WEB-TO-PRINT — THE NEW FACE OF THE WEB

Numbers Game
Just how many printers have gotten into this market? According to “Digital Printing 2006: Printers,” a special report released this summer by TrendWatch, 9 percent of commercial printers and trade shops now offer some kind of Web-to-print solution for static printing, such as business cards, letterhead and sales materials. This rises to 24 percent of digital printers, defined as shops with direct imaging (DI) or toner-based digital color presses. When it comes to “highly customizable/personalizable brochures, newsletters, follow-up mailers and other print jobs used for targeted marketing,” the percentage of graphic arts firms overall nearly doubles, to 15 percent, rising to 33 percent of digital printers.