Client Spotlight: Rodan + Fields

Rodan + Fields is this month’s featured client. Named the 2010 Rising Star by the Direct Selling Association (DSA) for its dedication to achieving a high standard of excellence in business operations, Rodan + Fields specializes in anti-aging and dermatology products.

R+F launched their ZenFront in January of 2010 as a one-stop-shop for their distributors and independent business owners. The Rodan + Fields mall allows distributors access to approved R+F sales and marketing materials, promotional items and even office supplies. You can see their storefront at rfmall.biz.

ZenPrint’s Products & Fulfillment Types

ZenPrint has evolved as a company and a platform over the past few years thanks in large part to our loyal customers and partners. We very much enjoy hearing what you have to say and improving our service as a result. Thanks for all your feedback and please keep it coming!

As we’ve evolved, it’s become clear that we need to be great in both software and client services areas. Our software application, ZenFront, has also evolved to represent and tightly integrate both aspects of our business. In fact, we have several clients and resellers today who use our platform as a software-as-a-service (SaaS). We have other clients and partners who use our software in conjunction with our on-demand printing service exclusively. And, we are proud to have many clients who rely on ZenPrint as their full-service brand partner across various product channels: print, apparel, promo products, sales tools and direct marketing. You could say we like to plug-in as needed.

In reality, this is made possible by the various fulfillment types the ZenFront supports. Each product ordered via our web-to-print applications is assigned one of the following fulfillment types, which in turn automatically determines how we need to handle and bill for that order:

• On-Demand Production – We are perhaps best known for this fulfillment type. Just add your print templates to your storefront and we are here to print and fulfill those orders. From business cards, postcards, greeting cards and flyers, to brochures, banners, t-shirts, decals and address labels, if you can name it, we can print it. Advantages of on-demand production: no inventory for you to worry about and you can mark up our wholesale pricing to make a nice profit on every item sold.

• Stocked Inventory – Any type of inventoried product you’d like sell in your storefront can be shipped directly to our warehouse. We receive those items, check them into our system and ship them out along with any on-demand products ordered to your customers. Advantages of stocked inventory: no need to invest in a warehouse or fulfillment-related employees or even expensive inventory management software. We got it covered.

• Managed Inventory – Many clients would rather have us help manage their inventoried products end-to-end across design, sourcing, production, inventory management and fulfillment. We assign these items as managed inventory in our platform. Advantages of managed inventory: Our software helps manage your inventory according to lean manufacturing techniques and in turn saves you money. You still make a mark-up on every item sold, so you are profiting from the business without the headache or massive investments.

• Self-fulfilled Products – In some cases, a client prefers to handle the fulfillment of inventoried or even virtual products directly. Such self-fulfilled products are routed directly to a client’s dashboard directly for fulfillment. Advantages of self-fulfilled: you keep control over your inventory, packaging and customer management.

• Variable & Non-Variable PDF Products – Similar to self-fulfilled products, if you are looking to utilize ZenPrint as a software-as-a-service solution, we allow you to upload your print templates, enable end-user customization and access to the print-ready files for production. We even have tools that will help you automate your production, which helps you profit even more from ZenPrint’s online application.

Based on the various fulfillment types we offer through our software application and fulfillment service, ZenPrint is one of the most versatile and robust web-to-print solutions on the market today. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to explore how we can combine our various fulfillment types and other services to best meet your branding and marketing needs.

ZenPrint Manages On-Site Store at MonaVie’s International Convention

At ZenPrint, we constantly hear that we have great technology and that our online e-commerce/web-to-print software makes managing a brand simple and cost effective. Recently, many of our customers have requested that we take that expertise to the sales floors at their corporate conventions and trade shows.

On June 9th, 10th and 11th, almost 6,000 distributors descended on Salt Lake City for the annual MovaVie International Convention. ZenPrint was tasked with managing their on-site store during the convention. With over 4,500 square feet of shopping space and hundreds of new products to choose from, attendees were able to stock up on all their MonaVie gear. In the end, the store was a huge success. You can see some of the pictures from the event below and a quick video when we opened the store.

Having ZenPrint manage a store for your next trade show or event is a great way to generate buzz around new products and increase repeat purchases from your ZenFront store after the event. Plus ZenPrint manages everything for you. From product ordering to managing inventory and point of sale systems to staffing, ZenPrint creates a headache free experience for you and your valued customers and distributors. Contact us today to see how ZenPrint can help at your next event!

Client Spotlight: Viridian

This month’s client spotlight shines on Viridian Energy. Viridian was founded in March of 2009 and has become one of the fastest growing alternative energy retailers in the nation with over 150,000 customers and 10,000 distributors.

Viridian launched their ZenFront in September of 2009 with the goal to provide their distributors with marketing approved branded materials, print products and sales collateral. You can check out their ZenFront at shopviridian.com.

ZenPrint’s Customer & Account Support Services

When we first engage our customers, many times they are just looking get a website up and running that will help them sell or manage their branded print and promotional products. Before long they realize that ZenPrint is much more than websites and online technologies. In addition to our own full-scale production facilities, we offer a wide range of customer and account support services that make sure that each client is taken care of every step of the way.

So what do our customer and account services include? Here are just a few things that go on behind the scenes:

• Dedicated account manager available to respond to customer or corporate needs
• Immediate response on corporate requests via Operations Manager
• New warehouse inventory checked in within 24 hours
• Ability to support, manage, and run on-site product stores at your corporate events
• Design, sourcing, production and inventory management
• Same day response on end customer service requests like returns and refunds

As always, if there is anything that you feel like we could do better or if there is a service that you think we should offer, please let us know. Feel free to contact us at any time!

