Information processing system, information processing method, and information processing program

Abstract

To easily acquire data to be practically used in sorting commodities into buying or stocking.SOLUTION: A system for processing information comprises a tying section 65 that performs arrival-notification registration by recording arrival-notification registration data tying a customer ID, a commodity ID and a sales-base ID together in an arrival-notification registration-managing table, on an on-line store having a plurality of sales bases, search-ID identifying means 22 that identifies at least any of a commodity ID and a sales-base ID based on a search key for identifying at least any of commodities and sales bases designated by a staff of the on-line store, and a number-of-registrations acquiring section 23 that acquires the number of arrival-notification registrations narrowed down in at least any of commodities and sales bases by searching through an arrival-notification registration-managing table based on a commodity ID and / or a sales-base ID identified by the search-ID identifying section 22.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a technique for notifying an online store of arrival of a product. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, a technology has been used that enables a user to log in to a site (e.g., an online store, a social networking service, etc.) using a user account of an external social networking service (SNS) (hereinafter referred to as "external SNS login") when the site is to log in to the site. Here, external SNS login is to realize the user's login to the site by obtaining the target user's permission to obtain the target user's information from the external SNS, obtaining the target user's information, and linking it with the user information of the site (the user's account ID, email address, etc. held on the site), and can be realized by using, for example, Open Authorization 2.0 (OAuth2.0) (see Non-Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0003] [Non-Patent Document 1] Lodderstedt, McGloin, Hunt, “RFC6819 - OAuth 2.0 Threat Model and Security Considerations,” Internet Engineering Task Force, January 2013. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Conventionally, when a user wants to be notified of the arrival of a product, they specify the target product and register their contact information (email address, etc.), and when the product arrives, the arrival notification is sent to that contact information. However, the user's work to register the arrival notification is cumbersome, and in addition, the procurement of the product and allocation of inventory upon receiving the arrival request requires cumbersome work such as tallying and adjusting by staff.

[0005] In view of the above problems, an objective of the present disclosure is to easily obtain data that can be used for purchasing products and allocating inventory. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] One example of the present disclosure is an information processing system that includes: a linking means for performing arrival notification registration by recording arrival notification registration data that links a customer ID, a product ID of a product for which the customer wishes to be notified of arrival, and a sales outlet ID of one of the multiple sales outlets in an arrival notification registration management table, for an online store that has multiple sales outlets; a search ID identification means for identifying at least one of the product ID and the sales outlet ID based on a search key that is specified by a staff member of the online store and can identify at least one of the product and the sales outlet; and a registration number acquisition means for acquiring the number of arrival notification registrations in which at least one of the product and the sales outlets has been narrowed down by searching the arrival notification registration management table based on the product ID and / or the sales outlet ID identified by the search ID identification means.

[0007] The present disclosure can be understood as an information processing device, a system, a method executed by a computer, or a program executed by a computer. The present disclosure can also be understood as such a program recorded on a recording medium readable by a computer or other device, machine, etc. Here, a recording medium readable by a computer, etc. refers to a recording medium that stores information such as data and programs by electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, or chemical action and can be read by a computer, etc. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present disclosure, it becomes possible to easily obtain data that can be used for purchasing products and allocating inventory. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a functional configuration of a system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration of a product details page according to the embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a sequence diagram (1) showing an overview of the flow of arrival notification registration processing according to an embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram (2) showing an overview of the flow of the arrival notification registration process according to the embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram (3) showing an overview of the flow of the arrival notification registration process according to the embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a pop-up notifying a user that arrival notification registration for a product has been completed in an embodiment. [Figure 8] 11 is a flowchart showing an overview of the flow of a message delivery process according to the embodiment. [Figure 9] 13 is a diagram showing the contents of a message sent to a customer when a product for which a stock notification has been registered by the customer arrives in an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 10]FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a list of arrival notification registrations in the embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a store-side product search screen for variations. [Figure 12] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a stock notification request page for variations. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of an information processing system, method, and program according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment described below is merely an example of an embodiment, and the information processing system, method, and program according to the present disclosure are not limited to the specific configuration described below. In carrying out the present disclosure, a specific configuration according to the embodiment may be appropriately adopted, and various improvements and modifications may be made.

[0011] In this embodiment, an embodiment in which the information processing system, method, and program according to the present disclosure are implemented in an online store support system will be described. However, the information processing system, method, and program according to the present disclosure can be widely used as a technology for allowing a user to receive a notification of arrival of a desired product, and the application of the present disclosure is not limited to the examples shown in the embodiment.

[0012] <System configuration> 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a system according to this embodiment. The system according to this embodiment includes a distribution management server 1 and a store-side user terminal 9a that are connected to a network and can communicate with each other, and is further connected to an external social networking service (hereinafter, referred to as an "external SNS") 8, an online store, and a customer-side user terminal 9b via the network.

[0013] The delivery management server 1 is an information processing device including a central processing unit (CPU) 11, a read only memory (ROM) 12, a random access memory (RAM) 13, a storage device 14 such as an electrically erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM) or a hard disk drive (HDD), a communication unit 15 such as a network interface card (NIC), etc. However, the specific hardware configuration of the delivery management server 1 can be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. In addition, the delivery management server 1 is not limited to a device consisting of a single housing. The delivery management server 1 may be realized by multiple devices using so-called cloud or distributed computing technology, etc.

[0014] The store-side user terminal 9a is a computer used by staff of the online store (staff of the business providing the online store, including staff of a sales base such as a physical store), and the customer-side user terminal 9b is a computer used by customers of the online store. The user terminals 9a and 9b are computers equipped with a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a storage device, a communication unit, an input device, an output device, etc. (not shown), and may be, for example, a so-called smartphone, a tablet, a personal computer, etc. However, the specific hardware configuration of the user terminals 9a and 9b may be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. In addition, the user terminals 9a and 9b are not limited to devices consisting of a single housing. The user terminals 9a and 9b may be realized by multiple devices using so-called cloud or distributed computing technology, etc.

