Commercial activity support system

Abstract

To provide a target user with effective recommendation information even for a new commodity or a new service before sales.SOLUTION: A commercial activity supporting system includes one or more processors configured to execute information presentation processing, and one or more storage devices configured to store attribute information indicating an attribute of a product or a service, and user preference information indicating a preference for the product or the service for each user. The information presentation process includes specifying an existing product or an existing service having the same attribute as a new product or a new service before sale based on the attribute information, acquiring a degree of preference of a target user or a related user having the same user attribute as the target user for the existing product or the existing service based on the user preference information, determining content of recommendation information indicating a new product or a new service recommended to the target user based on the degree of preference, and presenting the recommendation information to the target user.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a commercial activity support system. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a recommendation system that extracts recommended items from a second group of items and provides the recommended items to a target user. To provide highly accurate recommended items from the second group of items to a target user even when the target user has little historical information about the second group of items, the recommendation system includes a recommendation result calculation means. The recommendation result calculation means determines recommended items from the second group of items based on historical information of users belonging to a second latent class that has a strong correlation with a first latent class to which the target user belongs. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-102407 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] For new products or services that have not yet been released, there is no history information of not only the target user but also other users. Therefore, according to the technology described in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to provide effective recommendation information to the target user for new products or services that have not yet been released. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A commercial activity support system according to the present disclosure includes one or more processors and one or more storage devices. The one or more processors are configured to execute an information presentation process for presenting information to a target user. The one or more storage devices are configured to store attribute information indicating attributes of a product or service and user preference information indicating user preferences for the product or service. The information presentation process includes identifying an existing product or service that has the same attributes as a new product or service that has not yet been released, based on the attribute information; acquiring a preference level of the target user or related users that have the same user attributes as the target user for the existing product or service, based on the user preference information; determining content of recommended information indicating the new product or service to be recommended to the target user, based on the preference level; and presenting the recommended information to the target user via a communication terminal operated by the target user. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to the present disclosure, the content of recommendation information indicating a new product or service to be recommended to a target user is determined based on the degree of preference for an existing product or service that has the same attributes as the new product or service before its release. This makes it possible to present effective recommendation information to the target user even for a new product or service before its release. This contributes to the further development of commercial activities. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an overview of a commercial activity support system according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining basic details of an information presentation process according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram for explaining specific details of information presentation processing according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0009] 1. Overview of the Commercial Activity Support System FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an overview of a commercial activity support system 10 according to this embodiment.

[0010] The commercial activity support system 10 is a system that supports the commercial activities of a store S (physical store) used by a user U. The store S is, for example, a tenant store (e.g., a grocery store, a general merchandise store, a restaurant) that rents a section of a facility and operates in that space. Examples of such facilities include commercial facilities (e.g., shopping malls, commercial buildings), etc. The user U is a consumer of the goods or services provided by the store S. The user U is, for example, a resident of the urban area or city where the store S is located.

[0011] The commercial activity support system 10 provides commercial activity support that benefits both the store S and the user U. Specifically, the commercial activity support system 10 supports the commercial activities of the store S by presenting this "recommended information Ir" to the user U. The recommended information Ir is information indicating products or services that are recommended to the user U (target user Ut) to whom the information is to be presented, from among the products or services handled by the store S. The commercial activity support system 10 can also be said to be an information presentation system that presents the recommended information Ir to the target user Ut.

[0012] The commercial activity support system 10 includes a communication device 11, one or more processors 12 (hereinafter simply referred to as processors 12), and one or more storage devices 13 (hereinafter simply referred to as storage devices 13). The communication device 11 is capable of communicating with the payment service system 20, the store management system 30 of each store S, and the communication terminal 40 via a communication network.

[0013] The processor 12 executes various processes. Examples of the processor 12 include a general-purpose processor, a specific-purpose processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The storage device 13 stores various information required for various processes. Examples of the storage device 13 include a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), and a solid state drive (SSD).

[0014] The processor 12 may execute a computer program. The computer program is stored in the storage device 13. Alternatively, the computer program may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. The functions of the commercial activity support system 10 may be realized by cooperation between the processor 12 executing the computer program and the storage device 13.

