Type "Web to Print" or, preferably, "Web2Print" into any search engine and you'll be faced with numerous ways to use this buzzword from software to services. The term isn't the only new item here - companies that offer this service and its software have come out of nowhere within the past four years. Perhaps one or two names might be recognizable, especially if you order your business cards online. But other names won't seem familiar, and their services might seem obtuse to anyone who's unfamiliar with printing terms.

Web-to-Print companies and the services that they offer represent a computer-to-printing-press wave that is innovative and expanding rapidly. And, while most of these companies are privately owned, a few giants have entered the public realm. You'll find two to three of these online and/or bricks-and-mortar businesses listed under the "business services" industry, mainly under the "print" sector, and mostly traded on the NASDAQ market.

First, I need to explain Web2Print, and then I'll demonstrate what Web2Print means to you as an investor...

Companies that offer a Web-to-print service usually provide proprietary software that helps print shops transfer computer-based print designs to presses. This process requires a bank of computer servers that will process a number of orders. Additionally, this system usually requires a combination of upgrades, servicing by trained technicians, seminars, and monitoring. These components add to the bottom line.

As for the process: Once the design has been finalized and approved on computer-based templates - such as a change of copy, an addition of a photograph, etc. - the templates are converted either to plates for a traditional offset press or to a PDF (Portable Document Format) that serves as a "plate" for a digital press.

While some Web2Print vendors prefer large print shops as customers (the only businesses that can afford their software), other Web2Print companies or the print shops that use the Web2Print setups provided by those vendors, offer their services to corporate entitties or to the general public. The process then expands to include e-commerce, since these companies need to serve up business card, brochure, and other print matter samples with a storefront and/or an online catalogue. Once customers have chosen a layout and design, they use the Internet to place their order. One example for this service is provided by the privately owned OvernightPrints.

Now that you have a snapshot on how the Web2Print industry operates, the question arises about investment strategies within this field. One answer includes a simple investment in a publically-traded company that offers this service to the industry or to the public. While some companies in this arena have received a thumbs up after the fourth quarter, you might want to look at their historic charts. After an initial fast-growth spurt, most of the charts have flatlined despite news about further expansion.

Another choice involves research into the odds and ends that make up the base of this industry and that show some promise of high growth in the near future. One quick way to detail the changes that are occuring within this market is to point you to the privately-owned ZetaPrints, a Web2Print service that offers - for the first time - affordable solutions for a target market that has been ignored by Web2Print vendors. This market consists of small- to mid-sized commercial printers and and print brokers who have been pushed aside by proprietary software's prohibitive cost.

ZetaPrints uses brand-name software for its Web2Print services that accomplishes the same purpose as expensive proprietary software. This brand is, perhaps, the least expensive software on the public market, and it has slowly gained respect among the graphic design and print industry. While not all print shops use this particular brand, they may opt for its use as a tool to build a Web2Print service.

Additionally, ZetaPrints provides the servers, the storefronts, and the templates for these small commercial businesses to jump into a Web2Print option almost overnight without added expenses. By tomorrow, your local printer could offer business cards, personal cards, flyers, and other small print jobs online at a almost half their previous retail price. The profit is in volume, so the business growth is incremental.

The volume comes not just in numbers within the order, but from numbers of orders. So, another avenue to explore along this line includes business equipment, as digital presses prove ideal for a Web2Print service. Just try to get 100 birthday cards printed at a print shop that runs only offset presses - they won't do it, because the cost is prohibitive on both ends. Add a digital press to the mix, and you have your cards at the right volume and at the price you can afford. One note: if a printer can't afford the traditional Web2Print software, they'll look for an inexpensive yet effective digital press as well. So, in your research, look beyond blue chip business equipment companies, and examine other businesses that provide quality equipment for smaller budgets.

The Web2Print industry as it exists today reflects what you may have seen so many times before - a budget line that begins to compete with the giants. Examples include airlines, music distribution, and designer clothes, just to name a few items. These new lines appeal to budget-minded individuals at any income level. The point here is to realize that all the companies that reach out to discount markets all use the same components as their corporate competition.

While the Web2Print industry has already produced a handful of publicly traded companies, a change in how this industry operates has arrived. The field is open to competition, because it's large enough to accommodate numerous players. In other words, the Web2Print industry is expanding, and investment opportunities are along for the ride?

Until Next Week,
Linda Goin