JP2002183163A - Method for retrieving sales item at shopping mall, shopping mall system, and computer-readable recording medium having shopping-mall sales item retrieving program recorded thereon - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To speedily and easily retrieve an article in a shopping mall. SOLUTION: A shopping mall server 1 runs a shopping mall comprising a plurality of stores provided on the Internet and the correspondence relation showing to which category among categories common to the stores each article sold at each store belongs is stored in an article information database DB in advance. When a category is specified from a mall user terminal 4, a shopping mall processing part 14 retrieves the names of articles belonging to the specified category according to the stored correspondence relation and a Web server 11 displays them on the mall user terminal 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for searching for a sales item in a shopping mall, a shopping mall system, and a computer-readable recording medium in which a program for searching for a sales item in a shopping mall is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to search for a product in a shopping mall on the Internet, a store is selected from a store category at the top of the mall, the user moves to the store, a product list is viewed, and no favorite product is found in the store. If so, you will again look for a store from the mall top.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional method of searching for a product in a shopping mall, if the target product cannot be found, the user must return to the mall top and search for the product. It takes time and effort to find a product, and it is difficult to search quickly.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to search for a sales item in a shopping mall so that a product can be quickly and easily searched in the shopping mall. It is to provide a method and a shopping mall system.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for retrieving a sales item in a shopping mall comprising a plurality of stores provided on the Internet. In a shopping mall sales item search method when a sales item sold at a mall is searched from a database and the obtained sales item is transmitted to a terminal of a buyer who has made a search request and displayed, the sales item is sold at each store. After storing in advance a correspondence indicating which of the categories common to the plurality of stores the sale item belongs to, the correspondence stored by specifying a category from the buyer's terminal is stored. The sales item belonging to the specified category is searched based on the search.

According to the present invention, the operation of returning to the mall top one by one and searching for a sales item such as a product becomes unnecessary, and therefore, a target sales item can be quickly searched and displayed. The shopping mall is not limited to a single server or a single facility. Therefore, it is possible to construct a shopping mall using computers that are distributed and deployed. The sales item is a product name or a model name if the sales target is a product, and is a service name or the like if the sales target is a service (service). Also, these abbreviations may be used. Common categories can be obtained by simply setting a few categories,
The categories may be arranged in a hierarchical structure so that the category of the lower layer belonging to the category can be designated from the category of the upper layer, thereby improving the convenience in the category designation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for searching for a sales item in a shopping mall, wherein the common category is registered in advance, and the registration of the sales item in the database is performed by the store. When the request is made from the terminal of the store, the registered category is displayed on the terminal on the store side, a selection is requested, and the correspondence between the selected category and the registered sale item is stored. The convenience for the owner in selecting a category is improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the method of claim 1 or 2, a category notified via a network is registered or deleted as the common category. The manager of the shopping mall can manage this common category even from a remote location.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a shopping mall system including a plurality of stores and a shopping mall provided on the Internet. In a shopping mall system that transmits and displays the request to the terminal of the buyer who has made the request, a correspondence indicating which category among the categories common to the plurality of stores the sales item sold in each store belongs to is stored. Category information storage means, and a sale item search means for searching for a sale item belonging to the designated category by referring to the correspondence stored in the category information storage means by designating a category from the buyer's terminal And characterized in that:

[0010] According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium including a plurality of stores, and in a shopping mall provided on the Internet, a sales item sold at a store is searched from a database. A computer-readable recording medium in which a sales item search program in a shopping mall when transmitting and displaying on a terminal of a buyer who had a problem is recorded, and sales items sold in each store are stored in the plurality of stores. After storing in advance the correspondence indicating which of the common categories the category belongs to, the sales belonging to the specified category based on the stored correspondence by specifying the category from the buyer terminal. A sales item search program for searching for an item is recorded.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration and a use form of a shopping mall server 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The shopping mall server 1 is provided for operating a shopping mall (virtual mall) including a plurality of stores. Shopping mall server 1
The Internet is connected to a mall manager terminal 2 used by a mall manager, a store owner terminal 3 used by a store owner, and a mall user terminal 4 used by a mall user (here, a purchaser is referred to as a mall user). Connected through.

The shopping mall server 1 includes a product information database DB1 and a category database DB2 on a hard disk device or the like. The shopping mall server 1 reads a processing program stored in a storage device such as a hard disk device into a RAM,
The execution of the PU constitutes a Web server 11, a product management unit 12, a category management unit 13, and a shopping mall processing unit 14.

