How much you need e-commerce will depend on the size of your business (book trade business with publishers, distributors and wholesalers for books and related products). The important factors to consider are the number of transactions which are suitable for e-commerce and the amount of investment you are prepared to make.
Step 1: To decide your need for e-commerce take a look at the following table which shows the number of transactions (e.g. order lines or invoice lines) processed in your business in a full year, broken down into months and working days (assuming a 6 day week).
Order Lines/Invoice Lines
| Per Year | Per Month | Per Day | Need |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | 41.66 | 1.60 | None |
| 1,000 | 83.33 | 3.20 | Low |
| 5,000 | 416.66 | 16.02 | Low |
| 20,000 | 1666.66 | 64.10 | Medium |
| 100,000 | 8333.33 | 320.51 | Medium |
| 500,000 | 41666.66 | 1602.56 | High |
Decide whether your need for e-commerce is low, medium or high.
Step 2: Now consider your business turnover in respect of products sourced from book trade suppliers (not sales of cards, pens, stationery etc.)
| £50,000 to £200,000 | Level 1 |
| £200,000 to £500,000 | Level 2 |
| Over £500,000 | Level 3 |
Step 3: By now you will have decided your need for e-commerce as low, medium or highand your turnover as level 1, 2 or 3. Use this information in the table below to click on the e-commerce code, which will be used to recommend the choice of services appropriate for your business.
There are two results pages, divided into codes: a to c, d to g.