtained, the purchased merchandise information is obtained. More preferably, the obtained purchased merchandise information is stored in association with the obtained travel route. In addition, as a method of associating, for example, when travel route information is stored in the server system, and the purchased merchandise information is transmitted from another system (for example, a settlement register in a store) to the server system, The customer's identification code related to the information is stored together with the journey information, and the customer's identification code related to the information is transmitted together with the purchased merchandise information, and the correspondence is made using the customer's identification code.

[0015] In a preferred embodiment, the server system comprises:
Means for holding various customer support information corresponding to information at various locations in the store, and means for transmitting customer support information corresponding to the location of the customer to the customer terminal system based on the signal from the customer terminal system And the customer terminal system has means for displaying the customer support information received from the server system.

According to this embodiment, the customer can receive the customer support information according to his / her own location in the store (from another point of view, the store side can perform the marketing according to each customer's in-store position. Can be implemented for each customer).

In a preferred embodiment, the customer terminal system has a means for transmitting a request signal for requesting a call of a clerk to the server system, and when the server system receives the request signal, the clerk sends the request signal to the clerk. Notify the location of the customer.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for investigating customer purchasing behavior, comprising the steps of obtaining information on a travel route in a store of a customer carrying a customer terminal system for transmitting a signal capable of detecting a position based on the signal. Storing the obtained travel route information.

In a preferred embodiment, a step of transmitting customer support information corresponding to the position of the customer to the customer terminal system based on the signal from the customer terminal system, and transmitting the transmitted customer support information to the customer terminal system. Displaying step.

A customer support system according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a customer terminal system carried by a customer in a store, and a server system capable of communicating with the customer terminal system. Means for displaying the received customer support information, means for reading a barcode attached to the product, and means for transmitting the information of the read barcode to a server system, wherein the server system is handled in a store. Means for holding barcode information of various products and various kinds of customer support information corresponding to the various barcode information, and customer support information corresponding to the barcode information received from the customer terminal system. Means for transmitting to the customer terminal system.

According to this customer support system, the customer:
If the customer terminal system reads the barcode attached to the product of interest, purchase support information (eg, description of the product) of the product of interest can be received.

The purchase support information includes, for example, purchase behavior rule information in which the purchase behavior is made into a rule by analyzing the purchase behavior information of the customer surveyed in advance, and the product related to the product handled in the store. Including information. Purchasing support information is prepared for each customer. Preferably, the rule of the purchase behavior or the acquisition of the purchase support information is performed based on the attribute information and the identification information of the customer.

[0023] A customer support method according to a fourth aspect of the present invention includes a step of receiving bar code information attached to a product selected by a customer, which is read by a customer terminal system carried by the customer in the store. And transmitting the customer support information corresponding to the barcode information received from the customer terminal system to the customer terminal system, and displaying the transmitted customer support information on the customer terminal system.

[0024] A customer support system according to a fifth aspect of the present invention includes a customer terminal system carried by a customer in a store, and a server system communicable with the customer terminal system. Means for displaying the received customer support information, means for inputting customer identification information, and means for transmitting the input identification information to a server system, wherein the server system provides various customer identification information It has means for holding various kinds of purchase support information corresponding to each, and means for transmitting customer support information corresponding to the identification information received from the customer terminal system to the customer terminal system. Thereby, the customer can receive the customer support information according to himself / herself.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a customer support method comprising the steps of: receiving customer identification information input to a customer terminal system carried by a customer in a store; and identifying the identification information received from the customer terminal system. And transmitting the customer support information to the customer terminal system.

[0026]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In the store 3 according to the present embodiment, in addition to the sales area 5 for displaying and selling products, a purchase support area 7 for installing a device for supporting the sale of products is provided. . The purchase support area 7 includes a purchase behavior information database (purchase behavior information DB) 13 in which information on a customer's purchase behavior (hereinafter, purchase behavior information) is stored, and information on various commodities in the store 3 (hereinafter, commodities). And a product information database (product information DB) 21 in which information is stored. Further, the purchase support area 7 provides a purchase behavior rule database (purchase behavior rule DB) 19 into which rule-based purchase behavior information (hereinafter, purchase behavior rule information) described later is written, and different information for each customer. By doing so, a customer support server 17 that supports the customer is installed. The customer support server 17 converts the shopping cart 1 (described later) used by each customer who visits the
(Specifically, information on the color of the floor on which the cart 1 is located) and the identification code of the customer using the cart 1 based on the location information and the customer identification code. And provide appropriate information for each customer.

Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described in detail.

In the sales area 5 of the store 3, goods display shelves 11 _{1 to} 11 ₆ ( _{six in the} illustrated example, but not limited to six) for displaying goods, money and goods are displayed. And a cashier counter area 15 which is an exchange place for The entire floor 9 of the sales area 5 is the product display shelf 1
Depending on the 1 ₁ to 11 ₆ whereabouts of, for example, eight small floor 9
It is color-coded to _{1-9 8.} Specifically for each of the small floor 9 ₁ to 9 _8, small floor 9 _1, has been painted in red, customers in this small floor 9 _1, the merchandise display rack 1
The type of products that are on display in 1 ₁ of the right side, it is possible to take in outlook or hand. Small floor 9 ₂ are painted in orange, customers in the small floor 9 _2, the kind of commodities displayed on the right side of the merchandise display rack 11 ₁ of the left side and the commodity display shelf 11 _2, Can be viewed or picked up. Small floor 9 _3, it has been painted in yellow,
Customers in the small floor 9 ₃ may take the kind of commodities displayed on the right side of the commodity display shelf 11 ₂ of the left side and the commodity display shelf 11 _3, prospects or hands.
Small floor 9 ₄ are painted in green, the small floor 9
Customers in ₄ can take the kind of commodities displayed on the left side of the commodity display shelf 11 _3, prospects or hands. Small floor 9 ₅ is painted in blue, the customers in the small floor 9 _5, can take the type of commodities displayed on the left side of the commodity display shelf 11 _4, prospects or hands. Small floor 9 ₆ are painted in deep blue, customers in the small floor 9 _6, the kind of commodities displayed on the left side of the commodity display shelf 11 ₄ of the right side and the commodity display shelf 11 ₅ , View or pick up. Small floor 9 ₇ are painted in purple, the small floor 9 ₇
The customers in, can take the type of merchandise displayed on the left side of the right side and commodity commodity display shelf 11 ₅ shelves 11 _6, prospects or hands. Small floor 9 ₈ is painted in black, the customers in the small floor 9 _8, can take the type of commodities displayed on the right side of the commodity display shelf 11 _6, prospects or hands.

In the vicinity of the entrance of the sales area 5 described above,
Many shopping carts (hereinafter, carts) 1 shown below are prepared. The customer who came to store 3 is cart 1
To move in the sales area 5.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the cart 1.

The cart 1 is configured so as to be able to move with a shopping basket (not shown) prepared in the store 3 and to move the customer position information acquiring device 37 to the moving mechanism 27 having wheels 35, 35,. Have. In addition, cart 1
Has an information communication terminal device (hereinafter referred to as a cart terminal) 39 in a portion 29 where the customer holds the cart 1 by hand.

The customer position information acquiring device 37 is a small floor _m (m is any one of 1 to 8) where the cart 1 is currently located.
And a cart terminal communication unit 33 for transmitting information on the identified color, that is, information corresponding to the information on the current position of the customer, to the cart terminal 39. The color identification device 32 is provided at a position where the cart 1 faces and approaches the floor 9, for example, as shown in the drawing, a surface of the wheel shaft 32 facing the floor 9.
The color information of the small floor _m where the cart 1 is located is transmitted to the cart terminal 39 through the cart terminal communication unit 33.

The cart terminal 39 is attached to and detached from the cart 1.
It is configured freely, and the IC card (hereinafter
Lower, customer card) card insertion slot 5 for inserting 51
3 and read / write information to / from the inserted customer card 51
Card reader / writer (not shown) for
I have. The cart terminal 39 is connected to the customer support server 17.
An information transmitting and receiving unit 41 for transmitting and receiving various information between the
Bar code that reads bar codes on product packages, etc.
To display product information or position information
And a display 43. Also a cart terminal
39 scrolls the display screen on the display 43
Scroll button 45 for browsing information
To switch the display mode on the display 43.
Button 47 and press when you want to call the clerk
And a clerk call button 49 for the user. Also,
The remote terminal 39 has a unique terminal identification code and the customer's
Map data of the sales area 5 for displaying the position on a map
(Each small floor 9 mentioned above₁~ 9 ₈Position data and color information
Information is recorded) and which small floor 9₁~ 9₈To
Product display showing what kind of product is displayed
Column information is stored. The cart terminal 39 is a customer support service.
When sending information to the server 17, the customer support server 17
The sender cart terminal 39 of the information is uniquely identified and transmitted.
In order to be able to send information to the sender cart terminal 39,
Send another code together with the information to be sent.

