JP2009048523A - Pos terminal and method for counting customers using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide POS terminals for precisely counting customers paying money by a plurality of POS terminals in a store, and a method for counting customers using the POS terminals. <P>SOLUTION: Customer data for identifying a customer is acquired by a customer data input section 21 and stored in a customer database 22. The customer paying money is identified with a customer who has already paid money by a customer identification section 23 referring to the customer data in the customer database 22. In addition, the same customer is invalidated by a counted customer invalidating section 24, and only an unidentified new customer is counted as the number of customers, and the accumulated number of customers is counted by a customer counting section 25. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a POS terminal and a customer counting method using the POS terminal, and more particularly to a POS terminal that counts the number of customers for customer management in a store such as a large retail store or a restaurant, and a customer counting method using the POS terminal.

  POS (Point of Sales) terminals are suitable for customer management, merchandise management, inventory management, etc. because various information can be acquired and managed in real time at the time of accounting processing, so department stores, convenience stores (convenience stores), It is widely used in drug stores, mass merchandise stores such as home appliances, restaurants, gas stations and other various stores, and is used for customer management, product management and inventory management. Now, it is impossible or extremely difficult to manage such a store without a POS terminal.

  Conventional examples of POS terminals or electronic cash registers are disclosed in various technical documents (for example, see Patent Document 1). Such a prior art will be briefly described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of the above-described conventional electronic money registration system (POS terminal). The electronic money registration system 100 is composed of a master unit 110 and a plurality of (two in the illustrated example) slave units 120 and 130, and the master unit 110 and the slave units 120 and 130 are mutually connected by a communication cable 140 or the like. It is connected.

  The master unit 110 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 111, a ROM (read only memory) 112, a RAM (random access memory) 113, an input / output interface 114, a keyboard 115, a display device 116, a printer 117, a drawer 118, and a communication connection. A terminal 119 is provided. The RAM 113 includes a total customer number record unit 113a, a master unit individual handling customer number record unit 113b, a slave unit individual handling customer number record unit 113c, 113d, and a special receipt issuance condition setting unit 113e.

  In the base unit 110 shown in FIG. 3, the ROM 112 and the RAM 113 are directly connected to the CPU 111. On the other hand, the keyboard 115, the display device 116, the printer 117, the drawer 118, and the communication connection terminal 119 are connected to the CPU 111 via the input / output interface 114. Each of the slave units 120 and 130 includes RAMs 121 and 131, respectively. Further, the RAMs 121 and 131 include individual handling customer number record parts 122 and 132, respectively.

  Here, the CPU 111 controls the operation of each unit. The ROM 112 stores programs and data that cause the CPU 111 to perform predetermined operations. The RAM 113 stores or stores various data for performing a predetermined operation. The input / output interface 114 interconnects the various components 115 to 119 and the CPU 114 described above. The keyboard 115 is operated by the user to input various data and various instructions. The display device 116 displays various data and manages a man-machine interface between the user and the CPU 111. The printer 117 prints (or prints) and issues a receipt or the like at the time of transaction processing. The drawer 118 stores various banknotes and coins received from the customer in the accounting process or handed over to the customer as change. The communication connection terminal 119 is an input / output terminal for communication signals between the parent device 110 and the child devices 120 and 130 via the communication cable 140.

Next, the operation of the electronic money registration system 100 shown in FIG. 3 will be briefly described. In the RAM 113 of the parent device 110, the number of customers handled in the accounting process by the parent device 110 and the child devices 120 and 130 is recorded in the individual handling customer number record portion 113b and the individual handling customer number record portions 113c and 113d for the slave device, respectively. / Store and record / store the total number of customers in the total customer number record section 113a. When the number of customers recorded / stored in the total number of customers record section 113a reaches the number of customers set in advance in the store which is the setting condition of the special receipt issuance condition setting section 113e, for example, 100,000 people, Issue a special receipt to the customer. This special receipt is, for example, a significant discount (discount) on the purchase amount of the customer, provision of a special bonus (money, gift certificate, etc.), and the like.
JP-A-5-290280 (page 3, FIG. 1)

