By Cassandra Balentine
Web to print (W2P) tools enable print providers—both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C)—to harness the power of ecommerce to bring in new business, better serve customers, and automate processes.
Above: PrintPLANR is a cloud-based print management software that works for all types of printing. 3. Aleyant’s Pressero allows users to create multiple print ecommerce B2B online storefronts.
“Our customers have been very successful in this business climate and are bucking the trend with increased order volumes while the industry is seeing stagnant growth. Today’s customers want to receive instant pricing and offloading of the job immediately. By creating a B2C site, customers expand their reach to other geographic areas,” shares David Graves, CEO, Aleyant.
In the B2B space, Austin Wyman, marketing director, Propago, says print businesses use W2P platforms to win larger customers, create stronger relationships with existing customers, streamline and automate operations, and diversify their revenue.
Sarah Dishy, marketing and product development, WebToPrintSolutions, RacadTech, sees better exposure and visibility for print providers after adding W2P to their web offering. “Their websites are created in a way that maximizes visibility on search engines and social media sites. Better visibility and W2P tools that allow them to engage their customers on the spot turn visitors into customers.”
“Most importantly, printers can use W2P in the B2B space to shift away from positioning themselves solely as print providers to undertaking a more comprehensive role in the supply chain for marketers. This enables printers to market themselves as innovative solution providers and establish lasting partnerships with some of the biggest brands and enterprise clients,” adds Wyman.
W2P Functions for B2C
Several core functions of W2P are essential and/or appealing for B2C clients, including site building tools that improve ease of use and management insights. Online design tools, instant price calculators, order tracking, and integration with payment gateways are popular features of W2P sought by B2C print providers.
Naimish Patel, VP of sales, OnPrintShop, adds product personalization options, automated prepress, and integrated shipping solutions to the list of W2P functionalities that streamline operations and improve the customer ordering experience.
Modern no-code site designer tools are simple, easy to use, and offer self-help features enabling non developers to build or design their own sites. “Just choose a template close to your preferred design and edit it to match your needs. This is a cost-effective option with no maintenance as there is no need to hire a web designer to build and maintain the site,” explains Vikash Bardia, CEO, Infomaze Elite Pvt. Ltd.
Today’s dashboards provide site owners/operators with real-time system performance and health data, in simple, clear, and easy-to-read dashboards. “Managers love the insights and data provided that helps them make faster decisions about their business,” shares Aaron Tavakoli, senior product marketing manager, MarketDirect, eProductivity Software.
Clive Buckley, product and portfolio manager, Software Solutions & Services, Ricoh North America, points to the attractiveness of a responsive design, which ensures compatibility across devices, while modern aesthetics enhance engagement with B2C W2P.
User-friendly interfaces with mobile support ensure higher conversion rates as an intuitive and easy-to-navigate platform encourages customers to complete orders with minimal frustration, comments Dmitry Sevostyanov, CEO, Customer’s Canvas.
Integration with third-party tools is increasingly important. Tavakoli says integrated payment gateways and shipping calculators provide the easiest and simplest ways for customers to conduct business and ship products with big carriers.
B2B Considerations
For B2B-focused print environments, W2P tools play a different role compared to B2C.
Michel Lacaille, VP marketing, Mediaclip.ca, feels that the B2B approach requires the masteries and efficiencies of typical retail commerce.
W2P for B2B is a rapidly developing segment, both in terms of the technology behind these solutions and the market opportunities for implementation. “Perhaps most significantly, advancements in integration technology make it easier for printers to connect their W2P solution with other systems in their tech stack,” offers Wyman.
Apart from placing orders, features like repeat ordering, real-time order status, budget management spend limits, approval system, and reporting are all functions offered by a W2P in a B2B environment, says Bardia.
B2B print businesses commonly use functionalities like customized corporate storefronts, single sign-on (SSO) integrations, multi-user access with defined roles, and budget management tools, according to Patel.
Warehousing is an important W2P function for B2B print providers. “Customers can easily manage their product’s stock from a B2B. Not only can they see available stock on every product; when the stock is low they can replenish them,” notes Bardia.
Flexibility to manage payments comes in handy. “Every B2B can have a different payment method enabled or no payments while ordering pay-only when invoiced. If the customer chooses to go hybrid, both options are enabled and the customer can to choose either to pay online while ordering or when invoiced,” comments Bardia.
Print businesses in the B2B space utilize both customer-facing and back-end operational W2P functionalities to centralize their clients’ marketing portfolio, give clients control and convenience, and streamline production and fulfillment of orders. “These functionalities include the client’s ability to enforce complex businesses rules to control which organization members can see, access, edit, and order which products. Back-end functionalities such as inventory management, high-volume fulfillment tools, and the ability to link products to third-party vendors empower printers to scale business, optimize workflows, and support any product type that their clients need,” shares Wyman.
Analytics and business insights dashboards that provide crucial data for making informed business decisions are another function for B2B, notes Tavakoli.
Reporting continues to improve, agrees Graves. For example, Pressero enables one full custom dashboard per site to be customer facing. “This can allow the marketing team full sight of best products, most engaged users, and inventory. Also, our Professional Services team can assist in this area. While we can’t create a perfect environment for each business, our team can create a personalized environment to include look and feel to custom developments.”
Upcoming technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) also play a role in the evolution of B2B W2P. It is changing the way everyone works and it is no different for W2P. “AI will make it faster to deploy and build ecommerce sites, faster to manage jobs through production, to track jobs to delivery, and easier than ever to design and customize artwork for print,” shares Tavakoli.
Lacaille lists AI in software creative solutions; production processes; as well as communications and marketing as upcoming functions to look for in this space.
Technology Assist
W2P gives an assist to print providers focused in both B2B and B2C environments. New technologies, like AI, improve the capabilities.
Catch a webinar on the topic here.
Oct2024, DPS Magazine
