JP2002032681A - Business method and business operation managing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a business operation managing device which promotes merchandise sales by realizing the exchange or value deposit of received gift merchandise thereby making a gift factoring service attractive. SOLUTION: The business operation managing device consists of an application receiving means for receiving an application for the mere purchase and delivery of merchandise or an application for a gift with choice, a gift content informing means for informing a recipient of the contents of a gift when the delivery of the gift with choice is received, a selecting result inquiring means for inquiring the intention of the recipient with respect to the offer of the gift, and a selecting result corresponding processing means for delivering merchandise designated as the gift to the recipient when the recipient selects 'desiring reception' and adding up an amount corresponding to the rice of the designated merchandise as the credit of the recipient when the recipient selects 'desiring to make credit'.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a business method and a business operation management device for promoting the sale of goods through gift agency services and the like, and more particularly, to enabling exchange of received gift goods and conversion to value deposit (crediting). The present invention relates to a business method and a business operation management device that enhance the appeal of a gift agency service by doing so and further promote product sales through an increase in the ability to attract customers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Business methods for promoting product sales through gift agency services have been widely used in gift corners of department stores and supermarkets, or in various gift shops operated as independent sales brokerage businesses. .

[0003] In particular, recently, various virtual gift shops have been opened on the Internet, and are beginning to be easily used among young people as a means for exchanging gifts between lovers and friends.

[0004] A user of this kind of virtual gift shop selects a gift item from a catalog distributed in advance or a shopping mall on the Internet. Thereafter, an application for a gift agent is made from a virtual gift shop website on the Internet according to a predetermined procedure.

[0005] When accepting an application, generally, the sender information (address, name, contact telephone number, credit card number, etc.) of the sender and the recipient information (address, name,
Contact information such as telephone numbers) and gift product information (product name, model identification information, product price, etc.) are confirmed, and at the same time, payment for the gift agency service is performed using a credit card or the like.

[0006] When an application for a gift agent is accepted, a product order is placed from the gift shop to a store of the product specified by the giver. Then, the gift item designated by the giver is delivered to the recipient designated by the giver by a predetermined delivery company. In this way, the gift shop is located between the customer and the store, and performs merchandise sales intermediary between them.

[0007]

However, in the conventional merchandise sales intermediation business through the gift agency service, when the gift agency application is accepted, the gift item is unconditionally sent to the recipient. On the recipient's side, gift products that do not comply may be delivered, or products already possessed may be delivered repeatedly.
In such a case, it is rude to return the gift to the giver, but it takes time and effort to exchange it for another product at the store or specialty company, and the collection price by the professional collection company is generally Often cheap.

[0008] For this reason, in the conventional merchandise sales intermediation business through the gift agency service, the users are not always sufficiently satisfied, and therefore the number of affiliated sales companies (sales businesses) is small. It has also been pointed out that the shortage of products makes it difficult to attract customers.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems in the conventional gift agency service, and the purpose thereof is to exchange received gift products and convert them to value deposit (credit). Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a business method and a business operation management device that enhance the appeal of the gift agency service and promote product sales by increasing the ability to attract customers.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the business method of the present invention comprises a simple application for purchase and delivery of goods or an application for purchase of a gift without a right of choice, and an application for a gift with a right of choice. When an application for product purchase delivery and an application acceptance step for accepting, and a simple application for product purchase delivery or an application for product purchase delivery for a gift without option are received, without giving the option to the recipient, An unconditional delivery step that takes steps to deliver the goods specified by the applicant to the recipient;
When an application for the purchase and delivery of a gift with a right of choice is received, the contents of the gift pertaining to the application are notified to the designated recipient, and a right of choice that includes "request for receipt" and "request for credit" is given. The step of granting the option to grant to the recipient and, when the recipient selects "request for receipt", take the procedure to deliver the product designated as a gift by the applicant to the recipient, ], The option corresponding step of accounting as a credit to the recipient of an amount corresponding to the price of the product designated as a gift by the applicant,
In addition, the credit recorded for the recipient can be applied to all or a part of the application price for a simple product purchase / delivery application or the product purchase / delivery application price for a gift without option.

[0011] Here, the "gift with option" means that the gift item specified by the giver is "received" or not received by the recipient specified by the giver. The gift mode which gives an option whether to receive provision of another service according to value is shown.
In the present embodiment, at least “creation” is included as an option other than “receipt”.

[0012] The "mere purchase and delivery of goods" refers to a form in which a procedure is taken so that the specified goods are delivered to the destination specified by the applicant. In this case, there is no room for selection as in the above-mentioned “gift with selection right”.

[0013] "Product purchase and delivery for a gift without option" is "product purchase and delivery for a gift with option".
Means that the option given to the recipient is not given. Unlike "mere product purchase delivery", the mode is just a "gift", but after "product purchase delivery for a gift with option" waits for the recipient's answer (selection),
While taking steps to deliver the specified product to the recipient, "Purchase and delivery of the product for a gift without options"
In, a procedure is taken so that the designated goods are delivered to the recipient without waiting for the recipient's selection.

Although "delivery" is described, "delivery" of a product is not necessarily dependent on the business method.
Needless to say, the business mode may be a business mode in which the process up to product delivery is performed consistently, or the delivery process may be completely different. In this aspect, at least "proceed so that the product designated as a gift by the applicant is delivered to the recipient".

[0015] The "goods" to which the applicant can apply for purchase and delivery may include services. For example, it would be more preferable if a room cleaning service, various agency services by hand, and the like can be selected as products.

"Crediting" means receivables, credits,
It refers to various aspects such as depositing. As an example, a mode in which the product is converted into gold or the like and deposited in accordance with the price of the product specified by the applicant can be cited. For this reason, the “amount” to be credited is also variously changed depending on the form of credit. At least here, it is stated that "the credit recorded for the payee can be applied to all or a part of the application price for a simple product purchase / delivery application or the product purchase / delivery application price for a gift without a right of choice". Here, there are "application for simple purchase and delivery of goods" and "application for purchase and delivery of goods for a gift without a selection right". However, the present invention is not limited to either one, and both may be adopted simultaneously.

[0017] Preferably, the "crediting" may be in a form that can be displayed numerically in order to facilitate recognition of the user. In this case, more preferably, "1" in the credit balance display is equivalent to one yen of money. By doing so, it is also possible to eliminate the feeling of loss or the like on the "crediting" of the recipient. It should be noted that it is not always necessary to include a credit amount equivalent to the price of a product designated as a gift, such as “amount according to the price of the product”. The amount recorded by the credit conversion may be equal to or more than the value of the gift product specified by the sender depending on the situation.

[0018] As described in "Apply for all or a part of the application fee", in a new product purchase / delivery application, a portion of the price is applied by credit, and the remaining amount is applied, for example, by cash. Alternatively, credits and other payment methods can be used together. Can be used together with credits, other than cash deposits,
For example, a debit card, a credit card, various kinds of cash vouchers, and the like can be adopted. In this way, even for a product whose price cannot be applied for purchase and delivery of goods only by using the credit, it is possible to apply for purchase and delivery of the product by replenishing the balance with a credit card or the like.

According to such an embodiment, instead of receiving the gift item specified by the giver, the recipient can make "crediting" in accordance with the item price, and use the credit. As a result, it becomes possible to purchase desired products. This allows the giver to inform the recipient of the item he / she wants to give, while the recipient may have received an unsolicited gift item or an item already in possession. In such cases, the use of "crediting" can be used to return gift items or collect by a specialized company, etc.
Instead of gift items designated by the giver, it is also possible to receive the items desired by the recipient within a predetermined range.

The business method according to the second embodiment of the present invention comprises:
An application receiving step for receiving an application for the purchase and delivery of a product with a right of choice; and, when an application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a right of choice has been received, inform the designated recipient of the contents of the gift pertaining to the application. , A selection right granting step of granting a selection right including "hope to receive" and "hope to credit" as options to the receiver, and when the receiver selects "hope to receive", the gift is designated as a gift by the applicant. While the procedure is to deliver the product to the recipient, if you select "Credit request", the option to record the amount corresponding to the price of the product designated as a gift by the applicant as the recipient's credit And the credit recorded to the recipient is the price of the application for the purchase and delivery of goods for the optional gift. And it is capable appropriated for all or part.

The "application for purchase and delivery of a gift product with a selection right", "product", "delivery", "crediting", and "can be applied to all or part of the application fee" are the first.
The description is omitted because it is almost the same as the content described in the embodiment.

