JP2002117315A - Method and system for selling commodities and providing services via interactive communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system allowing a seller of commodities and the like to sell a commodity desired by a customer, collect its cost, and put an advertisement online. SOLUTION: A customer transmits an order to a server of a payment processor for the seller and the third party by means of a personal computer. The payment processor identifies the customer and transmits an HTML document inputting information about payment and delivery to the customer. When the customer transmits payment information and delivery information to the payment processor server, the server demands approval of commercial transaction and confirms ordered commodities, and a list of the ordered commodities, a commodities ordered in the past, its peripheral commodity, and a supplemental commodities and a banner advertisement are transmitted to the customer. The customer selects a commodity to buy and transmits information about the order and payment. The customer making a request is notified of confirmation information about the transmitted information via an e-mail. In this confirmation information, the purchased commodity and the commodities bought in the past are listed. The customer checks a hyperlink and the payment processor so as to select the commodity, while the payment processor server transmits an HTML page identifying the ordered commodity, its price, and payment information on the customer to the customer, and the customer selects an ordering button so as to select a commodity to buy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a commercial transaction between a seller and a customer via the Internet, which is generally called electronic commerce. More specifically, the present invention provides an interactive communication system for providing specially created advertisements for the purchase and sale of goods and services, thereby providing opportunities for the provision of goods and services. Regarding the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As technology advances, the Internet is now widely used for electronic commerce. E-commerce is the use of online transactions between two businesses (called "business-to-business" or "B2B") or between a seller and a customer. E-commerce uses the Internet to embrace all online commerce, advertising sales of goods and services, receiving sales orders, answering customer questions, and processing purchase orders. Electronic commerce is "electronic business", "electronic tailing (e-tail)
ing) "and" Internet commerce (I-com
merce).

[0003] Sell goods using the Internet,
It is common general practice for merchants to set up a website to provide services. For example, a catalog listing products, their prices, their usage, and the like can be electronically versioned to form an e-commerce web site for business. Potential customers read the online catalog and select various products to purchase. A "shopping cart" method can also be used. In this method, a customer places an order,
"Checkout" to pay for all purchases
Up to this point, the seller stores the ordered goods. In this system, when a customer selects a product to be purchased from a list of products on a web site, an invoice is sent to the customer and notification of the shipment is immediately made. Your invoice contains sensitive information (for example, credit card information)
It is an important way to check if customer confidential information is inappropriate or not. In addition, there are many well-known encryption means (for example, a method of increasing reliability by using encryption "SS
L ") can also be used.

[0004] What is usually a problem for online merchants is the lack of the ability to effectively sell merchandise through the merchant's web site and the aggressive use of hidden customer web sites. Lack of ability to call. Promoting a site using ordinary methods is quite expensive and uneconomical. Further, in this advertising method, it is difficult to evaluate the effect, and sometimes the effect cannot be evaluated at all.

[0005] By the way, there is an attempt to improve a method for a seller to put a product on the market using the Internet and sell the product. One such proposal is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,141, issued on Feb. 22, 2000. This US Patent No. 6,02
No. 9,141 is a system for introducing a customer to a seller based on the Internet. An individual seller or a large number of sellers (referred to as “Associates”) pay a fee and can use the website from the seller's website. This is a system that allows you to put products you want to sell on the market. These associates will put information about putting the selected product on the market in the form of a hypertext link (referral link) that connects the customer from the associate's site to the merchant's site and allows them to purchase the selected product. Maintain a known web site. When the customer selects the referral link, the customer's computer transmits specific information to the merchant site that identifies the selected item and the item that the associate advertised, and allows the seller to identify the item and the associated associate. Let it. Thus, when a customer purchases a product from a merchant's site, a fee is automatically transferred to the associated associate's bank account.

The above-mentioned US Pat. No. 6,029,
The system described in No. 141 is by no means satisfactory. That's because it uses only a few customers to shop online. Many people who purchase online use themselves to go to the web site, inspect the product, and consider the services offered on the web site to purchase the product. It is customary not to do so. There are many reasons why there is a disparity in purchases. Customers with non-online outlines are cautious about keeping their confidential, and providing their credit card information elsewhere. US Patent 6,
The system described in No. 029,141 does not take appropriate measures against such a drawback.
In addition, the system described in this U.S. patent includes people who do not wish to purchase online,
Instead of targeting all hidden customers, it is only targeting customers who have decided to buy online.

