Follow-up control apparatus, follow-up control method, and follow-up control program

Abstract

To provide a follow-up control apparatus, method and program for eliminating the burden of follow-up for a purchaser of a commodity.SOLUTION: A follow-up control apparatus is configured to: acquire purchase commodity identification information identifying a purchase commodity; transmit prompt information to prompt a purchaser to answer a question for follow-up regarding the purchase commodity; transmit question information to a purchaser terminal in accordance with a request from the purchaser terminal after transmitting the prompt information; transmit, after the lapse of a period of length corresponding to the purchase commodity from a reference date related to the purchase of the purchase commodity, prompt information based on commodity period length information that indicates a length of period up to follow-up and can specify a length corresponding to each of multiple commodities; and transmit question information corresponding to the purchase commodity based on commodity question information indicating question information so as to specify question information corresponding to each of multiple commodities.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for carrying out a predetermined procedure for a purchased product. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, websites that allow online product ordering have been known. Such websites generally allow buyers to purchase products without meeting the seller in person. However, some products require the customer to receive an explanation from the seller before purchasing. For example, when purchasing pharmaceuticals, the customer may need to be examined by a medical institution and receive a prescription, or may need to receive medication instructions from a pharmacist. Furthermore, when purchasing certain cosmetics, the customer may need to receive counseling from a doctor or other specialist. Systems that support products with such purchase conditions are also known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that can accept purchase requests for prescription-required pharmaceuticals that include prescription information and purchase requests for non-prescription-required pharmaceuticals that do not include prescription information, and generates sales information for selling the pharmaceuticals based on the purchase requests. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2020-135278 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, there are cases where a purchaser needs to be followed up after purchasing a product. For example, when a drug is purchased, follow-up monitoring may be conducted on the purchaser regarding the use of the drug. With conventional technology, even if it was possible to handle the procedures leading up to the purchase of a product, it was insufficient for post-purchase support. Furthermore, the timing of follow-up and the items to be confirmed with the purchaser at that time may differ depending on the product. These circumstances have resulted in a burden on the work required for follow-up.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and one example of its objective is to provide a follow-up control device, a follow-up control method, and a follow-up control program that can eliminate the burden of following up on product purchasers. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] (Application Example 1) Application Example 1 is a follow-up control device comprising: a purchase product identification information acquisition means for acquiring purchase product identification information that identifies a purchased product among a plurality of products; a prompting information sending means for sending prompting information that prompts a purchaser of the purchased product to answer a follow-up question about the purchased product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information; and a question information sending means for sending question information indicating the question to the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser after the prompting information has been sent, in response to a request from the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser, wherein the prompting information sending means sends the prompting information after the period of the length corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the purchased product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information, based on product period length information that indicates the length of the period until the follow-up time, and which is capable of identifying the length corresponding to each of the plurality of products; and the question information sending means sends the question information corresponding to the purchased product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information, based on product question information that indicates the question information that is capable of identifying the question information corresponding to each of the plurality of products.

[0007] According to this application example, prompting information is transmitted to prompt a purchaser to answer a follow-up question about a purchased product. The timing of transmitting the prompting information is identified based on product period length information. From the product period length information, it is possible to identify the length of the period from the reference date related to the purchase of each of multiple products to the follow-up period. Therefore, even if the length of the period varies depending on the product, the prompting information can be transmitted after the period corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed. After transmitting the prompting information, question information is transmitted to a purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser of the product. The question information to be transmitted is identified based on the product question information. From the product question information, it is possible to identify question information about each of multiple products. Therefore, even if the questions vary depending on the product, questions about the purchased product can be presented to the purchaser. This eliminates the burden of following up on product purchasers.

[0008] (Application Example 2) Application Example 2 is a follow-up control device further comprising: an answer information receiving means for receiving from the purchaser terminal device answer information indicating the answer to the question indicated by the transmitted question information; an answer information acquiring means for acquiring answer information indicating whether or not the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information can be continued based on the received answer information; and a result information sending means for sending to the purchaser terminal device result information indicating the result of the follow-up, including whether or not the use can be continued as indicated by the acquired answer information.

[0009] According to this application example, the results of the follow-up are presented to the purchaser of the product. The results of the follow-up include whether or not the purchased product can be continued. The information indicating whether or not the product can be continued is acquired based on answer information indicating answers to the follow-up questions. Therefore, it is possible to present to the purchaser whether or not the product can be continued, depending on the situation of the purchaser.

[0010] (Application Example 3) Application Example 3 is a follow-up control device characterized in that the yes / no information acquisition means includes: an answer information sending means that sends to the decision maker terminal device the received answer information and screen information that displays on a decision maker terminal device used by a decision maker who decides whether or not to continue using the purchased product, a screen that can accept the selection of whether or not to continue using the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information; and an yes / no information receiving means that receives from the decision maker terminal device the yes / no information indicating whether or not to continue using the product selected on the screen displayed by the decision maker terminal device based on the sent screen information.

[0011] According to this application example, the response information is transmitted to the decision maker terminal device. Therefore, the decision maker using the decision maker terminal device can decide whether to continue using the purchased product based on the response information. Furthermore, the decision maker terminal device displays a screen that can accept a selection of whether to continue using the purchased product. Therefore, the decision maker can select whether to continue using the product on the screen.

[0012] (Application Example 4) Application Example 4 is a follow-up control device in which the purchased product is a medicine, and further comprising a connection means for connecting the purchaser terminal device and a doctor terminal device used by a doctor to enable communication for the doctor's examination, and the purchased product identification information acquisition means, after connecting the purchaser terminal device and the doctor terminal device by the connection means, acquires the purchased product identification information that identifies the product paid for through the examination as the purchased product.

[0013] According to this application example, the purchaser terminal device and the doctor terminal device are connected for communication, allowing the doctor to conduct an online consultation. The medicine determined through this consultation is purchased. Prompt information regarding this purchased medicine is transmitted. This eliminates the burden of follow-up for customers who have received a consultation and purchased the medicine.

[0014] (Application Example 5) Application Example 5 is a follow-up control device further comprising a shipping completion information receiving means that receives shipping completion information from a sender terminal device used by the sender of the purchased item, indicating that the purchased item has been shipped to the purchaser, and a change means that, when the shipping completion information is received by the shipping completion information receiving means, changes the shipping status of the purchased item to the purchaser from an unshipped status to a shipped completed status, which is a shipping status stored in a predetermined storage means, wherein the reference date is the shipping date of the purchased item, and the prompt information sending means sends the prompt information on the condition that the shipping status is set to the shipped completed status, and sends the prompt information after a period of the length corresponding to the purchased item has elapsed from the shipping date.

[0015] According to this application example, when a purchased product is shipped, shipping completion information is transmitted from the sender terminal device used by the sender, and the shipping status of the product is changed from an unshipped status to a shipped status. After the shipping status is changed to a shipped status, prompting information is transmitted. The prompting information is transmitted after a period of time corresponding to the product has elapsed from the shipping date of the product. Therefore, follow-up can be performed at a time corresponding to the purchased product and the shipping time of the product.

[0016] (Application Example 6) Application Example 6 is a follow-up control method executed by a computer, including: a purchase product identification information acquisition step of acquiring purchase product identification information that identifies a purchased product among a plurality of products; a prompting information transmission step of transmitting prompting information that prompts a purchaser of the purchased product to answer a follow-up question about the purchased product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information; and a question information transmission step of transmitting question information indicating the question to a purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser after the prompting information has been transmitted, in response to a request from the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser; wherein the prompting information transmission step transmits the prompting information after a period of the length corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the purchased product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information, based on product period length information that indicates the length of the period until the follow-up time, and which is capable of identifying the length corresponding to each of the plurality of products; and wherein the question information transmission step transmits the question information corresponding to the purchased product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information, based on product question information that indicates the question information that is capable of identifying the question information corresponding to each of the plurality of products.

[0017] (Application Example 7) Application Example 7 is a follow-up control program that causes a computer to function as a purchased product identification information acquisition means that acquires purchased product identification information that identifies a purchased product among a plurality of products; a prompting information sending means that sends prompting information that prompts a purchaser of the purchased product to answer a follow-up question about the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information; and a question information sending means that sends question information indicating the question to a purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser after the prompting information has been sent, in response to a request from the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser; wherein the prompting information sending means sends the prompting information after a period of the length corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information, based on product period length information that indicates the length of the period until the follow-up time, and the question information sending means sends the question information corresponding to the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information, based on product question information that indicates the question information that enables the question information corresponding to each of the plurality of products to be identified. [Effects of the Invention]

[0018] According to the present invention, the burden of following up with product purchasers can be eliminated. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a communication system S according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] 1A is a diagram showing an example of a sequential purchase, and FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of a regular automatic purchase. [Figure 3] 10A and 10B are diagrams showing an example of screen transitions on the customer terminal 4. FIG. [Figure 4] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a sales management server 1 according to an embodiment. [Figure 5] 3 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a database of the sales management server 1. FIG. [Figure 6] 3 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a database of the sales management server 1. FIG. [Figure 7] 3 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a database of the sales management server 1. FIG. [Figure 8] 2 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of a system control unit 11 in a sales management server 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 9] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a product screen 1200. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a follow-up observation notification email. [Figure 11] 10A to 10C are diagrams illustrating an example of the timing of sending a follow-up observation notification. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of questions for follow-up observation. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a question sheet screen. [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a follow-up observation screen. [Figure 15] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a follow-up observation screen after inputting whether or not to continue the prescription. [Figure 16] 10A to 10C are diagrams showing examples of a follow-up observation result email. [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of updating the purchase right DB 14g. [Figure 18] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of restricting the provision of a product. [Figure 19] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of restrictions on product provision in regular automatic purchases. [Figure 20] 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing in a communication system S according to an embodiment. [Figure 21] 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing in a communication system S according to an embodiment. [Figure 22] 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing in a communication system S according to an embodiment. [Figure 23] 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing in a communication system S according to an embodiment. [Figure 24]10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing in a communication system S according to an embodiment. [Figure 25] 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing in a communication system S according to an embodiment. [Figure 26] 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing in a communication system S according to an embodiment. [Figure 27] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a product screen 1200. [Figure 28] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a product screen information transmission process executed by a system control unit 11 of the sales management server 1 according to an embodiment. [Figure 29] 2 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of a system control unit 11 in a sales management server 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 30] 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing in a communication system S according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In at least one embodiment, a seller may sell products to a customer. The products may be sold, for example, in a physical store or online. Products sold in a physical store may be handed over to the customer by the seller. Products sold online may be shipped to the customer by the seller. Examples of sellers include medical institutions, pharmacies, cosmetic stores, specialty stores, etc.

[0021] According to at least one embodiment, a follow-up control device (or a product provision control device) may perform or assist in performing follow-up with a purchaser who has purchased a product. The follow-up may include, for example, confirming with the customer at least one of the purchaser's status after purchasing the product and the status of the product, and providing information to the purchaser as necessary based on the confirmed status. The information provided to the purchaser may include, for example, advice for the purchaser or some kind of assessment result regarding the use of the product. The follow-up control device may send question information to the customer to confirm the customer's situation. The question information may be information indicating a question to confirm the purchaser's status or the status of the product. The follow-up control device may receive answer information from a purchaser terminal used by the purchaser. The answer information may be information indicating an answer by the purchaser or a user of the product to the question indicated by the question information. The purchaser of a product and the user of the product may be the same person. Alternatively, the user may be a related party of the purchaser. The purchaser may purchase a product for a related party. Examples of related parties include family, relatives, and friends.

[0022] In at least one embodiment, the follow-up control device may, upon receiving response information from the purchaser terminal device, transmit follow-up result information indicating the result of the follow-up. As described above, the follow-up result information may include information to be provided to the purchaser. The follow-up control device may transmit the response information to a predetermined decision maker. The decision maker may be a person who decides the information to be provided to the purchaser. Examples of the decision maker include an employee of the seller, a specialist in the purchased product, a doctor, a pharmacist, a consultant, etc. The follow-up control device may receive the follow-up result information from the decision maker. Alternatively, the follow-up control device may automatically determine the information to be provided based on the response information. For example, the response and the information to be provided may be associated in advance and stored in a predetermined storage means.

[0023] The information provided to the purchaser may include whether or not to continue using the purchased product. The decision maker or the follow-up control device may decide whether or not to continue using the product. If the response from the purchaser indicates that there is no problem with the purchaser continuing to use the product, it may be decided to continue using the product. If the response from the purchaser indicates that there is a problem with the purchaser continuing to use the product, it may be decided that the purchaser cannot continue using the product or that the purchaser should stop using the product.

[0024] In at least one embodiment, a customer may be provided with the same product on an ongoing basis. For example, the purchaser may be able to reorder or repurchase the product, or the product may be continuously shipped to the purchaser. If a follow-up decision is made to discontinue use of the purchased product, the follow-up control device may execute a process to restrict the provision of the product to the purchaser. Examples of restricting the provision of the product include making the product unavailable for purchase, allowing purchase only if the purchaser meets additional conditions, not shipping the product, canceling a planned purchase or shipping of the product, etc.

[0025] All products sold by a seller may be subject to follow-up. Alternatively, only some of the products may be subject to follow-up. For example, a product that becomes available for purchase by a customer (or related party) on the condition that the customer (or related party) has a meeting with a decision maker may be subject to follow-up. For example, a meeting may be required at the latest before the order for the product is confirmed. Examples of meetings include medical examinations, counseling, consulting, medication instructions, and information provision. The meeting may be conducted offline or online. During the meeting, the decision maker may explain the product to the customer. Furthermore, during the meeting, the decision maker may confirm the customer's condition. A customer may be able to purchase a product only if the decision maker gives permission for the customer to use the product during the meeting. Alternatively, a customer may be able to purchase a product without the decision maker's permission. The product to be purchased may be selected by the customer before the meeting with the decision maker, may be decided by the decision maker during the meeting, or may be decided by the customer or the decision maker after the meeting. Some products that do not require a meeting before purchase may be subject to follow-up. Furthermore, among the products that require a pre-purchase consultation, there may be products that are not subject to follow-up.

[0026] If the decision maker is a doctor, the products that are subject to follow-up may include prescription drugs. A doctor's prescription is required for a seller to provide prescription drugs to a customer. In this case, the interview before the purchase of the product may be a medical examination. The follow-up in this case may also be observation. There may be drugs that are subject to follow-up among drugs other than prescription drugs. There may also be cosmetics that are subject to follow-up among cosmetics other than prescription drugs. If the decision maker is a pharmacist, the products that are subject to follow-up may include drugs. In this case, the interview before the purchase of the product may be medication instructions or information provided by the pharmacist to the customer.

[0027] In the following, an example will be described in which the seller is a medical institution, the product to be followed up is a prescription drug, and the decision maker is a doctor. However, as mentioned above, the present application can also be applied to cases in which the seller is different from a medical institution, the product to be followed up is different from a prescription drug, or the seller is different from a medical institution.

[0028] [1. First embodiment] [1-1. Communication System Configuration] First, the configuration and functional overview of a communication system S according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the schematic configuration of a communication system S according to this embodiment.

[0029] As shown in Fig. 1, the communication system S may be configured to include a sales management server 1, at least one doctor terminal 2, at least one shipping terminal 3, and multiple customer terminals 4. The sales management server 1, the doctor terminal 2, the shipping terminal 3, and each customer terminal 4 are connected to one another via a network NW. The network NW is constructed, for example, by the Internet, a dedicated communication line (e.g., a CATV (Community Antenna Television) line), a mobile communication network (including base stations, etc.), a gateway, etc.

[0030] The sales management server 1 may be a server device that performs various processes related to a predetermined pharmaceutical e-commerce (EC) platform. The pharmaceutical e-commerce platform may be a website that allows customers to purchase pharmaceuticals and other products online from predetermined medical institutions. Pharmaceutical products may be mainly sold on the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform. Pharmaceuticals sold may include prescription pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Prescription pharmaceuticals are pharmaceuticals provided based on a doctor's prescription. Over-the-counter pharmaceuticals are pharmaceuticals that do not require a doctor's prescription. The pharmaceutical e-commerce platform may also sell products other than pharmaceuticals. Examples of such products include cosmetics and health foods. The sales management server 1 may transmit content such as a webpage included in the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform to the customer terminal 4 in response to a request from the customer terminal 4, for example. The sales management server 1 may also execute a process for accepting product orders from customers. The sales management server 1 may also execute a process for accepting appointments for consultations (or medical treatment) at medical institutions so that customers can order pharmaceuticals. This consultation may be an online consultation or an offline consultation. Furthermore, when an online consultation is scheduled, the sales management server 1 may execute a process for realizing the online consultation. In the online consultation, audio and video communication may be performed between the doctor terminal 2 and the customer terminal 4.

[0031] The doctor terminal 2 may be a terminal device used by a medical institution. This doctor terminal 2 may be a terminal device mainly used by a doctor. For example, the doctor terminal 2 may be used to display and input electronic medical records, input prescriptions, display questions and answers for follow-up monitoring, and input whether or not to continue prescribing a prescription for a prescription drug after purchase. The doctor terminal 2 may also be used for online consultations. Examples of the doctor terminal 2 include a personal computer and a tablet computer. The doctor terminal 2 may be equipped with a video camera for capturing images or may be connectable to a video camera. The doctor terminal 2 may also be equipped with a microphone for inputting audio or may be connectable to a microphone. Software such as a web browser or an email client may be built into the doctor terminal 2. The doctor terminal 2 may be an example of a decision-maker terminal device used by a doctor as a decision-maker who decides whether or not to continue using a purchased product.

[0032] The shipping terminal 3 may be a terminal device used primarily by medical institutions when shipping products. This shipping terminal 3 may also be a terminal device used by pharmacists or other employees. For example, the shipping terminal 3 may display information about the products to be shipped and information about the delivery destination. Employees may perform shipping work for ordered products based on the information displayed on the shipping terminal 3. Examples of the shipping terminal 3 include personal computers and tablet computers. The shipping terminal 3 may be equipped with software such as a web browser and an email client.

[0033] Each customer terminal 4 may be a terminal device used by a customer as a buyer of a product that can use the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform. Each customer terminal 4 may receive and display content, such as a web page, from the sales management server 1 or the like based on operations by the customer. Examples of the customer terminal 4 include mobile information terminals such as smartphones and tablet computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), personal computers, and set-top boxes. Each customer terminal 4 may be equipped with a video camera for capturing video or may be connectable to a video camera. Each customer terminal 4 may also be equipped with a microphone for audio input or may be connectable to a microphone. Each customer terminal 4 may be equipped with software such as a web browser or an email client. A dedicated app may be installed on a portable customer terminal 4. The dedicated app is an application for using the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform. The customer terminal 4 may send various requests to the sales management server 1 and receive and display content from the sales management server 1 according to the dedicated app.