The customer card 51 includes the customer card 51
, And information on points accumulated each time a product is purchased in the store 3. When the customer card 51 is inserted, the cart terminal 39 reads the customer identification code recorded on the customer card 51 and transmits the customer identification code to the customer support server 17 via the information transmitting / receiving unit 41. . When receiving the information from the customer support server 17 in response thereto, the cart terminal 39 displays the information on the display 43.

Further, the cart terminal 39 may change the color information continuously transmitted from the position information acquisition unit 37 as needed or when the color information is changed to another color information (for example,
By the cart 1 is moved from the small floor 9 ₁ in the small floor 9 _2, when the color information transmitted has changed from "red" to "orange"), customer support server 1 together with the customer identification code
7 As a result, the customer can receive appropriate information on the small floor _9m where the customer is currently located. Specifically, the customer, information on commodities displayed in the small floor 9 _m to the current position, or can receive the purchasing behavior rule information of the entire own or customer according to the small floor 9 _m.

Further, based on the color information continuously transmitted from the position information acquisition section 37 and the length of time of continuous reception, the cart terminal 39 records the movement history of the customer, that is, Do you move the small floor 91 _to 93 ₈ in any order, any small floor 9 how long long Taka information such as the _{1-9 8} (hereinafter, movement history information), via the card reader-writer customer The information is written on the IC chip of the card 51.

When the bar code of the product is read by the bar code reading section 55, the cart terminal 39
The barcode information is transmitted to the customer support server 17 together with the customer identification code. When such information is transmitted, information on the product related to the transmitted barcode information, for example, “General price 29800 yen”, “Today's special discount -24
00 yen "," Point redemption (information on the amount of money to be discounted as a privilege that accumulates the above points) -1600 yen ", and
“XX special price (commodity price valid only for the holder of the inserted customer card 51) 25800 yen” is received from the customer support server 17. The cart terminal 1 displays the received information on, for example, the display 43 as illustrated.

When the display switch button 47 is pressed, the cart terminal 39 displays a product / rule display mode for displaying product information or purchasing behavior rule information and a map for displaying the current position of the customer on a map. Switches between the position display mode. In the case of the product / rule display mode, the cart terminal 39
Displays the purchase behavior rule information or the product information received from the customer support server 17. In the position display mode,
The cart terminal 39 displays the current position of the customer using the cart 1 on a map based on the color information constantly identified and the stored map data of the sales area 5. At the same time, the cart terminal 39 also displays the product display information so that the customer can find the small floor _m on which the desired type of product is displayed. Thereby, the customer can identify his / her position in the store 3 and the position where the desired product is displayed. The cart terminal 39 has
The same screen display mode that displays the information received from the customer support server 17 and the current position of the customer may be mounted on one screen.

When the clerk call button 49 is pressed, the cart terminal 39 transmits the clerk call request information to the customer support server 17 together with the constantly identified color information (for example, "red"). . As a result, by the customer support server 17, information to the effect that customers in small floor 9 ₁ of the red is seeking the clerk, reported to the clerk you are in the sales area in the 5, the clerk who received the broadcast is, red come to the small floor _{9 1.}

The cart terminal 39 accumulates the prices of the products scanned by the barcode information reading section 55, calculates the amount charged at the time of settlement and the accumulated number of points, and displays them on the display. It can also be equipped with functions. In this case, the cart terminal 39 controls the customer not to transmit the information of the barcode even if the barcode is scanned.

When the customer places all the products to be purchased on the cart 1 described above, the cashier counter area 15 shown in FIG.
And make a payment in the cashier counter area 15.

