Commodity management system

Abstract

To reduce a burden on a person in charge of a retail store for final determination of replacement of commodities.SOLUTION: The commodity replacement processing is performed. In the product replacement processing, as factors for determining replacement of a product, an attribute, a production state, a sales amount per unit area in a retail store, and a current occupied area of a product shelf of an existing sales product, and an attribute, a production state, and a scheduled occupied area of a product shelf of a new sales product are used. In the commodity replacement processing, a reduced sales commodity is determined from existing sales commodities by using these factors, and replacement recommendation information of the reduced sales commodity by the new sales commodity is transmitted to a commodity management terminal of the retail store.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a system for managing products displayed on shelves in a retail store. [Background technology]

[0002] International Publication No. 2022 / 190294 discloses a device for determining the placement position of a product on a shelf in a retail store such as a convenience store or supermarket. This conventional device generates historical information about the placement position of a product on the shelf and information indicating a relationship between the historical information and information about the product. The historical information about the placement position includes information such as the placement position and area of ​​the product set by an expert at the retail store. The information about the product includes product attributes. The placement position of the product is determined based on the generated information indicating the relationship.

[0003] In addition to International Publication No. 2022 / 190294, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-299768 can be exemplified as documents showing the technical state of the art in the technical field related to the present disclosure. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2022 / 190294 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-299768 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Consider the replacement of products displayed on product shelves. In product replacement, for example, some or all of the products whose sales have decreased are removed from the product shelves, and other products are installed in the space vacated. In another example, some or all of the products whose production has been discontinued are removed from the product shelves, and other products are installed in the space vacated. The other products, i.e., new products for sale, may be substitute products in the same category as the discontinued products, or new products that have just started production.

[0006] The final decision on product replacement is usually left to the retail store manager. This is because product replacement affects the sales of the retail store. However, there are many factors that go into deciding on product replacement, which places a burden on the manager. Therefore, technological development is needed to reduce the burden on the manager in making this final decision.

[0007] One object of the present disclosure is to provide a technology that can reduce the burden on retail store managers in making the final decision on product replacement. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The present disclosure relates to a system for managing products displayed on shelves in a retail store, and has the following features. The system includes a storage device and a processor. The storage device stores information about existing products currently displayed on the shelf and information about new products to be displayed on the shelf in place of the existing products. The processor is configured to perform product replacement processing based on the information stored in the storage device. The information about the existing products includes basic product information, including the attributes and production status of the existing products, information about the sales amount of the existing products at the retail store, and information about the current area occupied by the existing products on the shelf. The information about the new products includes basic product information, including the attributes and production status of the new products, and information about the area planned to be occupied by the new products on the shelf. The product replacement process includes identifying replacement candidates that indicate the existing products that have the same attributes as the new product and whose sales amount per unit area at the retail store is below a replacement threshold, or the existing products that have the same attributes as the new product and whose production has been discontinued; determining the replacement candidates as reduced-sale products if the current occupancy area of ​​the replacement candidates exceeds the planned occupancy area of ​​the new product; and, if the replacement candidates are determined to be reduced-sale products, sending recommendation information for replacing the reduced-sale products with the new product to a product management terminal of the retail store. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present disclosure, a product replacement process is performed. In the product replacement process, factors used to determine product replacement include the attributes, production status, sales amount per unit area at the retail store, and current shelf area occupied by the existing products, as well as the attributes, production status, and planned shelf area occupied by the new products. In the product replacement process, these factors are also used to determine products to be reduced from the existing products, and recommendation information for replacing the reduced products with the new products is sent to the product management terminal of the retail store. This reduces the burden on the retail store manager in making the final product replacement decision. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a product management system according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of product display on a product shelf. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of rearrangement of products on a product shelf. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing particularly related to the embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of identifying replacement candidates based on sales amounts. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a replacement reserve candidate. [Figure 7]5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of a subroutine performed in step S16 of FIG. 4. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of determining a sales promotion product. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be simplified or omitted.

[0012] 1. System configuration example Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a product management system according to an embodiment. In the example shown in Fig. 1, a product management system 100 includes a management server 10 and a retail store 20 that communicates with the management server 10. The management server 10 is a computer that manages products P that are the subject of commercial transactions at the retail store 20. The management server 10 includes at least one processor 11 and at least one storage device 12.

