JP6842288B2 - Over-the-counter product EC system and method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to EC (Electronic Commerce) technology, and more particularly to technology effective when applied to an over-the-counter product EC system for products actually displayed and sold at retail stores and the like. Is.

While so-called online shopping services are becoming widespread, demand for home delivery services that deliver meals and daily necessities to homes is expected to increase, especially among the elderly and young people living alone. In this respect, the online shopping service generally delivers systematically from a distribution center or the like that has a large amount of various inventories in a concentrated manner. Therefore, it may be physically difficult to meet the urgent home delivery needs of consumers, for example, to order a small amount of groceries such as rice balls and prepared foods for lunch and have them delivered immediately. It is thought that there are many.

On the other hand, for example, the products that retail stores actually display and sell at the store are delivered directly to the store by receiving an order from the user via the network, and the store products are directly delivered by EC. A mechanism for selling is also being considered.

As a technique related to this, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-216005 (Patent Document 1), a webcam is provided in a store to photograph a product displayed in the store, and a communication line is observed while watching a live image of the product. A shopping system that allows you to order products from a user terminal connected to is described. Here, the person in charge of the store selects a product in advance from the image of the display shelf taken by the webcam, and stores the product information and the display coordinate information of the webcam in the product database in association with each other. This allows the user to identify the product selected from the webcam image.

Further, although not directly related to EC, regarding grasping the state of the display shelf by photographing the display shelf with a camera, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-174154 (Patent Document 2) obtains from a real-time camera. When the image of the displayed product display shelf is monitored and a product-free marker provided on the display shelf is detected, the product associated with this is indexed and inventory is being checked at the corresponding position of the display shelf image. An inventory status management device that repeats a message to that effect is described.

Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-108971 (Patent Document 3), a first image of a bookshelf on which a plurality of books are displayed taken by a camera is compared with a second image taken thereafter. By extracting undisplayed books that exist in one image and not in the second image and displaying the first image in a manner in which the undisplayed books can be identified, the book ordering business in the bookstore is supported. The book management system is described.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-216005 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-174154 JP-A-2015-108971

In order to enable users to order products using mobile terminals such as smartphones or PCs (Personal Computers), the store side posts product information, images, etc. of the products to be sold on its website. There is a need. In this regard, retail stores that handle groceries and daily necessities, such as convenience stores and supermarkets, may target thousands of types of products, and since the revisions and abolition of products are severe, maintenance of registration and update of product information The load will be very high. In addition, in the case of ordinary EC, it is basically sufficient to create one website for each business operator, but for example, convenience store chains and franchisee stores sell products that are independently displayed in the stores. Theoretically, it is necessary to prepare a website for each store, and the maintenance load as a whole becomes very high.

In addition, when posting a product on a website, it is necessary to indicate to the user whether or not the product is in stock at the store or in the store warehouse and the product can be purchased. Regarding the presence or absence of inventory, the theoretical inventory (= initial inventory + number of deliveries-number of sales) is usually used, but due to some special factor (shoplifting, delivery / inspection error, etc.), the theoretical inventory and the actual inventory do not match ( Inventory shift) can occur frequently. Therefore, even if the order is confirmed based on the theoretical inventory, there may be a situation where there is no actual product to be delivered. Therefore, for example, if the theoretical inventory is less than a predetermined number, inefficient safety measures such as not selling (considering that the inventory is out of stock) may be taken.

In addition, when an order is received from a user, the clerk picks the product from the display shelf or the store warehouse while looking at the product list of the ordered contents. At that time, if you are a veteran clerk who is familiar with the product name and the layout in the store, there is no problem, but in the case of a general clerk, you can not quickly find the target product only from the text information of the product list and inside the store The inefficiency of searching can also occur, which can be a waste of time and a factor that leads to increased costs.

As described above, in order to realize the home delivery service of over-the-counter products, it is necessary to go through a process that requires a lot of labor and cost, and it is not easy to realize the service efficiently while suppressing the cost.

