e4books Press

Press releases on e4books

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Book Industry Communication

39-41 North Road London N7 9DP Telephone 020 7607 0021 Fax 020 7607 0415

e-mail peter@bic.org.uk

 

PRESS RELEASE 06092004

Book trade looks forward to 'E-day'

The time has come to move electronic trading to the top of the book trade's agenda, according to the e4books report published this week by Book Industry Communication (BIC). The author of the report, industry consultant Simon Edwards, has recommended that the trade should start working towards 1 May 2008 as the date by which e-commerce should have been implemented between all trading partners.

The report, which is the result of detailed industry-wide consultation and interviews, shows that the book industry has been slow to take advantage of the cost and efficiency benefits provided by e-commerce, and how little industry practices have changed in the eight years since KPMG identified fundamental weaknesses in the supply chain.

The e4books project, sponsored by the Booksellers Association, Publishers Association, Nielsen BookNet, PubEasy and VISTA International and steered by a committee including the IPG and other representatives of the publishing and bookselling industry, set out to explore why, outside of the industry's very biggest trading partners, e-commerce take up has been so slow despite the opportunities provided by the Internet to open up e-trading between companies of all sizes.

Simon Edwards commented: 'The book trade needs to show the sort of courage that was exhibited on the Industry Returns Initiative a few years ago in order to really benefit from this research. If we only take the easy options we may miss out on the bigger prize.'

Roger Woodham, chair of the e4books steering group, said: 'This report paints a picture of deep ignorance, misunderstanding and mistrust about technology and the benefits it offers. However, ignoring it and hoping it will go away won't be an option in the future. Businesses will either have to espouse e-commerce or die.'

Other proposals and findings in the report include:

• There is too little structured information available to potential users about the available services, their cost and their suitability. There is a desperate need for impartial guidance.

• The quality of distributors' and wholesalers' service to paper-based traders actually discourages automation. Distributors' imperative to provide a first-class service to their clients and to their clients' customers, regardless of the means employed, often means that applying pressure to maximise e-commerce use takes a back seat.

• E-commerce stops in the hotline season. Distributors provide expensive customer service personnel and other resources to provide a service which could equally well be applied to orders requiring overnight fulfilment which had been placed electronically. They should advertise standard service levels for such orders and even consider offering additional discount to customers using e-commerce rather than telephone hotlines.

• Publishers should reconsider the order-taking role of reps. It is often most effective for booksellers to place orders through their own EPOS systems. Orders recorded by reps can actually disrupt the electronic process by creating duplications when booksellers use their own ordering systems as well.

• Terms and discounts should reflect the true 'cost to serve' and reward e-commerce usage, as well as taking into account advantageous delivery routines, and the levels of returns, customer service facilities and hotline calls.

• Every company should have an e-commerce champion at a sufficiently strategic level to override the fragmentation which exists both in systems and in departmental attitudes.

• There has been significant technological change over the last two years, e.g. with web services, broadband and AS2. The industry should look again at e-commerce and at the new services which are now available or coming on stream, and see that these services are better and cheaper than ever before.

• There is still a huge need for integrating the various systems and services available to users of all sizes. The benefits of e-commerce in terms of single-keying data are still not being realised because of fragmentation of systems. This is particularly true of small-business accounting and other generic programs.

• Service providers must find ways of making their products more attractive to smaller companies, e.g. by tailoring bundled services to the individual needs of their customers, ensuring the costs suit the customer's pocket, and by demystifying the services offered.

• If they can't or won't offer services appropriate in pricing and sophistication to different market sectors, e-commerce providers will find their role undermined by email and other non-secure e-commerce. Bureau solutions which remove the need for technical knowledge are recommended as one of the key ways forward.

 

The complete text of the report is available at www.bic.org.uk.

Further information is available from:

Peter Kilborn, BIC, 020 7607 0021, peter@bic.org.uk

Simon Edwards, 01373 303110 or 07742 988391, simon.edwards@dial.pipex.com

 

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Book Industry Communication

39-41 North Road London N7 9DP Telephone 020 7607 0021 Fax 020 7607 0415

e-mail peter@bic.org.uk

 

PRESS RELEASE 01042004

 

Simon Edwards chosen for e4books project

Simon Edwards, a well-known Business Systems Consultant with a thorough knowledge of the book industry, has been chosen to provide consultancy for BIC's e4books project, launched last month to extend the scope and volume of e-commerce in the book industry supply chain.

Simon, who was Book Development Manager at WH Smith in the 1990s and more recently Head of Marketing at Whitaker Information Services, has worked on many of the industry's technical solutions, including TeleOrdering, PubEasy, Batch.co.uk, Whitaker Web and 1^stexchange.net, and has first-hand experience of the practical and other obstacles which stand in the way of growing e-commerce usage.

His part in the project will be to research the trading interactions which take place in the various market segments, the suitability of available e-commerce options currently available to publishers and booksellers, and propose practical solutions which will help them to integrate e-commerce into their businesses. The first findings of the research will be available at the end of July.

Roger Woodham, Commercial Director of Macmillan Distribution and former chair of BIC, who is chair of the project's steering group, welcomed the appointment: 'Simon combines huge book trade experience with a commitment to modernising the industry. We look forward with keen interest to hearing the far-reaching recommendations he will undoubtedly make.'

Simon Edwards said, 'I believe that I can offer the project the right blend of technical and commercial knowledge, book trade and systems experience, neutrality, flexibility and contacts. I think this project can really make a difference to the perception of e-commerce which exists in the industry.'

The project is sponsored by the BA, PA, Nielsen BookNet, PubEasy and Vista Computer Services; and the steering group also includes representatives of the Independent Publishers Guild, Random House and Waterstone's.

Further information from Peter Kilborn, BIC, 020 7607 0021, peter@bic.org.uk

Roger Woodham, 01256 302666, r.woodham@macmillan.co.uk

Simon Edwards, 07742 988391, simon.edwards@dial.pipex.com

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e4books - encouraging supply chain e-commerce for the book trade