JPH09198442A - Card system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To manage sales conditions by inserting a card into a card terminal before a shop is opened, preparing the start of bushiness such as shop registration, afterwards, giving a point through the card terminal to a customer and performing sum-up processing by inserting the card into the card terminal after the business ends. SOLUTION: According to the sum-up operating instruction by a card terminal 1, the sum-up operation is performed by inserting a sum-up card into the card terminal, and the result is displayed on a monitor 6 and recorded in the card terminal sum-up card. Next, according to the instruction from the monitor 6, the start of business such as shop registration is prepared by inserting a shop card and various sales promote cards. Afterwards, the point card of the customer is inserted to the card terminal 1 and data such as a prescribed number of points or the number of days of visits are recorded in the point card. When business ends, the card terminal sum-up card is inserted, the sum-up operation is performed for every card terminal and the summed-up result is displayed on the monitor 6 and recorded in the card terminal sum-up card.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card system capable of strengthening sales promotion of a store and managing sales results.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a store or the like, a large number of stamps having points printed thereon are purchased from a central company, and stamps are presented to consumers in accordance with the purchase amount. In general, a service stamp system is used in which a stamp received is attached and stored, and an item is received from a central company in accordance with the number of stored stamps. However, in the above service stamp system, the store side has to manage a large number of small stamps, and the consumer side also needs to attach the received stamp to the notebook, It has to be stored and managed until it is affixed to a notebook, and there is a problem in that both are troublesome. In order to solve this problem, a consumer's magnetic recording card, that is, a point card, is created, points are given to the consumer according to the purchase amount, and the point card is inserted into the card terminal at a store and the purchase amount is entered. The point card corresponding to the purchase amount is recorded on the consumer's point card, and when a predetermined number of points are accumulated, the point card is exchanged for an item corresponding to the point number, or exchanged for a stamp of the accumulated point number. The system has been adopted.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional point card system, only the point card that displays the number of points according to the purchase amount is used, and it does not contribute to the management of the sales situation in the store. However, there is a problem that the operation of totaling sales and the like has to be performed separately, which is complicated. In addition, points are recorded on the consumer's magnetic card for the purchase amount when the points are serviced at the time of opening a store, on the anniversary of the opening of the store, at the time of promotion such as large sale, that is, when the points for the same purchase amount are increased. The number has to be different from the usual case, and it takes time and effort to change the setting of the card terminal only at the time of the promotion, which causes a problem of complicated operation. Further, there is a problem that the shop side has to judge the number of points for the purchase amount, which is troublesome and may cause the number of points to be wrong. Further, there is a problem that the consumer needs to be registered as a member.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, to provide a card system which can reduce the trouble of issuing a stamp, and can manage the sales situation and promote the sales.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the card system of the present invention is such that a card is inserted into a card terminal before opening on a normal business day in a store, and aggregation processing is not performed on the day before. Only when the number of points according to the customer's purchase amount is paid at the card terminal after performing the aggregation processing on the previous day, registering the store, setting the promotion content of the day to promote sales and setting up the business start Is recorded on the customer's point card, and at least the latest remaining number of points is recorded on the printed surface.
When the remaining number of points on the point card exceeds a predetermined value, it is instructed to issue a voucher that can be exchanged for any item with a predetermined number, insert the card into the card terminal at the end of business, and perform the counting process on the day In addition to reducing the hassle of issuing stamps, you can easily grasp the sales situation such as customer distribution and confirmation of the trade area, and insert the card to set the promotion content on the day, so you can make a mistake Can be eliminated and a further sales promotion effect can be obtained. When the remaining number of points on the point card exceeds a predetermined value, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of mistakes such as forgetting to issue the voucher by automatically issuing a voucher that can be exchanged for an arbitrary item in a predetermined number. . By automatically subtracting the number of points corresponding to the issued voucher from the remaining number of points on the point card, it is possible to save the trouble of subtracting from the remaining number of points due to the issuance of the voucher and to correct the remaining number of points. Can be prevented.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An example of the card terminal will be described with reference to FIG. 2. The card terminal 1 includes a control unit main body 2 such as a CPU having a memory unit for storing information, an input unit (keyboard) 3 connected to the control unit main body 2, A printer 6 for displaying information and a printer body 4 are provided, and a printer mechanism 5 having a mouthpiece 51 for inserting a card is provided in the printer body 4. The printer mechanism 5 includes a magnetic head that reads and rewrites magnetic recording information on a card, an erasing mechanism that heats and erases information printed on the rewrite layer, and a heating print head that heats and prints information on the rewrite layer or the heat-sensitive recording layer. And a controller for controlling them.

The card used in the card system of the present invention is roughly classified into a thermosensitive printing card having a thermosensitive coloring layer for displaying the printed information without any change in the normal state after printing and coloring. Later, there is a rewrite card equipped with a rewrite layer that can erase the printed information by applying heat energy and rewrite it with other information.Since the heat energy required for heating printing is different, this implementation In the example, in the card terminal 1, the thermal printing card and the rewriting card are discriminated and the thermal energy supplied to the heating printing head is adjusted. Alternatively, a card terminal having a dedicated printer mechanism may be used by discriminating between the thermal printing card and the rewrite card.

