The £10.8m turnover PLC has given Marqetspace a new look and has revamped the website’s functionality to make it easier to use, even for complex products.
Grafenia chief executive Peter Gunning said the Manchester-headquartered business had taken on board feedback from existing Marqetspace users, which number more than 2,000.
“When our account managers have met face-to-face over a coffee and a cake, clients have told us the things that slow them down or they find tricky. We’ve systematically worked through those and improved the whole process, start to end,” he explained. “We have majored on navigation and usability.”
The new look, which Gunning described as “a little bit sci-fi/industrial” went live at the end of last week. It still features ‘TRAD3’, the brand’s robot mascot.
All the available product options, such as paper types and finishes, are now in drop-down menus on one screen. Marqetspace also features an InDesign template generator to create a blank starting page complete with non-printing areas and guides.
“This is for every product in our huge range, even the complex stuff with weird folds and flaps. Customers can upload the file in the evening, preflight it themselves with our built-in FileCheck system and put jobs straight into production right up until 10pm at night for despatch the next working day,” Gunning added.
He said the firm aimed to capitalise on being a UK-based producer in the face of stiff competition from continental trade printers. “We print everything in our own factory in Manchester. Clients don’t have to worry about problems with shipments coming from overseas, or being stuck in the middle with a trade service who turns out to be just a middleman. Our support team sit in the same building as our presses – if something goes wrong, they can fix it. We think that’s important.”
Marqetspace has a variable pricing matrix with options for Xpress, Normal and Stand-by delivery. The new site is also optimised for mobile devices, and has been built using Graphenia’s own W3P webshop technology, which it sells under a SaaS model.
“People are using W3shop all over the world – even the Printing.com website is a W3shop. That means every improvement and optimisation we make each day benefits all W3shopkeepers,” Gunning added.
The firm is promoting the Marqetspace revamp with a “big box of free swag” containing unbranded print samples to encourage printers, brokers, designers and marketing agencies to use the service.
Grafenia employs around 120 staff and runs B1 Komori litho presses at its production hub, alongside HP large-format and Konica Minolta digital kit. The firm invested in D.gen digital textile printing equipment for its ink-on-fabric range last year.