[0013] The processor 11 executes various processes. Examples of the processor 11 include a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Various information is stored in the storage device 12. Examples of the storage device 12 include a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), and a solid state drive (SSD). The storage device 12 also stores various programs. The various programs may be stored in a computer-readable recording medium.

[0014] The management of product P by the management server 10 includes management of basic information (master data) of product P. The basic information of product P is managed based on product information and price information periodically sent from the supplier of product P (e.g., the manufacturer of product P), product information collected by periodically referencing websites, etc. Examples of basic information of product P include the ID of product P, the product name of product P, the supplier, purchase price, purchase date, category, size, weight, color, sales target (men, women, children, etc.), release date (sales start date), production status (production temporarily suspended, production discontinued), etc. The basic information of product P is stored in the storage device 12 as basic product information 13.

[0015] The management of the product P by the management server 10 also includes management of payment information (POS data) for the product P at the retail store 20. The management of the payment information for the product P is carried out by periodically receiving this information from the product management terminal 21 of the retail store 20. The payment information for the product P is managed, for example, for each retail store 20. The payment information for the product P is also managed for each unit period (for example, week, month, quarter, etc.). Examples of the payment information for the product P include the ID of the product P, the ID of the retail store (retail store 20) selling the product P, the date and time of sale of the product P, the number of units of the product P sold, the selling price of the product P, and purchaser information for the product P (gender, age group, etc.). The payment information for the product P is stored in the storage device 12 as product payment information 14.

[0016] The management of products P by the management server 10 further includes management of display information of products P on product shelves SS of retail stores 20. The management of display information of products P is carried out by periodically receiving this information from product management terminals 21 of retail stores 20. Display information of products P is managed, for example, for each retail store 20. Examples of display information of products P include the ID of product P, the ID of the store (retail store 20) where product P is displayed, attributes of product P, display position of product P, occupied area of ​​product P, and the date when product P was first displayed. The display information of product P is stored in storage device 12 as product display information 15.

[0017] Here, the attributes of the product P are set, for example, by appropriately combining elements (category, sales target, etc.) that make up the basic information of the product P. The display position of the product P is set, for example, by combining the position of the product shelf SS on which the product P is displayed and the occupied position of the product P on the product shelf SS. The occupied area of ​​the product P is set, for example, based on the horizontal area of ​​the occupied position of the product P. The attributes, display position, and occupied area of ​​the product P are set by the person in charge of the retail store 20 operating the product management terminal 21.

[0018] The management of product P by the management server 10 also includes management of request vote information for product P displayed on the product shelves SS of the retail store 20. The management of request vote information for product P is performed by periodically receiving this information from the product request receiving terminal 22 of the retail store 20. The request vote information for product P is managed, for example, for each retail store 20. Examples of the request vote information for product P include the ID of product P, the ID of the vote receiving store (retail store 20), the number of votes for product P, and voter information for product P (gender, age group, etc.). The request vote information for product P is stored in the storage device 12 as product request information 16.

[0019] Here, information on request votes for product P is collected from users (consumers) of the retail store 20. The information on request votes for product P is collected, for example, by outputting information on product P (e.g., new products, best-selling products) recommended by the retail store 20 from the product request receiving terminal 22. The request vote information for product P is generated when users select (vote) for product P displayed on the screen of the product request receiving terminal 22. In order to collect requests at the time of such a visit to the store, the product request receiving terminal 22 is installed inside the retail store 20 (e.g., adjacent to the product payment terminal or adjacent to the product shelf SS). The product P to be output from the product request receiving terminal 22 is set up by a person in charge of the retail store 20 operating the product request receiving terminal 22 or the product management terminal 21.

[0020] The storage device 12 stores event information 17 in addition to the above-mentioned product basic information 13, product payment information 14, product display information 15, and product request information 16. The event information 17 is managed for each retail store 20 as information related to the management of products P performed by the management server 10. Examples of the event information 17 include the content, location, and date and time of events scheduled to be held around the retail store 20. Events scheduled to be held around the retail store 20 may be indoors or outdoors (for example, sports, concerts, festivals, fireworks, exhibitions, etc.). There are no particular restrictions on the scale of the events as long as they are scheduled to be held in stores or facilities around the retail store 20. The event information 17 is collected by periodically referencing websites, etc.