[0007] Further, outline sellers advertise products to be sold, usually using "banner advertisements", and these banner advertisement systems usually use a history of customers who have used a website. You decide what your customers like to pick up (ie, previously researched or purchased products) and advertise products that they might be interested in. Because the system is based on historical data, merchants cannot focus on the most favorite items that customers typically buy.

[0008] Therefore, there is a need for a method and system for online sellers to focus on online customers rather than online shoppers. The system focuses on promoting products to buyers based on data that is more up-to-date than historical data, so that online sellers can provide customers with peripherals or accessories, Print paper and ink cartridges for printer buyers, reading lamps for book buyers, popcorn for movie ticket buyers, and car insurance for car buyers. Therefore,
This system has the advantage that online merchants can focus on products that are most likely to be of interest to customers.

[0009]

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION In view of the many problems discussed above, the purpose of this invention is to provide online sellers with
It is to provide a method and system for marketing and selling products in cooperation with a site or a network other than an online retailer.

[0010] It is another object of the present invention to advertise peripheral products of a product that a customer desires to purchase and to provide an effective advertising effect for an online seller.

It is a further object of the present invention to advertise the product to the customer not when the customer has decided to purchase the product but when the commercial transaction is about to be completed. The customer wants to add products that follow when the transaction is over rather than when the transaction is completed.

Another object of the present invention is to advertise a customer's favorite product and the category of the product using information on the latest purchase and past purchases. An object of the present invention is to increase the advertising effectiveness of online sellers by advertising peripheral products and their categories with respect to recent and past purchases.

Still another object of the present invention is to directly advertise to a customer by e-mail the peripheral products of the product purchased by the customer. Customers are most likely to purchase products around products that they have purchased in the past. In addition, e-mail promotions will reply by e-mail that the customer has purchased the e-mailed item for as long as the customer has an e-mail account.

An object of the present invention is to display a banner advertisement to a customer after the customer has completed a business transaction online. Giving a banner ad to a customer who purchases products online means that you advertise to customers who are more likely to buy products online than advertising to all customers who do not make purchases online. So the effectiveness of advertising is extremely high.

[0015] These objects and others comprise a payment processing method and system based on a purchase decision made by a customer by providing the customer with an opportunity to provide a merchant web site, advertising and goods and services. This is achieved by the present invention. When a customer purchases an item from a merchant's web site, the customer's computer communicates the customer's order and delivery information to a payment processor server. If the purchase is approved, the payment processor server sends the payment information (customer name and credit card number) to the financial institution server.

If the financial institution server determines that all of the information entered is correct, the payment processor server creates a thank-you page and sends it to the customer's computer to indicate to the customer. Thank You Page identifies the product categories you are interested in with special hyperlinks for the products you ordered, transaction numbers, banner ads and products and products ordered or previously ordered by that customer. . So, the customer can see the hyper-
Click either the link or the category hyperlink to get the product or category of product or additional information to purchase the product.

A list of related products displayed on the confirmation page is created from a database of products sold by sellers who are members of the seller's network. In the embodiment of the present invention, each seller who is a member uses a keyword in the seller's merchandise database to classify the merchandise according to a category, and also uses the keyword as a peripheral merchandise or an accessory to the merchandise to be sold. Enter information about products that can be used. When a customer purchases a product, the payment processor creates a list of products to provide to the customer by searching the product database for products identified by keywords as peripheral products or accessory products of the product purchased by the customer. When this list is presented to the customer, it is convenient because the peripheral or accessory products of the product purchased by the customer are shown, and it is convenient for those who purchase such a product.

In another embodiment of the invention, a merchant who is a member enters a category of merchandise sold by the merchant in the related category database in addition to or instead of a keyword. When a customer purchases an item, the payment processor server searches a related category database to identify the category to which the sold item belongs. The payment processor server then searches a database of product categories relating to the sold product and creating a list of product categories associated with the product. When the list is displayed to the customer, it is convenient for the customer to purchase peripheral products and accessories of the purchased product.

In another embodiment, a survey is conducted of products that are different from the products that the customer normally purchases, a list of products to be provided to the customer by keywords is created, and a product that the customer has previously purchased is analyzed. , And identify products that the customer would like to purchase.

In yet another embodiment, the payment processor server searches a database containing the information to determine the type of merchandise sold by the merchant and generate a merchandise list. This embodiment is special in that the payment processor server does not receive information about the customer's normal purchase and does not enter information about the customer's past purchases. In such a situation, the seller searches a database of sellers to determine the types of products and services provided by the seller, and creates a list of products that the customer may be interested in. The payment processor server may also set up a default table that identifies unpaid merchandise that advises the customer when paying the account.

