JP2009193236A - Summary price variation type auction server - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a summary price variation type auction server capable of efficiently establishing transaction at a proper price by fluctuating an exhibition price according to the degree of consideration to an exhibition. <P>SOLUTION: This summary price variation type auction server includes: a means for inputting price fluctuation conditions corresponding to exhibition information and the degree of consideration; a means for transmitting the exhibition information to a client in response to a request from the client to make the client browse it, and for establishing transaction by accepting a bid; a means for measuring and managing the degree of consideration for every exhibition subject; and a means for determining price variation conditions, and for updating the current price of the exhibition information when it is pertinent. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an auction control technique using a network such as the Internet.

  A “prompt decision method” auction in which a successful bid is determined without competing with other bidders when a bid is made at the price set for the exhibition price. In this case, items that have been submitted at a prompt decision (fixed) price can basically be traded (bid-successful bid) only at the same price until the end of the exhibition period, as in normal shopping.

  In addition, in real estate, etc., “auction-off” auctions are performed in which the exhibition price drops with the passage of time.

Patent Document 1 discloses an auction system that changes the price of a product based on price fluctuation information that changes the price of the product based on the passage of time from the presentation start time of the product.
JP 2002-74075 A

  In the prompt decision auction described above, when a product price is set at the time of listing, if it is determined that the price is higher than the market price, no bidder will be attached until the end of the listing period, and the seller will have an opportunity to sell. Lost, and the purchaser also loses the opportunity to purchase. In addition, after the exhibition period has passed, the exhibitor has to review the exhibition price and then exhibit again, which is troublesome.

  Moreover, in the auction of the auction method, the initial exhibition price is usually set high, and there is a problem that the period until the bidder appears after the price has dropped to a certain level has been a problem.

  Furthermore, in auctions where there are many CtoC (Consumer to Consumer) transactions such as Internet auctions, when there are many general sellers and products with second-hand goods or premiums are listed, prompt auctions or auctions are used. There was a problem that the price of the auction was not known, and it was difficult to set an appropriate listing price at his own discretion.

  On the other hand, in Patent Document 1, the exhibition price is reduced mainly focusing on the passage of time of the auction and the presence / absence of bidding, but in general, bidding concentrates at the end of the exhibition period in the Internet auction. In many cases, it is not always reasonable to lower the exhibition price over time. In other words, there are many people who are interested in the contents of the listing and are paying attention, but who are considering to bid after taking into account the status of bidding by others. Not necessarily. Therefore, simply lowering the exhibition price with the passage of time may cause an opportunity to sell at a high price to be lost and impair the profit that should be obtained by the seller.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and the object of the present invention is to efficiently trade at an appropriate price by changing the exhibition price according to the degree of attention to the exhibition. The object is to provide a prompt price fluctuation type auction server that can be established.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, according to the present invention, as described in claim 1, means for inputting price information according to exhibition information and a degree of attention, and registering it in a database; In response to a request from a client, the client transmits to the client for browsing, accepts a bid, establishes a transaction, measures and manages a degree of attention for each exhibition item, and determines the price fluctuation condition. The gist of the prompt decision price auction server is provided with means for updating the current price of the exhibition information when applicable.

  Further, as described in claim 2, in the prompt decision price-variable auction server according to claim 1, the degree of attention depends on the number of accesses to the product screen that provides the exhibition information and / or the number of registered watch lists. Value.

  Further, as described in claim 3, in the prompt decision price fluctuation type auction server according to claim 2, the price fluctuation condition includes setting of the number of accesses or the number of watch list registrations required until a certain point after the listing. And setting the amount of money to lower the exhibition price when the number of accesses or the number of registered watch lists is not reached.

  Further, as described in claim 4, in the prompt decision price fluctuation type auction server according to claim 2, the price fluctuation condition includes setting of the number of accesses or the number of watch list registrations required until a certain point after the listing. , And a display option setting that is activated when the set number of accesses or the number of registered watch lists is not reached.

  In addition, as described in claim 5, in the prompt decision price fluctuation auction server according to claim 4, the display options include display in a noticeable auction, display in a showcase, bold text, background color Any of addition, conspicuous icon addition, and display order change can be included.