[0034] [1-2. Continued purchase of the product and follow-up observation] Next, a repeat purchase of a product will be described with reference to FIG. 2 . The first purchase of a product is referred to as an initial purchase. A repeat purchase of a product may refer to a customer repeatedly purchasing the same product after the initial purchase. From the seller's perspective, a repeat purchase may correspond to the continuous provision of the same product to a customer. In particular, in this embodiment, a repeat purchase may refer to a customer repeatedly purchasing the same product without the need to satisfy specific or additional conditions. Alternatively, a repeat purchase of a product may refer to a customer repeatedly purchasing a product that is the subject of follow-up after having purchased the product once. The specific or additional conditions may be conditions that the customer must satisfy when purchasing the product for the first time. For example, if the product is a prescription drug, this condition may refer to seeing a doctor or having the product prescribed by a doctor.

[0035] A maximum prescription amount may be set for a prescription drug. The maximum prescription amount may indicate the maximum amount of prescription drug that can be prescribed per prescription or per prescription. The quantity of a product may be indicated, for example, by the length of the period during which the product is intended to be used, taken, or consumed. This length of period may be indicated, for example, by the number of days, weeks, or months. In this embodiment, the number of months is used. For example, a one-month supply of a drug taken three times daily (morning, noon, and night) may correspond to 90 tablets. Examples of maximum prescription amounts include 6 months and 12 months. The maximum prescription amount may be set commonly for all prescription drugs, for example, within a pharmaceutical e-commerce platform. Alternatively, the maximum prescription amount may be set for each drug. Alternatively, the maximum prescription amount may be set for each drug category. Alternatively, the maximum prescription amount may be determined by a doctor at the time of prescribing. In this embodiment, the maximum prescription amount is assumed to be common to all prescription drugs.

[0036] A right to purchase is a right that a customer acquires, provided that certain conditions, such as seeing a doctor, are met, allowing the customer to make initial or continuing purchases of a product. The amount of a prescription drug that a customer purchases in an initial purchase is determined within a range up to a maximum prescribed amount. For example, the customer may select the purchase amount, or the doctor may select the purchase amount. The customer may be able to continue purchasing the drug within a range up to the amount remaining after subtracting the amount of the drug purchased in the initial purchase from the maximum prescribed amount. A primary effect of a right to purchase may be that neither a new doctor's consultation nor a new prescription is required for continuing purchases.

[0037] For a product for which a purchase right has been set, the total amount of the product that the customer has already purchased or the total amount that the seller has shipped to the customer is called the already purchased amount. The purchase right may be extinguished when the already purchased amount reaches the maximum prescribed amount. Also, the purchase right may or may not be extinguished when a period of time equivalent to the maximum prescribed amount has passed since the date the product was prescribed. In order for a customer to repurchase a product for which the purchase right has once been extinguished, the customer may be required to fulfill certain conditions, such as receiving a medical examination from a doctor.

[0038] The pharmaceutical e-commerce platform may offer two types of recurring purchases of products: one-time purchases and automatic regular purchases. Customers may be able to select whether to purchase products through one-time purchases or automatic regular purchases. Alternatively, the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform may be configured so that only one of one-time purchases or automatic regular purchases is available. Alternatively, it may be predetermined for each product or each product category whether or not a one-time purchase or automatic regular purchase is available.

[0039] A sequential purchase may be a purchase in which a customer selects and orders a product each time. FIG. 2(a) illustrates an example of a sequential purchase. For example, a customer first orders a product with a maximum prescription amount for six months. At this time, the customer consults a doctor and the doctor prescribes the product. As shown in FIG. 2(a), the customer orders a one-month supply of the product. The medical institution delivers the one-month supply of the product to the customer. At this point, the customer has the right to purchase a five-month supply of the product. One month after the prescription, the customer orders a two-month supply of the same product. At this time, the doctor's consultation is omitted. The medical institution delivers the two-month supply of the product to the customer. At this point, the customer has the right to purchase a three-month supply of the product. Three months after the prescription, the customer orders a three-month supply of the same product. At this time, the doctor's consultation is omitted. The medical institution delivers the three-month supply of the product to the customer. At this point, the customer's purchase right expires. Purchases of the product from the second time onward may be considered continuing purchases.

[0040] A periodic automatic purchase may be a purchase in which a product is delivered to a purchaser on a regular basis. Periodic product delivery is also referred to as subscription delivery. Figure 2(b) illustrates an example of a periodic automatic purchase. For example, a customer first orders a product with a maximum prescription amount for six months. The customer then consults a doctor, who prescribes the product. As shown in Figure 2(b), a one-month supply of the product is first delivered from the medical institution to the customer. Thereafter, another one-month supply of the product is delivered from the medical institution to the customer at monthly intervals. The sales management server 1 may automatically settle the purchase price for each month's supply of the product. After a total of six shipments of the product, including the first shipment, the customer's purchasing rights expire. Subsequent payments and shipments may be considered recurring purchases. The amount of product delivered at one time and the interval between shipments are not limited to one month.

[0041] As an example of customer follow-up, follow-up observations may be conducted one or more times during the period during which the purchase right is valid or the period corresponding to the maximum prescription amount. For example, in the examples shown in Figures 2(a) and 2(b), follow-up observations are conducted monthly. However, the follow-up observation interval is not limited to one month. If the purchase method is a serial purchase, the customer does not need to purchase the product until the previously purchased amount reaches the maximum prescription amount. The customer may discontinue the continuous purchase. If the purchase method is a regular automatic purchase, the sales management server 1 may be configured to allow the customer to cancel the regular automatic purchase midway. In these cases, follow-up observations may be conducted only during the period corresponding to the previously purchased amount. Note that follow-up observations or follow-ups may also be conducted for products for which the customer does not need to meet specific conditions, such as a doctor's consultation, for the initial purchase.

[0042] In the follow-up monitoring, the sales management server 1 may transmit question information indicating questions for the follow-up monitoring to the customer terminal 4. The customer may input answers to the questions. The sales management server 1 may transmit answer information indicating the input answers to the doctor terminal 2. The doctor may decide whether or not the customer should continue using the product based on the answers from the customer. For example, the doctor may decide whether to continue or discontinue the prescription. Continuing the prescription may indicate that the use of the product may be continued. Discontinuing the prescription may indicate that the use of the product should be discontinued. If a decision is made to discontinue the prescription, the purchase right established for the product may be extinguished or suspended. As a result, the medical institution may restrict the provision of the product to the customer. Restricting the provision of the product may correspond to restricting the customer's purchase of the product.

[0043] [1-3. Screen transition] Next, an example of screen transitions on the customer terminal 4 from product selection to order completion on the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform will be described with reference to FIG. 3. The screens on the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform may be screens related to e-commerce transactions that enable product ordering. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of screen transitions on the customer terminal 4. As described above, the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform sells prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and products. A doctor's prescription is required to sell prescription drugs. A doctor must examine the customer to issue a prescription. Therefore, the screen transitions for ordering products differ between prescription drugs and other products. Each screen may be provided to the customer terminal 4 from the sales management server 1 as a web page, for example.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 3, when the customer terminal 4 accesses the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform, a product selection screen 1100 may be displayed first. The product selection screen 1100 may be a screen for the customer to select a product for which they want to view detailed information. The product selection screen 1100 may include multiple types of screens. For example, the product selection screen 1100 may include a search condition input screen, a search result screen, etc. The search condition input screen may be a screen for inputting or selecting search conditions for products. Examples of search conditions include product categories, keywords, etc. The search result screen may be a screen that displays a list of products that meet the input search conditions as search results.

[0045] When a customer selects a product from the search results, a product screen 1200 may be displayed. The product screen 1200 may be a screen that displays detailed information about the selected product. On the product screen 1200, the customer can select the product to order. For example, the customer may be able to add the product to a cart. The cart may be a virtual shopping container or list that each customer has in the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform. The customer can order the products in the cart.

[0046] Thereafter, a cart screen 1300 may be displayed based on an operation by the customer. The cart screen 1300 may be a screen showing a list of products currently in the cart. On the cart screen 1300, the customer may be able to delete products to be ordered or change the quantity.

[0047] If there are no prescription drugs among the products in the cart, an order confirmation screen 2100 may be displayed next. The order confirmation screen 2100 may be a screen that shows the order details and indicates that the order is to be confirmed with those order details. The order details shown on the order confirmation screen 2100 include the products in the cart. The customer confirms the order details on the order confirmation screen 2100 and performs an operation to confirm the order. In response to this operation, an order completion screen 2200 may be displayed. The order completion screen 2200 may be a screen that indicates that the order has been confirmed.

[0048] On the other hand, if the products in the cart include prescription drugs, an order application content confirmation screen 1400 may be displayed after the cart screen 1300. The order application content confirmation screen 1400 may be a screen for placing an order for the products in the cart (or requesting acceptance of the order). The order application content confirmation screen 1400 may include the order content to be submitted. The order content may include the products in the cart.

[0049] When the customer places an order, a consultation appointment screen 1500 may be displayed. The consultation appointment screen 1500 may be a screen for the customer to select the date and time of the consultation to receive the prescription for the prescription drug that the customer has placed an order for. At this point, the customer's order may not yet be officially accepted.

[0050] When the customer selects the consultation date and time, a consultation appointment confirmation screen 1600 may be displayed. The consultation appointment confirmation screen 1600 may be a screen for confirming the details of the consultation appointment.

[0051] A consultation appointment acceptance completion screen 1700 may be displayed when the customer confirms the appointment with the appointment details displayed on the consultation appointment confirmation screen 1600. The consultation appointment acceptance completion screen 1700 may be a screen indicating that the appointment for the consultation has been completed.

[0052] Next, a medical questionnaire screen 1800 may be displayed. The medical questionnaire screen 1800 may be a screen for the customer to fill out a medical questionnaire prior to a medical examination.

[0053] After the appointment is confirmed, an appointment notification email may be sent to the customer. The appointment notification email may be an email notifying information about the scheduled appointment. The appointment notification email may include the date and time of the appointment as well as a URL for an online appointment. When the customer selects this URL from the appointment notification email on the day of the appointment, the customer terminal 4 may access the sales management server 1 and an appointment waiting screen 1900 may be displayed. Alternatively, when the customer selects online appointment from a predetermined menu in the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform, the appointment waiting screen 1900 may be displayed. The appointment waiting screen 1900 may be a screen indicating that the customer is on standby until the appointment begins.

[0054] Thereafter, when the consultation start time arrives, the customer consultation screen 2000 may be displayed. The customer consultation screen 2000 may be a screen for the customer to talk with a doctor at a medical institution during an online consultation. On the customer consultation screen 2000, the customer can receive an explanation about prescription drugs from the doctor. The customer consultation screen 2000 may also display information about products selected by the customer as products to be ordered. The doctor performing the consultation may change the order details.

[0055] When the online consultation is completed and the doctor issues a prescription, an order confirmation screen 2100 may be displayed. The order confirmation screen 2100 may be a screen that displays the final order details and accepts an operation to confirm the order with the order details.

[0056] When the customer confirms the order, the sales server 1 may accept the order and process payment for the ordered product. When payment is complete, an order completion screen 2200 may be displayed. The order completion screen 2200 may be a screen indicating the completion of the order and payment. When payment is complete, the ordered product may be shipped from the medical institution to the customer.

[0057] If the drug selected by the customer is a prescription drug, the sales management server 1 may be configured to provide a prescription to the customer rather than have the medical institution ship the drug. For example, when a doctor prescribes the drug, the sales management server 1 or the doctor terminal 2 may print the prescription. An employee of the medical institution may mail the prescription to the customer. Alternatively, the sales management server 1 may generate an electronic prescription. The sales management server 1 may send the electronic prescription by email to the customer. Alternatively, the sales management server 1 may make the electronic prescription available for download from a predetermined webpage of the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform.

[0058] Furthermore, if the drug selected by the customer is a prescription drug, the sales management server 1 may be configured so that the pharmacy ships the drug. For example, after a doctor has examined the customer, a prescription may be sent from the medical institution to the pharmacy. For example, the prescription may be mailed from the medical institution to the pharmacy. Alternatively, the sales management server 1 may send the electronic prescription to a pharmacy terminal (not shown), which is a terminal device used by the pharmacy. A pharmacist at the pharmacy who receives the prescription may provide medication instructions to the customer. The medication instructions may be provided online, for example. As in the case of an online consultation, audio and video communication may be performed between the pharmacy terminal and the customer terminal 4 for online medication instructions. After the medication instructions are completed, the pharmacy may ship the prescription drug to the customer.

[0059] Furthermore, among products other than prescription drugs, there may be products that customers can order on the condition that they are examined by a doctor. For example, products or product categories that require a doctor's examination may be predetermined by the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform or by each pharmacy.

[0060] [1-4. Sales management server configuration] Next, the configuration of the sales management server 1 will be described with reference to Figs. 4 to 7. Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the general configuration of the sales management server 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 4, the sales management server 1 includes a system control unit 11, a system bus 12, an input / output interface 13, a storage unit 14, and a communication unit 15. The system control unit 11 and the input / output interface 13 are connected via the system bus 12.

[0061] The system control unit 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11a, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 11b, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 11c, and the like.

[0062] The input / output interface 13 performs interface processing between the storage unit 14 and the communication unit 15 and the system control unit 11 .

[0063] The storage unit 14 is configured, for example, with a hard disk drive or the like. This storage unit 14 may store databases such as a member DB 14a, a product DB 14b, a cart DB 14c, a consultation appointment DB 14d, a prescription history DB 14e, an order DB 14f, a purchase right DB 14g, a shipping schedule DB 14h, a follow-up period DB 14i, a question information DB 14j, a follow-up notification schedule DB 14k, a response DB 14l, and a follow-up result DB 14m. "DB" is an abbreviation for database. At least one database may be stored in a server device different from the sales management server 1. The sales management server 1 may be able to access the databases via that server device.

[0064] 5 to 7 are diagrams showing examples of information stored in the database of the sales management server 1. The member DB 14a may store member information about each customer who can use the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the member DB 14a may store, as member information, customer ID, name, gender, date of birth, address, telephone number, email address, credit card information, and the like, in association with one another. The customer ID may be identification information that identifies the customer. The credit card information may be information about a credit card that the customer can use. For example, the credit card information may include a card number, expiration date, the name of the credit card owner, and the like.

[0065] The product DB 14b may store product information about each product sold on the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform. For example, the product DB 14b may store product information such as a product ID, category information, a prescription drug flag, a product name, a generic name, a price, a product description, and a product image URL (Uniform Resource Locator), all of which are associated with one another. The product ID may be identification information for identifying a product. The category information may be information indicating a category to which the product belongs. Examples of product categories include cosmetic oral medications, cosmetic topical medications, cosmetics, diet medicines, birth control pills, androgenetic alopecia (AGA) treatment drugs, and erectile dysfunction (ED) treatment drugs. The prescription drug flag may indicate whether the product is a prescription drug. The prescription drug flag may be used to determine whether the screen displayed on the customer terminal 4 should transition from a cart screen 1300 to an order application content confirmation screen 1400, as shown in FIG. 3 . If a product whose prescription drug flag is set to TRUE is in the cart, the sales management server 1 may transition the screen of the customer terminal 4 to the order confirmation screen 1400. The customer then schedules a consultation and confirms the order after seeing a doctor. On the other hand, if only products whose prescription drug flag is set to FALSE are in the cart, the sales management server 1 may transition the screen of the customer terminal 4 to the order confirmation screen 2100. The customer then confirms the order for the product that does not require a doctor's consultation. As described above, there may be products other than prescription drugs that the customer can order on the condition that the customer sees a doctor. In this case, the product DB 14b may store, for example, a consultation target flag. The consultation target flag may indicate whether the customer needs to see a doctor to confirm the order for that product. If a product whose consultation target flag is set to TRUE is in the cart, the sales management server 1 may transition the screen of the customer terminal 4 to the order confirmation screen 1400. On the other hand, if the cart contains only products for which the examination target flag is set to FALSE, the sales management server 1 may transition the screen of the customer terminal 4 to an order confirmation screen 2100.The product name may indicate the name of the product. The generic name may indicate the name of the main ingredient of the product if the product is a pharmaceutical product. The product image URL may be the URL of the image data of the product.

[0066] The cart DB 14c may store cart information related to products currently added to each customer's cart. For example, the cart DB 14c may store cart information such as a customer ID and cart product information, which are associated with each other. The customer ID may indicate the customer who owns the card. The cart product information may be information related to an individual product added to the cart. If multiple products are added to a single cart, the cart DB 14c may store cart product information for each of the multiple products. Each cart product information may include a product ID, purchase type, quantity, a prescription drug flag, and the like. The product ID may indicate the product added to the cart. The purchase type may indicate whether the product is purchased through a regular purchase or a regular automatic purchase. The quantity may indicate the purchase amount of the product in terms of months. The prescription drug flag may indicate whether the product is a prescription drug. As with the product DB 14b, the cart DB 14c may also store a medical examination target flag. It should be noted that the sales management server 1 may store the cart information in each customer terminal 4 as an HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) cookie, instead of storing the cart information in the storage unit 14.

[0067] The consultation appointment DB 14d may store appointment information regarding each appointment for an online consultation. For example, the consultation appointment DB 14d may store appointment information such as an appointment number, consultation date, consultation start time, consultation end time, and customer ID, all of which are associated with one another. The appointment number may be a number that identifies the appointment. The consultation date may indicate the date on which the scheduled consultation will take place. The consultation start time and consultation end time may indicate the start time and end time, respectively, of the time slot reserved for the consultation. The customer ID may indicate the customer who has scheduled the consultation.

