Step By Step Guide for Publishers

Step By Step Guide for Distributors

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	Working 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 - £200,000	Level 1
£200,000 - £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 high and 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.

Business Level	Low	Medium	High
Level 1	H	I
Level 2	J	K	L
Level 3		M	N

There are two results pages, divided into codes: H to J, K to N