  In addition, as described in claim 6, the process of inputting the price fluctuation condition according to the exhibition information and the degree of attention and registering it in the database, and sending the exhibition information to the client in response to a request from the client In addition to browsing, establishing a transaction by accepting a bid, measuring and managing the degree of attention for each exhibition item, judging the price fluctuation conditions, and updating the current price of the exhibition information if applicable And a prompt price fluctuation type auction control method including a process.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the computer constituting the server connected to the network inputs the exhibition information and the price fluctuation condition according to the degree of attention, and registers it in the database. In response to a request from the client, the client sends the client to browse, accepts a bid, establishes a transaction, measures and manages the degree of attention for each exhibition item, determines the price fluctuation condition, and applies It is possible to configure as a prompt price fluctuation type auction control program that functions as a means for updating the current price of the exhibition information.

  In the prompt decision price fluctuation type auction server of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently establish a transaction at an appropriate price by changing the exhibition price according to the degree of attention to the exhibition.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, an auction server 1 is connected to a network 2 such as the Internet, and can be accessed from the client terminal 3A operated by the seller A and the client terminal 3B operated by the bidder B via the network 2. It is like that. The client terminals 3A and 3B are provided with browsers for accessing the auction server 1.

  The auction server 1 includes an exhibition receiving unit 101, an exhibition information registration unit 102, a product screen generation / posting unit 103, a condition occurrence monitoring unit 104, an exhibition information control unit 105, a product screen browsing control unit 106, and an access management unit 107 as functional units. , A watch list management unit 108, a bid acceptance unit 109, a successful bidder determination unit 110, and a notification unit 111, and an exhibition information database 121, an access management database 122, a watch list management database 123, and a user information database 124 as a database. . The functional units 101 to 111 are realized by a computer program executed on hardware resources such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory) of the computer constituting the auction server 1. Is. The databases 121 to 124 systematically hold data on a storage medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). Note that the databases 121 to 124 can be provided in the auction server 1 or in other servers.

  The exhibition reception unit 101 has a function of providing an exhibition screen in response to a request from the client terminal 3A and the like operated by the seller A, and receiving an auction exhibition by inputting necessary information into the exhibition screen. ing.

  The exhibition information registration unit 102 has a function of extracting the exhibition information input on the exhibition screen and conditions regarding price fluctuations and registering them in the exhibition information database 121.

  The product screen generation / posting unit 103 has a function of generating a product screen for browsing / bidding based on the exhibition information and posting it in a viewable state.

  The condition occurrence monitoring unit 104 monitors whether or not a situation corresponding to the condition set by each seller occurs until listing ends for all auction items after the listing is posted. It has a function to update prices according to conditions.

  The exhibition information control unit 105 has a function of updating the corresponding auction item information in the exhibition information database 121 based on requests from the condition occurrence monitoring unit 104, the access management unit 107, and the watch list management unit 108.

  The product screen browsing control unit 106 has a function of providing a product screen for browsing and bidding products in response to a request from the client terminal 3B operated by the bidder B.

  The access management unit 107 has a function of registering and managing the number of accesses to the product screen in the access management database 122.

  The watch list management unit 108 performs registration in the watch list management database 123 in accordance with an operation in which a viewer registers (adds) a product screen to the watch list, and counts the number of watch list registrations for each product screen. have. Note that the watch list is equivalent to bookmark or favorite registration, and the product screen registered in the watch list can be easily referred to from the watch list.

  The bid accepting unit 109 has a function of accepting a bid when a bid operation is performed from the product screen.

  The successful bidder determination unit 110 has a function of determining a successful bidder from the accepted bid and changing the product screen to successful bid. In a prompt decision type auction, in principle, a bid is made to a bidder at the time of bidding.

  The notification unit 111 has a function of notifying the seller A or the like of occurrence of an event such as price fluctuation or a successful bid by e-mail in response to a request from the condition occurrence monitoring unit 104 or the successful bidder determination unit 110.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the data structure of each database. (A) shows an example of the data structure of the exhibition information database 121. The “auction ID” for identifying an auction item, the “status” indicating the state of the auction item (held / finished, etc.), and the seller are identified. “Seller ID”, “Title (product name)” such as product name entered by the seller, “Product description” entered by the seller, “Product image” uploaded by the seller, entered by the seller "Exhibition price" at the time of listing, "Current price" set by the auction server 1, "Number" of products to be entered entered by the exhibitor, "Auction period" entered by the exhibitor, listing “Product shipping origin region” input by the seller, “Conditions” for price fluctuations input by the seller, and the product image set in the auction server 1 "The number of access", and has a field such as "watch list registration number" of the product screen, which is set by the auction server 1 to.