[0015] A user uses the delivery management server 1 via these user terminals 9a and 9b. However, a user can use the information processing system according to the present disclosure as a store-side user from one user terminal, and at the same time, use the information processing system according to the present disclosure as a customer-side user.

[0016] The online store is an EC service provided by an external information processing system equipped with a CPU, ROM, RAM, a storage device, a communication unit, etc. (not shown), and the server of the online store receives a request for the online store's web page sent from a customer-side user terminal 9b running an application that allows browsing of the online store, such as an Internet browser or an e-commerce application, sends the requested web page to the customer-side user terminal 9b, and sells the ordered product to the customer. The online store has an inventory database (not shown) for managing product inventory.

[0017] The external SNS 8 is an external information processing system including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a storage device, a communication unit, etc. (not shown), and provides a social networking service that enables online interaction between users. In this embodiment, the external SNS 8 is an external system provided by a service provider different from the service provider that manages or operates the distribution management server 1, and is restricted from obtaining resources related to the user without obtaining the user's authorization.

[0018] 2 is a diagram showing an outline of the functional configuration of the system according to the present embodiment. The delivery management server 1 functions as an information processing device including a product database 21, an access instruction unit 61, a related information storage unit 62, an SNS user ID acquisition unit 63, a target ID identification unit 64, a linking unit 65, an inventory information acquisition unit 66, a delivery destination determination unit 67, a delivery request unit 68, a search ID identification unit 22, and a registration number acquisition unit 23, by reading a program recorded in the storage device 14 into the RAM 13 and executing it by the CPU 11, and controlling each hardware included in the delivery management server 1. Note that in this embodiment and other embodiments described later, each function included in the delivery management server 1 is executed by the CPU 11, which is a general-purpose processor, but some or all of these functions may be executed by one or more dedicated processors.

[0019] The product database 21 is a database in which product data of products handled by online stores is accumulated. In this embodiment, the product data is generated by the distribution management server 1 performing data crawling on the server of the online store and consolidating the obtained data for each product. By acquiring the product data by data crawling, it is possible to introduce the system according to this embodiment without imposing a development burden such as incorporating a mechanism for transferring product feeds into the existing server of the online store. However, the method of generating the product data is not limited to the crawling method exemplified in this embodiment. The product data may be acquired by a method of referring to the database of the online store, a method of importing a table (e.g., a table in CSV format) extracted from the database of the online store, a method of acquiring a product feed from the server of the online store, or the like.

[0020] When the access instruction unit 61 receives an instruction to start an authorization process for authorizing access to a resource related to the customer held in the external SNS 8 from the customer's user terminal (customer-side user terminal 9b), the access instruction unit 61 causes the customer-side user terminal 9b to access an API for the authorization process provided by the external SNS 8 (redirect response). In this embodiment, OAuth is adopted as the protocol used to authorize access to the resource, and the start instruction received here is an instruction to start OAuth. However, the protocol used to authorize access to the resource is not limited to OAuth. In this embodiment, the API for the authorization process is an API that executes a distribution permission process (adding a friend / friend) that allows an organization (in this embodiment, an online store to which the staff belongs, or a management entity of the distribution management server 1) to distribute a message to the customer in the external SNS 8 (for example, registering the customer as a so-called "friend / friend") in addition to the authorization process.

[0021] In this embodiment, the start instruction and the accompanying API access are the start instruction and access sent from the customer's user terminal 9b in response to the customer operating an operational element (for example, an arrival notification request button located on the product details page described below) to which the target is linked in the customer's user terminal 9b.

[0022] The related information storage unit 62 stores information related to the target transmitted from the customer-side user terminal 9b together with the start instruction, by linking it to information capable of identifying the customer-side user terminal 9b (for example, session information and / or Cookie).The related information storage unit 62 stores, as information related to the target, address information of a Web page (in this embodiment, a product detail page) including a stock notification registration start script for transmitting the start instruction to the customer-side user terminal 9b, by linking it to information capable of identifying the customer-side user terminal 9b.

[0023] If authorization is granted, the SNS user ID acquisition unit 63 acquires the SNS user ID of the customer in the external SNS 8 from the external SNS 8.

[0024] The target ID specification unit 64, triggered by the acquisition of the customer's SNS user ID by the SNS user ID acquisition unit 63, specifies the product ID and sales base ID that are the targets of arrival notification registration linked to the start instruction, based on the information stored (received together with the start instruction) by the related information storage unit 62. The product ID and sales base ID specified here are the ID of the product in the online store and the ID of the sales base (such as a physical store) for which the customer wishes to receive a notification of arrival.

[0025] The linking unit 65 links the customer's SNS user ID in the external SNS 8 acquired by the SNS user ID acquisition unit 63 to the product ID and sales location ID of the arrival notification registration target (e.g., a product at an online store) for which the customer wishes to be notified of arrival, identified by the target ID identification unit 64.

[0026] The inventory information acquisition unit 66 acquires inventory information, including the product ID and sales base ID, relating to inventory information updated after the inventory information acquisition unit 66 last acquired inventory information on the website of the organization related to the arrival notification registration target (in this embodiment, the online store to which the staff member belongs).

[0027] The delivery destination determination unit 67 searches for the SNS user ID of the customer linked to the product ID and the sales point ID included in the inventory information, and determines the searched SNS user ID as the delivery destination.

[0028] The distribution request unit 68 sends a distribution request to the external SNS 8 for a message in which the SNS user ID of the organization is specified as the source of the message and the SNS user ID of the customer determined by the distribution destination determination unit 67 is specified as the destination of the message, and the message notifies the customer that the inventory information for the arrival notification registration related to the product ID and sales base ID has been updated.

[0029] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a product detail page according to this embodiment. The parentheses in the figure indicate that the attribute information written in the parentheses is displayed in the parenthetical portion. The customer-side user terminal 9b accesses the server of the online store site according to the customer's operation, and displays the product detail page prepared on the site. The product detail page is a Web page prepared for each product retailed to customers at the online store or a physical store corresponding to the online store, and in addition to the product information (product name, product image (video / still image), product price, color variation (if any), product details (product description), store name, branch name, etc.) acquired from the product database 21, a link to the staff page of the staff who recommends the product, a search tag for searching the product, the product's inventory status, a stock notification request button for receiving a stock notification of the product, the contents of the posted data posted by the staff regarding the product, comments by the staff, an add to shopping cart button, etc. may be posted. The user can add the product, etc. to the cart by referring to the product detail page, and purchase the product, etc. Here, the product name, product image data, product price, etc. are generated by the server of the online store.