[0021]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an outline of an interactive communication system according to the present invention. The interactive communication system comprises a customer's computer 11 and a seller's web site 30.
And a payment processor web site 32.
These are all connected by the communication medium 13.
The communication medium 13 includes one or more communication networks such as the Internet. Communication media 13 includes one or more interconnected personal networks, temporary private networks, and / or public networks. In order to completely maintain the confidentiality of the communication via the communication medium 13, the communication medium is provided with a plurality of security channels.

The customer computer 11 is a user (customer)
Any type of computer can be used as long as it can exchange information in a form that interacts with the web site via the web browser 12. Examples of the customer's computer include a wireless communication device such as an ordinary personal digital assistant (PDA) and a telephone with a wireless web function. The customer uses his computer 11 to interact with the merchant website 30 via the communication medium 13. In order to maintain the confidentiality of the communication through the communication medium 13, the communication medium is provided with a plurality of security channels.

The seller web site 30 is a web site having many functions. In other words, this web
The site is intended to display, review, and finally purchase a number of products and services to the customer. The web site 30 is provided with a seller web server 23, and provides a customer with a web page showing a list of products to be sold as information by way of a network. A customer who wishes to purchase a product can place an order for the product via the merchant website 30 and is usually a special delivery service of the United States Postal Service or Federal Express (trade name) and USP (trade name). You can contact us to receive the delivery. Seller Web Site 30
Handles, distributes and collects various orders and performs tasks related to selling goods and services.

The seller web site 30 also includes "back-end" hardware which includes a seller merchandise database 25, and a seller server 23.
Performs a number of functions, such as sending data to be used by the server 23 to interact with the web page 14 to generate textual information. Merchandise database 25
Contains a lot of information such as description, graphic image, price, usage, identification number and batch number of the merchandise.

Payment processor web site 32 comprises payment processor server 19 and a back end component such as a database. Payment processor web site 32 operates software that processes customer payments for goods and services purchased by the customer at merchant web site 30. To keep customers' financial information confidential, many merchant sites direct customers to payment processor websites 32, which process payments for commercial transactions. The customer's computer 11 is a secure private network, virtual
It communicates directly with payment processor site 32 via some secure communication medium 13, such as a private network or other secure network technology.

The payment processor web site 32 then interacts with the financial institution server 31 to transfer information regarding payments from customers of the merchant web site 30 to the financial institution server over a secure network connection. 31. The financial institution server 31 processes payment information to determine whether the customer has been authorized to purchase and an account for the goods or services purchased by the customer has been billed (eg, a credit card or checking account). . At the end of the transaction, the customer must return to the merchant site or pay the payment processor web
Either continue shopping at site 32 is selected on the thank you page. Payment processor server 19 ascertains the products that the customer has purchased from the merchant website, continues with the transaction, and ascertains products that are specifically designed to appeal to the customer as they purchase more products. . Payment processor server 19 prepares a number of scenarios to provide the customer with the opportunity for the customer to continue purchasing goods. The first is that the customer knows information about the purchases handled on the merchant's site. In accordance with this scenario, the payment processor server 19 checks the peripheral products of the product selected by the customer at the merchant website and / or the accompanying products. The payment processor server utilizes information provided to the customer by the merchant's website regarding the product selected by the customer in purchasing the customer's product.

The payment processor server searches a database on the merchant website to identify peripheral and / or supplemental products of the product selected by the customer for purchase. In another embodiment, payment processor server 19 (if available) selects products based on data stored in a database for the customer's past purchases.

In another scenario, the system does not provide customer purchase transaction information. This scenario is for merchants using their shopping cart system. In these schemes, the client's server sends the payment information to the payment processor server without confirming the purchased merchandise. In these manners, the payment processor server searches the merchant database 22 to find out what kind of merchandise the merchant sells,
On the thank you page 18, the merchandise to be displayed to the customer is determined. Next, the payment processor server 19 searches the relevant category database 26 to find out the category of the item sold by the seller. The payment processor server 19 then searches the product database 21 using keywords to identify the products that fit into each category and to display a list of products by category on the thank you page 18. As a method different from the above method, many products for which a contract has not been established so that customers continue to purchase are shown as a default table.