  (B) shows an example of the data structure of the access management database 122, such as “auction ID” for identifying an auction item, “number of accesses” to the product screen, “product screen URL” corresponding to the auction item, and the like. Has a field. (C) shows an example of the data structure of the watch list management database 123. A “user ID” for identifying a user who has registered in the watch list, an “auction ID” for identifying an auction item, and registration in the watch list. It has a field such as “product screen URL” as a target. (D) shows an example of the data structure of the user information database 124. The “user ID” for identifying the registered user, the “name” of the user, the “address” of the user, and the “phone number” of the user. And a field such as “mail address” of the user.

<Operation>
FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing a processing example of the above embodiment.

  At the time of exhibition, when a display screen display request is made from the client terminal 3A to the auction server 1 (step S101), the exhibition reception unit 101 of the auction server 1 transmits display screen display data to the client terminal 3A. (Step S102). FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an exhibition screen. For each item in the column 301, input is appropriately made in the column 302. For product images, an image file is designated by clicking an “upload image” button 303. As for option setting, the “option setting screen” button 304 is clicked to shift to the option setting screen shown in FIG. On the option setting screen, the exhibition price (start price), the current price, and the number of remaining days until the end of the auction are displayed in the column 311 as the current situation. In addition, by clicking the “add condition” button 315, a new line is added to the column 312 and conditions such as price fluctuation can be set in the column 313 of each row. The column 314 is automatically set on the auction server 1 side. In the example shown in the figure, as the first condition, when the remaining number of days is 3, the number of accesses is 100 or less, and the number of registered watch lists is 50 or less, the reduction amount is 1000 yen, and as a result, The price after change is 19000 yen, and the second condition is that if the remaining days is 1 day, the number of accesses is 200 or less, and the number of registered watchlists is 10 or less, the reduction amount is 1000 yen As a result, if the price after change is 18000 yen, the third condition is that the remaining time is 5 hours, the number of accesses is 250 or less, and the number of registered watchlists is 15 or less. Is 2000 yen, and as a result, the post-change price is 16000 yen. The fact that the number of accesses and the number of watch list registrations is small means that the degree of attention is low when using the Internet, and is considered to be a better index for estimating sales results than the remaining time and tender situation. It is done.

  In addition to price fluctuations, display options used to make an auction stand out and make it easier to make a successful bid can be set in a predetermined situation. Display options include notable auction display (displayed in the “Featured Auction” column at the top of each category's product listing page), showcase (permanent “100 yen showcase”, seasonal, etc. Display in the showcase column corresponding to various themes depending on the event), bold text, background color addition, conspicuous icon addition, display order change, etc.

  Note that option setting on the option setting screen can be performed not only at the time of exhibition but also after the start of the auction until the end.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the seller A inputs the exhibition information and price fluctuation conditions on the exhibition screen and the option setting screen on the client terminal 3 </ b> A (step S <b> 103), and performs an input completion operation, thereby auctioning from the client terminal 3 </ b> A. Exhibition information and data on conditions such as price fluctuations are transmitted to the server 1 (step S104).

  When the exhibition receiving unit 101 of the auction server 1 receives the exhibition information and data on conditions such as price fluctuation, the exhibition information is delivered to the exhibition information registration unit 102, which extracts the exhibition information and price fluctuation conditions, and displays the exhibition information database. It is registered (saved) in 121 (step S105). Further, the product screen generation / posting unit 103 generates a product screen based on the received exhibition information and posts it so as to be accessible from the outside (step S106). The product screen browsing control unit 106 controls the browsing of the product screen. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a product screen, and a product name, exhibitor information, product information, a product image, a product description, and the like are displayed in a column 321. In addition, an “add to watch list” button 322 for adding (registering) the product screen to the watch list is provided on the product screen, and a column 323 for bidding is further provided.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the condition occurrence monitoring unit 104 starts monitoring the condition occurrence in conjunction with the posting of the product screen (step S <b> 107). The condition occurrence monitoring process will be described below.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a condition occurrence monitoring process. In FIG. 7, when the process is started (step S201), the condition occurrence monitoring unit 104 acquires data on the auction item currently posted based on the status from the exhibition information database 121 (step S202).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all the auction items currently posted in the exhibition information database 121 (step S203), and it is determined that the processing has ended because the next data does not exist (step S203). Yes) ends the processing (step S209).