On the other hand, for example, by using the technique described in Patent Document 1 above, it is possible to realize a home delivery service for over-the-counter products. However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to associate each product information with the display coordinate information of the webcam and store them in the product database in advance. Therefore, when the number of product types increases, the maintenance load on the product database becomes extremely high. Further, it is unrealistic to associate each product information with the display coordinate information of the webcam, for example, for all stores in a chain of convenience stores exceeding 10,000 stores.

Further, the techniques described in Patent Documents 2 and 3 are similar to the techniques described in Patent Document 1 in that the positions and coordinates on the display shelves for each product need to be managed by a database. In particular, the technique described in Patent Document 3 is applicable when products (books) are continuously placed in the same place on the display shelf, but in retail stores where products are rapidly revised or abolished, the display position of the products And types can change frequently, so there are many situations where it cannot be applied.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an over-the-counter product EC system that can reduce the maintenance load of the product master on the store side, eliminate the influence of inventory deviation and unnecessary in-store search.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description and accompanying drawings herein.

A brief description of typical inventions disclosed in the present application is as follows.

The over-the-counter merchandise EC system according to a typical embodiment of the present invention is an over-the-counter merchandise EC system that sells products displayed at retail stores to users through electronic commerce, and is via a network. Based on the request from the user via the user terminal, an image of the product display shelf taken by the camera installed in the retail store is presented to the user terminal, and the image is presented to the user terminal via the user terminal. It accepts an order for a desired product in the image of the display shelf from the user, and displays the information of the image that identifies the product related to the order on the clerk terminal carried by the clerk of the retail store. is there.

Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, the effects obtained by typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

That is, according to a typical embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the maintenance load of the product master on the store side, eliminate the influence of inventory deviation and unnecessary in-store search.

It is a figure which showed the outline about the structural example of the over-the-counter product EC system which is one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which showed the outline of the example of the processing flow from ordering of goods to delivery in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which showed the outline of the example which the user selects the product to purchase on the image of the display shelf in one Embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, in all the drawings for explaining the embodiment, in principle, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts, and the repeated description thereof will be omitted. On the other hand, the parts described with reference numerals in one figure may be referred to with the same reference numerals in the explanation of other figures, although they are not shown again.

The over-the-counter product EC system, which is an embodiment of the present invention, provides a home delivery service that accepts orders from users via a network and delivers products that are actually displayed and sold on display shelves at retail stores. It is an information processing system to be realized. Users can visually and intuitively select and purchase products through images of the display shelves taken in near real time by a Web camera installed on the display shelves of retail stores.

Further, since the image of the product taken by the Web camera becomes the product image directly associated with the target product, the work of associating the product image for each product becomes unnecessary. In addition, since the image of the display shelf almost directly shows the inventory status of each product on display, the influence of inventory deviation can be eliminated. In addition, when the clerk picks the product, the image of the display shelf when the user places an order is used as it is, so that the content and position of the product can be easily grasped and unnecessary in-store search can be eliminated. it can.

<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of an over-the-counter product EC system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The over-the-counter product EC system 1 of the present embodiment is a store system 21 which is an information processing system installed in each retail store 2 such as a convenience store franchisee, and a center system 3 which is centrally operated by a convenience store headquarters or the like. However, it has a configuration in which it is connected via a network 5 such as the Internet. A secure network such as VPN (Virtual Private Network) may be used.

The store system 21 is an information processing system having a function of controlling one or more shelf cameras 24 installed in the retail store 2 to acquire image data of the display shelves 23. It also has a function of supporting picking and delivery of products in cooperation with the clerk terminal 22, which is a tablet-type terminal carried by the clerk.

