Who has the best all-around package for web-to-print?

[jharris]

web2print

web2print

As already suggested we found it a very useful exercise putting in a bit of time at the beginning researching the various solutions. We found the costs vary massively and not always for noticeable differences in functionality.
We ended up using a UK based company called Vpress who we have found to be very cost effective and offer a straight forward to use solution which has a whole range of features to cover everything from corporate stationery, through to VDP one to one marketing.
Good luck in your search!

 

[luisdiniz]

PrinterOrder

PrinterOrder

PrinterOrder from Alleyant Is the best turnkey solution for Web To Print. It has all the features you need to rapidly deploy your web to print store.

Check it out: Welcome to PrinterOrder.com

 

[Barry Gainey]

Throw our hat in!

Throw our hat in!

Good afternoon everyone! I've scanned this forum and seen there is no mention of ourselves any where. Web-to-Print solutions for Variable Data Printing document production and thought I best throw our hat in to be considered!

We have been around for a few years now and are expanding our market share. Our system is based on a very powerful web4print technology and I have yet to come across a system that we couldnt match.
We are extremely competitve on price and have a strong focus on customising the system to meet your needs.

We are hoping to have our brand new website up and running shortly, but I'd still ask you to come visit existing site at Web-to-Print solutions for Variable Data Printing document production and see our online demos and get set up for a trial!

Thanks every one

Barry

 

[Chris Cullen]

New Web-to-print Thread

New Web-to-print Thread

HI everyone

I just started a new thread entitled Web-to-print Solutions SWOT ANALYSIS and it would be great if people could contribute to it!

Thanks awfully

Chris

 

[DuncanIdaho]

Hi,

I've been using Xerox Freeflow Web Services 7 it handles variable data to a level unmatched by others. Its the only one that users can select via a plugin in acrobat the variable data in a pdf and then upload to it their own content, complete with interactive rules (csv, if this image then this text, etc.) Its not as powerful as XMPie, but it was the best we saw and it works good. Also their support is awesome!

 

[kirkreal]

Eoncode has web-to-print program that also allows for use of premade templates. It is a subscription type of program it appears and I think some of the gang-run houses are using it.

 

[jb9343]

A few more to consider

A few more to consider

Printer Presence
PrinterPresence - Product Information - Pricing Information

Websites for Printers
Pricing Plans

 

[apeck]

Ultimate Guide Online

Ultimate Guide Online

InfoTrends has summarized and evaluated 27 different Web-to-print solutions.

You can compare and read about the solutions for free here: Ultimate Guide Online :: Presented by InfoTrends.

 

[[email protected]]

Disappointing...

BUMP...

Can we get some real good evaluated input as it relates now in 2012?

So far from the real recommendations by actual users and researchers of the options out there the reviews have been weak and non-existent. There doesn't seem to be any consensus on any product. I think two products got mentioned twice and that was it.

It's nice that users from the different software companies are here and we value input from ones that disclose who they are but when you just post that we sell this product it does nothing for me. What's so special about your product? I judge heavily based on what the software company's website looks like and honestly most look terrible, completely terrible. And I'm supposed to buy a program that is a template for my website from these companies?

Most of the comments had to be disregarded because they were left by people that conveniently created their accounts around the time they made their first or second post and amazingly never made any more posts in the 3-4 years since.

I guess I'm going to have to tackle this problem head on myself.

This is what I will be critiquing as I painstakingly one by one check out most of these software solutions:

