Information processing device, program and information processing method

Abstract

To provide an information processing device, program and information processing method that, when an address-free gift service function is introduced at an EC site, can manage gift purchase information for inventory management of products as gifts in an address-free gift service.SOLUTION: An information processing device (2) includes: a settlement screen transmission unit (221) that upon acquiring gift purchase operation information indicating that a purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation from a purchaser terminal (3) displaying an EC site on the basis of HTML data in which a script tag including EC site information representing the EC site is embedded, transmits display information of a settlement screen for the purchaser to perform a settlement operation on the purchaser terminal (3) to the purchaser terminal; and an inventory management unit (222) that, upon receiving the settlement operation information indicating that a settlement operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal, outputs gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing on a product as a gift purchased from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, a program, and an information processing method. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, sales of various products using EC (Electronic Commerce) sites have become more common. Products sold on EC sites are sometimes purchased as gifts and delivered to recipients other than the purchaser. When purchasing a gift, the purchaser enters the recipient's name and address into the EC site. Incidentally, Patent Document 1 describes an electronic gift service in which a user can purchase a digital ticket that can be used at restaurants, distribution stores, retail stores, etc., and give it to a recipient using a social network service (SNS). The user can select and purchase an electronic gift from a web page for selecting an electronic gift that is displayed on the user terminal. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-111106 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] For buyers who use e-commerce sites to purchase various products, a service that allows them to purchase physically present products and have them sent to recipients whose addresses the buyers themselves do not know (hereinafter referred to as "address-free gift services") would be even more convenient. In address-free gift services, for example, information indicating the receipt page required for receiving the product is issued to the purchaser of a gift product, and the purchaser sends this information to the recipient by any method, such as social media or email, and the recipient uses this information to access the receipt page and enters the necessary information, such as their address, to receive the product.

[0005] When an operator of an e-commerce site (hereinafter referred to as "e-commerce site operator") introduces such an address-free gift service to promote products, it is expected that the operator will not create all of the functions required for the address-free gift service himself, but will instead obtain those functions from an external address-free gift service provider.

[0006] As mentioned above, when introducing address-free gift service functions to e-commerce sites, there has traditionally been a problem in that there has been no technology available to manage information about products purchased as gifts (hereinafter referred to as "gift purchase information") separately from information about regular purchased products in order to manage inventory of products used as gifts in address-free gift services.

[0007] The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problem and to provide an information processing device, program, and information processing method that can manage gift purchase information for inventory management of products used as gifts in an address-free gift service when the address-free gift service function is introduced on an e-commerce site. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The information processing device of the present invention is an information processing device for providing an EC site with the function of a service (address-free gift service) that allows a purchaser who purchases a product as a gift from an EC site to give a gift to a recipient whose address is unknown, and is equipped with a payment screen sending unit that, when gift purchase operation information indicating that a purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation is obtained from a purchaser terminal that displays the EC site based on HTML (HyperText Markup Language) data embedded with script tags including EC site information indicating the EC site, sends display information of a payment screen for the purchaser to perform a payment operation on the purchaser terminal to the purchaser terminal, and an inventory management unit that, when payment operation information indicating that a payment operation has been performed is obtained from the purchaser terminal, outputs gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing of products purchased as gifts from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] When the information processing device of the present invention acquires gift purchase operation information indicating that a purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation from a purchaser terminal that displays an EC site based on HTML data embedded with script tags including EC site information indicating the EC site, it sends display information for a payment screen for the purchaser to perform a payment operation on the purchaser terminal to the purchaser terminal, and when it acquires payment operation information indicating that a payment operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal, it can output gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing of products purchased as gifts from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag. Therefore, when an e-commerce site introduces a function for an address-free gift service, the information processing device according to the present invention can manage gift purchase information for inventory management of gifts in the address-free gift service. That is, with the information processing device according to the present invention, the gift purchase information can be managed by, for example, the operator of the e-commerce site simply embedding the script tag described above in HTML for displaying the e-commerce site. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing system according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing device according to a first embodiment. [Figure 3] 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration for realizing the functions of an information processing device according to a first embodiment. [Figure 4] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating an example of a product page and a payment screen. [Figure 5] 4 is a sequence diagram showing a process performed when purchasing a product in the information processing system according to the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 6] 4 is a sequence diagram showing a process performed when receiving a product in the information processing system according to the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 7] 3 is a flowchart showing an information processing method according to the first embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Embodiment 1 (Information Processing System) Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an information processing system 1 according to the first embodiment. In Fig. 1, the information processing system 1 is a system in which an information processing device 2, a purchaser terminal 3, an EC server 4, an inventory management EC system 5, and a recipient terminal 6 are connected via a network 7. An existing telecommunications line can be used as the network 7. The network 7 includes, for example, the Internet.

[0012] (Outline of information processing device) The information processing device 2 is an information processing device for providing the function of the address-free gift service to an EC site. When the information processing device 2 acquires gift purchase operation information indicating that a purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation from the purchaser terminal 3 that displays the EC site based on HTML data embedded with a script tag including EC site information indicating the EC site, the information processing device 2 transmits to the purchaser terminal 3 display information for a payment screen that enables the purchaser to perform payment operations on the purchaser terminal 3. In addition, when the information processing device 2 acquires payment operation information indicating that a payment operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal 3, it outputs gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing of products purchased as gifts from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag.

[0013] As an example, the following describes a case where the information processing device 2 is an information processing device for providing the function of an address-free gift service to an EC site that uses an inventory management EC system 5, the script tag includes EC site information indicating the EC site and is further linked to inventory management EC system information indicating the inventory management EC system 5, and when the information processing device 2 obtains payment operation information indicating that a payment operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal 3, it accesses the inventory management EC system 5 indicated by the inventory management EC system information linked to the script tag and performs inventory management processing of the product as a gift on the inventory management EC system 5. In this case, the information processing device 2 outputs, to the inventory management EC system 5, gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing of the product purchased as a gift from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag.

[0014] The information processing device 2 is owned, managed, or operated by an external address-free gift service function provider that provides the functions required for the address-free gift service to the EC site operator. The information processing device 2 also provides the functions required for the address-free gift service to one or more EC sites. The memory unit 23 (described later) of the information processing device 2 stores one or more EC site IDs, as described later, and also stores, linked to each EC site ID, for example, the inventory management EC system ID of the inventory management EC system 5 used by the EC site, information formats for various processes used for API (Application Programming Interface) integration according to the inventory management EC system 5, and target product information indicating which of one or more products sold on the EC site are eligible for the address-free gift service. The storage unit 23 also stores gift purchase information relating to products purchased as gifts from the EC site indicated by each EC site ID, in association with the EC site ID. Here, the gift purchase information is information for performing inventory management processing for products as gifts. The gift information includes, for example, information identifying the purchaser (purchaser ID), information identifying the products purchased as gifts (product ID), the number of products purchased, the date and time the products were purchased (purchase date and time), information indicating whether or not receipt information has been obtained, or receipt information, all of which will be described later.

[0015] The information processing device 2 is, for example, a computer such as a server, etc. Note that the information processing device 2 may be physically configured as one computer or may be configured as multiple computers. The information processing device 2 will be described in detail later.

[0016] (Purchaser's device) The purchaser terminal 3 is a terminal device used by a purchaser who uses the EC site to purchase products. The purchaser terminal 3 is a terminal device that can communicate with the information processing device 2 and the EC server 4 via the network 7, and is, for example, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or a PC (Personal Computer). The purchaser terminal 3 is equipped with an input device and a display device (not shown). The information processing system 1 has one or more purchaser terminals 3. Only one purchaser terminal 3 is shown in FIG.

[0017] In response to an operation from a purchaser, the purchaser terminal 3 can transmit request information requesting data for displaying, for example, the top page of the EC site or product pages related to one or more products to the EC server 4. Upon receiving the request information from the purchaser terminal 3, the EC server 4 transmits data for displaying a page corresponding to the request information to the purchaser terminal 3. Furthermore, for example, in response to an operation performed by a purchaser on a product page, the purchaser terminal 3 can transmit information for starting the product purchase procedure to the information processing device 2. When the information processing device 2 acquires this information from the purchaser terminal 3, it performs processing according to the acquired information.

[0018] (EC server) The EC server 4 is a computer that functions as a web server and stores data for displaying an EC site. In other words, the EC server 4 can be said to be a web server that provides an EC site. In this example, the EC site provided by the EC server 4 is an EC site that uses the inventory management EC system 5. In other words, the EC site provided by the EC server 4 is an EC site that uses the inventory management function provided by the inventory management EC system 5.

[0019] The EC site provided by the EC server 4 is an EC site that has the address-free gift service function installed. In other words, one or more products sold on this EC site usually include at least one product that is eligible for the address-free gift service. In this specification, "EC site" means an EC site that sells at least one product that is eligible for the address-free gift service.

[0020] (script tag) The data for displaying an EC site is written at least in HTML, and may be written in HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Hereinafter, data for displaying an EC site that is written at least in HTML will also be referred to simply as "HTML data." A script tag containing EC site information is embedded in HTML data for displaying an EC site. The EC site information is information that indicates the EC site, in other words, information that can identify the EC site. In this example, where the EC site uses an inventory management EC system 5, the script tag is linked to inventory management EC system information that indicates one or more inventory management EC systems 5 used by the EC site. The program or script written in the script tag is typically written in JavaScript (registered trademark).

[0021] In this specification, the term "script tag" refers to a script tag that includes EC site information as described above, and also includes a program or script written within the script tag. Script tags also include the description of various commands as programs or scripts, as described below. "Commands written in script tags" include not only commands written directly within script tags, but also commands written in external script files (e.g., external JavaScript files) that are loaded by commands written in script tags.

