Website Closers® presents an international eCommerce business that provides printing services direct from its website, and has a tremendous B2B customer base for the on-demand printing of books, magazines, catalogs and other products and services. This company has more than a decade of experience providing the highest quality printing services to other businesses, and these projects have a very high average order value of $3,500 which has been able to deliver strong sales.
Their customer base is not only growing, but loyal, since more than 50% of their orders come from repeat customers, an impressively high percentage. One of this company’s great strengths has been its competitive pricing and popular Instant Quote system, which allows customers to generate and calculate quotes online for their projects. Their system has become well known for having an extremely high accuracy for calculating prices. With the ability to print any material in binding or hardcovers, this brand has become a preferred choice among businesses looking for the most professional and expert printing of their materials.
Having developed a solid foundation for recurring revenue in the past decade, this business offers tremendous scale opportunity. The company could expand its use of digital marketing tactics, including a healthy mix of PPC ads on Google and Facebook while boosting organic growth through its social media platforms. The company also has an email database of 3,500 addresses which could be leveraged for highly effective email marketing campaigns.
This company was launched in 2008 to offer printing services and they expanded in 2020 to focus on B2B-based international printing services. A key aspect of their success has been their unique and original Instant Quote system that allows customers to generate price quotes online based on their printing specs. They operate as on-demand printing services where customers can order different types of printing that they order online, ranging from industrial purpose printing such as magazines and catalogs to different types of books. Their products are available for international shipping.
About 80% of their orders are for binding products, followed by hard covers (10%) and saddle stitching (8%). While the price of each project can vary significantly, items are usually ordered in bulk quantities and sales remain steady throughout the year, although the company does experience an increase in catalog printing orders from November through the end of the year as their customers gear up for the new year. They have traditionally received 5-7 orders per day.
Their customer base is increasingly diverse, with a top customer demographic based in the United States and often working in the publishing industry, ranging from individuals who self-publish their work to publishing houses and businesses managing subscriptions for magazines and books. The brand also gets a lot of orders from different businesses that need printing catalogs that are done annually, bi-annually, or quarterly.
As an online print-on-demand service, this brand doesn’t carry any physical inventory and does not make use of storage space for physical inventory. The company’s marketing strategy has relied on use of Google AdWords, email marketing and word of mouth. Of their more than 3,500 email contacts, the vast majority are businesses, not individuals, and more than 50% of the brand’s customers are repeat business and come back frequently with different printing projects. In particular, subscription magazine publishers have come back often to print seasonally.
The company has social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest but has not utilized them as heavily as PPC ads in the past, and they have a clear opportunity to grow through a far more aggressive social media marketing campaign. The same is true for the company’s email marketing, which they have used in the past but could certainly ramp up in the future.
Enhanced digital advertising could enable the company to begin expanding internationally, by launching into selected countries, with just small adjustments necessary for language setting and price. That could be particularly true in countries with low competition from other available printing services.
Likewise, the company could use digital marketing to get the word out about their Instant Quote system, which is popular because it is so convenient and automatically allows customers to explore various options for printing orders.
The number of hours the current owner spends on this business varies, with a focus on tasks that include receiving quotes or consultation requests, generating quotes for projects, and scheduling Zoom meetings with employees.
The owner has two sales assistants that are bilingual and respond to international clients in English and Chinese. Running an online printing service doesn’t require a high workload and is not labor-intensive, which helps make their services more cost effective for clients. Their websites are efficiently and smoothly operated through their admin web page and Google Workspace system.
The buyer will be supported and assisted by the existing team which has full technical knowledge of how the system operates. This brand’s unique quoting system has given it a competitive edge and enabled the company to build a strong customer base without needing a large workforce. Their system enables their printing services to function as a networking platform between other printing businesses and their own customers, which is a service that not only remains in high demand today, but it likely to continue growing in the future.
The quality of their work has drawn high praise, and now it’s time for a new buyer to help introduce these high-quality printing services to a much wider audience.
