Vistaprint 2012 Annual Report Download - page 16

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• automatic plate loading systems that eliminate all manual steps of offset printing other than a quick
insertion and removal of plates;
• automatic ink key setting whereby ink fountain keys, which control color application, are set automatically
from an analysis of the pixelized data used to image plates; and
• automated color management, which adjusts digital images prior to printing, assuring that colors match
when processed across different printing presses and substrates.
Once printed, individual paper product orders are separated using computerized cutting systems,
assembled, packaged, addressed, and shipped to the customer. Viper processes and then communicates
electronically with shipping carriers, assuring smooth tracking and information flow to the customer until final
confirmation of delivery.
Requiring as little as 13 seconds of pre-press, printing, cutting and boxing labor for a typical order of 250
business cards, versus an hour or more for traditional printers, this process enables us to print many high quality
customized orders using a fraction of the labor of typical traditional printers. Our quality control systems are
designed around the principles of world-class manufacturing to ensure that we consistently deliver high quality
products.
Supply Chain Management
We are focused on achieving the lowest total cost of ownership in our strategic sourcing efforts by
concentrating on quality, logistics, technology and cost. Our efforts include the procurement of high quality
materials and equipment that meet our strict specifications at a low total cost across a growing number of
geographic manufacturing locations. Additionally, we work to develop and implement logistics and warehousing
strategies to provide a balance of low-cost material availability while limiting our inventory exposure. We believe
investing in a strategic supply chain management capability that is tightly integrated with our other manufacturing
teams will help us improve efficiency and reduce costs
Sales and Marketing
We have developed expertise in direct marketing to target new customers across various channels and to
drive more traffic to our websites, as well as to retain existing customers.
To acquire new customers, we employ sophisticated direct marketing approaches leveraging digital media
and technologies as well as traditional media such as direct mail and broadcast. We also acquire customers
through channels such as our own permission-based outbound emails, organic search and direct URL type-in. In
addition, many of the products that we offer our customers contain the Vistaprint logo and reference our website.
Our products, by their nature, are purchased by our customers for the purpose of being further distributed to
business or personal contacts. As such, the appearance of our brand on the products yields broad and ongoing
distribution and visibility of our brand and presents the opportunity for beneficial viral and word-of-mouth advertising.
We have also run television broadcast campaigns in the United States and have tested this channel in other
markets.
We have developed tools and techniques for measuring the result of each provider of direct marketing
services and of each marketing message or product or service offer. In addition, our customer split-run testing
technology allows us to divide prospective or returning customers visiting our websites into sub-groups that are
presented with different product and service selections, prices and/or marketing messages. This allows us to test or
introduce new products and services on a limited basis, test various price points on products and services or test
different marketing messages related to product or service offerings.
We place advertisements on the websites of companies such as eBay and Amazon, contract for targeted e-
mail marketing services from vendors such as MyPoints, and contract for placement on leading search engines
such as Google and Bing. We maintain affiliate programs with companies under which we permit program members
to include hyperlinks to our websites on their sites and in promotional materials and we pay program members for
sales generated through those links. We have also entered into a variety of strategic partnerships that facilitate
access to customers that would be difficult to reach through traditional direct marketing channels. We focus on