National trade printer CMYKhub is to add an online design software to its free web-to-print solution, which will roll it out to its reseller network late this year.
The company has gained exclusive Australian rights to template driven online design software MyCreativeShop (MCS) and will offer it’s functionality free to its resellers, though they may pay for photos and some other assets.
The program will interface with the company’s web-to-print system, already used by 500 of its reseller sites. It will enable printers’ customers with limited graphics capability to create material using templates, and includes access to millions of stock photos from Fotolia.
CMYKhub director Clive Denholm says: “The ability to choose and edit design templates will allow small businesses to create marketing material and stationery for a very low cost.”
“Not having a template driven design solution is one of the limiting factors of any web-to-print system. We feel it is the missing piece in most web stores, this is what small printers are crying out for.”
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Denholm says MCS is easy for anyone to use, has great designs and a simple interface, so small print business owners would not need to hire new staff or spend time learning how to use it.
He says the exclusive licence agreement will allow CMYKhub to tailor the software for its reseller network.
“The challenge with online templates is have good content; we have all seen high profile sites that carry design templates that look like cheap clip art,” he says.
“The range and quality of designs in this system is going to empower end users to create good looking designs and bring in more business for our resellers.
“This will set the standard for online design. In the future, you won’t have a successful web-to-print system without template driven design.”
While Denholm expects a reasonable amount of the work generated by the system will flow to CMYKhub, he emphasised the importance of the reseller network to the company.
“We will only be successful if they have what they need to be successful,” he says.
“The industry has to work together to reduce costs and promote print as a medium, sharing equipment and software like this empowers smaller printers to compete. Gone are the days when you can’t do something for the whole industry.”
In concept MyCreativeShop allied with the CMYKhub web-to-print will allow small printers to offer a similar proposition to web-to-print giant Vistaprint.
MCS chief executive Jason Frueh says the company is excited to team up with CMYKhub in Australia. “We expect this to add not only immediate value, but to be a product that is continuing to evolve based on CMYKhub’s resellers specific needs,” he says.
“We plan to develop content specific to the resellers needs and to grow the template library considerably over time. It’s a long term win-win approach.”
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