Web-to-Print Update
A strong e-commerce platform is becoming more and more of a necessity to compete in today's printing world. And by "strong," we mean "more than just an online store." Anyone can throw some PayPal buttons and a quantity drop-down menu up online and call it a store, so those who really want to succeed online have to go above and beyond. They need clean, intuitive design. They need customization. And, most important, they need to keep up with the trends.
Mark Johnson, CEO of Four51 Inc., a Minneapolis-based B2B e-commerce company that specializes in connecting print vendors with online buyers, and Kimberly Jones, e-commerce marketing manager for Ennis Inc., Midlothian, Texas, shared some insights into what's new with their companies, and the web-to-print market as a whole.
Print+Promo (P+P): Do you have a new web-to-print product, process or innovation you'd like to talk about? What is it, and what makes it important?
Mark Johnson (MJ): As a vendor of web-to print (i.e., e-commerce services and technology) since 1999, we've seen a change from acquiring capabilities and responsibilities to a desire to acquire capabilities but not assume the responsibilities, like much of the technology space. So we're innovating our relationship model. Instead of forcing printers to take on the licensing and administrative burden, we're providing an outsource option where we work with the printer on a catalog, by catalog basis, greatly reducing the costs of time and money associated with entering the e-commerce space. This also allows a printer to be reactive to the next customer's needs, even if they've already invested in one system.
Additionally, we're working to assist printers on the sales and marketing positioning of online ordering. The features of technology are great, but if you can't position it well with an end-user, it's not that helpful. Position it in their language, not yours. We're focused on making everything easier. Easier for the printer to get started, and easier for the end-customer to understand the value.
The importance of this is that today, there's still a substantial portion (more than 50 percent) of the U.S. market that hasn't adopted (W2P) online commerce. It's 2013 and looking around, online relationships are critical to any business. We want to make sure that printers have the tools necessary to be successful and compete in the ongoing digital revolution.
Kimberly Jones (KJ): Yes, our e-commerce application, EOS touchpoint has helped us and our customers gain and secure new accounts. Through technology, we are able to establish a platform where our distributors can leverage their business by streamlining the ordering process. The convenience gained through this technology gives a mixture of creativity and control over the document customization process. EOS touchpoint is an ideal solution for organizations with multiple locations, a wide range of materials, demanding marketing departments and more.
P+P: Has anything surprised you about the web-to-print market this past year? If so, what was it, and what was so surprising about it?
MJ: What continues to intrigue us is the evolution in product offering to solution offering. The nature of our platform enables the distribution of more than print and our customers have learned to capitalize on that. Over the past years we've seen our customers using our technology reacting to their clients' needs, and evolving from just providing basic print solutions. For example, a business card ordering site may expand to offer programmatic business solutions, including complex marketing solutions for large distributed businesses as well as extending into other areas of the business—and in some cases other product offerings outside of print. Web-to-print is, at the end of the day, e-commerce. Printers are starting to realize the value of the B2B relationships they've established and coupled with e-commerce, see how well positioned they are to grow beyond manufacturer, to solution provider.
KJ: It has been surprising to me how many companies are looking for solutions but don't know who to turn to for a solution. The companies I meet with are in need of a solution and in need of a distributor to educate them on what is available. Distributors have partners they can turn to including Ennis. We help distributors build custom solutions that can help them grow a new account or save an existing account that requires change. The overall success of these sites has made the web-to-print market stand out as a forerunner in the industry's transition into new times.
P+P: Do you have anything exciting planned for web-to-print in the next year that you could maybe talk about? If so, what is it, and what makes it exciting?
MJ: We are currently building a framework that will allow the rapid development of new buying experiences based on our heritage e-commerce platform. Chief among these experiences, are customizable, responsive mobile buying interfaces. This new framework will enable the rapid development and deployment of far greater customized shopping experiences than is available today and signals a major pivot in W2P, B2B e-commerce buying capabilities for our clients and their customers.
KJ: We are excited to continue to create a wide range of product offerings online that we have traditionally sold offline. Expanding our market and product offering on a 24/7 web interface helps us to provide every distributor with easy access to what they need. These web-to-print interfaces are helping us spread the knowledge of what Ennis is truly capable of when it comes to print, whether it's plastic cards, pressure seal, presentation folders or more, we are expanding our capabilities to help distributors sell a wide range of our products. Making customizable products available for distributors to sell online is a key to their success and ours. We are no longer just a forms company; we are an industry leader in more than 40 product lines including technology. Today, technology is a requirement.