  If it is determined that the processing has not been completed for all the auction items currently posted (No in step S203), it is then determined whether or not a condition exists in the acquired data (step S204).

  If there is no condition in the acquired data (No in step S204), the process proceeds to acquisition of data of the next auction item (step S202).

  If there is a condition in the acquired data (Yes in step S204), it is determined whether or not a condition occurs (step S205). For example, in the case of the condition shown in the column 312 of FIG. 5, whether or not the remaining days / time calculated from the current date and time and the holding period falls within one of the set values, and if so, the number of accesses Is determined to correspond to the set value, and whether the number of watch lists corresponds to the set value.

  Returning to FIG. 7, if it is not determined that the condition has occurred (No in step S205), the process proceeds to acquisition of data of the next auction item (step S202).

  If it is determined that the condition has occurred (Yes in step S205), the exhibition price is reduced according to the condition (step S206). In the case of the condition shown in the column 312 of FIG. 5, if the remaining days correspond to the condition of 3 days, it will be reduced by 1000 yen according to the reduction amount to 19000 yen, and if the remaining days meet the condition of 1 day, the reduction amount If the remaining time is 5 hours, the price is reduced by 2000 yen to 16000 yen. Similarly, when the display option is activated as a condition, the corresponding display option is validated. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a screen in a state of being added to the auction of interest, and a state in which an abbreviated exhibition display 332 of an exhibition corresponding to the “Auction of Interest” column 331 at the top of the product list page of the category is added. Is shown.

  Returning to FIG. 7, the condition occurrence monitoring unit 104 updates the current price of the corresponding auction item in the exhibition information database 121 by using the exhibition information control unit 105 and reflects it on the product screen by the product screen generation / posting unit 103 (step S207). ). FIG. 9 shows a state where the current price is displayed as 19000 yen in the price display field 341 of the exhibition screen.

  Next, the condition occurrence monitoring unit 104 notifies the corresponding user (exhibitor A) registered in the user information database 124 by e-mail or the like that the listing price has been reduced by the notification unit 111 (step S208). ), The process proceeds to acquisition of data of the next auction item (step S202). The condition occurrence monitoring unit 104 repeats the above processing at a predetermined timing.

  Returning to FIG. 3, at the time of browsing the product, if a display request for the product screen is made from the client terminal 3 </ b> B to the auction server 1 (step S <b> 111), the product screen browsing control unit 106 of the auction server 1 displays the product screen. The display data is transmitted to the client terminal 3B (step S112). At substantially the same time, the access management unit 107 increments (adds 1) the number of accesses of the corresponding auction item (specified by the auction ID) in the access management database 122 (step S113).

  Thereafter, when a registration request to the watch list is made from the client terminal 3B (step S114), the watch list management unit 108 obtains the user ID (known by prior login), the auction ID, and the product screen URL of the user who requested registration. The associated information is registered in the watch list management database 123 (step S115). The registration request to the watch list is made, for example, by clicking the “Add to Watch List” button 322 in FIG.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the access management unit 107 notifies the exhibition information control unit 105 of the number of accesses for each product screen at a predetermined timing, and the exhibition information control unit 105 accesses the number of accesses of the corresponding auction item in the exhibition information database 121. Set to. In addition, the watch list management unit 108 counts the number of watch list registrations for each product screen at a predetermined timing and notifies the exhibition information control unit 105, and the exhibition information control unit 105 corresponds to the corresponding auction item in the exhibition information database 121. Set to the number of registered watchlists.

  Next, at the time of bidding, when the bidder B performs a bidding operation at the client terminal 3B (step S121), a bid request is transmitted from the client terminal 3B to the auction server 1 (step S122). The bid operation is performed, for example, by inputting a password in the password input field 343 in the field 342 of FIG. 9 and clicking the “confirm” button 344.

  Returning to FIG. 3, when the bid acceptance unit 109 of the auction server 1 receives the bid request, the successful bidder determination unit 110 determines the successful bidder (step S123). Since the auction is a prompt decision method, in principle, the bidder is the winning bidder at the time of bidding. Then, the successful bidder determination unit 110 transmits the successful bid result to the client terminal 3B (step S124).

  Next, the successful bidder determination unit 110 updates the status of the corresponding auction item in the exhibition information database 121 to end by the exhibition information control unit 105, and reflects it on the product screen by the product screen generation / posting unit 103 (step S125).