[0068] The prescription history DB14e may store a history of prescriptions by doctors at medical institutions. The prescription history DB14e may store only a history of prescriptions made during online consultations, or may also store a history of prescriptions made during offline consultations. For example, the prescription history DB14e may store, as a prescription log, the prescription number, prescription date and time, appointment number, customer ID, and prescribed drug information, etc., associated with each other, for each prescription. The prescription number may be a number identifying the prescription. The prescription date and time may indicate the date and time the prescription was made. The appointment number may be a number identifying the appointment for the consultation at which the prescription was made. The customer ID may indicate the customer to whom the prescribed drug is provided. In other words, the customer ID may indicate the customer examined by the doctor. The prescribed drug information may be information about each individual prescribed drug. When the dispensing of multiple drugs is ordered for one prescription, the prescription history DB14e may store prescription drug information for each of the multiple drugs. Each prescription drug information may include a product ID, purchase form, quantity, and ethical drug flag, etc. The product ID may indicate the prescribed drug. The purchase type may indicate whether the drug is purchased through a regular purchase or a regular automatic purchase. The quantity may indicate the purchase amount of the drug in terms of the number of months. The prescription drug flag may indicate whether the product is a prescription drug. As with the product DB 14b, the prescription history DB 14e may also store an examination target flag.

[0069] The order DB 14f may store order information regarding orders accepted by the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform each time an order is confirmed. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the order DB 14f may store order information, such as an order number, order date and time, customer ID, ordered product information, prescription number, payment amount, and delivery address information, in association with one another. The order number may be a number identifying the order. The order date and time may indicate the date and time when the order was confirmed. The customer ID may indicate the customer who placed the order. The ordered product information may be information about each individual product ordered. When multiple products are ordered in a single order, the order DB 14f may store order product information for each of the multiple products. Each piece of ordered product information may include a product ID, purchase type, quantity, a prescription drug flag, a recurring purchase flag, and the like. The product ID may indicate the ordered product. The purchase type may indicate whether the product is purchased through a regular purchase or a regular automatic purchase. The quantity may indicate the purchase amount of the product in terms of the number of months. The prescription drug flag may indicate whether the product is a prescription drug. As in the case of the product DB 14b, the order DB 14f may store a medical examination target flag. The recurring purchase flag may indicate whether the purchase of the product is an initial purchase or a recurring purchase. The prescription number may be a number that identifies the prescription when the ordered product includes a medical drug. The payment amount may be the total of the price of the ordered product and shipping fee. The delivery address information may be information indicating the delivery address of the ordered product.

[0070] The purchasing right DB 14g may store purchasing right information regarding the purchasing right of a prescription drug for each drug for which an order has been confirmed after a doctor's examination. For example, the purchasing right DB 14g may store, as purchasing right information, a purchasing right ID, an order number, a set date, a customer ID, a product ID, a maximum prescribed amount, a previously purchased amount, and a right status, all of which are associated with one another. The purchasing right ID may be identification information that identifies the purchasing right. The order number may indicate the order corresponding to the purchasing right. The set date may indicate the date on which the purchasing right was set. The customer ID may indicate the customer who has the purchasing right. The product ID may indicate the product for which the purchasing right is set. The maximum prescription amount may indicate the maximum amount that can be prescribed for the product. If the maximum prescription amount is the same for all prescription drugs, the purchasing right DB 14g may not store the maximum prescription amount. The previously purchased amount may indicate the amount of the product already purchased by the purchaser. The right status may indicate the status of the purchasing right. For example, the right status may be set to one of "active," "expired," and "suspended." "Active" may indicate that the purchase right remains valid. "Expired" may indicate that the purchase right has been voided because the maximum prescribed amount of product has been provided to the customer. "Suspended" may indicate that the purchase right has been voided because a doctor has decided to discontinue prescribing the product.

[0071] The shipping schedule DB 14h may store shipping schedule information indicating a shipping schedule for purchased products for each scheduled shipment. For example, the shipping schedule DB 14h may store, as shipping schedule information, a shipping schedule ID, an order number, a customer ID, a purchase type, a shipping number, shipping destination information, a scheduled shipping date, a shipping date, and product information scheduled to be shipped, all in association with one another. The shipping schedule ID may be identification information that identifies the shipping schedule. The order number may indicate an order that requires the product to be shipped. The customer ID may indicate the customer who ordered the product. The purchase type may indicate whether the product to be shipped was purchased through a one-time purchase or a regular automatic purchase. The shipping number may be valid when the purchase type is a regular automatic purchase. The shipping number may indicate which delivery in the regular delivery is the scheduled delivery, in the case where the product is shipped through a regular delivery. The scheduled shipping date may indicate the date on which the product is scheduled to be shipped. The shipping date may indicate the date on which the product was shipped. The scheduled shipping product information may be information about an individual product scheduled to be shipped. When multiple items are shipped in a single shipment, the shipping schedule DB 14h may store scheduled shipping item information for the multiple items. Each scheduled shipping item information may include a product ID, a quantity, and a shipping status. The product ID may indicate the item scheduled to be shipped. The quantity may indicate the purchase amount of the item in months. The shipping status may indicate the shipping status of the item. For example, the shipping status may be set to one of "not shipped," "shipped," and "cancelled." "Not shipped" may indicate that the item has not yet been shipped. "Shipped" may indicate that the item has already been shipped. "Cancelled" may indicate that the shipping of the item has been canceled. "Cancelled" may also be set for scheduled shipping for regular deliveries.

[0072] The follow-up period DB14i may store follow-up period information regarding the period until a notification prompting the customer to answer follow-up questions is sent, for each combination of a product category and a follow-up frequency. The follow-up frequency may indicate how many times the follow-up has been conducted since the initial purchase of the product. The follow-up period DB14i may store, for example, category information, the frequency, and the length of the follow-up period, which are associated with each other, as follow-up period information. The category information may indicate the category of the product that is the subject of the follow-up. The length of the follow-up period may indicate the length of the period from the shipping date of the product of that category upon initial purchase to the notification of the follow-up frequency. The length of the follow-up period may be an example of product period length information indicating the length of the period until the follow-up time. Examples of the length of the follow-up period include the number of days, the number of weeks, and the number of months. In this embodiment, the length of the follow-up period is indicated in months.

[0073] The question information DB 14j may store question information indicating the content of questions for follow-up observation for each product category. For example, the question information DB 14j may store category information and questionnaire format, etc., in association with each other. The category information may indicate the category of the product to be questioned. The question information may indicate the content of one or more questions. For example, the question information may include, for each question, a question number, text indicating the question content, text indicating options selectable as answers, etc. In addition to the question information DB 14j, the storage unit 14 may store question sheet screen display information for each product category in association with the category information. The question sheet screen display information may be information for displaying a question sheet screen on the customer terminal 4. The question sheet screen may be a screen that displays questions for follow-up observation and can accept input of answers to the questions. The question sheet screen display information may be an HTML (HyperText Markup Language) document or other information. The sales management server 1 may generate question sheet screen display information in advance based on the question information stored in the question information DB 14j.

[0074] The follow-up observation notification schedule DB 14k may store, for each follow-up observation, follow-up observation notification schedule information indicating a schedule for sending a notification prompting the customer to answer questions for follow-up observation. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the follow-up observation notification schedule DB 14k may store, as follow-up observation notification schedule information, a follow-up observation ID, a customer ID, category information, a product ID, a scheduled sending date, and the like, in association with one another. The follow-up observation ID may indicate the follow-up observation to be notified. The customer ID may indicate the customer to be notified. The category information may indicate the category of the product to be the target of follow-up observation. The product ID may indicate the product to be the target of follow-up observation. If there are multiple products to be the target of follow-up observation, the follow-up observation notification schedule DB 14k may store the product IDs of each of the multiple products. The scheduled sending date may indicate the date on which the notification is scheduled to be sent.

[0075] The answer DB 14l may store answer result information related to answers to questions for follow-up observation for each follow-up observation. For example, the answer DB 14l may store a follow-up observation ID, a customer ID, question information, answer information, etc., in association with one another as answer result information. The follow-up observation ID may indicate the follow-up observation corresponding to the answer. The customer ID may indicate the customer who made the answer. The question information may indicate the question to be answered. The answer information may indicate the content of the answer. For example, the answer information may include, for each question, the question number, the option selected by the customer, the text entered by the customer, etc.

[0076] The follow-up result DB 14m may store follow-up result information indicating the results of follow-up by a doctor for each follow-up. For example, the follow-up result DB 14m may store, as follow-up result information, a follow-up ID, a customer ID, prescription continuation information, comments, and the like, in association with one another. The follow-up ID may indicate the follow-up conducted by the doctor. The customer ID may indicate the customer who is the subject of the follow-up. The prescription continuation information may be information regarding a determination as to whether the prescription can be continued. If there are multiple products that are the subject of follow-up, the follow-up result DB 14m may store prescription continuation information for each of the multiple products. Each prescription continuation information may include a product ID, a prescription continuation flag, and the like. The product ID may indicate the product that was the subject of the determination as to whether the prescription can be continued. The prescription continuation flag may indicate whether the doctor has decided to continue or discontinue the prescription for that product.

[0077] The storage unit 14 may further store various programs such as an operating system, a DBMS (Database Management System), and a server program. The server program may be a program that causes the system control unit 11 to execute processing related to the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform. The server program may be obtained from another device via a network NW, or may be recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic tape, an optical disk, or a memory card and read via a drive device.

[0078] The communication unit 15 is configured by, for example, a network interface card, etc. The communication unit 15 connects to the doctor terminal 2, the shipping terminal 3, or the customer terminal 4 via the network NW, and controls the communication state with the connected device.

[0079] [1-5. Functional overview of the system control unit of the sales management server] Next, an outline of the functions of the system control unit 11 in the sales management server 1 will be described with reference to Figs. 8 to 19. Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of the system control unit 11 in the sales management server 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 8, the system control unit 11 may function as a sales screen information transmission unit 111, a selected product identification information acquisition unit 112, a cart information management unit 113, a medical examination support unit 114, an order confirmation unit 115, a shipping schedule information management unit 116, a purchased product identification information acquisition unit 117, a follow-up observation notice transmission unit 118, a question information transmission unit 119, a response information reception unit 120, a use continuation permission information acquisition unit 121, a follow-up observation result information transmission unit 122, and a product provision restriction information management unit 123, etc., by the CPU 11a reading and executing various program codes included in the server program.

[0080] [1-5-1. Product selection and shipping] The sales screen information transmitting unit 111 may transmit screen information to the customer terminal 4 for displaying various screens related to the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform on the customer terminal 4. The sales screen information transmitting unit 111 may transmit, for example, an HTML document of a webpage corresponding to a screen as screen information to the customer terminal 4. Alternatively, the sales screen information transmitting unit 111 may display the screen by transmitting information to be displayed on the screen to the customer terminal 4. Alternatively, the sales screen information transmitting unit 111 may simply transmit an instruction to display a specific screen to the customer terminal 4. The customer terminal 4 may display a screen in response to an instruction from the sales management server 1 based on information pre-stored in the customer terminal 4. The sales screen information transmitting unit 111 may display, on the customer terminal 4, a screen mainly related to product selection and ordering. For example, the sales screen information transmitting unit 111 may transmit screen information of a screen including information related to a product in response to a request from the customer terminal 4. Examples of products that respond to a request from the customer terminal 4 include products selected by the customer, products that satisfy conditions specified by the customer, products that are predetermined to be displayed on the screen requested by the customer, etc. Specific examples of products that respond to a request from the customer terminal 4 include a search result screen, which is one of the product selection screens 1100, a product screen 1200, a cart screen 1300, an order application content confirmation screen 1400, an order content confirmation screen 2100, etc.

[0081] The sales screen information transmission unit 111 may cause the customer terminal 4 to display a screen on which an operation can be performed to select a purchasing method for the product. The sales screen information transmission unit 111 may also cause the customer terminal 4 to display a screen on which an operation can be performed to select a purchasing quantity of the product. This screen may be, for example, the product screen 1200.

[0082] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a product screen 1200. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the product screen 1200 may display information about the product, such as the product name, product category, product image, product description, and price. If the product information displayed on the product screen 1200 is a prescription drug, the product screen 1200 may further display precautions. For example, the product screen 1200 may display a message indicating that a doctor's consultation is required before ordering the product, a message urging the user to make an appointment, and so on. The product screen 1200 may also include a purchase type / quantity selection button group 1210, an add-to-cart button 1220, and a cart icon 1230. The purchase type / quantity selection button group 1210 may include a purchase quantity and multiple buttons for selecting the purchase quantity. For example, the purchase type / quantity selection button group 1210 may include a regular delivery button 1211, a one-month button 1212, a three-month button 1213, a six-month button 1214, and so on. The regular delivery button 1211 is a button for selecting automatic regular purchase. If regular automatic purchase is selected, the purchase quantity may be automatically determined to be one month's worth. The one month button 1212, three month button 1213, and six month button 1214 are all buttons for selecting successive purchases. The one month button 1212 is a button for selecting the purchase of one month's worth of quantity. The two month button 1213 is a button for selecting the purchase of one month's worth of quantity. The three month button 1214 is a button for selecting the purchase of one month's worth of quantity. The add to cart button 1220 is a button for adding to the cart a product whose information is displayed on the product screen 1200. The cart icon 1230 is an icon that can be operated to display the cart screen 1300.

[0083] The selected product identification information acquisition unit 112 may acquire a product ID that identifies a product selected by a customer to order and the customer ID of that customer. Selecting a product to order may, for example, involve adding the product to a cart. Alternatively, selecting a product to order may involve submitting an order for the product. For example, when a customer presses the add to cart button 1220 on the product screen 1200 shown in FIG. 9 , the selected product identification information acquisition unit 112 may cause the customer terminal 4 to transmit the customer ID of the customer and the product ID of the product to the sales management server 1. The drug identification information acquisition unit 111 may acquire the transmitted customer ID and product ID.

[0084] The cart information management unit 113 may manage cart information for each customer. Furthermore, the cart information management unit 113 may execute a process of adding a drug selected by a customer to a cart based on the product ID and customer ID acquired by the selected product identification information acquisition unit 112. For example, the cart information management unit 113 may search the product DB 14b for a prescription drug flag associated with the acquired product ID. The cart information management unit 113 may generate cart product information including the product ID, the prescription drug flag, and the purchase type and quantity corresponding to a selected button from the purchase type / quantity selection button group 1210. The cart information management unit 113 may add the generated cart product information to the cart information for that customer stored in the cart DB 14c.

[0085] When the product indicated by the product ID acquired by the selected product identification information acquisition unit 112 is a medical drug, the medical examination support unit 114 may support the medical examination as an interview between the customer (or related person) and the doctor. The support for the medical examination may include at least one of allowing the customer to make an appointment for the medical examination and realizing an online interview. The appointment-available medical examination may be an online examination or an offline examination.

[0086] To enable the appointment, the examination support unit 114 may send appointment application screen information to the customer terminal 4. The appointment application screen information may be information for displaying an appointment application screen on the customer terminal 4. The appointment application screen may be a screen that can accept an operation for applying for an appointment. This screen may be at least one of the appointment application screen 1500 and the appointment confirmation screen 1600. The appointment application screen information may be, for example, an HTML document, information to be displayed on the screen, or an instruction to display the appointment application screen. The examination support unit 114 may also accept an appointment in response to an operation by the customer on the appointment application screen. The examination support unit 114 may then generate appointment information and store this appointment information in the appointment DB 14d. The examination support unit 114 may also send information related to the appointment indicated by the appointment information stored in the appointment DB 14d to the doctor terminal 2. In this way, the examination support unit 114 may notify the doctor that an appointment has been made.

[0087] To realize an online consultation, the consultation support unit 114 may connect the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2 to enable communication for the consultation. For example, the communication connection unit 115 may use a protocol used for video calls, video conferences, web conferences, etc. Examples of such protocols include H.323 and WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication). During the online consultation, media data (or media streams) are transmitted and received between the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2. The media data may include at least audio data representing audio and video data representing video. The video may be either a still image or a video. The media data may be transmitted and received directly between the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2 in a peer-to-peer manner. Alternatively, the media data may be transmitted and received via a server device such as the sales management server 1 in a client-server system. Protocols for transmitting and receiving media data may include, for example, RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol), HLS (HTTP Live Streaming), MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP), RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol), etc. Examples of audio data formats include AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) and MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3). Examples of video data container formats include MPEG2-TS, MP4, FLV (Flash Video), etc. Examples of video formats include H.264 and MPEG-2.

[0088] During the online consultation, the medical examination support unit 114 may display a customer examination screen 2000 on the customer terminal 4 and a doctor examination screen on the doctor terminal 2. The doctor examination screen may display customer information. The doctor examination screen may also display information about a product selected by the customer. For example, the product name, purchase method, and quantity may be displayed. The doctor examination screen may also be capable of accepting input of information about a product prescribed by the doctor. For example, the product to be prescribed, purchase method, and quantity may be input. If the customer's order details are not changed, the doctor may input information about the prescription as selected by the customer. The doctor may also be able to prescribe by changing some or all of the customer's order details. Examples of changes to the order details include deleting, adding, or changing a product, changing the purchase method, or changing the quantity. The card information management unit 113 may reflect the changes to the order details in the cart DB 14c.

[0089] The medical examination support unit 114 may send an HTML document of the customer examination screen 2000 to the customer terminal 4. The medical examination support unit 114 may also send an HTML document of the doctor examination screen to the doctor terminal 2. These HTML documents may include information for realizing online medical examinations. For example, these HTML documents may include tags and scripts for connecting the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2, inputting and outputting video and audio, and transmitting and receiving media data. The customer terminal 4 may send session information of the customer terminal 4 to the doctor terminal 2 via the sales management server 1 in accordance with the script. The session information may include, for example, the IP address and port number of the customer terminal 4, information about available media, and information about paths available for transmitting and receiving media data. Similarly, the doctor terminal 2 may send session information of the doctor terminal 2 to the customer terminal 4 via the sales management server 1. The customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2 that have received their respective session information may connect to each other based on the session information. Each connected terminal device may capture video using its video camera to generate video data and collect audio using its microphone to generate audio data. Each terminal device then transmits video data and audio data to the destination terminal device. Each terminal device may display video on a display in accordance with the video data transmitted from the destination terminal device. Each terminal device may also output audio from a speaker in accordance with the audio data transmitted from the destination terminal device.

[0090] If the product selected by the customer is not a prescription drug, the examination support unit 114 may omit the examination support. In this case, the examination may not be performed.

[0091] Even if the product selected by the customer is a medical drug, if the customer has a valid purchase right for that product, the medical examination support unit 114 may omit medical examination support. In this case, medical examination may not be performed. For example, it is possible to determine whether the purchase right is valid by referring to the right status stored in the purchase right DB 14g.