According to such an embodiment, instead of receiving the gift product specified by the giver, the recipient can make a credit in accordance with the price of the product, and use the credit to make the credit. It is possible to apply for a new gift. In addition, when a new gift application is designated, if the recipient is designated, the desired product can be purchased using the credit. This allows the giver to inform the recipient of the item he / she wants to give, while the recipient may have received an unsolicited gift item or an item already in possession. In such a case, the use of the "crediting" makes it possible to use the gift product specified by the giver in a meaningful manner without having to return the gift product or collect the gift product by a specialized trader.

As described in the first embodiment, the second embodiment further includes a step of accepting a simple application for purchase / delivery of goods or an application for purchase of a product for a gift without a right of choice. The credit given is
It may be possible to apply to the whole or a part of the application price for the mere product purchase / delivery application or the product purchase / delivery application price for the gift without option. In this way, it goes without saying that the attractiveness of credit is further increased for customers.

In the business method according to the third embodiment of the present invention, an application receiving step of receiving an application for purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a selection right and an application for purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a right of selection are received. In some cases, the content of the gift pertaining to the application is notified to a designated recipient, and a selection right granting step of granting the recipient a selection right including “request for receiving” and “request for exchange” as options, and ], The procedure specified by the applicant as a gift is delivered to the recipient, while the procedure "Replacement request" is selected, the product designated as a gift by the applicant is And a step of taking steps so that the goods are exchanged for the designated goods and delivered to the recipient.

Here, the products that can be exchanged are, for example,
The selection may be made based on the total amount of a plurality of gift items, or one gift item may be exchanged for a plurality of items. In the case where the commodity is exchanged for a commodity that is cheaper than the gift commodity value, the difference may be stored. Further, the selection range of the commodity to be exchanged can be limited step by step according to the price of the gift commodity. In any case, the term "exchange" as used herein means a service that does not receive the goods specified by the giver but can receive other goods specified by the recipient. still,
The above-mentioned "crediting" can be interpreted broadly as being included in "exchange".
It should be interpreted as meaning of "direct exchange of goods for other goods".

It should be noted that "gift with option", "product",
"Delivery" is substantially the same as that in the first embodiment and the second embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted here.

According to such an embodiment, the giver can inform the recipient of the item to be given, while the recipient receives or does not have the gift item that he / she does not understand. Even in the case where products are repeatedly delivered, it is possible to receive desired products within a predetermined product selection range by using the exchange service.

It should be noted that the third embodiment corresponds to the first,
It is also possible to use together with the second embodiment. In this way, for example, the difference between the products caused by the exchange can be stored as “credit”. Thereby, the convenience of “exchange” and “credit” of the user is further increased.

Preferably, in the business method according to the first, second and third embodiments, an intermediary company interposed between the customer and one or more merchandise sales companies obtains an intermediary commission and executes the method. To do.

In this type of business, the brokerage fee is
It is generally considered that payment is made from a merchandise seller to an intermediary business or from a customer to an intermediary business, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to such a payment mode. The term “obtain” means that the exchange of money in this type of business is generally performed collectively, for example, on a monthly basis. In such a case, each deposit is paid out of any profit or deposit. This is because it cannot always be specified. For this reason, the manner of payment, the source of the fee, and the timing of payment are not limited, and at least the case of finally obtaining the quantity is broadly included.
Therefore, the nominal fee is not necessarily limited to the “brokerage commission”. However, since the profit is obtained as a “commission” by the intermediary business, it means that a commission is obtained from an individual, an organization, or the like who at least obtains some profit from the business.

According to such an embodiment, the intermediary business can make a profit by the commission, and therefore the intermediary business itself can be established as an independent business.

[0032] Preferably, in the first and second embodiments, the business which is not actually purchased is scheduled to be purchased as a gift because the recipient has selected "desired credit" while being purchased as a gift. Is paid a nomination fee in an amount corresponding to the planned selling price of the product.

In this embodiment, the presence or absence of the intermediary business does not matter. This embodiment is also applicable to a case where there is no intermediary business and the business itself is jointly operated by a plurality of sales businesses.

Although "paid" is described, as described above, money exchange in this kind of business is generally performed collectively, for example, on a monthly basis. It is not always possible to specify from which profit or payment each deposit was paid. For example, the commission can be applied from the customer's payment for purchasing the product, or the sponsor can intervene in the business and the sponsor can pay the commission. Therefore, the payer and the payment timing of the fee are not limited here. Therefore, the nominal fee is not necessarily limited to the “nomination fee”.

Although there is a “scheduled sales company that was not actually purchased”, for example, the sales company of the product designated by the applicant and the sales company of the product newly designated by the recipient are the same. In some cases, it is possible not to pay the fee.

In this embodiment, the gift is:
Since the receipt is not determined until "Received" is selected for the recipient, it is described as "planned purchase", "planned sales company", and "planned price", but those forms are not specially limited. Absent.

According to such an embodiment, even when the gift is only designated as a gift product by the giver and the recipient does not choose to receive the product, the merchandise seller of the product does not need to receive the product. Because you can benefit
The motivation of the merchandise seller to participate in the business of the present invention can be increased, which in turn leads to the prosperity of the whole business.

In the first embodiment and the second embodiment,
By accepting an application for a gift with options, the broker receives cash and / or credit equivalent to the purchase price of the gift, regardless of whether the recipient selects "want to be credited". Instead, a fixed amount corresponding to the amount of cash delivered by the applicant is applied to the commission of the intermediary, and when the recipient selects "desired credit", a certain amount according to the selling price of the gift product is It is also possible to cover the commission of the seller who missed the sale of the goods and to record the amount corresponding to the purchase price of the gift as credit to the recipient. Where "cash"
However, it is not limited to direct cash deposit.
For example, payment by a credit card, a debit card, or the like is included in cash here.

Although there is "appropriation", as described above,
The exchange of money in this type of work is generally performed collectively, for example, on a monthly basis. In such a case, it is not always possible to specify which profit or payment each deposit has been paid from. . Therefore, there is no particular limitation on the manner and timing of payment of the fee. At least, the “appropriation” here includes all cases where the fees are consequently applied from the deposit made by the applicant to the intermediary.

As described in "Price for purchasing a gift", the price paid for purchasing a gift may include other fees in addition to the selling price of the gift. In this embodiment, even when the gift application fee includes, for example, some kind of commission, what is recorded as a credit to the recipient is equivalent to the “sales price of the product”.

"When the recipient selects" desired credit "" is described, "regardless of the selection,
When the applicant selects a gift item ".

In this manner, in this embodiment, the recipient selects "desired credit", and the amount of credit owned by the recipient (apparent credit amount)
And the amount that the intermediary company keeps. In the present embodiment, this is adjusted by subtracting the credit for the credit fee or collecting the cash.

Here, the “amount kept by the intermediary business” is the amount received as a gift purchase price,
It means an amount (actual credit amount) obtained by subtracting the brokerage commission, the nomination commission, and the price paid to the sales company as sales.

Note that "adjust" does not necessarily mean that the difference is set to zero.

Next, the business methods according to the various aspects described above can also be realized by a business operation management device.

For example, the business method according to the first embodiment described above is realized as a fourth embodiment of the present invention. That is, in the fourth embodiment of the present invention, a simple product purchase / delivery application or a product purchase application for a gift without a selection right and a product purchase / delivery application for a gift with a selection right are transmitted via the Internet. When the application receiving means and the application for mere product purchase / delivery or the application for product purchase / delivery for a gift without option are received, the product specified by the applicant is given without giving the option to the recipient. When an unconditional delivery method that processes data to be delivered to the recipient and an application to purchase and deliver goods for a gift with options are received,
Gift contents notification means for notifying the recipient of the gift pertaining to the application via the Internet, and "Request to receive"
And "Request for credit" as options, a means for inquiring the result of the gift via the Internet about the will of the recipient for the gift offer, and when the recipient selects "I want to receive," While data processing is performed so that the product designated as a gift is delivered to the recipient, if "Credit Request" is selected, the amount corresponding to the price of the product designated as a gift by the applicant is credited to the recipient And a selection result corresponding processing means for processing the data so as to be recorded as
It is a business operation management device that can be applied to all or a part of the application purchase / delivery application price for a mere product purchase / delivery application or a gift without delivery option.