[0022] The script tag includes, as EC site information, for example, a description of an ID unique to each EC site (hereinafter referred to as an "EC site ID"). The storage unit 23 of the information processing device 2 stores, as inventory management EC system information linked to the EC site ID, an ID unique to the inventory management EC system 5 used by the EC site indicated by the EC site ID (hereinafter referred to as an "inventory management EC system ID"). In this way, the script tag is linked to the inventory management EC system information via, for example, the EC site ID.

[0023] The script tag is created by the provider of the address-free gift service function and passed to the e-commerce site operator. When the e-commerce site operator wants to introduce the address-free gift service on their e-commerce site, they pass, for example, the URL of their e-commerce site to the provider of the address-free gift service function by any method. In this example, where the EC site uses the inventory management EC system 5, the EC site operator provides information about the inventory management EC system 5 used by the EC site to the provider of the address-free gift service function by any method. In this case, the information about the inventory management EC system 5 includes at least information identifying which inventory management EC system 5 is the inventory management EC system (such as the name of the system).

[0024] The provider of the address-free gift service function generates, for example, the aforementioned EC site ID as EC site information, links it to the URL of the EC site, etc., and stores it in the storage unit 23 of the information processing device 2, and also creates a script tag including the EC site information (EC site ID) and passes the created script tag to the EC site operator by any method. Hereinafter, the EC site information will be assumed to be the EC site ID. Furthermore, in this example where the EC site uses the inventory management EC system 5, the provider of the address-free gift service function generates an inventory management EC system ID, which is information specific to the inventory management EC system, and associates the generated inventory management EC system ID with the EC site ID included in the script tag and stores it in the storage unit 23 of the information processing device 2. The provider of the address-free gift service function associates the information format and the like used for API linkage with the inventory management EC system used by the EC site with the EC site ID included in the script tag and stores it in the storage unit 23 of the information processing device 2. The reason for storing the information format and the like in the storage unit 23 in this way is because the information format and the like used for API linkage may differ depending on the inventory management EC system.

[0025] The EC site operator embeds the script tag received from the address-free gift service function provider in HTML data for displaying one or more product pages on his / her EC site. In addition, the EC site operator will provide the provider of the address-free gift service function with information indicating one or more products that are eligible for the address-free gift service, from among one or more products sold on the EC site, (hereinafter referred to as "eligible product information"), by any method. The eligible product information will include at least a unique ID (hereinafter referred to as "product ID") for each product as information to identify each product. The target product information passed to the provider of the address-free gift service function is linked to the EC site ID and stored in the storage unit 23 of the information processing device 2. The EC site operator may operate his / her own terminal (not shown) for managing the EC site to access the information processing device 2 and register the target product information.

[0026] The browser of the purchaser terminal 3 displays the EC site based on the HTML data with embedded script tags acquired from the EC server 4. More specifically, the browser of the purchaser terminal 3 displays the product page on the EC site based on the above-mentioned HTML data. When the browser displays a product page or when the purchaser performs a predetermined operation on the displayed product page, the purchaser terminal 3 can access the information processing device 2 in accordance with the command written in the script tag. Note that the command written in the script tag also includes a command written in an external script file (e.g., an external JavaScript file) that is loaded by the command written in the script tag.

[0027] The information processing device 2, accessed from the browser of the purchaser terminal 3 in accordance with the commands of the script tag, can display information related to the address-free gift service on the browser of the purchaser terminal 3 in cooperation with the inventory management EC system 5 indicated by the inventory management EC system information linked to the script tag depending on the situation. In this way, the EC site can access the information processing device 2 via the script tag embedded in the HTML data, and receive from the information processing device 2 the functions necessary for the address-free gift service.

[0028] (Inventory management EC system) The inventory management EC system 5 is a system that provides at least an inventory management function to an EC site. The inventory management EC system 5 includes one or more servers that are used to provide the inventory management function to the EC site. An example of an inventory management EC system is a cart system or an OMS (Order Management System). 1 shows only one inventory management EC system 5. However, the information processing system 1 may include multiple types of inventory management EC systems 5 that are different from each other. The inventory management EC system 5 may provide the EC site with functions other than the inventory management function in addition to the inventory management function.

[0029] (Recipient's terminal) The recipient terminal 6 is a terminal device used by the recipient who receives the product purchased as a gift by the purchaser. The recipient terminal 6 is a terminal device that can communicate with the information processing device 2 via the network 7, and is, for example, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or a PC. The recipient terminal 6 is equipped with an input device and a display device (not shown). 1 shows only one recipient terminal 6. However, the information processing system 1 may have a plurality of recipient terminals 6.

[0030] In response to an operation from the recipient, the recipient terminal 6 can transmit request information requesting data for displaying a receipt page for receiving a product as a gift to the information processing device 2. When the information processing device 2 acquires the request information from the recipient terminal 6, it transmits data for displaying a page corresponding to the request information to the recipient terminal 6. Furthermore, the recipient terminal 6 can, for example, receive an operation performed by the recipient on the receiving page and transmit receiving information, which is information for receiving the product, to the information processing device 2. The receiving information includes, for example, information indicating the recipient's name, information indicating the desired date and time of receipt, and information specifying the place where the product should be received, such as the recipient's address. When the information processing device 2 acquires the receiving information etc. from the recipient terminal 6, it performs processing according to the acquired information.

[0031] (Details of information processing device) The information processing device 2 will be described in more detail below. As shown in FIG. The communication unit 21 communicates with the purchaser terminal 3, the inventory management EC system 5, or the recipient terminal 6 via the network 7. For example, the communication unit 21 can communicate via the network 7 with the purchaser terminal 3 or the recipient terminal 6 that is capable of mobile communication using a communication method such as LTE, 3G, 4G, or 5G. The calculation unit 22 controls the overall operation of the information processing device 2. The calculation unit 22 includes a payment screen transmission unit 221, an inventory management unit 222, an object confirmation unit 223, an order processing unit 224, and an inventory confirmation unit 225. When the calculation unit 22 executes the address-free gift service provision program, the functions of the payment screen transmission unit 221, the inventory management unit 222, the object confirmation unit 223, the order processing unit 224, and the inventory confirmation unit 225 are realized.

[0032] The storage unit 23 stores, for example, an address-free gift service provision program and information used in the calculation processing of the calculation unit 22. The storage unit 23 is a storage device provided in a computer that functions as the information processing device 2, and includes storage such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or an SSD (Solid State Drive), or the memory 103 of FIG. 3. Note that the storage unit 23 may be provided outside the information processing device 2 as long as it is accessible by the information processing device 2.

[0033] 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration that realizes the functions of information processing device 2. For example, information processing device 2 has, as its hardware configuration, a communication interface 100, an input / output interface 101, a processor 102, and a memory 103. The functions of payment screen transmission unit 221, inventory management unit 222, target confirmation unit 223, order processing unit 224, and inventory confirmation unit 225 provided in information processing device 2 are realized by executing an address-free gift service provision program in this hardware configuration.

[0034] The communication interface 100 outputs data received from various external devices via the network 7 to the processor 102, and transmits data generated by the processor 102 to the purchaser terminal 3, the inventory management EC system 5, or the recipient terminal 6 via the network 7. The processor 102 reads and writes data from and to the memory unit 23 via the input / output interface 101.

[0035] Processor 102 reads out the address-free gift service provision program stored in storage unit 23 via input / output interface 101, loads it into memory 103, and executes the address-free gift service provision program loaded into memory 103. In this way, processor 102 realizes the functions of payment screen transmission unit 221, inventory management unit 222, target confirmation unit 223, order processing unit 224, and inventory confirmation unit 225. The memory 103 is, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory).

[0036] (Payment screen sending section) When the payment screen sending unit 221 acquires gift purchase operation information indicating that the purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation from the purchaser terminal 3 that displays the EC site based on HTML data embedded with a script tag including EC site information indicating the EC site, the payment screen sending unit 221 sends to the purchaser terminal 3 display information for a payment screen that enables the purchaser to perform payment operations on the purchaser terminal 3. In this example, where the EC site uses an inventory management EC system 5, when the payment screen sending unit 221 receives gift purchase operation information indicating that the purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation from the purchaser terminal 3 that displays the EC site based on HTML data embedded with script tags linked to inventory management EC system information indicating the inventory management EC system 5, the payment screen sending unit 221 sends display information for a payment screen to the purchaser terminal 3 for the purchaser to perform payment operations on the purchaser terminal 3. When a purchaser operates the input device of purchaser terminal 3 to specify the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of an EC site, purchaser terminal 3 transmits request information requesting HTML data for displaying a product page of the EC site specified by the URL to EC server 4. Upon receiving the request information from purchaser terminal 3, EC server 4 transmits HTML data for displaying the product page of the EC site specified by the URL to purchaser terminal 3.

[0037] When the browser of the purchaser terminal 3 acquires the HTML data for displaying the product page from the EC server 4, it displays the product page of the EC site based on the HTML data. The product page displays, for example, an image of the product, the product name, the selling price of the product, and other product descriptions, as well as a button for purchasing the product as a gift (hereinafter referred to as the "gift purchase button"). The product page may also have buttons for increasing or decreasing the number of products that the purchaser wishes to purchase. Note that multiple products may be listed on one product page, and for example, a gift purchase button may be displayed for each product, but here we will assume that only one product is listed on one product page on the EC site.

[0038] When the purchaser operates the gift purchase button, the purchaser terminal 3 generates gift purchase operation information indicating that the purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation and transmits the generated gift purchase operation information to the information processing device 2 in accordance with the command written in the script tag. The gift purchase operation information may include, for example, information identifying the product to be purchased as a gift. The information identifying the product to be purchased as a gift may be, for example, the product ID of the product listed on the product page. The gift purchase operation information may also include information indicating the number of products to be purchased as gifts (hereinafter also referred to as the "purchase quantity"). The gift purchase operation information may also include the EC site ID written in the script tag. However, as described below, if the EC site ID is transmitted from the purchaser terminal 3 to the target confirmation unit 223 of the information processing device 2 when the product page is displayed, the gift purchase operation information does not need to include the EC site ID. In this case, the information processing device 2 may already obtain the EC site ID for the displayed product page or the EC site including that product page and store it in the storage unit 23.