1. What does the software companies own website look like?
2. What does the offered templates look like?
3. Can I totally customize my site and offerings? (I'll elaborate later)
4. Can I build the site and update it using mass uploads with excel or csv files?
5. Can I host the site on my own server or do I have to pay a subscription based fee?
6. Do I get a full licensed software product with updates that I can put on my own server? In other words can I pay a one time fee or will they rape me for ongoing subscriptions?
7. Do I get access to coding to customize and tweak my site and integrate with other modules or external programs? e.g., accounting programs.
8. Can I put unlimited products on the site?
9. Can I put unlimited images for each product?
10. Are ftp upload forms premade?
11. Are contact us forms premade?
12. What payment options can I integrate into the site?
13. What shipping options can I have?
14. Will my shipping options communicate live with shipping companies?
15. What do the templates look like? Are they stale and texty or are they sleek, modern, upbeat, and colorful?
16. Can I add unlimited administrative or employee users?
17. What stages of the printing job are available, if any, for real time updates of a customers job?
18. Does the software allow easy workflow to my various printing and finishing equipment?
19. Can I view and play with a sample site or demo without signing up for anything or getting harassed with annoying sales follow up emails and phone calls? (big pet peeve)
20. Can I see upfront pricing without signing up for anything or getting harassed with annoying sales follow up emails and phone calls? (even bigger pet peeve)
21. Is there free tech support and how good is it? What hours? How many people, especially in the early hours of the morning?
22. What kind of warranty or guarantee or trial period is offered if any?
23. Can I offer an email sign up on the site?
24. Does the site allow for email marketing to registered users with unsubscribe features?
25. Is the company old fashioned and bureaucratic...in other words if I ask to speak to the CEO will I get bullshit or get to talk to the CEO?
26. What's the liability, if any, if the program crashes?
27. Does the program allow for SEO, keywords, etc.?
28. Does the program integrate with google adwords?
29. Does the program offer customer templates for certain products?
30. Can I create log in specific pricing schemes or rewards based on customer user logins?
31. Can I create coupons, sales, etc.?
32. Can I integrate a customer blog or forum?
33. Can customers leave a review of products?
34. Can I create additional html pages and links within the site?

I've built e-commerce sites before and one that had over 30,000 products that took me 3-4 months to build; these 34 questions are the standard basic questions that need to be asked and answered.

If I have time and can swing it, I'll be researching some of these companies.

Any one else have any input or experiences to share?

 

[Trevor_s]

kingpd,

That is an excellent list of questions. I am a production manager/pre-press guru for a commercial printer who is in the process of purchasing a new digital press and online web to print storefront. I don't have the site building background that you obviously posses so that is valuable information you have shared and it is appreciated. I did demo PTI's solution. Here is the link to there site.

PTI | Print Service Provider Solutions

During the demo it appeared to be everything we need, however I did not have that extensive list of questions to hammer them with. They have recently partnered with Ricoh and they were brought in by our Ricoh (or hoping to be) rep. Ricoh doesn't care what print engine you have, you can purchase the site without their box.

I am going to forward that list of questions to my rep and will post results when I get them.

thanks again,

Trevor

 

[[email protected]]

Glad the list helped you. Honestly I'm no expert by any means but after a long time and many headaches, etc., you too will come up with many MANY questions and things that you'd like your program to be able to do.

Since you haven't picked a vendor yet, there's three REALLY big things to consider...:

1. Where's your shop at now? Is it new and small or big and established? The general purpose of these software programs is to allow non-programmers or non-code writers to have an awesome site with lots of bells and whistles without a huge upfront price tag or a high skill level. You will need and have to learn some new skills though.

2. What can you afford to spend now? If you're well established and aren't a high risk of closing shop and/or have a lot of money to spend on this project then you'll want something less standard and more customized to you. Something that will work with what you already have in place, be it hardware or other software.

3. Where's your company going to be in 3-5 years? If you go with a subscription based system or need to customize due to growth, expansion, etc., or want to bring IT in house...can you transfer all your site stuff easily or will you basically have to rebuild everything? I mention this because this can cost tens of thousands in labor and other costs as well; and can be disruptive. So sure the $100 per month or whatever platform might work now but in 3-5 years if you grow or needs change can you "start over" and spend tens of thousands redoing everything again?

The other thing to consider is many leading companies have entire software suites built just for them, either internally or outsourced. Think amazon, zoo printing, etc. Some of these highly customized projects save a tremendous amount in money, labor, and efficiency, and the best thing is that the sky is the limit; and they can give you an amazing advantage and customization over other companies, but the price tag can run into the millions of dollars.

To me the list was a minimum standard through experience but these three other things may cause you to have to make different decisions or compromise on some things.

It's not easy so good luck and I wish you the best.

