Vistaprint: The Technology Story

Before Vistaprint, small and micro businesses looking for custom marketing materials such as business cards, printing, custom apparel, signage, promotional products, and online marketing tools had only limited and expensive options.  All that changed thanks to Vistaprint.  When people ask how Vistaprint can give products away for free, the answer is its cutting edge technology.

Built from the ground up, and the result of about $80 million in annual technology investments, Vistaprint’s proprietary technologies are revolutionary in that they empower small businesses to easily design and order great looking, graphically coordinated marketing products from the comfort and convenience of their Internet browser.  Vistaprint fully automates the manufacturing of high-quality custom products. on a massive scale that drives down the cost – allowing for very low prices to Vistaprint’s customers.

State-of-the-art processes, supported by 40 patents and scores of patents pending, allows the company to sustain lower costs which in turn gives Vistaprint customers a higher quality option at a lower price. The equipment, technologies and processes enable Vistaprint to produce over six million orders per quarter.  Worldwide reach is assured by the company’s three manufacturing plants in Canada,  the Netherlands and Australia.

Thinking Differently

The design and production processes of customized products have been around for centuries.  But unlike traditional graphic arts techniques that design and produce custom orders one at a time, Vistaprint takes a more robust approach. Separating itself from the competition, Vistaprint utilizes patented technologies to facilitate the design and aggregation of custom orders from around the globe in minutes.  Using an Internet-based desktop publishing environment (www.vistaprint.com), customers act as their own designer and proof-reader. As a customer creates a business card, as an example, dynamic software shows them instantly what that same design would look like on postcards, T-Shirts, pens or dozens of other products. This advancement allows customers to instantly create a full marketing suite of products with a consistent, professional look and feel, but no additional time spent designing online. And this cutting edge matching engine suggests different options while designing any type of product. Once a customer finishes checkout, their order is automatically routed for manufacturing via the Internet, processed and prioritized for printing at one of three production plants worldwide.

From there, Vistaprint utilizes its proprietary technologies to aggregate many customers’ separate orders into homogenous, high-volume, automated production lines. This is known as “mass customization”. ” One task that is is particularly challenging, and where Vistaprint’s software is important, is scheduling hundreds of thousands of unique customized orders, ensuring that all the components of that order are completed at the same time so they can ship together in one package.   Another area of complexity is the need for extremely high levels of sophisticated automation.  For instance, Vistaprint takes less than 20 seconds of labor to schedule, produce, package and ship a box of business cards. 

Going Beyond Printing

Vistaprint’s patented technology started with business cards but has expended to other products. As years passed, the technology was adapted to non-stationery items such as T-shirts, hats, signage, promotional products mugs and other items. Because of lower labor and production costs with these methods of production, Vistaprint achieves low unit costs, with savings passed along to the customer. This technology is the key enabler of Vistaprint's many free offers, a long-running viral marketing campaign.