The store system 21 may be configured by using an information processing terminal such as a PC, or may be configured by a server device, a virtual server built on a cloud computing service, or the like. Then, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) is used to develop middleware such as an OS (Operating System), a DBMS (DataBase Management System), and a Web server program developed on a memory from a recording device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and the software thereof. By executing the software running on the above, the above-mentioned various functions in the retail store 2 are realized.

The store system 21 has, for example, each unit such as a center cooperation unit 211, a shelf camera control unit 212, and a delivery processing unit 213 implemented as software. The center cooperation unit 211 has a function of communicating with the center system 3 via the network 5 and exchanging data. For example, the image data taken by the shelf camera 24 acquired by the shelf camera control unit 212, which will be described later, is transmitted to the center system 3. In addition, the order data transmitted from the center system 3 is delivered to the delivery processing unit 213, which will be described later.

The shelf camera control unit 212 controls one or more shelf cameras 24 installed on each display shelf 23 of the retail store 2, photographs the display status of products on the display shelf 23, and obtains the acquired image data as a center cooperation unit. It has a function of transmitting to the center system 3 via 211. In the present embodiment, the shelf camera 24 is configured by a Web camera, but it is not particularly limited as long as it is a device / apparatus having a function of capturing an image. The image acquired by the shelf camera 24 may be a moving image or a still image acquired periodically. That is, it does not necessarily have to be a real-time live image, but a quasi-real-time image in which the time lag is suppressed to the extent that the status of the displayed products does not change significantly.

In the example of FIG. 1, the shelf cameras 24 are installed in front of the side plates on both sides of each display shelf 23, with their lines of sight facing the product side, but the situation is not limited to this, and the situation of each product on each display shelf 23 is not limited to this. As long as you can shoot without omission, the installation position and the number of installations do not matter. For example, it may be installed on the top plate of the display shelf 23 and photographed from above, or may be installed on the ceiling or on the opposite side of the display shelf 23. Further, for example, when the display shelf 23 is provided with a door for frozen foods, beverages, etc., the shelf camera 24 may be installed inside the door, or when the inside can be grasped from the outside of the door, the inside of the door may be installed. The shelf camera 24 may be installed on the outside. It may be incorporated in the display shelf 23 and integrated. In the present embodiment, all of these various installation methods are also included in "installation on the display shelf 23".

Regardless of which installation method is used, for example, the hand or arm of a customer who is actually standing in front of the display shelf 23 and actually trying to pick up the product may be reflected in the image. Reflection can also occur when the line of sight of the shelf camera 24 shifts due to contact with a person or an object with the shelf camera 24. Depending on the installation position, there is a possibility that parts that can identify an individual, such as the customer's face, body, and clothes, will be reflected. On the other hand, for example, the shelf camera control unit 212 or the image processing unit 32 of the center system 3 described later may erase the customer's portion from the image data or apply a mask such as a mosaic by image processing. For image processing, for example, a known image processing technique such as a composite method for removing noise such as temporary reflection can be applied.

As will be described later, in the present embodiment, the image taken by the shelf camera 24 is used when a plurality of users select a product in an order. That is, it can be said that the shelf camera 24 is a shared camera used among a plurality of users. Therefore, for example, when moving or enlarging / reducing an image captured on the display shelf 23, a function that requires mechanical control such as “swinging” of the shelf camera 24 or optical zoom is a function of the shelf camera 24. It will not be used because it will lead to exclusive use and it will be difficult to control sharing and competition with other users. Processing such as image movement and enlargement / reduction shall be performed as image processing by software.

When a plurality of display shelves 23 are installed in the retail store 2, the reference display shelves 23 are switched by switching the image of the reference shelf camera 24 based on the instruction from the user. As a result, it is possible to realize an interface in which the user virtually moves between the display shelves 23 in the retail store 2. Further, in order to realize such an interface, for example, in addition to the shelf camera 24 for photographing each display shelf 23, one or more cameras for photographing the aisle and the whole view in the retail store 2 are installed, and these are also installed. It may be controlled at the same time.