[0015] To allow user U to pay for goods or services, store S uses a payment service provided by payment service system 20. A database containing various data related to the payment service (e.g., transaction data for goods or services, product master data) is stored in the storage device of payment service system 20. The payment service system 20 executes the process related to user U's payment for goods or services, for example, as follows: When user U makes a payment, payment service system 20 authenticates user U (e.g., facial recognition) using a camera installed in the store S. Once authentication is complete, payment service system 20 accepts user U's payment operation via communication terminal 40, which is an in-store tablet. Once payment is complete, payment service system 20 transmits the user U's payment result to store management system 30 of store S. Furthermore, payment service system 20 transmits purchase data to commercial activity support system 10. The purchase data is information about the goods or services for which payment has been completed. Furthermore, the purchase data received by commercial activity support system 10 is stored in storage device 13.

[0016] The store management system 30, for example, manages product orders to wholesalers and product arrivals. The store management system 30 also transmits and receives various types of information to and from the commercial activity support system 10, as will be described later.

[0017] The communication terminal 40 is a terminal device operated by the user U. Examples of the communication terminal 40 include a storefront tablet installed in the store S, a mobile terminal (for example, a smartphone) of the user U, and the like.

[0018] The commercial activity support system 10 (processor 12) executes an "information presentation process" that presents information to the target user Ut. The information presented by the information presentation process includes the above-mentioned "recommended information Ir." The recommended information Ir is presented to the target user Ut via the communication terminal 40. In the example of the commercial activity support system 10 shown in FIG. 1, the processor 12 executes the information presentation process that involves processing related to the provision of a "request voting service." In this way, support for commercial activities by the commercial activity support system 10 may be performed in conjunction with the request voting service.

[0019] Details of the information presentation process are explained in Section 2 below. Here, an overview of the request voting service is first explained. The request voting service is a service that starts with voting and handles everything from gathering information about the needs of consumers (target users Ut) to guiding them to visit the store and make a purchase. The flow of the request voting service is as follows.

[0020] First, "store S registers candidate products for arrival in commercial activity support system 10." Specifically, candidate products are, for example, candidates for products that store S is considering arriving in the near future (e.g., next month). The store management system 30 of the store S transmits information about the candidate products for arrival to commercial activity support system 10. The commercial activity support system 10 stores the received information about the candidate products for arrival in storage device 13. In addition, the information about candidate products for arrival obtained by commercial activity support system 10 from store S in this way may be obtained in the form of, for example, a new product candidate list.

[0021] Next, "the commercial activity support system 10 displays the candidate products for arrival on the communication terminal 40." Specifically, for example, when the target user Ut makes a payment for a product or service at the store S, the commercial activity support system 10 transmits information about the candidate products for arrival to the communication terminal 40 (e.g., an in-store tablet) and causes the communication terminal 40 to display the information. More specifically, the commercial activity support system 10 causes the communication terminal 40 to display information about a plurality of candidate products for arrival.

[0022] Additionally, in the example of information presentation involving the request voting service, the plurality of candidate products for arrival (plurality of candidate products or services recommended to the target user Ut) displayed on the communication terminal 40 as described above corresponds to the above-mentioned recommendation information Ir. That is, in this example, the commercial activity support system 10 determines the recommendation information Ir so as to display a plurality of candidates to be recommended to the target user Ut in the new product candidate list. For this determination, the purchase data provided by the payment service system 20 may be used.

[0023] Next, "the consumer (target user Ut) votes for the desired item from among the displayed candidate items for arrival." Specifically, the commercial activity support system 10 requests the target user Ut via the communication terminal 40 to vote for their preferred item from among the multiple candidate items for arrival displayed on the communication terminal 40. In other words, the commercial activity support system 10 requests the target user Ut to vote for their preferred item from among the multiple candidates. In response to the request, the target user Ut operates the communication terminal 40 to vote for the candidate item for arrival that they desire. For reference, the voting results of other users U may also be displayed on the screen of the communication terminal 40 operated by the target user Ut.

