JP3142367B2 - Method and apparatus for issuing discount coupons - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sales promotion discount coupon in which a customer issues a discount coupon for a specific product to be sold at the time of settlement of the purchased product, and encourages the purchase of the product at the next use. Related to ticket issuing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A discount coupon is one of sales promotion means in the retail business. In order to increase the sales of a particular product (hereinafter referred to as “priority product”) that the store wants to focus on, the customer purchases a product that competes with the priority product (hereinafter “competition product”). Then, a discount coupon for the priority product is given to the customer, and the purchase of the priority product is encouraged at the next use.

[0003] By the way, if the above-mentioned competitor is a product of the same kind, for example, if the priority product is a cupmen called A of a maker that has a competing product, it is a cupmen called B of another manufacturer competing therewith. , And refers to other similar products for the priority products that you want to increase sales.

When a customer purchases such a competitive product,
The sales clerk determines that the purchased product is a competitive product for the priority product, and gives the customer a discount coupon for the priority product as described above, thereby promoting purchase of the priority product and expanding sales of the priority product. In the means, conventionally,
Generally, the discount coupon is separately printed and prepared, and given to the customer at the discretion of the clerk.

[0005]

However, in a self-checkout system (a system in which a customer brings a purchased product to a cashier counter and performs a checkout with a checker) like a superstore, an exchange between the checker and the customer is performed. It is desired from the viewpoint of the efficiency of customer management to minimize the number of customers.

That is, when a customer purchases a competitive product as described above, the checker determines whether or not the product is a competitive product, and if the product is a competitive product, the checker issues a discount coupon for the corresponding priority product to the customer. In superstores where checkout counters are congested, it is inefficient to perform such work for each customer, which leads to inefficient customer handling and makes the checkout counters more congested. There was a problem.

The present invention realizes a discount coupon ticket issuing system in which this type of sales promotion system can be easily adopted even in a self-checkout type store such as a superstore, in which labor saving of discount coupon tickets is reduced, issuance costs are reduced. It is intended to be.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention, and shows a main part of a POS (Point of Sales) terminal. Referring to FIG.
Is the bar code attached to each product (JAN (Japan Arti
cle Number), which usually consists of 13 digits. A checker standing at each cashier counter faces the reading unit with a barcode added to each product purchased by the customer. Then, the barcode is read.

[0009] A PLU (Price Lo
ok Up) The master 2 is for performing a price search corresponding to the bar code of each of the above products. Specifically, the department code, the product name, the unit price, and the For each product, an identification flag indicating whether or not the product is a competitive product (competitive product of the same type but of a different manufacturer) for the above-mentioned priority product (specific product to be sold) is stored. For example, if the identification flag is “00”, it indicates that the product is not a competitive product, and “01”, “02”,
In the case of “03”,..., It is a competitor product.

The discount coupon issuance information table 3, which is a discount coupon issuance information storage unit, stores information relating to issuance of a discount coupon, and the information includes a discount corresponding to the identification flag of the PLU master 2. For each coupon ticket number, the name of the priority product to be discounted and its discount information (for example, discount content and expiration date) are stored.

[0011] The discount coupon number storage unit 4 stores the commodity read by the scanner 1 when it is a competitive commodity (PLU).
The discount coupon number (for example, “01” if the identification flag is “01”) corresponding to the identification flag is temporarily stored in the identification flag of the master 2).

In addition to the above components, a cumulative value storage unit 5 for storing a cumulative value obtained by accumulating unit prices of purchased commodities;
It has a master 2, a discount coupon issuance information table 3, a receipt issuance unit 6 for issuing a receipt based on information stored in the accumulated value storage unit 5 and the like, a control unit 7 for controlling the entire system, and the like.

[0013]

When the customer brings the purchased merchandise to the cashier counter, the checker registers the merchandise by causing the scanner 1 to read the barcode provided for each merchandise. Upon receiving the data read from the scanner 1, the control unit 7
Reference is made to the PLU master 2. At this time, a normal receipt issuing operation such as obtaining a department code, a product name, and a unit price corresponding to the single product code from the read data is performed. Here, the identification flag is further determined. When the value is other than "00", a discount coupon issuance operation is performed.

That is, the identification flag of the PLU master 2 is set in advance to a flag other than "00" (for example, "01") corresponding to the single item code of the competitive product for the competitive product. . As a result, the bar code of the product purchased by the customer is read by the scanner 1, the identification flag of the PLU master 2 is searched, and it is automatically determined whether or not the product is a competitive product. Therefore, the checker only needs to perform the registration operation without being conscious of whether or not each product is a competing product for which a discount coupon should be issued.

In this way, the registration of the purchased product is performed one by one, and the PLU master 2 is searched for each purchased product.
Assuming that the identification flag is “01” in the search of the PLU master 2 by a certain purchased product, the discount coupon number corresponding to the “01” is stored in the discount coupon number storage unit 4.

