How much you need e-commerce depends on the size of your business (book trade business with booksellers and wholesalers, not direct business). The important factors 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 which comes from the book trade rather than other markets.
| £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 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: h to j, k to n.