Easy as ABC?

"If you can make an omelette, you can definitely create your own company website," is the campaign banner for Sage, a web tool provider. So is it that easy? TIM McGUIRE investigatesBandwagons are nothing new, of course. Witness William Caxton's leap onto that of Johan Gutenberg. Now it is the Internet. "Europeans will conduct more than E1.6tn in online trade by 2004. Don't get left behind," says Forrester Research. "US business trade on the Internet is projected to explode from #43bn in 1998 to #1.3 trillion in 2003," says the Financial Times. Television, radio, and newspapers all carry similar predictions. How accurate they prove to be is open to debate. However, there is little doubt that the Internet will change how business is done in the 21st century, and how the printing industry will operate.According to research organisation Key Note, printing is under pressure in terms of profitability and growth. It estimates that the market will grow by around 4%-5% a year up until 2002, but very few market sectors will show any growth in profits.E-commerce could make a real contribution in sustaining profitability and growth for printing companies. In his research study on the impact of e- commerce, the BPIF's Craig Russell believes it will help printing companies "improve customer service and interaction, expand geographical reach, reduce operating costs and increase productivity".E-commerce in various forms such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has been around for many years, but what has captured the attention of business and the media is the use of the Internet to transact business. The significant gains for printing companies engaging in e-commerce will come through business to business (B2B) relationships rather than business to consumers (B2C). Cambrian Printers in Aberystwyth, Wales, is one company already beginning to see the benefits from embracing e-commerce. Tim Williams, Cambrian's technical director says: "Business to business e- commerce will become a major part of the industry, not in the short term, but in three to five years."Through e-commerce, Cambrian Printers has extended its global reach. The company produces the American Heart Association Journal for its publisher in Baltimore, Maryland. It arrives at Cambrian Printers as a PDF file, is then printed and distributed to subscribers on the database held by Cambrian. Generating revenue from Internet activity alone is an uphill struggle, however, as in the case of Cambrian Printers, the Internet can be used successfully to improve processes and share data in areas such as online ordering, invoicing and job scheduling.While creating a website is a necessary step in getting involved with e- commerce, the first question to address before creating it is what do you want to achieve. An on-screen version of the company brochure, an additional marketing medium or to improve customer service and interaction?"The future of printing will be characterised by global competition," says Mr Williams. "The main drivers will be quality, speed of turnround and labour costs." The move towards more centralised editing and publishing means printers can bid for work anywhere in the world if they welcome e-commerce as an opportunity and not a threat. The software packages reviewed here do not promise success, but they do help to make entry into the world of e-commerce a painless experience.Four of these off-the-shelf packages allow even the smallest printer to have a presence on the web to either show the services on offer, or to create an additional marketing channel. Two of the e-commerce software packages in this review, Sage and Shopcreator, allow users to build their e-commerce website online. The vendors can also host your e-commerce website saving you time and expense, which is likely to run into tens of thousands of pounds if you have to build the technical infrastructure to support your e- commerce venture.The other two e-commerce packages, ecBuilder and Actinic, are supplied on CD-Rom, but you will need to find a company to host your website to avoid getting involved with building and supporting a technical infrastructure, if you do not have the expertise inhouse.Sage, developer of leading accounting software packages, offers a diy website tool - Instant Website Creator. This allows users to build their website online, it is free and in less than an hour, you can give your company a presence on the WorldWideWeb, albeit limited to five pages. Online Wizards guide you in creating your web pages. Admittedly, the pages are rather bland and do not allow interaction with visitors to your website. You design the site by selecting a style from a gallery of web page templates, add any additional graphics you need, enter text and then publish. This is probably one of the quickest website creation tools on the market, and its free. Building a more comprehensive website costs #15+VAT per month.Sage offers website creation tools at increasing levels of sophistication. Users pay a monthly licence fee, the rate depends on the website complexity and features. Website Trader, Sage's flagship e-commerce product costs #35+VAT per month. This gives you shopping basket and checkout functions for customers, establish delivery options and charges, and offers comprehensive security features.Sage - www.sage.com Tel: [phone]Like Sage, ecBuilder Pro allows users to rely on wizards to guide them in creating their website. ecBuilder bills itself as the tool that allows you to build an online business. There is a section for marketing content where you can specify up to 100 marketing messages you want to communicate. A payment methods section lets you give instructions on how customers pay for their orders.The section where you compile the catalogue allows you to have up to 20 sections per catalogue and 100 items per section. This should cover most eventualities. Rather than taking orders via e-mail, there are customisable forms. The input screens require completion of company and product information; options to include logos, animations, product shots and other graphics; and data entry of catalogue items.Other features available are banners to store advertising messages, a counter to track customer visits, and secure ordering facilities using digital certificates. The final step in the process of creating your online web business is publishing it on the Internet.EC Builder Pro, #299 + VAT www.ecbuilder.co.uk Tel: [phone]Shopcreator is software you use online through a web browser rather than installing on your computer. The company is so confident with its product that it recommends potential customers to visit existing customers that have created an e-commerce website using ShopCreator. They include www.bent-alls.co.uk and www.bradshawsdirect.co.uk.There are four options from which to choose depending on size of the e-commerce venture you want to develop. ShopCreator Store gives you the ability to create a virtual department store with all the features and power you are likely to need. It can manage 200,000 product pages and contains a comprehensive three-level index system and full checkout and shopping cart system.The ShopCreator Stall has most of the features of its big brother but is limited to ten product pages and does not have the full index system. ShopCreator Display lets you build single page websites quickly and easily. If you have already invested in creating a website, the ShopCreator Cart can be used to add e-commerce functionality to it. This provides a shopping trolley and online payment facilities in multiple currencies.Creating an e-commerce website is a relatively straightforward process. In response to menu prompts, you name the website, create a password, enter contact and address details, set-up VAT defaults, and then enter product or service details. The software is leased rather than purchased outright. For ten products there is a fixed charge of #199 and a monthly charge of #10, for 50,000 products the charge is #750, more products - price on application.ShopCreator www.shopcreator.com Tel: [phone]Actinic Catalogue, while geared to retailers, can be used by any business offering a range of services. Companies that have e-commerce sites built with Actinic Catalogue are www.funstore.co.uk; www.willis-supplies.ie; and www.jayfruit.co.uk.Actinic Catalogue uses the familiar Windows Interface with the horizontal menu bar along the top of the screen. When you open the software you get an example of how you could structure your e-commerce website. The structure of the catalogue is similar to Windows Explorer with main folders and sub folders.If you have a draft structure on paper first, simply tailor the example supplied with the software to fit how your business operates. After designing the structure you add products to the catalogue, and links to pages with more information on the product or service. For delivering goods to customers there is an inbuilt screen form which you set-up with your delivery charges according to weight and speed of delivery, which also helps customers to select how they want the products delivered. Customers can feel confident that their transactions over the Internet are secure as Actinic uses 128-bit encryption for secure credit card processing, approved by UK banks.Actinic Catalogue #349 +VAT www.actinic.co.uk Tel: [phone]SUMMARYA website for a company can open up new horizons, just how is it done?Building a website can be produced as simply or as sophisticated as requiredSoftware packages are available to lead users through the steps to create a websiteSome are free, thus allowing even the smallest printer to get on the Internet