[0030] In this embodiment, the inventory status of the product displayed on the product details page and the arrival notification request button for receiving the arrival notification of the product are displayed for each sales base belonging to the online store's group. Here, the sales base may be a physical store or a base (warehouse, etc.) for shipping products purchased online. The online store refers to the inventory data of the product, and displays the inventory status of the product, such as "in stock," "limited stock," or "out of stock," for each sales base, on the product details page according to the inventory status available for sale to customers at each sales base. Furthermore, for a sales base that currently has no inventory available for sale to customers for the product as a result of referring to the inventory data, the online store inserts an HTML tag for displaying the arrival notification request button together with the inventory display of the sales base into the product details page. That is, in the system according to this embodiment, the online store automatically displays the arrival notification request button according to the inventory of the product. This HTML tag is an HTML tag for obtaining and displaying an arrival notification request button provided by the distribution management server 1, and when the customer-side user terminal 9b displays the product details page obtained from the online store, it accesses the URL of the distribution management server 1 included in the HTML tag to obtain and display the arrival notification request button from the distribution management server 1. A customer viewing the product details page can operate the arrival notification request button to receive a notification about the status of the product via the customer's SNS account.

[0031] The search ID specification unit 22 specifies at least one of a product ID and a sales base ID based on a search key that is specified by a staff member of the online store and that can specify at least one of a product and a sales base.

[0032] The registration number acquisition unit 23 searches the arrival notification registration management table based on the product ID and / or sales base ID identified by the search ID identification unit 22, and acquires the number of arrival notification registrations that are narrowed down to at least one of the products and the sales bases.

[0033] <Processing flow> Next, a flow of processing executed in the system according to the present embodiment will be described. Note that the specific contents and processing order of the processing described below are an example for implementing the present disclosure. The specific contents and processing order may be appropriately selected according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] When the server of the online store receives a request for a web page of the online store sent from a customer user terminal 9b that executes an application that allows browsing of the online store, such as an Internet browser or an e-commerce application, the server of the online store sends the requested web page to the customer user terminal 9b. At this time, data generated / managed by the server of the online store is used for the contents of the web page sent to the customer user terminal 9b, such as the product name, product image (video / still image), product price, color variations (if any), product details (product description), and an add button to a shopping cart, and the generation and management of these contents may be performed using the same technology as in the past. Here, in this embodiment, the web page displays the inventory status of the target product at each sales base.

[0035] In addition to the product details page described above, the arrival notification request button may be displayed on the online store's top page, shopping cart page, video list page, staff ranking page, staff page, email newsletter, etc.

[0036] Figures 4 to 6 are sequence diagrams showing an overview of the flow of arrival notification registration processing according to this embodiment. The processing shown in this sequence diagram is executed when a customer operates an arrival notification request button displayed on a product details page on the customer-side user terminal 9b, and is processed in order from Figure 4 to Figure 6.

[0037] The above-described product details page has an arrival notification request button for registering an arrival notification for a product related to the product details page when the customer wishes to receive an arrival notification (including a re-stock notification), and when the arrival notification request button is operated, the customer-side user terminal 9b executes an arrival notification registration start script associated with the arrival notification request button. In this embodiment, by operating the arrival notification request button, the customer is set as a notification target for arrival notifications for the product for which arrival notifications have been set, from among the information transmitted from the store's SNS account.

[0038] The arrival notification request button is set with the product ID and the sales base ID, and the product details page includes a pop-up display script for "displaying a pop-up indicating that arrival notification registration has been completed." However, when the page is first acquired and displayed by the customer-side user terminal 9b, the arrival notification registration has not been completed, so the pop-up display script is not executed.

[0039] In steps S401 and S402, a communication to start OAuth is received, and the SNS user ID of the online store is acquired. The delivery management server 1 receives the communication to start OAuth sent from the customer-side user terminal 9b that executed the arrival notification registration start script by the customer operating the arrival notification request button displayed in the product details page on the customer-side user terminal 9b (step S401). At this time, the customer-side user terminal 9b notifies the delivery management server 1 of information that can identify the product details page on which the arrival notification request button is operated, information that can identify the product corresponding to the arrival notification request button, and information that can identify the sales base. In the system according to this embodiment, the URL of the product details page is notified as information that can identify the product details page, the product ID is notified as information that can identify the product, and the sales base ID is notified as information that can identify the sales base. That is, the HTML tag of the arrival notification request button includes the product ID and the sales base ID, and when the button is operated by the customer, the URL of the product details page, the product ID, and the sales base ID are notified to the delivery management server 1 together with the communication to start OAuth. However, other information such as a product ID may be used instead of a URL as information for identifying a product detail page. Also, for example, an SKU (Stock keeping Unit, the smallest unit of a product type that is treated as the same product for inventory management) code may be used as the product ID.

[0040] The related information storage unit 62, which has received the OAuth start communication, the URL of the product details page, the product ID, and the sales base ID, stores the URL of the product details page, the product ID, and the sales base ID in association with information (e.g., session information and / or Cookie) capable of identifying the customer-side user terminal 9b. Furthermore, the delivery management server 1 acquires the SNS user ID in the external SNS 8 of the online store corresponding to the product details page based on the URL of the product details page (step S402). Here, the delivery management server 1 has store data in advance that associates the domain information of the online store with the SNS user ID of the online store, and the delivery management server 1 acquires the SNS user ID of the corresponding online store based on the product details page URL by referring to this store data. After that, the process proceeds to step S403.

