Taking Business to the Next Level

Metropolitan Printing Company Takes Business to Next Level with EFI Digital StoreFront

Visit the Metropolitan Printing Company Web site, and you’re greeted by caricatures of their customer service team and an easy-to-navigate Web site that introduces you to all of its many products and services. This personable, user-friendly Web site is interesting, memorable and powerful, making it a win-win for the Metropolitan Printing team and its clients.

Metropolitan Printing is a Portland based full service printer providing short-run digital, offset, fulfillment, design, and Web site development services. The Metropolitan has integrated EFI™ Digital StoreFront® (DSF) into its creative Web site, providing its clients with seamless access to a powerful e-commerce tool.

In 2007, a large Metropolitan Printing customer requested a branded online “retail site” for ordering print products. Lead by Scott Perry, director of online services, the company began investigating the available options. “We knew that we needed to satisfy this important customer or risk losing their business, so it was a critical decision to select the right Web-to-print platform,” said Perry.

Already familiar with EFI by way of their Fiery®-driven Canon C7000 and Colorproof™ XF proofing tools, Metropolitan Printing decided on the award-winning DSF and began using the solution in early 2008.

“We choose DSF for its ease of use, back-end accessibility and robust, built-in VDP functionality with XMPie® technology,” said Perry. “And integration with our Fiery controller is a huge plus because it makes the workflow even more seamless.”

As promised, Metropolitan Printing built a branded Web site for its corporate customer, as well as two others since then, and the results have been very positive. “We’ve seen approximately 30% more orders from these three clients as a result of their sites powered by DSF,” comments Perry. “I know we would have lost business if we hadn’t implemented a flexible, feature-rich Web-to-print offering.”

With DSF technology in place, Metropolitan Printing also built its own storefront so now all of its customers can submit jobs and track progress from any computer, 24/7.

DSF saves valuable job set-up time for Metropolitan Printing as well, since it doesn’t need to write-up separate work orders but instead use the “production view” in DSF as a work order. The results are fewer print errors, less waste and reduced labor costs.

The Metropolitan Printing Web site presents users with a full slate of the products and services offered with the ability to click, review, and order quickly and confidently. “We’ve seen approximately 30% more orders from these three clients as a result of their sites powered by DSF.”