With every new year, new expectations arise, and just like any other industry, print too witnessed ups and a lot of downs in the year 2020 due to the pandemic but, now slowly gaining pace in the year 2021, will the print industry ride high in the upcoming year 2022? Let’s take a sneak peek.
The rising popularity of Web-to-Print solutions
According to a new market report by Smithers, due to tremendous growth in the demand for digital print products, the global printing industry which was valued at USD 411.99 billion in 2020, is forecast to reach $821 billion by 2022.
The credit for such a huge jump in sales in print industry goes to web-to-print solutions. It is due to the impressive results of web-to-print solutions that the print industry underwent a digital transformation and people began to shop for print products more as it comes with the personalization feature which is all today’s customer wants.
Hence, many printing companies are now offering digital storefront and online ordering capabilities to their end clients. With Web-to-Print technology, they are now able to allow customers to place orders for personalized products on their website and make seamless online payments for the same.
The W2P storefront is not only making the printing company’s website more user-friendly and easier to use but is also helping in streamlining and automating their internal processes that involve tasks like approving artworks, sharing quotations, and following up with end clients.
Design’N’Buy conducts a survey
To understand the main intention behind implementing the Web-to-Print technology, Design’N’Buy surveyed a mixed bag of 455 printers in a span of three months, starting from September. Out of all the answers received, three stood out:
● To win new customers and to scale the business [49%]
● To service existing customers better [30%]
● To automate back-office processes [21%]
Let us further elaborate on these findings to understand what printing companies and end clients expect from W2P in the year 2022.
#Finding 1 – To win new customers and to scale the business
The answer that topped our survey when asked about their intention behind implementing web-to-print was to win new customers and to drive sales in their print business as many printers personally experienced a rise in both after web-to-print was enabled in their storefront. The majority of them said that after enabling the Web-to-Print technology into their storefront, they achieved the following in no time – better performance, automation, the flexibility to personalize pre-designed templates using a dynamic design tool, and to place an order easily, and other offline assistance. As more and more customers began to explore their storefront, they recorded a rise in sales like never before which proved that web-to-print technology attracts customers and boosts sales.
The reason W2P is winning heart is that it comes with an advanced desktop and mobile-ready online design tool which allows its users to mark specific printable design areas that can be personalized anytime, anywhere. Such flexibility and mobility allowed users to create a great-looking product in minutes and since customer’s, today have no time to sit in one place, W2P proved to be an effective design tool.
Apart from that, printers revealed that W2P’s flexible design tool, ease of use, a huge library of pre-designed templates, are the top reasons that drove sales in their business. They added that they also benefitted a lot in digital marketing using W2P because an SEO-ready W2P solution helped them target the right audience to their website and make sure the right keywords are in the right place.
#Finding 2 – To service existing customers better
The second reason why printers adopted web-to-print is to serve their existing customers in a much better way because according to them, web-to-print enables a commercial printer to focus on promoting other value-added services like excellent customer support that adds to the brand reputation. With W2P, printers are now able to support their end clients right from the beginning of the process and understand what they need and how much they are willing to spend on an order.
Similarly, even the customers know they can rely on that printer for urgent requirements if the W2P storefront is robust enough. For instance: if they require additional brochures for a service they sell, they can quickly reorder through the printing company’s website and have the order delivered on time.
In short, by deploying W2P technology, printers are not only expediting the print orders but are also ensuring that the end client enjoys a smooth online personalization and buying experience.
#Finding 3 – To automate back-office processes
Back-office processes are the most time-consuming and tiring tasks. Many of the online businesses feel that their back-office process is making them lose customers. But, after the integration of web-to-print technology, they experienced a much-needed transformation in their business from performance, time and cost-saving, sales, customer flow, etc. W2P automates the back-office process smoothly and efficiently, providing the business owners the time to focus on other important things.
Moreover, W2P also takes care of the biggest concern that online businesses face – timely deliveries. The whole plot is lost if the end clients don’t get their orders on time. Given the high level of competition in the industry, it isn’t difficult for them to switch service providers. But for printers, it is revenue lost. Thankfully, many Web-to-Print storefronts have partnered up with shipping vendors so that the customer can see the exact status of the delivery on the website itself. USPS, FedEx, UPS, and more are some of the popular names in the shipping business.
Please note the capability differs from a W2P solution provider to provider. Most of the time, the end client is taken to the website of the shipping vendor for tracking purposes. But some W2P storefronts update the order status on the system itself, thus making it easier for the end client to know the status.
One of the biggest benefits that printers gained with W2P is cost reduction. W2P helps generate business during off-hours, re-order customized print products, and expand market reach apart from taking volumes of orders, managing complex databases, keeping a log of deliveries – on a single platform thus, a significant amount and time is saved which indeed is a big reason. Moreover, it is not just a printer is benefitted from W2P because the end client also gets to enjoy the many facilities in one place. So, it’s a win-win for both parties.