When the data collection for all the products purchased by the customer is completed, sales details such as the total amount are printed. Thereafter, the discount coupon number stored in the discount coupon number storage unit 4 is searched, and the contents of the discount coupon issue information table 3 corresponding to the stored discount coupon number (here, “01”) ( The name of the priority product to be discounted, the content of the discount, the expiration date, etc.) are read out. These pieces of information are printed after the sales details of the purchased product.

FIG. 2 shows the receipt printed out in this way, which comprises a sales statement section 11 and a discount coupon ticket section 12. The sales statement section 11 includes a department code, a product name, a shop name, a date, and the like. After the unit price is printed, the total amount, the total amount of fishing, and the like are printed. And
Subsequently, the name of the priority product to be discounted, the details of the discount, the expiration date, and the like are printed as the discount coupon voucher unit 12, and up to this point is printed out as the customer's receipt and delivered to the customer.

As described above, if there is a competitive product among the products purchased by the customer, it is automatically determined, and a discount coupon for the priority product is printed on the receipt.

[0019]

Next, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described. As described above, the contents of the PLU master 2 shown in FIG. 1 include a single item code, which is a code for each product, a department code indicating a classification, an item name, a unit price, and an identification flag. As a specific example, as shown in FIG. 3, a single item code (normally 13 digits) for each product, a department code followed by, for example, "mild seven" as a product name and a unit price of "22"
0, and information such as “cup ramen B” and unit price “150” as the product name, and an identification flag indicating whether or not the product is a competitor product to the priority product is written. If it is not a competitive product, this identification flag is set to "00", and if it is a competitive product, it is set to, for example, "01", "02", and so on. Here, it is assumed that a cup ramen A of a maker having a priority product is written, and “01” is written as an identification flag corresponding to a cup ramen B which is a competitor product to the cup ramen A.

The specific contents of the discount coupon ticket issuing information table 3 shown in FIG. 1 are, as shown in FIG. 4, a number corresponding to the identification flag as a discount coupon ticket number, that is, in this case, a discount coupon. The ticket number is “01”, the ticket name is “discount coupon”, the product name (priority product name) is “cup ramen A”, and the discount content (either discount rate or discount amount) is a discount rate (for example, 5%). Discount rate), the discount rate is "5.0
For example, discount information such as "92.02.10" is written as the expiration date until February 10, 1992, for example. In the case where the discount content is indicated by a discount amount, for example, when the discount amount is 10 yen, the discount amount is “10”.
Is written.

Next, a specific processing procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Some products purchased by the customer are registered by reading the barcode added to each product into the scanner 1 one by one by a checker. First, when a certain product is read by the scanner 1 (process S1), the control unit 7 searches the PLU master 2 for a department code, a product name, a unit price, and an identification flag based on a single product code of the product (process S2). Here, when the product is mild seven of tobacco, the product name is “mild seven”, the unit price is “220”, and the identification flag is “0”.
"0" is retrieved. In this case, the identification flag is “00” because Mild Seven is not a competitor product of the priority product (cup ramen A).

Next, the control section 7 determines whether or not the identification flag is "00" from the contents of the search from the PLU master 2 (step S3). That is, a printing process (process S5) of the department code, the product name, the unit price, and the like is performed. If the registration of all the purchased commodities is not completed (process S6), the process proceeds to the scanning operation of the next product (process S1). As a result, the control unit 7 searches the PLU master 2, and from the single item code of the item, the item name is “cup ramen B”, the unit price is “150”, and the identification flag is “0”.
"1" is retrieved (process S2). in this case,
Since the identification flag is not “00” (step S3), the control unit 7 stores the number corresponding to the identification flag as a discount coupon number in the discount coupon number storage unit 4 (step S3).
4) After that, the merchandise is registered, that is, the department code, the product name, the unit price, etc. are printed, and the unit price is accumulated (process S5). The accumulated value is stored in the accumulated value storage 5.

In this way, the merchandise registration is performed one after another,
When the registration of all the purchased commodities is completed (process S6), as a registration ending process, the control unit 7 reads out the cumulative value stored in the cumulative value storage unit 5 and performs the total printing using the cumulative value as a total value (process). S7).