[0092] The order confirmation unit 115 may confirm the order of the product indicated by the product ID acquired by the selected product identification information acquisition unit 112. For example, the order confirmation unit 115 may generate order information in response to the customer's operation to confirm the order on the order confirmation screen 2100. The order confirmation unit 115 may store the generated order information in the order DB 14f. Here, if the product selected by the customer is a medical drug, the order confirmation unit 115 may confirm the order after a medical examination supported by the medical examination support unit 114. For example, the order confirmation unit 115 may confirm the order after a connection is established between the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2, enabling communication for online medical examination. If the product selected by the customer is not a medical drug, the order confirmation unit 115 may confirm the order without a medical examination. Furthermore, even if the selected product is a medical drug, the order confirmation unit 115 may also confirm the order without a medical examination if the customer has a valid purchase right for the product. For example, the order confirmation unit 115 may confirm the order without connecting the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2 by the examination support unit 114.

[0093] The order confirmation unit 115 may also execute payment of the purchase price for the confirmed order. For example, the order confirmation unit 115 may execute payment processing based on payment method information included in the generated order information. For example, if the payment method is credit card payment, the payment method information may include the card number, expiration date, and the name of the credit card owner. The order confirmation unit 115 may send a payment request to a payment server (not shown) managed by a credit card company. The payment server may be a server device that approves and controls payments using credit cards. The payment request may include information indicating the card number, expiration date, the name of the credit card owner, the payment amount, and the payee. The payee may be, for example, a medical institution or a business that manages a pharmaceutical e-commerce platform. If the payee is a business that manages a pharmaceutical e-commerce platform, the business may later pay the medical institution the sales proceeds equal to the payment amount minus a handling fee. Based on the payment request, the payment server may confirm the credit card information, expiration date, credit limit, etc. If the payment server determines that the customer is able to pay the price, it may approve the payment and transmit a notification of successful payment to the sales management server 1.

[0094] The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may manage product shipping schedule information. For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may generate shipping schedule information when an order is confirmed by the order confirmation unit 115 or when payment processing is completed. At this time, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may set the shipping status included in the shipping schedule product information of each ordered product to "not shipped." The order confirmation unit 115 may also set the scheduled shipping date to the order date or a date a predetermined number of days after the order date. If a delivery date is specified by the customer, the order confirmation unit 115 may set the scheduled shipping date to a date a predetermined number of days before the delivery date. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may store the generated shipping schedule information in the shipping schedule DB 14h.

[0095] The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may transmit the generated shipping schedule information to the shipping terminal 3. For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may transmit the shipping schedule information at the timing when the shipping schedule information is generated. Alternatively, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may transmit the shipping schedule information on the scheduled shipping date, or may transmit the shipping schedule information a predetermined number of days before the scheduled shipping date. Alternatively, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may transmit shipping schedule information whose scheduled shipping date is within a period designated by an employee of the medical institution. The shipping terminal 3 may display the scheduled shipping of the product on its screen based on the shipping schedule information from the sales management server 1. For example, the shipping terminal 3 may display the name of the product to be shipped, the quantity of the product, shipping destination information, the scheduled shipping date, etc. An employee of the medical institution may ship the product based on the displayed shipping schedule.

[0096] The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may receive a shipping completion notice from the shipping terminal 3 indicating that the product has been shipped to the customer. For example, when the shipping of the product is completed, an employee of the medical institution may input at least one of the shipping date and the shipping slip number attached to the product's delivery slip into the shipping terminal 3. The shipping terminal 3 may transmit a shipping completion notice including, for example, the input shipping date and shipping schedule ID to the sales management server 1. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may update the shipping schedule information stored in the delivery schedule DB 14h based on the shipping completion notice received from the shipping terminal 3. For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may change the shipping status included in the shipping schedule product information of each shipped product to "shipped." The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may also set the shipping date included in the delivery schedule information to the shipping date included in the shipping completion notice or the date on which the shipping completion notice was received.

[0097] If the purchased items include items for which the customer has selected regular automatic purchase, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may generate shipping schedule information for the second or subsequent regular delivery. For example, when the shipping schedule information management unit 116 receives a shipping completion notification from the shipping terminal 3 and confirms that a certain delivery of items has been completed, it may generate shipping schedule information only for the next delivery. Alternatively, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may generate shipping schedule information in advance for all deliveries scheduled during a period corresponding to the maximum prescription amount. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may set the scheduled shipping date based on, for example, the shipping date of previous deliveries and the quantity of items to be shipped in one delivery. For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may calculate the scheduled shipping date by adding the length of the period corresponding to the quantity of items to the shipping date of the previous delivery.

[0098] When a customer cancels a regular automatic purchase, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may cancel subsequent shipments. For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may change the shipping status included in the shipping schedule information for each product for which the regular automatic purchase has been canceled to "cancelled." The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may also cancel subsequent shipments for a product for which a doctor has decided to discontinue prescriptions as a result of follow-up observation. For example, when sending shipping schedule information to the shipping terminal 3, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may delete the shipping schedule product information for a product whose shipping has been canceled from the shipping schedule information. As a result, the shipping terminal 3 does not display the product whose shipping has been canceled on the screen as a product scheduled for shipping. Therefore, the product will not be shipped. Alternatively, the shipping terminal 3 may display on the screen that the shipping of the product has been canceled based on the shipping status included in the shipping schedule product information being set to "cancelled."

[0099] [1-5-2.Follow-up observation] The purchased product identification information acquisition unit 117 may acquire purchased product identification information that identifies a purchased product from among multiple products designated as targets for follow-up observation. The purchased product identification information may be, for example, the product ID of the product, or category information of the category to which the product belongs. In this embodiment, the purchased product identification information is assumed to be the product ID. The purchased product identification information acquisition unit 117 may acquire the product ID at a predetermined timing after the order is confirmed by the order confirmation unit 115. For example, the purchased product identification information acquisition unit 117 may acquire the product ID from the order DB 14f, the purchase right DB 14g, or the shipping schedule DB 14h after the purchased product is shipped. The purchased product identification information acquisition unit 117 may also acquire the shipping date of the product from the shipping schedule DB 14h.

[0100] The progress observation notification sending unit 118 may send a progress observation notification for a product identified by the product ID acquired by the purchased product identification information acquisition unit 117. The progress observation notification may be information that prompts the purchaser of the product identified by the product ID to answer questions for progress observation of the product. For example, the progress observation notification sending unit 118 may send the progress observation notification by email or instant message addressed to the purchaser. Alternatively, the progress observation notification sending unit 118 may send the progress observation notification by push notification to the customer terminal 4 of the purchaser.

[0101] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a follow-up observation notification email. The follow-up observation notification email is an email that displays a follow-up observation notification. As illustrated in FIG. 10 , the follow-up observation notification email 3100 may include a product name 3110, prompt information 3120, and a response button 3130. The product name 3110 indicates the product that is the subject of follow-up observation. One or more products may be the subject of follow-up observation in one follow-up observation. The prompt information 3120 may be text prompting the user to answer questions for follow-up observation. For example, the prompt information 3120 may display text such as, "Check your health regularly to ensure safe use," or "If you have any problems, please provide details using the form below." Note that the prompt information 3120 may be any information that can be included in the follow-up observation notification email 3100. The prompt information 3120 is not limited to text. For example, the prompt information 3120 may include at least one of the product name 3110 and the response button 3130. The answer button 3130 is a button that can be operated to display a question sheet screen on the customer terminal 4. The question sheet screen may be a screen that displays questions and can also accept input of answers to those questions.

[0102] The follow-up notification sending unit 118 may determine the timing to send the follow-up notification based on, for example, follow-up period length information. The follow-up period length information may be information including a follow-up period length indicating the length of the period until the follow-up period. The follow-up period length information may also be information that can identify the follow-up period length corresponding to each of multiple products specified as the target of follow-up. This may mean that when a certain product is specified, it is possible to obtain the follow-up period length corresponding to that product. The follow-up period length is not necessarily defined for each product. The follow-up period length information may be, for example, a database or a table. For example, the follow-up period length information may be a combination of the product DB 14b and the follow-up period DB 14i. The category of the purchased product can be identified from a combination of the product ID and category information stored in the product DB 14b. The follow-up period length corresponding to that category can be identified from a combination of the category information and the follow-up period length stored in the follow-up period DB 14i. If the length of the follow-up period is determined for each product, the follow-up period DB 14i may store the product ID and the length of the follow-up period in association with each product. Since the length of the follow-up period can be defined for each product or each product category, the follow-up notification can be sent at a timing appropriate for the purchased product.

[0103] The progress observation notification sending unit 118 may send the progress observation notification after a period of the progress observation period length corresponding to the product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the product. The reference date related to the purchase of the product may be, for example, a date related to the act of purchasing the product or the purchase procedure. For example, the reference date may be the date on which the customer is deemed to have purchased the product, the date on which the customer's intention to purchase the product is deemed to have been confirmed, or the date on which the application for purchasing or ordering the product is accepted. Examples of reference dates include the order confirmation date, the payment completion date, the product shipping date, and the product delivery date. In this embodiment, the reference date is the shipping date.

[0104] There are cases where multiple products are purchased in one order. The progress observation notification sending unit 118 may send a progress observation notification for each product among the multiple products that have the same timing for sending the progress observation notification (or the same length of the progress observation period). For example, the progress observation notification sending unit 118 may send a progress observation notification for each product category.

[0105] As will be described later, the follow-up questions may differ depending on the product. When multiple products are purchased in a single order, the follow-up notification sending unit 118 may send a follow-up notification for each of the purchased products that have the same question. Alternatively, the follow-up notification sending unit 118 may send a follow-up notification collectively for the purchased products, regardless of whether the questions are the same. Among the purchased products, there may be products that have the same question but different timings for sending follow-up notifications (or follow-up period lengths). In this case, the follow-up notification sending unit 118 may send a follow-up notification for each of the purchased products that have the same sending timing. Alternatively, the follow-up notification sending unit 118 may merge the timings for sending follow-up notifications for those products. The follow-up notification sending unit 118 may send a follow-up notification collectively for those products at the merged timing.

[0106] The length of the follow-up period may be defined to exceed the length of the period corresponding to the maximum prescription amount. When an amount of product corresponding to the maximum prescription amount is actually purchased, the purchase right set for that product expires. A customer must consult a doctor before repurchasing a product whose purchase right has expired. In this case, the purchase may be considered a special recurring purchase. The follow-up notification sending unit 118 may send a follow-up notification after the length of the follow-up period has elapsed from the shipping date of the product at the time of the initial purchase of the product. Alternatively, the length of the follow-up period may not be defined to exceed the length of the period corresponding to the maximum prescription amount. In this case, a repurchase of a product whose purchase right has expired may be considered a first purchase. The follow-up notification sending unit 118 may send a follow-up notification after the length of the follow-up period for the first follow-up has elapsed from the shipping date of the product at the time of the second initial purchase.

[0107] 11(a), 11(b), and 11(c) are diagrams illustrating examples of the timing of sending follow-up notifications for products A, B, and C, respectively. As shown in FIG. 11(a), when product A is purchased, follow-up notifications may be sent every month. For example, the first follow-up notification is sent one month after the shipping date. Then, the second follow-up notification is sent two months after the shipping date. Then, the third follow-up notification is sent three months after the shipping date. Then, the fourth follow-up notification is sent four months after the shipping date. Similarly, the fifth and subsequent follow-up notifications are sent. As shown in FIG. 11(b), when product B is purchased, follow-up notifications may be sent every two months. For example, the first follow-up notification is sent two months after the shipping date. Then, the second follow-up notification is sent four months after the shipping date. Then, the third follow-up notification is sent six months after the shipping date. As shown in FIG. 11(c), when product C is purchased, follow-up notifications may be sent every two months for the first three months. For example, the first follow-up notice is sent one month after the shipping date. Then the second follow-up notice is sent two months after the shipping date. Then the third follow-up notice is sent three months after the shipping date. Then the fourth follow-up notice is sent six months after the shipping date.

[0108] When the purchase mode is a successive purchase, the progress observation notification sending unit 118 may send the progress observation notification on a day that is a predetermined number of days before N months after the shipping date, rather than exactly N months after (N is an integer greater than or equal to 1) after the shipping date. Alternatively, the progress observation notification sending unit 118 may send the progress observation notification on a day that is a predetermined number of days after N months. This makes it possible to shift the timing of sending the progress observation notification from the timing of shipping of the product due to the continuous purchase.

[0109] The follow-up notification sending unit 118 may transmit a follow-up notification only during a period corresponding to the already purchased amount of the maximum prescription amount of the purchased product. For example, suppose that a two-month supply of product C is purchased as a sequential initial purchase. In this case, the follow-up notification sending unit 118 may transmit a follow-up notification only one month and two months after the shipping date of the initial purchase. Suppose that a four-month supply of product C is subsequently purchased as a subsequent purchase. In this case, the follow-up notification sending unit 118 may transmit a follow-up notification three months and six months after the shipping date of the initial purchase.

[0110] After the follow-up observation notification sending unit 118 sends the follow-up observation notification, the question information sending unit 119 may send question information indicating a question for follow-up observation to the customer terminal 4 used by the purchaser to whom the follow-up observation notification was sent in response to a request from the customer terminal 4. The question information sending unit 119 may send question sheet screen information. The question sheet screen may be information for displaying the question sheet screen on the customer terminal 4. The question sheet screen information may include question information. The question sheet screen information may be an HTML document, information to be displayed on the question sheet screen, or an instruction to display the question sheet screen. The question information sending unit 119 may send the question information in response to, for example, operating the answer button 3130 in the follow-up observation notification email 3100. When the answer button 3130 is operated, the customer terminal 4 may send a question sheet screen request to the sales management server 1. The question sheet screen request may include, for example, the product ID of the product to be followed-up or category information indicating the category of the product.

[0111] The question information sending unit 119 may determine the question information to be sent to the customer terminal 4 based on, for example, product question information. The product question information may be information capable of identifying questions corresponding to each of multiple products designated as the target of follow-up observation. This may mean that when a certain product is designated, question information corresponding to the product can be acquired. Question information is not necessarily defined for each product. The product question information may include the question information itself. Alternatively, the product question information may include identification information for identifying the question information. In addition to the product question information, the storage unit 14 may store the question information in association with each identification information. The product question information may be, for example, a database or a table. For example, the product question information may be a combination of the product DB 14b and the question information DB 14j. The category of the purchased product can be identified from the combination of the product ID and category information stored in the product DB 14b. The question information corresponding to the category can be identified from the combination of the category information and question information stored in the question information DB 14j. Note that when question information is defined for each product, the question information DB 14j may store the product ID and question information in association with each product. Since question information can be defined for each product or each product category, questions appropriate for the purchased product can be presented to the purchaser.

[0112] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing example content of questions for follow-up monitoring. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, assume that product categories include at least pills, oral cosmetic medications, diet pills, and topical medications. Questions about pills may include questions to confirm whether the patient is ill or taking other medications, questions to confirm whether there are any changes in physical condition, questions to confirm whether there are any digestive symptoms, questions to confirm whether there is any irregular bleeding, questions to confirm whether there is any weight gain or loss, questions to confirm whether there is any high blood pressure, questions to confirm whether the patient is taking oral cosmetic medications, and questions to confirm whether there are any other symptoms. Questions about oral cosmetic medications may include questions to confirm whether the patient is ill or taking other medications, questions to confirm whether there are any changes in physical condition, questions to confirm whether the patient is taking pills, questions to confirm whether there are any skin problems, and questions to confirm whether there are any other symptoms. Questions about diet pills may include questions to confirm whether the patient is ill or taking other medications, questions to confirm whether there are any changes in physical condition, questions to confirm whether there are any digestive symptoms, questions to confirm whether there is any weight gain or loss, and questions to confirm whether there are any other symptoms. Questions about topical medications may include questions to ascertain illness and use of other medications, questions to ascertain changes in physical condition, questions to ascertain problems with skin condition, and questions to ascertain the presence of other symptoms.

[0113] A plurality of products having different question information may be the subject of a single follow-up observation. In this case, the question information sending unit 119 may merge the question information of those products. The question information sending unit 119 may send the merged question information to the customer terminal 4. Alternatively, the follow-up observation notification sending unit 118 or the question information sending unit 119 may function so that the subjects of a single follow-up observation are products having the same question information.

[0114] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a question sheet screen. As shown in FIG. 13, the question sheet screen 3200 may include one or more input forms 3210 and answer buttons 3220. Each input form 3210 may be a form for inputting an answer to a question. Each input form 3210 may include, for example, a question 3210 and a group of radio buttons 3212. The question 3210 is text indicating the question. The group of radio buttons 3212 may include a plurality of radio buttons operable to select an answer to the question. At least one input form 3210 may further include an answer input field 3213. For example, if either "Yes" or "No" can be selected as an answer using the group of radio buttons 3212, the answer input field 3213 may be displayed. The answer input field 3213 may be an area for inputting text indicating a specific answer when the answer to the question is "Yes." The answer button 3220 may be a button that can be operated to send the answer entered on the questionnaire screen to the sales management server 1.

[0115] The answer information receiving unit 120 may receive answer information indicating an answer to the question indicated by the question information transmitted by the question information transmitting unit 119 from the customer terminal 4. For example, when the answer button 3220 on the questionnaire screen 3200 is operated, the customer terminal 4 may transmit the answer information to the sales management server 1. The answer information receiving unit 120 may store the answer information received from the customer terminal 4 in the answer DB 141.

[0116] The continued use permission information acquiring unit 121 may acquire the continued use permission information based on the response information received by the response information receiving unit 120. The continued use permission information may be information indicating whether the use of the purchased product can be continued. The continued use permission information may be, for example, prescription permission information. The prescription permission information may be information indicating whether the prescription of the purchased product can be continued.

[0117] The continuation of use information acquisition unit 121 may acquire prescription continuation information, for example, by transmitting answer information to the doctor terminal 2. For example, the doctor terminal 2 may display the answer information on a screen. The doctor may decide whether to continue the prescription based on the answer information displayed on the screen. The doctor may input the decided whether to continue the prescription into the doctor terminal 2. The continuation of use information acquisition unit 121 may receive prescription continuation information indicating the input whether to continue the prescription from the doctor terminal 2. Note that the system control unit 11 may function as a continuation of use information receiving unit (not shown). The continuation of use information receiving unit may receive prescription continuation information from the doctor terminal 2.

[0118] The continuation of use information acquisition unit 121 may transmit the answer information to the doctor terminal 2 and may also transmit follow-up screen information to the doctor terminal 2. The follow-up screen information may be information that causes the doctor terminal 2 to display a follow-up screen. The follow-up screen may be a screen for inputting the results of follow-up observation by the doctor. The follow-up screen may be a screen that can accept a selection of whether to continue the prescription of the purchased product. The follow-up screen information may be an HTML document, or may be information to be displayed on the follow-up screen, or may be an instruction to display the follow-up screen. The continuation of use information acquisition unit 121 may include the answer information in the follow-up screen information that is transmitted. In this case, the answer may be displayed on the follow-up screen.