The payment processor website includes a banner advertisement database 20, a product database 21, a seller database 22, and a related category database 2.
6. Commerce database 27 and customer database 2
9 and many other databases. Banner advertisement database 20 contains banner advertisements that are retrieved by payment processor server 19 for display on the payment processor web page to inform customers. Banner advertisements are generally advertisements that show the seller's brand name (eg, "McDonald" (TM)) or that indicate the products to be sold and the services offered, and are approximately three inches in length. is there. These advertisements are also displayed on the web site and shown directly to customers. Customers interested in the particular seller, product or service indicated in the ad can click on the banner ad and the customer's web browser 12 to receive the ad's web page.

The merchandise database 21 stores information on merchandise of a seller who is a member of the seller's network. The merchandise information stored in the database 21 is used for ordering merchandise to a customer of a seller as a member and actively selling the merchandise. The details will be described later. Seller database 22
Is used in embodiments of the present invention to recognize the category of merchandise sold by a member seller. The related category database 26 is used to combine a product with another product. The commodities to be combined are peripheral commodities purchased by the customer or commodities complementary thereto. Commerce database 27 records transactions processed at payment processor web site 32. Customer database 29 records customer information and combines that information with customer identification numbers. It is more convenient for customers who repeatedly use the payment processor site to use these customer identification numbers than to re-enter payment information.

Not only does the seller web site 30 perform payment-related operations, but the payment processor web site 32 activates an online seller network to make purchases when the customer makes a purchase. Products can be promoted to other customers. The network system of the present invention analyzes the merchandise purchased by a customer of a seller of a network member and directs the sale of peripheral goods of the purchased merchandise sold by another seller of the network member. Such peripheral products are products that are attractive to customers because they are peripheral products of the product obtained by the purchaser or supplementary products. The combination of the purchased product and its peripheral products, the display of the peripheral products for advertisement, and the like are performed by the payment processor server 19 described later in detail.

The payment processor web site 32
Activate registration software that performs an online registration process to register sellers who are members of the seller's network. Companies that have registered merchants as members of the network are provided with a payment processor server 19 through a complete online registration application that is processed by a registration software program. The registration software inputs a database consisting of information provided to registered sellers.

In another embodiment, merchant registration is not performed at the payment processor web site 32, but rather at a web site operated by a payment processor server partner or associate. Merchants can also complete the registration application software program that runs on the partner's website and register for member merchants' programs through these partner's web sites. partner·
The site transmits the completed application to the payment processor web site 32. The payment processor partner may pay the member merchant's program the financial terms of each member merchant registered through that partner's website.
In a different embodiment, these partners obtain ad space on the payment processor web page in exchange for registering the merchant as a member in the merchant's network. This method and system is intended to allow payment processor partners to place their brand names in programs that sellers place on the market, to be rewarded for registering sellers, and to make payment processor servers Therefore, there is an advantage that it is possible to attract more sellers who become members.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the payment processor server serves to add members to the merchant's network without asking the merchant for compensation. In this embodiment, merchants are invited to take advantage of this payment system because they have the opportunity to sell the goods through the payment system without any additional fees. The payment processor server profits by selling the space for the banner ad on such a merchant thank-you page.

With registration and duration as needed (eg, every 14 days), member sellers enter information about products sold by each member's seller into product database 21. This information is information on the category, price, description of the product, peripheral products of the product in the database, or its supplementary products. A unique feature of product database 21 is that it uses keywords and categories to match peripheral or supplemental products with purchased products in order to advertise to customers. An example of a category and a keyword of a product considered to be related to such a product is shown in a table as follows.

[0036]

[Table 1]

In another embodiment, the merchandise data is stored in a database and is activated by the member merchant rather than by the payment processor server. This embodiment has the advantage that each member's merchant can keep its database information updated with new merchandise information without breaking the system. In addition, the seller receives an order for a huge number of products, and the seller's product database is too expensive or too wasteful to populate the seller's product database 21. It is advantageous in the case. Rather, it searches a merchandise database operated by the merchant, and merchant server 23 transmits merchandise information, including keywords, to payment processor server 19.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention operates in liaison with merchant web site 30, it comprises a payment processor site 32 separate from this site, but of course, the payment processor The server is operated by the seller. For example,
The site includes a payment processor server and components associated with the server, and a merchant server and components associated with the server. This has the advantage of eliminating the need to connect the merchant and the payment processor server, i.e., integrating them.

