Improvements to existing technologies associated with point-of-sale transactions and merchant ecosystems to, among other things, reduce in-person contact and, in some examples, improve the efficiency at which point-of-sale transactions are completed (i.e., reduce friction) are described. In some examples, such reduced in-person contact and/or improved efficiencies can limit transmission of infectious diseases. As such, techniques described are directed to modifying aspects of point-of-sale transactions such that they occur on different computing devices (e.g., customer computing devices instead of merchant computing devices), are automated, and/or occur at different times than with conventional point-of-sale transactions. Furthermore, in at least one example, techniques described can leverage a distributed, network-based merchant ecosystem—comprising multiple merchant computing devices and/or customer computing devices that are specially configured to communicate with a service provider—to facilitate social distancing, which can reduce in-person contact and, in some examples, improve the efficiency at which point-of-sale transactions are completed.

According to the present invention, there is provided a sales system (10) that includes a plurality of information acquisition units (11-1 to 11-N (N is an integer equal to or greater than 2)) installed for a plurality of respective products, a registration unit (12) that registers a product corresponding to a first information acquisition unit (11-A (A is an integer equal to or greater 1 and equal to or smaller than N)) in association with customer identification information when the customer identification information is input through the first information acquisition unit (11-A), a reception unit (13) that receives a request for a product list associated with the customer identification information from a customer terminal, and a transmission unit (14) that transmits the product list to the customer terminal in response to the request.

A method for identifying an object or product for purchase includes scanning, by the user, an example object for a code or marking; reading the code or marking; communicating with a database to index the code or marking with information about the example object, wherein the information includes contact information or a contact link for a manufacturer or supplier of the example object; and receiving the information and providing the information to the user. A method for purchasing a product based on the information can include receiving an order for a product using the contact information or contact link for the manufacturer or supplier; receiving payment for the order; and delivering a portion of the payment to an entity that displayed the example object from which the code or marking was scanned.

In some implementations, a device may receive data identifying products and encoded data identifying smart tags of the products. The device may map the data and the encoded data to generate encoded product data. The device may receive encoded data provided by smart tags of products received by a store. The device may receive images of the products. The device may compare the encoded data and the encoded product data to identify a set of the products received by the store. The device may correlate the images with the set of the products. The device may process the correlated data to identify locations of the set of the products in the store. The device may generate an instruction to relocate a product to a new location and may provide the instruction to a device, associated with the store, to cause the product to be relocated to the new location.

Provided are a product purchase support system (100), a product purchase support device (10), and a POS terminal device (20) that improve the efficiency of checkout processing for product sales and enhance the convenience of customers when purchasing a product. The product purchase support system (100) according to the present invention includes the product purchase support device (10) including a depth camera (12) and a first display device (13), and a POS terminal device (20) that performs checkout processing for a product. When the product purchase support device (10) detects a product selection motion of selecting a product by a customer, it identifies a product selected by the customer and generates product information related to this product, and displays the product information on the first display device (13). Further, the product purchase support device (10) outputs the product information to the POS terminal device (20).

The systems and methods described herein relate to managing transportation of loads of items within a retail supply chain. A unified load tracking system aggregates information from multiple supply chain computing systems for presentation on a user interface accessible by multiple users. One user interface provide access to a multitude of information that is interconnected by a common, unique identifier for each movement of a load between an origin and destination. A load board is also provided which automates the spot market auction process and load tender process between carriers and a retail enterprise transportation management system.

A vending machine for storing and selling restricted commodities, and a vending method implemented therein. In the vending machine, a control module comprises a processor executing program codes to provide a vending service. A user interface is connected to the control module, comprising a sensor sampling biometric characteristics of a user. A communication module is connected to the control module, comprising a wireless transceiver configured to receive commands from the control module, and communicate with a central system or the user. The control module drives said sensor to capture the biometric characteristics of the user, and then uploads the biometric characteristics to the central system through the communications module. A database storing associations of the biometric characteristics and identity characteristics of users. The control module receives a search result from the database based on the biometric characteristics of the user to determine whether a restricted commodity is authorized for sale.

A system for determining whether shoppers are eligible for frictionless checkout is disclosed. The system has a processor that obtains image data captured using image sensors positioned in a retail store. The processor analyzes the image data to identify at least one shopper at one or more locations of the retail store. The processor detects, based on the analysis of the image data, at least one product interaction event associated with an action of the at least one shopper at the one or more locations of the retail store. Further, based on the detected at least one product interaction event, the processor determines whether the at least one shopper is eligible for frictionless checkout. In response to a determination that the at least one shopper is ineligible for frictionless checkout, the processor causes delivery of an indicator that the at least one shopper is ineligible for frictionless checkout.

A system and a method for managing inventory are provided. The system may include: a plurality of weighing devices, at least a memory, and at least a processor. The weighing devices are configured to weight at least an object. The processor is configured to receive data from at least one weighing device relating to the at least one object weighed by the respective weighing device, and to store the received data in the memory. The processor is further configured to determine at least a matching of data received from a first weighing device with data received from a second weighing device.

The objective of the present invention is to automate settlement of the price of a product, when a purchaser purchases a product displayed in a shop, in order to reduce the time required for settlement of the price of the product, and to prevent fraud by the purchaser or the cashier. The present information processing system is provided with a moving object tracking means, a shelf product recognition means, and a settlement means. The moving object tracking means finds a moving object such as a shopper or a basket moving within a store, defines the region of the moving object, and captures images of the moving object while tracking the movement thereof. The shelf product recognition means constantly monitors the state within a shelf, and compares captured images before and after an object is removed from the shelf, a change in weight, or a change in a position signal. The product to be recognized is defined from the captured images, the weight, and position information, and the product is identified from the defined information. The settlement means settles payment for the identified product.