[0119] FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a follow-up screen. As illustrated in FIG. 14, the follow-up screen 3300 may include question and answer information 3310, one or more input forms 3320, a comment input field 3330, and a submit button 3340. The question and answer information 3310 may indicate questions presented to the customer and answers entered by the customer. Each input form 3320 may be a form for inputting whether or not to continue a prescription for a product. In the example illustrated in FIG. 14, an input form 3320 is displayed for each of products AAAAAA, BBBBBB, and CCCCCC. Each input form 3320 may include the product name, purchase quantity, etc. of the product being followed up. Each input form 3320 may also include a prescription continuation selection menu 3321. The prescription continuation selection menu 3321 may be a pull-down menu operable to select either prescription continuation or prescription discontinuation, as determined by the doctor. The comment input field 3330 may be an area for inputting text indicating a comment to the customer. The send button 3340 may be a button for sending the follow-up observation result information to the sales management server 1. The follow-up observation result information may be information indicating the result of the follow-up observation. The follow-up observation result information may include prescription continuation availability information indicating whether or not the prescription selected in the prescription continuation selection menu 3321 can be continued.

[0120] Figure 15 is a diagram showing an example of a follow-up observation screen after inputting whether or not to continue the prescription. As shown in Figure 15, for product AAAAAA, prescription discontinuation is selected. For products BBBBBB and CCCCCC, prescription continuation is selected. In the comment input field 3330, the reason for discontinuing the prescription for product AAAAAA is entered.

[0121] The follow-up observation result information sending unit 122 may send the follow-up observation result information to the purchaser of the product. The follow-up observation result information may be information indicating the result of follow-up observation. The follow-up observation result may include whether or not to continue use, as indicated by the continue-use propriety information acquired by the continue-use propriety information acquisition unit 121. The follow-up observation result information sending unit 122 may send the follow-up observation result information to the purchaser by email or instant message. Alternatively, the follow-up observation result information sending unit 122 may send the follow-up observation result information to the customer terminal 4 of the purchaser by push notification. Alternatively, the follow-up observation result information sending unit 122 may send, in response to a request from the customer terminal 4, screen information for displaying a screen including the follow-up observation result on the customer terminal 4.

[0122] 16(a) to 16(c) show examples of a follow-up result email. The follow-up result email is an email that indicates the follow-up result. FIG. 16(a) shows an example of a follow-up result email sent when a doctor has decided to continue a prescription. As shown in FIG. 16(a), the follow-up result email 3400 may include information about continued use 3410, a comment 3420, and a consultation appointment link 3430. The information about continued use 3410 may be text indicating that the product can be continued. For example, the information about continued use 3410 may display, for example, "There are no problems with taking or using the medicine." The comment 3420 indicates a comment entered by the doctor. The consultation appointment link 3430 may be a link that can be operated to make an appointment for an online consultation. When a customer selects the consultation appointment link 3430, the customer terminal 4 may display, for example, a consultation appointment screen 1500. As shown in FIG. 3, a customer can make an appointment for an online consultation and then receive the online consultation. In this state, no products to be ordered have been selected. During an online consultation, the doctor may decide on the product.

[0123] FIG. 16(b) shows an example of a follow-up observation result email sent when a doctor decides to discontinue the prescription of a product purchased through serial purchase. In FIG. 16(b), the same elements as those in FIG. 16(a) are denoted by the same reference numerals. As shown in FIG. 16(b), the follow-up observation result email 3400 may include discontinuation information 3440, a product name 3450, a comment 3420, and a link to schedule an appointment 3430. The discontinuation information 3440 may be text encouraging the patient to discontinue use of the product. For example, the discontinuation information 3440 may display, for example, "Please stop taking your medication." The product name 3450 indicates the name of the product to be discontinued.

[0124] FIG. 16(c) shows an example of a follow-up result email sent when a doctor decides to discontinue a prescription for a product purchased through automatic subscription purchase. In FIG. 16(c), the same elements as in FIG. 16(b) are denoted by the same reference numerals. As shown in FIG. 16(c), the follow-up result email 3400 may include information such as discontinuation information 3440, subscription cancellation information 3460, product name 3450, comment 3420, and a link to schedule an appointment 3430. The subscription cancellation information 3460 may be text indicating that subscription delivery to the customer will be canceled for the product for which discontinuation of prescription has been decided. For example, the subscription cancellation information 3460 may display a message such as, "If you are currently using subscription delivery, payment and shipping will be canceled for the next delivery and thereafter, at the doctor's discretion."

[0125] [1-5-3. Product Restrictions] The product provision restriction information management unit 123 may manage product provision restriction information. The product provision restriction information may be information that can identify, for each combination of a customer and a product, whether or not the provision of a product to the customer is restricted. The restriction on provision that can be identified from the product provision restriction information may be a restriction on the provision of a product for which discontinuation of use or prescription has been determined during follow-up observation. A combination of a customer to whom the provision of a product is restricted and a product to whom the provision is restricted is referred to as a restricted provision combination. A combination of a customer to whom the provision of a product is not restricted and a product to whom the provision of a product is not restricted is referred to as an unrestricted provision combination. The product provision restriction information may include information indicating each restricted provision combination. All prescription drugs handled on the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform can be identified from the product DB 14b. Furthermore, all customers who can use the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform can be identified from the member DB 14a. Therefore, if a restricted provision combination can be identified from the product provision restriction information, an unrestricted provision combination can also be identified. Alternatively, the product provision restriction information may include information indicating each unrestricted provision combination. For the same reasons as described above, if an unrestricted provision combination can be identified, an unrestricted provision combination can also be identified. The product provision restriction information does not need to include information about all combinations of customers and products. For example, the product provision restriction information may include only information about each restricted provision combination, or only information about each non-restricted provision combination. The product provision restriction information may be, for example, a database or a table.

[0126] The product provision restriction information may be, for example, the purchasing right DB 14g. Each piece of purchasing right information stored in the purchasing right DB 14g may indicate a purchasing right that was previously established. A customer ID included in the purchasing right information may indicate a customer who holds the purchasing right. A product ID included in the purchasing right information may indicate the product for which the purchasing right is established. A rights status included in the purchasing right information may indicate whether the provision of the product is restricted. For example, a rights status indicating "valid" may indicate that the provision of the product is not restricted. A rights status indicating "suspended" may indicate that the provision of the product is restricted. A rights status indicating "expired" may also indicate that the provision of the product is restricted. When the order is confirmed by the order confirmation unit 115, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may generate purchasing right information for each ordered product. At this time, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may set the rights status included in the purchasing right information to "valid."

[0127] When the continuation of use permission information acquired by the continuation of use permission information acquisition unit 121 indicates that continuation of use is not permitted, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may change or update the product provision restriction information. In this way, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may make it possible to identify from the product provision restriction information that provision of a product that is determined to be continuation of use is restricted to the purchaser of the product whose continuation of use is not permitted. For example, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may add information directly indicating that the combination of the purchaser and the product is a restricted provision combination to the product provision restriction information. Alternatively, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may delete information indicating that the combination of the purchaser and the product is an unrestricted provision combination from the product provision restriction information. Alternatively, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may change information included in the product provision restriction information indicating that the combination of the purchaser and the product is an unrestricted provision combination to information indicating that the combination of the purchaser and the product is a restricted provision combination.

[0128] FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of an update to the purchase right DB 14g. Assume that the purchase right DB 14g contains product provision restriction information. For example, suppose that a doctor decides to stop prescribing product A to customer X. In this case, as shown in FIG. 17, the use continuation permission information acquisition unit 121 acquires prescription continuation permission information indicating the prescription has been discontinued. In this case, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may change the right status included in the purchase right information indicating the combination of customer X and product A from "valid" to "suspended."

[0129] The restriction on the provision of a product may be such that the customer is able to purchase the product on the condition that the customer fulfills a specific condition. While the purchase of the product is not restricted, the customer may be able to purchase the product without fulfilling the condition. The specific condition may be, for example, seeing a doctor or having a doctor prescribe the product. If a doctor prescribes the product, the customer may be able to acquire new purchasing rights for the product.

[0130] For example, if the medical examination support unit 114 determines from the product provision restriction information that the provision of the product indicated by the product ID acquired by the selected product identification information acquisition unit 112 is restricted for the customer indicated by the customer ID acquired by the selected product identification information acquisition unit 112, the medical examination support unit 114 may support a doctor's examination of the customer. In this case, the order confirmation unit 115 may confirm the order after the medical examination. On the other hand, if the medical examination support unit 114 determines from the product provision restriction information that the provision of the product is not restricted for the customer, the medical examination support unit 114 may not support a doctor's examination of the customer. In this case, the order confirmation unit 115 may confirm the order without the medical examination.

[0131] As described above, if the product selected by the customer is a prescription drug but the customer has a valid purchase right for that product, the medical examination support unit 114 may omit medical examination support, and the order confirmation unit 115 may confirm the order without the medical examination. This indicates that the provision of the product is not restricted. At least one of the medical examination support unit 114 and the order confirmation unit 115 may function to confirm the order without a medical examination if the right status included in the purchase right information is "valid." For example, in the screen transition example shown in FIG. 3 , after displaying the cart screen 1300, the order confirmation unit 115 may function so that the customer terminal 4 displays the order confirmation screen 2100. On the other hand, if the product selected by the customer is a prescription drug and the customer does not have a valid purchase right for that product, the medical examination support unit 114 may support the medical examination, and the order confirmation unit 115 may confirm the order after the medical examination. This indicates that the provision of the product is restricted. At least one of the medical examination support unit 114 and the order confirmation unit 115 may function to confirm an order on the condition that the customer has received a medical examination when the right status included in the purchase right information is "suspended." For example, in the example screen transition shown in FIG. 3 , the medical examination support unit 114 may function to cause the customer terminal 4 to display an order application content confirmation screen 1400 after displaying a cart screen 1300. Thereafter, the medical examination support unit 114 may function to display screens in the following order, for example, a medical examination appointment screen 1500, a medical examination appointment confirmation screen 1600, a medical examination appointment acceptance completion screen 1700, a medical questionnaire screen 1800, a medical examination waiting screen 1900, and a customer medical examination screen 2000. Thereafter, the order confirmation unit 115 may function to display an order content confirmation screen 2100.

[0132] FIG. 18 illustrates an example of product provision restriction. For example, a customer attempts to purchase a one-month supply of a certain product. At this point, the purchasing right DB 14g does not store purchasing right information indicating the combination of the customer and the product. Therefore, the customer needs to undergo a medical examination by a doctor. If the customer purchases the product after the medical examination, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may store the purchasing right information in the purchasing right DB 14g. At this time, the purchasing right status is set to "valid." Assume that follow-up observations are conducted monthly. The follow-up observation one month after the initial purchase determines that continued use is possible. Therefore, the right status remains "valid." Furthermore, one month after the initial purchase, the customer purchases a two-month supply of the product. Since the right status is "valid," the customer does not need to undergo a medical examination by a doctor. The follow-up observation one month after the initial purchase determines that use should be discontinued. Therefore, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 changes the right status to "suspended." Three months after the initial purchase, the customer purchases a three-month supply of the product. The entitlement status is "suspended" and the customer needs to see a doctor.

[0133] When the purchase method is a regular automatic purchase, the restriction on the provision of a product may be to cancel subsequent deliveries of the regular delivery. For example, when the product provision restriction information management unit 123 changes the product provision restriction information so that it is possible to identify that the provision of the product is restricted to a purchaser of a product whose continued use has been determined to be impossible, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may cancel subsequent deliveries of the product to that purchaser. For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may change the shipping status to "cancelled" for the shipping schedule information regarding subsequent deliveries of the product corresponding to the combination of a customer and a product whose rights status has been changed to "suspended" by the product provision restriction information management unit 123.

[0134] FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of product provision restrictions in a regular automatic purchase. For example, a customer attempts to purchase a certain product through a regular automatic purchase. At this point, the purchase right DB 14g does not store purchase right information indicating the combination of the customer and the product. Therefore, the customer needs to undergo a medical examination by a doctor. If the customer purchases the product after the examination, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may store the purchase right information in the purchase right DB 14g. At this time, the purchase right status is set to "valid." Then, a regular delivery containing, for example, a month's worth of products is sent. Assume that follow-up is performed monthly. In the follow-up one month after the initial purchase, it is determined that continued use is possible. Therefore, the right status remains "valid." Therefore, the product is shipped one month after the initial purchase. In the follow-up two months after the initial purchase, it is determined that continued use is possible. Therefore, the right status remains "valid." Therefore, the product is shipped two months after the initial purchase. In the follow-up three months after the initial purchase, it is determined that use should be discontinued. Therefore, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 changes the rights status to "suspended." Because the rights status is "suspended," product shipments three months after the initial purchase are canceled.

[0135] The product provision restriction information for products purchased through regular automatic purchases may be stored, for example, in the purchase rights DB 14g or the shipping schedule DB 14h. When the product provision restriction information is stored in the shipping schedule DB 14h, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may be the shipping schedule information management unit 116. The shipping schedule DB 14h stores shipping schedule information indicating the shipping schedule for the next delivery of products purchased through regular automatic purchases. The shipping status of each product included in the shipping schedule information may indicate whether the provision of that product is restricted. For example, a shipping status indicating "not shipped" may indicate that the provision of the product is not restricted. A shipping status indicating "cancelled" may indicate that the provision of the product is restricted. Alternatively, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may delete the shipping schedule product information for a product whose use has been discontinued from the shipping schedule information. This may restrict the provision of that product.

[0136] If response information is not sent from the customer terminal 4 to the sales management server 1, the provision of the product that is the subject of follow-up monitoring may not be restricted. A deadline for sending response information may also be set. If response information is not sent from the customer terminal 4 by this deadline, the provision of the product may not be restricted. If prescription continuation availability information is not sent from the doctor terminal 2 to the sales management server 1, the provision of the product that is the subject of follow-up monitoring may not be restricted. A deadline for sending prescription continuation availability information may also be set. If prescription continuation availability information is not sent from the doctor terminal 2 by this deadline, the provision of the product may not be restricted.

[0137] The system control unit 11 may perform processing to restrict the provision of products to customers without managing or referencing the product provision restriction information. For example, when the continuation of use information acquired by the continuation of use information acquisition unit 121 indicates that continuation of use is permitted, the system control unit 11 may confirm the order without examining the customer or may not cancel the next regular delivery. When the continuation of use information acquired by the continuation of use information acquisition unit 121 indicates that continuation of use is not permitted, the system control unit 11 may confirm the order after examining the customer or may cancel the next regular delivery.

[0138] [1-6. Operation of communication system] Next, the operation of the communication system S will be described with reference to Figs. 20 to 26. Figs. 20 to 26 are sequence diagrams showing an example of processing of the communication system S according to this embodiment. The order of processing is not limited to the order shown in Figs. 20 to 26. Furthermore, at least one of the steps shown in Figs. 20 to 26 may not be executed. The system control unit 11 of the sales management server 1 may execute the processing of the sales management server 1 shown in Figs. 20 to 26 in accordance with various program codes related to the server program.

[0139] For example, the customer terminal 4 displays the product screen 1200 in response to a customer's selection of a product from the product selection screen 1100. The customer selects a purchase type and quantity by operating one of the buttons included in the purchase type / quantity selection button group 1210 on the product screen 1200. Then, as shown in FIG. 20, the customer presses the add to cart button 1220 (step S101). The customer terminal 4, upon detecting this operation, transmits a cart addition request to the sales management server 1 (step S102). The cart addition request may include the customer ID of the customer, the product ID of the selected product, and the selected purchase type and quantity. Upon receiving the cart addition request, the cart information management unit 113 of the sales management server 1 updates the cart information stored in the cart DB 14c in association with the customer ID of the customer (step S103). For example, the sales management server 1 may obtain, from the product DB 14b, a prescription drug flag associated with the product ID included in the cart addition request. The cart information management unit 113 may generate cart product information including a product ID, a prescription drug flag, a purchase type, and a quantity. The cart information management unit 113 may add the generated cart product information to the cart information.

[0140] Thereafter, the customer selects, for example, the cart icon 1230 on the product screen 1200 (step S104). The customer terminal 4 detects this operation and sends a cart screen request to the sales management server 1 (step S105). The sales screen information sending unit 111 of the sales management server 1 that receives the cart screen request sends an HTML document of the cart screen 1300 to the customer terminal 4 (step S106). At this time, the sales screen information sending unit 111 may generate a list of products currently in the cart based on the customer's cart information. The sales screen information sending unit 111 may also generate an HTML document including this list. The customer terminal 4 displays the cart screen 1300 based on this HTML document.

[0141] On the cart screen 1300 displayed on the customer terminal 4, the customer performs an operation to proceed to the next procedure (step S107). The customer terminal 4, upon detecting this operation, transmits an order procedure progress request to the sales management server 1 (step S108). The order confirmation unit 115 of the sales management server 1, which has received the order procedure progress request, determines whether the products in the customer's cart include prescription drugs (step S109). For example, the order confirmation unit 115 may determine that the products in the cart include prescription drugs if the prescription drug flag of at least one cart product information included in the customer's cart information is set to TRUE. If the products in the cart include prescription drugs (step S109: YES), the order confirmation unit 115 determines whether the customer has a valid purchase right for the prescription drug product (step S110). For example, the order confirmation unit 115 may search the purchase right DB 14g for purchase right information including a combination of the product ID and the customer ID of the customer, with the latest purchase right information being the latest purchase right information. If there is no corresponding purchase right information, the order confirmation unit 115 may determine that the customer does not have a valid purchase right. If the right status included in the searched purchase right information is "valid," the order confirmation unit 115 may determine that the customer has a valid purchase right. If the right status included in the searched purchase right information is "suspended" or "expired," the order confirmation unit 115 may determine that the customer does not have a valid purchase right. If the cart product information includes a medical examination target flag, the order confirmation unit 115 may determine, based on the medical examination target flag, whether the products in the customer's cart include products that require a doctor's examination to confirm the order. If the products in the cart include products that require a doctor's examination, the process may proceed to step S110.

[0142] If the customer does not have a valid purchase right (step S110: NO), the medical examination support unit 114 sends an HTML document of the order application content confirmation screen 1400 to the customer terminal 4 (step S111). At this time, the medical examination support unit 114 may generate a list of products currently in the cart based on the customer's cart information. The medical examination support unit 114 may also generate an HTML document including the generated list. The customer terminal 4 displays the order application content confirmation screen 1400 based on this HTML document.