Referring to FIG. The customer instructs his computer 11 to access the web page 14 of the seller using the web browser 12,
The merchandise is purchased on the seller web site 30 (step 41). An example of a seller's web page is shown in FIG.
The web pages 14 of these sellers display information such as product prices, product descriptions, images, and the like regarding the products sold by the seller. These web pages are generated by the seller server 23 that searches for merchandise information from the merchandise database 25. In addition, the seller web page 14 selects a product and gives a customer an opportunity to actively purchase the product.

The customer uses a mouse on the customer's computer 11 to purchase a desired product displayed on the seller's web page 14 using buttons associated with the desired product (eg, "add to cart"). car
t) Move the cursor to the button and select a desired product (step 43). Then, the customer's computer 11
Transmits the product identification number to the seller server 23 (step 45). The seller server 23 searches the merchandise database 25 using the merchandise identification number, and extracts the description, acquisition method, and price of the merchandise (step 47).

The seller server 23 creates a "shopping cart" web page 16 and transmits it to the customer's computer 11 for display (step 4).
9). The shopping cart web page 16 lists all the products selected by the customer from the merchant web site 30 in order to actively market the product to the customer.
This is analogous to a customer just entering a grocery store and walking around with a shopping cart and picking up goods in the cart.

The customer returns to the seller web page 14 to continue the purchase (and, when the shopping is over, the shopping
Return to the cart web page 16) or click the "Check Out" button to purchase the items listed on the shopping cart web page 16. (Step 51).

In another embodiment, the shopping
The generation of the cart web page 16 is performed by the payment processor server 19 using the product information stored in the product database 21. When a customer selects an item to be added to the shopping cart, it is transmitted to the payment processor server 19 and the server 1
9 searches for product information from the product database 21,
Create a shopping cart web page 16 and transmit the shopping cart web page 16 to the customer's computer 11.

When the customer decides to pay the account, the seller server 23 (as shown in FIG. 3) provides the information necessary to process the payment from the seller's merchandise database 25 via the communication medium 13. And transmits it to the payment processor server 19 (as shown in FIG. 3) (step 53).
This information includes the seller's member identification number, product identification number, and transaction costs.

Next, the payment processor server 19 creates a payment web page 17 (as shown in FIG. 10). The web page 17 has a blank portion for providing payment information and delivery information to the customer. The payment web page 17 is transmitted over a secure network connection to the payment processor server 19 for display on the customer's computer 11 (step 55). The customer enters the payment information and delivery information into the payment web page 17 and clicks the "Submit" button to send the information and request to complete the transmission to the payment processor server 19 via the secure network connection. Are transmitted (steps 57 and 59).

Customers who have previously purchased merchandise from a member merchant are given a special identification number by the payment processor server 19. In this case, the customer can enter that special customer identification number instead of providing information to complete the fields on the payment web page 17. Substituting the customer's special identification number into the payment web page, the payment processor server 19 will check the customer's database to obtain the information needed to complete the transaction (eg, shipping and billing information). Search (step 59).

When information is entered from the customer's computer 11 into the payment web page 17, the payment processor server 1
9 checks to see if any information required to complete the transaction has been provided by the consumer (step 61). If the information is not provided, the payment processor server re-transmits the payment web page to the consumer's computer 11 to inform the consumer of the information needed to complete the transaction and provide the customer with the information. Provides the information and requests that it be resubmitted to the payment web page (step 63).

Next, once the customer has provided all the necessary payment information, the payment processor server 19 requests permission from the financial institution server 31 to receive payment for the transaction, as shown in FIG. Payment Web Page 1
7 and payment information 67 provided by the customer
Include, for example, product identification, credit card number, validity period, transaction amount, batch number, etc., and are sent by the payment processor server 19 to the financial institution server 31 via the secure network connection 28. (Step 65). Financial Institution Server 3
1 processes the payment information and determines whether or not the commercial transaction has been approved (step 71). Financial Institution Server 3
1 notifies the payment processor server 19 of the result of this investigation via the secure network connection 28 (step 69). If payment is accepted, the payment processor server indicates to the customer on a web page (not shown) that the order is being processed and that processing will take a few seconds. It takes into account that banner ads can be displayed on this web page.

If payment is approved, the payment processor server determines (step 69). Payment Processor Server 1 if business transaction is not approved by financial institution
9 shows that the customer's computer 1
1 (step 75), and requests confirmation from the consumer as to whether the payment information provided by the customer is correct or not (step 77). In this way, the consumer is given a chance to send the payment information again (step 54).

