Setting up your web-to-print storefront - 29/05/2009

Web-to-print storefront: FormVit

FormVit is the module of the Vit2Print software suite that allows you to easily set-up a full-fledged online printshop. However, not a single graphic arts company is the same. And what's more, the customers of those graphic arts service providers are quite various as well.

Consequently, it's rather important that you select a flexible web2print application to set-up a multisite web2print system. Every single web-to-print storefront is then configured to meet the specific requirements of each individual customer. What different types of web2print storefronts does FormVit allow to set-up centrally?

Branded web-to-print storefronts

When you serve multiple customers with one central web2print software solution, your web-to-print storefront better be branded according to the corporate identity of the customer that you're serving. FormVit can easily be customized in order to create multiple branded web2print storefront websites. As a result, each customer enters the solution within his own, familiar environment.

This means that the interface will have the colors and images that fit your end-customer's identity. But that's not everything, each web2print storefront can have it's own separate flow. For instance: one of your customers creates variable data print materials by inserting content into fields, an other customer creates variable data print materials by means of a guiding wizard (a flow with predefined steps).

Web-to-print storefront: private intranet vs public internet

Whether you want to provide your services to an internal public or to an external crowd is decisive for your web2print application. In general one could think of a flow within intranet systems and flows within public internet systems. One great example of an intranet application is e.g. an internal document center where all sales reps are able to create and order the most up-to-date marketing collateral.

When the above is the goal of the web-to-print solution, it's usually set-up as an intranet solution. However, when the aim is to offer web2print services to an external public, your web-to-print application needs to be on the public worldwide web. One important difference between both systems is the need for extensive reports within a public internet environment.

Extensive reports for public internet web2print storefronts

When comparing intranet and internet solutions, one immediately notices the importance of reports within a public internet environment. External users want to order via a basket system, want to follow-up their current orders and want to check their entire order history. On the other hand, for internal applications the reporting is less important. Internal solutions such as a document center with marketing collateral requires a more straight-forward way of working: order as quickly as possible, do not loose time. For this reason, FormVit has been developed to meet the requirements of both systems. A straight-forward internal ordering system and an external ordering system that includes order via a basket system, overview of the running orders, overview of the order history.

Integrate approval workflow

Within B2B environments it often occurs that a document created and ordered via a W2P application requires approval before it is actually send to the presses. Whether you want to integrate such a workflow or not within FormVit is 100% up to you. You just need to activate the approval workflow and indicate which user has to approve... and there you go: an approval workflow is a part of your online printshop.

Integrate stock management & order management - connect to administration

Next to that, one could think of web2print storefronts that offer stock articles to be ordered online. To keep track of the stock, FormVit integrates the "stock and order management" functionality. If you activate this functionality and indicate a user to execute the order manager role, the stock and administrative order handling can be managed in the web interface. But what's probably more important: this integration of stock and order management makes it even more easy to integrate Vit2Print with your existing administrative software.

Web-to-Print storefronts and image management

Finally, it's rather important to realize whether the web2print solution offers opportunities for image management. And if so, what are these opportunities? Within the FormVit application, one could think of several differences within the image management options. Just to mention a few: allow or refuse the upload of images from a local computer, allow or refuse the connection to an image bank like PhotoVit or NSS Production, allow or disallow the usage of an image tool for basic photo editing like cropping, rotating, etc.

Web-to-print storefront examples?

Do you want to see examples of how we set up web2print frontstores with multiple branded multisites?
Do not hesitate, contact us.