Each terminal of the mall manager terminal 2, the store owner terminal 3, and the mall user terminal 4 includes, for example, a display unit such as a CRT display device or a liquid crystal display device.
A pointing device such as a mouse and a keyboard are provided. Each terminal is equipped with a web browser. For this reason, information from the shopping mall server 1 is displayed on the display unit, and a request for processing or transmission of various information to the browser or the shopping mall server 1 can be performed by an operation of the pointing device on the displayed screen. It has become.

The Web server 11 provides screen data stored in advance to each terminal for display. In addition, a request from each terminal is transmitted to each processing unit, and a processing result in each processing unit is provided as screen data to each terminal.

In the product information database DB1, in addition to the name of the product sold in each store of the shopping mall and detailed information of the product, the product is classified into any of the categories common to the stores of the shopping mall. Correspondence indicating whether the group belongs is stored. Therefore, the product information database DB1 corresponds to a category information storage unit.

In the category database DB2, categories common to each store in the shopping mall are registered.

When a product name and detailed information are registered from the store owner terminal 3, the product management unit 12 reads out the category registered in the category database DB2 and passes it to the Web server 11, and the Web server 11 This is transmitted to the store owner terminal 3 and displayed to request selection. Then, the Web server 11 passes the selected category, the product name, and detailed information of the product to the product management unit 12, and the product management unit 12 associates the category, the product name, and the like with the product information database DB1. Remember. Note that the common categories stored in the category database DB2 have a hierarchical structure.

The category management unit 13 stores the category notified from the mall manager terminal 2 in the category database DB.
Stored in 2.

The shopping mall processing unit 14 reads out the product names belonging to the category designated by the mall user terminal 4 and detailed information from the product information database DB1, and the Web server 11 To be displayed. Therefore, the Web server 11
The shopping mall processing unit 14 constitutes a sales item search unit.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram of processing between the shopping mall server 1 and the mall manager terminal 2.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the category management screen SC1. FIG.
Is a diagram showing a category addition screen SC2.

When the mall manager terminal 2 accesses the shopping mall server 1 in step S1, the process proceeds to step S1.
In 3, the Web server 11 transmits category management screen data for displaying the category management screen. Then, in step S5, the mall management terminal 2 uses the transmitted category management screen data as shown in FIG.
Display C1. On the category management screen SC1, an "add" button B1-1 used when adding a category to this hierarchy and an "end" button B1-2 for ending the category management are displayed.

Also, "business trip", "manga", "novel",
Each category name such as "building" is displayed. Each category name includes a "change" button for changing or deleting the category, a "delete" button, and a "go to subcategory" button B1 for moving to a subcategory. -3 is displayed.
The “button” is used to request the browser or the shopping mall server 1 for processing.

In step S7, the mall manager operates the "add" button B1-1 or the "to sub-category" button B
If the user selects 1-2 by clicking, the mall manager terminal 2 in step S9 displays the button I corresponding to the selected button.
The information such as D is transmitted to the shopping mall server 1. Then, in step S11, the shopping mall server 1 selects the next process based on the transmitted information.
Here, the transmitted information is an “add” button B1-1.
Alternatively, since the button ID is the button ID corresponding to the “to sub-category” button B1-2, the category management unit 13 of the shopping mall server 1 generates category addition screen data for causing the category to be added.
The eb server 11 transmits this.

The mall manager terminal 2 displays a category addition screen SC2 based on the transmitted data as shown in FIG. The category addition screen SC2 is provided with a category name input area and a category description input area. Further, an “add” button B2-1 used when adding information input to these areas and a “cancel” button B2-2 used when interrupting processing are provided.

The mall manager inputs a category name or the like in each input area in step S17, and clicks an "Add" button B2-
When 1 is clicked, the input information is transmitted to the shopping mall server 1 in step S19. Then, in step S21, the category management unit 13 registers the transmitted category name and the like in the category database DB2.

When there is an instruction to delete a category, the category management unit 13 displays the registered category name and its description once, and when there is an instruction to finally delete it, The category name and the like are deleted from the category database DB2. Also, when an instruction to change the category is issued, the registered category name and its description are displayed in the input area so that the category can be changed. Database DB
2 is overwritten with the information in the input area.