  In the conventional POS terminal as disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, the number of customers is counted (or counted) for each accounting process. However, in POS terminals installed in many stores that have introduced POS terminals, especially large stores such as department stores and mass-market stores of home appliances, customers use a number of slave units connected to the master unit. It is common to perform the accounting process. For example, when purchasing shoes at the sales floor on the first floor, purchasing clothes at the sales floor on the third floor, and further purchasing food at the underground food sales floor, the POS terminal counts as three customers for each accounting process.

  When the number of customers is counted for each accounting process as described above, there is a doubt about the accuracy or reliability of statistical data such as the number of effective (actually purchased products) customers in the store and the amount of product purchased per customer. In addition, as described above, when issuing a special receipt for the specific cumulative number of customers, there is a problem that accuracy may be impaired in the determination.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and provides a POS terminal capable of solving or reducing the above-described problems by obtaining accurate customer number data and a customer counting method using the POS terminal. The purpose is to do.

  The POS terminal of the present invention and the customer counting method using the POS terminal employ the following characteristic configuration.

  The POS terminal of the present invention is a POS terminal having customer counting means for counting the number of customers in a predetermined period by counting the number of customers at the time of accounting processing for the customer, and a customer identification means for identifying the customer, And a customer counting invalidating means for invalidating the counting of the customer counting means during the second and subsequent accounting processes by the same customer identified by the customer identifying means.

  A customer counting method using a POS terminal according to the present invention is a method for obtaining a cumulative number of customers using a POS terminal having a plurality of POS terminals that perform customer accounting processing, and identifies customers during accounting processing. A customer data acquisition step for acquiring customer data, a customer database creation step for registering the acquired customer data in a customer database, a customer identity determination step for determining the identity of a customer being accounted for with reference to the customer database, And a customer count invalidation step for invalidating the count of the customer when it is determined that the customer is the same customer.

  According to the POS terminal and the customer counting method using the POS terminal according to the present invention, the following practical effects can be obtained. In other words, even if one customer (that is, the same customer) makes a purchase at another store in the store and performs accounting for multiple times, the customer is determined to be one customer as long as the customer is the same, and double or triple. Thus, it is possible to obtain a POS terminal capable of accurately counting the number of customers and avoiding a plurality of customers, and a customer counting method using the POS terminal. Therefore, it is possible to improve the accuracy of statistical processing according to the present invention, and it can be effectively used for various events and campaigns in stores.

  In addition, means for this purpose is addition of customer identification means and customer count invalidation means (operation buttons, etc.), which can be realized easily and inexpensively. Furthermore, it is possible to easily modify the existing POS terminal by adding such means by software, for example.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a POS terminal and a customer counting method using the same will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a preferred embodiment of a POS terminal according to the present invention. In particular, FIG. 1A is a simplified block diagram showing the overall configuration of the POS terminal 10 according to the present invention, and FIG. 1B shows the function of the cumulative customer counting unit added to the parent device of the POS terminal 10. It is a block diagram.

  The POS terminal 10 according to the present invention includes, for example, a master unit 20 installed in a headquarter (or center) in a store and a plurality of slave units (hereinafter referred to as POS terminals) connected to the master unit 20 through a wired or wireless communication line. ) 30a-30n. The POS terminal 30 is an accounting processing unit (registration corner) in the store, and is arranged for each product group such as food, shoes, cosmetics, clothing, stationery, furniture, and miscellaneous goods.

  Each POS terminal 30 is similar to a conventional POS terminal in that an input operation unit (a plurality of keys, a bar code or an IC tag reading unit) by a store clerk, a display device (for example, an LCD panel), a receipt issuing printer, and various banknotes. And a drawer for storing coins. Further, as will be described later, each slave unit 30 includes customer count invalidating means (hereinafter referred to as a customer count invalid button) when the same customer performs accounting processing a plurality of times within a predetermined time on the same day. .

