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The Web-to-Print Effect

A year ago, Print Solutions devoted an entire issue to the subject of web-to-print technology and applications. We’re doing it again. Web-to-print still attracts a lot of interest—and questions—from our readers.

One thing I noticed while working on this issue is that our nomenclature is becoming less useful. It’s a matter of time before the terms “distributor” and “manufacturer” no longer accurately describe what Print Solutions readers do and how they do it. How many of you describe your company in those terms to end users? The terms distributor and manufacturer are simply losing their power. Nowhere is this more evident than in the web-to-print arena.

When companies adopt web-to-print technology, they do it in one of two ways. Some implement web-to-print technology as a way to diversify their business. They offer online shopping carts like they would offer new products. These companies tend to maintain a traditional distributorship model. Other companies, however, don’t approach web-to-print as a new product. They embrace it as a company-wide strategy. They incorporate web-to-print into their overall vision, and it revolutionizes their very business model. In these cases, the distributor label barely applies. Don’t expect companies such as Baltimore-based Vertis Communications to adopt a traditional distributor model, but be prepared to compete with them for customers. They’ve already proven what a web-to-print strategy can do. On page 50, read about their relationship with Budget Blinds, a top 30 franchise in Entrepreneur magazine’s annual rankings.

Lightning Source Inc., La Vergne, Tenn., also deviates from the model most distributors use, but they still offer similar products and services. Read about them and their impressive client list on page 54. The lesson to learn from Vertis Communications and Lightning Source is that adopting technology involves a choice: It can be an extension of what your company already does, or it can catalyze profound change in how your company views itself. Is web-to-print a product or a strategy? The choice is yours.

Andy Brown
Managing Editor
abrown@PSDA.org

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