3 and 4, a card 7 is formed of plastic, paper or the like, and has a magnetic recording surface 8 on one side and a printing surface 9 composed of a rewrite layer or a thermosensitive coloring layer on the other side, respectively. is there. Different types of cards are made according to their functions, for example, the following types. B) Point card b) Member category registration point card c) Pre-point card d) Checker (so-called cashier) tally card e) Card terminal tally card f) Store tally card t) Practice card h) Initial setting card r) Sales Promotion setting card (store card, various sales promotion cards) Nu) Sales promotion notification setting card) Sales promotion notification master card

In the rewritable card, the rewritable layer forming the printing surface 9 is a reversible thermosensitive recording material whose color or transparency (transparent ⇔ white turbidity) changes when heat is applied by utilizing chemical change or physical change. It has been proposed to form a rewritable recording layer on at least one surface of a recording medium, and the rewritable recording layer is erased from the characters and the like written when uniformly heated and is unevenly distributed. Characters and pictures can be displayed by applying heat, and writing and erasing are possible. The latest transaction result is printed on the printing surface 9, and at least the date and the number of remaining points are written on it. On the auxiliary printing surface 91, cautions, promotion information, etc. are written.

The card system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the power of the card terminal 1 is turned on before the opening of a normal business day, the monitor 6 is displayed to insert a cleaning card for cleaning the thermal print head (thermal head), and after the cleaning operation is completed, the day before If the card terminal 1 has not been tabulated on the previous day, the card terminal tab is displayed on the monitor 6 so that the card terminal tab is inserted, and a card terminal tab operation instruction is issued. Here, when the checker totaling function is selected, by inserting the checker totaling card, the checker set in the checker totaling card is displayed on the monitor 6 so as to be registered, and then the checker totaling card is changed in one day. Display the total operation instruction for each checker. Also, every time the checker is replaced, a checker totaling card in which a new checker is set is inserted, so that the new checker is registered in the card terminal 1 and the totaling operation is performed. Further, if the checker total on the previous day has not been performed on the previous day, the checker total card is instructed to insert the checker total card and the checker total is calculated.

According to the totaling operation instruction of the card terminal, a card terminal totaling card (or checker totaling card) is inserted to perform the totaling operation of the card terminal (or the totaling operation of each checker), and the totalized result is displayed on the monitor 6. It is displayed and recorded on the card terminal total card (or checker total card) and stored in the memory part of the card terminal.

After the totaling operation, according to the instruction of the monitor 6, a sales promotion setting card (store card, various sales promotion cards)
Insert the store card (company code, store code, upper limit input amount, upper limit input point, etc.) specific to each store, register the store using the card terminal 1, and sell various products By inserting a promotion card or a sales promotion notification setting card and registering various promotional contents such as special sale at the store and notification contents such as special discounts for individual products in advance, the day of business of the card terminal 1 starts Preparation is complete. With this configuration, by registering the store at the start-up of each business day (when the power is turned on), there is no risk of accidentally using the card terminal that stores the contents of other stores, and the accuracy of transaction data collection is improved. be able to. In addition, it is not necessary to input various promotional contents again by key operation, and there is no risk of operation error.

When the preparations for the start of business are completed, the point card brought by the customer is inserted into the card terminal, and the checker inputs the customer's purchase amount into the card terminal 1, whereby the purchase amount and the number of regular points according to the purchase amount are entered. (For example, 1 point / 50 yen), data such as the number of days visited and the date and time of visit are recorded on the magnetic recording surface of the point card, and at least the regular points and the remaining points are recorded on the printing surface. At this time, by the selection operation at the time of the setting operation, an amount obtained by subtracting the consumption tax equivalent amount from the input purchase amount can be set as the point issue target purchase amount. If the customer does not have a loyalty card, that is, if the customer is a first-time customer, the company code, store code, and customer code will be added to the raw card that has been printed only (no information has been entered) at the card terminal 1. The ID code will be automatically set and a point card will be issued to record the number of regular points according to the purchase amount.

