The new web-to-print venture, which launched two weeks ago, enables customers to personalise and send greeting cards, invitations and thank-you notes, and offers next-day delivery on orders placed before noon.
Papier is printing at Basildon, Essex-based Precision exclusively for the time being, using existing capacity and resources. The company has invested £2.75m in new kit over the past few months.
The products are printed using HP Indigo presses on 324gsm GF Smith Mohawk Superfine Eggshell uncoated paper, or 650gsm for premium invitations. Papier believes its “higher quality” products, set at a higher price point, will set it apart from rivals such as Moonpig and Funky Pigeon.
Founder and chief executive Taymoor Atighetchi said: “We want to capture a sizeable part of the personalised card market and we want to do that quickly. Moonpig makes 12m cards a year and that’s only 5%-6% of the overall card market. We think that market has got room to grow.
“We thought there wasn’t anything that was led from a design perspective using high-quality paper. We saw there was a shift to people wanting personal post again, as email becomes more used for business communications. People want a more thoughtful message and they want something nice that they can keep.”
A former management consultant with an art history degree, Atighetchi had some knowledge of art printing and the history of printing but told PrintWeek he spent four months intensively researching modern printing and visited printers across the UK before choosing Precision, which also prints greetings cards for Sincerely, Photobox and Cleverbug. He met Precision managing director Gary Peeling early on in Papier’s development and said he found his advice invaluable.
“Precision have made a significant investment in time without any guarantee of volumes,” he said, adding that the process of establishing Papier had given him a lot of respect for modern print businesses.
Precision managing director Gary Peeling said: “Central to what we do at Precision is support online consumer brands and increasingly we are working in the start-up space. The relationship is based on far more than just producing a product. We work with the client when they are creating the product.”
The companies spent a few months producing samples in order to create a product that felt like a handmade product, Peeling added. He said he and Atighetchi chose Mohawk because of its availability and good balance of cost, quality and feel.
“I think what’s interesting about the Papier team is that they’ve got a very strong vision as to what they are looking to achieve. It’s a niche that’s not being catered for,” added Peeling.
A fine printing range, which will employ thermography and engraving, is also due to be launched at the beginning of October and will be delivered by royal warrant-holding Mount Street Printers, based in Mayfair, London.
The six-staff Papier is based in Soho, London and is backed by investors including Nicholas Wheeler, the founder of Charles Tyrwhitt.
