WO2009019543A1 - A system and method for organizing the sale of clothing articles, particularly footwear and the like - Google Patents

A system and method for organizing the sale of clothing articles, particularly footwear and the like Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2009019543A1
WO2009019543A1 PCT/IB2008/000039 IB2008000039W WO2009019543A1 WO 2009019543 A1 WO2009019543 A1 WO 2009019543A1 IB 2008000039 W IB2008000039 W IB 2008000039W WO 2009019543 A1 WO2009019543 A1 WO 2009019543A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
article
display
client
articles
fact
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IB2008/000039
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Marco Daniele Boglione
Original Assignee
Basicnet S.P.A.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Basicnet S.P.A. filed Critical Basicnet S.P.A.
Publication of WO2009019543A1 publication Critical patent/WO2009019543A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/08—Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
    • G06Q10/087—Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Definitions

  • the present invention refers to the organization of the sale of clothing articles, particularly footwear and the like, within a store provided with shelving containing the articles, which are typically provided with corresponding electronically detectable identification codes. State of the prior art
  • the system is also operatively connected to at least one display that can be consulted by the client to obtain information on the articles of interest, as well as to at least one cash register for payment of the purchased articles and their removal from the inventory.
  • the client after having identified and possibly tried-on the selected article, can decide not to purchase it. In such a case, relocation of the article from where it had been retrieved is normally left up to the client who, for ill will or even only by mistake or distraction, could reposition the article to a wrong place.
  • the object of the present invention is to overcome the above-said inconveniences, and to provide a system for organising sales that guarantees the constant and correct retrieval of articles, from time to time picked up but not purchased, even if they are repositioned to places different from those from which they had been retrieved.
  • this object is achieved thanks to a system for the organization of sales of the type defined in the above, essentially characterised by the fact that the shelves have a plurality of cells for housing the articles, to each of which a corresponding identification is assigned and each of which is provided with an optical reader operatively connected to said informatics means and predisposed for the reading of the identification codes of the articles, and by the fact that said at least one display is provided with, and more conveniently is integrated with, an optical reader, itself connected to said informatics means and predisposed for the reading of the identification codes of the articles, so as to provide through said display the identification of the cells in which such articles are actually positioned.
  • a device for the printing of a document containing the data of the articles selected by the client and destined to be given to the sales staff that locate, retrieve and consign the articles can be conveniently associated to the display.
  • the sales personnel can conveniently use the display as a fast cash register, with electronic payment mode.
  • the invention is also directed to a method for the organization of sales using a system as set forth in the above.
  • a system as set forth in the above.
  • Detailed description of the invention The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the attached drawing, provided as a non-limiting example, which shows, in block diagram form, the components of the system and the flow diagram of the corresponding operational methodology.
  • the example of the embodiment exemplified in the attached schema typically refers to the case of a store for the sale of clothing articles and more particularly of footwear, housed in an orderly way on shelves provided with a plurality of cells generally indicated as 1, Ia for the ordered location of the articles.
  • These cells 1, 1a can for example contain in part sample models directly accessible to and retrievable by the clients, and in part the articles destined to be sold, which on the other hand, are accessible only to the sales personnel for retrieval and delivery to the client for trial, and for the possible relocation of the articles if not purchased.
  • the store shall be provided with a generally conventional informatics system, not described in detail herein because within the skill of the practitioner in the art, for the management of the articles through the corresponding codes with which they are normally provided.
  • Such identification codes typically consist of barcodes provided on labels or tags applied to the articles and electronically detectable through common optical readers.
  • an identifier for example consisting of a progressive number
  • a corresponding optical reader operatively connected to the informatics system and predisposed for the reading of the article codes, are associated to each article-housing cell 1, 1a.
  • each of the cells 1, Ia could be predisposed, in the case of footwear, to accommodate for example approximately 16/20 pairs of shoes.
  • the store shall be provided with at least one display operatively connected to the informatics system and consultable by the client for obtaining information on articles of potential interest.
  • the display indicated as 2 in the scheme, will typically be of the touch screen type to provide convenient and easy navigation and searching for articles by the client in the archive of the informatics system.
  • the display 2 is operatively associated to, or more conveniently directly integrated with an optical reader, itself connected with the informatics system and predisposed for reading the identification codes of the articles.
  • other peripheral devices can conveniently be associated to the display 2, such as a printing device 3 and possibly a bank POS device 4, through which such a display 2 can also be used as a fast cash register for electronic payment for the purchased articles, as an alternative to the central cash register 5 normally present in the store.
  • the system according to the invention can be completed with electronically readable access cards provided to the sales personnel, the function of which will be clarified below.
  • the client searches for the article potentially of interest to him in one of two alternative modes.
  • the client can directly find the article on the shelves with the sample models, if present, and in such case he will remove it and bring it to the display for reading of the corresponding identification code by the integrated optical reader.
  • the second case he will perform the research directly on the display, querying the data base available on the informatics system. The search could be performed with successive queries relative to the models and types of products, sizes, colours, etc.
  • the display will provide a number of information including the image of the selected product, the original price and any discounts, the colour variants present, the sizes available for a certain colour and the number of pieces available.
  • navigation can easily be performed by the client directly on the screen, due to its touch screen technology.
  • the display will also provide information relative to the cell 1 of the shelf corresponding to the location of such article.
  • the client will note such information or, more conveniently, he will be able to obtain a printout, through the printing device 3, of the information for the selected article, including identification of the corresponding cell.
  • the client will go to the sales personnel to request the article. Retrieval from the cell 1 will be performed by the sales personnel who will then deliver it to the client for trial.
  • the client In case the client is satisfied with the article, he will pass to the final payment step, going to one of the central cash registers 5 of the business, or using, with the help of the sales personnel, the fast cash register made available by the bank POS 4 operatively associated to the display 2.
  • the article will be returned to the sales personnel who then provides for its repositioning.
  • the article will not necessarily need to be relocated in the cell 1 from which it was taken, but it could be located in any other available cell Ia.
  • the sales person will first have to subject his activation card to reading by the card reader associated to the selected cell, and then subject the identification code of the article to reading by the same optical reader.
  • the informatics system will have memorised the possible new location of the article, which then could be indicated to a successive client that may select that article, for its immediate retrieval by the sales personnel.
  • the or each display 2 connected to the article management informatics system consists of two primary elements integrated with each other (screen and optical reader) and can be associated to additional peripheral devices such as a printing device 3 (thus making the display 2 usable as a "virtual" sales person) and/or the bank POS 4 (thus making the display 2 usable as a fast cash register).
  • the article-searching phase by the client can occur either through onscreen navigation on the display 2, or using the barcode of the sample articles possibly in exposition.
  • fast cash register which allows electronic payment for the purchased articles, could be used with the help of the sales personnel.

