1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for displaying information of goods, and in particular, to a method for changing displayed contents in accordance with marketing situations of goods.
2. Description of the Related Art
In retail stores, etc., information of goods, such as “Today's Recommendations”, is displayed in order to encourage customers to buy the goods. Traditionally, information of goods was displayed on papers or blackboards. In recent years, electronic display using electronic media has also begun to be employed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-372939).
However, the electronic display of the related art is only a replacement of display using electronic display media for display using paper or blackboards. Goods for topics of display, for example, are decided by persons. Accordingly, it is difficult to change the contents in accordance with a change in situation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a goods information display method for selecting information of goods to be displayed and distributing shares of display to the selected goods.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a goods information display system which displays information of goods on a display device. The goods information display system includes: a sales information storage which stores sales information of the goods, wherein the sales information indicates market situation of the goods, a screen data storage which stores screen data of the goods, a goods selector which calculates coefficients for the goods on the basis of corresponding sales information, and selects several goods from the goods on the basis of the coefficients, a display share distributor which distributes a share of display to each of the selected goods on the basis of the coefficients, and a screen data output unit which outputs the screen data of the selected goods on the display device in accordance with the distribution of the shares of display.
The display share distributor of the goods information display system may preferably distribute a dimension of a display screen of the display device. In such a configuration, the screen data output unit configures output data such that pieces of screen data of the selected goods are arranged within the display screen in accordance with the distribution of the dimension of the display screen.
The display share distributor of the goods information display system may preferably distribute display time. In such a configuration, the screen data output unit outputs pieces of the screen data of the selected goods in turn in accordance with the distribution of the display time.
The goods information display system may further include a setting input unit for receiving from a user an input of setting information which indicates a condition for selecting the several goods, wherein the goods selector calculates the coefficients for the goods on the basis of corresponding sales information and the setting information.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method which is executed by a goods information display system which displays information of goods on a display device. The goods information display system includes a sales information storage which stores sales information of the goods and a screen data storage which stores screen data of the goods, wherein the sales information indicates market situation of the goods. The method includes the steps of: calculating coefficients for the goods on the basis of corresponding sales information; selecting several goods from the goods on the basis of the coefficients; distributing a share of display to each of the selected goods on the basis of the coefficients; and outputting the screen data of the selected goods on the display device in accordance with the distribution of the shares of display.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable storage medium which stores a program of instructions to a computer for executing a method of displaying information of goods on a display device. The computer includes a sales information storage which stores sales information of the goods and a screen data storage which stores screen data of the goods, wherein the sales information indicates market situation of the goods. The method includes the steps of calculating coefficients for the goods on the basis of corresponding sales information; selecting several goods from the goods on the basis of the coefficients; distributing a share of display to each of the selected goods on the basis of the coefficients; and outputting the screen data of the selected goods on the display device in accordance with the distribution of the shares of display.
According to the present invention, in accordance with a predetermined policy, depending on marketing situations of goods, a different display dimension and display time may be distributed to each of several selected goods for topics of display. Thus, a goods information display method for changing displayed contents in accordance with a change in situation can be provided.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The setting input unit 12 receives from the user an input concerning setting of conditions for selecting goods for topics of display. The conditions may be defined in any form. In this embodiment, the conditions are defined as weighting for each of the goods. Alternatively, the processing may be implemented without setting conditions for simplicity.
The goods selector 14 selects goods for topics of display on the display device 32 on the basis of the sales information.
The display share distributor 16 distributes shares of display to the selected goods. Distribution of the shares of display includes two types, spatial distribution and temporal distribution. In the spatial distribution, by dividing the dimension of a display screen of the display device 32, the divided display dimensions are distributed to the selected goods. In the temporal distribution, screen data is displayed in turn on the display device 32 and a time length of display is distributed to the selected goods.
The screen data output unit 18 outputs screen data (for the display screen) to be displayed on the display device 32 on the basis of distribution of the shares of display. In the case of the spatial distribution, the screen data output unit 18 outputs to the display device 32 the screen data in a form in which pieces of screen data corresponding to the display dimensions distributed to the selected goods are arranged on the screen. In the case of the temporal distribution, after scheduling is performed in accordance with the times distributed to the selected goods, the screen data is updated in accordance with the schedule and is outputted to the display device 32.