The business method in the second embodiment is as follows.
This is realized as a fifth embodiment of the present invention. That is, in the fifth embodiment of the present invention, an application receiving means for receiving, via the Internet, an application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a selection right, and an application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a selection right is received. In this case, by giving gift content notification means to notify the recipient of the content of the gift pertaining to the application via the Internet, and giving "request for receipt" and "request for credit" as options,
A selection result inquiry means for inquiring of the recipient's will for the gift offer via the Internet, and when the recipient selects "request to receive", the product designated as a gift by the applicant is delivered to the recipient. A selection result corresponding processing means for performing data processing such that when "desired credit" is selected, an amount corresponding to the price of the product designated as a gift by the applicant is recorded as credit to the recipient; , And the credit recorded to the recipient is a business operation management device that can be applied to all or a part of the application price for the purchase and delivery of goods for the gift with option.

The business method in the third embodiment is as follows.
This is realized as a sixth embodiment of the present invention. That is, in the sixth embodiment of the present invention, an application receiving means for receiving, via the Internet, an application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a selection right, and an application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a selection right is received. In this case, the gift contents notifying means for notifying the recipient of the contents of the gift to the recipient via the Internet, and giving "hope to receive" and "hope to exchange" as options, thereby providing the recipient with respect to the gift offer. A selection result inquiry means for inquiring the will via the Internet, and when the recipient selects "request for receipt", while processing data so that the product designated as a gift by the applicant is delivered to the recipient, If you select “Replacement request,” the product designated as a gift by the applicant It is exchanged with and are business operations management device and a selection result corresponding processing means for data processing to be delivered to the recipient. Needless to say, the fourth to sixth embodiments can be implemented in various combinations.

[0049] Preferably, the application receiving means in the business operation management apparatus according to the fourth to sixth embodiments receives the application via a website on the Internet. In this way, it is also possible to collectively perform a procedure for a product purchase / delivery application, present sales products, select a product by a customer, and the like on a web screen.

[0050] More preferably, the website for accepting a gift application includes one or more virtual shops. Here, "Virtual Store"
Means a fictitious sales store realized through a web screen. According to such an aspect, the user can select a gift item or the like with a feeling close to ordinary shopping while using the Internet.
The shopping can be further enjoyed.

In another preferred embodiment, the website for accepting a gift application is linked to one or more other websites on the Internet for selling merchandise. According to such an embodiment, for example, after the user selects a (gift) purchased product from the products presented on the site provided independently by the product sales company,
It is also possible to adopt a method of moving to a site and separately performing a procedure for purchasing a product on a site provided by the business method. That is, according to such an embodiment, each step in the business method of the present invention can be assigned to each site, so that it is possible to flexibly cope with a new participation of a seller in the business.

Preferably, the gift content notifying means in the business operation management apparatus according to the fourth to sixth embodiments sends an e-mail with link information to a website of a virtual store selling the gift, Notify the recipient of the gift.

Here, as an example of the “link information”,
The URL of the website of the virtual store can be mentioned. According to such an aspect, the recipient can know via a mail that the gift application has been addressed to him / her. In addition, the content of the gift can be known in more detail by referring to the image of the gift item through a web screen, for example, by linking to the site. It is also possible to attach an image of a gift item or the like to the mail in advance.

As described above, according to the business operation management apparatus of the present invention, the business method of the present invention can be realized by using the existing Internet. This allows
The user (customer) can easily receive many advantages by the business method of the present invention simply by operating a personal computer or the like at home, for example, which leads to an increase in the number of users.

In addition, both the broker and the merchandise seller
Since troublesome sales operations and the like can be performed by the device, it can greatly contribute to cost reduction.

[0056]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Here, first, the contents of the business method of the present invention will be clarified by showing an embodiment of the business method of the present invention with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8, and thereafter, the business method of the present invention will be realized on the Internet. A business operation management device as one means will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a business method according to the present invention. In this example, the management body of the business provided by the present invention will be described as "Cyber Gift Company". As shown in the figure, when a cyber gift company receives an application to purchase a product for a gift from a customer A, (1) the content of the gift (the sender, the content of the gift product, etc.) is sent to a recipient B. Notify, and (2) the option to either 'receive' the gift item or not to receive it, instead of 'gift preserving' the gift item, or 'exchange' the gift item for another desired item Is presented. Next, a response (selection result) to those options is received from the recipient B, and various processes corresponding to the response are performed.

"Receive" literally means that the recipient receives the goods specified by the giver.
"Credit storage" means, in this example, storing a product designated by the sender as a credit equivalent to the selling price of the product (hereinafter referred to as "cyber credit") in the recipient's dedicated account (for example, a book). Means
The saved cyber credit is set as 1 cyber credit (1c.c) = 1 yen at the time of the recipient's new product purchase application (including both gift product purchase and normal product purchase described later). It is said that it can be applied to the price. "Exchange" means to exchange the goods specified by the giver with new goods specified by the recipient.
In this example, it is possible to exchange for a product of the same price as the selling price of the product specified by the giver.

In addition to the application for purchase of a product for a gift, the cyber gift company also accepts a normal application for purchase of a product (a simple application for purchase and delivery of a product). In this case, upon accepting a product purchase application from applicant A,
The processing is performed so that the specified product is delivered to the specified destination without going through the steps of Note that various modes are conceivable for the 'delivery' of the product, such as requesting an existing delivery company, and therefore the delivery mode is not particularly described.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an outline of the entire processing in the business method of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, when a cyber gift company receives an application from a customer, it is either a normal product purchase application or a product purchase application for a gift (hereinafter referred to as a gift application). ) Is determined.

When the accepted content is a gift application (step 201, gift), the applicant (giver) information, gift item information, and recipient information are specified. Here, "Sender information" includes the name, address,
Contact / telephone numbers, E-Mail addresses, and the like. The “recipient information” includes the recipient's name, address, contact / telephone number, E-Mail address, and the like. “Gift product information” includes product name, product number,
The purchase quantity (number) and the like are listed. The gift item is selected by the giver from a product catalog distributed in advance, for example.

When the information is specified, settlement processing 1 is performed (step 203). The settlement here is mainly payment of the price related to the gift application by the giver. The price can be paid by cyber credit in addition to payment (for example, including payment by credit card). Here, entry in the book relating to settlement is also performed. The book contents, the description method, and the like are not described here, but in an embodiment as a business operation management apparatus later, examples of various books will be cited, and they will be referred to for detailed description.

When the settlement processing 1 is completed, the contents of the gift are notified to the recipient, and at the same time, the desired one of the recipient is selected from three options of “receiving”, “exchanging”, and “saving credit” of the product. (Step 20)
4).

When a response (selection result) from the recipient to the selection is accepted (step 205), the following various processes are performed based on the content of the response.

When the received answer is “receive” (step 206, receive), as a process at the time of reception, the goods designated by the giver are delivered to the recipient based on the various information specified in step 202. A delivery procedure is taken (step 207). Next, a settlement process 2 based on the confirmed receipt of the product is performed (step 2).
11). Here, entries are also made in the books based on the confirmed receipt. The “book” referred to here will not be described again, and will be referred to in order to give a detailed description of an example in a later embodiment as a business operation management device.

When the received answer is "exchange" (step 206, exchange), in this example, as a process at the time of exchange, in this example, the receiver is caused to select a desired product having the same price as the selling price (or total amount) of the gift product. (Step 208).
Next, a delivery procedure is performed so that the goods newly designated by the recipient are delivered to the recipient (step 209). Thereafter, settlement processing 2 based on the confirmation of the commodity exchange is performed (step 211). Here, the entry in the book based on the confirmation of the exchange is also performed. The “book” referred to here will not be described again, and will be referred to in order to give a detailed description of an example in a later embodiment as a business operation management device.

When the accepted answer is “store credit” (206, credit), a cyber credit amount equivalent to the selling price of the gift item is calculated, and in the subsequent settlement processing 2, the calculated cyber credit is transferred to the receiver. Is stored (listed) in a dedicated account (book). Here, other entries in the book are also made based on the confirmation of the credit storage. The “book” referred to here will not be described again, and will be referred to in order to give a detailed description of an example in a later embodiment as a business operation management device. The same applies to the content and mode of the dedicated account for cyber credit.

On the other hand, when the application content is a normal product purchase (step 201, normal product purchase), the applicant information, delivery destination information, purchased product information, etc. are specified (step 212). The “applicant information” includes the applicant's name, address, contact / telephone number, E-Mail address, and the like. In the “delivery destination information”, when the delivery destination of the product is different from the address of the purchaser (applicant), the address is specified separately. The “purchased product information” includes a desired product name, a product number, a purchased quantity (number), and the like.

