B2C W2P Solution Questions (Pressero?)

[openletter]

I think it's time for my company to start using a W2P solution to keep up with our orders. We provide direct mail products to B2C only and all of the orders come in through our website. We have been using Woocommerce for the past 3 years which has been working well but now that orders are increasing, we need something with automated workflows built in. I have looked at a number of W2P solutions and it looks like Pressero with Print Job Manager will get us the closest to what we want.

Here are my questions:
- For those that have used or are currently using Pressero, what is your feedback - both positive and negative?
- We are working on 130 orders/month with an average order quantity of 3,000. Is that a lot? Do you think that makes sense to get a W2P in a general sense? (I'm not from the print space and don't know anyone else in the space so I have no idea)
- Are there other solutions other than a W2P solution (plugin for Woocommerce, etc.) - I'm really nervous about shifting to a W2P solution since it will change 100% of our interface to our customers.
- Is there anything else I should be thinking about?
- Do you know any process improvement consultants that I can talk to?

 

[michaelejahn]

Hi OpenLetter,


Okay, little disclaimer - I work for SmartSoft - we are a software developer and market mail software as well as PressWise, a Print MIS system. Part of PressWise is an API where a third party system ( like Aleyant Pressero ) can a B2C (or B2B) order as XML to PressWise, where we process that, impose the PDF and then send that to the printing device as an imposed PDF or JDF.

Quite a few of our customer love Pressero. They happen to wrangle the XML ( using XSLT Style Sheets ) into the XML "style" PressWise use. This is different than many of the other systems we have integrations with ( where we have to build and test a XSLT Style Sheet to convert their XML, cXML or JSON data into XML that is processable by PressWise API. My point here is a we are very impressed with Presseros developers.

One of the things they offer - that few other W2P developers offer - is a way to query PressWise to discover if this order is for a new customer, or, and existing / returning customer. If new, they inject a new customerID, if returning, they find that customerID and inject the order into that existing customerID.

They also have done something quite interesting as it relates to processing pricing. As you can imagine, paper prices change occasionally. If you have a Storefront and Print MIS system, you would need to update that in both locations - with Pressero, they now have a way to capture that change and display the change that was made in PressWise when the customer is "shopping" in Pressero.

We have integrations with quite a few W2P systems. They all work great. But I wanted to share my opinion with you on how impressed we are with the team at Aleyant.

Good luck with your hunt for the B2C W2P system that fits you.

 

[gregbatch]

The big question is how much are you prepared to spend each month?

Are you primarily trying to automate conversion of customer input into work order, and then tracking progress through the shop? Or are you looking for a total management solution?

 

[brushyourideas]

I think it's time for my company to start using a W2P solution to keep up with our orders. We provide direct mail products to B2C only and all of the orders come in through our website. We have been using Woocommerce for the past 3 years which has been working well but now that orders are increasing, we need something with automated workflows built in. I have looked at a number of W2P solutions and it looks like Pressero with Print Job Manager will get us the closest to what we want.

Here are my questions:
- For those that have used or are currently using Pressero, what is your feedback - both positive and negative?
- We are working on 130 orders/month with an average order quantity of 3,000. Is that a lot? Do you think that makes sense to get a W2P in a general sense? (I'm not from the print space and don't know anyone else in the space so I have no idea)
- Are there other solutions other than a W2P solution (plugin for Woocommerce, etc.) - I'm really nervous about shifting to a W2P solution since it will change 100% of our interface to our customers.
- Is there anything else I should be thinking about?
- Do you know any process improvement consultants that I can talk to?

Have you tried hosted web to print solution ever or get a demo? Actually it will be a best solution for you. You just need to pay a monthly charge for web to print store and the big thing is that, this is no revenue sharing. And

“Mobile first” is priority. And with that, comes the ease for your customers to create designs on any device, from anywhere. We shape the Product Design Software for you and it shapes the designs of your customers. A fair deal.​

 

[onprintshop]

Please find responses to your questions inline.


- For those that have used or are currently using Pressero, what is your feedback - both positive and negative? >> Pressero is a very good solution. Your goal is to launch B2C/Retail so look for a solution which has strong Advanced Marketing & engagement tools which can help you to reach out to your target audience. Also, I hear you are specialised in Mailing so look for a solution which has Direct Mail Capabilities like EDDM USPS, Mail List APIs are connected and how easy are they to connect with backend Mail Management software for end to end automation

- We are working on 130 orders/month with an average order quantity of 3,000. Is that a lot? Do you think that makes sense to get a W2P in a general sense? (I'm not from the print space and don't know anyone else in the space so I have no idea) >> That should be OK. However you need to look for scalability in solution. What happens if you grow tomorrow & get 500 or 1000 orders a day? So look for the solution capacity for your current & future goals

- Are there other solutions other than a W2P solution (plugin for Woocommerce, etc.) - I'm really nervous about shifting to a W2P solution since it will change 100% of our interface to our customers. >> W2P is much better than woocommerce plugins. As woocommerce is not specially designed for print industry as it is for wider industry & good for static/Stock items. You need w2p if really want to create impact on your target audience & need tools to automate the processes.

- Is there anything else I should be thinking about? >> Apart from Direct Mail what other products you intend to offer in future? you should also check w2p which has multiple product support so if you plan to get in to new product segment it is easier to expand from same solution instead look for new one like you are doing right now.

- Do you know any process improvement consultants that I can talk to? >> Sure, you can contact me anytime. Our website is www.onprintshop.com

 

[gregbatch]

Talk to Print Science (www.printscience.com). Their Web2Print is built on Woodpress as is Woocommerce, so I think that might be a good place for you to start.

 

[OffsetStorefront]

Our company is looking at Pressero too after using EFI's Digital Storefront W2P for awhile. It looks great from the outside! Wish I could give you an inside scoop but I've been searching for that too. I think your order volume is enough - my philosophy is that any number of orders you can automate is a good thing. You're setting yourself up well for the future - better to be in this spot now than to be drowning in admin work and then trying to put something together.

There are a few companies that sell W2P "modules" in a sense, designed to plug-in to and work with your own custom interface. Chili Publisher is an example of an online designer/template module you can buy and stick into your existing interface to give your e-commerce a more print-friendly functionality. Four51 sells a headless W2P (basically an API) that can do all the "thinking" for you (manage orders, users, etc.) while you focus on the user interface. Both of those, we found, to be a bit more expensive than an out-of-the-box W2P though.

Our company used Web2Print Experts to consult with our first W2P purchase (https://web2printexperts.com/) but you could totally do this without consultants if you have the confidence to.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

There are other models out there, such as live bi-directional integration between the MIS and Web to Print developed by a single vendor – with an optional fully integrated API to Aleyant eDocBuilder, which is the “back end” used in Pressero to create PDF artwork. (disclosure, I work in support/training for a reseller of said product):

http://accuramis.com/web-to-print-c-308.php
http://accuramis.com/accura-online-c-333.php
http://accuramis.com/artwork-editing-c-306.php
http://accuramis.com/mis-c-293.php


Stephen Marsh

 

[amir]

Hi there, I suggest you will check the SaaS pioneer B2CPrint. We are experts in B2C W2P with many years of experience worldwide and hundred's of customers. B2CPrint provide modular systems so you can grow with us. We have done many integrations with 3rd parties so most probably we can help you too. Here is one of our demo sites http://www.b2cprintshop.com/ and we have an office in the US. Thanks.