Can a postcard printing business be created just from web services?

[tpallred]

I had an idea and need some guidance on what direction to take in this web-to-print world I know nothing about. I do have 25 years in IT so understanding software and technology isn’t a problem. Maybe there’s more than one way to achieve my goal. Maybe there’s no way to achieve my goal. If you can help get me started I would appreciate it.

At its most basic form, my idea involves creating online postcards that are remotely printed and mailed. I know this isn’t a new idea and there are websites that allow you to do this already. I’m sort of counting on that. So anyone could do a google search for online postcard printing and work their way through the results to find a site that does what they want. They choose a postcard color and style, maybe upload a picture, enter the text of the postcard and to/from addresses, approve your result, pay at checkout, and the postcards get printed and mailed. All that is available now. What I’ve got in mind is a travel related portal which would have as a service the ability to create a postcard from any travel destination in the world and have it print in the US and get mailed. It would offer some design presets related to the industry but also allow total customization of the postcard. So I’m not really looking to start a postcard printing business. My ideal would be to have a branded frontend for an existing postcard printing service, where the design phase offers the options I laid out, which then feeds the standard vendor process on the backend to print and mail the postcard. That custom design phase I’m looking for could be developed either by my company that uses APIs of the service provider, or developed by the service provider as part of a custom branding package. On the other end, maybe nobody offers these services and I have to build a web-to-print business from hardware/software components to do this.

So, where should I start researching to direct my focus? Service providers/printers? Software packages? Dream a different dream?

 

[tpallred]

So, is this so easy it isn't worth responding to? Not possible to do with existing vendors? Does anyone use this forum?

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

I don't think it would sell well due to the fact that hand-written cards have more impact than ever, and a typed out "travel" card printed by a (perceived as) emotionless print shop would just seem...tacky.

Just think of the cards you receive from your internet/cable service provider that use a font which mimics handwriting with the printed on stamp (not indicia). They go to the trash pretty quickly in my apartment.

 

[tpallred]

I'm more interested if it's doable, and how, than if it's a sound business idea. Think of the plan I've described as an example, not necessarily the final plan. That's a different discussion that I'm not looking for help with here.

 

[jrsc]

So basically you want to create the front end customer experience and pass the final art to an existing printer for printing and fulfillment. Absolutely doable if you can do the software side. All you need is a printer that is willing to work with you on this. PM me if you want to discuss what you might need to look for in a printer to handle this type of work since it won't be a good fit for a lot of places.

What's funny is you think the front end stuff is easy and the production part is hard. I had a bit of a different mailing idea at one point and we think the production is the easy part and couldn't get the front end done. I guess that's why there's so many different specialities.