When the transaction is accepted by the financial institution server 31, the payment processor server 19 sends the transaction data (eg, product identification, date, price, customer name, credit card, etc.) as shown in FIG. Information, etc.) is stored in the commercial transaction database 27 (step 79). And the payment processor server 19
According to data such as the customer name, address, and special identification number stored in the customer database 29, a special identification number of the stored customer is generated (step 81).
As described below, this customer identification number identifies the customer at a later date when purchasing the product on the merchant site of which the customer is a member, and analyzes the product that the customer has purchased in the past. To help you decide which products you might be interested in and advertise them.

Next, payment processor server 19 confirms the commercial transaction and generates a thank-you page 18 designed to encourage consumers to continue purchasing products. Initially, the payment processor server lists on the thank-you page 18 a list of products surrounding the product purchased by the customer. The payment processor server 19 searches the product database 21 for keywords relating to each product purchased by the customer. These keywords are grouped into categories so that they are also related to peripheral or supplemental products sold by sellers that are separate from the products sold by the member sellers. Is stored in the product database 21 in advance. Once the keywords are identified, payment processor server 19 searches commodity database 21 for the peripheral commodities using the keywords identified in step 83 (step 85). Products that are categorized by these keywords, along with information about the products (eg, product names, images, prices, acquisition methods, etc.), are combined and categorized by keywords to create a list of peripheral products. (Step 8
7).

When many sellers sell the same product, the products with the lowest price are listed at the top, and the products with the higher prices are arranged in order below and the thank-you page 18 To be displayed.

In another embodiment, the merchant activates his shopping cart system and stores it in merchant database 25 rather than using merchandise database 21. When the consumer clears the account, the seller server 23 checks the seller's product database 2
5 to create a list of keywords associated with each purchased product. This list of keywords is transmitted along with payment and shipping information to the payment processor server 19 that uses the keywords to search the product database 21 for peripheral products.

It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the seller is not involved in the characteristics of the keywords of the seller network. In such a case, merchant server 23 communicates the customer's order to payment processor server 19. After the transaction is authorized, a list of advertisements for products that may be of interest to the customer is created using the historical data of the products that the customer has purchased in the past.
Will be displayed. The payment processor server 19 uses the payment information to identify the customer, and searches the database 29 of the customer for information on products that the customer has purchased in the past. Products purchased in the past are changed to keywords so as to be used for peripheral products that have been entered in the database.

Next, the payment processor server 19 searches the banner advertisement database 20 to display a banner advertisement on the thank you page 18 and notify a third party.

As will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 6, the thank-you web page 18 is created by combining a customer's special identification number, a banner advertisement, and commercial transaction confirmation information with a product list of peripheral products.

Next, the thank you web page 18 is transmitted by the payment processor server 19 to the customer's web browser 12 (step 93). At the same time, a thank you email 24 is created using the same information as above to create a thank you web page 18. This Thank You Email 2
4 is transmitted to the customer's computer via the communication medium 13 (step 95). The thank you email 24, much like the thank you web page 18, includes commercial transaction confirmation information, a customer's special identification number, and advertisements for related products. In a preferred embodiment, the advertisement further includes a banner advertisement (if the Thank You Email 24 is configured with a graphic) or an advertisement indicating to a third party of text advisory (text advertisement).

Referring to FIG. The customer can return to the merchant site 30 to continue the purchase, or can investigate the merchandise displayed on the thank-you web page 18 and, if necessary, purchase (step 101). This type of advertisement can be selected by the customer by clicking on an "add to cart" button displayed beside each product for purchase (step 103). The customer then selects the "check out" button to place an order to purchase the item (step 104). Payment processor server 19 receives the identification number of the ordered product from the customer's computer.

[0059] The payment processor server then accounts for the prices for all the commodities and makes payment web page 1
7 is prepared, the payment web page is prepared by completing, sending, etc. the customer's payment received from the customer's database 29, and the payment web page 17 is transmitted to the customer's computer 11. An example of a completed payment web page is shown in FIG. If the customer is satisfied with the payment information, the information is transmitted to the payment processor server 19 by clicking the "OK" button.
If the customer wishes to modify the payment information, this can be done by modifying the information shown on the payment web page (step 107). The customer can also click the "Clear" button to clear the surface of the payment web page. Then, the bank payment web page 17 is provided to the customer. An example of a bank payment web page is shown in FIG. The customer then enters new payment and purchase information (step 113 shown in FIG. 3) and sends the information for processing by payment processor server 19 (steps 57 and 59 shown in FIG. 3).