[0143] An operation to place an order is performed on the order application content confirmation screen 1400 displayed by the customer terminal 4 (step S112). The customer terminal 4 detects this operation and sends the order application to the sales management server 1 (step S113). The medical examination support unit 114 of the sales management server 1 that has received the order application sends an HTML document of the medical examination appointment screen 1500 to the customer terminal 4 (step S114). The customer terminal 4 displays the medical examination appointment screen 1500 based on this HTML document (step S115).

[0144] As shown in FIG. 21, the customer selects the consultation date and start time from the consultation appointment screen 1500 (step S201). The customer terminal 4 detects this operation and sends an appointment confirmation screen request to the sales management server 1 (step S202). The appointment confirmation screen request may include the selected appointment date and start time. The examination support unit 114 of the sales management server 1 that receives the appointment confirmation screen request sends an HTML document of the examination appointment confirmation screen 1600 to the customer terminal 4 (step S203). The customer terminal 4 displays the examination appointment confirmation screen 1600 based on this HTML document.

[0145] Note: On the consultation appointment confirmation screen 1600, the customer performs an operation to confirm the appointment (step S204). The customer terminal 4 detects this operation and sends a reservation confirmation request to the sales management server 1 (step S205). The examination support unit 114 of the sales management server 1 that receives the reservation confirmation request generates appointment information and stores it in the examination appointment DB 14d (step S206). Next, the examination support unit 114 sends an HTML document of the consultation appointment reception completion screen 1700 to the customer terminal 4 (step S207).

[0146] On the scheduled consultation date, the customer causes the consultation standby screen 1900 to be displayed on the customer terminal 4. In response to a doctor at a medical institution operating the doctor terminal 2, the consultation support unit 114 sends an HTML document of a doctor consultation screen for the customer who has scheduled a consultation to the doctor terminal 2. Based on this HTML document, the doctor terminal 2 displays the doctor consultation screen as shown in FIG. 22 (step S301). On the doctor consultation screen, the doctor performs an operation to start a call for the consultation. Upon detecting this operation, the doctor terminal 2 sends a call connection request to the sales management server 1 (step S302). The call connection request may include, for example, the appointment number for the consultation and the customer ID of the customer who scheduled the consultation. Upon receiving the call connection request, the consultation support unit 114 of the sales management server 1 sends an HTML document of a customer consultation screen 2000 to the customer terminal 4 of the customer identified by the customer ID (step S303). Based on this HTML document, the customer terminal 4 displays the customer consultation screen 2000 (step S304).

[0147] When the customer terminal 4 displays the customer consultation screen 2000, it transmits session information to the doctor terminal 2 via the sales management server 1 based on the script included in the HTML document. The doctor terminal 2 also transmits session information to the customer terminal 4 via the sales management server 1 based on the script included in the HTML document of the doctor consultation screen (step S305). The customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2 connect to each other based on the exchanged session information (step S306). Once the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2 are connected, media data is sent and received between these terminal devices, and an online consultation begins (step S307).

[0148] During the online consultation, the doctor refers to the information of the products in the customer's cart and inputs information about the product to be prescribed into the doctor consultation screen (step S308). For example, the doctor may select the product to be prescribed, the purchase method, and the quantity. A list of the products in the customer's cart is displayed on the doctor consultation screen. The doctor may input the prescription by referring to the list. Once the prescription is input, the doctor terminal 2 sends the input information to the sales management server 1 (step S309). The input information may include the product ID, purchase method, and quantity of the product selected by the doctor.

[0149] The medical examination support unit 114 of the sales management server 1 that has received the input information updates the customer's cart information stored in the cart DB 14c based on the input information (step S310). For example, the medical examination support unit 114 may rewrite each piece of cart product information included in the cart information with the input information. At this time, the medical examination support unit 114 may add a prescription drug flag for the product selected by the doctor to each piece of cart product information. Steps S308 to S310 may be repeated as necessary.

[0150] Thereafter, the doctor performs an operation to confirm the prescription contents (step S311). The doctor terminal 2 detects this operation and transmits a prescription contents confirmation request to the sales management server 1 (step S512). The medical examination support unit 114 of the sales management server 1 that has received the prescription contents confirmation request generates a prescription log based on the customer's cart information and stores it in the prescription history DB 14e (step S313).

[0151] Thereafter, for example, when the customer or doctor performs an operation to end the call, the connection between the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2 is disconnected, and the transmission and reception of media data is also stopped. The order confirmation unit 115 then transmits the HTML document of the order confirmation screen 2100 to the customer terminal 4 (step S314). If the products in the cart do not include prescription drugs (step S109: NO), or if the customer has a valid purchase right (step S110: YES), the order confirmation unit 115 also transmits the HTML document of the order confirmation screen 2100 to the customer terminal 4 (step S314). The customer terminal 4 displays the order confirmation screen 2100 based on this HTML document (step S315). The customer performs an operation to confirm the order on the order confirmation screen 2100 (step S316). The customer terminal 4, upon detecting this operation, transmits an order confirmation request to the sales management server 1 (step S317).

[0152] Upon receiving the order confirmation request, the order confirmation unit 115 of the sales management server 1 generates order information and stores this order information in the order DB 14f (step S401). The order confirmation unit 115 may generate order information based on the customer's cart information. For example, the order confirmation unit 115 may generate order product information corresponding to each cart product information included in the cart information. At this time, the order confirmation unit 115 may add a continuous purchase flag to the order product information for each product that is a medical drug. If the customer does not have a valid purchase right for the ordered product, the order confirmation unit 115 may set the continuous purchase flag to "first purchase." If the customer has a valid purchase right, the order confirmation unit 115 may set the continuous purchase flag to "continuous purchase." The order confirmation unit 115 may also generate a new order number. The order confirmation unit may also obtain the current date and time as the order date and time. The order confirmation unit 115 may generate order information including the order number, the order date and time, the customer ID of the customer who placed the order, the ordered product information, the shipping destination information indicating the shipping destination specified by the customer, the scheduled shipping date specified by the customer, etc. Next, the order confirmation unit 115 executes the payment process (step S402).

[0153] Next, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 determines whether the ordered products include a medical drug based on the medical drug flag included in each generated piece of ordered product information (step S403). If the ordered products include a medical drug (step S403: YES), the product provision restriction information management unit 123 determines whether the purchase of the product is a first purchase based on the recurring purchase flag included in the ordered product information of the medical drug product (step S404). If the purchase of the product is a first purchase (step S404: YES), the product provision restriction information management unit 123 generates purchase right information and stores the purchase right information in the purchase right DB 14g (step S405). For example, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may generate a new purchase right ID. The product provision restriction information management unit 123 may also set the set date to today's date. The product provision restriction information management unit 123 may also set the already purchased amount to 0 months. The product provision restriction information management unit 123 may also set the right status to "valid." The product provision restriction information management unit 123 may generate purchase right information including a purchase right ID, an order number, the customer ID of the customer, the set date, the product ID of the product, the maximum prescription amount, the amount already purchased, and the right status. In this embodiment, the purchase right information is generated when payment is completed. However, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may also generate the purchase right information when the doctor confirms the prescription or the order.

[0154] When step S405 is completed, if the ordered products do not include prescription drugs (step S403: NO) or if the product purchase is a recurring purchase (step S404: NO), the shipping schedule information management unit 116 generates shipping schedule information and stores this shipping schedule information in the shipping schedule DB 14h (step S406). For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may generate a new shipping schedule ID. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may also acquire the order number, customer ID, information about each ordered product, shipping destination information, and scheduled shipping date from the generated order information. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may generate shipping schedule information for each purchase type, for example. If the purchase type included in at least one of the acquired order product information is "scheduled purchase," the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may generate shipping schedule information for products that are eligible for sequential purchase. If the purchase type included in at least one of the acquired order product information is "regular automatic purchase," the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may generate shipping schedule information for products that are eligible for regular automatic purchase. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may generate shipping schedule product information based on each ordered product information. At this time, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may set the shipping status to "not shipped". The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may also set the shipping time to 1. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may also generate shipping schedule information including a shipping schedule ID, order number, customer ID, purchase type, shipping time, shipping schedule product information, shipping destination information, scheduled shipping date, shipping status, etc. Next, the order confirmation unit 115 sends the HTML document of the order completion screen to the customer terminal 4 (step S407).

[0155] For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 of the sales management server 1 searches the shipping schedule DB 14h for shipping schedule information to be sent to the shipping terminal 3 at a predetermined time every day. For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may perform the search based on the current date and the shipping date included in the shipping schedule information. As shown in FIG. 24, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 sends the searched shipping schedule information to the shipping terminal 3 (step S501). At this time, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may delete shipping schedule product information whose shipping status is set to "cancelled" from the shipping schedule information to be sent. If the shipping status of all shipping schedule product information is "cancelled," the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may not need to send the shipping schedule information itself. The shipping terminal 3 displays the shipping schedule of the product on its screen based on the received shipping schedule information. After shipping the product according to the shipping schedule, an employee inputs at least one of the shipping date and the shipping slip number attached to the product's delivery slip into the shipping terminal 3 (step S502). In response to this input, the shipping terminal 3 transmits a shipping completion notice to the sales management server 1 (step S503). The shipping completion notice may include the information input by the employee and the shipping schedule ID of the shipping schedule.

[0156] The shipping schedule information management unit 116 of the sales management server 1 acquires the information entered by the employee and the shipping schedule ID from the shipping completion notice. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 searches the shipping schedule DB 14h for shipping schedule information including this shipping schedule ID. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 changes the shipping status of each product included in the searched shipping schedule information that is set to "not shipped" to "shipped" (step S504). The shipping schedule information management unit 116 also adds a shipping date to the shipping schedule information.

[0157] Next, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 updates the purchase right information stored in the purchase right DB 14g (step S505). For example, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may acquire the customer ID of the customer to whom the product is to be shipped and the scheduled shipping product information of the shipped product from the searched shipping schedule information. The product provision restriction information management unit 123 may search for purchase right information including the most recent set date from among the purchase right information including a combination of the customer ID and the product ID included in the scheduled shipping product information. The product provision restriction information management unit 123 may update the already purchased quantity included in the searched purchase right information by adding the quantity included in the scheduled shipping product information to the already purchased quantity. If the already purchased quantity after the update reaches the maximum prescription quantity, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may change the right status included in the purchase right information to "expired." In this embodiment, the purchase right information is updated when shipping is completed. However, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may also update the purchase right information when a doctor confirms a prescription or an order.

[0158] Next, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 determines whether the purchase type included in the searched shipping schedule information is "regular automatic purchase" (step S506). If the purchase type is "regular automatic purchase" (step S506: YES), the shipping schedule information management unit 116 determines whether the purchase right for the product remains valid based on the right status included in the purchase right information of the product whose purchase type is regular automatic purchase (step S507). If the purchase right remains valid (step S507: YES), the shipping schedule information management unit 116 generates shipping schedule information for the next regular delivery and stores this shipping schedule information in the shipping schedule DB 14h (step S508). For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may generate a copy of the searched shipping schedule information. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may change the shipping schedule ID included in the copy. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may also update the shipping count included in the copy by adding 1 to the shipping count. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may also calculate the scheduled shipping date by adding the length of the shipping cycle of the regular delivery to the shipping date included in the copy. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may update the scheduled shipping date included in the copy with the calculated scheduled shipping date. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may search the copy for a shipping status that has been set to "shipped." The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may change the searched shipping status to "not shipped." The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may store this copy in the shipping schedule DB 14h as shipping schedule information for the next delivery.

[0159] When step S508 is completed, if the purchase type is "sequential purchase" (step S506: NO) or if the purchase right does not remain (step S507: NO), the progress observation notice sending unit 118 determines whether the current shipment is the second or subsequent shipment of products based on the purchase type and shipment time included in the shipping schedule information (step S509). If the current shipment is not the second or subsequent shipment of products (step S509: NO), the purchase product identification information 117 acquires the product ID of the purchased product from the shipping schedule product information whose shipping status is "shipped" among the shipping schedule product information included in the shipping schedule information (step S510). Next, the progress observation notice sending unit 118 acquires the length of the follow-up observation period for each purchased product (step S511). For example, the progress observation notice sending unit 118 may acquire category information associated with the product ID from the product DB 14b. The follow-up notification sending unit 118 may acquire one or more follow-up period lengths associated with the acquired category information from the follow-up period DB 14i. For a product whose purchase type is a serial purchase, the follow-up notification sending unit 118 may acquire a follow-up period length that is equal to or shorter than the already purchased amount. For a product whose purchase type is a regular automatic purchase, the follow-up notification sending unit 118 may acquire a follow-up period length that is equal to or shorter than the maximum prescribed amount. Next, the follow-up notification sending unit 118 generates follow-up notification schedule information and stores this follow-up notification schedule information in the follow-up notification schedule DB 14k (step S512). For example, the follow-up notification sending unit 118 may generate follow-up notification schedule information for each combination of a product and follow-up period length that have the same question. In this embodiment, the questions are the same between products belonging to the same category. The follow-up notification sending unit 118 may generate a new follow-up ID. Furthermore, the progress observation notification sending unit 118 may calculate the scheduled sending date by adding the follow-up observation period length to the shipping date included in the shipping schedule information. As described above, the progress observation notification sending unit 118 may shift the scheduled sending date from exactly N months after the shipping date. If the purchase type is a successive purchase and the current purchase is a continuing purchase, the progress observation notification sending unit 118 may search for the shipping schedule information at the time of the initial purchase from the shipping schedule DB 14h.The progress observation notification sending unit 118 may calculate the scheduled sending date based on the shipping date included in the searched shipping schedule information. The progress observation notification sending unit 118 may generate progress observation notification schedule information including a progress observation ID, a customer ID of the customer to whom the product is to be shipped, category information, a product ID, and a scheduled sending date.

[0160] 25, for example, the follow-up observation notification sending unit 118 searches the follow-up observation notification schedule DB 14b for follow-up observation notification information whose scheduled sending date is today at a predetermined time every day (step S601). Next, the follow-up observation notification sending unit 118 sends a follow-up observation notification email for each follow-up observation notification information found (step S602). For example, the follow-up observation notification sending unit 118 may obtain the product name of the product that is the target of follow-up observation from the product DB 14b based on the product ID included in the follow-up observation notification schedule information. The follow-up observation notification sending unit 118 may add the product name to the body of the follow-up observation notification email. Alternatively, the follow-up observation notification sending unit 118 may obtain the email address of the customer to which the follow-up observation notification email is to be sent based on the customer ID included in the follow-up observation notification schedule information. The follow-up observation notification sending unit 118 may set the recipient address of the follow-up observation notification email to this email address. Furthermore, the follow-up observation notification sending unit 118 may generate the follow-up observation notification email so that, when the answer button 3130 included in the follow-up observation notification email is operated, a question sheet screen request is sent from the customer terminal 4 to the sales management server 1. The follow-up observation notification sending unit 118 may cause the question sheet screen request to include a follow-up observation ID.

[0161] The customer terminal 4 receives and displays the follow-up observation notification email in response to an operation by the customer (step S603). The customer presses the reply button 3130 (step S604). The customer terminal 4 detects this operation and sends a question sheet screen request to the sales management server 1 (step S605). The purchased product identification information acquisition unit 117 of the sales management server 1 acquires a follow-up observation ID from the question sheet screen request. The purchased product identification information acquisition unit 117 searches the follow-up observation notification schedule DB 14k for follow-up observation notification schedule information including this follow-up observation ID. The purchased product identification information acquisition unit 117 acquires category information from the searched follow-up observation notification schedule information (step S606). Next, the question information transmission unit 119 acquires an HTML document of the question sheet screen 3200 associated with the acquired category information from the storage unit 14 (step S607). The question information transmission unit 119 transmits the acquired HTML document to the customer terminal 4 (step S608). The customer terminal 4 displays the questionnaire screen 3200 based on this HTML document (step S609).

[0162] The customer inputs an answer to the questionnaire screen 3200 (step S610). The customer terminal 4 transmits answer information indicating the input answer and question information indicating the question displayed on the questionnaire screen 3200 to the sales management server 1 (step S611). The answer information receiving unit 120 of the sales management server 1 associates the received answer information and question information with the customer ID and follow-up observation ID of the customer and stores them in the answer DB 141 (step S612).

[0163] The doctor selects one of the follow-up observations from the list of follow-up observations displayed on the screen of the doctor terminal 2. The doctor terminal 2 detects this operation and sends a follow-up observation screen request to the sales management server 1, as shown in FIG. 26 (Step S701). The follow-up observation screen request may include the follow-up observation ID of the selected follow-up observation. The continuation of use information acquisition unit 121 of the sales management server 1 acquires answer information and question information associated with the follow-up observation ID from the answer DB 141 (Step S702). The continuation of use information acquisition unit 121 generates an HTML document of the follow-up observation screen 3300 including the acquired answer information and question information, and sends this HTML document to the doctor terminal 2 (Step S703). The doctor terminal 2 displays the follow-up observation screen 3300 based on this HTML document (Step S704). The doctor selects whether to continue prescribing each product on the follow-up observation screen 3300 (Step S705). The doctor also inputs a comment as necessary. When the doctor presses the send button 3340, the doctor terminal 2 sends the follow-up observation result information to the sales management server 1 (step S706). The follow-up observation result information may include the follow-up observation ID of the selected follow-up observation, the customer ID of the customer who is the subject of the follow-up observation, and comments. The follow-up observation result information may also include, for each product, the product ID and prescription continuation information according to the doctor's selection. The use continuation information acquisition unit 121 stores the received follow-up observation result information in the follow-up observation result DB 14m.

[0164] The product provision restriction information management unit 123 of the sales management server 1 determines whether there is a product for which it has been decided to discontinue prescription, based on the prescription continuation information included in the follow-up observation result information (step S707). If there is a product for which it has been decided to discontinue prescription (step S707: YES), the product provision restriction information management unit 123 searches the purchase right DB 14g for purchase right information that includes a combination of the customer ID of the customer under follow-up observation and the product ID of the product for which it has been decided to discontinue prescription, and that includes the most recent set date. The product provision restriction information management unit 123 changes the right status included in the searched purchase right information to "suspended" (step S708).