[0021] 2. Product replacement In this embodiment, we will consider the replacement of products P displayed on a product shelf SS. First, we will explain how products P are displayed on the product shelf SS. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of how products P are displayed on a product shelf SS. FIG. 2 illustrates product shelves SS1, SS2, ..., SSX (X≧3). The product shelves SS1, SS2, ..., SSX are examples of product shelves SS provided in one retail store 20. Products P11, P12, P13, ... with attribute CT1 are displayed on the product shelf SS1, products P21, P22, P23, ... with attribute CT2 are displayed on the product shelf SS2, and products PY1, PY2, PY3, ... with attribute CTY are displayed on the product shelf SSX (Y≦X). The attributes CT1, CT2, and CTY correspond to the attributes of product P contained in the display information of product P, and are set by appropriately combining elements that make up the basic information of product P (category, sales target, etc.).

[0022] Next, an example of replacing a product P displayed on the product shelf SS will be explained. Figure 3 is a diagram that explains the replacement of a product P on the product shelf SS. In explaining Figure 3, attention will be focused on the product shelf SSX shown in Figure 2. The products PY1, PY2, PY3, ... displayed on the product shelf SSX are examples of "existing products for sale" currently displayed on the product shelf SSX. The product PYZ depicted in Figure 3 is an example of a "new product for sale" that will be displayed on the product shelf SSX. Products PY1, PY2, PY3, ... and product PYZ have the same attribute CTY.

[0023] The replacement of product P is performed by identifying at least one "replacement candidate" from among "existing products" that have the same attributes as the "new product." An example of a method for identifying a "replacement candidate" will be described later, but in the example shown in Figure 3, product PY3 is identified as a "replacement candidate." Here, products PY1, PY2, PY3,... have occupancy areas SA1, SA2, SA3,... respectively.

[0024] In this embodiment, whether or not a "replacement candidate" can be replaced by a "newly released product" is determined based on the area it occupies on the product shelf SS. The reason for this is that in this embodiment, a small-scale store (for example, a convenience store or a specialty store that mainly handles products in a specific category) is assumed as the retail store 20, and such small-scale stores often do not have enough space to stock products P that are not displayed on the product shelf SS. When the area occupied is used as the criterion, the replacement of a "replacement candidate" by a "newly released product" requires that the area occupied by the "replacement candidate" on the product shelf SS (i.e., the current area occupied) is larger than the area occupied by the "newly released product" on the product shelf SS (i.e., the area planned to be occupied).

[0025] In the example shown in FIG. 3, the occupied area SA3 of product PY3, which is a "replacement candidate," is equal to or greater than the occupied area SAZ of product PYZ, which is a "newly sold product." In other words, product PY3 meets the standard conditions for occupied area. In this case, product PY3, which was a "replacement candidate," is determined to be a "reduced sales product" and is replaced by product PYZ. Product PYZ is displayed so that it occupies part or all of the occupied area SA3. If the occupied area SA3 is equal to the occupied area SAZ, product PY3 is displayed so that it replaces all of product PY3. If the occupied area SA3 is greater than the occupied area SAZ, product PYZ is displayed so that it replaces part of product PY3.

[0026] If the occupied area SA3 is larger than the occupied area SAZ, it is possible to replace part of product PY3 with product PYZ, while replacing the remainder of product PY3 with a "sales expansion product." A "sales expansion product" is a product P that is in a contrasting relationship to a "sales reduction product." An example of a method for identifying a "sales expansion product" will be described later, but a "sales expansion product" is identified from among the "existing sales products" displayed on the product shelf SS that have the same attributes as the "sales reduction product." When replacing the remainder of product PY3 with a "sales expansion product," these products are displayed so that all of product PY3 is replaced with product PYZ and a "sales expansion product."

[0027] In an embodiment, when it is decided to replace product P, replacement recommendation information for the "reduced sales product" with the "new sales product" is generated. In addition to information identifying the "new sales product" and the "reduced sales product," the replacement recommendation information includes information on the recommended display position of the "new sales product" on the product shelf SS and information on the recommended occupancy area of ​​the "reduced sales product" on the product shelf SS. When a "sales expansion product" is identified, the replacement recommendation information may further include information on the recommended display position of the "sales expansion product" on the product shelf SS and the recommended occupancy area of ​​the "sales expansion product" on the product shelf SS.

