Trade printer makes web-to-print an easy move for “the little guys”

Trade printer IBS Design Resources promises to put web-to-print ordering in the grasp of small printers after taking on the agency for a software system.

The Gold Coast company joined forces with 44 Gallons Technology to launch Edit and Print, which offers personalised web-to-print compliant websites for a $450 monthly subscription.

New websites feature print products that are produced by IBS and delivered in unbranded packaging. However, resellers can delete IBS products and add their own and those of other trade suppliers. They can also do their own printing or commission other printers.

IBS owner Scott Siganto, who doubles as Edit and Print’s chief operating officer, told ProPrint that giving rivals a chance to cash in “keeps IBS honest through competition”.

Customers use templates or design tools to design their jobs. These are then turned into PDF proofs, which get sent to the printer.

Edit and Print was launched in January. Development took 18 months and was “a pretty big gamble” costing “hundreds of thousands” of dollars, according to Siganto.

He said while he had turned IBS into a lean and automated operation, he realised he needed to do the same for his clients, otherwise their financial problems would result in less work for IBS. Edit and Print would allow those small companies to operate more efficiently in an increasingly online world, he said, as they could reduce their physical presence and better reach customers.

“I think we are on a winner for the little guys in the industry,” he said.

Siganto told ProPrint that web-to-print was something the industry needed to embrace as the internet was only going to become more relevant.

He said customers would mimic print buyers by moving away from emails in favour of uploading files and filling in online forms.

Edit and Print marketing director Kevin Lindsay described the service as an “affordable” way for small operators to embrace web-to-print.

http://www.proprint.com.au/News/295208,trade-printer-makes-web-to-print-an-easy-move-for-the-little-guys.aspx