Therefore, the mall manager can register, delete, or change the common category at any time, even if he is at a remote place.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram of processing between the shopping mall server 1 and the shop owner terminal 3. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the product list screen SC3. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the product addition screen SC4. When the store owner terminal 3 accesses the shopping mall server 1 in step S31, in step S33, the product management unit 12 reads registered product information about the store from the product information database DB1. In step S35, the Web server 11 uses the read information to display the product screen SC3.
Is generated and transmitted to the store owner terminal 3. Then, in step S37,
The store owner terminal 3 displays the product list screen SC3 based on the transmitted product list screen data as shown in FIG.

On the product list screen SC3, product information such as a product ID, a product name, a price, and a category is displayed for each product registered at the store. Also, a “change” button for changing the product information and a “delete” button for deleting are displayed. In addition, product list screen S
On C3, an “Add new product” button B3-1 used when adding a product to the store and an “End” button B3-2 for terminating this screen are displayed.

In step S39, << add a new product >>
When the button B3-1 is selected by a click operation, the browser transmits information (such as a button ID) corresponding to the selected button B3-1 to the shopping mall server 1 in step S41.

In step S43, the category management unit 13
Reads the category name registered in the category database DB2 and generates product addition screen data for displaying the product addition screen SC4. In step S45,
The Web server 11 transmits the generated product addition screen data to the store owner terminal 3.

In step S47, the store owner terminal 3 uses the transmitted data to display the product addition screen SC4 shown in FIG.
Is displayed.

The product addition screen SC4 includes a product name, an outline,
Product details, product type, sales price, start date,
An input area for product information such as a sales end date is displayed. In addition, a pull-down menu for selecting a desired category from the categories registered in advance is displayed by a predetermined operation. Also, a << Registration >> button B4-1 for executing product addition is displayed.

In step S49, after the store owner inputs the product information, the category is selected from the pull-down menu, and the "register" button B4-1 is selected.
In step S51, the browser displays the input product information,
The selected category is transmitted to the shopping mall server 1.

In step S53, the category management unit 13
Associates the category name with the product information and registers it in the product information database DB1. After the registration, the process proceeds to step S33 to generate product list screen data including the currently registered product. Then, the Web server 11 transmits this.

When the "Delete" button is selected on the product list screen SC3, the product management unit 12 displays the product information once, and when there is an instruction to finally delete the product information, the product management unit 12 displays the product information. The product information is deleted from the database DB1. When the "change" button is selected, the registered product information is displayed in the product information input area and can be changed, and when an instruction to execute the change is finally given, the product information database is displayed. The information registered in DB1 is overwritten with the information in the input area.

When the "end" button B3-2 is selected, the Web server 11 disconnects the communication with the shop owner terminal 3 in step S55.

Therefore, the store owner can register, delete, or change the merchandise information at any time while being at a remote location.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram of processing between the shopping mall server 1 and the mall user terminal 4.
FIG. 9 shows a shopping mall top screen SC5.
FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the merchandise store list screen SC6. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the product information screen SC7.

When the mall user terminal 4 accesses the shopping mall server 1 in step S61, the registered category is read from the category database DB2 in step S62, and a mall top screen for displaying a mall top screen SC5 of the shopping mall is displayed. Generate data. In step 63, the Web server 11
The generated data is transmitted to the mall user terminal 4.

Then, in step S65, the mall user terminal 4 displays the mall top screen SC5 based on the transmitted mall top screen data as shown in FIG. On the mall top screen SC5, merchandise search can be performed by store name, category, keyword, price range, and the like. Specifically, for example, in addition to an input area A5-1 for inputting a category, an input area for inputting a store name, a keyword, and a price range is displayed. Then, a "search" button B5 for executing a search
-1 is displayed. Also, registered category names are displayed, and when the category name is selected, products belonging to the category can be listed.

Now, in step S67, the mall user enters the input area A5-1 on the mall top screen SC5,
When the category name is input and the "search" button B5-1 is selected, the browser transmits the input category name to the shopping mall server 1 in step S69. Note that the shopping mall server 1 can also display the registered categories once, and allow the user to select one of the categories by clicking the mouse. At this time, the category name is transmitted similarly.

In step S71, the shopping mall processing unit 14 of the shopping mall server 1 searches the product information database DB1 for product information corresponding to the category, and displays a product store list screen SC6 for displaying the product store list screen SC6. Generate data. Then, in step S73, the Web server 11 transmits the merchandise store list screen data to the mall user terminal 4.