The delivery processing unit 213 acquires order data from the user received from the center system 3 by the center cooperation unit 211, outputs the order data to the store clerk terminal 22 or a display (not shown), and displays the target product to the store clerk. It has a function of instructing picking from 23 and delivery to the user's home 4. In the present embodiment, when a picking instruction is given, a clerk provides information such as an image of the display shelf 23 by the shelf camera 24 when the user selects a product and a mark identifying the product selected by the user in the image. Output to terminal 22. As a result, the clerk can easily visually grasp the contents of the products to be picked and the display position. In addition to this, as will be described later, a product selected by the user may be specified by image processing on the above image data, and text information such as the product name of the product may be acquired and displayed together. ..

The clerk terminal 22 has a function of receiving and displaying instruction data from the delivery processing unit 213 via, for example, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) constructed in the retail store 2.

The center system 3 is an information processing system having a function of acquiring and managing an image of a display shelf 23 taken by a shelf camera 24 in each retail store 2 in cooperation with a store system 21 of each retail store 2 such as a franchisee. is there. It also has a function of accepting an order from a user using the image from the user terminal 41 via the network 5 and instructing the store system 21 of the target retail store 2.

The center system 3 is composed of, for example, a server device, a virtual server built on a cloud computing service, or the like, and an OS, a DBMS, a Web server program, or the like developed on a memory from a recording device such as an HDD by a CPU (not shown). The above various functions are realized by executing the middleware and the software running on it. For example, it has a store cooperation unit 31, an image processing unit 32, an order management unit 33, and the like implemented as software. It also has a product master database (DB) 34 implemented by a database or the like.

The store cooperation unit 31 has a function of exchanging data by coordinating with the store system 21 of each retail store 2 via the network 5 by communication. For example, the image data taken by the shelf camera 24 acquired by the shelf camera control unit 212 of the store system 21 is acquired. The image data may be acquired from the shelf camera control unit 212 of the target retail store 2 on demand when there is a request from the user terminal 41, or may be acquired from the shelf camera control unit 212 of each retail store 2. The latest image data may be periodically acquired from 212 and recorded.

In addition, the store cooperation unit 31 has a function of transmitting data related to the contents of the order received from the user via the user terminal 41 to the delivery processing unit 213 of the target retail store 2. At this time, as described above, the image data used when the user selects the product and the information such as the mark identifying the selected product may be transmitted together.

The image processing unit 32 has a function of performing predetermined image processing on the image data taken by the shelf camera 24 acquired from the store system 21 of each retail store 2. For example, in the image data of the display shelf 23 taken by the shelf camera 24, the portion marked to identify the product selected by the user at the time of ordering is the product image registered in advance in the product master DB 34. By matching, the target product may be specified. In the case of a convenience store chain or the like, the central headquarters or the like may already have the image data of each product being developed as a part of the data of the product master DB 34 or the like. If the product can be specified, it is also possible to obtain information such as the product name and the sales unit price from the product master DB 34 as the attribute information of the specified product.

In this embodiment, the purpose is to reduce the maintenance load of the product master DB 34, and it is not always necessary to specify the product by using the registration information of the product master DB 34 as described above. It is possible to realize a home delivery service that delivers products. As a matter of course, it is not necessary to hold the coordinate information of the display position on the display shelf 23 of each product in the product master DB 34 or the like.

Further, in the image processing unit 32, as described above, in order to obtain an image to be displayed on the user terminal 41 when the user places an order for a product, the image of the display shelf 23 taken by the shelf camera 24 is taken. The data may be processed by a predetermined image process to form the data. For example, a known image processing technique such as a composite method may be applied to erase the customer portion reflected in the image data as noise or to apply a mask such as a mosaic. Further, distortion correction processing such as keystone correction may be performed.

