The two businesses are now headed by managing director Simon Cooper, previously managing director at Exaprint UK, while Tradeprint managing director Rod Scrimgeour becomes product director.
Cooper said the duo had been working together much more closely during the course of 2016, and the partnership became a logical outcome.
“Both brands keep operating but we are merging our expertise under the surface,” explained Cooper. “By partnering up we can offer our customers the best of both worlds. We see more and more businesses that recognise the potential in outsourcing.”
Scrimgeour said his focus would be on the printed product range as well as software tools and services: “This partnership drives even more efficiency and that’s an exciting opportunity,” he said.
Tradeprint sales director Alan Stirling has left the business, and Cooper will take on Stirling’s responsibilities on an interim basis while a replacement is sought.
The Tradeprint product range, produced at its Dundee facility, spans litho and digital production. The firm added a large-format offering last year.
Exaprint offers a wider product range, including labels and packaging, produced by a number of production partners.
“A Tradeprint customer might be looking for a product that’s not on the Tradeprint site. We’ll be able to leverage so much more across the brands,” Cooper added.
The combined operations employ 171 staff, with plans for further expansion through additional marketing and technology roles. It has five ‘customer success’ teams across the country.
“The London-based Exaprint team will be the southern customer success team, and we will have more people in the south eventually,” Cooper added. “We have already upskilled in marketing and technology, and after nine months of investment we are now ready to deploy some of those new tools and advantages.”
Turnover was not disclosed. Tradeprint had sales of £10.4m prior to its acquisition by Cimpress. The $1.8bn (£1.5bn) turnover print group acquired Exaprint in the spring of 2015, and Tradeprint that summer. The group, which is headquartered in the Netherlands and listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US, made a further major acquisition at the end of last year, buying $275m turnover customised pen business National Pen Company in a $218m deal.
