Merchandise planning and development system and method for the same, and a computer product

• US 7,702,534 B1
• Filed: 08/21/2000
• Issued: 04/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited, Ricoh Elemex Corporation (Ricoh Company Limited)
• Inventors: Shimizu, Yuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilligan; C. Luke
• Assistant Examiner(s): Porter; Rachel L
• Application Number:
  US09/642,227
• Time in Patent Office: 3,529 Days
• Field of Search: 705/9, 705/10
• US Class Current: 705/7.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors

Abstract

The merchandise planning and development system includes a WWW server 33 for informing many and unspecified customers 3₁ to 3_n of merchandise planning and development information about planning and/or development of new merchandise through the Internet 20, and a news server 35 for collecting the opinion information of the customers 3₁ to 3_n looking up the merchandise planning information through the Internet 20. The WWW server 33 informs the customers 3₁ to 3_n of the merchandise information suited to the needs of the customers on the basis of the opinion information by way of the Internet 20.

Claims

1. A merchandise planning and development method, comprising:

a merchandise planning information notice step of informing many and unspecified customers of merchandise planning and development information relating to design specifications of a trial product of new merchandise in a development period, through the Internet, and until before the trial product of the new merchandise is manufactured;

a displaying step of displaying, on a display of a customer client the merchandise planning and development information including a preview design of an image of the trial product received through the Internet; and

a step of displaying an inquiry input screen on the display of the customer client after displaying the preview design of the image of the trial product;

receiving input opinion information based on the displayed merchandise planning and development information in the development period of the new merchandise, prior to manufacture of the trial product of the new merchandise,

wherein the received input opinion information is not on actual use of the new merchandise by the customers, but on the merchandise planning and development information displayed on the display of the customer client, and,

wherein, when the opinion information is input by the customers, the method further includes;

an opinion information collecting step of collecting the received opinion information input by the customers, through the Internet;

a drafting step of drafting an improved design of the trial product of the new merchandise using a computer-aided design (CAD) device, based on an improved design and specification of the trial product of the new merchandise determined according to an analysis of the opinion information collected; and

a merchandise information notice step of informing the customers of information on the improved design of the trial product of the new merchandise, through the Internet.

2. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 1, further comprising:

a trial product information notice step of informing said many and unspecified customers of the trial product information suited to the needs of the customers according to the opinion information through the Internet,

wherein the opinion information collecting step collects the opinion information of the customers looking up the trial product information in addition to the merchandise planning information.

3. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 2, further comprising:

a trial product popularity investigation step of investigating the popularity of each trial product corresponding to the information of the plurality of trial products, when the trial product information notice step informs the customers of information of a plurality of trial products, by an electronic technique.

4. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 3, further comprising:

a trial product popularity investigation result notice step of informing said many and unspecified customers of investigation results of the trial product popularity investigation step through the Internet.

5. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 1, further comprising:

a sales booking step of accepting sales reservations of new merchandise to be released corresponding to the merchandise information from said many and unspecified customers through the Internet; and

a selling price determining step of determining the selling price of the new merchandise so that the selling price may be lower in proportion to an increase in a sales reserved quantity depending on the sales reserved quantity of the new merchandise.

6. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 5, wherein the sales booking step transmits information about reservations to sales representative clients provided at a sales representative through the Internet, while the sales representative sells the new merchandise according to the reservation information.

7. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 5, further comprising:

a customized component display step of displaying a plurality of types of customized components different in design about the components for composing the new merchandise to said many and unspecified customers, the customized component display step further displaying a reservation acceptance screen for allowing the customers to input information on reservations of the new merchandise, through the Internet; and

a customized component selecting step of allowing customers to select desired customized components from the plurality of types of customized components at a time of booking,

wherein the sales booking step accepts the merchandise adopting the selected customized component as new customized merchandise.

8. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 5, further comprising:

a naming voting step of allowing said many and unspecified customers to vote for naming of the new merchandise through the Internet; and

a naming notice step of informing said many and unspecified customers of the naming determined based on a voting result of the naming voting step through the Internet.

9. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 1, further comprising:

a sales booking step of accepting sales reservations of new merchandise to be released corresponding to the merchandise information from said many and unspecified customers through the Internet; and

a selling price determining step of determining a selling price of the new merchandise in gradual steps so that the selling price may be lower on a first-come-first-served basis of the sales reservations.

10. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 9, wherein the selling price determining step firstly sets a discount rate so that the discount rate of a fixed price may be higher in gradual steps on the first-come-first-served basis of the sales reservations, and the selling price determining step secondly determines the selling price according to the discount rate.

11. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 9, wherein the sales booking step transmits information about reservations to sales representative clients provided at a sales representative through the Internet, while the sales representative sells the new merchandise according to the reservation information.

12. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 9, further comprising:

a customized component display step of displaying a plurality of types of customized components different in design about the components for composing the new merchandise to said many and unspecified customers, the customized component display step further displaying a reservation acceptance screen for allowing the customers to input information on reservations of the new merchandise, through the Internet; and

a customized component selecting step of allowing the customers to select desired customized components from the plurality of types of customized components at a time of booking,

wherein the sales booking step accepts the merchandise adopting the selected customized component as new customized merchandise.

13. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 9, further comprising:

a naming voting step of allowing said many and unspecified customers to vote for naming of the new merchandise through the Internet; and

a naming notice step of informing said many and unspecified customers of the naming determined based on a voting result of the naming voting step through the Internet.

14. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 1, further comprising:

a sales booking step of accepting sales reservations of new merchandise to be released corresponding to the merchandise information from said many and unspecified customers through the Internet; and

a selling price determining step of determining a selling price of the new merchandise so that the selling price may be lower as the sales reservations are accepted earlier.

15. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 14, wherein the selling price determining step firstly sets a discount rate so that the discount rate of a fixed price may be higher in gradual steps as the sales reservations are accepted earlier, and the selling price determining step secondly determines the selling price according to the discount rate.

16. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 14, wherein the sales booking step transmits information about reservation to sales representative clients provided at a sales representative through the Internet, while the sales representative sells the new merchandise according to the reservation information.

17. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 14, further comprising:

a customized component display step of displaying a plurality of types of customized components different in design about the components for composing the new merchandise to said many and unspecified customers, the customized component display step further displaying a reservation acceptance screen for allowing the customers to input information on reservations of the new merchandise, through the Internet; and

a customized component selecting step of allowing the customers to select desired customized components from the plurality of types of customized components at a time of booking,

wherein the sales booking step accepts the merchandise adopting the selected customized component as new customized merchandise.

18. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 14, further comprising:

a naming voting step of allowing said many and unspecified customers to vote for naming of the new merchandise through the Internet; and

a naming notice step of informing said many and unspecified customers of the naming determined based on a voting result of the naming voting step through the Internet.

19. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 1, further comprising:

a sales booking step of accepting sales reservations of new merchandise to be released corresponding to the merchandise information from said many and unspecified customers through the Internet; and

a selling price determining step of determining a selling price of the new merchandise so that the selling price may be lower as a reservation sold-out time from a start of acceptance of sales reservations until reaching a specified reservation quantity is shorter.

20. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 19, wherein the selling price determining step firstly sets a discount rate so that the discount rate of a fixed price may be higher as the reservation sold-out time is shorter, and the selling price determining step secondly determines the selling price according to the discount rate.

21. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 19, wherein the sales booking step transmits information about reservation to sales representative clients provided at a sales representative through the Internet, while the sales representative sells the new merchandise according to the reservation information.

22. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 19, further comprising:

a customized component display step of displaying a plurality of types of customized components different in design about the components for composing the new merchandise to said many and unspecified customers, the customized component display step further displaying a reservation acceptance screen for allowing the customers to input information on reservations of the new merchandise, through the Internet; and

a customized component selecting step of allowing the customers to select desired customized components from the plurality of types of customized components at a time of booking,

wherein the sales booking step accepts the merchandise adopting the selected customized component as new customized merchandise.

23. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 19, further comprising:

a naming voting step of allowing said many and unspecified customers to vote for naming of the new merchandise through the Internet; and

a naming notice step of informing said many and unspecified customers of the naming determined based on a voting result of the naming voting step through the Internet.

24. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 1, further comprising:

a bidding price collecting step of collecting bidding prices of new merchandise to be released corresponding to the merchandise information from said many and unspecified customers; and

a selling price determining step of investigating a distribution of bidding prices based on a result of collection of the bidding price collecting step, and determining a selling price of the new merchandise based on a bidding price zone of a greatest number of bids.

25. The merchandise planning and development method according to claim 1, further comprising:

an auction step of auctioning new merchandise to be released corresponding to the merchandise information through the Internet among said many and unspecified customers; and

a selling price determining step of determining a selling price of the new merchandise based on an auction result of the auction step.

26. A merchandise planning and development method, comprising:

a merchandise planning information notice step of informing many and unspecified customers of merchandise planning and development information relating to design specifications of a plurality of trial products of new merchandise on the basis of one concept in a development period through the Internet, and until before the trial products of the new merchandise are manufactured;

a displaying step of displaying, on a display of a customer client the merchandise planning and development information including a preview design of images of the trial products received through the Internet; and

a step of displaying an inquiry input screen on the display of the customer client after displaying the preview design of the images of the trial products;

receiving input opinion information based on the displayed merchandise planning and development information in the development period of the new merchandise, prior to manufacture of the trial products of the new merchandise,

wherein the received input opinion information is not on actual use of the new merchandise by the customers, but on the merchandise planning and development information displayed on the display of the customer client, and,

wherein, when the opinion information is input by the customers, the method further includes;

an opinion information collecting step of collecting the received opinion information input by the customers, through the Internet;

a drafting step of drafting an improved design of the trial products of the new merchandise using a computer-aided design (CAD) device, based on an improved design and specification of the trial products of the new merchandise determined according to an analysis of the opinion information collected; and

a merchandise information notice step of informing the customers of information on the improved design of the trial products of the new merchandise, through the Internet.