The order management unit 33 has a function of receiving order information from the user via the user terminal 41 and transmitting data related to the order contents to the store system 21 of the target retail store 2 via the store cooperation unit 31. Have. The data related to the order contents transmitted to the store system 21 includes image data with a mark or the like that identifies the product selected by the user with respect to the image data of the display shelf 23 taken by the shelf camera 24. Is done. When possible, attribute information such as the product name and sales unit price of the product specified by matching with the image data of the product registered in the product master DB 34 by the image processing unit 32 is included. May be good. In addition, as the delivery destination information, the address information of the user's home 4 registered in advance as account information is also included.

The user terminal 41 owned by each user is, for example, a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or tablet terminal that can be operated via a touch panel, or an information processing terminal such as a PC. The user accesses the center system 3 via the network 5 using a dedicated application (not shown), a Web browser, or the like, and as will be described later, an image of the display shelf 23 taken by the shelf camera 24 of the target retail store 2. You can directly specify the product to purchase on the image and place an order while referring to.

<Processing flow>
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of an example of a processing flow from ordering a product to delivery in the present embodiment. For example, the user first accesses the center system 3 by using a dedicated application or a Web browser on the user terminal 41, specifies account information, and logs in (S01). At this time, the center system 3 performs user authentication by an account management function (not shown) or the like (S02).

After that, the retail store 2 from which the product is purchased is specified. For example, the user may select from the list of deliverable retail stores 2 presented to the user terminal 41 by the center system 3, the location information of the user terminal 41 and the address information of the home 4 of the delivery destination. The center system 3 may automatically determine the nearest retail store 2 based on the above. Further, instead of specifying the retail store 2 each time the product is purchased, the retail store 2 to be used by default may be set in advance in association with the user's account information. When the retail store 2 is specified, the user terminal 41 displays an image of the display shelf 23 taken by the shelf camera 24 of the target retail store 2 (S03).

At that time, in the store system 21 of the target retail store 2, based on the instruction from the center system 3, the shelf camera control unit 212 acquires the image of the display shelf 23 taken by the shelf camera 24 (S05). It is transmitted to the center system 3. Then, in the center system 3, the image processing unit 32 performs predetermined image processing such as noise removal and correction to form an image for display (S04), and displays the image on the user terminal 41.

As described above, instead of acquiring the image taken by the shelf camera 24 on demand based on the instruction from the user terminal 41, the latest image acquired periodically is transmitted to the center system 3 in advance. And keep it. When the user operates / instructs the image of the display shelf 23 displayed on the user terminal 41 to display an image of another place of the display shelf 23 or another display shelf 23 (that is, virtual). (When moving in the retail store 2), the image of the display shelf 23 to be displayed is switched by the same process as in steps S03 to S05 according to the content.

After that, the user selects a product to be purchased on the image of the display shelf 23 displayed on the user terminal 41 (S06). FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of an example in which a user selects a product to be purchased on the image of the display shelf 23. Here, an example of an image of the display shelf 23 taken by the shelf camera 24 displayed on the screen (touch panel) of the smartphone which is the user terminal 41 is shown. The figure on the left shows a state in which an image of a panoramic view of a specific display shelf 23 is displayed. It is shown that the image can be switched (virtually moved) to the adjacent display shelf 23 by selecting the left and right arrows at the bottom of the screen.

On the screen shown in the left figure, for example, when the user performs a pinch-out (zoom-in) gesture or operation on the user terminal 41, the image of the display shelf 23 is enlarged and displayed as shown in the right figure. Will be done. This enlarged display may be performed locally by image processing in the application on the user terminal 41, or may be performed remotely by the image processing unit 32 of the center system 3.

Here, when the user selects the vicinity of the product to be purchased (the sandwich in the center in the example of FIG. 3) by an operation such as tapping, a mark for identifying the product (a solid ring-shaped figure in the example of FIG. 3). ) Is displayed. It should be noted that it is possible to determine which product in the image is selected by using a known image processing technique such as contour extraction locally or remotely, for example. Then, based on the result of the determined product, the display position and size of the mark for identifying the product can be adjusted.