[0024] Next, "the commercial activity support system 10 feeds back the voting results and sales forecast to the store S." Specifically, the commercial activity support system 10 acquires the voting results (request results) of the target user Ut from the communication terminal 40, and transmits the acquired voting results to the store management system 30 of the store S. In other words, the commercial activity support system 10 feeds back the voting results for multiple candidate products to be stocked (multiple candidates) to the store S.

[0025] Furthermore, the commercial activity support system 10 calculates a sales forecast for each of the candidate products for arrival based on the number of votes from each user Ut for the candidate product. As an example, the sales forecast can be made using a prediction model (statistical model) based on machine learning. The sales forecast provided to the store S in this way becomes one of the factors that the store S considers when deciding on product replacement. For example, the store S can review the product lineup on display.

[0026] Next, "the commercial activity support system 10 notifies the user U of the new arrival information." Specifically, when a candidate product for arrival that the target user Ut voted for arrives in store S, the store management system 30 transmits new arrival information of the product to the commercial activity support system 10. The commercial activity support system 10 notifies the target user Ut of the received new arrival information via the communication terminal 40 (e.g., the mobile terminal of the target user Ut) (e.g., product replacement notification). This notification encourages the target user Ut to visit the store S and the target user Ut to purchase the newly arrived product. In this way, the commercial activity of the store S is supported by the commercial activity support system 10.

[0027] In the example where store S provides the service, the "items to be received" in the above description of the request voting service are replaced with "services to be introduced," and the "list of new product candidates" is replaced with "list of new service candidates."

[0028] 2. Information presentation processing 2-1. Basic Content 2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the basic contents of the information presentation process according to the present embodiment. In addition to the above-mentioned recommendation information Ir, the storage device 13 of the commercial activity support system 10 stores "user preference information Ip."

[0029] The user preference information Ip is information that indicates the preferences for products or services for each user U. The commercial activity support system 10 generates and accumulates the user preference information Ip based on various past histories of the target user Ut to whom information is presented. Examples of the various histories include the purchase history, browsing history, behavior history, voting history, etc. of the user U.

[0030] As already explained, the recommended information Ir is information indicating products or services recommended to the target user Ut. Basically, as shown in Fig. 2, the commercial activity support system 10 determines the recommended information Ir based on the preferences of the target user Ut obtained by referring to the user preference information Ip of the target user Ut.

[0031] In addition, in the example of information presentation involving a request voting service (see FIG. 1), the information displayed on the voting screen of the communication terminal 40 corresponds to the recommended information Ir. As described with reference to FIG. 1, the commercial activity support system 10 may determine the recommended information Ir so as to display a plurality of candidates narrowed down from a new product candidate list (or a new service candidate list) prepared by the store S.

[0032] 2-2. Determining recommended information for new products / services For new products / services that have not yet been released, there is no user preference information Ip. Therefore, in this embodiment, the following method is introduced to determine effective recommendation information Ir for new products / services that have not yet been released.

[0033] 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the specific contents of the information presentation process according to this embodiment. The information presentation process executed by the commercial activity support system 10 (processor 12) according to this embodiment includes the processes described in the following sections 2-2-1, 2-2-2, and 2-2-3 with reference to FIG. 3.

[0034] 2-2-1. Identifying existing products / services that have the same attributes as the new product / service 3, the commercial activity support system 10 uses not only the user preference information Ip but also the following "product / service attribute information Ia" to determine the recommended information Ir. The product / service attribute information Ia (attribute information) is information indicating the attributes of a product or service, and is stored in advance in the storage device 13. More specifically, the product / service attribute information Ia is, for example, information on products or services in which attribute information is associated with each individual product or service.

[0035] The product / service attribute information Ia includes at least one of the following attributes: category, purpose, product or service name, catchphrase, price range, and appearance. Specific examples of each attribute are as follows: Category examples: chocolate, roll cake, ramen, fitness gym Examples of uses: promoting health, dieting, improving sleep, relieving fatigue, improving skin, strengthening bones Examples of product or service names: spicy, delicious, miso Examples of catchphrases: Limited time, limited area, large volume, value for money, rich, refreshing, extremely popular, long-selling, revival, additive-free, domestic, legendary, traditional taste Appearance examples: color, pattern, packaging

[0036] The information presentation process according to this embodiment includes "identifying an existing product or service that has the same attributes as a new product or service that has not yet been put on the market, based on the product / service attribute information Ia."

