Method for selling merchandise and method for purchasing merchandise

• US 20040054616A1
• Filed: 05/08/2003
• Published: 03/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Best Medical Service Kabushiki Gaisha
• Original Assignee: Best Medical Service Kabushiki Gaisha
• Inventors: Shinbo, Koichiro
• Application Number:
  US10/416,119
• Publication Number:
  US 20040054616A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A method for selling merchandise according to working example 1 mainly uses the Internet (100), merchandise sale supporting means (eyeglasses sale supporting means) (10) managed by an eyeglasses seller (merchandise seller), and merchandise purchase supporting means (311, 312, . . . , 31n) managed by eyeglasses shop (merchandise shops). Bidding data about desired merchandise purchase prices and sale supporting services is received from registered merchandise shops. Therefore the benefits of the selling and purchase sides are ensured, and efficient service support and selling price setting for each of merchandise shops of different scales are made, thus providing a technique relating to a merchandise selling method and merchandise purchase method by which prices are easily adjusted.

Claims

1. A method of selling merchandise using bidding and comprising:

a first step wherein a merchandise-sales-support means, which is operated by a merchandise seller who performs distribution, receives bidding data via a network, such as the Internet, from a merchandise-purchasing-support means, which is operated by a pre-registered merchandise shop, for a desired merchandise purchase price; and

a second step of making a merchandise sales contract with a merchandise shop when said desired merchandise purchase price is greater than a preset and confidential minimum allowable merchandise sales price.

2. The method of selling merchandise of claim 1 wherein said second step comprises a step of determining whether or not said desired merchandise purchase prices from said merchandise shops, which are pre-registered for a plurality of groups, are greater than said minimum allowable merchandise sales price, which is preset for each group;

and making said merchandise sales contract with said merchandise shop, which sent said desired merchandise purchase price that is greater than said minimum allowable merchandise sales price.

3. The method of selling merchandise of claim 1 or 2 wherein said second step comprises a step of setting in advance said minimum allowable merchandise sales price for each of said merchandise shops, which are registered in said respective groups, based on factors that affect the price setting, such as seasonal changes, merchandise shipping destination that corresponds to said merchandise shop, number of orders, currency exchange rate, delivery date, etc.

4. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 3 wherein said first step comprises a third step of limiting the number of times a desired merchandise purchase price can be received from the same merchandise shop as said bidding data that has a deadline after a specified period of time.

5. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 4 wherein said second step comprises a step of making public in advance said confidential minimum allowable merchandise sales price according to said factors that affect price setting and conditions of supply and demand.

6. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 5 wherein said first step comprises a step of receiving a maximum amount or minimum amount of merchandise for said desired merchandise purchase price.

7. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 6 wherein said merchandise-sales-support means monitors which merchandise is selling well by:

lending a POS, which uses 2-dimensional barcodes, to a merchandise shop with which said merchandise sales contract has been made, or general merchandise shop, receiving merchandise inventory data from said merchandise shop that uses that POS, and managing the merchandise inventory at said merchandise shop.

8. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 7 wherein said merchandise-sales-support means

receives data related to the user, which includes measurement results such as vision or body type and conditions of use such as how the merchandise will be used by the user, via a network, such as the Internet, from the merchandise-sales means installed at said merchandise shop with which said merchandise sales contract has been made, or general merchandise shop;

selects the most suitable merchandise based on said user data from a database related to registered merchandise;

selects the most suitable merchandise supplier from among merchandise suppliers, including pre-registered merchandise manufacturers; and

sends said most suitable merchandise data from said merchandise-sales-support means to said merchandise-manufacturing means or terminal of said selected merchandise supplier over said network, and gives instructions to supply said merchandise.

9. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 8 that receives questions related to said merchandise from said user when said merchandise-sales-support means receives said user data, and sends answers to said questions and advice to said user over said network.

10. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 9 that, when giving an instruction to supply said merchandise:

sends data, which is related to said merchandise, and an estimate request to said merchandise-manufacture means or terminals of a plurality of merchandise suppliers;

selects the most suitable merchandise supplier based on estimate conditions sent from said merchandise suppliers, which include merchandise price and delivery date; and

instructs the selected most suitable merchandise supplier to supply said merchandise.

11. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 10 that, when selecting the most suitable merchandise:

selects lenses and frames for the eyewear from a database based on said user data, which includes conditions of use and user preferences such as color and design of the eyewear, a database, which contains characteristics of the lenses and frames for the eyewear, and measurement results of eye examination data such as vision, and face data that uses 3-dimensional image technology, and combines them as the eyewear or merchandise; and

sends a synthesized image of said user, wearing the eyewear using the face data and combined lenses and frames for the eyewear, to said merchandise-sales means via said network, and prompts said user to check the selection of the most suitable eyewear.

12. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 11 that, when giving instructions to supply said merchandise:

selects a supplier of eyewear, which is the most suitable merchandise supplier from among a plurality of merchandise suppliers that were pre-registered on said network server based on the lens characteristics and eyewear characteristics included in data related to the most suitable eyewear selected by said user, and said user preference data; and

gives an instruction to supply said eyewear.

13. The method of selling merchandise of claim 7 wherein said POS uses a technique of reading barcodes, including 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional barcodes, or a technique of reading symbols or characters, such as OCR.

14. A method of purchasing merchandise wherein the merchandise-sales-support means in the method of selling merchandise in any of the claims 1 to 13 receives bidding data for a desired merchandise sales price via a network, such as the Internet, from the terminal of a merchandise shop, and makes a merchandise sales contract to purchase merchandise from a merchandise seller, whose said desired merchandise sales price is lower or less than a preset and confidential maximum allowable merchandise purchase price, or from a merchandise seller, whose desired merchandise sales price is the minimum desired sales price.

15. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 13 where, when merchandise sold to a pre-registered user has a set merchandise code that can be used to specify said merchandise on a normal sales network, and information of a second sales price is received from said user over a network such as the Internet of said merchandise on another pre-registered sales network that is lower than the first sales price at the time the merchandise was sold, the sales price charged to said user is changed from said first sales price to said second sales price.

16. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 13, 15 where changing the sales price from the first sales price at the time the merchandise was sold to a second sales price according to information from said user is performed when the price is greater (higher) than a preset sales price.

17. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 13, 15, 16 where changing the sales price from a first sales price at the time the merchandise was sold to a second sales price according to information from said user is performed within a preset period after merchandise is ordered.

18. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 13, 15 to 17, wherein the user is billed at the sales price that was changed from a first sales price at the time the merchandise was sold to a second sales price according to information from said user.

19. The method of selling merchandise of any of the claims 1 to 13, 15 to 18, where when payment for merchandise from a user is finished, a refund is processed for said user that is equal to the difference in the first price at time the merchandise was sold and second sales price according to information from said user.

20. A memory means on which a program is recorded that is capable of executing the method of selling merchandise in any of the claims 1 to 13, 15 to 19.