When the information is specified, settlement processing 3 is performed (step 213). The settlement here is mainly payment of the price for the gift application by the purchaser. As with the gift application, the price can be paid by cyber credit, in addition to payment (including payment by a credit card, for example). Here, entry in the book relating to settlement is also performed. The book contents, the description method, and the like are not described here, but in an embodiment as a business operation management apparatus later, examples of various books will be cited, and they will be referred to for detailed description.

Various modes of operation of the cyber gift company are assumed. FIG. 3 shows a case where the cyber gift company is classified into four management modes from the viewpoint of the management subject and the source of the product.

In the figure, in form A, one sales company manages the cyber gift company and provides products.

In the mode B, the operation of the cyber gift company is performed by a business (intermediary business) between the customer and the sales business, and the sales business is provided by one sales business.

In the form C, a plurality of sales companies jointly operate the cyber gift company and provide sales products.

In the form D, the operation of the cyber gift company is performed by an intermediary business, and the sale of merchandise is performed by a plurality of sales businesses.

In the business method of the present invention, various commissions for providing a predetermined profit to an intermediary business or a sales business can be employed in addition to the simple profit from the sale of the product. FIG. 4 is a table showing a preferred example of adopting various fees for each operation mode. The outline of these fees is described below.

“Broker Fee” “Broker Fee” is a profit obtained by a brokerage company. In this example, it is a commission applied from the customer's payment for product purchase (gift product purchase, normal product purchase), and also corresponds to a part of the sales of the sales company. By adopting this commission, according to the business method of the present invention, the agency business itself can be established as an independent business.

"Nominating fee""Nominatingfee" indicates, in this example, a fee paid to a seller of a product designated by the giver when a gift application is made. In the present embodiment, when an application to purchase a gift item is accepted by the giver, the recipient is given an option other than 'reception of gift item'. For this reason, if there are multiple merchandise sellers in the cyber gift company, while one merchant's merchandise is designated as a gift merchandise, the sales will eventually lead to the sales of another merchant. There are cases. The nominating fee is employed in such a case to provide a certain profit to the seller of the product designated by the giver.
Note that, in this example, this fee is applied from payment of the customer related to the purchase of the gift item.

"Credit Usage Fee" As mentioned above, in the present embodiment, when a gift product is purchased, the recipient is given an option of "receiving" the product and "saving credit". Can be Here, if 'Save Credit' is selected by the recipient, the product designated by the giver is converted into a cyber credit (in units of cc) equal to the selling price of the product, and the dedicated account of the recipient. Is stored in On the other hand, if brokerage and nomination fees are used, a portion of the deposit paid by the giver will be used for those fees. In this way, the new credit amount generated for the sender's deposit and the sum of the deposit minus those fees (exactly,
In addition, a difference will be generated between the amount and the amount obtained by subtracting the amount paid to the sales company. Thus, for example, when a gift application is made by paying using only cyber credits and the recipient of the purchased gift is only 'credit-saved', there is no new deposit, Only the nomination fee to the merchandise distributor will be paid repeatedly. In such a case, for example, even though a sales company has sold a product of 10,000 yen, there is a situation where the broker has only a real balance of only 1,000 yen.

As one means for solving such a problem, a “credit usage fee” was created, and the credit usage fee is imposed on a user in accordance with the amount of cyber credit used at the time of settlement of a gift application. It is something that can be done. As a result, the actual balance (hereinafter referred to as the deposit balance), which is calculated by subtracting those fees (mainly the nominating fee) and the amount paid to the seller from the fixed deposit amount,
The difference between the amount of merchandise that can be purchased and the amount of merchandise that can be purchased is adjusted so that the above-described problem does not occur even if credits equivalent to the amount of gift merchandise sold are recorded to the recipient. The manner in which the credit usage fee is collected will be described later in detail.

As described above, since the functions and effects brought by the respective fees are different, the suitable adoption of these fees is also different depending on the operation mode of the cyber gift company as shown in FIG. It should be noted that this is merely an example, and the mode of adopting these fees is not limited to this.

As shown in the figure, in the form A, since the operation of the cyber gift company and the provision of the merchandise are performed by one sales company, these fees are not particularly adopted.

In the mode B, a brokerage commission is adopted because a brokerage company intervenes between one sales company and the customer. Also, since there is only one sales company, nomination fee is not adopted. In this case, if the brokerage commission is collected only from the seller who actually sold the product, there is no difference between the deposit balance and the credit balance without employing the credit use fee. .

In the form C, although there is no intermediary, there is a plurality of merchandise sellers, so a nomination fee is adopted. For this reason, the brokerage fee is not adopted, but the adoption of the nominating fee causes a difference between the real deposit balance and the credit balance. Therefore, a credit use fee is adopted to adjust the difference.

In the form D, since there are a plurality of merchandise sellers and brokerage providers, a brokerage commission, a nomination fee, and a credit use fee are employed.

The calculation, payment and collection of these fees are performed in step 203 in the flowchart of FIG.
The payment processing is performed during the payment processing (payment processing 1 to 3) indicated by 211 and 213, respectively.

The details of the settlement processes 1 to 3 are shown below. still,
In this embodiment, the form D shown in FIG. 3 is adopted.
Regarding the settlement processing in the cases of the modes A to C, those skilled in the art can easily come up with reference to the present embodiment. Further, in the settlement processing 1 to 3, the entries in various books and the like are also performed, and as described above, an example thereof will be described later in an embodiment as a business operation management device, and the contents thereof will be described. Are described in detail, and thus are omitted here.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of settlement process 1 (step 213) at the time of gift application. As shown in the figure, in this example, the settlement process 1 includes a price settlement process for gift application (steps 501 to 505) and a settlement process for payment or collection of various fees (steps 506 to 508). Contains.

In the payment settlement processing, it is confirmed whether or not the sender has used the cyber credit for the payment (step 501). Here, when the cyber credit is not used (step 501 NO), payment is made by payment (or a card or the like), and a payment amount corresponding to the selling price of the gift product specified by the giver is calculated (step 504). A customer who uses the cyber gift company for the first time (credit balance 0) is necessarily selected by the customer. When using cyber credits (step 501 YES), the cyber credit balance in the dedicated account of the giver is confirmed (step 502). Next, the credit use fee is determined (calculated) by a predetermined calculation formula (see FIG. 8) (step 503), and if further payment is required, the amount is calculated (step 50).
4). When the sender refuses the payment of the required cyber credit amount and the deposit amount presented by these (NO in step 505), the process is terminated, but if the sender approves (step 505 YES), then payment or collection of various fees Payment processing (steps 506-5)
08) is performed.

In step 506, x% of the sales amount of the product designated by the giver is preliminarily recorded (paid) to the seller as a nomination fee. In step 507, y% of the received money is recorded (collected) as a brokerage fee from the money received by the giver to the brokerage company. Next, the amount obtained by subtracting these fees from the deposit amount of the giver is stored as the remaining balance, and the process ends (step 508).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the contents of the settlement process 2. The processing here differs depending on whether the recipient's selection is 'receipt', 'exchange', or 'save credit'.

When the recipient's selection is "save credit" (step 601), the same amount of cyber credit as the sale price of the gift item is stored in the recipient's dedicated account (step 602), and the process ends.

When the recipient's selection is "receive" or "exchange" (step 601 receive, exchange), the merchandise seller (when the exchange is "exchange", the merchant sells a product newly selected by the recipient). Then, the amount calculated by the following equation is added (paid) (step 603), and the process ends. Payment amount = product sales price x (1-x / 100-y / 1)
00)

That is, in this case, the amount obtained by subtracting the previously assigned nomination fee and the like from the merchandise sales price is recorded. As a result, when the goods specified by the giver are received, the nominating fee has not been paid as a result. Also, if the 'exchange' of the product is selected, a part of the sales of the seller of the product newly designated as the recipient will result in a nomination fee to the seller specified by the sender. It will be appropriated. In addition, as is clear from the above calculation formula, the brokerage commission of the brokerage company is applied from the sales (payment by the customer) of the sales company.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the contents of the settlement process 3 at the time of normal product purchase.

As is clear from the figure, in this example, the settlement process 3 includes a price settlement process (steps 701 to 704) related to normal product purchase, a settlement process related to fee collection (step 705), and an intermediary business. And settlement processing (Step 706) relating to payment from the seller to the sales company.