[0039] The gift purchase operation information may also include information identifying the purchaser of the gift item. The information identifying the purchaser of the gift item may be, for example, a purchaser ID. The purchaser ID is set when a person who intends to purchase a product from an e-commerce site registers as a user of the e-commerce site. A person who wishes to purchase a product from an EC site performs user registration, for example, by operating the purchaser terminal 3. Information for user registration is transmitted from the purchaser terminal 3 to the EC server 4, and the EC server 4 performs user registration processing. Generally, the user's email address is registered as the ID identifying the user of the EC site, and the registered email address is used as the ID for logging in to the EC site (hereinafter referred to as the "login ID"). On the other hand, as the ID identifying the user of the EC site for use within the system including the EC server 4, a character string unique to each user, which is generated by the EC server 4 when the user is registered, is often used in addition to the registered email address. The purchaser ID may be the email address itself used as the login ID, or when an email address is registered as the login ID, it may be a character string generated by the EC server 4 as described above separately from the login ID. In the following description, the email address registered at the time of user registration is assumed to be the login ID, and the character string or the like generated by the EC server at the time of user registration is assumed to be the purchaser ID. In this case, the EC server 4 associates the login ID with the purchaser ID and stores them in a storage unit (not shown) accessible by the EC server 4.

[0040] When a purchaser (a user registered with the EC site) uses the purchaser terminal 3 to purchase a product, the purchaser enters a login ID into the purchaser terminal 3 to log in to the EC site. At that time, the purchaser terminal 3 transmits the login ID to the EC server 4. Upon acquiring the login ID, the EC server 4 can transmit the purchaser ID linked to the login ID to the purchaser terminal 3. When the purchaser performs a gift purchase operation, the purchaser terminal 3 can include the purchaser ID acquired from the EC server 4 as described above in gift purchase operation information and transmit this to the information processing device 2.

[0041] When the purchaser terminal 3 transmits the gift purchasing operation information to the information processing device 2, the payment screen transmitting unit 221 of the information processing device 2 acquires the gift purchasing operation information transmitted from the purchaser terminal 3. When the payment screen sending unit 221 acquires the gift purchase operation information, it sends to the purchaser terminal 3 display information for a payment screen that enables the purchaser to perform a payment operation on the purchaser terminal 3. When the purchaser terminal 3 acquires the display information for the payment screen, the purchaser terminal 3 displays the payment screen on the display device of the purchaser terminal 3. When the payment screen sending unit 221 acquires the gift purchase operation information sent from the purchaser terminal 3, the information processing device 2 generates an order number unique to the acquired gift purchase operation information, associates the generated order number with the gift purchase operation information, and stores the order number in the memory unit 23. In addition, the payment screen sending unit 221 sends the generated order number to the purchaser terminal 3 together with the display information of the payment screen or by including the order number in the display information of the payment screen.

[0042] The payment screen sending unit 221 may also acquire gift purchase operation information indicating that the purchaser operated the gift purchase button as a purchase operation from the purchaser terminal 3 that displayed the gift purchase button in the display mode specified by the script tag on the EC site. The script tag embedded in the HTML data for displaying a product page on an e-commerce site may contain instructions for displaying a gift purchase button on the product page while specifying its display mode, such as the shape and color of the gift purchase button displayed on the product page. The specific display format of the gift purchase button is communicated in advance by the EC site operator to the provider of the address-free gift service function, and is described in the script tag when the provider creates the script tag.

[0043] As described above, when a purchaser operates the gift purchase button displayed on the product page in the display format specified by the script tag, the purchaser terminal 3 generates gift purchase operation information and, in accordance with the command written in the script tag, transmits the generated gift purchase operation information to the information processing device 2. Then, the payment screen transmission unit 221 of the information processing device 2 acquires the gift purchase operation information transmitted from the purchaser terminal 3. In addition, the script tag may specify the display mode of display elements other than the gift purchase button on the product page, or may even specify the display element itself to be displayed.

[0044] (Inventory Management Department) When the inventory management unit 222 acquires payment operation information indicating that a payment operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal 3, it outputs gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing of the gift product purchased from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag. In this example, where the EC site uses an inventory management EC system 5, when the inventory management unit 222 obtains payment operation information indicating that a payment operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal 3, it accesses the inventory management EC system 5 indicated by the inventory management EC system information linked to the script tag and performs inventory management processing of the product as a gift on the inventory management EC system 5.

[0045] When the purchaser terminal 3 acquires the display information of the payment screen from the payment screen transmission unit 221, the payment screen displayed on the display device of the purchaser terminal 3 displays input fields for card information, such as an input field for the credit card number and an input field for the cardholder's name, as well as a button for confirming the purchase (hereinafter referred to as the "purchase confirmation button"). The payment screen may also display information about the product, such as the product name of the product to be purchased as a gift and the number of products the purchaser wishes to purchase. After the purchaser inputs card information on the payment screen, when the purchaser presses the purchase confirmation button, the purchaser terminal 3 generates payment operation information and transmits the generated payment operation information to the information processing device 2. The inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2 then acquires the payment operation information transmitted from the purchaser terminal 3. The payment operation information may include the order number as well as the card information input on the payment screen.

[0046] When the inventory management unit 222 acquires payment operation information from the purchaser terminal 3, it acquires, based on the order number included in the payment operation information, from the memory unit 23, the EC site ID included in the gift purchase operation information stored in association with the order number, or the EC site ID stored in the memory unit 23 when the product page was displayed. Then, based on the acquired EC site ID, it acquires, from the memory unit 23, the inventory management EC system ID (inventory management EC system information) stored in association with the EC site ID. In this process, the EC site ID that the inventory management unit 222 acquires from the storage unit 23 is, as described above, originally written in a script tag embedded in HTML data for displaying a product page. Therefore, in this process, the inventory management unit 222 acquires the inventory management EC system ID (inventory management EC system information) linked to the script tag via the EC site ID.

[0047] When the inventory management unit 222 acquires the inventory management EC system ID, it accesses the inventory management EC system 5 indicated by the acquired inventory management EC system ID and performs inventory management processing of the gift item on the inventory management EC system 5. In the inventory management process, the inventory management unit 222 performs a process (hereinafter referred to as the "subtraction process") of subtracting the number of purchased items from the inventory quantity of the items indicated by the item ID managed in the inventory management EC system 5 based on the item ID and the number of purchased items contained in the gift purchase operation information linked to the order number and stored in the memory unit 23.

[0048] When the inventory management unit 222 acquires the payment operation information, it may first perform the payment processing, and when the payment processing is completed, it may access the inventory management EC system 5 indicated by the inventory management EC system information linked to the script tag and perform a subtraction process for the inventory quantity of the product as a gift on the inventory management EC system 5. In this case, when the inventory management unit 222 acquires the payment operation information, it accesses an external payment system, for example, and performs payment processing using the card information and order number included in the acquired payment operation information. The payment processing by the payment system itself is a well-known technology, so a detailed explanation will be omitted. Note that when the above-mentioned payment processing is completed, the inventory management unit 222 sets the date and time when the payment was completed as the date and time when the gift product was purchased (hereinafter referred to as the "purchase date and time"), and stores information indicating the purchase date and time in the memory unit 23, linking it to the order number.

[0049] Upon completion of the payment process, the inventory management unit 222 may generate information indicating whether or not receipt information (described below) has been acquired, and store the information in the storage unit 23. The information indicating whether or not receipt information has been acquired is a flag indicating whether or not receipt information has been acquired, which has a value of "0" if receipt information has not been acquired, and a value of "1" if receipt information has been acquired. Immediately after completion of the payment process, since receipt information has not been acquired, a value of "0" is stored as the initial value of the information indicating whether or not receipt information has been acquired.

[0050] When the payment process is completed, the inventory management unit 222 accesses the inventory management EC system 5 as described above and performs a process of subtracting the stock quantity of the gift item on the inventory management EC system 5. When the inventory management EC system 5 has completed the subtraction of the stock quantity, it returns a notification to that effect to the information processing device 2.

[0051] The subtraction process by the inventory management unit 222 is a process for numerically reserving (allocating) the number of items in stock in preparation for later receipt of the item by the recipient. By performing the subtraction process, the number of items before the recipient receives the item is actually reserved as inventory, while the number of items before the recipient receives the item is subtracted from the inventory number in the inventory management EC system 5. This prevents a situation in which the actual inventory becomes insufficient due to another person purchasing the item. As will be described later, when the recipient subsequently receives the goods, the information processing device 2 (order processing unit 224) performs an addition process on the inventory management EC system 5 inversely, for the number of goods that the recipient will receive, thereby enabling the inventory management EC system 5 to accept orders for the number of goods that the recipient will receive.

[0052] In addition, when the subtraction process on the inventory management EC system 5 is successful, the inventory management unit 222 generates receiving page information indicating the receiving page that the recipient accesses to receive the product as a gift, and returns (sends) the generated receiving page information to the purchaser terminal 3. The inventory management unit 222 generates a receipt page unique to the order indicated by the order number. For example, a template for the receipt page is created in advance as a document written using HTML or the like and stored in the storage unit 23, and the inventory management unit 222 retrieves this template from the storage unit 23 to generate the receipt page. The inventory management unit 222 includes information about the product as information to be displayed on the receipt page. The inventory management unit 222 may also include information about the purchaser who is the sender of the gift as information to be displayed on the receipt page.