[0041] In step S403, the communication from the customer-side user terminal 9b is redirected to the authorization server of the external SNS 8. The access instruction unit 61 transmits a redirect response to the customer-side user terminal 9b to redirect the browser of the customer-side user terminal 9b to the external SNS login API provided by the authorization server of the external SNS 8 (step S403). Here, the external SNS login API is an API that provides a function (external SNS login) that allows a user to log in to a site other than the external SNS 8 using a user account of the external SNS 8. The transmitted redirect response also includes the SNS user ID of the online store acquired in step S402. The customer-side user terminal 9b that has received the redirect response transmits an authorization request including the SNS user ID of the online store to the authorization server of the external SNS 8.

[0042] When the customer-side user terminal 9b is not logged in to the external SNS 8, the authorization server of the external SNS 8 that has received the authorization request sends a login authentication URL for the SNS 8 to the customer-side user terminal 9b, thereby causing the customer-side user terminal 9b to display a login authentication screen for the SNS 8, and has the customer input authentication information and operate a login button. The customer-side user terminal 9b that has accepted the input of authentication information and the operation of the login button transmits the authentication information to the external SNS 8 and logs in to the external SNS 8. Here, the authentication information may be, for example, a user ID such as an email address and a password. However, the authentication information is not limited to an ID and a password, and other authentication information such as biometric authentication, one-time password, and electronic certificate may be used, or multiple authentication means may be combined. Note that, when the authentication information is already stored in the customer-side user terminal 9b because it is the second or subsequent external SNS login process, the user is not required to input the authentication information, and the customer-side user terminal 9b transmits the authentication information to the external SNS 8 and logs in to the external SNS 8 only by operating the login button.

[0043] When the customer-side user terminal 9b is logged in to the external SNS 8, the authorization server of the external SNS 8 that has received the authorization request sends a confirmation URL for authority delegation to display an authority delegation confirmation screen on the customer-side user terminal 9b, and asks the customer whether or not information about the customer held by the SNS 8 (such as the customer's SNS user ID in this embodiment) may be provided to the delivery management server 1. When the customer performs an operation on the customer-side user terminal 9b indicating consent to the authority delegation (for example, pressing an consent button), the customer-side user terminal 9b notifies the authorization server of the external SNS 8 that the customer has consented to the authority delegation, and the authorization server that has received the notification sends an authorization response to the customer-side user terminal 9b.

[0044] Here, if the target online store is not permitted to send messages to the target customer on the SNS 8 at the time the authorization server of the external SNS 8 receives the notification of consent to the authority transfer (for example, the customer is not registered as a so-called "friend"; hereinafter, this will be described as "friend"), the external SNS 8 will send a URL for registering the online store as a friend to the customer-side user terminal 9b before sending the authorization response, thereby displaying a friend addition screen on the customer-side user terminal 9b and asking the customer whether or not it is OK to register the target online store as a friend. At this time, the external SNS 8 determines whether or not the target online store and the customer are already registered as friends, based on the SNS user ID of the online store received in the authorization request and the SNS user ID of the customer specified in the SNS login. When a customer performs an operation on the customer's user terminal 9b indicating that he or she agrees to being added as a friend (for example, by pressing an agree button), the customer's user terminal 9b notifies the external SNS 8 that the customer has agreed to being added as a friend, and the external SNS 8, upon receiving the notification, sets the state so that the target online store is permitted to send messages to the target customer on that SNS 8 (in this embodiment, the customer is registered as a "friend").

[0045] The authorization response transmitted from the external SNS 8 to the customer-side user terminal 9b includes a redirect URL for causing the browser of the customer-side user terminal 9b to access a URL for triggering the resource acquisition process from the external SNS 8 by the delivery management server 1. The redirect URL transmitted here is a URL (Callback URL) of the delivery management server 1 registered in advance in the external SNS 8 for OAuth authorization for the delivery management server 1, and the external SNS 8 identifies the redirect URL registered in advance based on information capable of identifying the delivery management server 1 or the online store related to the authorization request (for example, the SNS user ID or domain information of the online store). Note that, in the present embodiment, an example is given in which the redirect URL is registered in advance for each delivery management server 1 or online store before receiving the authorization request, but the redirect URL may be registered in the authorization server together with the authorization request when the authorization request is made.

[0046] In addition, the redirect URL included in the authorization response has an authorization code, which indicates that consent to the authority transfer has been obtained, attached as a parameter. This authorization code is used by the authorization server to confirm that the service (here, the delivery management server 1) has consented to the authority transfer from the user at the time of a token request, which will be described later.

[0047] In steps S404 to S408, the SNS user ID of the customer is acquired based on the authorization response. The customer-side user terminal 9b that has received the authorization response accesses the designated redirect URL, thereby triggering the distribution management server 1 to perform resource acquisition processing from the external SNS 8. When the SNS user ID acquisition unit 63 receives access to the designated redirect URL from the customer-side user terminal 9b (step S404), it transmits a token request for the SNS user ID of the customer to the authorization server of the external SNS 8 (step S405). The authorization server that has received the token request verifies the authorization code attached to the token request to confirm that the sender of the token request is a sender to which the customer (the SNS user who has an account in the SNS 8) has agreed to the authority delegation, issues an access token that permits the target SNS user to access resources held by the SNS 8, and transmits a token response including the issued access token to the distribution management server 1.

[0048] When the SNS user ID acquisition unit 63 receives a token response including an access token that permits access to the resource for the customer (step S406), it requests the SNS user ID of the target customer by sending a resource access including the access token to the resource server of the external SNS 8 (step S407). The resource server confirms that the sender of the resource access (the distribution management server 1) has been delegated authority by the user by referring to the received access token, and provides the resource (here, the SNS user ID of the target customer) to the sender of the resource access. The SNS user ID acquisition unit 63 receives the SNS user ID of the target customer from the resource server of the external SNS 8 (step S408), after which the process proceeds to step S409.