In the payment settlement processing, first, it is confirmed whether or not the sender has used the cyber credit for the payment (step 701). Here, when the credit is not used (step 701 NO), payment is made by payment (or a card or the like), and a payment amount corresponding to the selling price of the gift product specified by the giver is calculated (step 703). When using a credit (YES in step 701), the credit balance in the dedicated account of the giver is confirmed (step 702). Here, if the cyber credit balance is less than the purchased commodity amount, the difference is calculated as an additional deposit (step 703).
As can be seen from this, no credit use fee is collected for normal product purchases. For this reason,
The customer is allowed to purchase products equivalent to the credit balance.

If the sender refuses the payment of the required credit amount and the deposit amount presented by the above (NO in step 704), the process is terminated, but if the sender approves (step 704 YES), then the brokerage fee is collected. In the settlement process, y% of the received amount calculated from the received amount calculated in step 703 is recorded (collected) as a brokerage commission by the brokerage company (step 705). Next, as settlement processing relating to payment from the intermediary business to the sales business, the following amount is recorded (paid) to the sales business (step 706). Accounted amount = α + β where α = used credit amount × (1−x / 10
0−y / 100) β = deposit amount × (1−y / 100)

As shown by 'α', there is a nominating fee (x% of the selling price) and a brokerage fee (y of the deposit amount) between the cyber credit amount recorded to the recipient and the real deposit balance. %), It can be seen that the difference has occurred. Also, it can be confirmed that the brokerage commission of y% has been deducted from 'β'.

FIG. 8 shows a formula for calculating the credit use fee in step 503 of FIG. 5 (settlement process 1). Note that this calculation formula is only an example,
The credit use fee is not limited to those calculated by these formulas.

In the figure, 'Sch' is a credit use fee, 'PR' is the selling price of a product, 'CC' is the remaining amount of cyber credit of the customer, x is a nomination fee rate (x% of the product selling price), y is the brokerage commission rate (y
%) Respectively. In this example, the commission can be set according to the situation by assigning a desired numerical value to x and y, as in the order of the designated commission rate → x% and the brokerage commission → y%. 'BC' is Sc
It indicates the maximum selling price of a product that can be purchased when all the price including h is paid from the current cyber credit balance, and is obtained by the following formula.

(Equation 1)

First, the magnitudes of PR, CC, and BC are compared. Here, if PR ≦ BC, the credit usage fee (Sch) is determined by the following formula.

(Equation 2) In this case, the additional deposit amount is 0 yen.

When BC <PR <CC, the credit usage fee (Sch) is determined by the following formula.

(Equation 3) In this case, the additional deposit amount is “Sch + PR-C
C ".

When CC ≦ PR, the credit use fee (Sch) is determined by the following formula.

(Equation 4) In this case, the additional deposit amount is “Sch + PR-C
C ".

The above calculation formulas were created by the present inventors, and employ the credit use fee defined by these calculation formulas and the fee collection and payment modes shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. By doing so, the following effects can be obtained simultaneously. Customers receive cyber credits equivalent to the price of the gift item. Further, if normal product purchase is used, it is possible to purchase a product corresponding to the cyber credit amount. The brokerage company can obtain a fixed brokerage commission (y% of the deposit amount) according to the deposit amount from the customer. Even a merchandise sales company that has just selected a product as a gift can also obtain a profit (x% of the sales price) according to the sales price of the selected product as a nomination fee. The sales company that finally sells the product is promised a deposit (effective sales) specified by the selling price of the product. Actual sales:-For the purchase of gift items: payment amount = product sales price x (1-x / 100-y / 1)
00) ・ In the case of normal product purchase: payment amount = used credit amount × (1-x / 100
-Y / 100) + deposit amount x (1-y / 100)

Next, the business method described above can be realized on the Internet. The embodiment shown below is
An operation mode according to the mode D shown in FIG. 3 is employed.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the business method of the present invention via the Internet. As shown in the figure, in the present embodiment, the Internet 5 is used as one means for realizing the business method of the present invention.
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a business operation management device for realizing various processes according to the business method of the present invention on the Internet, and includes a host computer 2 and a Web server 3.
And a mail server 4.

The host computer 2 stores various programs for executing various processes according to the business method of the present invention. The program is mainly for automatically executing steps (1) to (6) shown in FIG.

More specifically, first, an application for purchasing a product is accepted via a Web site provided by the business operation management device 1 ().

When this is a gift application, (−
1), and notify the recipient of the application by e-mail to the recipient specified by the giver, and receive the gift product
Offer a choice of 'reserve' instead of receiving, or 'reserve credit' equivalent to the selling price of the gift item, or 'exchange' the gift item for another gift item desired by the recipient, The recipient is urged to access a Web site provided by the business operation management device 1 ().

When the recipient accesses the Web site, a response (selection result) of the recipient to the option is accepted ().

After that, as an answer receiving process, various processes corresponding to the answer of the recipient are executed ().

When a product purchase application is accepted (-2), a process is performed to deliver the specified product to the specified delivery destination without going through the steps (1) to (4).
Note that various modes are conceivable for the 'delivery' of the product, such as requesting an existing delivery company, and therefore the delivery mode is not particularly described.

In the business operation management device 1, various files (books and the like) related to the application are stored in the memory as data. FIG. 27 is a diagram showing the contents of each memory area. As shown in the figure, the memory is provided with a sales company area, an intermediary company area, a member area, and a dedicated area for a product data file (a sales product area).

Data corresponding to the gift merchandise sales file, the normal merchandise purchase sales file, and the merchandise exchange sales file are stored in the sales company area.

In the area for the agency business, data corresponding to a settlement information file for an agency fee, a gift application file indicating the content of a gift application, and a product purchase file indicating a normal product purchase application are stored. You.

The member area stores data corresponding to a member file (including a credit account file for each member).

The sales merchandise data file is stored in the sales merchandise area. The details of these various files will be described later in order.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an outline of the entire processing in the business operation management apparatus 1.

In the business operation management apparatus 1, when a predetermined access is made to a home page from a customer via the Internet 5, first, the content processing is determined (step 90).
1) is performed, and various processes corresponding to the process type are executed. That is, when it is a “regular product purchase application”, a product purchase request process (step 902) is performed, and when it is a “gift application”, a gift request process (step 9).
03) is "reply from recipient", a response receiving process (step 904) is performed.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an outline of the gift request process (step 902).
As shown in the figure, the gift request process includes a gift request reception process by the giver (step 1001), a gift mail creation process for notifying the recipient of the gift request (step 1002), and a gift gift process. Sending the mail to the recipient (step 1003).

Gift request reception processing (step 1001)
, A Web page as shown in FIG. 19 is displayed. On this Web page, a plurality of merchandise sellers (virtual dealers) are shown, and the sender is
Select a desired sales company on the eb page. Then
Sales products are presented for each product sales company. FIG. 20 shows an example of a Web page displayed on the presenter side at this time. As shown in the figure, in this example, a product name, a product number, a selling price, and image data information are displayed for each product for sale. In addition, information on these sales products,
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 27, a product data file including image information for each product is stored in the memory area of the business operation management device 1 in advance. FIG. 28 (b)
Indicates the contents (example) of the product data file. As shown in the figure, this file stores a sales company, a product name, a product category, a product number, a selling price, and corresponding image data information for each product. As a result, in addition to product display for each sales company, display on a Web page based on classification such as product category and sales price is also possible.

When the presenter selects a gift item, FIG.
Is displayed, and various information necessary for the gift application is input by the sender on the Web page.

As shown in FIG. 21, the information input by the giver includes information of the giver, recipient information, gift merchandise information, and other information.

The giver information includes the giver's name, address, contact / telephone number, E-Mail address, credit card number used for settlement, and the like. If the giver is a member, the input can be omitted or simplified simply by inputting the member number and the password.

The recipient information includes the recipient's name, address, contact / telephone number, E-Mail address, and the like.

The gift product information includes a product name, a product number, a purchase quantity (number), a selling price, and the like. still,
For the product selected by the giver on the Web page shown in FIG. 20, the corresponding product information is called from the product data file described above and automatically input. In the case where a product is selected in advance from a product catalog or the like, the giver separately inputs the product information on the gift application Web page.

As other information, there is a message from the giver to the recipient.