[0053] In addition, the inventory management unit 222 generates a URL unique to the receiving page as the receiving page information, and stores the generated URL in the storage unit 23 in association with the receiving page. The inventory management unit 222 can further store the receiving page in association with the order number in the storage unit 23. The inventory management unit 222 transmits the generated URL (receiving page information) to the purchaser terminal 3. When the purchaser terminal 3 acquires the URL from the inventory management unit 222, it displays on the display device, for example, information indicating that the purchase of the gift item has been completed due to the completion of payment, and also displays the acquired URL. The screen on which this information is displayed may also include the product name and quantity of the product purchased as a gift.

[0054] The inventory management unit 222 may further send an email to the purchaser's email address, notifying the purchaser that the product purchase has been completed and including the generated URL (receiving page information) in the body of the email. The inventory management unit 222 may use any method to obtain the purchaser's email address. For example, if the purchaser's email address is used as the login ID as described above, the purchaser terminal 3 can retain the email address entered as the login ID when logging in to the EC site, and include the email address in the gift purchase operation information or the payment operation information and send it to the information processing device 2. The information processing device 2 associates the email address with the order number and stores it in the storage unit 23, and when the inventory management unit 222 generates the above-mentioned URL, it can send the generated URL to that email address using the email address stored in association with the order number. Alternatively, for example, if the purchaser's email address is used as the purchaser ID and the information processing device 2 has already obtained the purchaser ID included in the gift purchase operation information, the inventory management unit 222 can generate the above-mentioned URL and send the generated URL to that email address using the email address as the purchaser ID included in the gift purchase operation information stored in association with the order number. Alternatively, for example, the payment screen may display an input field for inputting the purchaser's email address in addition to an input field for card information, and the purchaser can enter their own email address in that input field. The purchaser terminal 3 includes the purchaser's email address in the payment operation information and sends it to the information processing device 2. The information processing device 2 associates the email address included in the payment operation information with the order number and stores it in the storage unit 23, and the inventory management unit 222, upon generating the above-mentioned URL, can send the generated URL to that email address using the email address stored in association with the order number.

[0055] The inventory management unit 222 generates information for inventory management processing in cooperation with the inventory management EC system 5 (hereinafter referred to as "first cooperation information") based on the information format to be sent to the inventory management EC system 5 for inventory management processing, and sends the generated first cooperation information to the inventory management EC system 5. In the inventory management process, the inventory management unit 222 uses an information format for API linkage with the inventory management EC system 5, which is stored in the storage unit 23. In the inventory management process, the inventory management unit 222 acquires, based on the EC site ID, an information format for inventory management processing (hereinafter referred to as "information format for inventory management") from among information formats for various processes that are associated with the EC site ID and stored in the storage unit 23.

[0056] Upon acquiring the inventory management information format, the inventory management unit 222 generates first linkage information that can be used in API linkage with the inventory management EC system 5, based on the product ID and the number of purchased products included in the gift purchase operation information acquired from the purchaser terminal 3 and the inventory management information format acquired from the storage unit 23. The first linkage information is information that describes the product ID and the number of products in a predetermined position in the inventory management information format. After generating the first linking information, the inventory management unit 222 transmits the generated first linking information to the inventory management EC system 5. In other words, the inventory management unit 222 includes a product ID, which is information identifying the purchased gift product, and information indicating the number of the product, in the first linkage information and outputs the information to the inventory management EC system 5. In this case, the gift purchase information output by the inventory management unit 222 is information identifying the purchased gift product and the number of the product. The first cooperation information is information for "inventory management processing" in the narrow sense. As will be described later, "inventory management processing" in the broad sense may include processing performed by the inventory management unit 222 in cooperation with the inventory management EC system 5, or processing performed by the order processing unit 224 in cooperation with the inventory management EC system 5.

[0057] When there are multiple EC sites, the inventory management unit 222 generates first linkage information based on the inventory management information format corresponding to the inventory management EC system 5 used by each EC site, and transmits the generated first linkage information to the inventory management EC system 5. The information processing device 2 may provide address-free gift service functions to multiple e-commerce sites. The multiple e-commerce sites may be websites managed by a single e-commerce site operator, or may be websites managed by multiple different e-commerce site operators. The multiple e-commerce sites may each use a different inventory management e-commerce system.

[0058] When the information processing device 2 provides address-free gift service functions to multiple EC sites each using an inventory management EC system 5, the memory unit 23 stores information formats for various processes corresponding to the inventory management EC system 5 used by each EC site, linked to each EC site ID. Therefore, when there are multiple EC sites that each use the inventory management EC system 5, the inventory management unit 222 obtains from the memory unit 23 the inventory management information format stored in association with the EC site ID of each EC site, generates first linkage information based on the obtained inventory management information format, and transmits the generated first linkage information to the inventory management EC system 5.

[0059] (Target Confirmation Department) When the target confirmation unit 223 receives product page display information from the purchaser terminal 3 indicating that a product page on the EC site has been displayed, it performs a target confirmation process to confirm whether the product on the product page is eligible for the service (address-free gift service), and by sending the results of the target confirmation process to the purchaser terminal 3, it causes a gift purchase button to be displayed on the purchaser terminal 3 if the product is eligible for the service. The browser of the purchaser terminal 3 acquires HTML data for displaying a product page from the EC server 4, and when displaying the product page of the EC site based on the HTML data, generates product page display information in accordance with the commands written in the script tags and transmits it to the information processing device 2. The product page display information includes the product ID of the product listed on the product page. The product page display information may also include an EC site ID in addition to the product ID. In this case, upon acquiring the product page display information, the information processing device 2 stores the EC site ID included in the product page display information in the memory unit 23. This allows the information processing device 2 to identify which EC site the process relates to by the EC site ID, for example, at least while the process related to the EC site currently displayed on the display device of the purchaser terminal 3 continues.

[0060] When the target confirmation unit 223 of the information processing device 2 acquires the product page display information transmitted from the purchaser terminal 3, it accesses the memory unit 23 and searches for target product information including the product ID based on the product ID included in the acquired product page display information. As described above, the target product information is information indicating one or more products that the EC site operator has designated as eligible for the address-free gift service, from among one or more products on his or her own EC site. The target confirmation unit 223 of the information processing device 2 may access the memory unit 23 and, based on the product ID included in the acquired product page display information, search for target product information including the product ID stored in association with the EC site ID included in the acquired product page display information. If the search result shows that there is target product information including the product ID included in the product page display information, the target confirmation unit 223 can confirm that the product indicated by the product ID is a target product for the address-free gift service. Also, if the search result shows that there is no target product information including the product ID included in the product page display information, the target confirmation unit 223 can confirm that the product indicated by the product ID is not a target product for the address-free gift service.

[0061] After the target confirmation unit 223 performs the target confirmation process, it transmits the result of the target confirmation process to the purchaser terminal 3. When the purchaser terminal 3 acquires the result of the target confirmation process from the target confirmation unit 223, it determines whether or not the product listed on the product page displayed based on the HTML data is eligible for the address-free gift service, based on the acquired result of the target confirmation process. If the purchaser terminal 3 determines that the product listed on the product page is eligible for the address-free gift service, it displays a gift purchase button on the product page. Furthermore, if the purchaser terminal 3 determines that the product listed on the product page is not eligible for the service, it does not display the gift purchase button on the product page. If a product listed on the product page is not eligible for the address-free gift service, the product will be delivered to the purchaser after purchase by a known method, or the purchaser will input the recipient's address and the product will be delivered to the recipient. Such products will be referred to as "regular products" hereinafter. Furthermore, if a product listed on a product page is eligible for the address-free gift service, the product may be sold both as a regular product and as a product eligible for the address-free gift service. In this case, in addition to the gift purchase button, a purchase button for purchasing the product as a regular product may also be displayed on the product page. However, the following description of the purchase button for purchasing the product as a regular product will be omitted, including illustrations.

[0062] (Order Processing Department) When the order processing unit 224 acquires receiving information, which is information for the recipient to receive the product as a gift, from the recipient terminal 6 that has accessed the receiving page, it accesses the inventory management EC system 5 indicated by the inventory management EC system information linked to the script tag and processes the order for the product as a gift on the inventory management EC system 5. As described above, when a purchaser purchases a product as a gift from an EC site, the purchaser can obtain the URL of the receiving page as receiving page information from the inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2. The purchaser sends the obtained URL to the recipient by any method such as SNS or email.

[0063] When the recipient receives the URL from the purchaser, the recipient can operate the recipient terminal 6 to access the receiving page indicated by the URL. When the recipient operates the recipient terminal 6 to specify the URL of the receiving page, the recipient terminal 6 transmits request information requesting information for displaying the receiving page specified by the URL to the information processing device 2. When the information processing device 2 acquires the request information from the recipient terminal 6, it transmits information for displaying the receiving page specified by the URL to the recipient terminal 6. When the recipient terminal 6 acquires the information for displaying the receiving page, it displays the receiving page on the display device.

[0064] After the recipient terminal 6 displays the receipt page, the recipient operates the recipient terminal 6 to input their address and other information on the receipt page as information for receiving the product (receipt information), and the recipient terminal 6 then transmits the receipt information to the information processing device 2. The order processing unit 224 of the information processing device 2 acquires the receipt information transmitted from the recipient terminal 6. When the information indicating whether or not the receiving information has been acquired is stored in the storage unit 23, the order processing unit 224 updates the information indicating whether or not the receiving information has been acquired. For example, if the information indicating whether or not the receiving information has been acquired is a flag indicating whether or not the receiving information has been acquired, the order processing unit 224 updates the information indicating whether or not the receiving information has been acquired from "0", which indicates that the information has not been acquired, to "1", which indicates that the information has been acquired.