[0044] checkout counter area 15, in the example of the settlement register 115 _1-115 4 _(illustrated to the customer card 51 equipped with a card reader-writer for reading and writing information is four, but are not limited to, of course four ) Is installed. At the time of payment, the payment registers 115 ₁ to 115 ₁
15 to ₄ of the card reader-writer, the customer's customer card 50
Is inserted. Settlement for the register ₁₁₅ 1 to 115 _4,
The customer identification code and the movement history information are read from the customer card 50 via the card reader / writer, and the read information and the information of each purchased product read from the barcode at the time of payment are converted into purchasing behavior information. Store in DB13.

FIG. 3 shows the structure in the purchase behavior information DB 13.

In the purchasing behavior information DB 13, for each customer,
Information recording areas (hereinafter, purchasing behavior recording areas) 71 _{1 to} 71 _p for recording purchasing behavior information are provided. In each of the purchase behavior recording areas 71 _{1 to} 71 _p , information on customers (hereinafter, customer information) and a history of purchase behavior are recorded. Customer information includes customer name, customer identification code,
The cumulative number of points, gender, age, date of birth, and family structure are recorded. As the history of the purchase behavior, a date at which the customer arrived at the store 3, the above-described movement history information relating to each date, and information of each purchased product on each date (hereinafter, purchase history information) are recorded.

From the information recorded in each of the purchase behavior recording areas 71 _{1 to} 71 _p in the purchase behavior information DB 13, the store from the time the customer enters the store 3 until the customer brings the product to be purchased to the cashier counter area 15. Kaya was moving around in the 3 how, it is possible to analyze how the merchandise display rack 11 ₁ to 11 attention to what kind of purchasing behavior, such as whether to purchase the goods to ₆ for each customer. Further, from the information recorded in the purchase behavior recording areas 71 _{1 to} 71 _p , it is also possible to analyze popular products by gender or age.

On the basis of the purchase behavior information of each customer stored in the purchase behavior information DB 13, the customer support server 17 shown in FIG. 1 executes processing described in detail below. The customer support server 17 includes a rule processing unit 25 and an information providing unit 23.

The rule processing unit 25 periodically or when new information is stored in the purchasing behavior information DB 13,
Purchasing behavior information including customer information is acquired from the purchasing behavior information DB 13, the purchasing behavior of the customer is analyzed based on the purchasing behavior information, and a plurality of ruled purchasing behaviors are created based on the analysis result. Then, the created purchase behavior rule information is stored in the purchase behavior rule DB 19.

FIG. 4 shows a structure in the purchase behavior rule DB 19.

The purchasing behavior rule DB 19 has information recording areas (hereinafter, rule information recording areas) 73 _{1 to} 73 _p for recording purchasing behavior rule information for each customer. In each of the rule information recording areas 73 _{1 to} 73 _p ,
The customer name, the customer identification code, the accumulated number of points, and the purchase behavior rule information created by the rule processing unit 19 are recorded. Purchasing behavior rule information is, for example, the color of the small floor 9 ₁ to 9 ₈ (ie, the customer's position), in which the purchase planned product, purchasing behavior rules by focusing on time has been created to be determined. That is, when the purchase behavior rule information is recorded, as shown in the figure, it is recorded separately for “color”, “product”, “product to be purchased”, “time”, and “purchase behavior rule”.

A specific description will be given with reference to FIG.
For example, customer purchasing behavior information about the customer identification code "123abc", when moving to the small floor 9 ₇ purple (not less than a predetermined value) is higher probability of purchasing the video tape
If it has been analyzed, "If you move the purple small floor 9 ₇ to purchase the video tape" is created first of purchasing behavior rules information that, "purple" as "color",
"Buy Videotape" is a "Purchase Behavior Rule"
It is recorded in the rule information recording area 73 ₁ of customers with the customer identification code "123abc." Thus, when color information “purple” is sent from the customer having the customer identification code “123abc” to the customer support server 17, the customer support server 1
From 7, the first purchase behavior rule information related to the color information “purple” is transmitted to the customer. In other words, the customer, if you move to the small floor 9 ₇ purple, customer support server 1
7 prompts you to purchase a videotape (eg, you receive a message "Do you need a videotape?").

