The UK-based firm is also in discussions with a further 35 potential customers, with a possible total order value of around €900,000.

Taopix Asia president Richard Watson told Drupa Report Daily that although there were fewer visitors than at Drupa 2008, this year’s prospects were of a higher calibre.

"People are coming here with the intent to buy. One person said he wasn’t going back without the software," he said.

After launching in 2007, Taopix shared a stand with Canon at its first Drupa the following year, but this time the company is occupying a 54sqm pitch next to HP – something Watson said is no accident.

"The web-to-print market is expanding – it is no longer Europe and US-centric; it’s a truly worldwide business." Deals had been struck with clients from as far afield as Bali, Iceland and Kenya, he added.

Watson said there had been substantial interest from conventional printers with no digital capability who were looking to expand into new markets.

But the biggest surprise, he said, had been enquiries from people who were not currently involved in print at all.

"We are talking to commercial marketing and web experts who know nothing about printing but who know how to get a job. That’s great because it means new companies are coming into printing," he said.

But he stressed that although the market was growing, printers needed to learn how to sell themselves using less traditional models, in order to compete.

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