Despite the predictions of naysayers, the web hasn't led to the death of print. Instead, like Team GB at the Olympics, it's defied negative predictions and actually turned out to be a golden opportunity. The internet has opened up new ways for printers to reach their customers, giving once-local firms the opportunity to massively increase their geographical reach. Nowhere is this truer than the area of web-to-print (W2P).
Like all good ideas, the concept behind W2P is straightforward. It allows users to either upload existing document layouts or to create their own via customisable online templates for printing without the need for traditional print buying and it has led to a growth in companies offering online printing services for smaller jobs covering everything from business cards to personalised greetings cards.
The sector has enjoyed strong growth in recent years and looks set to get even bigger in the future, according to experts. A report from InfoTrends commissioned by Canon late last year found that the market for W2P is set to grow by almost 70% over the next five years.
Despite the sector’s growth, there are still some obstacles that need to be overcome. Customers ordering products online expect to be able to pay for them online too, and while setting up an online payment system may be relatively straightforward for large businesses who can afford to hire dedicated staff to put them in place, for most small businesses they can be more problematic.
Smaller firms will have to investigate how to put a system in place themselves and it can take considerable time and effort to get to grips with the technology involved and to cut through the e-commerce jargon. But the good news is that with a bit of background knowledge, most firms will find that accepting payments online is not all that far removed from taking payments in a standard retail environment.
First of all you’ll need to set up a special type of bank account called an ‘internet merchant account’. Secondly, you’ll need to use a company to collect the card details over the net and pass them back to your bank. These companies are generally known as payment processors or payment service providers (PSPs).
The boundary between the PSP and bank can be blurred. Some banks offer PSP services to go with their internet merchant accounts, while some PSPs, such as Netbanx and Protx, can arrange an internet merchant account for you if you choose to use their PSP service. Going with your bank for both might sound like the easiest option, but Martin Temple, vice-president of sales for Netbanx, says a PSP may be able to cut down the time taken for payments to be settled because they take on some of the risk themselves, so banks are often happy to let payments flow more quickly.
When it comes to selecting a PSP, there’s plenty of choice out there. As well as Netbanx, you’ll find companies such as Protx, WorldPay, PayPoint.net and HSBC offer the service. PayPal and Google Checkout also operate as PSPs, although they tend to target individual traders and smaller companies.
The number one consideration for most people when choosing a bank or PSP will be cost. There are two main factors here: the first is the upfront cost for setting up with the PSP or bank and the second is the price charged per transaction. Some providers may have a low upfront cost, but a high per-transaction charge, while others may have a higher upfront charge with a lower per-transaction charge.
Netbanx’ set-up charge is typically about £100 as we don’t want it to be an obstacle for someone to join, says Temple. Our transaction charge for the gateway service starts at 10p per transaction. If you want us to provide everything – the internet merchant account and the gateway – then we typically start at 2.9% of the transaction value and then add in another 20p for each transaction.
Ray Burn, managing director of A Local Printer, has been running an online print shop since February 2006 [see case study]. He advises choosing a provider based on three criteria: the reliability of service, the length of time they take to pass on the payment to your bank and how much they charge.
Just through experience some are better than others, says Burn. A lot of the decisions you make are based on who you can negotiate the best transaction fee with. With some you might get your money instantaneously, some you might wait a few days. I’ve heard horror stories of payment processors where you don’t get your money for a month.
For most companies starting out, the best option is to pay a low upfront cost, but because of this you can expect to pay a slightly higher charge per transaction. However, as your business grows and you start processing more transactions most PSPs will gradually reduce your per-transaction fees to try to keep you onboard.
Once you’ve selected a PSP, the next step is to integrate it with your site’s shopping cart system. This should be fairly straightforward as most banks and PSPs easily integrate with the major cart suppliers. All your web designer has to do – and every web designer should be capable of doing it – is plug it into your website, says Burn. The only thing you have to worry about with the payment processor is the commercial aspect of which one to choose.
However, Burn warns that getting the payments side of the website up and running is a relatively small step in the grand scheme of things. When building an effective online print operation, the real battle is all about trying to get customers to visit your site.
The biggest mistake people make – and I’ve made this mistake as well – is thinking that I’ll develop this shop, pop it online and the orders will come, he says. Well, I’ll tell you that the orders will only come if people know your bloody website exists! Effectively, if you aren’t on page one of Google, it’s like having a shop that’s shut.
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