Allocating commodity shelves in a supermarket
View Patent ↗A method of allocating shelves includes obtaining shopping paths of customers in a supermarket, classifying the plurality of customers into a plurality of customer classes based on the shopping paths of the plurality of customers, determining one or more shopping paths adopted by more customers in the plurality of customer classes as frequent shopping paths of a class of customers of the plurality of customer classes, calculating a see-buy rate of a commodity for each of the plurality of customer classes based on shopping lists and the frequent shopping paths of the plurality of customers, calculating a location for a set of commodities when total expected benefits for the set of commodities are maximized during a certain period of time. The total expected benefits include a sum of an expected benefit for each commodity in the set of commodities based on the see-buy rate and the frequent shopping paths.
1. A method of allocating commodity shelves in a supermarket, the method comprising:
utilizing RFID tags on shopping carts and RFID readers at different locations in the supermarket, wherein said utilizing comprises:
detecting the RFID tags on the shopping carts through the RFID readers;
obtaining shopping paths of a plurality of customers in the supermarket based on results of said detecting the RFID tags on the shopping carts for each customer of the plurality of customers;
classifying the plurality of customers, according to a predetermined standard, into a plurality of customer classes;
based on the shopping paths of the plurality of customers, determining, by a processor on a computer, one or more shopping paths adopted by more customers in the plurality of customer classes as frequent shopping paths of a class of customers of the plurality of customer classes;
calculating, by the processor on the computer, a see-buy rate of a commodity for each of the plurality of customer classes based on shopping lists and the frequent shopping paths of the plurality of customers, wherein the see-buy rate of the commodity for the class of customers refers to a probability to purchase the commodity for the class of customers when the class of customers sees the commodity; and
calculating a location for a set of commodities for a shelf where each commodity in the set of commodities is located when total expected benefits for the set of commodities are maximized during a certain period of time,
wherein the total expected benefits include a sum of an expected benefit for each commodity in the set of commodities based on the see-buy rate and the frequent shopping paths when each commodity in the set of commodities is located in its own shelf, and
wherein the sum of the expected benefits for each commodity in the set of commodities is:
∑
i
,
j
P
(
i
,
j
)
·
x
i
,
j
wherein
,
x
i
,
j
=
{
1
,
for
the
i
th
commodity
being
placed
on
the
j
th
shelf
0
,
for
the
i
th
commodity
not
being
placed
on
the
j
th
shelf
,
wherein a sum of associated benefits between a plurality of commodities in the set of commodities is:
∑
i
,
i
′
,
j
,
j
′
,
k
α
i
,
i
′
,
k
·
x
i
,
j
·
x
i
′
,
j
′
·
ϕ
(
j
,
j
′
,
k
)
wherein, α i,i′,k denotes associated benefits between the i th commodity and the i′ th commodity for the k th class of customers, and
ϕ
(
j
,
j
′
,
k
)
=
{
1
,
for
the
shelf
j
th
and
the
shelf
j
′
th
being
located
simultaneously
along
the
frequent
p
ath
of
the
k
th
class
of
customers
0
,
for
the
shelf
j
th
and
the
shelf
j
′
th
not
being
located
simultaneously
along
the
frequent
path
of
the
k
th
class
of
customers
.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the total expected benefits of the set of commodities further comprise a sum of associated benefits between a plurality of commodities in the set of commodities.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said obtaining shopping paths of a plurality of customers in the supermarket comprises:
recording dynamic locations of the shopping carts, and thereby deriving each of the shopping paths of each of the customers.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said classifying of the plurality of customers according to the predetermined standard comprises:
classifying the plurality of customers based on one or more of the following data sources:
shopping lists recorded by point of sale (POS) machines; and
demographic information of the plurality of customers.
5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting, by the RFID readers installed at different locations in the supermarket, different locations passed by a same shopping cart of the shopping carts.
6. A system for allocating commodity shelves in a supermarket, said system comprising:
RFID tags affixed on shopping carts used by each customer of a plurality of customers;
RFID readers affixed at different locations in the supermarket to detect the RFID tags on the shopping carts through the RFID readers;
a shopping path obtaining device, configured to obtain shopping paths of customers in the supermarket based on results of detecting the RFID tags on the shopping carts for said each customer;
a classifying device, configured to classify the customers according to a predetermined standard, into a plurality of customer classes;
a frequent shopping path determining device, configured to, based on the shopping paths of the customers, determine one or more shopping paths adopted by more customers in each class of customers of the plurality of customer classes as frequent shopping paths of a class of customers of the plurality of customer classes;
a see-buy rate calculating device, comprising a processor on a computer, configured to calculate a see-buy rate of a commodity for each class of customers based on shopping lists and the shopping paths of the customers, wherein the see-buy rate of the commodity for the class of customers refers to a probability to purchase the commodity when it is seen by the class of customers; and
a commodity shelf determining device, configured to, for a set of commodities, calculate a location for a shelf where each commodity in the set of commodities is located when total expected benefits for the set of commodities are maximized during a certain period of time,
wherein the total expected benefits include a sum of an expected benefit for each commodity of the plurality of commodities based on the see-buy rate and the frequent shopping paths when each commodity of the plurality of commodities is located in its own shelf, and
wherein a sum of associated benefits between a plurality of commodities in the set of commodities is:
∑
i
,
i
′
,
j
,
j
′
,
k
α
i
,
i
′
,
k
·
x
i
,
j
·
x
i
′
,
j
′
·
ϕ
(
j
,
j
′
,
k
)
wherein, α i,i′,k denotes associated benefits between the i th commodity and the i′ th commodity for the k th class of customers, and
ϕ
(
j
,
j
′
,
k
)
=
{
1
,
for
the
shelf
j
th
and
the
shelf
j
′
th
being
located
simultaneously
along
the
frequent
path
of
the
k
th
class
of
customers
0
,
for
the
shelf
j
th
and
the
shelf
j
′
th
not
being
located
simultaneously
along
the
frequent
path
of
the
k
th
class
of
customers
x
i
,
j
=
{
1
,
for
the
i
th
commodity
being
placed
on
the
j
th
shelf
0
,
for
the
i
th
commodity
not
being
placed
on
the
j
th
shelf
,
wherein the sum of the expected benefits for each commodity in the set of commodities is:
∑
i
,
j
P
(
i
,
j
)
·
x
i
,
j
.
7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the shopping path obtaining device records dynamic locations of the shopping carts through the RFID readers, thereby deriving each of the shopping paths of each of the customers.
8. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the classifying device classifies a customer of the customers based on one or more of following data sources:
a shopping list recorded by a point of sale (POS) machine; and
demographic information of the customer.
9. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:
obtaining a location sequence obtained by arranging said different locations passed by the same shopping cart to represent each of the shopping paths of said each customers.