[0049] In step S409, the product ID and sales base ID of the arrival notification registration target are identified, and the customer's SNS user ID is linked to the product ID and sales base ID. The target ID identification unit 64 identifies the product ID and sales base ID of the arrival notification registration target linked to the start instruction based on the information stored by the related information storage unit 62 (received together with the start instruction). Then, the linking unit 65 creates arrival notification registration data by linking the combination of the product ID and sales base ID with the received SNS user ID of the customer, and registers the created arrival notification registration data in the arrival notification registration management table (step S409). Here, the target ID identification unit 64 identifies the product ID and sales base ID displayed at the start of OAuth on the customer's user terminal 9b, i.e., the product ID and sales base ID to be linked to the customer's SNS user ID, based on the session information and / or Cookie stored in the above step S402. More specifically, the target ID identification unit 64 uses the session information and / or cookies related to the customer's user terminal 9b that originated the access in step S404 to search for the linking data stored by the related information storage unit 62 in step S402, thereby identifying the product ID and sales point ID to be linked to the customer's SNS user ID.

[0050] At this time, an arrival notification registration ID for identifying the arrival notification registration data may be issued and recorded in the arrival notification registration management table together with the SNS user ID, product ID, and sales base ID. Note that, although an example of using a table for arrival notification registration management will be described in this embodiment, the management format of data linking the SNS user ID with the product ID and sales base ID for arrival notification registration management is not limited to a table. Once the linking of the customer's SNS user ID with the product ID and sales base ID is completed, the process proceeds to step S410.

[0051] In steps S410 to S412, the display returns to the product details page, and a pop-up is displayed to notify the completion of registration. When the customer completes the product arrival notification registration (association of the customer's SNS user ID with the product ID and the sales base ID), the delivery management server 1 identifies the URL of the product details page displayed at the start of OAuth on the customer-side user terminal 9b, that is, the URL of the product details page to be included in the response, based on the session information and / or Cookies stored in the above step S402. More specifically, the delivery management server 1 identifies the URL of the product details page to be included in the response by searching for the association data stored by the related information storage unit 62 in step S402 using the session information and / or Cookies related to the customer-side user terminal 9b that is the access source in step S404. In addition, the delivery management server 1 calculates information capable of identifying the SNS user ID of the target customer received from the resource server of the external SNS 8 (here, a hash value calculated based on the SNS user ID of the customer) (step S411). The hash value calculated based on the customer's SNS user ID is added as a parameter to the URL sent to the customer's user terminal 9b. However, the parameter added to the URL of the product details page here is not limited to the example in this embodiment as long as it is a parameter that allows the customer's user terminal 9b to determine that the arrival notification registration has been completed.

[0052] Once the URL and parameters of the product details page are determined, the distribution management server 1 sends an arrival notification registration completion response to the customer-side user terminal 9b, which instructs the customer to redirect to the URL of the product details page (step S412). In this embodiment, the arrival notification registration completion response is executed by sending the product details page URL and popup information. Upon receiving the arrival notification registration completion response, the customer-side user terminal 9b displays the product details page with a popup in accordance with the product details page URL and popup information (parameters that are added to the URL of the product details page and allow the customer-side user terminal 9b to determine that the arrival notification registration has been completed) included in the arrival notification registration completion response, and notifies the customer that the arrival notification registration of the product has been completed.

[0053] The customer user terminal 9b, which has received the response, accesses the URL of the product details page according to the redirect instruction included in the response, and retrieves and displays the product details page from the server of the online store site. As described above, this product details page contains a pop-up display script for "displaying a pop-up notifying the user that the arrival notification registration has been completed." The customer user terminal 9b executes the pop-up display script to display a pop-up on the display of the customer user terminal 9b, thereby notifying the user that the arrival notification registration has been completed. The processing shown in this sequence diagram then ends.

[0054] 7 is a diagram showing an example of a pop-up notifying that the arrival notification registration of a product has been completed in this embodiment. The pop-up displays a message saying "Registration complete. Arrival notification has been registered" and a "Close" button. The pop-up may also display, together with the message, an image of the product for which the arrival notification has been registered, the product name, the store name, the branch name, a "Cancel arrival notification registration" button, and the like. These data can be obtained from the product database 21 by the distribution management server 1 that receives a request transmitted by executing a script embedded in the website, and placed in the pop-up.

[0055] When a customer performs an operation to "cancel arrival notification registration", the customer-side user terminal 9b executes an arrival notification registration cancellation script for cancelling arrival notification registration, referring to the product ID and sales point ID provided on the product details page and the hash value related to the customer's SNS user ID given as a parameter to the URL of the product details page, executes the arrival notification registration cancellation script, and sends an instruction to cancel arrival notification registration to the distribution management server 1. When the distribution management server 1 receives the instruction to cancel arrival notification registration from the customer-side user terminal 9b, it identifies the SNS user ID corresponding to the hash value related to the received SNS user ID, and deletes the association between the identified SNS user ID and the received product ID and sales point ID recorded in the arrival notification registration management table.

[0056] 8 is a flowchart showing an outline of the flow of a message delivery process according to this embodiment. The process shown in this flowchart is executed periodically (for example, once a day at a preset time) at a preset frequency. However, the execution timing of the process shown in this flowchart is not limited to the examples in this disclosure. The process shown in this flowchart may be executed, for example, when an instruction to deliver a message is received from an administrator.

[0057] When the staff of the online store updates the inventory information of each sales base on the online store site using the store-side user terminal 9a, the display of inventory on the online store site (for example, the display of "In stock", "Limited stock remaining", "Out of stock", etc. on the product page) changes. The distribution management server 1 acquires the updated inventory information of each sales base by directly referencing the inventory database referred to by the online store and updating the product database 21, by receiving inventory data from the inventory database of the online store and acquiring inventory information of each sales base and updating the product database 21, or by referencing the online store site by crawling or scraping, etc., and updating the product database 21. At this time, the data provided from the online store to the distribution management server 1 are the sales base list, product information, inventory information of each sales base, etc., and these data may be provided in, for example, CSV format. The distribution management server 1 also stores the inventory information of each sales base acquired from the online store site in the product database 21. That is, the distribution management server 1 stores in the product database 21 the stock quantity for each sales outlet and each product, in association with a combination of the product ID and the sales outlet ID.