[0065] Here, since the receiving page is stored in the storage unit 23 in association with the order number, the order processing unit 224 can identify which order number corresponds to the receiving information entered on the receiving page and transmitted from the recipient terminal 6. In addition, the order number is also stored in the storage unit 23 in association with the EC site ID and inventory management EC system ID (inventory management EC system information), for example, via the gift purchase operation information, and the EC site ID was originally written in a script tag embedded in the HTML data for displaying the product page, as described above. Therefore, when the order processing unit 224 obtains receiving information from the recipient terminal 6, it can obtain the inventory management EC system ID (inventory management EC system information) linked to the script tag from the memory unit 23, for example, via the order information and EC site ID, etc.

[0066] The order processing unit 224 acquires the receiving information from the recipient terminal 6 and the inventory management EC system ID from the memory unit 23, and then accesses the inventory management EC system 5 indicated by the inventory management EC system ID and processes the order for the product as a gift on the inventory management EC system 5. In order processing, the order processing unit 224 acquires, based on the EC site ID, an information format for order processing (hereinafter referred to as "order processing information format") that is associated with the EC site ID and stored in the storage unit 23. When the order processing unit 224 acquires the order processing information format, it generates information for order processing (hereinafter referred to as "second linkage information") that can be used in API linkage with the inventory management EC system 5, based on, for example, the receiving information acquired from the recipient terminal 6, the product ID and number of purchased products included in the order number identified using the receiving information, and the order processing information format acquired from the storage unit 23. The second linkage information is information that describes the recipient's address, product ID, and number of products in a predetermined position in the order processing information format.

[0067] After generating the second linking information, the order processing unit 224 transmits the generated second linking information to the inventory management EC system 5. In addition, if there are multiple EC sites, the order processing unit 224 generates second linkage information based on the order processing information format corresponding to the inventory management EC system 5 used by each EC site, and transmits the generated second linkage information to the inventory management EC system 5.

[0068] The order processing unit 224 performs processing to add the number of gift items in stock on the inventory management EC system 5 during order processing. As described above, the inventory management unit 222 performs subtraction processing to ensure that the number of products before the recipient actually receives them is kept in stock, while the number of products before the recipient receives them is subtracted from the inventory quantity on the inventory management EC system 5. On the other hand, when the recipient receives the products, the order processing unit 224 performs addition processing on the inventory management EC system 5 to the number of products the recipient will receive, thereby enabling the inventory management EC system 5 to receive orders for the number of products the recipient will receive.

[0069] In order processing, the order processing unit 224 generates second linking information describing the recipient's address, etc., product ID, and the number of products (hereinafter referred to as the "order quantity"), and transmits it to the inventory management EC system 5. In other words, the order processing unit 224 outputs the second linking information including the recipient's address, etc. as receiving information, the product ID which is information identifying the purchased gift product, and information indicating the order quantity which is the number of those products, to the inventory management EC system 5. In this case, the gift purchase information output by the order processing unit 224 is the receiving information, information identifying the purchased gift product, and the number of those products. When the inventory management EC system 5 acquires the second linking information from the order processing unit 224, the inventory management EC system 5 performs a process of temporarily incrementing the inventory quantity for the products identified by the product IDs managed by the inventory management EC system 5 itself by the order quantity based on the product IDs and order quantities included in the information, reserving the ordered quantity of products for the recipient, and delivering the reserved products to the recipient. In other words, the order processing unit 224 transmits the second linking information to the inventory management EC system 5, thereby causing an order to be created on the inventory management EC system 5. For example, when the process of instructing delivery is completed, the inventory management EC system 5 decrements the inventory quantity by the order quantity. Note that subsequent processing performed by the inventory management EC system 5 after acquiring the second linkage information is processing performed as a function inherent to the inventory management EC system 5 itself. In other words, processing performed by the order processing unit 224 in cooperation with the inventory management EC system 5 may also be included in the inventory management processing. Instead of separately including the inventory management unit 222 and the order processing unit 224, the information processing device 2 may not include a separate order processing unit 224, and the inventory management unit 222 may also have the function of the order processing unit 224. In this case, both the information included in the first linkage information and the second linkage information may be gift purchase information output from the inventory management unit 222.

[0070] For example, when the inventory management EC system 5 successfully acquires the second linking information, it transmits information indicating that fact (hereinafter referred to as "order completion information") to the order processing unit 224. Alternatively, the inventory management EC system 5 may return that fact to the order processing unit 224 when the inventory quantity addition process is completed, or may return that fact to the order processing unit 224 when the order creation is completed. Here, it is assumed that the inventory management EC system 5 transmits (returns) order completion information to the order processing unit 224.

[0071] When the order processing unit 224 receives the order completion information from the inventory management EC system 5, it sends information to the purchaser terminal 3 indicating that the recipient has completed the receiving procedure, and also sends information to the recipient terminal 6 indicating that the receiving procedure has been completed and that the product will be delivered at a later date. This information is sent, for example, by means of e-mail or the like.

[0072] (Stock Check Department) The inventory confirmation unit 225 accesses the inventory management EC system 5 indicated by the inventory management EC system information linked to the script tag, and performs an inventory confirmation process to check the inventory status of the product on the inventory management EC system 5 in order to display the product inventory status on the product page. The stock confirmation unit 225 checks the stock status in two ways: when a gift purchase start button (described below) displayed on the product page is pressed, or when the product page is displayed. Either of these timings is used selectively, for example, for each EC site. Each of these timings will be explained below.

[0073] First, a case will be described in which the stock checking unit 225 checks the stock status when the gift purchase start button displayed on the product page is operated (hereinafter referred to as "timing example 1"). In this case, in the information processing device 2, the target confirmation unit 223 sends the result of the target confirmation process to the purchaser terminal 3, and if the product is eligible for the service, causes the purchaser terminal 3 to display a gift purchase start button as a first gift purchase button for the purchaser to start the purchase procedure, and when the inventory confirmation unit 225 acquires purchase start operation information from the purchaser terminal 3 indicating that the gift purchase start button has been operated, it performs an inventory confirmation process, and by sending the result of the inventory confirmation process to the purchaser terminal 3, the target confirmation unit 223 displays an add to cart button as a second gift purchase button for the purchaser to add the gift product to their cart if the gift product is in stock.

[0074] Figure 4 shows an example of a product page and a payment screen. Referring to Figure 4, examples of product page screen 31A displayed on the purchaser terminal 3 (display device), screen 31B displayed when the purchaser starts the purchase procedure after screen 31A is displayed, and payment screen 31C displayed when the purchaser performs an operation to display the payment screen after screen 31B is displayed will be described. Figure 4 shows a case where the product eligible for the address-free gift service is a high-quality melon. When the purchaser terminal 3 acquires HTML data for displaying a product page from the EC server 4, the purchaser terminal 3 first displays, for example, the screen 31A shown on the left side of Fig. 4 on the display device. Screen 31A is an example of a product page screen.

[0075] Screen 31A displays an image 31 of the target product, with the product name "Luxury Melon" and the price per piece "8,000 yen" displayed directly below it. Screen 31A also displays a button 32 labeled "Purchase gift without address" as the first gift purchase button, which is the gift purchase start button. When the purchaser operates the button 32, the purchaser terminal 3 generates purchase start operation information indicating that the gift purchase start button has been operated, and in accordance with the command written in the script tag, transmits the purchase start operation information to the information processing device 2. The purchase start operation information includes at least the product ID and EC site ID of the target product.

[0076] When the inventory confirmation unit 225 acquires purchase start operation information from the purchaser terminal 3, it performs inventory confirmation processing for the product indicated by the product ID included in the acquired purchase start operation information. In the inventory confirmation processing, the inventory confirmation unit 225 acquires from the storage unit 23 the inventory management EC system ID (inventory management EC system information) stored in association with the EC site ID included in the purchase start operation information. When the inventory confirmation unit 225 acquires the inventory management EC system ID, it accesses the inventory management EC system 5 indicated by the acquired inventory management EC system ID and performs inventory confirmation processing for the product indicated by the product ID included in the purchase start operation information.

[0077] In the inventory confirmation process, the inventory confirmation unit 225 acquires, based on the EC site ID, an information format for inventory confirmation process (hereinafter referred to as "information format for inventory confirmation process") that is linked to the EC site ID and stored in the memory unit 23. When the inventory confirmation unit 225 acquires the inventory confirmation processing information format, it generates information for inventory confirmation processing that can be used in API linkage with the inventory management EC system 5, based on, for example, the product ID included in the purchase start operation information and the order processing information format acquired from the storage unit 23. The information for inventory confirmation processing is information in which the product ID is written in a predetermined position in the order processing information format.

[0078] When the stock confirmation unit 225 generates the information for the stock confirmation process, it transmits the generated information for the stock confirmation process to the stock management EC system 5. In addition, when there are multiple EC sites, the inventory confirmation unit 225 generates information for inventory confirmation processing based on the inventory confirmation processing information format corresponding to the inventory management EC system 5 used by each EC site, and transmits the generated information for inventory confirmation processing to the inventory management EC system 5. When the inventory management EC system 5 obtains information for inventory confirmation processing from the inventory confirmation unit 225, it checks the inventory status of the product indicated by the product ID managed by itself based on the product ID described in the information for inventory confirmation processing, and transmits the results of the inventory confirmation to the inventory confirmation unit 225.

[0079] When the stock confirmation unit 225 acquires the result of the stock confirmation (the result of the stock confirmation process) from the stock management EC system 5, it transmits the result of the stock confirmation to the purchaser terminal 3. When the purchaser terminal 3 acquires the result of the stock check from the stock check unit 225, it determines whether or not the product listed on the product page is in stock based on the acquired result of the stock check.

