Sounding Off on Online Print
On March 31, Amazon unveiled Amazon Dash. About the size of a pack of Trident, the device mounts to any surface via adhesive strip or plastic clip, and has a button that, when pressed, automatically places an order for a refill of a user-specified consumable (think toilet paper or pet food) from Amazon.com. Given the timing—the day before April Fools' Day—people thought it was a joke, Amazon lampooning the insatiable demand for faster, easier ordering and delivery and satirizing itself for perpetuating (if not outright creating) that demand.
But it wasn't a joke. The product, now available to Amazon Prime members by invitation only, is real. It wasn't Amazon being self-aware and poking fun at itself and its customers—it was an online retail behemoth embracing the simple reality of its market: Consumers want to buy online, and they want to do it as quickly and as easily as possible.
That's the big lesson for the print industry. According to PrintIsBig.com, by 2017, half of all print orders will be placed online through print service providers' websites, up from 30 percent last year and 18 percent in 2011. Print customers are looking to buy labels, packaging, tags and forms the same way they buy everything else—online. And while the print industry isn't quite ready for one-touch ordering on the level of Amazon Dash, it is making major strides to keep up with the demand.
We spoke to Mark Larson, vice president of sales for Zoo Printing Inc., Commerce, Calif., and Zarik Megerdichian, CEO of 4over Inc., Glendale, Calif., to find out what online print suppliers are doing to stay competitive, and what distributors can do to maximize their web-to-print sales.
Print+Promo (P+P): What's the most exciting thing happening in web-to-print right now?
Mark Larson (ML): There are a great deal of exciting new advances and happenings in the web-to-print arena. One would be the push towards mobile computing, with the majority of Internet traffic now coming from mobile computing, whether smartphone or tablet style devices. Zoo Printing has developed its own mobile app.
More buyers' confidence has increased in any online ordering system in general from five or 10 years ago, creating a more conducive marketplace for web-to-print technologies to flourish.
Competition in web-to-print has created an environment where we all become hyper-motivated to innovate. We find an environment that allows us to be creative and focused on customers and making their experience as convenient, secure, safe and friendly as possible. A great customer experience is our goal.
Analytic data and metric building tools have [advanced] light years in the last five years, allowing for companies to see where they actually fit—the ability to close gaps and find niches where we didn't before. When you add the advancement of the analytic metric data-stream available in real time, you allow yourself to become the best option for your clients, taking a great deal of the guesswork out of the marketing and sales proposition as a whole. Defining best customer attributes is key in creating the right marketing messages.
Zarik Megerdichian (ZM): At 4over, it's always the drive for simplicity through automation. Like any other business process, the user experience should be subject to continuous improvement. We embrace this philosophy and are always introducing new solutions into our customer-facing and internal workflows.
Specifically, the new architecture and workflows behind our new 4over.com have allowed us to introduce more solutions that simplify print. One example is our new EDDM Full Service solution—an EDDM [Every Door Direct Mail] service where the customer's effort is only to select their product, choose routes and upload artwork. 4over takes care of everything else, including the printing, bundling and delivery to the U.S. Post Office for dispersal. It's the first solution of its kind for the trade, and it's enabling 4over customers to offer growth solutions to their customers simply and efficiently.
P+P: What is the web-to-print industry doing to keep up with technology?
ML: We as an industry, as a whole, have started listening to the consumer better and have started to develop solutions more centered around the needs of our customers. We have started implementing more integration allowing our print resellers to be more efficient and more reliable as a solution for their clients.
ZM: We often characterize 4over as a technology company that happens to print, so 4over's strategy is to invest and innovate. We provide fast access to information, driven by the advancement of mobile technology and more nimble architecture. 4over.com is built using responsive design so that users on mobile devices can access, browse and place or check the status of orders on the site anytime, anywhere. 4over is consistently improving its customer and internal-facing workflows, thus simplifying and transforming the way customers interact and do business with us.
P+P: What are some of the challenges facing online print providers right now? How do these affect print distributors and what is the industry doing to combat those challenges?
ML: A big challenge is ease of use and systems designed for people, not Web crawlers or print experts. As print manufacturers and sellers, we tend to over-complicate the purchasing e-commerce experience. The simplicity of use and ability of a consumer to obtain the product, service or information needed, in as simple and as fast a manner as possible, will either make you or break you.
ZM: Web-to-print provides an extremely effective channel to introduce new solutions and product offerings. Effectively communicating these new offerings to our customers has been one of 4over's greatest challenges. With over 800 new product and option introductions in 2014, and a portfolio representing 250,000 product SKUs, we are consistently seeking the most effective communication channels to ensure our customers become acquainted with new opportunities to grow their business.
We employ an omnichannel communication and customer experience strategy. This includes the synchronization of messaging for all inbound and outbound customer touchpoints. Channels such as social media, email, newsletters, mobile, Video Varnish (our new YouTube video series) and more, are leveraged to deliver a consistent message to our customers.
P+P: What are some of web-to-print's most popular products or new products you're excited about offering?
ML: [We're excited about] e-commerce price calculators, more intuitive and easier-to-use online technologies, and fast product information with mobile-friendly client interfaces.
ZM: Business identity print continues to be a leader. Major growth areas are dye sublimation fabric product categories, postcard mailing solutions and large format substrate offerings that continue to fuel growth. Also exciting to 4over is the growth of our packaging line-another first for the online trade print community.