[0130] Gift request reception processing (step 1001)
Are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

As shown in the figure, first, on the side of the business operation management device 1, the Web for gift application shown in FIG.
The various information specified on the page as the gift giver is stored (saved) as a gift application file in the intermediary business area shown in FIG. 27 for each application (step 1101). FIG. 29A shows the contents of the gift application file. As shown in the figure, this file contains the date of application, the sender's information,
Other information such as recipient information and gift information (including the total sales amount) is stored. In addition, each application (application 1
File No. for each Is attached, so that the association with other files can be specified.

Next, it is determined from the read information of the applicant whether the user is a member or not (step 1102). Here, if the applicant is not a member (step 1102 NO), a member registration process is performed (step 1103). In the member registration process, personal data for each customer is stored as a member file in the member area shown in FIG. FIG. 30 shows the contents of the member file. The member file includes a member number for each customer in addition to the name, address, contact / telephone number, mail address, card information (card number), and is stored together with the member PIN.
The cyber credit balance for each member is also stored in this file (dedicated account).

On the other hand, if the applicant is a member (step 1102 YES), the personal data for each member described above is called from the member area (member file) and the applicant information is read (step 1104).

Next, on condition that various information necessary for gift application is complete (step 1105).
YES) Perform settlement processing (step 1106). If the input information is not complete (step 1105N
O), the gift application reception flag is set to "0" (step 1109), and the gift reception process is terminated.

When the settlement process is completed (step 1107)
YES), “1” is stored in the gift application acceptance flag (step 1108), and the process ends. When the settlement process is not established (step 1107 NO), the gift application reception flag is set to “0” (step 1109),
The process ends.

The processing procedure in the settlement process (step 1106) has already been described in detail as an embodiment of the business method, so please refer to them (FIGS. 5 to 7).
In this example, the payment is made by a credit card (hereinafter simply referred to as a card). Regarding card payment, as already known, an inquiry to an authentication server or the like is generated, and the card N
O. The credit and collation of the card are performed based on information such as the user's name and personal identification number.

FIG. 22 shows the time of settlement processing (step 110).
6) shows an example of a Web page displayed on the presenter side. As described above, on the Web page, first, the total amount of purchased products for each gift application is calculated and displayed,
If the applicant is a member, the credit balance of the applicant is retrieved from the member file and displayed. Here, it is asked whether or not to use the cyber credit, and if "use" is selected, the credit usage fee (Sch) is calculated and displayed by the calculation formula shown in FIG. 8, and if the credit balance is insufficient, Further, the required deposit amount is calculated and displayed at the same time. When these processes are completed, the used credit amount is subtracted from the member file, the amount is displayed on the web page, and the credit amount is newly written in the member file.

In the settlement process (step 1106), as described above, various information related to settlement is stored as a data file (book).

FIG. 31A shows the contents of the gift sales file. When writing the gift sales file, the information of the gift application file stored in step 1101 is referred to. The gift sales file is stored as data in the sales company area shown in FIG. 27 for each product sales company.

As shown in FIG. 31 (a), the gift sales file contains, for each gift item, the date of the gift application, the sender information, the recipient information, and various information for specifying the gift item, respectively. (Member number, product number, etc.) and the selling price for each product. At the same time, the file No. for specifying the corresponding gift application file.
Is added, and the relation with other files is also specified. If there is a response from the recipient, the type (reception, exchange, credit) is stored. In addition, the amount of commission paid to merchants,
The balance paid when the 'receipt' is confirmed is stored. The total of the nomination fee and the payment amount at the time of confirming the receipt is calculated, for example, every month. Here, the nomination fee is calculated in step 110
After it is confirmed that the settlement has been completed in step 7, step 5 in FIG.
The amount calculated by the formula indicated by 06 is recorded in the corresponding column.

FIG. 29 (c) shows the time of settlement processing (step 1).
106) shows an example of the contents of a payment information file stored as data. The file is
7 is stored as a memory area in the area for the intermediary business.

As shown in the figure, this file contains, for each gift application, the date of application and a gift application file (or a normal product purchase application file).
File No. for specifying the association with And the payment amount information, such as the used cyber credit amount, deposit amount,
The credit usage fee (Sch) is stored. In addition, a brokerage business fee that is profitable for the brokerage company is calculated from the deposit amount (y% of the deposit amount) and stored. The payment amount (credit usage amount, deposit amount, credit usage fee amount) and the brokerage business fee are, for example, summed up for each month, and the total amount is calculated. In this file, in this example, settlement information relating to a normal application is also stored in this file at the same time. This will be described later.

Next, details of the gift mail creation processing shown in step 1002 are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

In the gift mail creation process, on condition that the gift application acceptance flag is “1” (step 1201 YES), various information (the giver information and the recipient information) of the application file saved in step 1101 , Gift information, message information) and fixed information of the mail are read (step 1202).
To step 1206).

Next, a gift mail is edited in a predetermined form based on the read information (step 1207), and a URL for the recipient to link to the home page is attached (step 120).
8). Also, when a reply is received from the recipient, the corresponding gift application file NO. (Or another NO. For specifying this) is attached (step 1208).

Gift mail transmission processing (step 100)
Details of 3) are shown in the flowchart of FIG.
As shown in the figure, in the gift mail transmission processing, first, the gift mail created in step 1002 is read (step 1301), and the mail address of the recipient is set as the destination address (step 1302). Then, the electronic mail is transmitted (step 1303). The transmission of the gift mail is performed via the mail server 4 shown in FIG. Thereafter, the message is received by the recipient according to a predetermined protocol.

FIG. 23 shows an example of a gift mail displayed on the recipient side in this way. As shown in the figure, the gift mail is provided with various information such as the sender, product information, and the like, so that the recipient can send a gift request to whom from whom. You can know what was done. In addition, you will be prompted to allow the recipient to access the homepage, and to select the desired service from 'receiving' or 'exchanging' or 'save credit' for the gift product, because it is a hyperlink to the homepage. And a gift application number.

When the gift recipient who has received the gift mail accesses the homepage according to the guidance, the business operation management device 1 executes the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 14 as the response receiving process (step 904). You.

In the response receiving process, a predetermined Web page is sent to the recipient (step 1401). The We
An example of page b is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, on this Web page, in addition to information on the product name, manufacturer, etc. designated by the giver, an image of the product is displayed, whereby the recipient can display the gift product information more You can know in detail. Although not shown in the flowchart, when transmitting the Web page, the recipient inputs the application number attached to the mail in advance, and the corresponding file (gift) is stored in the memory area of FIG. An application file, etc.) is called, and gift information and the like are specified.

On this Web page, the recipient is
When any one of “receive”, “exchange product”, and “store credit” is selected (answered), the gift business processing device 1
Side determines the answer (step 140).
2).

Here, when the recipient's selection (answer) is 'receipt' of the product specified by the giver (step 14).
03, receipt), processing as a gift product delivery request (step 1405), 'exchange' with another desired product
(Step 1403, exchange), the process as an exchange request is (step 1404), and if it is 'save credit' (step 1403, save credit), the process is as a credit save request (step 1414).
06) is performed.

The details of the delivery request processing (step 1405) are shown in the flowchart of FIG. As shown in the figure, in the processing at the time of the delivery request, the sender information, the recipient information, and the gift item information are sequentially read from the gift application file (steps 1501 to 150).
3) Then, a product ordering process is performed (step 15).
04). In the product ordering process (step 1504), various kinds of information read in steps 1501 to 1503 are transmitted by e-mail to a seller of the product specified as a gift, and the specified product is delivered to the address of the recipient. Procedures will be followed. Here, the product ordering process is performed via e-mail, but various other forms are also applicable.

When the merchandise order processing (step 1504) is completed, a settlement processing based on the confirmed receipt of the gift merchandise is performed (step 1505). Here, FIG.
In the response result column of the gift product sales file shown in FIG.
Is stored for each product. Next, step 603 in FIG.
The balance to be paid to the sales company is calculated by the calculation formula shown in (1), and is stored (accounted) in the corresponding column.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the details of the process at the time of requesting replacement. As shown in the figure, in the exchange request processing, first, desired gift item information designated by the recipient is read (step 1601). Here, the desired gift product means a product newly designated by the recipient in place of the product designated by the sender when the recipient selects "Exchange". Although not shown in the flowchart, at the time of merchandise exchange, the business operation management device 1 refers to the merchandise data file stored in the memory area and refers to the selling price of the merchandise specified by the giver or the Automatically select products worth the total amount. The selected merchandise group is displayed on the Web page as exchangeable merchandise together with image data, and the recipient selects a desired merchandise on the Web page. Thereby, the desired gift information is specified (read).

