Back around 2000/2001, there was still a great deal of resistance among commercial printers to accepting PDFs, rather than native application files, for print production. Many also resisted the idea of accepting files via the Internet. But many shops found that limiting the formats they supported or how customers could submit jobs was a great way to lose business–business that was in the process of becoming scarce. (There were even some printers at the time who would still only accept “camera-ready copy”–remember that?)
Fast forward 15 years, and if you’ve been out in a shopping mall or on a city street, you’ve seen the extent to which people have become dependent on their mobile phones. They are using them to text, to navigate, to access social media, to take pictures, and more. It’s not just a younger-generation phenomenon either; it’s not uncommon to find the occasional 40-, 50-, or even 60+-something similarly engaging with the world, or at least bits of it, through their screens. It’s a mobile world, and getting more so.
Consider:
· More than half of Americans now own a smartphone.
· 64% of Americans now own a tablet.
· There were 1.75 billion smartphones in use worldwide in 2014.
· By 2017, one-third of the global population will be using smartphones.
· Surveys found that 63% of adults with cellphones say that the mobile device, rather than a traditional computer, is the primary way they go online.
· Forrester analyst Thomas Husson said, in 2014, “...mobile will affect more than just your digital operations–it will transform your entire business.”
As smartphones become more powerful and more things can be accomplished on them, people will want to use them for more things. Ecommerce is rapidly shifting from computers to mobile devices, and some retailers even have their own branded apps to facilitate ordering from a smartphone.
Again, it’s tempting to think that this is a young-person trend, but even if it is, today’s young people are going to be the print buyers of tomorrow. Just as the printing companies of yesteryear did themselves a disservice by restricting the file formats or submission methods they supported, so, too, are printing companies hurting themselves by failing to keep up with how customers prefer to purchase products and services.
It’s not hard to make a business case for the integration of mobile computing and print buying. Mobile allows for ordering print anywhere at anytime. Just as you can order anything from a book to a big-screen TV while standing on a street corner, you can order print in the same way. In some cases, you need a computer to upload production files–but for how much longer? As more content moves to the cloud, there’s less need for a computer. After all, today’s iPhones are more powerful than the desktop computers that graphic designers were using in the 1990s.
John Crisp, owner of San Diego’s Print Star Now, built a web-to-print site using Aleyant Pressero and, after monitoring the site with Google Analytics, discovered that 50% of traffic was coming from mobile devices. The future is here already.
It’s not enough just to have a mobile-compatible site; it needs to be one that customers can easily use to view and purchase print products regardless of what device is used. This is called “responsive design,” which means that the site “responds” to the device accessing it and dynamically reformats and rescales the content to fit the screen. Smartphones can be as much as 80% smaller than a typical computer display, so it’s easy for the screen to get cluttered. Sometimes, a website with too many items–especially rich media content–can completely crash a mobile browser, rendering the site inaccessible to a potential customer.
In The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behavior, Google found that 90% of people move among devices to accomplish a goal, whether it’s a smartphone, PC, tablet, or even a TV. Therefore, it’s more important than ever that users have a seamless experience among all devices used. The better the experience, the easier it is for them to order from you, and the more it will increase your sales.
You might think, “I have a web-to-print system or digital storefront in place. Isn’t that enough?” Maybe, but not all web-to-print software is optimized–or even compatible with–mobile, especially if it’s an older system. It’s important to know what to look for.
For example, Aleyant Pressero and Aleyant eDocBuilder software uses HTML5 and is responsive design-ready, which means that customers will be able to view your website easily on whatever device they prefer, be it tablet, smartphone, laptop, or even desktop. The content on each medium will reformat and scale to the device that is detected, which lets customers do all their ordering and template customization easily on the device of their choice. HTML5 also allows for a more interactive and animated site without the need for Flash, which many mobile devices (in particular, Apple’s) and a faster experience for users, especially for streaming video and audio.
Greg Salzman, President of Aleyant Systems, believes innovation has always been a key element for their flagship products, Pressero and eDocBuilder, and will continue to be the case in the future. “With the expanding presence of mobile, we are currently updating our architecture in the next version of our products in order to set our customers up for continued success,” said Salzman.