After providing all the information required by the customer, the payment processor server searches the financial institution server 31 for commercial authorization information, as shown in FIG.
Once the transaction is approved, the customer can see the Thank You Page 18
(An example is shown in FIG. 14) and a thank-you email 24 containing advertisements for peripheral products
(Not shown) (steps 93 and 9)
5). Then, the customer can select the product to purchase again.

In another embodiment, the merchant can activate his shopping cart system. That is, when the customer has paid for the purchased item, the customer transmits the payment information to the payment processor server. The payment processor server does not receive keywords or information identifying the merchandise purchased by the customer. To display the merchandise on the thank you page 18 to the customer, the payment processor server 19 identifies the merchandise that the customer is particularly interested in or purchased through the buyer's website, Another approach is to identify customers that are designed to continue their business transactions and purchase additional products. 15 to 17 will be described. Payment processor server 19 identifies the seller who sold the item and searches the seller's database for the category of item sold by the seller (steps 233, 234, 235). Then, the payment processor server 19 searches the product database to identify the product corresponding to each category (steps 213 to 218). Next, the payment processor
The server 19 creates a thank you page 18 for displaying to the customer a list of product categories similar to the product sold by the seller (step 22).
0). Each category is provided with a hyperlink that can be clicked by the customer and that displays a list of products similar to the products sold by the seller to indicate to the customer. Steps 226, 227, and 228 indicating merchandise based on the customer's past business transactions or customer actions are shown in the same manner as the default tables 235 and 236.

In another embodiment, the payment processor server 19 includes in a thank you page 18 a list of categories for products sold. The steps by which payment processor server 19 builds this list are shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 15, the payment processor server 19 searches the financial institution 31 for approval for the transaction (step 21).
0). If so, payment processor server 19 provides information about the sold item (step 212). Once the required information has been entered, payment processor server 19 identifies the information provided regarding the sold item (step 214). Next, payment processor server 19 searches the relevant related category database for the relevant category of the item (steps 216, 217, 218). Thus, the payment processor server searches for related peripheral products using the keyword, the product identification number, and the product name, and removes duplicate products from the payment processor server 19 (step 2).
19, 220). An associated category database is maintained in the payment processor server 19 for selling and recognizing the products by category, and when a customer purchases a product in a category, the customer receives the product in the category associated with the purchased product. Display products.

Referring to FIGS. If the peripheral product displayed on the payment processor server 19 is not identified, the category of the related product is displayed (step 224). If the peripheral product is identified, it is displayed on the thank you web page 18 (step 22).
5-237). And whether the payment server has the customer's payment information and a record of the products the customer has previously purchased
The customer database 29 is searched using other identification information in order to check whether or not it is not (steps 226, 227,
228). With such records, the payment processor
The server 19 searches the category database 26 for a product category related to the category of the product purchased by the customer (step 232). The payment processor server 19 then provides a thank-you page 18 for creating peripheral products, related products purchased in the past, categories for those products, and banner advertisements.
Is created and displayed (steps 237, 238). If no peripheral product is identified, payment processor server 19 defaults the product category. (Steps 235 to 236).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a combination of the main components of a system operating according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the system of FIG. 1 in connection with the selection of a product.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the system of FIG. 1 on a payment web page.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the system of FIG. 1 upon confirmation of a commercial transaction.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the system of FIG. 1 upon completion of creation of a thank-you web page.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the system of FIG. 1 by displaying a thank you web page.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the system of FIG. 1 by continuous purchase.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a merchant's web page according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a shopping cart page according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a payment web page according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a thank you web page according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a payment completion page according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 shows an example of a bank payment web page according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a thank you web page for continuing commercial transactions according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the system of FIG. 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the system of FIG. 1 according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the system of FIG. 1 according to a different embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Customer Computer 12 Web Browser 13 Communication Medium 14 Seller Web Page 16 Shopping Cart Web Page 17 Payment Web Page 18 Thank You Web Page 19 Payment Processor Server 20 Banner Advertising Database 21 Product Database 22 Merchant Database 23 Merchant Web Server 24 Thank You Email 25 Merchant Merchandise Database 26 Related Category Database 27 Commerce Database 28 Secure Network Connection 29 Customer Database 30 Merchant Web Site 31 Financial Institution Server 32 Payment Processor Web ·site