[0080] When it is determined that the product is in stock, the purchaser terminal 3 displays an add-to-cart button as a second gift purchase button for the purchaser to add the product as a gift to the cart. Screen 31B is an example of a screen that is displayed when a purchaser starts a purchase procedure and the product is in stock. Screen 31B displays button 33 labeled "Add to Cart" as an add-to-cart button. Also, screen 31B displays button 32 in gray. On screen 31B, for example, button 33 can be operated, but button 32 cannot. By displaying button 33, the purchaser can recognize that the product listed on the displayed product page is in stock. In other words, button 33, which is an add-to-cart button, serves to display the stock status. Note that if the result of the stock check (the result of the stock check process) obtained from the inventory management EC system 5 via the stock check unit 225 includes information on the stock quantity, the purchaser terminal 3 may display the information on the stock quantity on screen 31B.

[0081] In response to this, if the purchaser terminal 3 determines that the product is out of stock, instead of displaying the second gift purchase button, it displays, for example, "Out of stock" (not shown) on the product page. This display allows the purchaser to recognize that the product listed on the displayed product page is out of stock.

[0082] After the purchaser terminal 3 displays screen 31B, when the purchaser operates button 33, the purchaser terminal 3 generates gift purchase operation information indicating that the purchaser has performed an operation to purchase a gift, and in accordance with the command written in the script tag, transmits the gift purchase operation information to the information processing device 2. The gift purchase operation information includes the product ID of the target product, the purchase quantity, and the EC site ID. In addition, the product page may have buttons for increasing or decreasing the number of products that the purchaser wishes to purchase. In this case, the purchaser can increase or decrease the number of products that they wish to purchase (purchase quantity) before operating button 33. Furthermore, when the payment screen transmission unit 221 acquires the gift purchase operation information transmitted from the purchaser terminal 3, the information processing device 2 generates an order number unique to the acquired gift purchase operation information, associates the generated order number with the gift purchase operation information, and stores the order number in the storage unit 23. In other words, the information processing device 2 also plays a role similar to that of a so-called "shopping cart."

[0083] As described above, when the purchaser terminal 3 transmits gift purchase operation information to the information processing device 2, the payment screen transmission unit 221 of the information processing device 2 acquires the gift purchase operation information transmitted from the purchaser terminal 3 and transmits display information for the payment screen to the purchaser terminal 3. Payment screen 31C is an example of a payment screen. Payment screen 31C displays the notation "Payment Screen" to indicate that the screen is a payment screen, as well as an input field 34 labeled "Card Number," an input field 35 labeled "Cardholder's Name," and a button 36 labeled "Confirm Purchase" (purchase confirmation button). The payment screen 31C may further display input fields for the card's expiration date, security code, etc., and may require the input of such information. The payment screen 31C may also display information about the target product, the number of items to be purchased, and the total amount.

[0084] When the purchaser enters the card number in input field 34, enters the cardholder's name in input field 35, and then operates button 36 (purchase confirmation button), the purchaser terminal 3 generates payment operation information indicating that the payment operation has been performed and transmits the generated payment operation information to the information processing device 2. The payment operation information includes information about the card, such as the card number and the name of the cardholder, as well as information about the payment amount. When the information processing device 2 acquires the payment operation information from the purchaser terminal 3, it accesses, for example, an external payment system and performs payment processing using the acquired payment operation information. After the payment processing is completed, the information processing device 2 performs inventory management processing, etc.

[0085] Next, a case where the stock checking unit 225 checks the stock status at the timing when the product page is displayed (hereinafter referred to as "timing example 2") will be described. In this case, in the information processing device 2, the target confirmation unit 223 performs a target confirmation process when it acquires the product page display information, and the inventory confirmation unit 225 performs a stock confirmation process when it acquires the product page display information, and the target confirmation unit 223 and the inventory confirmation unit 225 send the results of the target confirmation process and the stock confirmation process to the purchaser terminal 3, respectively, so that if the product is eligible for the service (address-free gift service), the purchaser terminal 3 displays a gift purchase button and the stock status of the product as a gift.

[0086] The operation of the target confirmation unit 223 is the same as described above. However, unlike Timing Example 1, in Timing Example 2, there is no need to display two types of buttons, and the purchaser terminal 3 does not display the gift purchase start button even if it acquires the result of the target confirmation process. On the other hand, the operation of the inventory confirmation unit 225 in timing example 1 is such that it performs inventory confirmation processing when it receives purchase start operation information indicating that the gift purchase start button has been operated, whereas in timing example 2, it performs inventory confirmation processing when it receives product page display information from the purchaser terminal 3, and so the two examples are different from each other.

[0087] In timing example 2, the target confirmation unit 223 transmits the result of the target confirmation process to the purchaser terminal 3, and the stock confirmation unit 225 transmits the result of the stock confirmation process to the purchaser terminal 3. When the purchaser terminal 3 acquires the result of the target confirmation process, it determines whether the product is a target product for the address-free gift service, and if it determines that the product is a target product, it displays a gift purchase button on the product page and displays the product's stock status based on the result of the stock confirmation process. In timing example 2, a button labeled "Gift purchase without address required" is displayed on the product page. In addition, the inventory status displayed on the product page in timing example 2 may be, for example, "In stock" or "Out of stock," or may display the number of items in stock.

[0088] In the case of Timing Example 2, after the purchaser terminal 3 displays a product page including a gift purchase button, when the purchaser operates the gift purchase button, the purchaser terminal 3 generates gift purchase operation information indicating that the purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation, and transmits the gift purchase operation information to the information processing device 2 in accordance with the command written in the script tag. The gift purchase operation information includes the product ID of the target product, the purchase quantity, and the EC site ID. In other words, the gift purchase button in Timing Example 2 can be said to have the same role as the add to cart button in Timing Example 1. The subsequent processing in the information processing device 2 is the same as in Timing Example 1, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[0089] (Processing sequence when purchasing a product) 5 is a sequence diagram showing the process of purchasing a product in the information processing system 1 according to Embodiment 1. This sequence diagram is based on an example in which an EC site uses the inventory management EC system 5. A: A purchaser finds the product they wish to purchase from the products sold on the EC site and displays the product page on the EC site. B: The EC site (the purchaser terminal 3 displaying the site) accesses the information processing device 2 in accordance with the command written in the script tag, and checks whether the product listed on the product page is the target product. C: The information processing device 2 returns the result of the target confirmation process to the EC site (the purchaser terminal 3 displaying the EC site) as information required for displaying a gift UI (User Interface), that is, displaying a gift purchase button. D: If the product is a target product, the EC site (or the purchaser terminal 3 displaying the site) displays a gift UI, that is, a gift purchase button on the product page. E: The purchaser operates the gift purchase button to begin the purchase process. F: When a gift purchase button (for example, the add to cart button in timing example 1 or the gift purchase button in timing example 2) is operated, the EC site (the purchaser terminal 3 displaying the site) sends purchase operation information indicating that an operation for the purchase procedure has been performed to the information processing device 2 in accordance with the instructions written in the script tag. G: The information processing device 2 displays the payment screen on the purchaser terminal 3, and then receives payment operation information from the purchaser terminal 3 and performs payment processing. H: After the payment process, the information processing device 2 accesses the inventory management EC system 5 and performs a subtraction process on the number of items in stock, thereby securing (allocating) the stock. I: When the inventory management EC system 5 completes the subtraction process, it returns a message to that effect to the information processing device 2. J: When the subtraction process on the inventory management EC system 5 is successful, the information processing device 2 generates a gift URL, that is, the URL of the receiving page for the recipient to access, and returns the generated URL to the purchaser terminal 3.

[0090] (Processing sequence when receiving goods) 6 is a sequence diagram showing a process when receiving a product in the information processing system 1 according to Embodiment 1. This sequence diagram is based on an example in which an EC site uses the inventory management EC system 5. K: The purchaser operates the purchaser terminal 3 to send the gift URL, that is, the URL of the receiving page, to the recipient terminal 6. L: The recipient operates the recipient terminal 6 to access the receipt page and enter their address, etc. M: The receiving page (or the recipient terminal 6 displaying it) sends the address and other information to the information processing device 2, updating the gift delivery address. Note that updating also includes entering new addresses and other information into blank information. N: The information processing device 2 accesses the inventory management EC system 5 and sends second collaboration information (information for order processing) to the inventory management EC system 5, which includes adding the inventory quantity of the product on the inventory management EC system 5 by the order quantity, and causes the order to be created on the inventory management EC system 5. O: The inventory management EC system 5 transmits (returns) order completion information indicating that the second linking information (information for order processing) has been successfully acquired to the order processing unit 224. Note that the inventory management EC system 5 may return this information to the information processing device 2 when the inventory quantity addition process is completed, and may also return this information to the information processing device 2 when the order creation is completed. P1: When the information processing device 2 obtains order completion information from the inventory management EC system 5, it sends information to the purchaser terminal 3, for example by email (sends gift receipt email), indicating that the recipient has completed the receipt procedure. P2: Furthermore, when the information processing device 2 obtains order completion information from the inventory management EC system 5, it sends information to the recipient terminal 6, for example, an email (gift receipt email), indicating that the receipt procedure has been completed and the product will be delivered at a later date.

[0091] The functions of the information processing device 2 need to include at least the functions of the payment screen sending unit 221 and the inventory management unit 222, and the target confirmation unit 223, the order processing unit 224 and the inventory confirmation unit 225 are functions that can be added optionally.

[0092] Furthermore, up to this point, we have explained a case where the information processing device 2 is an information processing device for providing the function of the address-free gift service to an EC site that uses an inventory management EC system 5, the script tag includes EC site information indicating the EC site and is further linked to inventory management EC system information indicating the inventory management EC system 5, and when the inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2 acquires payment operation information indicating that a payment operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal 3, it accesses the inventory management EC system 5 indicated by the inventory management EC system information linked to the script tag and performs inventory management processing of the product as a gift on the inventory management EC system 5. In other words, up to this point, we have described a case where the inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2 outputs gift purchase information to the inventory management EC system 5 to perform inventory management processing of products purchased as gifts from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag. On the other hand, the inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2 may output the gift purchase information in another manner.