The world is going mobile. Make sure that you go with it.
Fast forward 15 years, and if you’ve been out in a shopping mall or on a city street, you’ve seen the extent to which people have become dependent on their mobile phones. They are using them to text, to navigate, to access social media, to take pictures, and more. It’s not just a younger-generation phenomenon either; it’s not uncommon to find the occasional 40-, 50-, or even 60+-something similarly engaging with the world, or at least bits of it, through their screens. It’s a mobile world, and getting more so.
Consider:
· More than half of Americans now own a smartphone.
· 64% of Americans now own a tablet.
· There were 1.75 billion smartphones in use worldwide in 2014.
· By 2017, one-third of the global population will be using smartphones.
· Surveys found that 63% of adults with cellphones say that the mobile device, rather than a traditional computer, is the primary way they go online.
· Forrester analyst Thomas Husson said, in 2014, “...mobile will affect more than just your digital operations–it will transform your entire business.”
As smartphones become more powerful and more things can be accomplished on them, people will want to use them for more things. Ecommerce is rapidly shifting from computers to mobile devices, and some retailers even have their own branded apps to facilitate ordering from a smartphone.
Again, it’s tempting to think that this is a young-person trend, but even if it is, today’s young people are going to be the print buyers of tomorrow. Just as the printing companies of yesteryear did themselves a disservice by restricting the file formats or submission methods they supported, so, too, are printing companies hurting themselves by failing to keep up with how customers prefer to purchase products and services.
It’s not hard to make a business case for the integration of mobile computing and print buying. Mobile allows for ordering print anywhere at anytime. Just as you can order anything from a book to a big-screen TV while standing on a street corner, you can order print in the same way. In some cases, you need a computer to upload production files–but for how much longer? As more content moves to the cloud, there’s less need for a computer. After all, today’s iPhones are more powerful than the desktop computers that graphic designers were using in the 1990s.
John Crisp, owner of San Diego’s Print Star Now, built a web-to-print site using Aleyant Pressero and, after monitoring the site with Google Analytics, discovered that 50% of traffic was coming from mobile devices. The future is here already.
It’s not enough just to have a mobile-compatible site; it needs to be one that customers can easily use to view and purchase print products regardless of what device is used. This is called “responsive design,” which means that the site “responds” to the device accessing it and dynamically reformats and rescales the content to fit the screen. Smartphones can be as much as 80% smaller than a typical computer display, so it’s easy for the screen to get cluttered. Sometimes, a website with too many items–especially rich media content–can completely crash a mobile browser, rendering the site inaccessible to a potential customer.
In The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behavior, Google found that 90% of people move among devices to accomplish a goal, whether it’s a smartphone, PC, tablet, or even a TV. Therefore, it’s more important than ever that users have a seamless experience among all devices used. The better the experience, the easier it is for them to order from you, and the more it will increase your sales.
You might think, “I have a web-to-print system or digital storefront in place. Isn’t that enough?” Maybe, but not all web-to-print software is optimized–or even compatible with–mobile, especially if it’s an older system. It’s important to know what to look for.
For example, Aleyant Pressero and Aleyant eDocBuilder software uses HTML5 and is responsive design-ready, which means that customers will be able to view your website easily on whatever device they prefer, be it tablet, smartphone, laptop, or even desktop. The content on each medium will reformat and scale to the device that is detected, which lets customers do all their ordering and template customization easily on the device of their choice. HTML5 also allows for a more interactive and animated site without the need for Flash, which many mobile devices (in particular, Apple’s) and a faster experience for users, especially for streaming video and audio.
Greg Salzman, President of Aleyant Systems, believes innovation has always been a key element for their flagship products, Pressero and eDocBuilder, and will continue to be the case in the future. “With the expanding presence of mobile, we are currently updating our architecture in the next version of our products in order to set our customers up for continued success,” said Salzman.
The world is going mobile. Make sure that you go with it.
