Abstract:
A System ( 1 ) provides electronic commerce for franchise stores over the Internet without such franchise stores creating/maintaining/controlling their own home pages and by reducing the transaction cost for goods sold. The System ( 1 ) may include a headquarter server (H.Server) ( 10 ) that is connected to franchise store servers (F.Server) ( 20 ) and member servers ( 30 ), used by members collected by franchise stores, via Internet ( 40 ). Moreover, the H.Server ( 10 ) can store merchandise (goods) information, goods inventory data, inform franchise stores when their members have accessed, and receive orders from Members or non-Members placed through home page corresponding to particular franchise stores.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates generally to systems and methods of electronic commerce, and more particularly to an electronic shopping system and method for retail franchisees over a network such as the Internet. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Recently, companies and stores in various industries create virtual stores by way of their own conventional home pages on the Internet. Through such conventional home page arrangements, the companies/stores receive purchase orders. 
     In this type of conventional electronic shopping system, it is very important to create home pages which will be attractive to common consumers and that will be able to stimulate consumers&#39; purchasing desires. Furthermore, it is desirable to present a variety of goods, enough to satisfy the high and different demands of the consumers. 
     Unfortunately, the relative cost required to create and maintain effective home pages can be much higher for medium/small sized enterprises or retail shops, than for large sized companies. The introduction of systems for presenting/providing individual home pages for medium/small sized enterprises may not be adequately effective, since the range of the goods to be displayed is limited. Thus, even if a medium/small sized enterprise decides to start an electronic commerce system on their own, it may be difficult to obtain satisfactory effects. 
     In light of the above, it would be desirable to arrive at a practical franchise system for retailers, such as music record retailers. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the present invention, retailers, such as music record retailers, can be organized together under a Franchise System that establishes a headquarter for electronic commerce, such as Internet business. Such a headquarter can include a headquarter server (hereafter referred to as “H.Server”). Retailer members (e.g., franchise stores) may each have their own server (hereafter referred to F.Server) connected to the H.Server via a network (e.g., the Internet). Members (e.g., potential consumers) collected by franchise stores individually can each have their own server (hereafter referred to as “M.Server”) also connected with H.Server via the network (e.g., Internet). 
     According to the present invention, an H.Server can include the following data and systems: 
     Merchandise Information Memory Data, that includes gathered information for various goods (hereafter, referred to as “Goods”) sold by Franchise Stores, such as records, CD, MD, Music Tape, Video Tape and DVD, etc.; 
     a Home Page Creation System, that can be realized through several ways and can read the Merchandise Information Memory Data for desired merchandise information, while at the same time collecting each home page data and Franchise Store Identification (ID) data through a Franchise Store&#39;s Home page Data Memory System particular to each Franchise Store; 
     a Home Page Sending Service, that sends information gathered from Merchandise Information Memory Data to the various Franchise Store home pages; 
     an Order Receiving System that facilitates ordering by Members through the various Franchise Store home pages; 
     a Received Data Transfer System that transfers order data (received by the Order Receiving System) to the “F.Server” identified by a Member Store ID System, such order data can include a buyer&#39;s name and the ordered items; and 
     a Franchise Store (identification) ID System that facilitates the identification of the Franchise Store to which a Member (or non-Member) belongs, including the time(s) that the Members or non-Members have accessed, the Franchise Store ID System identifying the Franchise Store to which a Member belongs based on a uniform resource locator (URL) set up in advance according to predefined rules. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system according one embodiment of the present invention, including associated hardware. 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram showing one example of a Member Data Base of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram showing one example of a Franchise Store Data Base of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram showing a Home Page Data Base of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a flow diagram showing a method according to of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows the structure outline of electronic shopping system (hereinafter System  1 ) according to one embodiment of the present invention. The System  1  includes a headquarter server (H.Server)  10  owned by a headquarter of a Franchise System, franchise servers (F.Server)  20  (only one of which is shown in  FIG. 1 ), owned by one of many Franchise Stores of the Franchise System, member servers (M.Server)  30  (only one of which is shown in  FIG. 1 ) owned by the Members associated with the Franchise Stores, and a network (e.g., Internet)  40  connecting all of them. 
     H.Server  10  can be equipped with various databases. Among the databases is a Goods Master Data Base  11 , in which merchandise data, such as records/CDs/other goods related with the System, are cataloged. H.Server  10  may also be equipped with contents  12  which classify goods entered into Goods Master Data Base  11 . Such classification can include, for example, a musician group, a music category group and a best sellers group, etc. 
     H.Server  10  is further be equipped with a Member Entry Data Base  13  where members collected by each Franchise Store in the Franchise System are cataloged. One example of a portion of a Member Entry Data Base is shown in  FIG. 2 , and designated by the general reference character  13 . A Member Entry Data Base  13  can include, for every member, an identification (ID) Number (No.), a password, a Franchise Store code, a Branch Code (if the member belongs to a certain branch of a Franchise Store), and a terminal identification (ID) Code, also called a “cookie”, which is used by an H.Server  10  to identify if a member&#39;s M.Server  30  has been entered into the Member Entry Data Base  13 . 
     H.Server  10  also includes a Franchise Store Data Base  14  which can include Franchise Store entries. One example of a portion of a Franchise Store Data Base is shown in  FIG. 3 , and designated by the general reference character  14 . Data for every Franchise Store can be entered into the Franchise Store Data Base  14 , including a store code and branch code (if any). When a franchise agreement has been made between a store and the Headquarter, data for the store is cataloged in Franchise Store Data Base  14  of H.Server  10 , to make such a store a Franchise Store of the System  1 . 
