There is no doubt that the web-to-print industry has made great strides in the past decade. Research shows that the global market for web-to-print is set to grow at a CAGR of 6.6% from 2020-2027, valued at $15 billion by 2027.
When Design’N’Buy first launched in 2009, it was more of an eCommerce solutions provider. One fine day, one of our clients requested us to develop a plugin that enabled their end customers to customize merchandise and place a print order on the storefront.
Our client already had an internal printing press with a simple logistical workflow that delivered printed products to their customer base. Adding a web-to-print technology would only empower them to sell various products that can be personalized on the website itself.
And that is how the idea of our All-In-One Web2Print (AIOW2P) software solution was conceived. Based on the knowledge we gained on building the plugin for our client, we further developed the technology to what it is known as today.
Our proprietary online print shop software is ideal for print brokers and commercial printers. Every year, we come out with a brand new version of AIOW2P, and 2021 is no exception. In an effort to be a leading web-to-print solutions provider, we present to you AIOW2P 4.0.
In this seven-part blog series, we will closely dissect the new version to understand the benefits it brings to printing companies and their end-users. Let us first begin with the advancements we have made with the software’s core technology:
Technology Advancements in New All-in-One Web2Print 4.0 are,
1. Design Studio upgraded to JavaScript ES6
In the previous versions, the online design editor which allowed end customers to create print-ready designs on the storefront had browser compatibility issues.
This perturbed many printing businesses because they could not give a seamless experience to their customers — regardless of the browser on which they accessed the storefront. That was because our Design Studio was built on JavaScript ES4.
Keeping in mind the issues, the expert Design’N’Buy has re-coded the entire software on JavaScript ES6 to get full browser functionality. We want printing businesses not just to sell their products but also have an excellent shopping experience.
2. Now Available on Magento open-source 2.4.2 and Magento cloud eCommerce software
The previous versions of AIOW2P required printing businesses to add 8-10 extensions with the help of our developers to enhance their Magento storefront’s functionalities. Thanks to the upgrade, they can now make do with only 3-4 extensions.
The latest version brings forth many built-in functionalities such as Store Locator, Dynamic Blocks, Customer Segments, and so on. Whether you install our AIOW2P on-premise or use it on the cloud, you are bound to avail the enhanced version of Magento.
3. Use of GraphQL for data manipulation and APIs
We have deployed GraphQL for all sorts of data manipulation tasks and APIs in the latest version of AIOW2P. That means, if we have to edit anything on the front-end, we can load the Design Studio panel by sending any requests to the back-end. It is that simple!
The previous versions of AIOW2P dealt with direct Magneto data calls. However, that arrangement made the web-to-print storefront solution tightly coupled to Magento, which required our expert Magento developers to customize all the functionalities manually.
GraphQL is an international data query and manipulation language for APIs. With its integration, the Design Studio is now loosely coupled to the Magento eCommerce storefront. A benefit is when product data has been cached, it does not need to go to the server to fetch data again.
We have created APIs to fetch data from any platform. However, the experience is seamless even if the eCommerce storefront is not on Magento. Our Design Studio can be easily integrated if the printing company uses Shopify, WooCommerce, or other eCommerce platforms.
4. Module-based architecture gets a facelift for easy code management and upgrades
We do not believe in one-size-fits-all. Naturally, our printing clients also wanted control to make changes to their AIOW2P solution during integration. But that posed a challenge. In the previous versions of AIOW2P, there was a limitation on the data transfer.
On the other hand, for some clients, giving us their server access was a security issue. They wanted their developers to handle the integration, which was fair enough. Therefore, AIOW2P 4.0 overcomes this limitation.
Now our clients can download the web-to-print designer on their own. Of course, we will give them a documentation guide that they can refer to in times of need. The only thing they would need to manage, perhaps, is the license key. But we can also help with that.
Feedback for AIOW2P 4.0
Over to you
With the recent upgrades, we genuinely believe we have created something sustainable and tech-forward. We cannot wait for printing businesses to try out our AIOW2P 4.0 for a more robust foundation online. If you want to know more about the advanced tech features added to the new version of AIOW2P Click Here