[0058] In step S501, the update of the inventory information is confirmed. The inventory information acquisition unit 66 transmits a request to the product database 21 to inquire whether there is updated inventory information (step S501). Here, the request may include the product ID and the sales base ID of the inquired item. The product database 21 that has received the request identifies the inventory information that has been updated (more specifically, the inventory has been restored) since the last received request based on the update time of the inventory information or the response history to the request, and transmits a response to the inventory information acquisition unit 66 notifying the latest inventory information related to the product (here, SKU) whose inventory information has been updated. Note that, if the request includes the product ID and the sales base ID of the inquired item, the product database 21 identifies only the inventory information related to the target product ID and the sales base ID, and transmits a response to the inventory information acquisition unit 66 notifying the identified inventory information. The response may also include the product ID and the sales base ID related to the inventory information, and the URL of a page (for example, a product detail page) where the target product can be viewed. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S502.

[0059] In steps S502 and S503, inventory information is acquired and a delivery destination is determined. The inventory information acquisition unit 66 receives the response sent by the product database 21 and saves the inventory information included in the response (step S502). The delivery destination determination unit 67 that has received the response searches the arrival notification registration management table using the product ID and sales base ID included in the target inventory information as keys, finds the SNS user ID of the customer linked to the combination of the product ID and sales base ID (i.e., the SNS user ID of the customer who has registered the arrival notification of the product), and determines the found SNS user ID as the delivery destination (step S503). After that, the process proceeds to step S504.

[0060] In step S504, a message delivery is requested. The delivery request unit 68 transmits a delivery request for a stock notification based on the inventory information to the external SNS 8 (step S504). Here, the delivery request to the external SNS 8 is made through an API for simultaneous message delivery provided by the external SNS 8, and the delivery request includes a delivery source, a delivery destination, and delivery contents. The delivery source is specified as the SNS user ID of the online store, the delivery destination is specified as the SNS user ID of the customer determined in step S503, and the delivery contents are specified as a notification that the product for which the customer has registered a stock notification has arrived at the designated sales base. That is, the delivery request unit 68 makes a delivery request to the external SNS 8 specifying only the customers who have registered a stock notification for the target product among the customers who are registered as friends of the online store in the SNS 8 (users who are permitted to send messages on the SNS).

[0061] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the contents of a message sent to a customer when a product for which a customer has registered an arrival notification arrives in this embodiment. In this embodiment, a fixed message saying "We would like to inform you that the product has arrived at your desired store" is used as a message to notify the customer that a product for which a customer has registered an arrival notification has arrived. However, the notification contents are not limited to the fixed message shown as an example. For example, the message may be created in the distribution management server 1 by applying the product name, etc. to a fixed phrase, or by using AI to generate the message. In addition, the notification message may include the name of the online store, the name of the sales base (e.g., the physical store) where the product arrived, the product name, the product image (video / still image), the brand name, the product price, color variations (if any), size, product details (product description), and an access means for ordering the product. Here, the access means for ordering the product may be, for example, a link for calling the sales base from the customer-side user terminal 9b, the URL of the product details page, or a link for adding the product to a cart, etc.

[0062] The external SNS 8 that received the delivery request delivers a message according to the delivery request. Specifically, the external SNS 8 sends a message including the delivery content specified in the delivery request as the content, with the online store's SNS user ID as the sender, to the SNS user ID of the customer specified in the delivery request as the destination. In this way, the online store can automatically deliver information indicating that the target product has arrived from the store's SNS account only to customers who have registered for arrival notifications of the target product.

[0063] By executing the above-described process, the information processing system disclosed in this embodiment allows a user to register an arrival notification for a product for which the user wishes to be notified, and also allows the user to receive a notification of arrival of the product for which the arrival notification has been registered. In this way, compared to the conventional method of contacting a staff member at a store to request an arrival notification, visiting the store after receiving the arrival notification and contacting the staff again, a customer can easily and casually register an arrival notification request, receive the arrival notification, and check the product at the store without contacting the staff. In addition, according to the information processing system disclosed in this embodiment, the update of inventory information that triggers the notification is obtained by directly referring to the inventory database referred to by the online store and updating the product database 21, by receiving inventory data from the inventory database of the online store to obtain inventory information for each sales base and updating the product database 21, or by referring to the online store site by crawling or scraping, etc., and updating the product database 21. Therefore, it is possible to introduce a system that notifies customers of a product inventory status message without linking a system for message delivery with a product master / inventory quantity / store list, etc.

[0064] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a list of arrival notification registrations in this embodiment. As described above, in this embodiment, the linking unit 65 records arrival notification registration data in which the identified SNS user ID is linked with the received product ID and sales base ID in the arrival notification registration management table (step S409). Therefore, according to the system according to this embodiment, the store user can access the arrival notification registration management table via the store user terminal 9a, obtain and refer to the number of arrival notification registrations for each sales base and / or each product. Specifically, the search ID specification unit 22 specifies at least one of the product ID and the sales base ID based on a search key that can specify at least one of the product and the sales base specified by the staff of the online store, and the registration number acquisition unit 23 searches the arrival notification registration management table based on the product ID and / or the sales base ID specified by the search ID specification unit 22, thereby obtaining the number of arrival notification registrations in which at least one of the products and the sales base is narrowed down. FIG. 10 shows an example of a file in which the number of arrival notification registrations for each product (SKU) is recorded, which is obtained from the arrival notification registration management table by narrowing down by date range and sales base (physical store). Although FIG. 10 shows an example of a list of arrival notification registrations, it is also possible to obtain a list of distribution numbers (the number of arrival notifications actually distributed to the customer's SNS user ID after the arrival notification registration is made) narrowed down using at least one of the product ID and sales base ID. As with the list of arrival notification registrations, for the list of distribution numbers, at least one of the product ID and sales base ID is specified based on a search key that can identify at least one of the product and sales base designated by the staff of the online store, and the arrival notification registration management table is searched based on the product ID and / or sales base ID identified by the search ID identification unit 22, thereby obtaining a list of distribution numbers narrowed down by at least one of the product and sales base.

[0065] According to the system of this embodiment, by being equipped with the configuration described above, it is possible to easily obtain data such as the number of arrival notifications registered for each sales location, which can be used for purchasing products and allocating inventory.

