Print
Solutions May 2005
Cover Story
E-Commerce
Excitement
Smart
e-commerce solutions thrill end
users, continued.
VIP Firms
Use Web-to-Print and E-Business Solutions
Growing
companies are using data, not
just people and equipment, to
create relevant, targeted communication
pieces. The ability to personalize
and distribute collateral quickly
helps firms increase sales and
reduce costs, and they no longer
view immediacy and customization
as crowning achievements. That
trend has made printing a component
of a broader industry that includes
database management, variable
data printing, web design, direct
mail, email and fulfillment.
"With
the explosive growth and acceptance
of the internet, marketing departments
have transitioned into sophisticated
marketing machines seeking innovative
methods of reaching their audiences,
both online and off," says
Jeff Prettyman, executive vice
president and director of marketing
at Wise Business Forms Inc., based
in Alpharetta, Ga. "The
new marketer looks for multiple
ways to reach customers,"
including multimedia channels
such as the internet, CDs, direct
mail and broadcast media.
More
marketers are turning to distributorships
that work with Wise and its NextWave
Digital Color Printing division,
which specializes in short to
medium run, on-demand, 4-color
printing jobs produced on its
Indigo and Heidelberg digital
presses. Combined, Wise and NextWave
grew sales 58.5 percent from 2001
to 2004—the third-highest
growth in that span among manufacturers
listed in Print Solutions'
Top 100 Manufacturers issue.
Prettyman
says Wise and NextWave are growing
because they take an integrated
approach to delivering documents—they
incorporate traditional, digital
and web technologies. Three of
the companies' e-business
solutions are BizSuite™,
WiseLink® and VIP Page®.
BizSuite
integrates e-commerce, marketing
content and catalog sales, enabling
distributors to create customized
storefronts and catalogs for customer
ordering. Features include web
site content, a variable print
engine for personalized marketing
materials (users select images
and text to build corporate marketing
pieces, co-branded sales sheets
or targeted post card mailings),
customer- and volume-specific
pricing, and more. E-commerce
functionality is linked to inventory
control, order management, vendor
management, payment processing,
and production and fulfillment.
Orders placed by end users are
reviewed and processed by distributors,
then sent to Wise or NextWave.
Total revenue generated through
BizSuite totaled more than $4
million in 2004.
WiseLink
marries those online services
with a total warehouse management
(TWM) system that includes warehousing,
distribution and fulfillment.
"WiseLink helps companies
reduce their fixed costs by virtually
eliminating their warehouse operations,"
Prettyman says. "We manage
inventory items regardless of
where they're produced and
what they are—we handle
all products, not just forms."
The solution includes online releases
and real-time reporting. Warehouse
releases through distributor and
end user web sites reached 25,000
in 2004.
VIP
Page is an integrated, one-to-one
marketing program that includes
the internet, printing and email.
It enables corporations to create
high-value, customized marketing
collateral while reducing costs
(no need for pick-and-pack, storage
and overnight delivery) and maintaining
brand image, Prettyman says. NextWave's
first VIP Page module, Web Inquiry
Fulfillment, works like this:
A web form collects individual
customer data, including demographics,
interests and preferences, and
automatically embeds the data
into customized, variable-content
documents. For instance, a company
with a 50-page catalog can allow
prospects to go online, check
off certain boxes of interest,
and receive custom PDFs that are
paginated and personalized based
on their selections. "Companies
can stitch together catalogs,
books, brochures and other pieces
on the fly," Prettyman says.
Marketing personnel can use Web
Inquiry Fulfillment to view reports
showing who entered their sites
and what pages they viewed. Then,
they can export the information
into their customer relationship
management software.
Another
module of VIP Page, Corporate
Resource Center, gives sales,
marketing and customer-service
employees access to marketing
collateral templates. Employees
can customize brochures, post
cards and other pieces in real
time. For example, loan officers
can add their biographies, digital
photographs, credential information,
custom messages, graphics and
other variable data to standard
templates before submitting for
variable printing. They also can
send files digitally to NextWave's
press operators, who print documents
on the company's Indigo
TurboStream digital press (best
for very short runs).
Prettyman
views the integration of internet,
print and email technologies as
a business model for growth. He
points out that jobs incorporating
color variable data printing account
for only 1 percent of the $90
billion printing industry, according
to a 2003 study by the Graphic
Arts Marketing Information Service.
"That's good news
in terms of abundant opportunities
for print professionals to grow
their businesses through new product
and service offerings,"
he says.
"Marketers
are starved for a solution that
integrates print and electronic
media while fostering brand consistency
with personalized messaging."
Jeff
Prettyman, Executive Vice President
and Director of Marketing
Wise
Business Forms Inc., Alpharetta,
Ga.
View
the"Print
Solutions Web Exclusives" to
read Jeff Prettyman's white
paper, "Moving Beyond the Print
Buyer: How to Successfully Sell
Variable Data Printing to Marketing
Departments." The paper includes
a description of the VDP market,
business applications and eight
tips to identify ideal VDP customers.
Continued
on next page...