ZenPrint Offers Warehousing, Inventory Management and Pick, Pack & Ship Services

At ZenPrint, our goal is to be the one-stop-shop for all your brand management needs. Does your company need a hosted web-to-print storefront for business cards, marketing and sales material? We can do that. Or maybe a website that enables you to promote and sell your branded merchandise? We can do that too. How about a service that seamlessly integrates both on-demand and inventoried products. That’s our sweet spot.  As a core part of these services, ZenPrint offers full warehousing, inventory management and pick, pack & ship services.

We know that finding a place to store and manage all of your branded products could be a bigger headache than deciding which polo shirt to order. Did you know that ZenPrint recently added an additional 8,000 sq ft. of warehouse space and hired an additional warehouse manager to make sure that your inventoried products keep flying out the door on time. With our “same day/next day” turn around on most orders, you can rest assured that your products will get into your customers’ hands right on schedule.

Our warehousing services are unique in that they are highly customizable around your business goals. From shipping out specific inventoried products in conjunction with on-demand items to managing all your inventoried products on a full-service basis, you decide how to best handle your merchandise. Start by sending us your existing inventory and ZenPrint will stock your items until they sell through. Then, you’ll have the option to adopt our lean inventory “set it and forget it” model to manage your inventory at the lowest cost and with the least hassles. Under this model, ZenPrint will proactively monitor each product’s inventory levels and sales velocity and re-order just-in-time so your products always stay available. This approach reduces up-front inventory investments and eliminates the overhead and hassles associated with effective inventory management.

For more information on any of our warehousing services, please contact us today!

Dodge, dip, duck,dive, and…uh…dodge

Yesterday we gathered up all the Zen employees for a little enlightenment and then a little dodge ball. Our Q2 meeting was the first time since the first of the year that we could all get together as a company and discuss all the great things going on at ZenPrint.

The directors over technology, operations, sales and marketing presented updates on their divisions before we were fortunate enough to hear from consultant and entrepreneur Walter Noot. Walter has been kind enough to help us out over the last couple months in an advisory role and had some great points on the state of the ZenPrint business.

After some pizza and the awarding of this quarter’s ZenBuddah award to our Director of Sales Lianne, we all headed over to Airborne Trampoline for some dodge ball. It wasn’t long before most of us were calling time outs to catch our breath. All in all, it was a great way to get the company together and release some stress.

Lianne with the coveted ZenBuddah Award

The calm before the storm………..

Gathering ammunition

Seconds before our CEO JD (in green) gets taken out!

New Product Release: Downloadable Products

Everyone knows that ZenPrint offers superior web-to-print technology and production services, but this week we are excited to announce the expansion of our product line to include static and variable downloadable products.

So what exactly are downloadable products you ask? Let’s say you have a white-paper that you want to allow your sales reps or affiliates to customize and email to potential clients. Or maybe you have an important meeting coming up and you only need a couple print outs. With downloadable products, you can configure the product to be available to download as a PDF. Email it, print it, or share it online and best of all, the PDF is available immediately after purchase.

Setting up downloadable products is easy. For a static downloadables, just log into your account, select Add My Own Product and choose the downloadable option. Fill out the product information fields like normal and then select the last tab in the navigation called Downloadable Information. With each product you have the option to upload a sample file. This could be a simple JPG with a SAMPLE watermark on it so users can view what the PDF will look like before purchasing and downloading. Finally upload the PDF and save the product.

For variable downloadables, setting up the products in the admin is the same as static products. The only difference is that you will choose the AUTO option instead of uploading the actual PDF file as ZenPrint will create the PDF from the variable fields the user inputs on the front end. Please refer to the Designer’s Guide to see how to set up your files in InDesign for variable products in InDesign.

All the Products You Need to Promote Your Brand

Have you ever wanted to see what your logo might look like on a hat, water bottle or key chain? Now you can with ZenPrint’s completely customizable, branded product catalog. Just give us your logo and we’ll do the rest. See your logo previewed on hundreds of products or let us know about a specific product you would like to see and we will cater your catalog exactly to your needs.

With this catalog, we can offer our customers, resellers and partners the opportunity to expand their branded product base. Once the catalog is created, ZenPrint will even host a landing page to display the catalog so you can show key stakeholders in your organization the full range of products that you can offer to increase traffic and revenues from your ZenFront store. Contact us today to have your catalog created.

Client’s On-Site Store Get’s the Black Friday Treatment

We’ve all seen those crazy videos of shoppers on Black Friday. You might even know someone who has trampled a fellow shopper in search of that elusive yet perfect Christmas gift for little Johnny. Heck, you might even be that person being trampled. But never, ever would you be the one running over someones else. Right?

Well, at a recent event for one of our great clients, we set up a product shop for their new line of branded products and sales materials. Little did we know, the reaction would turn out to resemble Black Friday at the local discount mega store!! (Click on the image below and skip to 1:45 mark to see the chaos)

So all kidding aside, we offers on-site marketing services to all of our customers. Have a trade show or conference coming up? We will make sure the products are ordered and produced, and once we arrive, we will staff the store, run the cash registers, merchandise the products and make sure everything runs smoothly at your event.

Having a store at your event can generate buzz around new products and materials, as well as drive return customers to your branded ZenFront. Contact us today to learn more about ZenPrint’s on-site marketing services. You won’t regret it………just make sure you have enough bouncers on hand!