When a product is selected on the user terminal 41, the image data at that time (for example, the figure on the right side of FIG. 3) is transmitted to the center system 3. Then, in the center system 3, the target part of the product marked with the mark in the received image data (the outline may be extracted) is matched with the product image registered in the product master DB 34 to be the target. Identify the product (S07). By specifying the product, for example, attribute information such as a product name and a sales unit price can be acquired from the product master DB 34.

After that, in the center system 3, the order management unit 33 creates order information based on the image data acquired from the user terminal 41 and the attribute information related to the product specified in step S07, and presents the order information to the user terminal 41 ( S08). The user confirms the content displayed on the user terminal 41 and accepts it if there is no difference (S09). At this time, for example, an image indicating that the order has been accepted (in the example of FIG. 3, a balloon in which the wording "Order this!") May be displayed on the user terminal 41. When ordering yet another product, the process returns to step S03 and the series of processes is repeated.

When the product displayed on the display shelf 23 is the target of purchase as in the present embodiment, the target product is the customer who actually visited the retail store 2 between the time of receiving the order and the time of picking the product. It is possible that the product is out of stock at the time of picking. Therefore, in step S09, the designation of a substitute product or a substitute retail store 2 in the case of out of stock may be separately accepted in advance. For example, when purchasing daily necessities such as groceries, it is considered that there are not so many situations in which the user allows only the target product or purchases only at a specific store. Therefore, by accepting the designation of alternative products and alternative stores, it is possible to avoid the loss of sales opportunities and improve the convenience of users.

When the order details are confirmed and accepted by the user, the order management unit 33 transfers the order information related to the accepted order to the store system 21 (S10) in the center system 3, and the store system 21 acquires this. (S11). As described above, the order information includes image data (for example, the figure on the right side of FIG. 3) including the display shelf 23 at the time of product selection acquired from the user terminal 41 and the mark identifying the selected product. .. In the store system 21, the delivery processing unit 213 displays the acquired order information on the clerk terminal 22 (S12).

Then, the clerk picks the target product from the display shelf 23 in the retail store 2 while looking at the order information displayed on the clerk terminal 22 (S13). The order information displayed on the clerk terminal 22 includes image data including a display shelf 23 when the user selects a product and a mark identifying the selected product. Therefore, it is possible to visually grasp where the target product is displayed on which display shelf 23 in the retail store 2 as compared with the case where only the text information of the product name is displayed in the list.

When all the products (or alternatives) included in the order are picked, the clerk scans the barcode attached to each product at the cash register and records the sales, and the actual sales to the user's home 4 are recorded. Delivery processing (S14). At this point, the price of the product will be treated as receivable. Then, the user receives the product delivered to the home 4 and pays the price to the clerk who delivered the product (S15). The clerk who received the price returns to the retail store 2 and performs a process of recording the receipt of the receivables on the books (S16), thereby completing a series of processes related to the transaction.

The cash register system of the retail store 2 and the store system 21 cooperate with each other. For example, sales data as a result of processing at the cash register after picking a product is recorded in a database (not shown) of the store system 21 to deliver each product. It may be managed together with the status, inventory information, receipt status of receivables, and the like.

Further, in the present embodiment, the payment method is configured such that cash on delivery is performed when the product is delivered to the home 4, but the payment method is not particularly limited, and various types such as credit card and point use are used. Things can be used as appropriate. Further, in the present embodiment, the delivery of the product to the home 4 is performed by the clerk of the retail store 2, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is naturally possible to use a specialized staff or an external courier company. Is.

As described above, according to the over-the-counter product EC system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, an order from a user is received via the network 5 and actually displayed on the display shelf 23 at the retail store 2. It is possible to realize a home delivery service that delivers products that are sold and sold. Then, the user can visually and intuitively select and purchase the product through the image of the display shelf 23 taken in near real time by the shelf camera 24 installed on the display shelf 23 of the retail store 2. ..