In step 1602, recipient information such as the address and name of the recipient is read from the gift application file (step 1602). The recipient information may be newly entered on the Web page in case the address or the like is changed.

In the following step 1603, an ordering process for the product is performed with respect to the seller of the product newly designated by the receiver by the 'exchange' service (step 16).
03). This ordering process is a delivery request process (step 15).
04).

At step 1604, a settlement process is performed based on the determination of the "exchange" of the gift item. Here, for example, "C" indicating that the "exchange" has been determined is stored for each product in the answer result column of the corresponding gift product sales file. 0 ($ 0) is stored as the balance to be paid to the seller specified by the giver. Next, information on the newly designated gift item of the recipient is stored as an exchange sales file. This exchange sales file is stored as data in the sales company area shown in FIG. Figure 3 shows the contents of the exchange sales file
This is shown in FIG. The exchange sales file is provided for each merchandise seller, and the file No. of the corresponding gift application file is assigned. (Or a NO. That can specify the correlation with the gift application file), recipient information, product number, and selling price are stored. In addition, the amount paid to the seller of the newly designated product by the recipient is stored. The amount is calculated by the formula shown in step 603 of FIG.

The processing in the credit saving request processing is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

In the credit saving request processing, it is determined whether or not the recipient is a member (step 1).
701). This is because the credit amount calculated based on the selling price of the gift item is stored in the member file when saving the credit. Here, if the recipient is not a member (step 1701 NO), a member registration process (step 1702) is performed according to a predetermined procedure, and a member file of the user is created. If the recipient is already a registered member (step 1701YE
S) The member registration process is omitted.

At step 1703, the total selling price of the product specified by the giver is read from the corresponding gift application file (step 1703), and the same amount of cyber credit as the selling price is added to the credit management file for each member. (Step 1704).

In step 1705, for example, "E" indicating that the "credit storage" is determined is stored for each product in the answer result column of the corresponding gift product sales file. 0 ($ 0) is stored as the balance to be paid to the seller specified by the giver. These steps 17
04, 1705 is a settlement process 2 (step 2) shown in FIG.
This is processing equivalent to 11).

In step 1706, the new cyber credit balance of the receiver is displayed on the Web page (step 1706). The description of the Web page is omitted.

Next, the details of the process at the time of a product purchase request (shown in step 202 in FIG. 9) will be described. still,
The selection of a product is almost the same as that of the above-described gift application, so that the description is omitted.

In the merchandise purchase request receiving process, the purchaser side (indicated by client A in FIG. 1)
The user inputs various necessary information on the Web page for applying for product purchase shown in (1). As shown in the figure, the information to be input includes the information of the purchaser, the purchased product information, and the delivery destination information.

The purchaser information includes the name, address, contact / telephone number, E-Mail address, credit card number used for settlement, etc. of the purchaser. If the giver is a member, the input can be omitted or simplified simply by inputting the member number and the password.

The purchased merchandise information includes a merchandise name, a merchandise number, a purchased quantity (number), a selling price, and the like. still,
As for the products selected by the giver on the Web page, the corresponding product information is called from the product data file described above and is automatically input.
In the case where a product is selected in advance from a product catalog or the like, the giver separately inputs the product information on the gift application Web page.

The delivery destination information includes the address, address, contact / telephone number, etc. of the delivery destination. The delivery destination information may be input only when the purchaser's address is different from the delivery destination address.

The details of the processing at the time of a product purchase request are shown in the flowchart of FIG. As shown in the figure, on the side of the business operation management device 1, first, various information specified by the purchaser as described above is stored in a normal product purchase application file (step 1801). . Here, the contents of the normal product purchase application file are stored for each application in the intermediary business area shown in FIG. FIG. 29B shows the contents of the application file. As shown in the figure, this file stores the date of application, the buyer's information, the buyer's information, the delivery destination information, the purchased merchandise information, etc. (including the selling price and the total selling price). . In addition, file No. for each application. Is attached, so that the association with other files can be specified.

In step 1802, it is determined whether the purchaser is a member. Here, if the purchaser is not a member (step 1802 NO), a member registration process is performed according to a predetermined procedure (step 1804). If the purchaser is a member (step 1802 YES), personal data for each member is called from the member area (member file) (step 1803), and purchaser information is specified.

Next, on condition that various kinds of information necessary for normal product purchase are complete (step 180).
5YES), a settlement process is performed (step 1806). Here, when the input information is not complete (step 1805 NO), the reception processing at the time of the product purchase request ends.
When the settlement process (step 1806) is completed, the ordering process is performed on the condition that the settlement is completed (step 1807 YES) (step 1808). When the settlement is not established (step 1807 NO), the reception processing at the time of the product purchase request ends.

The processing procedure in the settlement processing (step 1806) has been described in detail above, so refer to them (FIG. 7). In addition, even in normal product purchases, payment is made by credit card (for convenience,
(Hereinafter simply referred to as a card). The card payment is the same as described above for the "gift application".

In FIG. 26, the payment processing (step 180)
6) shows an example of a Web page displayed on the purchaser side. As shown in the figure, the credit use fee is not collected in the normal product purchase, so 'S
There is no display of ch '. On the Web page, first, the total price of the purchased product is displayed. If the purchaser is a member,
The credit balance of the applicant is retrieved from the member file and displayed. Here, it is asked whether or not to use cyber credit, and if "use" is selected, if the cyber credit balance of the applicant is less than the selling price of the desired product, the difference is calculated and displayed as the deposit amount Is done. When these processes are completed, the used credit amount is subtracted from the member file, the amount is displayed on the Web page (the amount of cyber credit after payment), and the credit amount is newly written in the purchaser's member file. It is.

In the settlement process, as described above, various information related to the settlement is stored as a file (book).

FIG. 31 (b) shows an example of the contents of a normal merchandise purchase sales file stored as data during the settlement process. At this time, step 1801
The information of the merchandise purchase application file stored in is read out. The product purchase sales file is stored in the sales company area shown in FIG. 27 for each product sales company.

As shown in FIG. 29 (b), the product purchase sales file contains, for each purchased product, information for specifying the purchase application date, purchaser, delivery destination, and purchased product (members). Number, product number, etc.) and product sale price. At the same time, the file No. for specifying the corresponding product purchase application file. Is added, and the association with the product purchase application file is specified.

In the settlement process, the settlement information file (FIG. 29 (c)) described above is used to specify the relationship between the application date and the product purchase application file for each product purchase application. File No. And a credit use amount and a deposit amount are stored as settlement information.

Next, FIG. 33 is a diagram conceptually showing a state of a link between a customer, an intermediary business, and a sales business through the Internet 5. The embodiment described above is
As shown in FIG. 33 (a), on the same Web site, application acceptance, presentation of purchased products (catalogs A, B, C...) To customers, and selection of products by the customers are performed. In the present embodiment, as a second embodiment, the presentation of a product to a customer and the selection of a purchased product by the customer can be performed on a site for each sales company. FIG. 33B shows the state of the link between the customer, the brokerage company, and the sales company in such a case.

As shown in the figure, in this example, the presentation of the purchased merchandise (catalogs A, B, C...) To the customer and the selection of the merchandise by the customer are performed on the site of each merchandise seller. On the other hand, various procedures before and after product selection are performed on the site of the intermediary company. The link between the sites at that time can be easily realized by, for example, attaching the URL of the homepage of the sales company or the brokerage company to each Web page. In this case, the URL sent to the homepage of the merchandise seller may be attached to the mail sent to the gift recipient.

In the above embodiment, the options to be given to the recipient are “receive”, “exchange”, and “store credit”.
However, it goes without saying that more options can be added. One example is 'rejected to receive'. In this case, for example, if the cyber credit equivalent to the product specified by the giver is stored in the giver's dedicated account, the selection result can be easily obtained without processing such as refund to the giver. Can also be dealt with.

[0180]

As is evident from the above description, the business method of the present invention makes it possible to flexibly respond to the wishes of the gift recipient while respecting the will of the giver contained in the gift. And a gift operation management device.

[0181] The brokerage company collects a predetermined commission from the sales company without burdening the product purchaser.
Gift business can be established as an independent business.