Abstract

A system and method of organisation for the sale of clothing articles, particularly footwear, in which, following selection by the purchaser though a display (2) associated with an optical reader connected to the informatics management system of the store, the article is retrieved from a corresponding cell (1) by the sales personnel and given to the client for trial. In case the article is not purchased, the sales personnel provides for its repositioning in a cell (Ia), even one different from the cell (1) from which it was retrieved, which is identified through reading of the identification code of the article with an optical reader associated to the cell, to be then indicated by the display (2) to the next clients. (Single Figure)

Description

"A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ORGANIZING THE SALE OF CLOTHING ARTICLES, PARTICULARLY FOOTWEAR AND THE
LIKE"
* * * Field of the invention
The present invention refers to the organization of the sale of clothing articles, particularly footwear and the like, within a store provided with shelving containing the articles, which are typically provided with corresponding electronically detectable identification codes. State of the prior art
Within this type of business structure, as well as more in general, in the sales environments of various genres and types of articles and products, informatics systems for the management of stored articles through their corresponding identification codes have been in use since long. In some cases, the system is also operatively connected to at least one display that can be consulted by the client to obtain information on the articles of interest, as well as to at least one cash register for payment of the purchased articles and their removal from the inventory.
Obviously, the client, after having identified and possibly tried-on the selected article, can decide not to purchase it. In such a case, relocation of the article from where it had been retrieved is normally left up to the client who, for ill will or even only by mistake or distraction, could reposition the article to a wrong place.
In such case, a next client will not be able to find the same article in the location indicated by the consultancy display, with consequent loss of the sale.
Furthermore, this situation inevitably leads to a more or less relevant disorder of the articles on the shelves, with subsequent need for their periodic reorganisation by the responsible personnel. Summary of the invention The object of the present invention is to overcome the above-said inconveniences, and to provide a system for organising sales that guarantees the constant and correct retrieval of articles, from time to time picked up but not purchased, even if they are repositioned to places different from those from which they had been retrieved. According to the invention, this object is achieved thanks to a system for the organization of sales of the type defined in the above, essentially characterised by the fact that the shelves have a plurality of cells for housing the articles, to each of which a corresponding identification is assigned and each of which is provided with an optical reader operatively connected to said informatics means and predisposed for the reading of the identification codes of the articles, and by the fact that said at least one display is provided with, and more conveniently is integrated with, an optical reader, itself connected to said informatics means and predisposed for the reading of the identification codes of the articles, so as to provide through said display the identification of the cells in which such articles are actually positioned.
In addition, a device for the printing of a document containing the data of the articles selected by the client and destined to be given to the sales staff that locate, retrieve and consign the articles, can be conveniently associated to the display. In addition, the sales personnel can conveniently use the display as a fast cash register, with electronic payment mode.
The invention is also directed to a method for the organization of sales using a system as set forth in the above. Detailed description of the invention The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the attached drawing, provided as a non-limiting example, which shows, in block diagram form, the components of the system and the flow diagram of the corresponding operational methodology.
The example of the embodiment exemplified in the attached schema typically refers to the case of a store for the sale of clothing articles and more particularly of footwear, housed in an orderly way on shelves provided with a plurality of cells generally indicated as 1, Ia for the ordered location of the articles. These cells 1, 1a can for example contain in part sample models directly accessible to and retrievable by the clients, and in part the articles destined to be sold, which on the other hand, are accessible only to the sales personnel for retrieval and delivery to the client for trial, and for the possible relocation of the articles if not purchased.
The store shall be provided with a generally conventional informatics system, not described in detail herein because within the skill of the practitioner in the art, for the management of the articles through the corresponding codes with which they are normally provided. Such identification codes typically consist of barcodes provided on labels or tags applied to the articles and electronically detectable through common optical readers.
In the system according to the invention, an identifier, for example consisting of a progressive number, and a corresponding optical reader, operatively connected to the informatics system and predisposed for the reading of the article codes, are associated to each article-housing cell 1, 1a.