[0037] More specifically, when information on a new product or new service (i.e., information on the above-mentioned candidate products to be stocked or candidate services to be introduced) is received from the store management system 30, the commercial activity support system 10 refers to the product / service attribute information Ia and extracts existing products / existing services that have the same attributes as the new product or new service.

[0038] In addition, attributes do not necessarily correspond between new products and existing products, and similarly, attributes do not necessarily correspond between new services and existing services. For example, "health foods (products)" and "fitness gyms (services)" have the same "purpose" and therefore have the same attributes.

[0039] 2-2-2. Acquiring preference for identified existing products / services The information presentation process according to this embodiment also includes "obtaining the target user Ut's preference level D for existing products or existing services based on the user preference information Ip."

[0040] More specifically, the commercial activity support system 10 acquires the target user Ut's preference degree D for the existing product / service identified as described above based on the target user Ut's user preference information Ip. The preference degree D may be quantified, for example, in the form of a preference score. The preference score is calculated, for example, in the range of 0 to 100, and the higher the preference degree D, the higher the preference score. The method for calculating the preference score is not particularly limited, and can be performed, for example, based on the user preference information Ip (e.g., user U's purchase history, browsing history, and behavior history). For example, the preference score of a certain product is calculated so that the more times the product is purchased, the higher the preference score becomes.

[0041] The target for acquiring the preference degree D may be a related user Ur instead of the target user Ut. The related user Ur is a user U who has the same user attributes as the target user Ut. The user attributes include at least one of gender, age, and family structure. The commercial activity support system 10 may acquire the preference degree D of the related user Ur for the existing product / service identified as described above based on the user preference information Ip of the related user Ur instead of the user preference information Ip of the target user Ut. According to this method of using the user preference information Ip of the related user Ur, it is possible to appropriately continue to present effective recommended information Ir to the target user Ut even if the target user Ut has little accumulated user preference information Ip.

[0042] 2-2-3.Determining the content of recommended information As a result of the processing in sections 2-2-1 and 2-2-2 above, a correspondence relationship between "new products / services" and "preference levels D" is obtained. By referring to this correspondence relationship, it is possible to determine what new products / services would be effective to recommend to the target user Ut. In other words, it is possible to determine the content of effective recommendation information Ir indicating new products / services to be recommended to the target user Ut.

[0043] Therefore, the information presentation process according to this embodiment includes "determining the content of recommended information Ir indicating a new product or a new service to be recommended to the target user Ut based on the preference degree D." The preference degree D used to determine the content of the recommended information Ir is the preference degree D of the target user Ut or the related user Ur obtained as described above.

[0044] More specifically, the content of the recommended information Ir can be determined, for example, using the following method. That is, in the information presentation process, the commercial activity support system 10 may determine, as a first candidate, a new product or a new service corresponding to an existing product or an existing service whose preference degree D exceeds a first threshold. Then, the commercial activity support system 10 may determine the recommended information Ir to include first recommended information Ir1 for recommending the first candidate to the target user Ut.

[0045] Furthermore, the information presentation process may include the following process in addition to determining the recommended information Ir to include the first recommended information Ir1. That is, multiple thresholds for the preference degree D may be prepared, and multiple candidates may be determined. For example, the threshold for the preference degree D may further include a second threshold lower than the first threshold. In the information presentation process, the commercial activity support system 10 may determine, as the second candidate, a new product or a new service corresponding to an existing product or an existing service whose preference degree D is greater than the second threshold but less than or equal to the first threshold. Then, the commercial activity support system 10 may determine the recommended information Ir to include second recommended information Ir2 for recommending the second candidate to the target user Ut, and to make the first recommended information Ir1 more prominent than the second recommended information Ir2. That is, the commercial activity support system 10 may determine the recommended information Ir so that candidates with a higher preference degree D are more prominent. To make the first recommendation information Ir1 more noticeable than the second recommendation information Ir2, the commercial activity support system 10 may, for example, display the first recommendation information Ir1 larger than the second recommendation information Ir2 on the screen of the communication terminal 40. Alternatively, the commercial activity support system 10 may, for example, display the first recommendation information Ir1 on the screen of the communication terminal 40 in a color that is more noticeable than the second recommendation information Ir2.

