Helloprint Pro (pro.helloprint.co.uk) launched on Tuesday, expands the services of Helloprint.co.uk, which opened for business in September 2014 and is aimed at consumers, start-ups and micro businesses.
Both are trading names of Drukzo, which was established in 2013 by Hans Scheffer. Scheffer founded Flyerzone and Drukland before selling them to Grafenia company Printing.com.
Helloprint Pro is a gated website open only to trade clients. Dutch and Belgian versions were launched last year. There is also a Spanish Helloprint operation.
UK manager Sebastiaan Ram told PrintWeek the company established the new site following a number of trade queries.
“In the UK the printing industry has a lot of print brokers," he said.
“They liked our prices but they didn’t like our prices being offered to the general public. We realised we could charge a little bit more if we were doing in-house services, such as artwork, design help and image advice, writing a blog and so on. The industry doesn’t need that. We can give wholesale prices guaranteed.”
Membership is free and subject to a simple check that the prospective member is in the industry. Helloprint also offers white label websites to clients.
Ram said the company’s annual turnover is €15m, up from €4m in 2014.
“We expect to see exponential growth. We expect a turnover of between €30m and €50m in 2016.
“As for the UK business, we expect to do roughly €3m in the first year and the turnover is expected to grow to €10m in the following year. We forecast 50% of our UK turnover in 2016 to come from Helloprint Pro.
“The company’s grown extremely quickly. We’ve just launched Spain as well. It’s going really well and we wanted to tap into the reseller market.”
Scheffer said: “By partnering up with Helloprint, our partners are guaranteed that the prices they pay for their products are the lowest possible in the market.”
Headquartered in Rotterdam, the company has an office in Valencia and a postal address in the UK. The UK operation is managed from Rotterdam but Ram said the company “absolutely" planned to open a UK office, with a decision due by the end of the year.
“We’re thinking of opening an office in London in the first half of 2016, with sales, customer service and marketing staff moving over from Rotterdam to start with.
“I can see supply chain, accounts and finance moving over when the UK as a country generates substantial revenues,” he said.
Unlike large web-to-print rivals such as Unitedprint, Saxoprint and Cimpress, Drukzo does not have its own production facilities.
Instead it contracts out print work to around 60 companies in Europe and the UK and is currently recruiting more.
Ram said his company could compete against companies with large production facilities by being nimble and ordering in volume.
“We are able to cost-effectively distribute our print all over Europe. It makes us a lot more scalable than competitors that print in-house; we can shift volumes. It makes us competitive not having the big investment in your own production facilities.”
The new venture was launched at The Print Show, held at the Birmingham NEC this week, where Helloprint Pro has been offering a £35 welcome discount.
“People have been really open to what we’re offering,” Ram added: “In the UK people are so price focused. People love discounts and vouchers. In the Netherlands it’s different, people just want to talk to you.”
Separately the founder of printing.com, Tony Rafferty left Grafenia last week.