  A store clerk operating the POS terminal 30 for customer accounting processing inputs customer information that identifies the customer by a member card or credit card during the customer accounting processing. Only when it is determined that the customer specified here is a new customer who has not been accounted for by other POS terminals 30 in the store within approximately the same time on the same day, the customer in the main unit 20 as a customer Record / store in number management memory. On the other hand, when it is determined that the customer has already performed the accounting process at another POS terminal 30, the customer count invalid button described above is operated to invalidate the customer count and do not count the customer.

  Next, the cumulative customer counting unit of the POS terminal 10 according to the present invention will be described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG. The cumulative customer counting unit is provided separately in the parent device 20 and the POS terminal 30 of the POS terminal 10.

  The cumulative customer counting unit includes a customer data input unit 21, a customer database 22, an identical customer determination unit 23, a customer count invalid operation unit 24, and a customer count unit 25. It is assumed that the customer of this store can be identified at least at the time of accounting processing by a member card, an identification card distributed to the customer at the time of admission and the like.

  The customer data input unit 21 includes the customer name and customer number for identifying the customer as described above together with the data related to the customer (customer data) at the time of accounting processing, that is, the product name, quantity, price, etc. relating to the product purchased by the customer. (Member card member number), credit card name or member identification number, etc. are acquired. Note that the merchandise information related to the merchandise purchased by the customer input from the customer data input unit 21 is used for normal accounting processing of the POS terminal.

  The customer database 22 is a semiconductor memory such as a RAM or a hard disk device (HDD) that stores customer data of the store. This customer database 22 is updated, for example, every business day, and customer data once registered is also updated at predetermined time intervals. That is, referring to the standard time for shopping, meals and other purposes in the store, for example, about 2-3 hours, the registered customer is deleted from the customer database 22 when this predetermined time has passed. On the other hand, when a new customer (a customer who has not yet been accounted for in the store) is input from the customer data input unit 21, it is registered in the customer database 22.

  The same customer determination unit 23 determines whether or not the customer input from the customer data input unit 21 is a customer registered in the customer database 22, in other words, whether or not the customer performs accounting processing for the second time or later in the store. Judge whether or not. The customer count invalid operation unit 24 is, for example, the above-described customer count invalid button provided in each POS terminal 30. The customer counting unit 25 counts and stores the total number of customers based on information from the customer data input unit 21 and the customer count invalid operation unit 24.

  The customer counting unit 25 counts the number of customers as described above, and is at least one of the total number of customers for each business day and a specific business day (for example, business start date, first day of settlement date, beginning of month, start of specific campaign, etc.) Record and store the total number of customers. In the store, a predetermined statistical process or a special receipt issuance is performed using the cumulative number of customers stored in the customer counting unit 25.

  Next, a preferred embodiment of the method for counting the number of customers using the POS terminal according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a customer counting method using the POS terminal 10 shown in FIG.

  First, a customer who has purchased a product in the store goes to the cashier corner, and a store clerk performs customer accounting processing at any of the plurality of POS terminals 30 (step S1). At the time of this customer accounting process, customer data, which is personal data for specifying the customer, is acquired electrically, magnetically, or by a key input operation by a store clerk (step S2). The customer data acquired here is input to the customer database to register the customer data or create the customer database (step S3). Each customer data registered in the customer database is updated as appropriate. The update of the customer database is performed every business day, for example, and is deleted and updated after a predetermined time set by each store (for example, 2 hours from registration).

  Next, the customer data in the customer database is referred to based on the customer data of the customer under accounting processing acquired in step S2 (step S4), and the customer identity of whether or not they are the same customer is determined (step S5). That is, it is determined whether or not the customer being accounted for is the same customer as that already accounted (registered in the customer database).