[0165] Next, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 searches the shipping schedule DB 14h for shipping schedule information including a combination of the customer ID of the customer under follow-up observation, the product ID of the product whose prescription has been discontinued, and a purchase type indicating "regular automatic purchase." At this time, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may search for shipping schedule product information for that product whose shipping status is "not shipped" included in the shipping schedule product information. Based on the search results, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 determines whether the purchase of that product is a regular automatic purchase (step S709). If the purchase of that product is a regular automatic purchase (step S709: YES), the shipping schedule information management unit 116 changes the shipping status of the shipping schedule product information for that product included in the searched shipping schedule information to "cancelled" (step S710).

[0166] When step S710 is completed, if there is no product for which prescription discontinuation has been determined (step S707: NO), or if the product purchase is not a regular automatic purchase (step S709: NO), the progress observation result information sending unit 122 sends a progress observation result email (step S711). Here, the progress observation result information sending unit 122 may generate the progress observation result email to be sent based on the progress observation result information. For example, if there is no product for which prescription discontinuation has been determined, the progress observation result information sending unit 122 may generate the progress observation result email shown in FIG. 16(a). If there is a product for which prescription discontinuation has been determined and the purchase type is a regular automatic purchase, the progress observation result information sending unit 122 may generate the progress observation result email shown in FIG. 16(b). If there is a product for which prescription discontinuation has been determined and the purchase type is a regular automatic purchase, the progress observation result information sending unit 122 may generate the progress observation result email shown in FIG. 16(c). The follow-up observation result information sending unit 122 may add the name of the product for which it has been decided to discontinue prescription to the follow-up observation result email.The follow-up observation result information sending unit 122 may acquire the email address of the customer to whom the follow-up observation result email is to be sent, based on the customer ID included in the follow-up observation result information.The follow-up observation result information sending unit 122 may set this email address as the recipient address of the follow-up observation result email.

[0167] As described above, according to this embodiment, the sales management server 1 may acquire the product ID of a purchased product among multiple products. The sales management server 1 may also transmit a follow-up observation notice for the purchased product. At this time, the sales management server 1 may transmit the follow-up observation notice after a period corresponding to the product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the product identified by the product ID, based on the product DB 14b and the follow-up period DB 14i. Furthermore, the sales management server 1 may transmit question information to the customer terminal 4 in response to a request from the customer terminal 4 used by the purchaser of the product after transmitting the follow-up observation notice. At this time, the sales management server 1 may transmit question information corresponding to the purchased product based on the product DB 14b and the question information DB 14j. The product DB 14b and the follow-up period DB 14i can identify the length of the period from a reference date related to the purchase of the product to the follow-up observation time for each of multiple products. Therefore, even if the length of the period varies depending on the product, the follow-up observation notice can be transmitted after a period corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed. From the product DB 14b and the question information DB 14j, question information about each of a plurality of products can be identified. Therefore, even if the questions vary depending on the product, questions about the purchased product can be presented to the purchaser. Therefore, the burden of follow-up monitoring on product purchasers can be alleviated.

[0168] Here, the sales management server 1 may receive response information from the customer terminal 4. Alternatively, the sales management server 1 may acquire information on whether or not to continue use based on the response information. Alternatively, the sales management server 1 may transmit to the customer terminal 4 follow-up observation result information indicating the results of the follow-up observation, including whether or not to continue use as indicated by the information on whether or not to continue use. In this case, the results of the follow-up observation are presented to the purchaser of the product. This follow-up observation result includes whether or not to continue use of the purchased product. The information on whether or not to continue use is acquired based on the response information. Therefore, it is possible to present to the purchaser whether or not to continue use of the product, depending on the situation of the purchaser.

[0169] Here, the sales management server 1 may transmit to the doctor terminal 2 the response information and screen information for causing the doctor terminal 2 to display a screen that can accept a selection of whether to continue using the purchased product. The sales management server 1 may also receive from the doctor terminal 2 continued use information indicating whether to continue using the product selected on the screen displayed by the doctor terminal 2 based on the screen information. In this case, the response information is transmitted to the doctor terminal 2. Therefore, the decision maker using the doctor terminal 2 can decide whether to continue using the purchased product based on the response information. Furthermore, the doctor terminal 2 displays a screen that can accept a selection of whether to continue using the purchased product. Therefore, the decision maker can select whether to continue using the product on the screen.

[0170] The sales management server 1 may also connect the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2 to enable communication for a doctor's examination. After connecting the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2, the sales management server 1 may acquire the product ID of the product paid for during the examination as the purchased product. In this case, the communication connection between the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2 enables the doctor to provide an online examination. During this examination, a medicine ordered by the doctor to be provided is purchased. A follow-up notification is sent for this purchased medicine. This eliminates the burden of follow-up on customers who have received a consultation and purchased the medicine.

[0171] The sales management server 1 may also receive a shipping completion notification from the shipping terminal 3. When the sales management server 1 receives the shipping completion notification, it may change the shipping status stored in the shipping schedule DB 14h from "not shipped" to "shipped." The sales management server 1 may also send a progress monitoring notification on the condition that the shipping status is set to "shipped." In this case, the sales management server 1 may send the progress monitoring notification after a period corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed since the shipping date of the purchased product. In this case, when the purchased product is shipped, a shipping completion notification is sent from the shipping terminal 3 used by the sender, and the shipping status of the product is changed from "not shipped" to "shipped." After the shipping status is changed to "shipped," the progress monitoring notification is sent. The progress monitoring notification is sent after a period corresponding to the product has elapsed since the shipping date of the purchased product. Therefore, progress monitoring can be performed at a time corresponding to the purchased product and the shipping time of the product.

[0172] Alternatively, the sales management server 1 may transmit question information to the customer terminal 4. Alternatively, the sales management server 1 may receive answer information from the customer terminal 4 that has received the question information. Alternatively, the sales management server 1 may acquire continuation of use permission information based on the answer information. Alternatively, the sales management server 1 may modify the purchase right DB 14g so that it is possible to identify from the purchase right DB 14g that the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser is restricted. In this case, a question for monitoring the progress of the purchased product is presented to the purchaser. Answer information indicating the answer to the question is received from the purchaser terminal. Continuation of use permission information indicating whether the purchased product can be continued is acquired based on the answer information. If the product cannot be continued, the purchase right DB 14g is modified. As a result, it is possible to identify from the purchase right DB 14g that the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser is restricted. Therefore, by referring to the purchase right DB 14g, processing for restricting the provision of the product to the purchaser can be performed. Therefore, information for restricting the provision of the product can be stored according to the purchaser's situation after purchasing the product.

[0173] Here, the sales management server 1 may acquire a product ID indicating a product selected by a customer for ordering and a customer ID of the customer who selected the product. Furthermore, if the sales management server 1 determines from the purchasing right DB 14g that the provision of the product indicated by the product ID is restricted for the customer indicated by the customer ID, the sales management server 1 may support a consultation between the customer and a doctor. Furthermore, the sales management server 1 may confirm the order of the selected product after the consultation. Furthermore, if the sales management server 1 determines from the purchasing right DB 14g that the provision of the selected product indicated by the product ID is not restricted for the customer indicated by the customer ID, the sales management server 1 may confirm the order without a consultation. In this case, if the provision of the product selected by a customer for ordering is restricted for the customer, a consultation between the customer and a doctor who will determine whether the product can be used is possible. After the consultation, the order of the selected product is confirmed. If the provision of the selected product is not restricted for the customer, the order of the selected product is confirmed without a consultation between the customer and a doctor. Therefore, whether a consultation is required to confirm the order of the product depends on whether the provision of the product is restricted. Therefore, by setting conditions for ordering, the provision of the product can be appropriately restricted.

[0174] Here, the sales management server 1 may connect the customer terminal 4 used by the customer and the doctor terminal 2 used by the doctor to enable communication for the consultation. Furthermore, if the sales management server 1 determines from the purchasing right DB 14g that the provision of the product identified by the product ID is restricted to the customer identified by the customer ID, it may connect the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2 and then confirm the order. Furthermore, if the sales management server 1 determines from the purchasing right DB 14g that the provision of the product to the customer is not restricted, it may confirm the order without connecting the customer terminal 4 and the doctor terminal 2. In this case, the communication connection between the customer terminal and the doctor terminal enables an online consultation between the customer and the doctor. After the online consultation, the order is confirmed. Therefore, if the provision of the product to the customer is restricted, the consultation as a condition for confirming the order for that product can be realized online.

[0175] Furthermore, if the sales management server 1 makes a change that identifies a restriction on the provision of a purchased product to a purchaser, it may cancel the next shipment of that product to the purchaser. In this case, if the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser is not restricted, the product is regularly shipped to the purchaser. If the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser is restricted, the next shipment of that product is canceled. This stops the regular shipment of the product. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately restrict the provision of products in a form in which products are regularly shipped.

[0176] [2. Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 27 and 28. In this embodiment, the provision of products to customers may be restricted by restricting the operations required to order products. Except for the points described below, the second embodiment may be the same as the first embodiment.

[0177] As described above, the sales screen information transmission unit 111 transmits, to the customer terminal 4, screen information for displaying a screen including information about a product requested by the customer terminal 4. When the product provision restriction information does not identify that the provision of the requested product is restricted for the customer using the customer terminal 4, the sales screen information transmission unit 111 may transmit screen information for displaying a screen accepting an operation for selecting the product. On the other hand, when the product provision restriction information identifies that the provision of the product is restricted for the customer, the sales screen information transmission unit 111 may transmit screen information for displaying a screen that does not accept an operation for selecting the product. The operation for selecting a product may be an operation that ultimately enables the customer to order the product. Examples of the operation for selecting a product include an operation for selecting a product from a list of products displayed on the search result screen, an operation for adding the product to a cart on the product screen 1200, an operation for placing an order for the product on the order application confirmation screen 1400, and an operation for confirming the order for the product on the order confirmation screen 2100.

[0178] FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of a product screen 1200. In FIG. 27, the same elements as those in FIG. 9 are denoted by the same reference numerals. When there are no restrictions on the provision of products to a customer, a product screen 1200 such as that shown in FIG. 9 may be displayed. In this case, the customer can operate an add to cart button 1220. This adds the product to the cart. When there are restrictions on the provision of products to a customer, a product screen 1200 such as that shown in FIG. 12 may be displayed. As shown in FIG. 12, the product screen 1200 may include a message 1240 and an appointment link 1250 in addition to a purchase type / quantity selection button group 1210, an add to cart button 1220, and a cart icon 1230. In FIG. 12, the add to cart button 1220 is indicated by a dashed line. This indicates that the add to cart button 1220 is disabled. Therefore, the customer cannot operate the add to cart button 1220. Note that the add to cart button 1220 itself may be hidden. Because the product cannot be added to the cart, the customer cannot order the product. Message 1240 may indicate that the product is restricted from availability to the customer. Appointment link 3430 may be a link operable to schedule an appointment for an online consultation. While a restricted product cannot be selected for ordering, the customer may be able to have the product re-prescribed by a doctor during an online consultation.

[0179] The system control unit 11 may perform processing to restrict the provision of products to customers without managing or referencing the product provision restriction information. For example, when the continuation of use information acquired by the continuation of use information acquisition unit 121 indicates that continuation of use is permitted, the sales screen information transmission unit 111 may transmit screen information for displaying a screen that accepts an operation to select the product. When the continuation of use information acquired by the continuation of use information acquisition unit 121 indicates that continuation of use is not permitted, the sales screen information transmission unit 111 may transmit screen information for displaying a screen that does not accept an operation to select the product.

[0180] FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing an example of a product screen information transmission process executed by the system control unit 11 of the sales management server 1 according to this embodiment. For example, a customer performs an operation to select one of the searched products from the search result screen. The customer terminal 4 detects this operation and transmits a product screen request to the sales management server 1. The product screen request may include the customer ID of the customer and the product ID of the selected product. The system control unit 11 may execute the product screen information transmission process in response to the sales management server 1 receiving the product screen request from the customer terminal 4.

[0181] As shown in FIG. 28, the sales screen information transmission unit 111 acquires an HTML document of a product screen of a product selected by a customer (step S801). For example, the storage unit 14 may store, for each product, an HTML document of the product screen of that product in association with the product ID. The sales screen information transmission unit 111 may acquire an HTML document associated with the product ID included in the product screen request. Next, the sales screen information transmission unit 111 searches the purchase right DB 14g for purchase right information that includes the customer ID of the customer and the product ID of the selected product and that includes the most recent setting date (step S802). As a result of the search, the sales screen information transmission unit 111 determines whether or not there is corresponding purchase right information (step S803). If there is corresponding purchase right information (step S803: YES), the sales screen information transmission unit 111 determines whether or not the right status included in the purchase right information is "suspended" (step S804). If the right status is not "suspended" (step S804: NO) or there is no corresponding purchase right information (step S803: NO), the sales screen information transmission unit 111 sets information indicating the validity of the add to cart button 1220 in the HTML document of the product screen to valid (step S805). If the right status is "suspended" (step S804: YES), the sales screen information transmission unit 111 sets information indicating the validity of the add to cart button 1220 to invalid (step S806). After step S805 or S806 is completed, the sales screen information transmission unit 111 transmits the HTML document of the product screen to the customer terminal 4 (step S807), and the product screen information transmission process ends. The customer terminal 4 displays the product screen based on this HTML document. If the information indicating the validity of the add to cart button 1220 is valid, the customer terminal 4 displays the add to cart button 1220 so that the add to cart button 1220 can be operated. If the information indicating the validity is invalid, the customer terminal 4 displays the add to cart button 1220 so that the add to cart button 1220 cannot be operated.

[0182] As described above, according to this embodiment, a screen including product information in response to a request from the customer terminal 4 is displayed on the customer terminal 4. If the provision of the product to the customer is not restricted, the screen is displayed so that the operation to select the product is possible. Therefore, the customer can order the product. If the provision of the product to the customer is restricted, the screen is displayed so that the operation to select the product is not possible. Therefore, the customer cannot order the product. Therefore, the restriction on the provision of products can be controlled depending on whether or not the screen related to e-commerce accepts the operation to select the product.

[0183] 3. Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 29 and 30. In this embodiment, restrictions on the provision of products to customers may be lifted. Except for the points described below, the second embodiment may be the same as at least one of the first and second embodiments.

[0184] As explained above, even if a customer's provision of a product was once restricted, the customer could purchase the product by getting a new prescription for the product from a doctor. This may correspond to the customer acquiring a new purchasing right. In this case, the customer can purchase the product within the maximum prescribed amount. In contrast, in this embodiment, lifting the provision restriction may mean lifting the suspension of the purchasing right or restoring the expired purchasing right. In this case, the customer may be able to continue purchasing the product within the remaining amount calculated by subtracting the quantity already purchased by the customer from the maximum prescribed amount. If the customer purchased the product through a regular automatic purchase, the suspended regular delivery may be resumed.

[0185] Fig. 29 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of the system control unit 11 in the sales management server 1 according to this embodiment. In Fig. 29, the same elements as those in Fig. 8 are denoted by the same reference numerals. As shown in Fig. 29, the system control unit 11 may function as a sales screen information transmission unit 111, a selected product identification information acquisition unit 112, a cart information management unit 113, a medical examination support unit 114, an order confirmation unit 115, a shipping schedule information management unit 116, a purchased product identification information acquisition unit 117, a follow-up observation notice transmission unit 118, a question information transmission unit 119, a response information reception unit 120, a use continuation permission information acquisition unit 121, a follow-up observation result information transmission unit 122, and a product provision restriction information management unit 123, and may also function as a product provision restriction lifting information acquisition unit 124 and a product provision restriction lifting notice transmission unit 125.

[0186] The product provision restriction lifting information acquisition unit 124 may receive the product provision restriction lifting information after the product provision restriction information management unit 123 changes the product provision restriction information so that it can be identified that the provision of the product to the purchaser of the product is restricted. The product provision restriction lifting information may be information indicating that the restriction on the provision of the product to the purchaser will be lifted. The product provision restriction lifting information may include a product ID of the product for which the restriction on provision is to be lifted. The product provision restriction lifting information may also include a customer ID of the customer for whom the provision of the product is to be lifted. Alternatively, the product provision restriction lifting information may include a follow-up observation ID of the follow-up observation for which the restriction on the provision of the product has been decided.

[0187] The product provision restriction lifting information acquisition unit 124 may acquire the product provision restriction lifting information from the doctor terminal 2. For example, a doctor may decide whether or not to lift the restriction on the provision of a product to a customer. For example, the doctor may make the decision as a result of an exchange between the customer and the doctor. For example, whether or not to lift the restriction on the provision of a product may be determined through an examination. The doctor may make the decision during or after the examination. Alternatively, a follow-up may be performed after the prescription is discontinued. In this follow-up, questions may be presented to the customer to confirm the customer's condition under the assumption that the customer is not using the restricted product. In this follow-up, the doctor may decide to lift the restriction on the provision of the product.

[0188] When the product provision restriction information is acquired by the product provision restriction release information acquisition unit 124, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may change the product provision restriction information so that it is possible to identify from the product restriction information that the provision of the product to the purchaser of the product is not restricted. For example, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 may change the right status included in the corresponding purchase right information from "suspended" to "valid." This may release the suspension of the purchase right. By releasing the suspension of the purchase right, continuous purchases by successive purchases become possible. For example, in the first embodiment, the customer can order the product without seeing a doctor. In the second embodiment, the customer can select the product.

[0189] When the product provision restriction release information acquisition unit 124 acquires product provision restriction information for a product purchased through regular automatic purchase, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may cancel the cancellation of subsequent deliveries. This may allow regular deliveries to be resumed. For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may change the shipping status of the product included in the shipping schedule information from "cancelled" to "not shipped."

[0190] When the product provision restriction lifting information acquisition unit 124 acquires product provision restriction information, the product provision restriction lifting notification sending unit 125 may send a product provision restriction lifting notification to the purchaser. The product provision restriction lifting notification may be information informing the purchaser that the restriction on providing the product to the purchaser will be lifted. The product provision restriction lifting notification may include the name of the product whose provision restriction has been lifted. The product provision restriction lifting notification sending unit 125 may send the product provision restriction lifting notification to the purchaser by email or instant message. Alternatively, the product provision restriction lifting notification sending unit 125 may send the product provision restriction lifting notification to the customer terminal 4 of the purchaser by push notification. Alternatively, the product provision restriction lifting notification sending unit 125 may send screen information to the customer terminal 4 in response to a request from the customer terminal 4, causing the customer terminal 4 to display a screen including the product provision restriction lifting notification.