[0028] The replacement recommendation information may also include reference information for a pop-up to be placed near the display position of the "newly released product." The reference information for the pop-up is generated, for example, by identifying the reason (new product, requested product, etc.) for displaying the "newly released product" on the product shelf SS based on basic information (e.g., attributes) and request information about the "newly released product." Providing the display reason as reference information for the pop-up can reduce the burden on the person in charge of creating the pop-up at the retail store 20 (e.g., the pop-up creator). Furthermore, placing a pop-up created with reference to the display reason in the display position of the "newly released product" is expected to lead to sales promotion of the "newly released product."

[0029] In another example, the reference information for the pop-up is generated by identifying the "new sale item" as a product related to an event that is scheduled to be held near the retail store 20 (for example, a high-protein food product related to a fitness event at a sports facility) based on the attributes (e.g., category) of the "new sale item" and the event information 17. By placing a pop-up created with reference to the fact that the "new sale item" is an event-related product in the display location of the "new sale item," it is expected to lead to sales promotion of the "new sale item." It is also expected to lead to an effect of attracting customers to the event.

[0030] When replacement recommendation information is generated, it is sent to the product management terminal 21. Sending the replacement recommendation information to the product management terminal 21 can reduce the burden on the person in charge (e.g., the sales manager) of the retail store 20 who makes the final decision on replacing the product P. Furthermore, when allocating product shelves SS for each attribute of the product P, the total area of ​​the product shelves SS allocated to the products P with the same attribute becomes a constraint. However, according to an embodiment in which whether or not to replace a product P is determined based on the occupied area of ​​the product shelves SS of the products P with the same attribute, it is also possible to generate replacement recommendation information taking the total area into consideration.

[0031] The final decision on whether to accept the replacement recommendation information is made by the person in charge of the retail store 20. If it is decided to accept the replacement recommendation information, the person in charge of the retail store 20 will refer to the replacement recommendation information and replace the product P. When replacing the product P, the person in charge of the retail store 20, for example, operates the product management terminal 21 to order a "new sales product." The order recipient for the "new sales product" is a dealer (e.g., a manufacturer) of the "new sales product." Then, when the "new sales product" is delivered by the dealer, some or all of the "reduced sales products" on the product shelf SS are replaced with the "new sales product." Before and after this replacement, information on the display positions and occupied areas of the "new sales product" and "reduced sales products" is updated. As a result, the display information for the product P is updated.

[0032] 3. Example of processing by the management server 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a product replacement process particularly related to the embodiment. The routine shown in FIG. 4 is repeatedly executed by the processor 11 shown in FIG. 1 at predetermined intervals (e.g., one day, one week, one month).

[0033] 4, first, various information is acquired (step S11). The various information includes basic product information 13, product payment information 14, product display information 15, product request information 16, and event information 17 stored in the storage device 12.

[0034] Following the processing of step S11, it is determined whether or not there is a "new product" (step S12). Whether or not there is a "new product" is determined based on, for example, the category (new product) of the product P included in the basic product information 13. In another example, it is determined whether or not the product P is a new product based on the release date of the product P included in the basic product information 13, and if there is a product P that is a new product, it is determined that there is a "new product."

[0035] If the determination result of step S12 is negative, the processing routine ends. If the determination result of step S12 is positive, products P that are not subject to the "replacement candidates" are identified (step S13). The processing of step S13 is performed as pre-processing for the product replacement processing from step S14 onwards. Examples of products P that are not subject to the "replacement candidates" include new products that have only recently been displayed on the product shelves SS as "newly released products", event-related products related to an event that is scheduled to be held near the retail store 20, seasonal products, etc.

[0036] New products can be identified, for example, by counting the number of days elapsed from the first sale date of product P at retail store 20 to the execution date of step S13, and determining whether this number of days is within the new product reservation period (e.g., one month). Event-related products can be identified, for example, by narrowing down candidate event-related products based on basic information (category) of product P and event information 17 (event content, location, and date and time), and determining whether the execution date of step S13 is within the event product reservation period (e.g., two weeks before the scheduled event date) that includes the scheduled event date. Seasonal products can be identified, for example, by narrowing down candidate event-related products based on basic information (category) of product P, and determining whether the execution date of step S13 is within the seasonal product reservation period (e.g., two to three months).