  Further, the successful bidder determination unit 110 notifies the corresponding user (exhibitor A) registered in the user information database 124 by e-mail or the like that the successful bid has been made by the notification unit 111 (step S126).

<Summary>
As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, there are the following advantages.
(1) After the listing, bidders make bids and bids at the optimal price they consider by lowering the price at predetermined intervals according to the number of accesses or the number of registered watchlists when the set period has elapsed. In addition, the seller can not only avoid the time and money loss of re-listing by changing the price, but also give more users the opportunity to buy and sell.
(2) For the auction operator, it is possible to improve the successful bid rate of products that have not been successfully traded.
(3) In Internet auctions with strong temporal concepts such as “early wins” and “just before the end”, the use of auctions in new (user-specified) time zones also increases.
(4) Depending on the number of accesses or the number of watchlist registrations after the set period has elapsed, the seller can automatically set display options that make the display of the exhibition screen stand out or display at the top when searching. It is possible to set the exhibition information so that it can be easily browsed without frequently checking the exhibition status.
(5) For auction operators, it becomes possible to promote the use of paid display options.

  The present invention has been described above by the preferred embodiments of the present invention. While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, various modifications and changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims. Obviously you can. In other words, the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the details of the specific examples and the accompanying drawings.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure example of each database. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process example of embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of an exhibition screen. It is a figure which shows the example of an option setting screen. It is a figure (the 1) which shows the example of a goods screen. It is a flowchart which shows the example of a process of condition generation | occurrence | production monitoring. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of the state added to the attention auction. It is a figure (the 2) which shows the example of a goods screen.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Auction server 101 Exhibit reception part 102 Exhibit information registration part 103 Commodity screen production | generation / posting part 104 Condition generation | occurrence | production monitoring part 105 Exhibit information control part 106 Commodity screen browsing control part 107 Access management part 108 Watch list management part 109 Bid acceptance part 110 Successful bid Person determining section 111 Notifying section 121 Exhibition information database 122 Access management database 123 Watch list management database 124 User information database 2 Network 3A, 3B Client terminal A Exhibitor B Bidder

Claims (7)

A method for entering price fluctuation conditions according to the exhibition information and the degree of attention and registering it in the database,
Means for sending the exhibition information to the client in response to a request from the client for viewing, and accepting a bid to establish a transaction;
A means to measure and manage the degree of attention for each listing,
A prompt decision price fluctuation type auction server comprising: means for judging the price fluctuation condition and updating the current price of the exhibition information when applicable. In the prompt decision price fluctuation type auction server according to claim 1,
The prompt price fluctuation type auction server characterized in that the degree of attention is a value corresponding to the number of accesses and / or the number of watch list registrations of a product screen providing exhibition information. In the prompt decision price fluctuation type auction server according to claim 2,
The price fluctuation condition includes setting of the number of accesses or the number of watch lists registered until a certain point after the listing, and setting of an amount for reducing the listing price when the number of accesses or the number of watch lists registered is not satisfied. Prompt price fluctuation type auction server characterized by this. In the prompt decision price fluctuation type auction server according to claim 2,
The price fluctuation conditions include the setting of the number of accesses or the number of watch lists registered until a certain point after the listing, and the setting of the display option that is activated when the set number of accesses or the number of watch lists is not met. Prompt decision price fluctuation type auction server. In the prompt decision price fluctuation type auction server according to claim 4,
The prompt decision price-variable auction server characterized in that the display option includes any of display to auction of interest, display to a showcase, bold text, background color addition, conspicuous icon addition, and display order change. Enter the price fluctuation conditions according to the exhibition information and the degree of attention and register it in the database,
Sending the exhibition information to the client in response to a request from the client for viewing, and accepting a bid to establish a transaction;
Measuring and managing the degree of attention for each listing,
A prompt price fluctuation type auction control method comprising: determining the price fluctuation condition and updating the current price of the exhibition information when applicable. The computers that make up the server connected to the network
A method for entering the price fluctuation conditions according to the exhibition information and the degree of attention and registering it in the database,
Means for sending exhibition information to the client in response to a request from the client for viewing, and accepting a bid to establish a transaction;
A means of measuring and managing the degree of attention for each listing,
A prompt decision price fluctuation type auction control program that judges the price fluctuation condition and functions as means for updating the current price of the exhibition information when applicable.

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