[0191] FIG. 30 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing by the communication system S according to this embodiment. For example, a doctor operates the doctor terminal 2 to select a follow-up observation for which a prescription suspension was previously determined. In response to this operation, the doctor terminal 2 displays a screen showing the results of the follow-up observation, including the decision on whether to continue the prescription of each product. This screen may be capable of accepting a selection to cancel the suspension of prescription for a product for which the prescription has been suspended. As shown in FIG. 30, the doctor selects to cancel the suspension of prescription for any product (step S901). The doctor terminal 2, upon detecting this operation, transmits prescription suspension cancellation information to the sales management server 1 (step S902). The prescription suspension cancellation information corresponds to product provision restriction cancellation information. The prescription suspension cancellation information may include, for example, the follow-up observation ID of the follow-up observation, the customer ID of the customer who was the subject of the follow-up observation, and the product ID of the product for which the prescription suspension has been canceled.

[0192] Based on the prescription suspension cancellation information, the product provision restriction information management unit 123 of the sales management server 1 searches the purchase right DB 14g for purchase right information including the customer ID of the customer who is the subject of follow-up observation and the product ID of the product whose prescription suspension has been canceled, and the purchase right information including the latest set date. The product provision restriction information management unit 123 changes the right status included in the searched purchase right information to "valid" (step S903). Next, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 determines whether the purchase method of the product whose prescription suspension has been canceled is regular automatic purchase (step S904). For example, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may search the shipping schedule DB 14h for shipping schedule information including the customer ID of the customer who is the subject of follow-up observation and the product ID of the product whose prescription suspension has been canceled, and the latest scheduled shipping date. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may make the determination based on the purchase method included in the searched shipping schedule information. If the purchase type is regular automatic purchase (step S904: YES), the product provision restriction information management unit 123 changes the shipping status included in the searched shipping schedule information to "not shipped" (step S905). When multiple products are shipped in a single regular delivery, some of those products for which a prescription continuation has been determined may have already been shipped. In this case, the shipping schedule information management unit 116 may generate new shipping schedule information for the product for which the prescription suspension has been lifted. The shipping schedule information management unit 116 may also set a new shipping date.

[0193] When step S905 is completed or when the purchase type is a sequential purchase (step S9904: NO), the product provision restriction lifting notification sending unit 125 sends a product provision restriction lifting notification email (step S906). The product provision restriction lifting notification email is an email indicating a product provision restriction lifting notification. For example, the product provision restriction lifting notification sending unit 125 may acquire the product name of the product whose prescription suspension is lifted from the product DB 14b based on the product ID included in the prescription suspension lifting information. The product provision restriction lifting notification sending unit 125 may add the product name to the body of the product provision restriction lifting notification email. Alternatively, the product provision restriction lifting notification sending unit 125 may acquire the customer's email address based on the customer ID included in the prescription suspension lifting information. The product provision restriction lifting notification sending unit 125 may set the recipient address of the product provision restriction lifting notification email to this email address.

[0194] As described above, according to this embodiment, after the provision of a purchased product is restricted, the restriction may be lifted. In this case, the purchase right DB 14g is updated again. This makes it possible to determine from the purchase right DB 14g that there is no restriction on providing the purchased product to the purchaser. Therefore, by referring to the purchase right DB 14g, processing can be performed to enable the provision of the product to the purchaser.

[0195] (Appendix 1-1) A follow-up control device comprising: a purchase product identification information acquisition means for acquiring purchase product identification information that identifies a purchase product that has been purchased from a plurality of products; a prompting information sending means for sending prompting information that prompts a purchaser of the purchase product to answer a follow-up question about the purchase product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information; and a question information sending means for sending question information indicating the question to the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser after the prompting information has been sent, in response to a request from the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser, wherein the prompting information sending means sends the prompting information after the period of the length corresponding to the purchase product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the purchase product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information, based on product period length information that indicates the length of the period until the follow-up time, and which is capable of identifying a length corresponding to each of the plurality of products; and the question information sending means sends the question information corresponding to the purchase product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information, based on product question information that indicates the question information that is capable of identifying the question information corresponding to each of the plurality of products.

[0196] (Appendix 1-2) The follow-up control device described in Appendix 1-1 is characterized in that it further comprises an answer information receiving means for receiving from the purchaser terminal device answer information indicating the answer to the question indicated by the transmitted question information, an answer information acquisition means for acquiring answer information indicating whether or not the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information can be continued based on the received answer information, and a result information sending means for sending to the purchaser terminal device result information indicating the result of the follow-up, including whether or not the use can be continued as indicated by the acquired answer information.

[0197] (Appendix 1-3) The follow-up control device described in Appendix 1-2 is characterized in that the yes / no information acquisition means includes: an answer information sending means for sending to the decision maker terminal device the received answer information and screen information for displaying on a decision maker terminal device used by a decision maker who decides whether or not to continue using the purchased product, a screen capable of accepting the selection of whether or not to continue using the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information; and an yes / no information receiving means for receiving from the decision maker terminal device the yes / no information indicating whether or not to continue using the product selected on the screen displayed by the decision maker terminal device based on the sent screen information.

[0198] (Appendix 1-4) A follow-up control device described in any one of Appendices 1-1 to 1-3, characterized in that the purchased product is a medicine, and further comprising a connection means for connecting the purchaser terminal device and a doctor terminal device used by a doctor to enable communication for the doctor's examination, and the purchased product identification information acquisition means acquires the purchased product identification information that identifies the product paid for through the examination as the purchased product after the connection means connects the purchaser terminal device and the doctor terminal device.

[0199] (Appendix 1-5) A follow-up control device as described in any one of Appendices 1-1 to 1-4, further comprising: a shipping completion information receiving means for receiving, from a sender terminal device used by the sender of the purchased item, shipping completion information indicating that the purchased item has been shipped to the purchaser; and a change means for changing, when the shipping completion information is received by the shipping completion information receiving means, the shipping status of the purchased item to the purchaser stored in a predetermined storage means from an unshipped status to a shipped completed status, wherein the reference date is the shipping date of the purchased item, and the prompt information sending means sends the prompt information on the condition that the shipping status is set to the shipped completed status, and sends the prompt information after the period of the length corresponding to the purchased item has elapsed from the shipping date.

[0200] (Appendix 1-6) A follow-up control method executed by a computer, comprising: a purchase product identification information acquisition step of acquiring purchase product identification information that identifies a purchased product among a plurality of products; a prompting information sending step of sending prompting information to a purchaser of the purchased product to answer a follow-up question about the purchased product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information; and a question information sending step of sending question information indicating the question to a purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser after the prompting information has been sent, in response to a request from the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser, wherein the prompting information sending step sends the prompting information after a period of the length corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the purchased product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information, based on product period length information that indicates the length of the period until the follow-up time, and which is capable of specifying a length corresponding to each of the plurality of products; and the question information sending step sends the question information corresponding to the purchased product identified by the acquired purchase product identification information, based on product question information that is capable of specifying the question information corresponding to each of the plurality of products.

[0201] (Appendix 1-7) A follow-up control program that causes a computer to function as a purchased product identification information acquisition means that acquires purchased product identification information that identifies a purchased product among a plurality of products; a prompting information sending means that sends prompting information to a purchaser of the purchased product to answer a follow-up question about the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information; and a question information sending means that sends question information indicating the question to a purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser after the prompting information has been sent, in response to a request from the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser, wherein the prompting information sending means sends the prompting information after a period of the length corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information, based on product period length information that indicates the length of the period until the follow-up time, and which is capable of specifying a length corresponding to each of the plurality of products; and the question information sending means sends the question information corresponding to the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information, based on product question information that is capable of specifying the question information corresponding to each of the plurality of products.

[0202] (Appendix 2-1) A product provision control device comprising: a question information sending means for sending question information indicating follow-up questions regarding a purchased product to a purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser of the purchased product; a response information receiving means for receiving response information indicating an answer to the question from the purchaser terminal device that has received the sent question information; a feasibility information acquisition means for acquiring feasibility information indicating whether or not use of the purchased product can be continued based on the received response information; and a modification means for, when the acquired feasibility information indicates that use of the purchased product cannot be continued, changing restriction information stored in a predetermined storage means that can identify whether or not the provision of the product to the customer is restricted for each combination of customer and product, so that it can be identified from the restriction information that the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser is restricted.

[0203] (Appendix 2-2) A product provision control device as described in Appendix 2-1, further comprising: an identification information acquisition means for acquiring selected product identification information indicating a selected product selected by a customer for an order and customer identification information identifying the customer who selected the selected product; an interview support means for supporting an interview between the customer and a decision maker who decides whether or not to allow the customer to use the selected product, when the restriction information determines that the provision of the selected product indicated by the acquired selected product identification information is restricted for the customer indicated by the acquired customer identification information; and a confirmation means for confirming the order of the selected product after the interview supported by the interview support means, wherein the confirmation means confirms the order without the interview, when the restriction information determines that the provision of the selected product indicated by the acquired selected product identification information is not restricted for the customer indicated by the acquired customer identification information.

[0204] (Appendix 2-3) The product provision control device described in Appendix 2-2 is characterized in that the interview support means connects a customer terminal device used by the customer and a decision maker terminal device used by the decision maker to enable communication for the interview, and if the restriction information specifies that the provision of the selected product indicated by the acquired selected product identification information is restricted to the customer indicated by the acquired customer identification information, after the interview support means connects the customer terminal device and the decision maker terminal device, the confirmation means confirms the order, and if the restriction information specifies that the provision of the selected product indicated by the acquired selected product identification information is not restricted to the customer indicated by the acquired customer identification information, the confirmation means confirms the order without connecting the customer terminal device and the decision maker terminal device by the interview support means.

[0205] (Appendix 2-4) A product provision control device described in any one of Appendices 2-1 to 2-3, characterized in that the provision of the purchased product is in the form of regular shipping of the purchased product to the purchaser, and further comprising a cancellation means for canceling the next shipment of the purchased product to the purchaser when the change means makes a change that can be identified as restricting the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser.

[0206] (Appendix 2-5) A product provision control device as described in any one of Appendices 2-1 to 2-4, further comprising a screen information sending means for sending to the customer terminal device screen information for displaying on the customer terminal device a screen related to electronic commerce that enables product ordering, the screen including information about a requested product in response to a request from the customer terminal device used by the customer, wherein the screen information sending means sends the screen information for displaying the screen that accepts operations for selecting the requested product when it is determined from the restriction information that the provision of the requested product to the customer is not restricted, and sends the screen information for displaying the screen that does not accept operations when it is determined from the restriction information that the provision of the requested product to the customer is restricted.

[0207] (Appendix 2-6) A product provision control device as described in any one of Appendices 2-1 to 2-5, further comprising a release information acquisition means for acquiring release information indicating the release of the restriction on provision of the purchased product after the change means has changed the restriction information so that it can be identified that the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser is restricted, and when the release information acquisition means has acquired the release information, the change means changes the restriction information so that it can be identified from the restriction information that the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser is not restricted.

[0208] (Appendix 2-7) A product provision control device as described in Appendix 2-4, further comprising: a release information acquisition means for acquiring release information indicating the release of the restriction on provision of the purchased product after the change means has changed the restriction information so that it can be identified that the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser is restricted; and a withdrawal means for withdrawing the cancellation of the shipment by the cancellation means when the release information acquisition means receives the release information.

[0209] (Appendix 2-8) A product provision control device described in any one of Appendices 2-1 to 2-7, characterized in that it further comprises a result information sending means for sending result information to the purchaser indicating the results of the follow-up, including whether or not the use can be continued as indicated by the acquired yes / no information.

[0210] (Appendix 2-9) A product provision control device as described in any one of Appendices 2-1 to 2-8, characterized in that the purchased product is a pharmaceutical product, and further comprising a connection means for connecting the purchaser terminal device and a doctor terminal device used by a doctor to enable communication for the doctor's examination, and a confirmation means for confirming the order of the product paid for through the examination after the connection means connects the purchaser terminal device and the doctor terminal device, and the question information sending means sends the question information about the product for which the order has been confirmed by the confirmation means.

[0211] (Appendix 2-10) A computer-implemented product provision control method comprising: a question information sending step for sending question information indicating follow-up questions regarding a purchased product to a purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser of the purchased product; a response information receiving step for receiving response information indicating an answer to the question from the purchaser terminal device that has received the sent question information; a response information acquisition step for acquiring response information indicating whether or not use of the purchased product can be continued based on the received response information; and a modification step for, if the acquired response information indicates that use of the purchased product cannot be continued, changing restriction information stored in a predetermined storage means that can identify for each combination of customer and product whether or not the provision of the product to the customer is restricted, so that it can be identified from the restriction information that the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser is restricted.

[0212] (Appendix 2-11) A product provision control program that causes a computer to function as a question information sending means for sending question information indicating follow-up questions regarding a purchased product to a purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser of the purchased product; a response information receiving means for receiving response information indicating an answer to the question from the purchaser terminal device that has received the sent question information; a feasibility information acquisition means for acquiring feasibility information indicating whether or not use of the purchased product can be continued based on the received response information; and a modification means for, when the acquired feasibility information indicates that use of the purchased product cannot be continued, changing restriction information stored in a predetermined storage means that can identify for each combination of customer and product whether or not the provision of the product to the customer is restricted, so that it can be identified from the restriction information that the provision of the purchased product to the purchaser is restricted. [Explanation of symbols]

[0213] 1. Sales management server 2. Doctor's terminal 3 Shipping terminal 4. Customer terminal 11 System control section 12 System Bus 13 Input / Output Interface 14 Storage section 14a Member DB 14b Product DB 14c Kart DB 14d Medical appointment DB 14e Prescription history DB 14th floor order database 14g Purchase Rights DB 14h Shipping Schedule DB 14i Follow-up period DB 14j Question Information DB 14k Follow-up Notification Schedule DB 14l Answer DB 14m Follow-up observation results DB 111 Sales screen information transmission unit 112 Selected product identification information acquisition unit 113 Cart Information Management Department 114 Medical Support Department 115 Order Confirmation Department 116 Shipping Schedule Information Management Department 117 Purchased product identification information acquisition unit 118 Progress Observation Notification Transmission Department 119 Question Information Transmission Department 120 Response information receiving unit 121 Continuation of use information acquisition unit 122 Follow-up observation result information transmission unit 123 Product Provision Restriction Information Management Department 124 Product Provision Restriction Lift Information Acquisition Department 125 Product provision restriction lifting notification sending department NW Network

Claims

1. a purchase product identification information acquisition means for acquiring purchase product identification information for identifying a purchased product among a plurality of products; a prompting information sending means for sending prompting information to prompt the purchaser of the purchased product to answer follow-up questions about the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information; a question information transmitting means for transmitting question information indicating the question to the purchaser terminal device in response to a request from the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser after the prompting information has been transmitted; Equipped with the prompting information transmitting means transmits the prompting information after a period of the length corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information, based on product period length information indicating the length of the period until the follow-up time, the product period length information being capable of specifying a length corresponding to each of the plurality of products; The follow-up control device is characterized in that the question information sending means sends the question information corresponding to the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information based on product question information that indicates the question information so that the question information corresponding to each of the multiple products can be identified.

2. an answer information receiving means for receiving answer information indicating the answer to the question indicated by the transmitted question information from the purchaser terminal device; a means for acquiring availability information indicating whether or not the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information can be continued based on the received response information; a result information transmitting means for transmitting result information indicating a result of the follow-up including whether or not the use can be continued, which is indicated by the acquired propriety information, to the purchaser terminal device; 2. The follow-up control device of claim 1, further comprising:

3. The possibility information acquisition means a response information transmitting means for transmitting the received response information and screen information for displaying on a decision maker terminal device used by a decision maker who decides whether or not to continue using the purchased product, a screen capable of accepting a selection of whether or not to continue using the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information, to the decision maker terminal device; a propriety information receiving means for receiving from the decision maker terminal device the propriety information indicating whether or not the use can be continued, selected on the screen displayed by the decision maker terminal device based on the transmitted screen information; 3. The follow-up control device according to claim 2, further comprising:

4. The purchased product is a pharmaceutical product, The device further includes a connection means for connecting the purchaser terminal device and a doctor terminal device used by the doctor so that communication for the doctor's examination can be performed; A follow-up control device as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that after the connection means connects the purchaser terminal device and the doctor terminal device, the purchase product identification information acquisition means acquires the purchase product identification information that identifies the product paid for through the examination as the purchased product.

5. a shipping completion information receiving means for receiving, from a sender terminal device used by a sender of the purchased product, shipping completion information indicating that the purchased product has been shipped to the purchaser; a change means for changing, when the shipping completion information receiving means receives the shipping completion information, the shipping status of the purchased product to the purchaser, which is stored in a predetermined storage means, from an unshipped status to a shipped completed status; Further provided with The reference date is the shipping date of the purchased product, A follow-up control device as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the prompt information sending means sends the prompt information on the condition that the shipping status is set to the shipping completed status, and sends the prompt information after the period of the length corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed from the shipping date.

6. 1. A computer-implemented follow-up control method comprising: a purchase product identification information acquisition step of acquiring purchase product identification information that identifies a purchased product among the plurality of products; a prompting information sending step of sending prompting information to prompt the purchaser of the purchased product to answer follow-up questions about the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information; a question information sending step of sending question information indicating the question to the purchaser terminal device in response to a request from the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser after the prompting information has been sent; Including, The prompting information transmitting step transmits the prompting information after a period of the length corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information, based on product period length information indicating the length of the period until the follow-up time, the product period length information being capable of specifying a length corresponding to each of the plurality of products; A follow-up control method characterized in that the question information sending step sends the question information corresponding to the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information based on product question information that indicates the question information so as to enable identification of the question information corresponding to each of the plurality of products.

7. Computer, a purchase product identification information acquisition means for acquiring purchase product identification information for identifying a purchased product among a plurality of products; a prompting information sending means for sending prompting information to prompt the purchaser of the purchased product to answer follow-up questions about the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information; a question information transmitting means for transmitting question information indicating the question to the purchaser terminal device in response to a request from the purchaser terminal device used by the purchaser after the prompting information has been transmitted; It functions as the prompting information transmitting means transmits the prompting information after a period of the length corresponding to the purchased product has elapsed from a reference date related to the purchase of the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information, based on product period length information indicating the length of the period until the follow-up time, the product period length information being capable of specifying a length corresponding to each of the plurality of products; The follow-up control program is characterized in that the question information sending means sends the question information corresponding to the purchased product identified by the acquired purchased product identification information based on product question information that indicates the question information so as to be able to identify the question information corresponding to each of the plurality of products.

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