Automation due to web-to-print technology eliminates the tedious manual work and so printing companies and customers achieve the three significant factors that they keep looking for – speed, quality, and service.
In short, deploying web-to-print software enables the printing companies to be dynamic and flexible, increase productivity and performance, achieve high ROI, all while saving time and money, while customers enjoy quick and efficient customer service.
Below mentioned are few more reasons for printers to get a Web-to-Print
1. A better performing Web-to-Print storefront
For end-clients, the Web-to-Print technology has enabled automation and given them the flexibility to personalize pre-designed templates using a dynamic design tool and to place an order easily. However, there is little offline assistance.
We live in an age where “customer is king”. It is important for a printer to be more focused on the end-clients than ever! Focusing only on individual orders is not a sustainable business plan for any printer anymore.
Therefore, it is vital for printers to form strategic partnerships with them and to ensure there is a steady flow of recurring orders. Hyper-personalized Web-to-Print storefronts that cater to the tiniest requirements of end-clients and offer solutions they may face with offline print services.
Also Read: 7 Reasons Why Your Printing Business Must Invest In Automation
2. Advanced Desktop and Mobile Ready design tool
Today, there are so many options in the market that enable eco-friendly productions and deliver high-quality prints, without costing too much to the printers. However, when it comes to W2P, the printing company has to invest in an advanced design tool.
From marking specific printable design areas that can be personalized using the design editor to providing pre-designed artwork templates and font library, the Web-to-Print storefront must ensure that any end-client can create a great-looking product in minutes.
Design‘N’Buy, for example, has deployed its responsive online design software on the storefronts of various printing companies across the globe, which enables the customers to order a custom print product on their own easily.
A flexible design tool that is not only easy-to-use but also has a huge library of pre-designed templates make the job easier for both printers and end-clients.
3. Digital marketing assistance
Digital marketing is one of the major tactics applied by businesses across industries to grab new customers and to ensure business growth. A printer not only wants a responsive W2P solution, but also assistance in executing digital marketing plans.
They want an SEO-ready W2P solution that would enable them to target the right audience to their website and make sure the right keywords are in the right place. They need help in defining, designing and strategically placing ads that attract the end-clients instantly.
4. To serve existing clients better
Web-to-Print enables the commercial printer to focus on promoting other value-added services like excellent customer support that adds to the brand reputation. Printers can support their end-clients right from the beginning of the process, and understand what they need and how much they are willing to spend on an order.
Similarly, even the end-client knows they can rely on that printer for urgent requirements if the W2P storefront is robust enough. For instance: if they require additional brochures for a service they sell, they can quickly reorder through the printing company’s website and have the order delivered on time.
By deploying W2P technology, the printer is not only expediting the print orders but also ensuring the end-client enjoys a smooth online personalizaton and buying experience.
Wrapping up
W2P is booming and as forecasted will cross billions in the year 2022 as the need for digitally printed products is growing and the printing companies serving have now become way more efficient due to the web-to-print technology. Anyways, remember, showing end clients exactly how much value is being created for them should be the prime goal for printing companies in the coming year. Either way, the importance of Web-to-Print can’t be emphasized enough.
Strike a deal with a reputable vendor that can deploy the solution, train your staff and handle all the nitty-gritty related to starting work on new software. If you are currently trying to find one, look no further!
Drop us a comment here or email us at [email protected] and one of our staff members will connect with you with a solution best suited to your business requirements.
FAQs
What is the web to print?
Web-to-print, also known as Web2Print, remote publishing, or print e-commerce, is an online printing service that provides online tools for creating consistent printing jobs as well as print products via online storefronts. Both businesses and the general public can take advantage by using these online print services to achieve a wide range of marketing goals.
Why Web-to-Print Is Important?
A W2P is beneficial for printers as it enables your business to double or even triple in sales, reduces the time and effort needed to create consistent print products, makes management easier, while for customers it is convenient and allows them to order customized designs anytime from anywhere.
How Does It Benefit Your Print Business?
With web-to-print technology, you can maintain consistency of your brand, centralize your purchasing, shipping, and billing process, receive approvals virtually, view the catalog of your products in a more centralized way, increase the ordering capabilities remotely, achieve a reduction in overall administrative and inventory costs, access & order whenever you want, create & control your brand.
How DesignNBuy: COULD BE A BETTER SOLUTION FOR YOUR WEB-TO-PRINT BUSINESS?
Having years of experience, Design’N’Buy offers comprehensive web-to-print solutions that are powered by the latest technologies, are modern, scalable, and customizable, and are always innovating new features. Moreover, Design’N’Buy offers a dedicated support team as well as access to tutorials and support ticketing which makes it the best suitor for your printing business needs
Blog last updated on 9-9-2021
