When company team members need to order sales and marketing pieces, personalize and order materials like business cards, or order a simple reprint, many steps and time are taken away from day-to-day operations. This is an even bigger dilemma when you have multiple locations and employees need to order materials after business hours.

This is why many companies take advantage of customized, online Print Portals—also known as “Web-to-Print Portals"—so their entire organization has 24/7 access to the materials they need while also being able to personalize, print, and mail all through one online, easy-to-use interface.

If you're interested in learning more about Print Portals and how they can benefit your company in many ways, then you're in luck. We have everything you need to know about these amazing solutions that save companies time and money daily.

What is a Print Portal?

A Print Portal—also known as a "Web-to-Print Portal," "Ordering Portal," "Marketing Portal," or "Brand Portal"— is an innovative, private online platform designed specifically for streamlining the process of ordering and managing sales and marketing materials like business cards, brochures, catalogs, postcards, and more. Portals act as a centralized hub, allowing organizations to access their printed materials independently, as well as mailing lists, digital files, promotional items, and more.

Key features include customizing designs with specific names, images, addresses, or contact information without compromising brand guidelines, selecting and configuring materials, and managing print orders without direct interaction with the service provider. Print Portals enhance efficiency and ensure customers can tailor their print needs to their exact specifications. Ideal for both small and large companies, Print Portals offer a convenient, user-friendly solution for all print ordering and management needs.

How Do Print Portals Work?

Print Portals or Web-to-Print Portals, work by housing all your sales and marketing materials under one online, private, and custom-built storefront.

Instead of placing an order on your printer's website or calling for a quote, you only need to visit your Web-to-Print solution, choose the desired product, personalize the design content if required, and place the order. The entire process, from the pricing of each product to production and order fulfillment, is automated, customized based on your specifications, and taken care of in one place.

Everything, including the product specifications and branding, is already in place, ensuring consistent branding across your company. So, no matter if someone is ordering catalogs from the East Coast or West, the catalogs are exactly the same with the proper design and branding.

Within your Web-to-Print Portal, you also have complete control over who has access to your portal, what items, and how many a user can order. For example, you can give new employees access to only business cards while allowing your marketing team to order brochures, promotional products, and direct mail materials.

Print Portals provide easier and faster on-demand printing, offering real-time access to manage and track orders throughout your entire organization.

Benefits of Web-to-Print Portals

Lower Supply Chain & Direct Product Costs

When switching to a Print Portal, companies typically move from transaction-based pricing and using multiple vendors with separate prices for each project to contract-based pricing with one vendor with a set price for each project. Contract-based pricing is easier to handle and cheaper than transaction-based pricing. Cutting the number of people involved in your printing process reduces the price, the total supply chain cost, and time. This also reduces direct product costs, saving companies money on printed materials.

Convenience

Web-to-Print Portals allow users to order 24/7 rather than only during business hours. On top of that, portals are accessible anywhere there is internet access. This means your employees who work from home, on the road, or late at night can easily and quickly order the materials they need when it's most convenient for them.

Waste Reduction

On-demand print technology through Web-to-Print Portals allows you to print as needed (rather than in bulk), reducing excess inventory and waste.

Also, because your Print Portal is hosted by one provider, you can inventory regularly used products in your printer's warehouse, which allows you to free up space in the office. By inventorying your products, your materials skip the entire production process. They are sent to the user as soon as an order is placed.

Improved Visibility

With a Print Portal in place, companies can track their spending based on an individual item and user. This means that companies can see how much users spend and what they spend it on. Knowing this, companies can cut any unnecessary orders and costs.

Plus, because Web-to-Print Portals allow you to present your brand consistently, you are 3.5 times more likely to gain better brand visibility.

Improved Control

Web-to-Print Portals allow companies to implement a flexible security model that regulates user access and permissions. Companies can choose what certain products each user sees and delegate different levels of visibility. For example, a sales rep may only see brochures and business cards as product options, and they may only be able to order 250 each quarter. At the same time, management may see promotional products, postcards, and catalogs along with business cards and brochures and be able to order as many as they need whenever they need them.

Companies can also create a system that requires a manager's approval before orders are placed and moved into production. This can be for any order placed by specific users, or it could include materials that cost over a specified dollar amount.

Types of Web-to-Print Portals

Print Procurement

Print procurement platforms provide an e-procurement-style storefront for the customer. This format is helpful in working with multiple vendors and receiving quotes from various vendors. It can typically also store information for all preferred printing suppliers and allows you to upload and manage files while giving your vendor access to all relevant assets.

Document Management

Online document management portals are self-service vaults that allow you to store and share all documents and files needed for print. Customers often use this type of portal to reprint jobs and manage their product inventory and shipping. Since the products within the platform are previously approved, the user just needs to choose the files they need and then order through their printer. Printers can often integrate with this type of software, allowing tracking inventory through records of previous order history.

Print Workflow Automation

On-demand print workflow automation—or what we call “Web to Print Portals,” “Ordering Portals,” "Print Portals," and Brand Portals”—are online storefronts that are completely integrated with the production and mailing process. This type of Web-to-Print solution is a commodity in the print industry. The integration allows the customer to choose a pre-approved design or personalize it using web-to-print design tools, get instant pricing, proofing, and shipping, and then send it directly into the pressroom to be printed.

This process is extremely time-efficient and allows the customer to go directly through the pre-flight process without talking to a sales representative.

These types of print portal solutions allow companies to save a tremendous amount of time and money. They are designed to put as little stress on the users as possible, allowing them to access and order the branded materials they need easily and quickly.

Watch our Web to Print Portal video below to learn more, and if you're interested in the benefits of a Print Portal, click below to schedule a free demo today!