[0093] Here, for example, in addition to the situation where the inventory management unit 222 outputs gift purchase information to the inventory management EC system 5, other possible situations are when the EC site operator manually performs inventory management processing (hereinafter referred to as "operator-side processing") using the gift purchase information, when a provider of an address-free gift service performs inventory management processing (hereinafter referred to as "proxy processing") using the gift purchase information on behalf of the EC site operator, or when the EC server 4 performs API integration with the information processing device 2 to obtain gift purchase information and perform inventory management processing (hereinafter referred to as "API integration processing"). When introducing the address-free gift service function to their own e-commerce site, e-commerce site operators can freely choose which inventory management method to use: operator-side processing, proxy processing, or API-linked processing. The inventory management unit 222 outputs gift purchase information in a manner appropriate for the inventory management process, depending on whether the inventory management process is performed by the operator, by a proxy, or through API integration. Regardless of whether the inventory management process is performed by the operator, by a proxy, or through API integration, it is not essential that the e-commerce site use the inventory management EC system 5. In fact, in the examples described below in which gift purchase information is output in other manners, the primary target e-commerce sites are e-commerce sites that do not use the inventory management EC system 5.

[0094] At this time, the inventory management unit 222 may output gift purchase information including information identifying the purchaser, information identifying the purchased gift item, the number of items, the date and time the items were purchased, and information indicating whether or not receipt information, which is information for the recipient to receive the item, has been obtained.

[0095] In addition, when the information processing device 2 acquires receipt information, which is information for the recipient to receive the product, from the recipient terminal 6 that has accessed the receipt page that the recipient accesses to receive the product as a gift, the inventory management unit 222 may output gift purchase information including information identifying the purchaser, information identifying the product, the number of products, the date and time the product was purchased, information indicating whether receipt information has been acquired, and the receipt information.

[0096] For example, the inventory management unit 222 outputs the gift purchase information as display information to be displayed on a display device. When operator-side processing is performed, the EC site operator operates a terminal for the EC site operator (e.g., a terminal for managing the EC site, not shown) to access the information processing device 2 and request transmission of gift purchase information. This request includes, for example, an EC site ID. When the inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2 receives the request to transmit the gift purchase information, it retrieves the gift purchase information stored in association with the EC site ID from the storage unit 23 based on the EC site ID included in the request, and transmits display information for displaying the retrieved gift purchase information on the display device of the terminal for the EC site operator that made the request to the terminal that made the request. In other words, the inventory management unit 222 outputs the gift purchase information to the terminal for the EC site operator. As described above, the EC site ID is linked to the order number and stored in the storage unit 23, and the order number is linked to gift purchase information including information indicating the product purchased as a gift and stored in the storage unit 23. Therefore, based on the EC site ID included in the request to transmit the gift purchase information, the inventory management unit 222 can obtain the gift purchase information stored in association with the EC site ID from the storage unit 23.

[0097] Furthermore, as described above, when a purchaser performs a gift purchase operation using the purchaser terminal 3, the gift purchase operation information transmitted from the purchaser terminal 3 to the information processing device 2 includes the product ID of the target product, the purchase quantity, the EC site ID, etc., and therefore the information processing device 2 may store the gift purchase information including the EC site ID in the storage unit 23. In this case as well, upon receiving a request to transmit gift purchase information, the inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2 obtains the gift purchase information including the EC site ID from the storage unit 23 based on the EC site ID included in the request, and transmits display information for displaying the obtained gift purchase information on the display device of the terminal for the EC site operator that made the request to the terminal that made the request.

[0098] When the terminal for the e-commerce site operator acquires the display information of the gift purchase information, it displays the gift purchase information on the display device of the terminal. The e-commerce site operator performs inventory management processing while referring to the displayed gift purchase information. As described above, the displayed gift purchase information may include information indicating whether or not receipt information has been acquired. Furthermore, if the receipt information has already been acquired by the information processing device 2, the displayed gift purchase information may also include the receipt information. For example, if the receiving information has not been obtained and the inventory of the product purchased as a gift has not been secured (allocated), the EC site operator can process the inventory by providing an appropriate medium containing information such as the product ID (or product name) and the number of products to an inventory management company, etc., in any manner. Also, for example, if the receiving information has already been acquired, the EC site operator can perform inventory management processing in the same way as for regular gift purchases (gift items for which the recipient's address, etc. is known, and not items purchased as gifts using an address-free gift service). Inventory management processing for ordinary gift purchase items may be performed by any method, such as by providing an appropriate medium containing information such as the recipient's address, product ID (or product name), and number of items to an inventory management company, or by any method, if the e-commerce site uses the inventory management e-commerce system 5, through the inventory management e-commerce system 5 using that information. Regardless of which method is used to manage inventory for regular purchases, the e-commerce site operator can perform inventory management in the same way as for regular gift purchases.

[0099] Furthermore, when proxy processing is performed, there are two possible modes of proxy processing. One method is for the provider of the address-free gift service function to manually access an e-commerce site while referring to the gift purchase information on that site and perform a regular gift purchase operation, which involves entering the recipient's name and address. The other method is for the inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2 to use the gift purchase information to perform a purchase process for a product as a gift from an EC site. As will be described later, in this case, the purchase process for a product as a gift is such that the product purchased as a gift using the address-free gift service is treated as a normal gift purchase product (a gift product for which the recipient's address, etc., is known, and is not a gift purchased using the address-free gift service), and is purchased using the same purchase process as a normal gift purchase product. In either case, inventory management processing is performed as a result of purchasing a product from an EC site.

[0100] In the former method, the provider of the address-free gift service function (for example, if the provider is a company, a person in charge among the company's employees) operates a terminal (not shown) for the provider to request the information processing device 2 to transmit gift purchase information. This request includes, for example, an EC site ID. Note that the terminal may be the information processing device 2 itself. When the inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2 receives a request to transmit gift purchase information, it retrieves the gift purchase information stored in association with the EC site ID from the memory unit 23 based on the EC site ID included in the request, and transmits display information for displaying the retrieved gift purchase information on the display device of the requesting terminal to the requesting terminal. In other words, the inventory management unit 222 outputs the gift purchase information to the terminal for the provider of the address-free gift service function. When the terminal acquires the display information of the gift purchase information, the terminal displays the gift purchase information on a display device of the terminal. The provider of the address-free gift service function accesses the EC site and performs a product purchase operation while referring to the displayed gift purchase information. In this case, the operation for purchasing a product as a gift is to treat the product purchased as a gift using the address-free gift service as a normal gift purchase product, and the product is purchased using the same purchasing process as a normal gift purchase product, i.e., a process involving inputting the recipient's address, etc.

[0101] In the latter method, the inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2 automatically accesses the EC site based on the gift purchase information and performs a purchase process for the product as a normal gift purchase item, which involves inputting the recipient's address, etc. When the information processing device 2 accesses the EC site and performs the product purchase process, for example, a known RPA (Robotic Process Automation) technology may be used. When there are multiple EC sites, the UI screens of the EC sites are diverse, so an RPA with a pre-set scenario corresponding to the UI screen of each EC site may be used.

[0102] In this latter method, the inventory management unit 222 first identifies the EC site to access based on the product ID or EC site ID included in the gift purchase information, which is information identifying the purchased gift product. Next, the inventory management unit 222 specifies the product and quantity to be purchased on the EC site based on the product ID included in the gift purchase information and the number of purchased products, and specifies the delivery address based on the receiving information included in the gift purchase information. Using this processing procedure, the inventory management unit 222 automatically processes the purchase of products from each EC site.

[0103] In addition, when the operator processes the gift purchase information or when a proxy processes the gift purchase information, the inventory management unit 222 may output the gift purchase information as a file. The file may be in, for example, a CSV (Comma Separated Values) format, another spreadsheet format, or a JSON format. The terminal for the EC site operator and the terminal for the provider of the address-free gift service function can display the gift purchase information on their respective display devices, even if the gift purchase information is acquired as a file.

[0104] The gift purchase information output by the information processing device 2 is usually output in a format having items predetermined by the provider of the address-free gift service function. In contrast, e-commerce site operators may provide inventory management companies, etc. with information about regular purchases in a format with unique fields. When operator-side processing is performed, the e-commerce site operator obtains gift purchase information as a file, and can process it into its own format by adding unique fields to the file fields or deleting unnecessary fields, etc., before providing the information to inventory management companies, etc.

[0105] When the API linking process is performed, the inventory management unit 222 outputs the gift purchase information to the EC server 4, which is a web server that provides the EC site. When an e-commerce site operator wants to introduce the address-free gift service function to the e-commerce site that they operate, they can also build the e-commerce site using various APIs provided by the address-free gift service provider. Regardless of which API is used to build the EC site, the gift purchase information is managed by the information processing device 2. For example, when a purchaser uses the purchaser terminal 3 to purchase a product as a gift from an EC site, the purchaser terminal 3 transmits gift purchase operation information to the information processing device 2 as described above. The information processing device 2 stores and manages the acquired gift purchase operation information in the memory unit 23. Furthermore, when a recipient uses the recipient terminal 6 to input receiving information, the recipient terminal 6 transmits the receiving information to the information processing device 2. Then, once the recipient information is acquired by the information processing device 2, the inventory management unit 222 transmits the receiving information to the EC server 4, which is a web server that provides the EC site, using a Webhook mechanism. As described above, the inventory management unit 222 may also have the function of the order processing unit 224. Furthermore, when the inventory management unit 222 of the information processing device 2 receives a request for various gift purchasing information from the EC server 4 through API cooperation, the inventory management unit 222 transmits the requested gift purchasing information to the EC server 4. In this way, the inventory management unit 222 can output (transmit) the gift purchase information to the EC server 4.