[0037] Following the processing of step S13, it is determined whether or not there are any "replacement candidates" (step S14). As described above, "replacement candidates" are identified from among "existing products" that have the same attributes as the "new product" (excluding non-eligible products identified in the processing of step S13). "Replacement candidates" are identified, for example, based on the production status (discontinuation of production) of product P included in the basic product information 13. Discontinued products are a typical example of "replacement candidates."

[0038] "Replacement candidates" can also be specified by sales amount. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of specifying "replacement candidates" by sales amount. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the unit area (e.g., 1 tsubo, 1 m²) in a unit period (e.g., week, month, quarter, etc.) including the judgment execution date is specified. 2 ) is used as the basis, and "existing products on sale" whose sales amount is below the replacement threshold are identified as "replacement candidates." The replacement threshold is set in advance as the sales amount at which replacement of product P is recommended. The basis may also be the sales amount per unit area in a unit period prior to the unit period including the date of execution of the judgment, or the average of the sales amount per unit area in multiple unit periods prior to the unit period including the date of execution of the judgment.

[0039] In the processing of step S14, it may be determined whether or not there is a "replacement candidate." For example, if it is determined that there is no "replacement candidate," this means that there is no product P to replace the "new sales product," and the "new sales product" cannot be displayed. If it is determined in the processing of step S15, which will be described later, that the current area occupied by the "replacement candidate" is smaller than the area planned to be occupied by the "new sales product," the "new sales product" cannot be displayed. In such cases, identifying a "replacement candidate" is expected to be somewhat effective in terms of leaving open the possibility of displaying the "new sales product."

[0040] The determination of the presence or absence of a "replacement candidate" can be made regardless of the determination result of the "replacement candidate." In other words, the determination of the presence or absence of a "replacement candidate" can be made regardless of the presence or absence of a "replacement candidate." FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a "replacement candidate." In the example shown in FIG. 6, a "replacement candidate" is identified based on the sales amount per unit area in a unit period including the determination execution date and the number of days elapsed since the first sale date of product P at retail store 20.

[0041] Specifically, an "existing sales product" whose sales amount per unit area in a unit period including the judgment execution date exceeds the replacement threshold but falls below the sales promotion threshold, and whose number of days elapsed since the first sale date at retail store 20 exceeds the upper limit of days elapsed, is identified as a "replacement candidate." The sales threshold is a threshold for identifying a "sales expansion product," and is set in advance as the sales amount for which sales promotion of product P is recommended. The number of days elapsed is also set in advance as the number of days elapsed for which replacement of product P is recommended. The number of days elapsed since the first sale date of product P can be calculated, for example, based on basic information (purchase date).

[0042] If the determination result of step S14 is negative, the processing routine ends. If the determination result of step S14 is positive, that is, if it is determined that there is a "replacement candidate" (or "back-up replacement candidate"), the processing of step S15 is performed. In the processing of step S15, it is determined whether the occupation area (current occupation area) of the "replacement candidate" on the product shelf SS is larger than the occupation area (planned occupation area) of the "new sales item" on the product shelf SS. Note that if multiple "replacement candidates" have been identified, the processing of step S15 may be performed based on the total occupation area of ​​these product shelves SS and the planned occupation area of ​​the "new sales item."

[0043] The current occupied area of ​​the "replacement candidate" is identified, for example, based on the product display information 15 (occupied area) of the "replacement candidate." The planned occupied area of ​​the "new sales product" is calculated, for example, based on the basic information (size) and the number of units to be purchased of the "new sales product." The number of units to be purchased is set as a fixed number set for each retail store 20 (in the case of a new product) or the number of requested votes (in the case of a requested product). The number to be purchased may be set by separately forecasting sales of the "new sales product" at the retail store 20.

[0044] If the determination result in step S15 is negative, the processing routine ends. If the determination result in step S15 is positive, a decision is made to replace the product P, and replacement recommendation information is generated (step S16). Figure 7 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of the subroutine performed in step S16 of Figure 4.

[0045] In the example shown in FIG. 7, the "replacement candidate" (or "replacement reserve candidate") identified in the processing of step S14 in FIG. 4 is determined to be a "reduced sales product" (step S161). The processing of step S161 also calculates a recommended occupancy area for the "reduced sales product." The recommended occupancy area for the "reduced sales product" is, for example, an area equivalent to the difference between the occupancy area (current occupancy area) of the "reduced sales product" on the product shelf SS and the occupancy area (planned occupancy area) of the "new sales product" on the product shelf SS.

