The growth of the internet has opened up multiple avenues for new ventures to enhance their business offerings and increase revenue from online channels. Web-to-print is one of the industries that is still in its initial phase, slowly gathering momentum as more and more offline printing businesses are adopting the internet.
But nonetheless, it’s growing at a rapid pace. If you are starting a web-to-print business, or thinking of extending your brick and mortar printing shop to provide online services, you should understand clearly about what you are getting into.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of the web-to-print process.
Advantages
Ease of transaction
There is no need to take time off to go to the printers office and order your goodies. Web-to-print enables the customers to buy their desired stuff within a few clicks. It gets easier for the printer too as they don’t have to explain everything to each customer. All the information, templates, and products are online. They just have to sort-out the orders accordingly.
Reduce costs
The cost of printing is reduced without compromising the quality of the product. The printer can now focus only on the products instead of refurbishing his shop and other things that is required when dealing face-to-face with the customer.
Faster Process
The printing process gets much faster when everything is managed automatically. The printer receives the order, prints it, and ships it to the customer. No mid processes involved. The printer does not have to hoard the orders till the customer drops in to pick up his order.
Wide market
While offline printers can just reach customers nearby or some fixed clients, web-to-print allows the business to transact beyond local, state, and international boundaries. Printers can take orders from anywhere in the world, given they can manage appropriate shipping facilities.
Disadvantages
Even though web-to-print certainly boosts up your sales and generate amazing revenues, there are a few disadvantages related to the web-to-print process as well. Let’s look at the major ones:
Missing expert touch
When a printer is offline, the customer can go and work with the print software professional to get the desired design. As the printer is an expert in editing, the work is much more refined and desirable to many customers. On the other hand, web-to-print can just offer templates which have to be modified by the customers accordingly. Expert recommendations on the designs are missing in web-to-print processes.
Expensive for small printers
The web-to-print service often requires the use of digital systems. Also, their limited access to software and server system solution might end up being a hurdle. Given the cost of resources that need to be a successful ecommerce business, it might not suit best for small scale printers.
Simple products
The entire process including the products on offer has to be simple. For more complex personalized items, it would be difficult to estimate the costs of the product given the finishing and additional charges the work might demand. Web-to-print businesses can be only successful for enterprises aiming to sell simple products like mugs, t-shirts, stationery, apparels, etc.
