The Birth of On-Demand Print Services On-demand print services are revolutionizing the way we trade in the present, yet their real impact will be a matter of the future. As the world and the global economy move together when almost every transaction takes place digitally and online, ecommerce and print on-demand services will be at the top of many businesses. To better understand the importance of on-demand print services and show how they came to such prominence, it is necessary to understand how e-commerce was born and how it came to us today.
Most people referred to the beginning of e-commerce when household names like Amazon and Google began to emerge in the late '90s. However, e-commerce was formed slowly years ago, and it has been for more than 40 years now. E-commerce began in the early 1960s with the integration of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) and its implementation by many businesses. EDI has laid the foundation for B2B and e-commerce by setting standards that allow businesses to share data electronically. The exchange of invoices, shipping orders and many other important documents was a beacon for how effective digital transactions can be. Over the next 20 years, technological advances continued to put placeholders on the road to e-commerce. This was resolved in 1994 with the advent of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption. SSL encryption provides a secure connection that allows private and personal data to
be transmitted online. This encryption strengthens the confidence of both consumers and businesses in digital transactions. Advanced security was established ten years later in 2004 with PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). PCI DSS is the only information security standard for companies, organizations and individuals that handle branded credit/debit cards from major card schemes. Rising demand of eCommerce The nature of e-commerce is constantly evolving, and many kinks need to be worked on, but one thing is for sure, e-commerce has been beneficial to the growth of the global economy and has led to the needs of specific markets. To address this, fulfilment results in the formation of centres. With the growing importance of online transactions and the added convenience and comfort they bring, it is not surprising that the markets around them began to integrate and customize everything in e-commerce. The question was not when this craze would end but how long the old ways of processing transactions would not last. Integration of online shopping The integration of e-commerce and online shopping has hit many companies hard and their customer service reputation. The act of integrating your business with eCommerce automatically expands your reach and drastically changes what specific demographic companies are already finding. With such a diverse customer base in more diverse locations, many companies struggled to meet the volume of orders that were still unaccounted for. A lot of flawless work goes into receiving an order, then completing it and delivering it to your customers on time. Understanding what goes into it will explain how easy it is to be overwhelmed by an order. Also Read: Is Dropshipping worth your print on demand efforts? Online on demand printing services For most companies, the first step in the order process is to receive the order. The received order has to be sorted to execute the steps easily. They can be arranged according to volume, location, delivery date, or any parameter related to a particular company. Once the order is received, the next step is to print the order slip, which is then sorted according to delivery and shipping methods (fast shipping, international shipping, etc.). For example, some customers want to wrap or carve their order gifts instead of using a regular mailing package. After receiving the order and printing the order slip, picking, packing and shipping is the next task. This all-encompassing three-step process is the most important. Companies will have to verify the address and coordinate adequately to ensure that
the orders are going to the right places and, in the end, they have received the desired products and packages. With such a complex process, it is fairly easy to see how companies are flooded with orders. When it becomes too challenging to maintain business volume, it penetrates other aspects of your company and is detrimental. Corporations often did not have the desired space to store all their products (increasing orders increases production, supply and demand). Others start focusing so much on fulfilling the overwhelming number of orders they receive that they ignore every other aspect of their business. Because of that, companies fail as soon as they start. Some companies were lucky that they had the resources available to deal with all these problems. However, not every growing company has the capital or time to handle issues such as building new storage units, recruiting and training new employees, and taxes and maintenance of new equipment. Why the need for a fulfilment centre print on demand? Completion centres will be built sooner or later. This was only the next evolutionary step in the development and expansion of the supply-chain model. On-demand print services are responsible for ensuring that orders are received at the end of the supply chain. They are essentially in charge of warehousing, searching for the ordered item, packaging it and sending it to the desired address. Some on-demand print services play a more central role if they are equipped to process payments and update their respective customer lists, called e-commerce fulfilment. The print on demand services is required at two different points in the supply chain. Each of these positions has a different appeal depending on who needs the service. It can also happen between the manufacturer and the customer or at the supply chain point between the retailer and the customer. He denies the need to be a retailer if he is used to the former. Some manufacturers deliver their goods directly to customers by bypassing the supply chain's inventory, distribution, and logistics sides. This is done for most small businesses that initially self-fulfil small scale orders. Many companies need to identify whether part of their business needs to be outsourced to fulfilment service providers. For small businesses that handle their fulfilment, this is an effective and more profitable way to reach your customers and build a loyal brand for your product. However, as popularity grows and your orders begin to arrive, you will need to expand your warehousing capabilities or outsource your order fulfilment. Some companies prefer to focus and continue to focus on their product, while others prefer to outsource to focus on different aspects of the emerging company. Final thoughts
On the other hand, some large retailers outsource their fulfilment once they enter the realm of online shopping. With the increasing relevance of online shopping offers, retailers had to move to the plate and meet the flow of orders they receive daily. This is evident from how large retailers like Walmart and Target have built their on-demand print products. On-demand print services have now become the backbone of e-commerce. This is because it is unnecessary to use a fulfilment centre for every e-commerce transaction, but online print on demand services always need a sample of an online transaction.