[0046] In another example, the recommended occupancy area of ​​the "reduced sales product" is calculated based on the sales amount per unit area in a unit period including the date of execution of the judgment. In this other example, the recommended occupancy area when the sales amount of the "reduced sales product" is equal to the replacement threshold is assumed to be the area equivalent to the area difference, and the recommended occupancy area of ​​the "reduced sales product" is calculated so as to reduce the area according to the difference between the replacement threshold and the sales amount.

[0047] Following the processing of step S161, it is determined whether or not there is a "sales promotion product" (step S162). As described above, a "sales promotion product" is a product P that is in a contrasting relationship with a "sales reduction product," and is identified from among the "existing sales products" displayed on the product shelf SS that have the same attributes as the "sales reduction product."

[0048] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of determining a "sales promotion product." In the example shown in FIG. 8, a "sales promotion product" is identified based on the sales amount. In the example shown in FIG. 8, a "sales promotion product" is identified based on the unit area (e.g., 3.3 m², 1 tsubo) in a unit period (e.g., week, month, quarter, etc.) that includes the determination execution date. 2) is used as the basis, and "existing sales products" whose sales amount exceeds the sales promotion threshold are identified as "sales expansion products." Note that the basis may be the sales amount per unit area in a unit period prior to the unit period including the determination execution date, or the average of the sales amount per unit area in multiple unit periods prior to the unit period including the determination execution date.

[0049] Returning to FIG. 7, the explanation of the processing example of the subroutine will continue. If the determination result of step S162 is negative, the process proceeds to step S165. If the determination result of step S162 is positive, the spare display area is calculated (step S163). The spare display area is the area that can be added to the occupied area (current occupied area) of the "sales expansion product" on the product shelf SS. The spare display area is calculated as the area difference between the occupied area (current occupied area) of the "sales reduction product" on the product shelf SS and the occupied area (planned occupied area) of the "new sales product" on the product shelf SS.

[0050] Following the processing of step S163, the recommended occupancy area and recommended display position of the "sales expansion product" are determined (step S164). The recommended occupancy area of ​​the "sales expansion product" is calculated as the sum of the available display area calculated in the processing of step S163 and the occupancy area (current occupancy area) of the "sales expansion product" on the product shelf SS. The recommended display position of the "sales expansion product" is, for example, the current display position of the "sales expansion product" and a position adjacent to that display position. In another example, the recommended display position of the "sales expansion product" is the current display position of the "sales expansion product" and a portion of the current display position of the "sales reduction product."

[0051] When the processing of step S164 is performed, the recommended occupancy area and recommended display position of the "sales expansion product" are added to the replacement recommendation information. In the processing of step S165, the recommended occupancy area and recommended display position of the "sales reduction product" and the "new sales product" are respectively determined. If the judgment result of step S162 is negative, the recommended display positions of the "sales reduction product" and the "new sales product" are the current display position of the "sales reduction product." Furthermore, the recommended occupancy area of ​​the "sales reduction product" is the area calculated in the processing of step S161, and that of the "new sales product" is the planned occupancy area of ​​the "new sales product" calculated in the processing of step S15 of Figure 4.

[0052] On the other hand, if it is determined in the processing of step S162 that there is a "sales expansion product," this means that the "sales reduction product" will be replaced by the "sales expansion product" and the "new sales product." Therefore, in this case, the recommended display position for the "sales reduction product" will be outside the product shelf SS, and the recommended footprint of the "sales reduction product" will be zero. The recommended display position for the "new sales product" will be the current display position of the "sales reduction product," and the recommended footprint of the new sales product will be the planned footprint of the "new sales product" calculated in the processing of step S15 in Figure 4. The recommended footprint and recommended display positions of the "sales reduction product" and the "new sales product" are added to the replacement recommendation information.