[0066] <First variation> In the embodiment described above, an example was given in which an online store refers to inventory data and inserts an HTML tag to display an arrival notification request button for sales locations that do not have the target product in stock. However, whether or not to display the arrival notification request button may be determined by the distribution management server 1 rather than the online store.

[0067] In this variation, the inventory status of the product displayed on the product details page and the arrival notification request button for receiving arrival notification of the product are displayed for each sales base belonging to the online store's group. However, unlike the embodiment described above, in this variation, the online store does not determine whether or not to display the arrival notification request button. In this variation, the online store inserts an HTML tag for displaying the inventory display and the arrival notification request button according to the inventory status stored in the product database 21 into the product details page. This HTML tag is an HTML tag for obtaining and displaying the inventory display and the arrival notification request button according to the inventory status stored in the product database 21, which are provided by the distribution management server 1. When displaying the product details page obtained from the online store, the customer-side user terminal 9b accesses the URL of the distribution management server 1 included in the HTML tag to obtain and display the inventory display and the arrival notification request button from the distribution management server 1. The distribution management server 1, which has been accessed by the customer-side user terminal 9b, refers to the product database 21 and returns to the customer-side user terminal 9b a display indicating the product's inventory status, such as "in stock," "limited stock remaining," or "out of stock," for each sales base, depending on the inventory status available for sale to the customer at each sales base. Furthermore, for a sales base that currently has no inventory (zero) of the product available for sale to the customer as a result of referring to the product database 21, the distribution management server 1 returns to the customer-side user terminal 9b an arrival notification request button along with the inventory display for that sales base. A customer viewing the product details page can operate this arrival notification request button to receive a notification of the status of the product via the customer's SNS account.

[0068] However, when the above specifications are adopted, the display of the inventory status is also determined by the distribution management server 1, so it is difficult for the distribution management server 1 to obtain inventory information for each sales base by crawling or scraping the online store site and update the product database 21. For this reason, in this variation, the distribution management server 1 directly refers to the inventory database referred to by the online store, or receives inventory data from the inventory database of the online store to obtain inventory information for each sales base and update the product database 21. At this time, the data provided from the online store to the distribution management server 1 is a sales base list, product information, inventory information for each sales base, etc., and these data may be provided in, for example, a CSV format. In addition, product information may be obtained by crawling or scraping the online store site, as in the embodiment described above.

[0069] By adopting the variations described above, it is possible to display store inventory and receive arrival notification requests simply by inserting a simple HTML tag into the product details page.

[0070] <Second variation> In the embodiment described above, an example was given in which a customer accesses an online store site from the customer's user terminal 9b and makes an arrival notification request by operating the arrival notification request button displayed on the product details page. However, the arrival notification request may also be made by accessing the distribution management server 1 from the customer's user terminal 9b in accordance with the search results for the target product and target sales location on the store's user terminal 9a, and operating the arrival notification request button displayed on the arrival notification request page provided by the distribution management server 1.

[0071] When a sales base is a physical store, there are cases where a customer visits the physical store and the desired product is not in stock. Conventionally, in such cases, the customer contacts a store staff member, and the store staff member obtains the customer's contact information in order to contact the customer when the target product arrives at the sales base, and when the product arrives, the staff member contacts the customer by telephone, e-mail, or the like. However, such a response is cumbersome, which leads to the store missing a sales opportunity. Also, according to the above-described embodiment, when a customer visits a physical store but the desired product is not in stock, the customer can search for an online store, search for the product in the online store, display the product details page, search for a store on the product details page, check the store's stock, and operate the arrival notification request button to register the arrival notification. However, in this case, although the burden on the customer and the store staff is greatly reduced compared to the conventional case, the customer is required to perform many operations.

[0072] Therefore, in this variation, as described above, the distribution management server 1 is accessed from the customer's user terminal 9b in accordance with the search results for the target product and target sales location on the store's user terminal 9a, and the customer makes an arrival notification request by operating the arrival notification request button displayed on the arrival notification request page provided by the distribution management server 1.

[0073] Fig. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a store-side product search screen in this variation. The store-side product search screen is a screen that can be displayed by the store-side user terminal 9a accessing the distribution management server 1, and is a screen that allows staff to search for the target of a stock notification request using at least one of the sales base (store), product number, SKU code, and product name as a search key by operating the store-side user terminal 9a that has accessed the distribution management server 1 and displayed the store-side product search screen, and operates the "issue two-dimensional barcode" button to cause the distribution management server 1 to execute a search, and the search results obtained from the distribution management server 1 can be displayed on the store-side user terminal 9a.

[0074] In the search results, a "Display 2D barcode" button is displayed along with product information, and when the staff operates this button, a URL is displayed for accessing the distribution management server 1 and displaying an arrival notification request page. The URL specifies the distribution management server 1 as the access destination, and further specifies the product ID and sales base ID of the corresponding product and sales base by parameters, etc. The customer reads the 2D barcode displayed on the store user terminal 9a using the camera of the customer user terminal 9b (although manual input is also possible), and causes the customer user terminal 9b to access the URL indicated by the read 2D barcode, thereby displaying an arrival notification request page including an arrival notification request button for the target product and target sales base (store).

[0075] In this embodiment, the URL for displaying the arrival notification request page is displayed in the form of a two-dimensional barcode, but the display format of the URL is not limited to a two-dimensional barcode. For example, if the URL is displayed directly, the customer can input the URL into the customer-side user terminal 9b by OCR or manual input, and cause the customer-side user terminal 9b to access the URL. Also, the URL (two-dimensional barcode) for displaying the arrival notification request page may be displayed directly in the search results.

[0076] 12 is a diagram showing an example of an arrival notification request page in this variation. Along with information about the target product, the arrival notification request page displays information about the sales base and an arrival notification request button. The arrival notification request page and arrival notification request button are generated by the distribution management server 1, which is accessed from the customer-side user terminal 9b, in response to the product ID and sales base ID specified based on the parameters specified in the URL. The function and specifications of the arrival notification request button provided here are the same as those in the embodiment described above, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[0077] By adopting the above variations, the steps that customers need to take to request a stock notification are now just loading a URL and clicking the stock notification request button, greatly simplifying the process. It also makes it possible to omit tasks for store staff, such as obtaining customer contact information and contacting customers when new stock arrives, thereby improving efficiency.

