Selecting the Right Web Order Software (935 words)

Take this to heart: 15 million more people will make a holiday purchase online this season compared to last year, Jupiter Communications reported in November. Other research groups put holiday online spending at nearly double that of last year.

With more consumer shopping behavior migrating to the Web, not to mention progress in the b-to-b sector, it's imperative to have a robust e-commerce shopping component.

While the bells and whistles of designing a shoppers' online paradise can be fun, it's the back end that will make or break you—holiday season or not.

Whether you are starting your e-commerce channel from scratch or looking to upgrade your current offerings, here are the key issues you need to consider in selecting and implementing the Web order software component that will be right for your business.

Database size—How many SKUs do you have? How many customer records? How many orders do you get, and how fast can you process them? While scalability is built into most software products, you still need to analyze your numbers to determine the right fit, says Rob Coon, manager of sales and marketing at Dydacomp, manufacturer of the Mail Order Manager direct marketing and Web commerce software.

If you're looking at only 200 orders per day, he explains, you can't use a high-end custom model.

Integration objectives—According to Curt Barry, president of F. Curtis Barry & Co., a consultancy specializing in catalog operations and fulfillment, there are three levels of integration between e-commerce and mail-order systems:

1. "Sneaker-net": manually re-keying Web orders into the main business system.

2. File transfer between Web and business systems.

3. Full file integration.

The third level is the vaunted goal, Barry says, but it can be costly to attain.

Selection of your Web order software is hugely dependent on making sure the solution can be integrated with your back-end system and how you plan to process orders, no matter what channel they come from.

For example, says Barry, when new receipts come in for an item that's out of stock, how will those decisions be made on whether inventory should be ordered, what notices should be sent to customers, etc. You have this mapped out for your mail and phone channels, but what about your

e-commerce channel?

"Really," he adds, "catalogers need to treat e-commerce not as a second business, but as another channel that they need to integrate into their

current order processing and fulfillment systems."

Catalogers also shouldn't overlook the business systems that drive mail-order in their evaluation of system integration, says Brian Barry, a consultant at F. Curtis Barry & Co. These systems include financials, such as booking sales when orders are shipped, billing the credit card, etc. You should determine how you want to present that information to customers.

Beyond the transaction/financial side of integration is the marketing aspect of doing business. According to Barry, the best solution is one master database through which all transaction, financial and customer information flows.

Barry adds that when you look, in general, at where marketing resources are allocated, it's to customer analysis. B-to-b companies, specifically, slice and dice business data to get a higher average order per sale, better site penetration, etc., which means a single source for all data.

What it comes down to, says Sharon Gardner, vice president of marketing at Smith-Gardner, which offers the end-to-end e-commerce software product Ecometry, is making data available to all other system users in real-time, not in batches.

Coon agrees, adding that quick-moving e-commerce requires more flexibility in inventory management, order picking, packing and customer service access.

Degree of customization required—Most catalogers are customizing the packaged Web order software systems they are buying to fit their particular business needs, says Barry.

The rule of thumb, says Gardner, is if an out-of-the-box application meets 80 percent of your needs, then you're a candidate for the purchase. But, she adds, nearly every client will ask for a certain level of customization that can be accommodated—sometimes at no extra charge.

To determine customization level you will require, says Barry, look at how you want to process special transactions, such as gift certificates and reward programs, as well as the regular order taking functions.

Brian Barry notes that b-to-b catalogers have different needs from b-to-c operations that need to be addressed, such as more than one customer per record and multiple one bill-to address.

Depending on how large, complex or unusual your business procedures are or the level of disparity between your business systems, you most likely won't require a custom-made solution.

Internal resources—"Whom do you have in-house to maintain your system?" asks Coon. Unless you have or plan to hire a skilled IT/IS staff, a custom program may not be in your future.

Implementation process—One of the questions you should be asking during the software evaluation process, says Barry, is, "Do the vendors provide a standard methodology for implementation? What kind of testing of the system will take place before we're on our own?"

Successful implementation starts with a detailed plan in advance of the "go-live" deadline, says Gardner. Smith-Gardner places a person on-site to work with clients on a week-by-week plan that ensures deliverables are being met.

For example, Gardner says, one toy retailer started implementation of Ecometry in July 1999 and was fully automated and taking orders the next month.

The successful companies, says Barry, test every transaction for every possible scenario for three to five months before going live.

Dragging out the implementation process any longer, Gardner cautions, could cause you to lose momentum due to business challenges, like staff turnover.