 

[pcmodem]

Something else to consider when looking at these web to print systems and demos. Most of them look and function good on the customer facing side. When it comes to the backend workflow, they fall flat on their face. Some systems require you to manually release each order. This sounds great at first when you are small, but when your volume increases, you have more orders to release, which can be time consuming. Building the storefront on the backend might also be clunky or non-intuitive. Lastly, how will this new web to print system tie into your existing workflow and accounting system?

 

[onprintshop]

Checkout our web2print solution, It support different you can integrate most of workflow and accounting system with this. We offer our solution three ways
1) online designer studio for those who have ecommerce system running only looking for designer studio
2) Subscription solution for those who like to have designer studio with ecommerce, printer can choose solution based on his business need
3) custom (licensed)solution for those who like to develop solution as per their business requirement.
Client can upgrade as his business grows. You can check live demo from here or you can take appointment for personalized demo assisted by our support team.

Reference website www.1800businesscards.com, www.44ink.com, www.imaxprinting.com.

 

[MarekW]

Key2Print: Dedicated e-commerce solution for Printing Houses

Key2Print: Dedicated e-commerce solution for Printing Houses

Please check out our great web to print software at Key2Print.com.

 

[Green Printer]

TribalSketch is making some very nice impressions at printer sites now! It is a custom designed package that comes at a very affordable price! The main web interface is developed using Ruby on Rails and MySQL and is easy to customize for your look and feel. TribalSketch has a tremendous online design tool! The Flash based design allows true freestyle page layout in a browser. It is connected to our new "Flip Proof" system to produce real "paper" style of browser based proofing that you can turn the pages right in your browser. The site manages user designs very well and new features are coming very rapidly. We are live at printer sites now and welcome your feedback.

David

Is the Online Design tool still available? I looked at your website and did not see it.

 

[james247]

Yes there are lot of web based quotation system and every one used according to their requirements so it will be little bit different based on customization.

 

[Kevin Jackson]

Take a look at Pixopa. Enterprise Web to Print Ecommerce Solution with Tablet ready HTML5 Online Designer for Selling Customizable Products Online. Developed in open source, has dropshipping to multiple vendors, 550+ Google fonts, works on tablets, mobiles & computers alike

 

[guineapig]

Disappointing...

BUMP...

Can we get some real good evaluated input as it relates now in 2012?

So far from the real recommendations by actual users and researchers ...
Any one else have any input or experiences to share?

Re: Radix/Onprintshop

We purchased their so-called "solution" about a year ago and have had nothing but problems. Our first review posted on another forum a month or ago caused them to send us a quasi-threat to remove it -- we didn't.

Once you read the below, hopefully you'll realize we don't need to go into throrough details about their sofware since you may be as shocked as us to find that they track information.

We are more than aware that developers will encrypt some of their code: as I've said before elsewhere that I have no problem if they are tracking the domain for licensing purposes ... but it's quite another thing altogether to track our customers and their order details!

We've now hired another company and just discovered that Radix not only added trackers to their code, but the information they are tracking would land them in very hot water if they were located in North America. For example, they receive complete customer information of every order -- and that means they get the total amount ordered (dollar amount), the email address of the customer, the phone number, the physical address, etc.

If that's not enough to scare you away from Radix ...

I will make this my mission to warn people.

The kind of information they are (were) tracking would make it impossible to become PCI compliant.

It makes me sick to think they have a year's worth of customer information from us, and I'll bet they are selling
those email addresses and perhaps other information, too.

So you get what you pay for, and in Radix' case, you get way more than you bargained, and so does your customer-base!

 

[guineapig]

Checkout our web2print solution, It support different you can integrate most of workflow and accounting system with this. We offer our solution three ways

These are the guys that put trackers in their code and not just get licensing information, but also get all the details of every single order. See my more detailed reply elsewhere in this forum.

Radix/Onprintshop is about as bad as news as you'll ever get for Web2Print software ... of course unless you don't mind if developers in a third world have access to all your customer data.

 

[james247]

You should try many online printing companies for your box packaging need. They are great and is very affordable online packaging solution.