Should You Offer Custom Storefronts for A Smaller Customers? web-to-print storefront should be more than just a place for customers to buy business cards. It should be a dynamic, interactive portal that empowers your customers, letting them manage their business on their own schedule. It is also a tool for you to attract new clients and grow your business. Customer expectations and buying patterns have changed as more and more products are ordered online. If you aren’t ready to meet buyer needs online, someone else will. Find a storefront solution that makes it easy to create custom storefronts. Once customer storefronts are launched, customers will find it a breeze to navigate through product catalogs and customize templates, get estimates, turn them into orders with a click of a button, place reorders, get shipping status updates, check their order history, and much more. Features to consider when choosing a storefront provider include: • Ability to create B2B and B2C storefronts • Easy product templates • Personalization with real time proofing • Capture orders 24/7 with online catalogs • Process credit cards and capture PO orders • Services allow clients to track orders • Jobs flow to the shop floor or direct to press without rekeying Your customers will appreciate the convenience and control that their own custom branded storefront provides. Not only are you making it easier for them to order from you, you can also set up product templates for all of your other products and services, displaying a wider range of value and encouraging additional sales on products they may not have even known that you provide. PressWise by SmartSoft (Booth 539) offers an end-to-end web-to-print, MIS, and workflow automation system. THANK YOU to all of our customers, partners, and employees for your continued support and another great year at Graph Expo! Visit us in Booth 654 avantisystems.com/graph15 Have a question? #AskAvanti 1.800.482.2908 | info@avantisystems.com Avanti Slingshot, winner of two Must See ‘Ems this year, incorporates business intelligence, production planning, fulfillment, shipping and billing into one easy-to-use and easy-to-implement cloud-based print MIS platform. Mobile Marketing: It’s Strategic! Some eyebrows were raised in early 2012 when Kent and Julie Phillips announced that they were going to offer mobile marketing services at their Naperville, IL, Sir Speedy print shop. Are the 30-year franchise owners crazy, or are they just progressive thinkers? More than three years later, as smartphones have become more affordable, this short-sighted thinking almost is laughable. As of last September, more than 171.5 million people in the U.S. owned such a device, according to Nielsen. In 2011, mobile users were on their devices less than one hour per day, on average, according to eMarketer’s statistics. This year, that time online is approaching three hours for mobile, while time spent on laptop and desktop computers is decreasing (around 2.5 hours daily). “As a printing and marketing services provider, we have always helped our customers to grow their business utilizing new technology available in our industry,” says Kyle Phillips, Sales and Marketing VP at Sir Speedy in Naperville. “With significant changes in consumer purchasing cycles and buying behaviors due to mobile devices, our customers need to reach their customers with new media. We help them accomplish this with tools such as QR codes and text messaging.” Design tips Designing for mobile is more than mobile-optimizing company websites, Heidi Tolliver Walker explained in the August issue of Quick Printing. For any printer offering marketing services, it includes creating a campaign- and product-specific mobile landing pages that respondents will land on when they scan a QR Code, type in a short link, or click through an email. To create these pages, designers can use one of two approaches: First, they can use Responsive Web Design (RWD), in which rules are set up so that page elements can be moved, resized, or hidden as necessary to accommodate the format of any device. The second approach is to design a completely separate site or landing page for mobile devices. You might notice that some websites will add a prefix of “m.” for “mobile” before the website URL. While this sounds complicated, for a designer, it’s just another day on the job. print.services spans the entire service range of manroland web systems. This means comprehensive support – from our classic repair service and maintenance to training, process optimization, and pressupdate solutions. print.competence expands this range: custom, needs-based service packages to increase productivity. The combination of data management, process optimization, consumables, and training yields sustainable and measurable results. manroland web systems Inc., Lisle/IL. www.manroland-web.com Service Secures Future. Visit us at Graph Expo 2015 in Chicago Booth 1267 Official Show Daily | PrintingNews.com GRAPH EXPO | September 16, 2015 | 55
GraphExpo Show Daily September 16, 2015
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