Sunday, December 26, 2010

How to Create an Online Bookstore Database


An online bookstore would have a lot of pages if it weren't for a database. Databases are what drive the products to a bookstore website. Websites such as Borders.com or BarnesAndNoble.com use databases in order to display information to their consumers. Similar to these examples, you must be smart about how you set up the database in the beginning so you won't run into problems when new data gets incorporated (or old data is removed). This guide will help you create a database that you can use for a long time.

Difficulty:
Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

  • Computer
  • Database software
  1. Instructions

    • 1
      Set up a database. In your database software, create a new database called "Bookstore." This will hold all the tables and data for your online bookstore.
    • 2
      Create a database table for types of products available. Bookstores today carry more than books, and each type of item must be accounted for. Set up a new database table called "ProductTypes." Define the table with the following attributes: a unique identifier, a name, a count. The identifier will be a number that is used as a reference in other tables. The name will be the name of the type, for example, "book", "CD", "DVD", "toys," etc. The count will be the total number of items of that product are available. This table will be beneficial when you generate reports pertaining to inventory.
    • 3
      Create a database table for each product type. If you have four types of products, then set up four separate tables, each with their own attributes. For example, a table called "CompactDisc" may have the following attributes: ID, artist, title, price, genre, tracks and description. A table called "Books" would have ID, title, authors, copyright year, publisher, category, pages, price and availability.
    • 4
      Create a database table for customers. Collect the following information from your website: name, address, email, phone, age range, username, password and interests. As a user inputs this information it will be inserted directly into your database under the "Customers" table.
    • 5
      Enter data into tables. Either enter data directly or use your database software's form for entering data into a specific table.
    • 6
      Run queries in your database software to see that you can cross-check tables properly. A website user will do searches for products that match a certain criteria. Doing your own search in the database software shows that searches like this can be done and that you're setting up the tables correctly.

Tips & Warnings

  • As a user fills out their profile, make some information optional such as credit/debit card information, age (or age range), and other personal data optional. You want your consumers to feel like they're having a safe user experience.
  • Adding unique identifiers to each table gives you a great way to reference a table's data for information. You also guarantee that no two rows will have identical information.
  • When you name your tables do not use spaces; database coding generally doesn't allow it. Also, avoid hyphens and underscores.

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What Is The Book Wizard?

The Book Wizard is a powerful, full-featured, user-friendly, point-of-sale and inventory control software program designed specifically for bookstores. Created with the relational database 4D, The Book Wizard is designed to run on Windows 98 thru XP PCs or Apple Macintosh computers running OS X. Your computer becomes a cash register by connecting a receipt printer, cash drawer and bar code scanner. As books are sold the on hand quantity is adjusted and sales history is updated. Other features include: purchase orders, receiving, returns, special orders, book fairs, book club, customer sales history, label printing, standard and custom reports, charts, graphs, financial information including FIFO based inventory valuation, and much more. The Book Wizard inventory control software is compliant with the 13 digit ISBN numbers.

Who Should Use The Book Wizard?

All booksellers need a reliable, user friendly, inventory management program, that will provide accurate on hand information as well as a complete sales history of their stock. Our customers range from specialty stores with a few thousand titles to million dollar bookstores stocking over 100,000 titles. The Book Wizard is used by children's, new age, general interest, used books, feminist, self-help, museum, equestrian, and church bookstores. No matter what size your store is, it is vital that you have accurate inventory control with a user friendly POS (point-of-sale) component. The graphic user interface (GUI) makes The Book Wizard extremely user-friendly. Employee training is fast and easy. New staff members learn the point-of-sale functions as quickly as they learn to use a cash register. Even if you are a computer novice, you can quickly learn to use The Book Wizard, without any expensive on-site training.

Is The Book Wizard Expensive?

When comparing costs to benefits, The Book Wizard is very inexpensive. The Book Wizard is designed to save you time and money by increasing your store's efficiency and productivity. You will be able to make better buying decisions by quickly reviewing the sales history of your merchandise, including, units sold, date last sold, and date last received. The Book Wizard provides you with the tools to identify your best selling books, and quickly reorder them so that they are never out-of-stock. You can also identify slow moving stock so that it can be put on the sale table or returned to the publisher. Increased inventory turns will lead to more efficient use of the money invested in inventory. Customer service and customer loyalty will be enhanced with the efficient tracking of special orders and use of the book club. The Book Wizard is affordable and expandable, allowing you to purchase only the features that best suit your needs and budget. Software prices range from $695.00 to $2,800.00.
Please visit some of our other pages for more information about the specific software features.
How Can The Book Wizard Help Me, Features, Point-of-Sale, Merchandise, Keyword Lookup, Purchase Orders, Receiving, Special Orders.
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