Next, the control section 7 determines whether or not the discount coupon number is stored in the discount coupon number storage section 4 (step S8). The total printed matter is printed out as a normal receipt and all the processing ends. If the discount coupon number is stored, the discount coupon issue information table 3 is searched (processing S).
9). In this case, “0” is stored in the discount coupon number storage unit 4.
Since the discount coupon number of “1” is stored, information corresponding to “01” is read from the discount coupon issue information table 3 as shown in FIG. That is,
Information such as “discount coupon ticket” as the ticket name, “cup ramen A” as the product name, “5.0” as the discount rate, and “92.02.10” as the expiration date is read.
Then, the information is edited (process S10), discount coupon information is printed following the total printed content (process S11), and a receipt as shown in FIG. 6 is issued. The receipt shown in FIG. 6 is a normal sales detail section (unit price, total amount, change amount, other date, store name, etc. for each item) of all products purchased by the customer.
After 1, the discount coupon voucher portion 22 of the cup ramen A, which is the priority product, is continuously printed.

The checker passes the receipt together with the change to the customer, but this operation may be exactly the same as the operation of passing a normal receipt. Therefore, the checker only needs to perform a normal registration operation without being conscious of the contents of the purchased product of the customer, so that smooth business processing can be maintained.

On the other hand, the customer who receives the receipt as shown in FIG. 6 has a discount coupon on the receipt, so the next time he uses this store, he will use this discount when purchasing cup ramen. The probability of purchasing the product (in this case, cup ramen A) displayed using the coupon is high, which can contribute to expanding sales of priority products.

Although the above embodiment has been described in connection with a case where the priority product is one item, the same can be realized in a case where there are a plurality of priority products. In this case, the identification flag of each competitive product corresponding to each priority product is set to “01”, “02”, “03”,. , Discount rate or amount, expiration date)
May be stored in the discount coupon issue information table 3. Of course, such discount coupon issue information can be easily deleted, changed, or added by rewriting the contents of the information table 3.

[0028]

According to the present invention, particularly when a customer purchases a competitor product for a specific product to be expanded, the customer is given a discount coupon for the specific product to be expanded, thereby promoting sales of the specific product. In the discount coupon issuance method in the means, when a customer purchases the above competitor, a discount coupon of a specific product to be expanded on the receipt is automatically printed at the time of settlement, so this type of sales promotion means is realized Even in superstores that are difficult to do,
Discount coupons can be given to customers without affecting customer handling at checkout counters, and there is no need to print them separately as discount coupons, so printing costs can be reduced and the contents of discount coupons Since the change can be easily performed, the expiration date management and the like can be appropriately performed, and effects such as eliminating waste such as excess coupons can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a main part of a POS terminal for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a receipt printed out according to the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of information storage of a PLU master according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of information storage in a coupon ticket issuance information table according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example of a receipt printed out according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 scanner 2 PLU master 3 discount coupon issue information table 4 discount coupon number storage

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07G 1/00-5/00 G06F 17/00 G06F 19/00 G06F 17/60

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] In claim 1] expand sales the same type for the specific items to be
And when the different competing products to the manufacturers customer has purchased, a discount coupon of the specific items in the discount coupon issuing method to issue to the customer, department code that corresponds to the single item code for each product to be sold,
Name, turn to bid and products corresponding to the identification flag indicating that may be stored for each item an identification flag indicating whether or not the competitor products, is the competitive products
Information on discounts for each discount coupon number
Stores certain discount information and determines whether the product purchased by the customer is the above-mentioned competitor.
Serial identified based on the identification flag, when <br/> the products purchased the customer is identified as the competing product, the discount coupon number corresponding to the identification flag indicating that the above competitive product stores, after the end of registration of the purchased goods of all, the above-mentioned stored discount information
From among the broadcast, read the discount information that corresponds <br/> to discount coupon number, which is above store, print the discount information in the discount information printing unit after the sales specification part for the purchase of goods customer to, the discount information printing unit and a discount coupon part of the specific product, discount coupons issued methods and issues a discount coupon part these sales specification unit as a single receipt. (2) Same type for specific products to be expanded
Customers who have purchased competitors from different manufacturers
POS terminal that issues discount coupons for regular products
And Department code corresponding to the single item code of each product to be sold,
Product name, unit price, and whether the product is a competitive product
Product information storage method that stores an identification flag indicating
Steps and Corresponding to the identification flag indicating that the product is a competitor.
For each discount coupon ticket number
Specific product name for discount corresponding to ticket number and its discount information
Discount coupon that stores discount coupon issue information including
Ticket issuing information storage means, Check whether the customer's purchased product is the above competitor
Based on the identification flag stored in the product information storage means,
Competitor identification means for identifying If the product purchased by the customer is the competitor, the competitor
If the product is identified by the product identification means,
Discount coupon corresponding to the above identification flag
Discount coupon number storage means for storing a number, After the registration of all purchased products, the above discount coupon is issued
From the line information storage means, the discount coupon ticket number storage means
Discount coupon corresponding to the discount coupon number stored in
Read out the coupon issue information and issue this discount coupon
Line information after the sales details section for the customer's purchase
Printed as a discount coupon section on these
And coupon coupons are issued as one receipt
Receipt issuing means, A POS terminal device comprising: