The business undertook a series of roadshows in the UK and Ireland last month to showcase its new technologies, which enable users with minimal training to create templates within 10 minutes. The software is the product of 2-3 years' development and chief executive Tony Rafferty is so confident he is trademarking the '10-minute template' term.

Rafferty said reception of the platform was positive, with a "high level of support", as it would enable franchisees to claw back a market of part time business owners and micro businesses that had already started to move online and away from the high street.

"Nothing stays the same forever," he said. "Our franchise model has operated well for 10 years, but now we need to do something different. We want to enable our franchisees to really engage proactively with micro businesses. We're giving them the tools to fight back. It's the biggest change in our business model since the Bolt-on franchise."

He said the system had been set up to ensure that franchisees received an "equitable share" of revenues generated from the online transactions, and that the system would roll out over the next couple of months, with a Drupa presence planned, as well as broader marketing initiatives.

While Rafferty described UK trading as "still difficult", he alluded to "a number of things progressing" in the wake of the collapse of the Kall Kwik and Prontaprint franchises, and the company's BrandDemand multi-site system continues to grow with 60 installs in the UK.

Printing.com brought forward its 'white-label' launch to enable third-party printers to take on the company's services on an ad-hoc basis, although the company said that most existing franchisees look likely to stick to the Bolt-on arrangement.

Elsewhere, the roll out of Flyerzone in the UK and France continues, while Netherlands-based acquisition MFG continues to drive revenues. Rafferty wouldn't be drawn on an outlook for full year sales for Printing.com, but did describe MFG, for which 2011 will mark its first full year under Printing.com, as "a business turning over £7m-£8m".

INvestment firm Brewin Dolphin said it expected the company to close the year with pre-tax profits of £1.2m, down on last year's £1.5m, on increased revenues of £20.6m.

Shares were trading slightly off at 28.75p on the AIM index at the time of writing. The company will make a pre-close statement on 4 April.