[0046] The commercial activity support system 10 presents the recommended information Ir determined as described above to the target user Ut via the communication terminal 40.

[0047] 3.Effects As described above, according to the commercial activity support system 10 of this embodiment, the content of the recommendation information Ir indicating a new product or new service to be recommended to the target user Ut is determined based on the preference degree D for an existing product or existing service that has the same attribute as a new product or new service that has not yet been released. This makes it possible to present effective recommendation information Ir to the target user Ut even for a new product or new service that has not yet been released. This contributes to further development of commercial activities.

[0048] Furthermore, as described above, in the example of the commercial activity support system 10 that supports the commercial activities of the store S with a request voting service, the recommendation information Ir may indicate multiple candidates to be recommended to the target user Ut. The information presentation process may include requesting the target user Ut to vote for their favorite one from among the multiple candidates. As a result, the accuracy of the request voting service is further improved. This is expected to lead to the development of the commercial activity support system 10 that provides the request voting service, and ultimately to further development of commercial activities.

[0049] Furthermore, as described above, the processor 12 of the commercial activity support system 10 may acquire a new product candidate list or a new service candidate list from the store S. In the information presentation process, the processor 12 may determine recommendation information Ir to indicate the plurality of candidates recommended to the target user Ut from the new product candidate list or the new service candidate list. The processor 12 may then feed back the results of voting on the plurality of candidates to the store S. As a result, the accuracy of the request voting service is further improved. This is expected to lead to the development of the commercial activity support system 10 that provides the request voting service, and ultimately to further development of commercial activities. [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 10 Commercial activity support system, 11 Communication device, 12 Processor, 13 Storage device, 20 Payment service system, 30 Store management system, 40 Communication terminal

Claims

1. one or more processors configured to execute an information presentation process to present information to a target user; one or more storage devices configured to store attribute information indicating attributes of products or services and user preference information indicating preferences for the products or services for each user; Equipped with The information presentation process includes: Identifying an existing product or service that has the same attribute as the new product or service before it is sold based on the attribute information; acquiring a preference level of the target user or a related user having the same user attribute as the target user for the existing product or the existing service based on the user preference information; determining content of recommendation information indicating the new product or the new service to be recommended to the target user based on the preference level; presenting the recommended information to the target user via a communication terminal operated by the target user; Contains Commercial activity support system.

2. The commercial activity support system according to claim 1, The information presentation process includes: determining, as a first candidate, the new product or the new service corresponding to the existing product or the existing service whose preference degree exceeds a first threshold; determining the recommendation information to include first recommendation information for recommending the first candidate to the target user; Further includes Commercial activity support system.

3. The commercial activity support system according to claim 2, the preference degree threshold includes the first threshold and a second threshold lower than the first threshold, The information presentation process includes: determining, as a second candidate, the new product or the new service corresponding to the existing product or the existing service whose preference degree exceeds the second threshold and is equal to or less than the first threshold; determining the recommendation information such that the recommendation information includes second recommendation information for recommending the second candidate to the target user, and the first recommendation information is more prominent than the second recommendation information; Further includes Commercial activity support system.

4. A commercial activity support system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the recommendation information indicates a plurality of candidates to be recommended to the target user; The information presentation process further includes requesting the target user to vote for a preferred one of the plurality of candidates. Commercial activity support system.

5. The commercial activity support system according to claim 4, The one or more processors further Obtain a list of new product candidates or new service candidates from the store, In the information presentation process, the recommendation information is determined so as to present the plurality of candidates recommended to the target user in the new product candidate list or the new service candidate list; The results of the votes for the plurality of candidates are fed back to the store. It was configured as Commercial activity support system.

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