[0106] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an information processing method according to the first embodiment. The information processing method of embodiment 1 is an information processing method executed by an information processing device 2 to provide an EC site with the function of a service (address-free gift service) that allows a purchaser who purchases a product as a gift from an EC site to give a gift to a recipient whose address is unknown. In this information processing method, first, the payment screen sending unit 221 acquires gift purchase operation information indicating that the purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation from the purchaser terminal 3 that displays the EC site based on HTML data embedded with script tags including EC site information indicating the EC site, and then sends to the purchaser terminal 3 display information for the payment screen that allows the purchaser to perform the payment operation on the purchaser terminal 3 (step ST1). Then, when the inventory management unit 222 acquires payment operation information indicating that a payment operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal 3, it outputs gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing of the gift item purchased from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag (step ST2).

[0107] As described above, the information processing device 2 of embodiment 1 is an information processing device 2 for providing an EC site with the function of a service that allows a purchaser who purchases a product as a gift from the EC site to give the gift to a recipient whose address is unknown, and is equipped with a payment screen sending unit 221 that, when gift purchase operation information indicating that a purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation is acquired from a purchaser terminal 3 that displays the EC site based on HTML data embedded with a script tag including EC site information indicating the EC site, sends display information of a payment screen for the purchaser to perform a payment operation on the purchaser terminal 3 to the purchaser terminal 3, and an inventory management unit 222 that, when payment operation information indicating that a payment operation has been performed is acquired from the purchaser terminal 3, outputs gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing of the product as a gift purchased from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag. As a result, when an e-commerce site introduces a function for an address-free gift service, the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment can manage gift purchase information for inventory management of products used as gifts in the address-free gift service. That is, according to the information processing device of the present invention, for example, the gift purchase information can be managed by the operator of the e-commerce site performing a simple task of embedding the above-mentioned script tag in HTML for displaying the e-commerce site.

[0108] In the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment, the inventory management unit 222 may output the gift purchase information as display information to be displayed on the display device. As a result, the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment can display the gift purchase information on a display device. For example, in the above-described operator-side processing, the EC site operator can display the gift purchase information on a display device of a terminal for the EC site operator, and in the above-described proxy processing, the provider of the address-free gift service function can display the gift purchase information on a display device of a terminal for the provider, thereby enabling inventory management processing to be performed while referring to the gift purchase information.

[0109] In the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment, the inventory management unit 222 may output the gift purchase information as a file. As a result, the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment can output gift purchase information as a file, which brings about the following convenience, for example. Specifically, the gift purchase information output by the information processing device 2 is typically output in a format having fields predetermined by the provider of the address-free gift service function. In contrast, e-commerce site operators may provide inventory management companies and the like with information about commonly purchased items in a format having their own fields. When the operator-side processing described above is performed, the e-commerce site operator, by obtaining the gift purchase information as a file, can process the information into their own format by adding their own fields to the file or deleting unnecessary fields, and then provide the information to inventory management companies and the like.

[0110] In the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment, the inventory management unit 222 may output the gift purchase information to a terminal for the operator of the EC site. This allows the EC site operator to display the gift purchase information on the display device of the EC site operator's terminal, allowing the operator to perform inventory management processing while referring to the gift purchase information, so the information processing device 2 of embodiment 1 allows the EC site operator to smoothly perform the above-mentioned operator-side processing.

[0111] In the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment, the inventory management unit 222 may output gift purchase information to a terminal for a service provider. This allows the provider of the address-free gift service function to display gift purchase information on the display device of the provider's terminal, allowing the provider to perform inventory management processing (product purchase operations from an EC site) while referring to the gift purchase information, so the information processing device 2 of embodiment 1 can allow the provider of the address-free gift service function to smoothly perform the above-mentioned proxy processing.

[0112] In the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment, the inventory management unit 222 may output the gift purchase information to the EC server 4, which is a web server that provides an EC site. As a result, the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment can smoothly perform the above-described API linking process.

[0113] In the information processing device 2 according to embodiment 1, the inventory management unit 222 may output gift purchase information including information identifying the purchaser, information identifying the purchased gift item, the number of items, the date and time the items were purchased, and information indicating whether or not receipt information, which is information for the recipient to receive the item, has been acquired. As a result, for example, in the operator-side processing described above, the EC site operator can display gift purchase information containing various information on a display device on a terminal for the EC site operator, and in the proxy processing described above, the provider of the address-free gift service function can display gift purchase information containing various information on a display device on a terminal for the provider, thereby enabling inventory management processing to be performed while referring to the gift purchase information.

[0114] In addition, in the information processing device 2 according to embodiment 1, when the inventory management unit 222 acquires receipt information, which is information for the recipient to receive the product, from the recipient terminal 6 that has accessed the receipt page that the recipient accesses to receive the product as a gift, the inventory management unit 222 may output gift purchase information including information identifying the purchaser, information identifying the product, the number of the product, the date and time the product was purchased, information indicating whether or not receipt information has been acquired, and the receipt information. As a result, for example, in the operator-side processing described above, the EC site operator can display gift purchase information including various information such as receipt information on a display device on a terminal for the EC site operator, and in the proxy processing described above, the provider of the address-free gift service function can display gift purchase information including various information such as receipt information on a display device on a terminal for the provider, thereby enabling inventory management processing to be performed while referring to the gift purchase information.

[0115] In the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment, the inventory management unit 222 may use the gift purchase information to perform a process for purchasing a product as a gift from an EC site. This allows the information processing device 2 according to the first embodiment to automatically perform the above-mentioned proxy processing.

[0116] The program of embodiment 1 causes a computer to function as an information processing device 2, and therefore the program of embodiment 1 causes a computer to function as an information processing device 2 that can manage gift purchase information for inventory management of products used as gifts in an address-free gift service when the address-free gift service function is introduced on an EC site.

[0117] The information processing method of embodiment 1 is an information processing method executed by an information processing device 2 for providing an EC site with the function of a service that allows a purchaser who purchases a product as a gift from the EC site to give the gift to a recipient whose address is unknown, and includes the following steps: step ST1 in which, when the payment screen sending unit 221 acquires gift purchase operation information indicating that a purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation from the purchaser terminal 3 that displays the EC site based on HTML data embedded with a script tag including EC site information indicating the EC site, it sends display information of a payment screen for the purchaser to perform a payment operation on the purchaser terminal 3 to the purchaser terminal 3; and step ST2 in which, when the inventory management unit 222 acquires payment operation information indicating that a payment operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal 3, it outputs gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing of the product as a gift purchased from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag. As a result, when an address-free gift service function is introduced into an EC site, the information processing method according to the first embodiment can manage gift purchase information for inventory management of products used as gifts in the address-free gift service. [Explanation of symbols]

[0118] 1 Information processing system, 2 Information processing device, 3 Purchaser terminal, 4 EC server, 5 Inventory management EC system, 6 Recipient terminal, 21 Communication unit, 22 Calculation unit, 23 Memory unit, 31 Image, 32, 33, 36 Buttons, 34, 35 Input field, 31A, 31B Screen, 31C Payment screen, 100 Communication interface, 101 Input / output interface, 102 Processor, 103 Memory, 221 Payment screen transmission unit, 222 Inventory management unit, 223 Target confirmation unit, 224 Order processing unit, 225 Inventory confirmation unit.

Claims

1. An information processing device for providing an EC site with a service function that enables a purchaser who purchases a product as a gift from the EC site to give the gift to a recipient whose address is unknown, a payment screen sending unit that, when gift purchase operation information indicating that the purchaser has performed a gift purchase operation is acquired from a purchaser terminal that displays the EC site based on HTML data in which a script tag including EC site information indicating the EC site is embedded, sends to the purchaser terminal display information of a payment screen for the purchaser to perform a payment operation on the purchaser terminal; an inventory management unit that, when receiving payment operation information indicating that the payment operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal, outputs gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing of the product as a gift purchased from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag.

1. An information processing device comprising:

2. The inventory management unit outputs the gift purchase information as display information to be displayed on a display device.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

3. The inventory management unit outputs the gift purchase information as a file.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

4. The inventory management unit outputs the gift purchase information to a terminal for an operator of the EC site.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

5. The inventory management unit outputs the gift purchase information to a terminal for a provider of the service function.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

6. The inventory management unit outputs the gift purchase information to an EC server, which is a web server that provides the EC site.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

7. The inventory management unit outputs the gift purchase information, which includes information identifying the purchaser, information identifying the purchased gift item, the number of the gift items, the date and time the gift items were purchased, and information indicating whether or not receipt information, which is information for the recipient to receive the gift items, has been acquired.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

8. When the inventory management unit acquires, from a recipient terminal that has accessed a receiving page that the recipient accesses to receive the product as the gift, receipt information that is information for the recipient to receive the product, the inventory management unit outputs the gift purchase information including information that identifies the purchaser, information that identifies the product, the number of the product, the date and time when the product was purchased, information indicating whether the receipt information has been acquired, and the receipt information.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

9. the inventory management unit performs a purchase process for the product as the gift from the EC site using the gift purchase information; 9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8,

10. A program for causing a computer to function as the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

11. An information processing method executed by an information processing device for providing an EC site with a service function that enables a purchaser who purchases a product as a gift from the EC site to give the gift to a recipient whose address is unknown, the method comprising: a payment screen sending unit, when acquiring gift purchase operation information indicating that the purchaser has performed a purchase operation for the gift from a purchaser terminal that displays the EC site based on HTML data in which a script tag including EC site information indicating the EC site is embedded, sending to the purchaser terminal display information of a payment screen for the purchaser to perform a payment operation on the purchaser terminal; and when an inventory management unit acquires payment operation information indicating that the payment operation has been performed from the purchaser terminal, outputting gift purchase information for performing inventory management processing of the product as a gift purchased from the EC site indicated by the EC site information included in the script tag. An information processing method comprising:

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