[0053] As another example, from the purchasing behavior information of the customer, 19:00 If you have moved to the small floor 9 ₂ of orange since if it is analyzed that there is a high probability of purchasing the wine, " the second of purchasing behavior rule information that purchasing alcohol "when you move to the small floor 9 ₂ orange after 19:00 has been created," orange "as the" color ", as" time "," 19: 00 or later ”and“ buy alcohol ”as the“ purchasing behavior rule ”are stored in the rule information recording area 73 _{1 of the} customer.
Recorded in. As a result, when color information “orange” is sent from the customer to the customer support server 17 after 19:00, the second purchase behavior rule relating to the color information “orange” is transmitted from the customer support server 17. Information is sent to the customer.
In other words, the customer is 19: 00 If you have moved to the small floor 9 ₂ of orange after, from the customer support server 17,
You are prompted to buy sake (for example, you receive a message "How about drinking?").

As another example, if it is analyzed from the purchase behavior information of the customer that the purchase of shampoo has a high probability of purchasing the rinse together, the shampoo and the rinse are purchased as a set. The third purchase behavior rule information of “do” is created, and “shampoo” is “product” and “buy rinse” is “purchase behavior rule”.
But, it is recorded in the rule information recording area 73 ₁ of its customers. Thereby, when the barcode information "shampoo" is sent from the customer to the customer support server 17,
From the customer support server 17, the third purchase behavior rule information on the product "shampoo" is transmitted to the customer. In other words, when the customer scans the bar code attached to the shampoo in the store 3, the customer support server 1
7 prompts you to buy a rinse with you (eg, you receive a message "Do you also need a rinse?").

As described above, the customer support service shown in FIG.
The rule processing unit 25 of the server 17
Is created for each customer, and stored in the purchasing behavior rule DB19.
To pay. In addition, the rule processing unit 25 purchases all customers.
Create and record purchasing behavior rule information based on behavior information
It may be recorded. For example, green small floor 9 ₄
Dietary supplements (more than a certain percentage)
If you analyze purchasing goods,
A9₄Women who move to the country buy nutritional supplements. "
Create purchasing behavior rule information, and
In the customer rule information recording area.

The rule processing unit 25 may create the purchase behavior rule information so as to guide the customer. For example, red when moving to the small floor 9 ₁ if the analyzed to have a high probability of purchasing the chocolate, small floor 9 ₂ of the customer near the small floor 9 _1, 9 _7, or 9 ₈ When the customer comes to the small floor 9
So as to induce to _7, "small floor 9 ₂ of _orange, purple small floor 9 _7, or, if you have moved to the small floor 9 ₈ of black to purchase chocolate" to create a purchasing behavior rule information that.

The purchase behavior rule information created as described above and the product information stored in the product information DB 21 are provided for each customer in the store 3. Product information DB2
The product information stored in the store 1 includes information on products handled in the store 3, for example, information on products with a high degree of discount, information on the display location of each product (which product is on which small floor _9m) . of the information has been on display), each of the small floor 9 ₁ to 9 ₈ another popular product information, price information for each product,
The campaign information in the store 3 is included.
The merchandise information can be updated by the store 3 periodically or at any time.

The information providing unit 23 of the customer support server 17
From the cart terminal 39 of the cart 1 used by each customer,
Only the customer identification code, a set of the color information of the small floor _m where the cart 1 is located (that is, the location information of the customer) and the customer identification code, a set of barcode information of the product scanned by the cart terminal 39 and the customer identification code Or, a set of the color information and the clerk calling request information is received.

When only the customer identification code is received, the information providing unit 23 identifies the transmission source cart terminal and records the rule information of the customer having the received customer identification code in the purchase behavior rule DB 19. Search for an area.
Then, the information providing unit 23 specifies specific information from the area,
For example, the number of accumulated points is extracted, and the information is transmitted with the identified transmission source cart terminal as the destination.

When the information providing unit 23 receives the set of the customer identification code and the color information, the information providing unit 23 transmits the purchase behavior rule information from the purchase behavior rule DB 19 and the product information DB 21 based on the information. Each piece of information is extracted and provided to the customer having the customer identification code. For example, customer identification code is "123abc" received, if the color information is "purple", said the purchase behavior rule DB19 as "If you move to the purple of the small floor 9 ₇ purchasing a video tape" No. First, it extracts the purchase behavior rule information or extracts the product information related to the video tape from the product information DB 21 and provides it to the customer.

