Shopping Support System for Postponed Item Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing shopping support systems fail to effectively prevent the forgotten purchase of postponed commodities, particularly bulky or perishable items that are placed back on the sales floor during shopping, leading to potential forgetting at checkout.
Innovation Solution
A shopping support system comprising a user terminal, check-in device, store server, virtual POS server, sensor group, action monitoring device, and access point, which tracks purchaser actions and distinguishes between purchased and postponed items, sending notifications to the user terminal to remind of forgotten purchases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the user creates a shopping list before shopping, then the user can track planned purchases, but the user may forget to purchase postponed items (frozen food, refrigerated food, large and bulky commodities) that were placed back on the sales floor
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary registration of postponed items when the user places them back on the sales floor during shopping. This preliminary action captures item information before checkout, ensuring that even temporarily set-aside items are tracked and will be included in the final purchase record.
2Measurement precision
If the system monitors all user actions throughout shopping, then the system can identify postponed items, but the system complexity increases with multiple sensors and monitoring devices
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses an intermediary mobile terminal (smartphone or shopping cart display) to bridge between the physical shopping environment and the monitoring system. Sensors detect user actions and relay information through the mobile terminal, which then communicates with the server, reducing the complexity of direct system-wide monitoring infrastructure.
3Loss of time
If the system sends notifications about forgotten purchases, then the user is reminded of postponed items, but the notification timing must be precise to be effective at checkout
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback by monitoring user movement in real-time and dynamically adjusting notification timing based on the user's proximity to the checkout area. When the system detects that the user is approaching or at the checkout counter, it automatically triggers notifications about any registered postponed items, ensuring timely reminders without premature or delayed alerts.
Data Source
AI summary
A shopping support system includes processing circuitry having programmed instructions to determine if a commodity is collected for purchase by a purchaser at a sales floor of a store. The shopping support system determines if the commodity has been postponed for later collection based on an action of the purchaser on the commodity at the sales floor. Then, the shopping support system provides a notification in response to a determination that the commodity has been postponed for later collection and is not collected for purchase by the purchaser.