Typically, each of the cells 1, Ia could be predisposed, in the case of footwear, to accommodate for example approximately 16/20 pairs of shoes. In a way also generally known, the store shall be provided with at least one display operatively connected to the informatics system and consultable by the client for obtaining information on articles of potential interest. The display, indicated as 2 in the scheme, will typically be of the touch screen type to provide convenient and easy navigation and searching for articles by the client in the archive of the informatics system.
According to another peculiar aspect of the invention, the display 2 is operatively associated to, or more conveniently directly integrated with an optical reader, itself connected with the informatics system and predisposed for reading the identification codes of the articles. Furthermore, other peripheral devices can conveniently be associated to the display 2, such as a printing device 3 and possibly a bank POS device 4, through which such a display 2 can also be used as a fast cash register for electronic payment for the purchased articles, as an alternative to the central cash register 5 normally present in the store. Lastly, the system according to the invention can be completed with electronically readable access cards provided to the sales personnel, the function of which will be clarified below.
The sales organization methodology performable with the system according to the invention will now be described herein in the following, with reference to the flow diagram of the attached block schema.
In the first step, the client searches for the article potentially of interest to him in one of two alternative modes. In the first mode, the client can directly find the article on the shelves with the sample models, if present, and in such case he will remove it and bring it to the display for reading of the corresponding identification code by the integrated optical reader. In the second case, he will perform the research directly on the display, querying the data base available on the informatics system. The search could be performed with successive queries relative to the models and types of products, sizes, colours, etc.
Then, in both cases the display will provide a number of information including the image of the selected product, the original price and any discounts, the colour variants present, the sizes available for a certain colour and the number of pieces available. As said, navigation can easily be performed by the client directly on the screen, due to its touch screen technology.
If the article of interest to the client is not found because it is not available, the procedure ends.
Otherwise, if the article is found, the display will also provide information relative to the cell 1 of the shelf corresponding to the location of such article.
Next, the client will note such information or, more conveniently, he will be able to obtain a printout, through the printing device 3, of the information for the selected article, including identification of the corresponding cell.
Next, the client will go to the sales personnel to request the article. Retrieval from the cell 1 will be performed by the sales personnel who will then deliver it to the client for trial.
In case the client is satisfied with the article, he will pass to the final payment step, going to one of the central cash registers 5 of the business, or using, with the help of the sales personnel, the fast cash register made available by the bank POS 4 operatively associated to the display 2.
If instead the client is not satisfied, and therefore decides not to proceed with the purchase, the article will be returned to the sales personnel who then provides for its repositioning. In such a case, the article will not necessarily need to be relocated in the cell 1 from which it was taken, but it could be located in any other available cell Ia. In that case the sales person will first have to subject his activation card to reading by the card reader associated to the selected cell, and then subject the identification code of the article to reading by the same optical reader.
In this way, the informatics system will have memorised the possible new location of the article, which then could be indicated to a successive client that may select that article, for its immediate retrieval by the sales personnel.
Summarising: the or each display 2 connected to the article management informatics system consists of two primary elements integrated with each other (screen and optical reader) and can be associated to additional peripheral devices such as a printing device 3 (thus making the display 2 usable as a "virtual" sales person) and/or the bank POS 4 (thus making the display 2 usable as a fast cash register). The article-searching phase by the client can occur either through onscreen navigation on the display 2, or using the barcode of the sample articles possibly in exposition.
Retrieval of the articles for sale from the corresponding cells and their possible repositioning in case they are not purchased, must be performed by the sales personnel and therefore the client is relieved of these responsibility.
Also the fast cash register, which allows electronic payment for the purchased articles, could be used with the help of the sales personnel.
Naturally, the forms of embodiment of the system could vary widely with respect to what is described and illustrated as an example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, as defined in the following claims.

