Bringing Storefronts to the Forefront
Web-to-print software can be a real game changer for print service providers, helping expand their operations and fatten their bottom lines.
“We set out to build a part of RocketQuotes specifically for wide-format people. It meant starting from ground zero. We consulted a number of wide-format printers for their thoughts on functionality, and have tweaked it for years.”
Customers increasingly expect to go on the website of a PSP and get a sense of a price they would be charged for a printing project. “They get that from bigger online companies, and that’s kind of becoming the norm,” Presnell says.
“By having the quoting capabilities online to cover 80 to 90 percent of your wide-format product, you are catering to that expectation. You’re saving time, not having to report back with a quote. People are usually ready to order; they just need to check the quote off their list, and they can go ahead this way.”
Thus, PSPs can spend more time quoting unique or highly distinctive projects, and also save on production time. In addition, they can expand their product lines, taking on offset and digital projects, because RocketQuotes offers quoting capabilities on those products as well, Presnell says. “And they can build out unlimited B2B portals for B2B customers,” he adds.
Agfa Graphics’ Apogee StoreFront
Apogee StoreFront is part of the Apogee family, the core of which is the Apogee Prepress Workflow System from Agfa Graphics (www.MyPRINTResource.com/10003665). But StoreFront does not require the Prepress System. It’s a cloud-based service, easy to deploy, and boasts a low cost of entry, says Mark Gallucci, manager of technology marketing for Elmwood Park, NJ-based Agfa Graphics.
“It’s easily scalable, since users don’t have to invest locally in servers, software and Internet bandwidth at their location,” he adds.
“If they have to increase their capacity, they just upgrade their license, without worrying about increased investment in hardware and software.”
Apogee StoreFront is designed to be easy to use by the existing staff of commercial printers or wide-format printers, using familiar tools.
Both public storefronts and password-protected B2B storefronts are offered, to capture both business clients and a broader base of customers. In the customer uploadable product, users simply upload a TIFF, JPEG, or PDF. “We also support customizable product, in which our online editor would be used to personalize or customize images or text,” Gallucci reports. “And we support print-on-demand or fulfillment items that require no customization.”
One of the key advantages of Apogee StoreFront is its tight integration with Apogee Prepress, according to Gallucci. If a shop has an Apogee Prepress System, that system can pull and automatically retrieve incoming jobs, preflight those jobs, and using a combination of the JDF job ticket supplied by the StoreFront and automated templates set up in the Prepress System, can direct the incoming job to the correct output device automatically.
Firespring’s SignPresence
Based in Lincoln, NE, Firespring (www.MyPRINTResource.com/10007416) creates websites and marketing services for vertical markets.
The company created SignPresence as a result of feedback from many sign companies that were using websites created for printers, but wanted a product unique to the sign industry.
“They were coming to us and asking for websites that would allow them to retain existing customers and acquire new ones,” says Tawnya Starr, president of SignPresence. “What we found was that sign companies early on wanted to sell signage online. But after doing research with people who purchase signage to learn how they select sign companies, we understood that someone wanting to purchase a sign is not going to purchase that sign on a website.”
SignPresence is a pre-developed website solution that has content and functionality specific to the sign industry and that ties into marketing ranging from email marketing to search engine, social media and direct mail marketing.
“The website is what we consider the core of any sign business’s marketing today, and leads to them engaging with the sign company,” Starr says.