When the information providing unit 23 receives the set of the customer identification code and the bar code information, the information providing unit 23 transmits the purchase behavior rule information from the purchase behavior rule DB 19 and the product information DB 21 based on the information. Product information is extracted and provided to the customer having the customer identification code. For example, when the received customer identification code is “123abc” and the product information is “shampoo”, the third purchase behavior rule information “shampoo and rinse purchase as a set” is extracted from the purchase behavior rule DB19. And provide it to customers. Further, the price information relating to the shampoo is extracted from the product information DB 21, and a discount price effective only for the customer is calculated based on the accumulated points of the customer,
The calculated price is transmitted to the customer.

When the information providing unit 23 receives the set of the color information and the clerk calling request information, the information providing unit 23 informs the clerk in the sales area 5 of the small information related to the received color information by an announcement or an e-mail. It commands to move the floor 9 _m. When ordering, the small floor 9 _m
The clerk to be moved is selected and instructed according to the type of the product displayed in the store. For example, when the personal computer is on display on the small floor 9 _m, select a detailed clerk to a personal computer, instructs to move to the clerk in the small floor 9 _m. This allows the customer to reliably call such a clerk simply by pressing the clerk call button described above, even if he or she does not know which clerk will give detailed information about the product of interest. it can.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the customer card 51 is set in the cart 1 on which the cart terminal 39 is mounted, and the customer uses the cart 1 to shop, so that the customer card 51 Is the customer's store 3
Is recorded. And, at the time of the settlement, if set its customer card 1 in the settlement register 115 ₁ to 115 _4, the movement history of the customer and the purchased merchandise information is stored in the purchasing behavior history DB13. Thereby, the purchase behavior can be investigated for each customer.

Further, according to the above-described embodiment, the customer support server 17 sends the cart 1 used by each customer from the cart 1 to the position information of the cart 1 (specifically, the small floor 9 _m where the cart 1 is located _). Color information) and the identification code of the customer who uses the cart 1, and based on the position information and the customer identification code, provide the purchase behavior rule information and the product information for each customer. . Thus, marketing can be performed on individual customers in real time.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, this is an exemplification for explaining the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to this embodiment. The present invention can be implemented in other various forms.

For example, each time a customer places a product to be purchased on the cart 1, the customer scans the bar code of the product to be purchased and replaces the bar code information with the color information which is constantly identified. You may make it transmit to the support server 17. In this case, the customer support server 17, also passes through the small floor 9 _m of the color information that the customer has received purchase according purchasing behavior rule according to the color information, for example, bar code information of the video tape is sent When not coming,
Send a confirmation message such as "Did you forget to buy a videotape?" Thereby, it is possible to reduce the customer's forgetting to buy.

As another example, floor 9 of sales area 5
May be divided into a plurality of small floors by different patterns. Further, each of the small floor ₉ to 93 ₈ described above may be subdivided. Thereby, the position of each customer can be more accurately identified, and information can be provided according to the identified position.

As another example, the customer support server 17
May store the received customer identification code and color information. Thereby, the customer support server 17 can know in real time, each customer is moving the small floor 91 _to 93 ₈ in any order. In this case, for example, the customer support server 17
If you are a customer you navigate to _m not come out from a certain period of time more than the small floor 9 _m is, as there are customers who are considering the purchase of goods to the small floor 9 _m, the small floor 9
_The store clerk may be directed to _m .

As yet another example, the store 3 may be indoors or outdoors. In the case of outdoors, as a method of identifying the position of the customer, for example, the repeater of the cart terminal 39 is set densely in the sales area 5, and the repeater of which cart terminal 39
The position of each customer may be identified by detecting whether or not the transmission data is received.

As still another example, the cart terminal 39
Mobile phones, PHS, PDAs carried by customers
The information may be transmitted to and received from the customer support server 17 using a mobile communication terminal such as the one described above.

As yet another example, the purchase behavior rule information may be created by a human (eg, an employee of the store 3) based on the information in the purchase behavior information DB 13.