  If it is determined in step S5 that they are the same customer (step S5: Y), a customer count invalidation process for invalidating the customer count is performed (step S6). On the other hand, when it is determined that they are not the same customer (step S5: N), the customer counting process is performed as usual (step S7). The customer counting process (step S7) preferably includes, for example, short-term customer count data for each business day and long-term customer count data from the beginning of the year, the beginning of the month, the beginning of the month, or a specific campaign start time. In this customer counting process, business day data and customer number data for each business day are obtained, and based on these data, the total number of customers within a desired period of time by a CPU (central processing unit) provided in the POS terminal. May be requested.

  The preferred embodiments of the POS terminal according to the present invention and the customer counting method using the same have been described in detail. However, it should be noted that such examples are merely illustrative of the invention and do not limit the invention in any way. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that various modifications and changes can be made in accordance with a specific application without departing from the gist and spirit of the present invention.

  The POS terminal according to the present invention and the customer counting method using the POS terminal can be applied to various store accounting devices. In particular, a large-scale store having a plurality of sales floors and a cash register corner, a composite store that handles many different types of products. When calculating the exact number of customers at stores, shopping centers, shopping malls, etc., when implementing a campaign that gives benefits when the number of customers at these stores reaches a specific cumulative number, for each specific number of customers This is particularly suitable when a specific discount is implemented.

1 shows a configuration of a POS terminal according to the present invention, (A) is a schematic block diagram showing an overall configuration, and (B) is a functional block diagram of a cumulative customer number counting unit. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a preferred embodiment of a customer counting method using a POS terminal according to the present invention. It is a block diagram of the conventional electronic cash register.

Explanation of symbols

10 POS terminal 20 Master unit (main unit)
30 Slave unit (POS terminal)
21 Customer Data Input Unit 22 Customer Database 23 Same Customer Determination Unit 24 Customer Count Invalidation Unit 25 Customer Counting Unit 100 Electronic Money Registration System 110 Master Unit 111 CPU
112 ROM
113 RAM
113a Total customer number record part 113b Individual handling customer number record part 113c, 113d for master unit Individual handling customer number record part 113e for slave unit Special receipt issue condition setting part 114 Input interface 115 Keyboard 116 Display device 117 Printer 118 Drawer 119 Communication connection terminal 120, 130 Slave unit 140 Communication cable

Claims (7)

In a POS terminal having customer counting means for counting the number of customers in a predetermined period by counting the number of customers during accounting for the customer,
Customer identification means for identifying a customer; and customer count invalidation means for invalidating the count of the customer counting means during the second and subsequent accounting processes by the same customer identified by the customer identification means. POS terminal.   2. The POS terminal according to claim 1, wherein the customer identification means uses a member number of the customer's member card or credit card read at the time of the accounting process.   3. The POS terminal according to claim 1, wherein the customer count invalidation unit is configured by a customer count invalidation button operable by a store clerk performing the accounting process.   The customer count invalidating means determines whether or not the customer is accounting within a predetermined period set in advance during the accounting process, and automatically performs the customer count invalidating process in the previous period. The POS terminal according to 1 or 2. In a customer counting method using a POS terminal that uses a POS terminal having a plurality of POS terminals that perform customer accounting processing to obtain a cumulative number of customers,
A customer data acquisition step of acquiring customer data for identifying the customer during accounting processing;
A customer database creation step of registering the acquired customer data in a customer database;
A customer identity determination step of determining the identity of the customer during the accounting process with reference to the customer database;
A customer counting method using a POS terminal, comprising: a customer counting invalidating step of invalidating the counting of the customer when it is determined that the same customer.   6. The customer counting method using a POS terminal according to claim 5, further comprising an updating step of updating each customer data in the customer database at predetermined time intervals.   7. The customer counting method using a POS terminal according to claim 5 or 6, wherein a member number of the customer or a credit card is used as customer data for identifying the customer.

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