The seller of the product specified by the giver can be provided with a predetermined nomination fee even if the product is not received by the recipient, so that the seller of the product seller can receive the product. Motivation to participate can be increased, which in turn leads to the spread of the business method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a business method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of the entire processing in the business method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing some modes of operation of the business method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of adopting various fees for each management mode.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart (part 1) illustrating a settlement process at the time of gift application.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart (part 2) showing a settlement process at the time of gift application.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a settlement process when purchasing a product.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a calculation formula of a credit use fee.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an outline of the entire processing in the business operation management device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of a gift request process.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating details of a gift request reception process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating details of a gift mail creation process.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing details of gift mail transmission processing.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a process at the time of receiving an answer.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing details of a delivery request process.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating details of a process at the time of an exchange request.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating details of a credit saving request process.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing details of a process at the time of a product purchase request.

FIG. 19: We for selecting a sales company (virtual store)
It is a figure showing an example of page b.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a Web page for selecting a product.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a gift application Web page.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a Web page for settlement in a gift application.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a gift mail.

FIG. 24: We sent to the recipient at the time of answer acceptance processing
It is a figure showing an example of page b.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example of a Web page displayed to a purchaser during a normal product purchase request reception process.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of a Web page for settlement in a normal product purchase application.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing the contents of each memory area.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing the contents of a product data file.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing the contents of the intermediary company memory area.

FIG. 30 shows the contents of a member file.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the contents of a memory area for a seller.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing an outline of a business method of the present invention using the Internet.

FIG. 33 is a diagram conceptually showing a state of a link between a customer, an intermediary business, and a sales business.

[Description of Signs] 1 Gift business operation management device 2 Host computer 3 Web server 4 Mail server 5 Internet

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Soji Ishida Foothill Ranch, California, United States Balastrade Place 28 F-term (reference) 5B049 BB11 CC08 DD01 FF01 GG02

Claims (17)

[Claims] An application receiving step of receiving an application for a mere product purchase / delivery or a product purchase for a gift without a selection right, an application for a product purchase / delivery for a gift with a selection right, When an application or a product purchase / delivery application for a gift without options is received,
Accepts an unconditional delivery step that takes steps to deliver the goods specified by the applicant to the recipient without giving the recipient the option to choose, and accepts an application to purchase and deliver goods for a gift with the option When the recipient receives the gift, the designated recipient is informed of the content of the gift pertaining to the application, and an option granting step of granting the recipient an option including “desired receipt” and “desired credit” as options, When "Received" is selected, the procedure is taken so that the product designated as a gift by the applicant is delivered to the recipient. And an option corresponding step in which an amount corresponding to the price of the item is recorded as a credit to the recipient. All or part of the application price of the commodity purchase delivery for the price or no choice gift application for delivery to and is capable of appropriation, business method. 2. The business method according to claim 1, wherein the credit recorded to the recipient can be further applied to all or a part of a purchase / delivery application price for a gift with option. 3. An application receiving step for receiving an application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a selection right, and when the application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a right of selection is received, the contents of the gift pertaining to the application are specified. To the recipient, and granting the recipient the option to include "request for receiving" and "request for credit" as an option. When the recipient selects "request for receiving," While proceeding so that the product designated as a gift is delivered to the recipient, if you select "I would like to make a credit," the amount of the product designated as a gift by the applicant will be charged to the recipient's credit And the credited credit to the recipient includes the purchase of the merchandise for the optional gift. A business method that can be applied to all or a part of the application fee. 4. An application receiving step for receiving an application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a selection right, and when the application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a right of selection is received, the content of the gift pertaining to the application is specified. To the recipient, and granting the recipient the option to include "request to receive" and "request to exchange" as an option. If the recipient selects "request to receive", a gift is given by the applicant. If you select "Replacement request", the product designated as a gift by the applicant will be exchanged with the product specified by the recipient, And a corresponding step of taking a procedure to be delivered to the client. [5] When the recipient selects "desired credit" while being purchased as a gift, the prospective seller of the product that has not been actually purchased is given a price according to the planned selling price of the product. The business method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the designated amount is paid. 6. The business according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a brokerage company intervening between the customer and one or more merchandise sellers obtains a brokerage commission and executes the business. Method. 7. A method according to claim 1, wherein a reduction in the actual credit amount caused by paying the nomination fee to the prospective sales person is adjusted by collecting a credit use fee, so that the actual credit amount and the apparent credit amount are matched. 5. The business method according to 5. 8. Receiving an application for a gift with a selection option, the broker receives cash and / or credit equivalent to the purchase price of the gift, and the recipient selects “desired credit”. Regardless of whether or not the gift is purchased, a fixed amount corresponding to the amount of cash delivered by the applicant will be applied to the commission of the intermediary, and if the recipient selects "want to convert to credit", the amount of the gift purchase price will be A certain amount will be allocated to the commission of the seller who missed the sale of the gift, and the purchase price of the gift will be booked as credit to the recipient, and the recipient will use the credit to make a new selection When applying for a gift with rights, a fee corresponding to the amount of credit used will be collected from the recipient by credit or cash, and will be owned by the recipient. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a difference between the amount of credits to be paid and the amount of cash held by the intermediary agent is adjusted by subtracting credits by a credit fee or collecting cash. Business method. 9. An application receiving means for receiving, via the Internet, a simple application for purchase or delivery of goods or an application for purchase of goods for a gift without a right of choice, and an application for purchase and delivery of goods for a gift with a right of choice via the Internet. When an application for mere product purchase delivery or an application for product purchase delivery for a gift without options is received,
Unconditional delivery means to process data so that the goods specified by the applicant are delivered to the recipient without giving the recipient the option of selection, and application for purchase and delivery of goods for gifts with option is accepted When the gift is received, the gift contents notification means for notifying the recipient of the contents of the gift to the recipient via the Internet, and giving "request for receipt" and "request for credit" as options, to receive the gift offer Means for inquiring about the will of the person via the Internet, and processing the data so that the product designated as a gift by the applicant is delivered to the recipient when the recipient selects "I want to receive". , If you select "Credit Request", the amount corresponding to the price of the product designated as a gift by the applicant A selection result processing means for processing the data so as to be recorded as a credit of the taker, and the credit recorded to the recipient is merely a purchase price for a product purchase delivery or a product purchase delivery for a gift without option. A business operation management device that can be used for all or part of the application fee. 10. The business method according to claim 9, wherein the credit recorded for the recipient can be further applied to all or a part of a purchase / delivery application price for a gift with option. 11. An application receiving means for receiving, via the Internet, an application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a selection right, and when receiving the application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a right of choice, the application is executed in accordance with the application. Gift contents notification means for notifying the recipient of the contents of the gift to the recipient via the Internet, and by giving "Request to receive" and "Request for credit" as options, the intention of the recipient for the gift offer via the Internet When the recipient selects "Received", the data is processed so that the product designated as a gift by the applicant is delivered to the recipient, while the "Credit request" is sent to the recipient. When selected, you will receive an amount corresponding to the price of the product designated as a gift by the applicant. A selection result corresponding processing means for processing data so as to be recorded as a credit of the taker, and the credit recorded to the recipient is all or a part of the application price for the purchase and delivery of goods for the gift with the option. Business operation management equipment that can be applied to 12. An application receiving means for receiving, via the Internet, an application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a right of choice, and when receiving the application for the purchase and delivery of a product for a gift with a right of choice, the application is executed in accordance with the application. By giving a gift content notification means for notifying the recipient of the contents of the gift to the recipient via the Internet, and giving "request for receipt" and "request for exchange" as options, the will of the recipient for the offer of the gift via the internet When the recipient selects "Received", data processing is performed so that the product designated as a gift by the applicant is delivered to the recipient, and "Replacement requested" is selected. Occasionally, goods designated as gifts by the applicant are exchanged for goods designated by the recipient and received A business operation management device including a selection result correspondence processing means for performing data processing so as to be delivered to a person. 13. The business operation management device according to claim 9, wherein the application receiving means receives the application via a website on the Internet. 14. The business operation management device according to claim 13, wherein the website for accepting a gift application includes one or more virtual shops. 15. A website for accepting a gift application is another one on the Internet for selling goods.
14. The business operation management device according to claim 13, wherein the business operation management device is linked to two or more websites. 16. The gift contents notifying means notifies the recipient of the contents of the gift by sending an e-mail with link information to a website of a virtual store selling the gift. 13. The business operation management device according to any one of 12. 17. A storage medium storing a program for realizing each step of the business method according to claim 1 or each constituent means of the business operation management apparatus by a computer.