VistaPrint adopts a multi-channel strategy without a store investment
VistaPrint Ltd., online supplier of graphic design services and customized printed products for small businesses and consumers, is going into retail stores through a deal with office supply retail chain OfficeMax Inc.
Under the arrangement, OfficeMax’s customers will design and order business cards, brochures and other printed material through web-based terminals in all OfficeMax stores, which number nearly 1,000. The terminals and the web site that customers view will carry the OfficeMax ImPress brand that OfficeMax uses for printed material.
“Our customers have always been able to order business cards and stationery through OfficeMax ImPress, however, the customer could only see selections in a catalog,” says Brian Norris, senior vice president for OfficeMax ImPress. “Early tests of the VistaPrint Retail Solution suggest that our customers like the application and are pleased with the quality and cost of the product.”
VistaPrint, No. 79 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, designed a web site for OfficeMax ImPress that streamlines the shopping process to take into account that store customers don’t want to spend as much time navigating a site as does someone shopping from home or office. “We made it easier for them to get from end to end by limiting the number of choices,” Mike Ewing, senior vice president, global partnerships for VistaPrint, tells InternetRetailer.com. For instance, store shoppers have only two shipping options: 7-day standard or 3-day premium.
VistaPrint will sell products to OfficeMax on a wholesale basis and OfficeMax will set the retail price accordingly. “OfficeMax completely controls the experience with the customer,” Ewing says. Allowing OfficeMax, No. 6 in the Top 500 Guide, to set retail prices as competitive conditions warrant and creating a site with the OfficeMax ImPress look and feel have the added benefit of allowing VistaPrint to make the same service available to other retail chains, Ewing says.
VistaPrint trained a group of OfficeMax’s training managers on products and site usage. They will in turn train store personnel.
“VistaPrint is always looking for ways to expand our wholesale business and by developing a white label solution for companies like OfficeMax, we can increase the ways in which we reach our core customers,” Ewing says.
The rollout is expected to be completed during the fall.
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