[0078] The means for accessing the customer-side user terminal 9b to the URL for displaying the arrival notification request page is not limited to displaying a URL (e.g., a two-dimensional barcode) on the store-side user terminal 9a. For example, in a customer support service provided by an online store using communication means such as chat, messages, and e-mail, the product and sales base may be identified in response to an inquiry from a customer, and if the product is out of stock, a URL for displaying the arrival notification request page may be sent to the customer-side user terminal 9b via the communication means, and the arrival notification request may be accepted.

[0079] <Other variations> In the embodiment described above, an example has been described in which the process of obtaining an access token and acquiring a user's resource (steps S405 to S408) is processed by the delivery management server 1, but the process of obtaining an access token and acquiring a user's resource may be executed by other devices. For example, the process of obtaining an access token and acquiring a user's resource may be executed by having the customer-side user terminal 9b execute a script (program) for executing these processes.

[0080] In addition, in the embodiment described above, an example was described in which the online store's web page and the arrival notification request button for the web page are generated in different systems, but the online store's web page and the arrival notification request button including the arrival notification request button for the web page may also be generated in the same system.

[0081] In the above-described embodiment, an example is described in which an external SNS is used as a message transmission system for transmitting a message, but the message transmission system that can be adopted for transmitting a message is not limited to the above-described example. For example, an email or a short message system may be adopted as the message transmission system. [Explanation of symbols]

[0082] 1. Server (information processing device) 9a Store user terminal 9b Customer side user terminal

Claims

1. a linking means for performing arrival notification registration in an arrival notification registration management table by recording arrival notification registration data linking a customer ID, a product ID of a product for which the customer wishes to be notified of arrival, and a sales base ID of the sales base related to the operation element operated by the user out of a plurality of operation elements displayed for each of the plurality of sales bases, which are displayed on a user terminal together with information on products handled at the store, for a store having a plurality of sales bases including a physical store or a base for shipping products; a search ID specifying means for specifying the product ID and the sales base ID based on a search key capable of specifying the product and the sales base designated by a staff member of the store; a registration number acquisition means for acquiring the number of arrival notification registrations obtained by searching the arrival notification registration management table based on the product ID and the sales base ID identified by the search ID identification means, the number of arrival notification registrations being narrowed down to the products and the sales bases; An information processing system comprising:

2. The customer ID is a customer's SNS user ID in an external SNS, An inventory information acquisition means for acquiring inventory information including the product ID and the sales base ID, which is updated on a website of an organization related to the product; a distribution destination determination means for retrieving an SNS user ID of the customer associated with a product ID and a sales base ID included in the inventory information, and determining the retrieved SNS user ID as a distribution destination; and a distribution request means for transmitting to the external SNS a distribution request for a message in which the SNS user ID of the customer determined by the distribution destination determination means is specified as a distribution destination, the message notifying the customer that inventory information of the product related to the product ID and the sales base ID has been updated. The information processing system according to claim 1 .

3. The computer a linking step for performing arrival notification registration by recording arrival notification registration data in an arrival notification registration management table, the arrival notification registration data linking a customer ID, a product ID of a product for which the customer wishes to be notified of arrival, and a sales base ID of the sales base related to the operation element operated by the user out of a plurality of operation elements displayed for each of the plurality of sales bases, which are displayed on a user terminal together with information on products handled at the store, for requesting arrival notification of the product; a search ID specification step of specifying the product ID and the sales base ID based on a search key capable of specifying the product and the sales base designated by a staff member of the store; a registration number acquisition step of acquiring the number of arrival notification registrations obtained by searching the arrival notification registration management table based on the product ID and the sales base ID identified in the search ID identification step, whereby the products and the sales bases are narrowed down; How to do it.

4. The customer ID is a customer's SNS user ID in an external SNS, The computer, an inventory information acquisition step of acquiring inventory information including the product ID and the sales base ID, the inventory information being updated on a website of an organization related to the product; a delivery destination determination step of searching for an SNS user ID of the customer associated with a product ID and a sales base ID included in the inventory information, and determining the searched SNS user ID as a delivery destination; a distribution request step of transmitting to the external SNS a distribution request for a message in which the SNS user ID of the customer determined in the distribution destination determination step is specified as a distribution destination, the message notifying the customer that inventory information of the product related to the product ID and the sales base ID has been updated. The method according to claim 3.

5. Computer, a linking means for performing arrival notification registration in an arrival notification registration management table by recording arrival notification registration data linking a customer ID, a product ID of a product for which the customer wishes to be notified of arrival, and a sales base ID of the sales base related to the operation element operated by the user out of a plurality of operation elements displayed for each of the plurality of sales bases, which are displayed on a user terminal together with information on products handled at the store, for a store having a plurality of sales bases including a physical store or a base for shipping products; a search ID specifying means for specifying the product ID and the sales base ID based on a search key capable of specifying the product and the sales base designated by a staff member of the store; a registration number acquisition means for acquiring the number of arrival notification registrations obtained by searching the arrival notification registration management table based on the product ID and the sales base ID identified by the search ID identification means, the number of arrival notification registrations being narrowed down to the products and the sales bases; A program to function as a

6. The customer ID is a customer's SNS user ID in an external SNS, The computer, An inventory information acquisition means for acquiring inventory information including the product ID and the sales base ID, which is updated on a website of an organization related to the product; a distribution destination determination means for retrieving an SNS user ID of the customer associated with a product ID and a sales base ID included in the inventory information, and determining the retrieved SNS user ID as a distribution destination; a distribution request means for transmitting to the external SNS a distribution request for a message in which the SNS user ID of the customer determined by the distribution destination determination means is specified as a distribution destination, the message notifying the customer that inventory information of the product related to the product ID and the sales base ID has been updated. The program according to claim 5.

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