Further, since the image of the product taken by the shelf camera 24 becomes the product image directly associated with the target product, the maintenance work of the product master DB 34 such as associating the product image with each product becomes unnecessary. Further, since the image of the display shelf 23 almost directly shows the inventory status of each of the displayed products, the influence of the inventory deviation can be eliminated. In addition, when the clerk picks the product, the image data of the display shelf 23 when the user places an order is used as it is as the order information, so that the content of the product and the display position can be easily grasped, and the inside of the store is useless. The search can be ruled out.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described above based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof. Needless to say. For example, the above-described embodiment has been described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and is not necessarily limited to the one including all the described configurations. Further, it is possible to add / delete / replace a part of the configuration of the above-described embodiment with another configuration.

The present invention can be used in an over-the-counter product EC system for products that are actually displayed and sold in stores such as retail stores.

1 ... Over-the-counter product EC system, 2 ... Retail store, 3 ... Center system, 4 ... Home, 5 ... Network,
21 ... store system, 22 ... clerk terminal, 23 ... display shelf, 24 ... shelf camera,
31 ... Store cooperation department, 32 ... Image processing department, 33 ... Order management department, 34 ... Product master DB,
41 ... User terminal,
211 ... Center cooperation unit, 212 ... Shelf camera control unit, 213 ... Delivery processing unit

Claims (2)

It is an over-the-counter product EC system that sells products displayed at retail stores to users through electronic commerce.
The center system connected to the store system of the retail store displays products taken by a camera installed in the retail store based on a request from the user via a user terminal via a network. Present the image of the shelf to the user terminal and
The user terminal selects a desired product in the image of the display shelf as the order target product based on the operation of the user, and selects the image of the display shelf including the order target product and the order target product. An order containing image data including a mark representing the product is transmitted to the center system via the network.
The center system accepts the order, identifies the ordered product based on the matching process between the ordered product in the image of the display shelf and the product information of the product master, and identifies the specified ordered product. Create product order confirmation information including the product information of, and present the product order confirmation information to the user terminal.
The center system includes an image of the display shelf including the order target product and a mark representing the order target product after receiving confirmation / acceptance of the product order confirmation information by the user from the user terminal. Product order information including image data is created and displayed on the clerk terminal carried by the clerk of the retail store.
The center system assumes a case where the customer in the retail store purchases the ordered product after receiving the order from the user terminal and the store inventory is exhausted, and the substitute product or substitute in that case in advance. An over-the-counter product EC system that accepts store designations from the user terminal. It is an over-the-counter product EC method that sells products displayed at retail stores to users through electronic commerce.
The center system connected to the store system of the retail store displays products taken by a camera installed in the retail store based on a request from the user via a user terminal via a network. The step of presenting the image of the shelf to the user terminal and
The user terminal selects a desired product in the image of the display shelf as the order target product based on the operation of the user, and selects the image of the display shelf including the order target product and the order target product. A step of transmitting an order including image data including a mark to be represented to the center system via the network, and
The center system accepts the order, identifies the ordered product based on the matching process between the ordered product in the image of the display shelf and the product information of the product master, and identifies the specified ordered product. The step of creating the product order confirmation information including the product information of the above and presenting the product order confirmation information to the user terminal, and
After the center system receives confirmation / acceptance of the product order confirmation information by the user from the user terminal, the center system includes an image of the display shelf including the order target product and a mark representing the order target product. A step of creating product order information including image data and displaying it on a clerk terminal carried by a clerk of the retail store.
Assuming that the center system receives the order from the user terminal and then the customer in the retail store purchases the ordered product and the store inventory is exhausted, the substitute product or substitute in that case is assumed in advance. The step of accepting the store designation from the user terminal and
Over-the-counter product EC method.

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