Sales Support System Real-Time Price Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
In self-scan shopping systems, when the set price of a product changes during store operation, the updated price is not reflected in the registered product's price on a customer's portable terminal.
Innovation Solution
A sales support system that includes a list generation module to create a purchase product list with initial product prices and an updating module to update the prices of registered products when specific conditions are met, such as a change in the set price.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a self-scan shopping system uses a fixed price at registration time, then the system operation is simple and stable, but the price cannot be updated when the set price changes during store operation
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary price registration at the time of product scanning, storing the price valid at that moment. This preliminary action establishes a baseline price that can later be updated without requiring re-scanning, thus maintaining price accuracy while avoiding continuous system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the sales support system continuously monitors set price changes and automatically notifies portable terminals of price updates. This feedback loop ensures price accuracy is maintained dynamically without requiring complex manual intervention or continuous customer system interaction
2Reliability
If the system continuously monitors price changes for all registered products, then price accuracy is maintained, but the information processing load and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and separates the price monitoring and update notification function into a dedicated sales support system component. This extraction allows continuous price change detection to be handled by a specialized module rather than burdening the entire self-scan system, maintaining price accuracy while improving overall information processing efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The sales support system acts as an intermediary between the product database and customer portable terminals. It receives set price changes from the database, processes update notifications, and transmits them to relevant terminals. This intermediary role streamlines information flow and reduces the processing burden on other system components
3Productivity
If price updates are transmitted to all portable terminals immediately, then customers see real-time price changes, but network traffic and system resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements partial action by updating only those portable terminals that have products in their shopping carts whose set prices have changed. Rather than broadcasting to all terminals universally, this targeted approach achieves necessary price update speed while minimizing unnecessary network traffic and resource consumption
Data Source
AI summary
A sales support system according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes: at least one memory configured to store instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to: generate a purchase product list including a product registered using a portable terminal through an operation of a customer and a price based on a set price referred to for registration of the product; and update a price of a registered product included in the purchase product list to a new set price when an execution condition of a price updating process is satisfied.