The global print industry is expanding at a rapid pace. A Smithers report confirms that it would be valued at $821 billion by 2021. This comes after 70% of businesses reported a significant decline in their print orders in March-April 2020.
However, tough times call for disruption, and professional print service providers pivoted and how! Digital storefronts and online ordering capabilities (also called web-to-print) have become the new norm, helping printers bridge the demand and supply gap online.
This is not surprising since the pandemic has accelerated the shift from physical stores to digital buying by five years. Printers have no choice but to become more technologically robust — with the implementation of web-to-print technology.
Signage and printed displays are leading the print market
With the world slowly limping back to normalcy, out-of-home advertising has once again taken precedence. Did you know that the printed signage market is expected to achieve a CAGR of 0.52% by 2026? North America remains the largest market for ad spending.
That is because web-to-print for wide-format printers provides signage, printed displays, and retail graphics at affordable rates. Besides, other large-format printing items such as posters, banners, and standees are now used by companies in their retail shops.
Design’N’Buy helps printers drive sales
As a market leader in web-to-print solutions technology, we are well aware of the challenges that printers face. Driving sales has been a pain-point because of the pandemic. Lack of business direction and technical support has caused many printers to go out of business.
With web-to-print, the problem can be resolved to a great extent. If you are keen to grow your web-to-print wide-format printing business, let us share how we help our clients scale their business and what you can learn in the process:
1. Offer print-ready, customization templates
While many consumers prefer creating their designs from scratch, many might not have the expertise. To make your printing company the ultimate one-stop solution for end-users, offer them a comprehensive library of print-ready templates for any printable items you offer.
That way, they can personalize the templates per their liking and place an order on the printed item (e.g., posters or standees) quickly. Our web-to-print software for wide-format printing comes with many editing functionalities such as color-changing, text editing, clipart, QR codes, and shapes.
There is also a Live Preview option wherein the customer can see the changes to the design in real-time. An LA-based client of ours once used a Flash-based design tool that made it difficult for their customers to edit the print designs.
With our web-to-print solution, they could eliminate this problem and increase sales since the adoption by 50%. Shorter buying cycles and convenient shopping experiences lead to more (and repeat) sales for the business.
Also read: Large Format Printing Trends, Opportunities And Challenges To Watch In 2021
2. Ensure complete control cover brand, budget, and inventory
The most significant advantage of web-to-print is the simplicity it brings to the ordering process. It enables you to generate business even during off-hours, and your customer base does not even have to be limited to one geography or time zone.
Your customers can order and track the delivery of personalized printed products with your expanding market reach. Suppose your customer is a high-end brand that wants to automate how marketing materials are distributed to affiliates, sales reps, and partners in various field offices. In that case, web-to-print will allow them to manage their print procurement system.
On the other hand, your vendors can stay on top of orders. With error-free print automation and lazer-fast delivery, delight your customers and encourage them to keep coming back for more. Keep vendors motivated to serve them better.
3. Give vendors a branded storefront
If your wide-format printing business works with multiple vendors specializing in signage, retail graphics, and printed displays, you can offer each smart online storefronts. For instance, Amazon is a marketplace that sells products from different vendors.
Likewise, if you sell printing services through different vendors, web-to-print will enable them to join your platform. That way, they do not have to put in extra effort in setting up their website.
Our clients enjoy many capabilities through our web-to-print software for wide-format printing, such as multiple currency payment options, mobile responsiveness, testimonial page, and shipping integration. Help your vendors to hit the ground running. When they sell more, you also win.
4. Maximized workflow efficiencies
Imagine working on a single admin panel that helped you track all your orders and also communicate with teams in charge of sales, artwork approvals, shipment, and delivery. Web-to-print gives you a 360-degree view of your workflows.
If you source the materials and inks from different vendors, work simultaneously with them from the backend. The good news is you can create and automate workflows with many teams and ensure that the work gets done on their part asap.
This translates into fewer internal human touchpoints and hence, an enhanced customer experience. Our clients have laid down the groundwork to promote other value-added services to end-users through our web-to-print technology.
Cannot Overlook: Is Web-to-Print adoptable for large format printers to grow their business online?
5. Open new avenues for growth
Continuing from #5: investing in web-to-print for wide-format printing is like outsourcing. You outsource time-consuming tasks such as quotation-sharing, taking orders, getting artwork approvals, and so on.
Through online print shop software, your team can focus on other realms of the business, such as customer service, digital marketing, and web development.
Specifically, a Bosnian client automated its print order system in 2015, which eliminated manual ordering and job management efforts.
In six years, they have witnessed a year-on-year geographical business expansion and delivered impeccable customer service, which they were not able to do because of manually spending time on the printing processes previously.
Wrapping it up
In a nutshell, web-to-print is the ideal way to provide customers the most extensive range of print products and an easy way to shop. With bespoke web-to-print solutions, you can keep your customers wanting for more. If you are looking for a web-to-print marketplace solution ideal for your business, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
