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The UK is finally catching up with the rest of the world in web-to-print uptake, which should give the sector a boost, says Philip Chadwick

Online shopping is second nature for many consumers in the UK, whether it be scouring the web for birthday gifts or ordering the weekly food shop. But while some industry sectors moved towards a web-ordering model years ago, with customers shopping, ordering and communicating with suppliers via the internet, print has been fairly slow to embrace the web’s potential – until now.

Over the past two years, take-up of web-to-print (W2P) systems has grown rapidly, so much so that today having the ability to offer W2P is as necessary as having a printing press. Major players in the digital market, such as Canon and HP, have been banging the drum about W2P for some time – it makes perfect sense for these manufacturers to promote the technology, which lends itself well to the print-on-demand (POD) market where their digital engines are king.

But it hasn’t been easy. In 2007, Canon commissioned InfoTrends to compile a report investigating take-up of W2P in the UK and Europe. The findings, published in September of that year, suggested that the UK was lagging behind the continent when it came to adopting the technology.

Back then, 60% of UK firms had no plans to deploy a W2P system compared to 20% that did. A further 10% had plans to do so in two to five years. While the UK appeared to dither, the Netherlands and Scandinavia were surging ahead.

Surge in interest
However, there are signs that the tide is turning. With consumers now comfortable with the web, software distributors are reporting a surge in interest from printers keen to muscle in on the market.

Claritum is one such W2P software provider that has experienced a boost in enquiries and business in recent months. The level of interest in W2P has been heightened by a need to control costs and have a clear idea of exactly what print is being ordered. So the downturn in the economy has caused a bounce for the W2P market.

“W2P allows the supplier to have complete visibility,” explains Claritum director James Samuels. “Buyers are able to manage this area, especially the larger organisations that procure millions of pounds and need to monitor performance. There are a lot of sectors under a great deal of pressure and we are seeing a lot of demand from corporates in particular.”

Tapping into this demand sounds like an attractive proposition, especially during such tough trading conditions, and when you consider that you can pick up a basic system for under £100 it looks even more enticing.

But as tempting as it may sound, installing a W2P product requires plenty of forethought. While you can opt for an off-the-shelf product, Neil Bather, product manager at Transeo Media, says that you need to have a strong idea as to how the system will fit into your business and what it will do. Is it something that’s simply going to take orders from customers, or do you want it to give them template options and allow them to follow the progress of their order?

“We provide customer-driven deployment,” he says. “It’s not a case of simply pressing buttons. You need to change the culture of your business.”

Transeo distributes the Press-sense iWay W2P product and Bather says that it is a product that incorporates “business flow automation”. It means that the product does more than just taking orders and anyone with access to the system knows what stage a job is at.

By providing such levels of transparency, Kelvin Bell, co-founder of software developer Vpress, says that W2P redefines the printing process. “Anyone supplying print today has got to box clever,” explains Bell. “Having the relevant information at your fingertips is so important. It’s not just print-on-demand but information-on-demand. Buyers should be able to see where the order is being printed and how much it costs. Reports should also be exportable into Excel files so everyone can use them. It’s about total transparency.”

And it’s not just a tool that can be used to win new business – it should also be used to help secure business from existing customers. “Your starting point is with your existing client base,” says Bather. “You know them already and will get work that you never knew was out there.”

Cutting confusion
By offering online ordering, both inexperienced and seasoned buyers should, in theory, find it easier to get exactly what they want and as a result order more print. In terms of novice buyers, the W2P approach is even more attractive because picking up the phone and trying to place an order with a printer can be daunting, especially if you don’t use the right terminology. With W2P that confusion goes out of the window – buyers can see exactly what they are going to get.

“For the novice user it really can be a case of just point and click,” explains Claritum’s Samuels. “We can cater for the absolute basic approach where jobs are put into a shopping basket. On the other hand, we have products for the print buyer who is very experienced.”

The key thing to remember with W2P is installing a system that meets your clients’ requirement. Adare has been developing its own W2P offer over the past five years and Steve Williams, sales director at the group, says that Adare’s solution is geared up to give clients greater transparency.

“The speed of internet connections has made the transfer of information far easier and smoother,” says Williams. “People are now more technology savvy and by having a W2P system you can trigger a number of alternative communications. It can also link to multi-media campaigns – it is a very viable communication method.”

Benefiting everyone
Digital print technology is at the heart of these multi-media campaigns and the growing popularity of digital presses has played a major part in W2P’s recent UK growth, but that doesn’t mean that only printers with a digital press can make W2P work.

“Digital print has been helpful,” explains Transeo’s Bather, “but if you look at our client base we have a full mix of digital and litho print firms. It goes right up to the major B1 companies. It does lend itself well to any firm that’s made a new digital purchase or anyone just starting out, but W2P suits the whole market and isn’t limited.”

Vpress’s Bell believes that these are “exciting times for the technology” and he has experienced a lot of interest from companies both large and small. And with so much bad news in the industry at the moment, he reckons that W2P can provide a ray of hope.

“There is so much doom out there, but I have to be optimistic,” he adds.
And Bather says that this is still very much early days for the technology. “We are at stage one – it’s at an early-adopter market at the moment,” he adds. “We are not at a market saturation by any means. However, the products on offer are getting better and better. For example, version five of iWay was launched in November last year. That product has come on leaps and bounds.”

From the smallest to the largest print company, W2P can help firms keep a steady stream of work coming through onto the presses. Its great strength is its ease of use. If you want to make it easy for your customers to click on exactly what they want, and have a transparent pricing system, then there’s a strong chance that you’ll be kept busy fulfilling orders taken over the web.

TOP TIPS: WEB-TO-PRINT
? Have a clear idea of what you want the system to do. Is it simply an ordering service or do you want customers to track their jobs in real time?
? Remember that the W2P system may not win you new business straight away but could cement your relationship with existing clients. You may find that there is additional work out there from a customer you’ve had for years
? Make sure that the system is scalable and can be upgraded should demand for your products and services grow
? Remember to develop your own interface. Branding is an important factor and can help you stand apart in the market
? If data is important for your client then ensure that it is stored and managed in a format that is exportable. For example, Microsoft Excel is a format pretty much anyone can use