Claims

1. A system for the organisation of the sale of clothing articles within a store provided with shelves containing the saleable articles with corresponding electronically detectable identification codes, an article-management informatics system operatively connected to at least one display (2) consumable by the client to obtain information on the articles, and at least one cash register (5), characterised by the fact that:
- said shelves present a plurality of cells (1, Ia) to each of which, a corresponding identification is assigned and each of which is provided with an optical reader operatively connected to said informatics system and predisposed for the reading of the article codes,
- said at least one display (2) is provided with an optical reader also connected to said informatics means and predisposed for the reading of the article identification codes so to provide, through said display, information regarding the cells in which such articles are actually positioned.
2. A system according to claim 1 , characterised by the fact that the optical readers associated with said cells (1, Ia), are also predisposed for the reading of activation cards supplied to the sales personnel.
3. A system according to claim 1 or to claim 2, characterised by the fact that to said at least one display (2), a printing device (3) is operatively associated for printing of the information corresponding to the article selected by the client, to be given to the sales personnel.
4. A system according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised by the fact that to said at least one display (2), a POS payment device (4) is also associated to employ of said display (2) as a fast cash register.
5. A system according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised by the fact that said display (2) is of the touch screen type.
6. A method of sales organisation through a system according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised by the fact that it includes the following steps:
- from the client side, identifying an article to purchase by directly picking up a sample model in exposition and subjecting the corresponding identification code to reading by the optical reader of said display (2), or otherwise searching for the article through said display (2) and obtaining thereby the corresponding information including the identity of the cell (1) in which the article is actually present, and then consulting the sales personnel;
- from the sales personnel side: retrieving the article from the indicated cell
(1) and giving it to the client to try, receiving the payment from the client or relocating the article even in a different cell (Ia) than the one (1) from which it was retrieved, subjecting the identification code of the article to the optical reader of said different cell (Ia).
7. A method according to claim 8, characterised by the fact that it includes the step of subjecting the identification code of the article to reading by the optical reader of said different cell (Ia) preceded by a validation step by the sales personnel.
PCT/IB2008/000039 2007-08-03 2008-01-03 A system and method for organizing the sale of clothing articles, particularly footwear and the like WO2009019543A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
ITTO20070585 ITTO20070585A1 (en) 2007-08-03 2007-08-03 SYSTEM AND METHOD OF ORGANIZING THE SALE OF CLOTHING ARTICLES, PARTICULARLY FOOTWEAR AND SIMILAR
ITTO2007A000585 2007-08-03

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2009019543A1 true WO2009019543A1 (en) 2009-02-12

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ID=39433953

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PCT/IB2008/000039 WO2009019543A1 (en) 2007-08-03 2008-01-03 A system and method for organizing the sale of clothing articles, particularly footwear and the like

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IT (1) ITTO20070585A1 (en)
WO (1) WO2009019543A1 (en)

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5640002A (en) * 1995-08-15 1997-06-17 Ruppert; Jonathan Paul Portable RF ID tag and barcode reader
US5767532A (en) * 1995-03-24 1998-06-16 Itoki Crebio Corporation Management system for retrieved material
US5930771A (en) * 1996-12-20 1999-07-27 Stapp; Dennis Stephen Inventory control and remote monitoring apparatus and method for coin-operable vending machines
US6618683B1 (en) * 2000-12-12 2003-09-09 International Business Machines Corporation Method and apparatus for calibrating an accelerometer-based navigation system
US20030174099A1 (en) * 2002-01-09 2003-09-18 Westvaco Corporation Intelligent station using multiple RF antennae and inventory control system and method incorporating same

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5767532A (en) * 1995-03-24 1998-06-16 Itoki Crebio Corporation Management system for retrieved material
US5640002A (en) * 1995-08-15 1997-06-17 Ruppert; Jonathan Paul Portable RF ID tag and barcode reader
US5930771A (en) * 1996-12-20 1999-07-27 Stapp; Dennis Stephen Inventory control and remote monitoring apparatus and method for coin-operable vending machines
US6618683B1 (en) * 2000-12-12 2003-09-09 International Business Machines Corporation Method and apparatus for calibrating an accelerometer-based navigation system
US20030174099A1 (en) * 2002-01-09 2003-09-18 Westvaco Corporation Intelligent station using multiple RF antennae and inventory control system and method incorporating same

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