Summary
Shopping trends of consumers have witnessed a drastic change in the last few years. Lately, as people are more comfortable buying customized products online, web to print technology and process is getting more popular with ecommerce business owners. But without proper knowledge and experience of both the technology and the printing process, business owners are more prone to making mistakes than they realize. Sometimes they buy the wrong software, sometimes get into the wrong product category without understanding the complete printing and fulfillment process and the costs involved.
In this blog, we have come up with the top 5 web-to-print mistakes aspiring web-to-print entrepreneurs generally make and how to avoid them.
List of top 5 web-to-print mistakes you will likely make and how to avoid them
1. Plunging into it without strategy
There is no business without a well planned strategy. It is difficult to attain business objectives without specifying why you are investing in that segment. Your strategy should clearly include your specific category of product, how you are going to arrange the buying and selling, and what results you expect at the end of the day, month, and years to come. When you know the answers to these, you can weave your business functions around these to focus on your business goals and achieving them systematically.
2. Getting a license for software and hosting it yourself
Though businesses start with an aim to build something great and unique, they fail most of times and result in wastage of useful resources which could have been exploited elsewhere. Building good software is a challenge which might divert you from your actual business goals. A SaaS based web-to-print solution may solve most of your problems and eliminate your requirement to manage a critical IT project.
3. Investing in the wrong solution
Your web-to-print solution is a vital part of your online store. If your customers are unable to design their products effortlessly and are left with a few options, your business will be affected drastically. To ensure the smooth functioning of your business you need to invest in an effective web-to-print tool which not only is easy to use but also provides an array of options to your customers to design their desired products.
For example, the VDP (variable data printing) feature makes it easier when printing ID cards, business cards, and more, as your customers can import a CSV file to for any amount of cards.
Additionally, your customers can preview designs in 3D giving them a better visualization of how the end-product will look with all the personalizations.
4. Purchasing outdated software
Exactly the thing we started with, but with a different perspective. Technology is changing and coming up with new variations everyday so whatever you are buying for your business ensure it’s the latest version but not something that isn’t available yet but promises to be available sometime later with tomorrow’s technology. You cannot forecast anything called ‘tomorrow’s technology’. Invest in a web-to-print software that is available at the moment instead of holding your business operations.
5. Wrong target market
The market or the section of customers you are targeting online forms an important part of your business strategy. Moving online doesn’t mean you have to change your target customers. You can keep it business to business if you are dealing with that offline as well or keep it open to any customer who might be looking for a similar product you are offering. In both cases, know your customers well and plan your promotions and marketing relevant to them.
Avoiding the above-mentioned 5 mistakes can help your business to not move in the wrong direction. Learn more about the web-to-print solution and the benefits associated with it.
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