When various kinds of promotions are currently being conducted, the specified amount and the specified amount of the promotion are set based on the data such as the current purchase amount, the total purchase amount recorded on the magnetic recording surface, the number of days visited, and the date and time of the store visit. When the conditions such as the number of days and the period are cleared, the number of promotion points of n times (n is a predetermined constant) or m points (m is a predetermined constant) of regular regular points is magnetically recorded. Recorded on the face. Further, it is possible to input an arbitrary number of points by directly operating the keys. Examples of promotion services include the following. a. Service by date of visit (day of week), time of visit, rank of purchase amount b. Service according to purchase amount rank of the month or special bonus service c. Service or special bonus service according to the number of days visited in this month d. Special bonus service according to the issue point rank of the current month e, service according to the purchase amount rank of the previous month or special bonus service f. Services based on the number of days visited in the previous month or special bonus services g. Services based on the amount of money purchased for the current year or special bonus services h. Services according to the number of days visited in the current year or special bonus services i. Special bonus service by issuing point rank for the current year j. Service according to purchase price rank for a specific period or special bonus service k. Service by rank of number of days visited for a specific period or special bonus service l. Special bonus service by issuing point rank for a specific period m. Voucher exchange promotion service or special bonus service n. Membership category (employee registration, etc.) / Service by purchase price rank or special bonus service

When the customer returns the product after completing the checkout process and the point input process for the purchase, the regular amount of regular points is subtracted from the amount of the returned product and recorded on the magnetic recording surface and the printing surface. In addition, when subtracting the number of regular points, the number of points to be subtracted is a negative number of points, and when the number of points larger than the remaining number of points recorded on the point card is subtracted, the points after subtraction The remaining number is the number of negative points.

When there is an error in the input of the amount of money, the number of points, etc., the magnetic recording surface and the printing surface are corrected. When the correction is performed, if the point card is a rewrite card, the magnetic recording surface and the printing surface are corrected. Predetermined record (usually the latest record)
After erasing, the correct amount of money, the number of points, etc. should be recorded.If the point card is a thermal printing card, after deleting the prescribed record on the magnetic recording surface, the correct amount of money, the number of points, etc. should be recorded. , After erasing the specified records on the printed surface with lines, etc., record the correct amount and points.

The remaining number of points recorded on the point card is a specific number of exchange points (for example, 250 points)
If the number of points exceeds 250 points, one voucher (stamp, for example, 250 vouchers) will be issued for each redeemed point (250 points) and given to the customer, and the number of points will be subtracted according to the number of vouchers. , Record the remaining points. When issuing a voucher, when the remaining number of points reaches the number of exchange points, an automatic issuance method that automatically issues a voucher issuance sign to the monitor 6 each time, and a specific upper limit (for example, 5,000
Up to points), collect points on the point card,
There is an optional withdrawal method in which a voucher is issued when the customer desires. In addition, when one person has a plurality of point cards, the one point card has a summing function for recording past results including the number of remaining points on the magnetic recording surface and the printing surface. .

At the end of business day, insert the card terminal totalization card (or checker totalization card) according to the totaling operation instruction of the card terminal, and perform the totaling operation for each card terminal (or the totaling operation for each checker). The calculation result is displayed on the monitor 6, recorded on the card terminal total card (or checker total card), and stored in the memory section of the card terminal. If you forget this tabulation operation, the tabulation operation will be performed in the preparation operation before the start of business on the next day. In addition, in stores equipped with multiple card terminals,
By inserting the store total card, the total results of all card terminals are totaled and the total store is totaled.

[0019]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. By reducing the hassle of issuing stamps and performing reliable totaling work every day, you can easily understand the sales situation such as customer distribution and confirmation of the trade area, and insert the card to promote the day. Since the contents are set, it is possible to eliminate mistakes such as misunderstandings regarding the promotion contents on the day, and to obtain a further sales promotion effect. Also, when the remaining number of points on the point card exceeds a predetermined value, a voucher that can be exchanged for any item with a predetermined number is automatically issued, so that the occurrence of mistakes such as forgetting to issue a voucher can be suppressed. You can In addition, by automatically subtracting the number of points equivalent to the issued voucher from the remaining number of points on the point card, it is possible to save the trouble of subtracting from the remaining number of points due to the issuance of the voucher, and to correct the remaining number of points. It can prevent the occurrence.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a card terminal of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the card according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a back view of the card according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Card terminal, 2 Control unit, 3 Input unit (keyboard) 4 Printer unit, 5 Printer mechanism, 6 Monitor, 7
Card, 8 magnetic recording surface, 9 printing surface

Claims (3)

[Claims] [Claim 1] At a store, a card is inserted into a card terminal before the opening of a normal business day, and the aggregation process of the previous day is performed only when the aggregation process is not performed on the previous day, the store is registered, and sales promotion is performed. After setting up the promotion content for the day to complete the business start preparation, record the number of points according to the customer's purchase amount at the card terminal on the point card owned by the customer and at least the latest remaining number of points. If you record on the printed surface and the remaining number of points on the point card exceeds a predetermined value, you are instructed to issue a voucher that can be exchanged for arbitrary items in a predetermined number, insert the card into the card terminal at the end of business and A card system characterized by performing an aggregation process. 2. The card system according to claim 1, wherein when the remaining number of points of the point card exceeds a predetermined value, a voucher that can be exchanged for an arbitrary item with a predetermined number is automatically issued. 3. The card system according to claim 1, wherein the number of points corresponding to the issued voucher is automatically subtracted from the remaining number of points on the point card.