Print Shop Website Business Plan

The objective of PrintingSolutions.com is to become the leading online provider of printing and private-brand print services. As part of the ongoing strategy, the company plans to:

• Create New Services. Capitalize on being one of the first online print shops to target the business market by aggressively introducing new printing services and promotions.
• Build brand recognition. Build brand recognition by promoting the PrintingSolutions.com brand through diverse marketing channels, such as online advertising, public relations, and trade-show participation.
• Expand relationships. Expand the company’s marketing relationships by aggressively developing new relationships with leading destination websites and media companies. This will accelerate customer acquisition and increase usage of our online print shop.
• Build customer base. Build a customer base and stimulate repeat usage by exposing customers to products and services that most closely meet their needs.
• Expand services. Expand Printing Solution’s specialized print services by creating a range of new online printing services and aggressively marketing these services to current and future customer bases.
• Expand private-brand initiatives. Expand Printing Solution’s private-brand initiatives by entering into new relationships with a variety of companies to increase distribution and sales channels, and increase the usage of print services.
• Leverage and extend technology. Leverage and extend the company’s technology platform by enhancing the functionality of the PrintingSolutions.com and PrintingSolutionsB2B.com websites and the technology that supports them. This will be done to improve order flow and reporting, expand service offerings, facilitate more complete integration with print vendors, expedite payment processing, and improve the efficiency of the system.

5.1 Competitive Edge

Through the online print shop, PrintingSolutions.com will offer consumers a single location to satisfy the majority of their printing needs. The company will develop a user-friendly website for obtaining professional quality, mass-market printed products. This will provide customers a compelling alternative to traditional print channels. PrintingSolutions.com will also offer specialized websites and printing services for print items or quantities that are not generally offered in the self-service print shop. By automating the print order process and connecting online print services to carefully selected commercial print vendors, it is believed that the costs of printing will be significantly reduced.

5.2 Marketing Strategy

PrintingSolutions.com will strive to develop the most recognized and trusted brand for printing services on the Internet. To expand our customer base and to extend the image of the company, we plan to aggressively promote the PrintingSolutions.com brand through a combination of online and traditional media advertising, public relations and participation in trade shows. The company also plans to expand our affiliate and co-branded online website strategies through agreements with a range of destination websites.

The company will be promoting PrintingSolutions.com and PrintingSolutionsB2B.com over the Internet through:

• Banner adds
• Providing a small percentage of the sales made through websites that list PrintingSolutions.com from which a customer makes a purchase.

Internet ads are an obvious choice because that is the nature of our business. Marketing will also be done through printed media such as national newspapers and magazines. Newspaper and magazine ads will be used since our customers include business people who read various publications. Television ads will be used in certain markets, as PrintingSolutions.com will be targeting large cities with a great number of businesses.

5.2.1 Positioning Statement

PrintingSolutions.com’ products and services will address the need for assisting customers in obtaining their business stationery, graphic art designs and websites at more affordable prices than are currently being offered.

5.2.2 Pricing Strategy

The company sets its pricing based on what competitors are offering, and cuts that number in half. Website development will be provided at a flat rate, with additional changes being billed at an hourly rate. PrintingSolutions.com will provide technical support as needed to ensure that a customer’s website gets up and running. We will provide free technical support for websites for their first six months. Beyond that, an hourly rate will be applied. Logo designs will also be charged at a flat rate and, as with the development of the websites, with additional changes being charged by the hour.

5.3 Sales Strategy

The company’s sales strategy will be relatively minimal since PrintingSolutions.com is offering distant, self-customizing services. It is expected that the company’s marketing efforts will bring customers to the website, and the benefits of convenience, customization and low price as advertised on the website will be the incentives to close a sale. Promotions and add-on products coupled with continuing low prices will create repeat business.

Most importantly, PrintingSolutions.com will provide our customers exactly what they want or there will be no charge.

5.3.1 Sales Forecast

The following table and charts show our projected sales and direct costs for the next three years.

5.4 Strategic Alliances

The company has strategic alliances with Network Systems, Software Developers, and Custom Designs and Printers. These alliances are valuable to us because they will allow the company to utilize the knowledge and resources of these firms with no additional cost to the business. PrintingSolutions.com plans to also form strategic alliances with search engines such as Yahoo! and Lycos to promote the website, as well as exploring the possibility of forming strategic partnerships with content providers such as America Online.

The e-marketplaces will become an enduring reality in the business landscape. While the growth of these venues will spur continuous change, the company will be participating in these e-marketplaces as buyers. PrintingSolutions.com will begin to experiment with these online marketplaces with a minimum of 1% of its procurement dollars. This level of effort will enable the company to optimize purchasing in a dynamic pricing world. There will be the added bonus of also understanding the different vertical markets so that, when the time comes, we will know where to look to form strategic alliances

The company also plans to pursue strategic relationships with leading destination websites and media companies in order to increase traffic to its website. By aggressively pursuing new relationships, we believe we can accelerate the acquisition of new customers and increase usage of our online print store.

5.5 Milestones

Sample Milestones topic text.

The milestones table and chart show the specific detail about actual program activities that should be taking place during the year. Each one has its manager, starting date, ending date, and budget. During the year we will be keeping track of implementation against plan, with reports on the timely completion of these activities as planned.