Printing.com signs up first white label W3P clients

The white label W3P platform allows existing franchisees or independent third-party printers or design agencies to use Printing.com's software with their own branding.

The cloud-based platform, which is offered on a software as a service (saas) basis, is based on InDesign Server and gives users the ability to create templates for products such as flyers, brochures and business cards in less than 10 minutes.

Printing.com is pitching the software at everyone from small print and design shops up to franchise networks, both in print and other sectors.

To support this, W3P has an In-House module to allow printers to route orders to their own presses, as well as an Open-Source module that enables them to sub-contract the work to Printing.com or any other third-party supplier.

Former franchisee Nick Birch, managing director of design and creative firm The Agency, said he opted for the white label formula because he wanted his company to have a "singular [brand] identity".

He added that The Agency was saving an "hour per job" on the 1,400 jobs a year it processes via the web-to-print system, which includes proofing, preflighting and workflow management tools.

Printing.com chief executive Tony Rafferty said: "The first 10 Printing.com franchisees have switched to W3P allowing these businesses to use the software in a more individualistic way."

Rafferty said that he expected 30-50 franchisees to make the switch to the white label W3P but that the majority of franchisees would retain the Printing.com brand for the foreseeable future. The company is also targeting a further 150 independent businesses to adopt W3P in the coming year.

W3P, including the web-to-print module, is available as a hosted service from a £1,999 initial fee plus £299 a month, although if the user agrees in good faith to sub-contract £10,000 per year of trade print to Printing.com, the initial fee is waived and the monthly fee is cut to £199.