Online shopping shakes up print

Can web-to-print be part of the armoury to recession-proof your business? The answer from companies that have made the move and suppliers of the technology is an emphatic "yes" on several different levels. In the right circumstances it can lock in customers and change the relationship from one of the printer being a commodity supplier, to that of a trusted partner by helping customers to save costs through streamlining their internal processes. This moves the conversation beyond the cost of print - it can simplify and speed up payment through the use of credit card transactions, while internal efficiencies offer a route to cutting your own costs.

For Peter Lancaster, managing director of web-to-print consultancy W2P, it's even simpler than that. "Print isn't exempt from the trend towards online buying," he says. "If I were a bank manager I wouldn't lend to a printer that doesn't have an online strategy. And I'd be worried about the viability of any digital press investment without one."

His suggestion is to put yourself in the shoes of your ­customer and consider who they are and how they are ­likely to buy. "I'd suggest every printer buy something from firms such as Vistaprint or Pixart - you need to know your enemy," he says. "I'd love to know how many printers have ever been online to buy print, or have been to a trade show such as Internet World. It's all important for understanding print's place."

That place will be different depending on the purpose of the print and the type and size of customer.

Marian Stefani, managing director of web-to-print ­software supplier RedTie says: "Think of a small tradesman, such as Joe the Plumber. He will have a need for stationery and direct mail. When it comes to ordering those items, he'll be comfortable with the concept of online ordering and using a shopping cart, and when it comes to payment is happy to use a credit card on orders up to £500." And it's not just such relatively small orders that customers are happy to make online. Stefani adds that she has seen examples of much higher value work being purchased on credit cards by her customers.
"Web-to-print changes the way clients consider payment, it changes the conversation," she says. "People are used to paying immediately on the internet and that makes it easier to collect payment upfront."

Small businesses are not the only companies that are ­looking to benefit from using credit card payments and web-to-print. It's also an attractive option for larger ­companies for some of their work. Littlewoods Shop Direct uses credit card payment with East London firm The Blue Group, for example.

Faster payment
"The credit card payment means that we get paid much quicker, and for Littlewoods it does away with the need to generate countless cheques," says Blue Group account director Julie Cavill. The firm is finding that many of its other big ­customers also want the ability to use payment cards for some of their spending.

The Blue Group uses the Coreprint system from Vpress. Ecommerce manager Kelvin Bell says: "Ten years ago, ­payment cards were a big thing and I'm seeing a resurgence of that - we're doing a couple a month. The benefits are mutual; it's easier for clients to manage spending up to a set limit, while printers can turn invoice-chasing into positive cashflow."

Bell recommends talking to your bank's e-commerce ­manager for more information, but adds that implementing payment card handling "isn't complicated, it's a ­well-practised event". He says users will need to do some ­development work on the web-to-print system to make sure everything runs smoothly, which he says typically takes two days before going live.
But while Lancaster agrees that the integration with ­purchasing cards isn't a problem, he argues that it's likely to be only half the story when dealing with larger customers.

"A corporate won't just have to deal with web-to-print; for them it's web-to-everything, so they need an e-purchasing system such as SAP or Ariba," he says. "Therefore your web-to-print system needs to integrate with that, which can be tricky."

But while it may present problems, Lancaster believes getting this right is the key to success. "Customers don't give a hoot about your processes, it's all about theirs, and those are the benefits that you should sell," he says.

Right now, the firms that Lancaster identifies as ripe for printers to target with those benefits have in the region of £50m turnover and an annual print spend of £150,000 - ­probably with a network of overseas operations or dealers that would benefit from a centralised managed system. 

RedTie's Stefani agrees with Lancaster that web-to-print is about more than the print. "You need to understand what it does for the customer - their central office will want efficiencies," she says. "If you deliver those it makes the printer a ­partner, and they can charge accordingly. We never talk about cheaper printing, it's about reducing the associated costs and making their documents work harder."

While Littlewoods' Shop Direct division uses the payment card option with Blue, other parts of its business use an Oracle e-commerce platform, which Blue's web-to-print ­system needs to integrate with. To place an order, Littlewoods generates an internal purchase order number, which is then entered into the web-to-print system when ordering a job. Blue invoices Littlewoods monthly.

Cavill cautions that there is an initial set-up cost from Vpress for integrating with systems such as Ariba and Oracle, which means that her company considers the total value of the customer's contract to make sure it can recover those costs during the contract's lifetime.

Vpress's Bell says that integration with a procurement system typically costs £1,200 for the first ­implementation, but adding additional customers using the same platform will be lower - around £200 a time. There are benefits to the bottom line to be had from web-to-print in situations that don't involve credit card transactions or ­integration with client's procurement systems, according to Stefani.

"If you've sold web-to-print well, then the customer will get a lot of value from the ­system, and if they see that value it will encourage them to pay your bills," she says. "It's like the phone bill - you pay it because you don't want to be without the solution."

A well executed web-to-print ­system looks like an invaluable asset, whether it's to get the cash for your expansion plans, getting it upfront via credit card or ­making yourself indispensible so your invoice is at the top of the pile for ­payment at your customer's accounts ­department

CASE STUDY: CENTREPRINT UK
Centreprint director Mike Robinson is in no doubt that having web-to-print capability is helping his business thrive in the current economic climate. The firm won the E-business category in last year's BPIF PrintWeek Excellence Awards for its self-developed Primas system, which its customers and staff use for estimating, quoting and job tracking.

"We can generate quotes instantly, and are producing more than 100 a day," says Robinson. "It helps our customers, who are mainly agencies, as they can create multiple estimates for themselves for different substrates and volumes 24 hours a day."

The system, which has been in place for four years, has been instrumental in the firm growing its turnover to more than £3m without having to employ additional sales, estimating and customer service staff.

"It's helped to tie customers in, as it makes it as easy as possible for them to track jobs," he says. "We don't want to take away the human touch, but if we can use technology to make it easier for our customers we do."

Primas is configured so that firms wishing to use it to generate a quotation have to register, which has led to the firm winning business from new customers.

"If anyone asks for an estimate for over £1,000 worth of work the system emails our team, so they can follow up in person," he says.

The next step for the firm is to take credit card payments online in order to attract new business. Clients will be able to order jobs from simple business cards, flyers and leaflets through to multi-page brochures, including options for coating and UV varnish.

To drive new business, the firm has also used Google AdWords to ensure it appears on relevant  search results. "We've put a limit on our AdWord spending, but we've certainly got business from it," says Robinson.