     H.Server  10  may also include a Home Page Data Base  15  in which the home page data of each Franchise Store can be entered. As shown in  FIG. 4 , for example, the home page data can include store name logos used in creating a home page, figures for the home pages, and a branch list for a Franchise Store, etc. 
     An operating procedure of the System  1  will now be described in conjunction with a flow chart set forth in  FIG. 5 . The flow chart of  FIG. 5  shows communication between an M.Server  30  and an H.Server  10 . When the System  1  is used, a member can make an M.Server  30  (e.g., a personal computer, PC) connect via a service provider using a phone cable first (Step S 1 ). Then, software such as an Internet browser, can be activated (Step S 2 ). Then, the accessing Member can input a URL, obtained in advance, to access the System  1  (Step S 3 ). 
     The present invention envisions two kinds of URLs. A first kind of URL is common to the whole system. The second kind of URLs are classified according to each Franchise Store. For example, a second kind of URL could take the general form http://www.abc.xyz.co.jp, which can be for one of the Franchise Stores. The part “abc” of the URL identifies the Franchise Store. The URL without the part “abc” can be the first type URL used commonly in the whole System  1 . In any case, the accessing Member shall be connected with H.Server  10  by the “xyz.co.jp” portion of the URL (Step S 4 ). At that time, H.Server  10  can judge whether the access is the first or the second one and so on, by confirming the Terminal ID Code provided to the H.Server  10  in a Member&#39;s first access from M.Server  30  (Step S 5 ). If it is the first access by the Member, a Member ID No. and a Password are requested to be added. The H.Server  10  can recognize whether the access is from the Member or not, by comparing such input data with the Member&#39;s Data cataloged in Member&#39;s Data Base  13  (Step S 6 , S 7 ). 
     In the above Steps S 6  and S 7 , the above Member ID No. and Password had been obtained from the Member when the Member applied for entry at the Franchise Store, and such data can be cataloged in Member Data Base  13  of H.Server  10 , based on the notice from the Franchise Store. When such a Member ID No. or Password is different from what has been cataloged, or when there is no input from an accessing Member, H.Server  10  judges that the access is from a non-Member and displays a home page for guests (Step S 8 ). However, when the H.Server judges that the input Member ID No. and Password are what has already been entered, and that the access from M. Server  30  is the second one (or third, fourth one), the H.Server  10  determines whether or not the URL entered by the accessing Member is specific to one of the Franchise Stores. (Step S 9 ). For example, referring to the specific URL example above, if there is not an “abc” part in the input URL and/or it is not possible to specify a Franchise Store by the URL, then, the H.Server  10  requests the accessing Member  30  to again input data for identifying the Membership, based on Member Data Base  13 , in order to recognize to which Franchise Store, the accessing Member belongs (Step S 10 ). 
     Once a Membership and Franchise Store have been confirmed, H.Server  10  next reads the home page data for store name logo and figures, as shown in  FIG. 4  for example, from Home Page Data Base  15 . Then, the H.Server  10  can create a home page for the Franchise Store concerned, using the merchandise data read out from Goods Master Database  11  and various contents  12 , and can send the resulting home page to the accessing M.Server  30  (Step S 11 ). Moreover, the H.Server  10  can also obtain the purchase order data including the Member&#39;s ID No., ordered goods, delivery method, and payment method, when M.Server  30  has processed a purchase order (Step S 12 ). In this way, when the order from a Member belonging to a Franchise Store has been received and processed, H.Server  10  can transfer the received order data to the appropriate F.Server  20  via network  40  (e.g., the Internet), including by e-mail. 
     The Franchise Store which has received order data from H.Server  10 , can deliver the goods and receive payment according to the transferred order data, after having contacted the Member ordering directly. If the Franchise Store has no stock of ordered goods, the Franchise Store can get such good concerned from the Headquarter or by way of the Headquarter. In this way, electronic commerce using such Home Pages on the Internet can be undertaken. 
     In the System  1  described, each Franchise Store does not need to create/maintain/control its own Home Page, but at the same time is able to show the customized Home Page to its members. Moreover, each Franchise Store can supply many kinds of goods information, not only for its own stocked items, but also for other goods based on the huge scale of data at a Headquarters. 
     In the particular embodiment described above, each Franchise Store could be identified by the URL sent from an M.Server  30 . It is also possible for each Franchise Store to identify the Franchise Store according to a section of the Member&#39;s ID No. and/or password so that H.Server  10  may specify the Franchise Store based on the Member&#39;s ID No. and/or password. Besides transferring the received order data to a Franchise Store via the Internet, such data may also be sent by documents or in other transfer ways. In basic form, a System according to the present invention can create a customized Home Page for each Franchise Store, although the System  1  may operate while omitting home page creation. 
     With the present invention, as described by a particular embodiment above, an H.Server  10  can identify a Franchise Store to which Members belong by URLs or ID Nos. input by Members, for example, when the Members collected by each Franchise Store order some goods through a home page created by a Headquarter. Then, such received order data can be transmitted to the identified Franchise Store. Therefore, the Franchise Store is able to execute electronic commerce over the Internet by delivering the goods to the Member concerned and receiving money from the Member according to the order data, even if the Franchise Store does not have its own home page. In such an arrangement, such a Franchise Store is able to present a huge volume of goods data including goods in stock owned by the Headquarters. 
     Also, when any procedures related to copyrights of records/CDs are required, the Headquarters can perform such procedures for the Franchise Store, and each Franchise Store can enjoy executing electronic commerce efficiently at low costs. When a Member belonging to a Franchise Store has accessed an H.Server via Internet, a customized home page can be displayed to the Member and the Member feels as if they were trading directly with the Franchise Store, without awareness of the Headquarter. 
     Consequently, according to the present invention, a Franchise Store is able to promote its existence more efficiently and to promote its sales activity.