Patent US 11,763,567

A store management server configured to communicate with an alert device installed in a store, includes a network interface and a processor configured to identify a customer entering the store, acquire customer information about the identified customer, detect that the customer is holding a commodity in the store, acquire sales restriction information about the commodity held by the customer, determine whether the customer is eligible to buy the commodity held by the customer based on the acquired customer information and sales restriction information, and control the network interface to transmit, when it is not determined that the customer is eligible to buy the commodity, a first command to an alert device. The first command causes the alert device to output an alert.