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G06F 17/60 504 G06F 17/60 504

Claims (26)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A step of maintaining a product information database having product information including a record of a large number of products corresponding to information on products, wherein a user of the seller web site is applied for at the seller web site, or Receiving a communication indicating that one or more products selected in consideration of purchase or purchase are selected; and searching the product information database for one or more products selected by the user in consideration of purchase or purchase. Identifying the one or more products found by searching the product information database for providing to the user; and providing the user with an opportunity to select one or more products that the user purchases or respects the purchase. Providing one or more web pages to a user's web page for the purpose of inviting the purchase of one or more products in the flow of e-commerce. Method. 2. The method of claim 1, comprising registering a plurality of merchants as members of a member network to establish a merchant network. 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of receiving from the member seller information about the products that the member seller sells online. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the merchandise information database includes merchandise information received from a member seller. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of communicating with the financial institution to obtain consent of the financial institution for a user purchasing one or more selected products applied to the merchant website.
The method described in. 6. The method of claim 1 including receiving information from a user displaying one or more products selected by the user from a product information database. 7. A step of searching one or more products selected by a user from a product information database from a product information database, and using an opportunity for the user to select one or more products in consideration of purchase or purchase. Providing to the person. 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing the user with an opportunity to select one or more items identified in view of the purchase or purchase by e-mail. 9. The method of claim 1 including communicating a banner advertisement to a customer. 10. A step of registering a plurality of sellers as members of a member network to establish a member network, and a step of registering information on products sold by the member sellers online. Receiving the information from the seller, maintaining the information of the seller as a member in the database, and providing the user with the information provided by the seller's website.
Receiving information indicating that the user is interested in the above-mentioned product; and providing an opportunity to allow the user to purchase one or more products identified in the seller's product database with respect to the product that the user is interested in A method of inviting a user to purchase one or more products in a flow of electronic transactions consisting of: 11. The receiving step includes a step of receiving a communication indicating one or more products that the user of the merchant web site has purchased or selected in consideration of the purchase or purchase. Item 10. The method according to Item 10. 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of searching the member merchant database for one or more products selected for purchase or for purchase. 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of searching a user's information database to identify one or more items located. 14. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of communicating with the financial institution to obtain approval from the financial institution to sell the selected one or more products to the user on the merchant website. the method of. 15. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of receiving a communication from a user indicating one or more selected products ordered from a member merchant's product database.
The method described in. 16. A step of searching the merchandise database for merchandise corresponding to one or more merchandise selected from the merchandise database of the merchant of which the user is a member. Providing the user with an opportunity to select one or more products identified in consideration. 17. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of e-mailing the user to purchase or provide an opportunity for the user to select one or more items identified in view of the purchase. 18. The method according to claim 10, comprising transmitting a banner advertisement to a customer. 19. The method of claim 10, including the step of periodically updating information as a member of the member merchant to update the member merchant's database. 20. A merchandise information database holding records of a plurality of merchandise corresponding to merchandise information, and a user of the merchant web site makes an application to the merchant web site in consideration of purchase or purchase. A server capable of receiving communication from a merchant web site displaying the selected one or more products, and a product information database of information on one or more products selected by the user in consideration of the purchase or purchase A server that can search for and identify one or more products located by the search, and can transmit to one or more web pages provided to purchase or consider purchases; A server capable of transmitting one or more web pages that provide a user with an opportunity to select one or more items identified for purchase or consideration for purchase. Scheme to solicit one or more of the purchase of goods to the user by the flow of e-commerce consisting of a. 21. The method according to claim 20, further comprising a seller network established by registering a plurality of sellers as members of the member network. 22. The system according to claim 21, further comprising a server for receiving information on merchandise sold online by the member seller from the member seller. 23. The system according to claim 22, further comprising a server for receiving information on merchandise from a member seller. 24. The system of claim 1, including a financial institution that allows the user to purchase one or more selected products that the user has applied to the merchant website. 25. A survey for determining whether or not a user accepts a specific commercial transaction established by the user acquiring one or more products selected by the user who has applied for the seller web site. A field, information about the product that displays one or more products selected by the user from the seller's website, a selection button associated with each product, and a user using the purchase or considering purchase And a second field having a selection button for providing a user with an opportunity to select one or more products. 26. The graphic web interface according to claim 25, further comprising a third field comprising a banner advertisement.