As yet another example, purchase support information for each customer based on the purchase history information of each customer, for example,
If you seem to buy a toothbrush every other month,
A message "Is it time to replace the toothbrush?" Is created in advance and stored in a predetermined database. When the customer support server 17 receives the customer identification code from the cart terminal 39 in which the customer card 51 is inserted when visiting the store, the customer support server 17 acquires the purchase support information corresponding to the received customer identification code from the predetermined database,
It is transmitted to the cart terminal 39 of the customer. This is convenient because the customer is informed of the goods that would be needed without having to manage what he has to buy himself.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a shopping cart 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration in a purchasing behavior information DB 13;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration in a purchasing behavior rule DB19.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Shopping Cart three stores 5 sales area 7 purchasing support area 9 floor 9 ₁ to 9 ₈ small floor 11 ₁ to 11 ₆ commodity display shelf 13 purchasing behavior information database 15 checkout counter area 17 customer support server 19 purchasing behavior rules database 21 Product Information Database 23 Information providing unit 25 Rule processing unit 115 _{1 to} 115 ₄ Payment register

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kenji Fukashi 3-3-3 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo Inside NTT Data Corporation (72) Inventor Hakufumi Sakaguchi Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo 3-3-3 F-term (reference) in NTT DATA Corporation 3E042 BA13 CA02 CD04 CD10 EA01 5B049 BB11 BB49 CC00 DD01 DD02 FF04 FF08 GG06

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A customer terminal system carried by a customer in a store, and a server system communicable with the customer terminal system, wherein the customer terminal system transmits a signal capable of detecting the position of the customer. Means for transmitting, wherein the server system obtains information on the travel route of the customer in the store based on the signal from the customer terminal system, and means for storing information on the travel route. Customer purchase behavior survey system with 2. The customer purchasing behavior survey system according to claim 1, wherein said server system has means for obtaining information on a product purchased on said travel route. 3. The customer terminal system has means for reading a bar code attached to a product and transmitting the bar code to the server system. A payment register having means for transmitting to the server system, wherein the server system is based on barcode information received from the customer terminal system or barcode information received from the payment register. The customer purchase behavior survey system according to claim 1, wherein information on the purchased product is obtained. 4. The server system, comprising: means for holding various customer support information corresponding to information on various locations in the store; and, based on the signal from the customer terminal system, 2. A customer purchasing behavior survey according to claim 1, further comprising: means for transmitting corresponding customer support information to the customer terminal system, wherein the customer terminal system has means for displaying the customer support information received from the server system. system. 5. The customer terminal system has means for transmitting a request signal for requesting a call of a clerk to the server system, and when the server system receives the request signal,
2. The sales clerk is notified of the location of the requested customer.
The customer purchase behavior survey system described. 6. A step of obtaining information on a travel route in a store of a customer carrying a customer terminal system that transmits a signal capable of detecting a position based on the signal, and a process of storing the information on the travel route. Customer purchasing behavior survey method. 7. A step of transmitting customer support information corresponding to the position of the customer to the customer terminal system based on the signal from the customer terminal system; and transmitting the transmitted customer support information to the customer terminal system. 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of displaying. 8. A customer terminal system carried by a customer in a store, and a server system communicable with the customer terminal system, wherein the customer terminal system displays customer support information received from the server system. And means for reading a barcode attached to the product, and means for transmitting the information of the read barcode to the server system, wherein the server system is used for various products handled in the store. Means for holding barcode information and various customer support information corresponding to various barcode information, respectively, and the customer terminal system according to the barcode information received from the customer terminal system. Means for transmitting to a customer support system. 9. A step of receiving information of a barcode attached to a product selected by the customer, which is read by a customer terminal system carried by the customer in the store; A customer support method comprising: transmitting customer support information according to information to the customer terminal system; and displaying the transmitted customer support information on the customer terminal system. 10. A customer terminal system carried by a customer in a store, and a server system communicable with the customer terminal system, wherein the customer terminal system displays customer support information received from the server system. Means for inputting customer identification information, and means for transmitting the input identification information to the server system, wherein the server system provides various purchase supports corresponding to various customer identification information. A customer support system comprising: means for holding information; and means for transmitting customer support information corresponding to the identification information received from the customer terminal system to the customer terminal system. 11. A step of receiving identification information of the customer input to a customer terminal system carried by a customer in a store, and providing the customer support information corresponding to the identification information received from the customer terminal system to the customer. A customer support method comprising: transmitting to a terminal system; and displaying the transmitted customer support information on the customer terminal system.