The controller 20 controls the entirety of the goods information display system 1. Among processes performed in the goods information display system 1, processes other than those executed by the above means are all controlled by the controller 20.
The setting information storage 22 stores setting information inputted by the user.
The sales information storage 24 stores sales information including unit prices of goods, inventory information, sales records, etc. Information, such as the inventory information and the sales records, is separately updated by a POS (point of sale) system or the like. The updating of such information is not described here.
The screen data storage 26 stores screen data to be displayed on the display device 32 for each of the goods. Different types of screen data are prepared for the goods so as to correspond to distributed display dimensions. As the size of the distributed display dimension increases, more information may be prepared for display, or enlarged data of the same screen data may be prepared for display. Instead of preparing different types of screen data so as to correspond to different sizes of display dimensions, one type of screen data may be prepared and may be displayed in an enlarged manner or reduced manner in accordance with the display dimension.
Processes performed by the goods information display system 1 will be described below.
In step S102, the setting input unit. 12 receives, from the user, input of setting information concerning conditions for selecting several goods for topics of display, and registers the inputted setting information in the setting information storage 22.
In step S104, the goods selector 14 selects goods for topics of display on the basis of the sales information stored in the sales information storage 24 and the setting information stored in the setting information storage 22. Goods selection is performed every predetermined time period. The goods selection may be performed whenever the sales information is updated. The goods selection may be performed when a particular condition is satisfied (for example, in the case when the inventory quantity of particular goods is equal to or less than a predetermined quantity). In selecting goods, sales information of each of the goods is digitized and converted into a display coefficient by weighting on the basis of the setting information stored in the setting information storage 22. The goods selector 14 ranks the goods on the basis of the display coefficients, and selects a predetermined number of goods from higher ranked goods. Alternatively, goods that satisfy a predetermined condition may be selected instead of selecting the predetermined number of goods.
In step S106, the display share distributor 16 differently distributes shares of display to each of the selected goods. In the distribution of the shares of display, a display dimension or display time may be distributed in proportion to a display coefficient, or several predetermined display dimensions or display times may be distributed in the order of the display coefficients.
In step S108, the screen data output unit 18 configures screen data to be displayed on the display device 32 on the basis of distribution of the shares of display, and outputs the screen data to the display device 32. In the case of the spatial distribution, the screen data output unit 18 configures screen data by arranging pieces of screen data of the selected goods in accordance with predetermined screen arrangement, and outputs the screen data to the display device 32. In the case of the temporal distribution, after a display schedule is established in accordance with distribution of display times, screen data is updated so that pieces of screen data of the selected goods are displayed in turn, and the screen data is outputted to the display device 32.
By employing the above-described configuration, in accordance with a predetermined policy, display dimensions and display times may be distributed in accordance with marketing situations of each of the selected goods.
The embodiment of the present invention is described below by using a specific example.
Alternatively, the display coefficients may be derived by classifying inventory quantity, inventory amount of money, sales quantity, or gross sales price of the goods in grades.
In the spatial distribution, in addition to determining priorities of the display regions on the basis of their dimensions, for example, determination of the priorities on the basis of display positions on the screen may be employed such as, for example, prioritizing an upper portion of the screen, or prioritizing a central portion of the screen.
In addition, identical goods may have different colors. In a case in which goods images are displayed as screen data, when the number of in-stock goods of the displayed color is zero, an image of the in-stock goods may be switched to an image of in-stock identical goods of a different color.
As described above, according to the present invention, in accordance with a predetermined policy, display dimensions and display times can be distributed depending on marketing situations of the goods. Thus, a goods information display method for changing displayed contents in accordance with a change in situation can be provided.
The functions of the above-described goods information display system 1 according to the embodiments of the present invention can be realized not only by hardware but also by computer software. For example, by creating a program for allowing a computer to execute the functions of the setting input unit 12, goods selector 14, display share distributor 16, screen data output unit 18, and controller 20 shown in
As shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2007-048415 | Feb 2007 | JP | national |