Tips for E-Commerce Solution Shopping

In the ever-changing world of multimedia and shoppers who expect things at the click of the mouse, e-commerce solutions are in high demand. “These days it’s so important to give your Web customers a great experience,” says Jim Morse, president of Morse Data Corp.

To do so, it is important to select solutions that fit your company size, scope, staff and budget. The following advice from several e-commerce solution providers can help guide you through the process of deciding which product works best for your company.

“A publisher should analyze the cost of not only the development of a solution, but the manpower to maintain the solution,” says Bruce A. Miller, U.S. sales executive for Pubnet/PubEasy, an e-commerce solution provider with more than 12,000 registered booksellers in the United States and 21,000 worldwide.

Publishers should also weigh the time-savings potential and other benefits an automated solution would provide against the costs. For example, for publishers evaluating Pubnet/PubEasy, he says, “They should also determine how long it would take to register the number of booksellers that we have waiting for them, once they come on board.”

According to Lee Pierce, vice president of sales at The Media Services Group Ltd., which provides publishing software for books and magazines, an online solution should enhance customer service. “Whether you’re a publisher or a distributor, your business can increase revenues by improving customer and author loyalty through the use of the best and most useful tools for them to do business with you,” Pierce says. “Operating costs decrease, customer care is easier, making life easier for you, your staff, your customers and authors.”

Different solutions providers concentrate on different features. “Each publisher needs to document their requirements to make sure that the system that they select will meet their needs—all systems are not created equal,” says Lorna Fenimore, vice president of Datasystem Solutions, Inc., a provider of business software for the publishing industry.