[0053] Returning to Fig. 4, following the processing of step S16, the replacement recommendation information is transmitted (step S17). The transmission destination of the replacement recommendation information is the product management terminal 21 shown in Fig. 1. When transmitting the replacement recommendation information to the product management terminal 21, the reference information of the pop-up described above may be added to the replacement recommendation information. [Explanation of symbols]

[0054] 10...Management server, 11...Processor, 12...Storage device, 13...Basic product information, 14...Product payment information, 15...Product display information, 16...Product request information, 17...Event information, 20...Retailer, 21...Product management terminal, 22...Product request reception terminal, CT1, CT2, CTY...Attributes, P, P11, P12, P13, P21, P22, P23, PY1, PY2, PY3...Products, SA1, SA2, SA3, SAZ...Occupied area, SS, SS1, SS2, SSX...Product shelves

Claims

1. A system for managing products displayed on shelves in a retail store, a storage device that stores information about existing products currently displayed on the shelves and information about new products to be displayed on the shelves in place of the existing products; a processor that performs product replacement processing based on the information stored in the storage device; Equipped with The information about the existing products includes basic product information including attributes and production status of the existing products, information about the sales amount of the existing products at the retail store, and information about the current area occupied by the existing products on the product shelf, The information about the new product includes basic product information including attributes and production status of the new product, and information about an area that the new product is expected to occupy on the product shelf, The product replacement process Identifying replacement candidates that indicate the existing products that have the same attributes as the new products and whose sales amount per unit area at the retail store is equal to or less than a replacement threshold, or the existing products that have the same attributes as the new products and whose production has been discontinued; If the current occupied area of ​​the replacement candidate exceeds the planned occupied area of ​​the new product, determining the replacement candidate as a reduced-sale product; When the reduced sales items are determined, information recommending replacement of the reduced sales items with the new sales items is transmitted to a product management terminal of the retail store; A merchandise management system comprising:

2. 10. The system of claim 1, The information about the existing products further includes information about current display positions of the existing products on the product shelves, The replacement recommendation information includes information on recommended display positions of the new sales items on the product shelves and information on recommended occupancy areas of the reduced sales items on the product shelves, The processor further performs a process of generating the replacement recommendation information, The process of generating replacement recommendation information includes: calculating the recommended footprint of the reduced-sale items; determining the recommended display positions of the new sales items based on the recommended occupancy area of ​​the reduced sales items and the current display positions of the reduced sales items; A merchandise management system comprising:

3. 3. The system of claim 2, The replacement recommendation information further includes information regarding sales promotion products that have the same attributes as the attributes of the new sales product and indicate the existing sales product whose sales amount per unit area is equal to or greater than a sales promotion threshold; the information about the sales promotion product includes information about a recommended occupancy area of ​​the sales promotion product on the product shelf and information about a recommended display position of the sales promotion product on the product shelf, The process of generating replacement recommendation information further includes: Identifying the sales promotion product; determining the recommended occupancy area of ​​the sales expansion product based on an area difference between the recommended occupancy area of ​​the sales reduction product and the planned occupancy area of ​​the new sales product, and the current occupancy area of ​​the sales expansion product; determining the recommended display position of the sales promotion product based on the recommended occupation area of ​​the sales promotion product and the current display position of the sales promotion product; A merchandise management system comprising:

4. 3. The system according to claim 1 or 2, The information about the existing products further includes information about the first sale date of the existing products at the retail store, The product replacement process Identifying replacement candidates that indicate the existing products that have the same attributes as the attributes of the new products and whose sales amount per unit area is between the replacement threshold and the sales promotion threshold; If the number of days elapsed since the initial sale date of the replacement reserve candidate exceeds an upper limit of the elapsed time and the current occupied area of ​​the replacement reserve candidate exceeds the planned occupied area of ​​the new sale product, determining the replacement reserve candidate as the reduced sales product; A merchandise management system further comprising:

5. 3. The system according to claim 1 or 2, The information about the existing products further includes information about the first sale date of the existing products at the retail store, The storage device further includes information regarding upcoming events taking place around the retail store; the information about the event includes information about a scheduled date for the event; The processor further performs pre-processing of the product replacement process, The pre-processing includes excluding the non-eligible replacement candidate products from the existing sales products; The non-eligible products include new products for which the number of days elapsed from the initial sale date to the execution date of the pre-processing is included in a new product reservation period, event-related products for which the execution date of the pre-processing is included in an event product reservation period including the scheduled event date, and seasonal products for which the execution date of the pre-processing is included in a seasonal product reservation period. A merchandise management system characterized by:

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