In step S75, the mall manager terminal 2
FIG. 10 is based on the transmitted merchandise store list screen data.
Is displayed as shown in FIG.

On the merchandise store list screen SC6, a merchandise name, a price and a store name are displayed for each merchandise belonging to the specified category. The product name is a button. In step S77, for example, when the button indicated by B6-1 is clicked to select the product name, the browser in step S79 sends the selected product name to the shopping mall server 1. Send.

In step S81, the shopping mall processing section 14 reads out not only the product name but also more detailed product information from the product information database DB1, and generates product information screen data for displaying the product information screen SC7. . Then, in step S83, the Web server 11
Transmits the product information screen data to the mall user terminal 4.

In step S85, the mall user terminal 4
The product information screen SC7 shown in FIG. 11 is displayed. On the product information screen SC7, information such as a price, a product outline, and a detailed description are displayed in addition to the product name. Then, by selecting the button shown in B7-1, the shopping mall processing unit 14 stores the product in a storage area for shopping (referred to as a "shopping basket" or "shopping cart"), and thereafter stores the product. Settlement is performed by the settlement process.

When a plurality of categories in the pull-down menu are clicked on the product addition screen shown in FIG. 7, by associating the plurality of categories with the product, the product can be specified regardless of which category is specified. Be able to search.

The sales item search program for performing the above-described processing can be distributed by storing it in a computer-readable recording medium such as a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, and a magnetic tape. Therefore, by setting this recording medium in an arbitrary computer and reading and executing the processing program, the same operation as the present invention can be obtained, and as a result, the same effect as the present invention can be obtained on the computer. be able to.

[0052]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Quickly and easily search for products in shopping malls. Therefore, the convenience of the shopping mall is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration and a use form of a shopping mall server 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram of a process between a shopping mall server 1 and a mall administrator terminal 2.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a category management screen SC1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a category addition screen SC2.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram of a process between the shopping mall server 1 and the shop owner terminal 3.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a product list screen SC3.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a product addition screen SC4.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram of a process between the shopping mall server 1 and the mall user terminal 4;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a mall top screen SC5.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a merchandise store list screen SC6.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a product information screen SC7.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Shopping mall server 2 Mall administrator terminal 3 Store owner terminal 4 Mall user terminal 11 Web server 12 Product management unit 13 Category management unit 14 Shopping mall processing unit DB1 Product information database DB2 Category database

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/60 336 G06F 17/60 336 504 504 (72) Inventor Ikuo Yoda 1-9 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo No. 1 NTT COMWARE CORPORATION F term (reference) 5B075 ND16 ND24 ND34 PP22 PQ05 UU40

Claims (5)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A sales item obtained by searching a database for a sales item sold at a store in a shopping mall provided on the Internet including a plurality of stores and transmitting the sales item to a terminal of a buyer who has requested the search. In the method of searching for a sales item in a shopping mall when displaying, after storing in advance a correspondence indicating which category among the categories common to the plurality of stores the sales item sold in each store belongs to, A method for searching for a sales item in a shopping mall, characterized by searching for a sales item belonging to the specified category based on the stored correspondence by specifying a category from the buyer terminal. 2. Registering the common category in advance, and when registering a sales item in a database from a terminal on the store side, displaying the registered category on the terminal on the store side and selecting the category. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the correspondence between the selected category and the registered sales item is stored. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a category notified via a network is registered or deleted as the common category. 4. A sales item obtained by searching a database for sales items to be sold at a store in a shopping mall provided on the Internet including a plurality of stores and transmitting the sales item to a terminal of a buyer who has requested the search. A shopping mall system for displaying the correspondence information indicating which of the categories common to the plurality of stores the sales item sold in each store belongs to; And a sales item search means for searching for a sales item belonging to the specified category by referring to the correspondence stored in the category information storage means by specifying a category from the terminal. . 5. A sales item obtained by searching a database for sales items to be sold at a store in a shopping mall provided on the Internet including a plurality of stores and transmitting the sales item to a terminal of a buyer who has requested the search. A computer-readable recording medium in which a sales item search program in a shopping mall at the time of displaying is recorded, wherein a sales item sold in each store belongs to any of categories common to the plurality of stores. A sales item search program for searching for a sales item belonging to the specified category based on the stored correspondence by specifying a category from the buyer's terminal after storing the corresponding relationship indicating in advance the Computer-readable recording medium.