If there is one thing we know for sure, the COVID-19 pandemic did not leave any person, industry, or country like India unchanged. It compelled us to adapt to a new way of life in the face of professional and personal uncertainties.
But we humans are known for our resilience. We pivoted, evolved, and quickly got on with our lives. On the other hand, businesses adopted a digital-first approach and started selling their products and services online. Professionals got a taste of working from home.
We developed the habit of shopping online. This statistic is expected to exceed INR 250 billion by 2024. This shows the Indian print market is pretty much in sync with the rest of the world. Speaking specifically of print-on-demand and eCommerce in India, things have never been better. Even during the pandemic, the industry went from strength to strength.
How print businesses are adopting advanced technologies to thrive
Unless you live under a rock, you will agree that innovation is essential for any business to succeed. Indian print businesses are well on their way to finding new ways to attract, engage, and convert India-based customers online with the help of a web-to-print software solution.
However, those who are not banking on any technology will have difficulty surviving. That is how it is. There are many opportunities to explore, and if you want to make significant changes to how you run your print business, you have to leverage them.
In the following section, we will study seven concepts shaping how Indian printers are operating in 2022. Let us check them out:
1. New delivery models in the form of virtual sales and SaaS connection
2. Business diversification is the key in 2022
3. The increasing popularity of web2print solutions
4. Print automation leads to better workflow and job management
5. A favorable environment for low inventory-higher revenues
6. An integrated web2print store with a fulfillment partner
7. The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming popular
Over to you
1. New delivery models in the form of virtual sales and SaaS connection
Moving operations online has been a boon for many businesses from a budget perspective. They have saved on office infrastructure and unnecessary business travel and gained a diverse workforce that is not bound by geography.
When running print businesses, salespeople no longer have to do door-to-door selling. You can market the latest products on your storefront and align them with the broader trend of offering better support services. Indian businesses are no exception either.
In fact, with web-to-print technology, the role of intermediaries gets wholly eliminated as the Indian customer can browse through the product, define the print order (quantity, finish, type of print), and get an estimated quote (including shipping charges, if applicable) in real-time.
There is no unnecessary to-and-fro with the designers, as one can either personalize a design template or upload a design built from scratch on the storefront. That is how virtual sales happen these days – thanks to web-based SaaS solutions.
2. Business diversification is the key in 2022
Technological advancements are anticipated to encourage the demand in the country. There is an increasing demand for personalized and one-of-a-kind products, with 36% of consumers expecting some form of it by default and 48% even willing to wait longer for their custom orders to get delivered to them.
Since print-on-demand products are made to order with no minimum orders, even a single order of a single personalized product can open the gate to satisfying the Indian consumer demand while remaining supremely profitable – all thanks to web-to-print technology.
Essentially, the technology involves an online ordering platform accessible through a web browser. Think of Vistaprint and how easily you can go on the site, choose a product (e.g., mug) you want to print a design on, customize the design, upload a fresh one on the site, and place an order using their online graphic design tool. That is web2print, and it helps printers offer a better shopping experience.
3. The increasing popularity of web2print solutions
There is no doubt that web2print technology is reshaping direct-to-consumer (DTC) technology because of eliminating intermediaries such as the salespeople and designers. It is believed that by 2030, Indian consumers will rely on online specifications.
Moreover, virtual ordering will be the norm in the print market. This positive trend influences printers to invest in robust web-to-print software solutions to enable their customers in India to shop online with ease.
Moreover, the latter can also make price and service comparisons to get the best deal. Because customer loyalty is on a decline, printers have to keep identifying different ways to attract, engage, and convert their audience,
They must follow a complementary model – shorter orders with a faster turnaround. Web2print solutions have the potential to initiate smoother workflows, along with efficient digital and automated printing, finishing, and last-mile distribution.
4. Print automation leads to better workflow and job management
One of the most significant advantages of using web-to-print technology is that it automates the entire pre-press and post-press process. That invariably makes the printers more productive and efficient. As an India-based business owner, you are spinning a lot of plates.
From ensuring a high print quality and zero errors to enabling short lead times and on-time shipment, you must optimize whatever aspects of the business you can. This will help you avoid significant human errors and shipment delays.
Plus, why make your teamwork on repetitive tasks (like checking the artwork, manually sending customer emails, coordinating with the production team) when they can better utilize their energy and expertise in what matters with the help of product designer software?
So, automation results in higher productivity and greater profitability for the business. Why deny your print business its benefits when deploying a web-to-print solution that can make it all happen for you?
Having a web-to-print software solution will enable you to stay on top of all essential business operations on a single interface. You can take care of everything under a single roof – from live quotation, artwork proofing, order and print job management, shipping, and so on.
5. A favorable environment for low inventory-higher revenues
Search interest for print-on-demand rose dramatically at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, and it also spiked in January and April 2021. This year, we see the interest go back to what it was before the pandemic upended India.
Print-on-demand has fast become a sustainable alternative to fast fashion. Products are made only once they are ordered, Meaning – fewer items go unsold or end up as garbage. Plus, it is a win-win for both parties.
Indian customers get what they want in quantities they want – nothing more, nothing less. And printers process what is expected of them and deliver that to the customers in India. This puts less pressure on their operational workflows and helps them earn profits minus mass orders.
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6. An integrated web2print store with a fulfillment partner
Web2print had made it possible for Indian printers to conduct their operations. Indian customers can browse through the site and place an order. However, printers need either a fulfillment partner or an in-house shipping agency to ship and deliver the order on time.
Ideally, you should turn to a third-party fulfillment partner to save time and resources and increase efficiency. They take all the headaches for you, including packaging, shipping, last-mile delivery, and more. Popular service providers are Gooten, Printful, and Zazzle.
Before you choose a partner for your web2print storefront, please consider the print quality standards, ease of use of the software, graphic design software support, product personalization, competitive pricing, and so on.
7. The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming popular
The fourth industrial revolution is fast changing how businesses manufacture and distribute their products. IoT has also touched the printing market. Printing presses, for instance, transmit data that the cloud automatically analyzes over a communication network.
You can track how well the printing press is performing and whether it needs upkeep. Similarly, IoT combined with 3D printing helps build custom-made products with the help of data collected from connected devices.
Automated smart printing devices help businesses reduce costs, optimize their workflows and improve efficiency. Leveraging the “smartness” of connected and multi-function printers can fundamentally contribute to the next-gen print ecosystems.
Over to you
Did you know that in 2020, Amazon bought $400 million worth of inkjet equipment for their merch line of business? This shows how literally everyone is ready to jump onto the custom printing bandwagon and sell print items such as mugs, t-shirts, calendars, and so on.
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly impacted the print sector worldwide, not just India. But how printers adapt to the change and what technologies they rely on will define their success rate in the months to come. They have to buck up!
If you want to know more about what web2print can help you achieve and the web-to-print software solution you need to deploy, contact our expert team at [email protected], and we will try our best to meet your business objectives promptly.
As one of the best web to print solution provider company in India, at DesignNBuy, our first step is to understand your business needs. we are always ready to help you with your online print store businesses to attract more customers and to get more visibility on your e-commerce storefront. We offer Magento, Shopify, OpenCart, WooCommerce Development to global clients.
