Print Store Product Development
Product development is everything related to your product catalog published on your Print Stores. It can be in form of category landing pages and/or product templates accessed with the Print Editor.
Menu
Planning a web-to-print e-commerce website - Product and product catalog considerations
Carefully planning a web-to-print e-commerce website is essential to its success, and your product catalog decisions are at the heart of that process. We ask the following product and catalog questions when planning a new eCommerce website with our customers.
What types of products will you be selling?
Web-to-print sites go beyond standard shopping cart items and support many print product types offered in different ways. When defining your product catalog in PrintNow, be aware of all the available product types and methods you want users to interact with your product pages.
PrintNow product types:
- Any standard size product that is front only printing or front & back printing
- Any custom-size product defined with a specified width & height based on your predefined min & max conditions
- Book printing like perfect bound booklets, saddle stitch booklets, spiral coil booklets, wire coil booklets, & photo books
- Mailing products that require data list management or EDDM full service
- Any standard size print packaging product with a custom die line and 3D model to attach to the product
- Any parametric print packaging standard with variables like length, width, & height dynamically generated die line and 3D model
- Products with predefined imprint areas like promotional products or other branded merchandise
- Static add-to-cart items or inventory based products
- Custom upload products based on calculator selections
- Template products loaded in HTML Print Editor attached to specific proofing modes.
- Digital downloadable products
- Offline products that require a form or contact to get pricing
How many products will you be selling?
Once you understand the different product types available for your products, you can determine how many products you will be selling of each type. It will impact how long it will take to develop the store (more products = more content to create and load into the Print Store).
How many categories does your website have?
We also need to know how to organize your product catalog. The navigation and search in your online store will be how your customers find your products. Planning how your products will appear will impact your Print Store development and how well it converts visitors to customers.
What order options will your products have?
That’s where pricing with order options comes in. Pricing may include available Quantities, Printed Sides, Sizes, Turnarounds, and order options like Paper Stock, Folding, or Proof options. So, we’ll ask you what option groups your products have in the planning stage and what option items are under each group. You’ll be able to edit your actual prices by exporting and importing after the basic setup is complete.
Who will create and load your catalog information, including categories and product items?
The creation and loading of product information can be time-consuming. Most people underestimate how long it will take. It is the leading cause of delays in launching new eCommerce websites. Most eCommerce developers (including us) will assume that you will supply and load all product information yourself unless you specifically ask us to do it for you. You’ll usually need to provide the following information as a bare minimum:
Categories
- Category Name
- Image Url’s
- Short Description
- Long Description
- Extended Content
Products
- Product Type
- Product Name
- Item Number (SKU)
- Category Name
- Image Url’s
- Short Description
- Long Description
- Extended Content
What should your product pages look like
Most eCommerce websites follow a fairly generic approach to presenting product pages. If you need anything different, we need to know about it.
The generic approach will usually include the following:
- Product name
- One or more product images (multiple images as the main image plus optional clickable thumbnails of the others)
- Price calculator with available options
- Descriptions
- Action buttons
In addition, you may have different types of products that need to be displayed differently. We need to know this too. For example, some pages may default to a product browser with many versions and filters, and others will have one product landing page with specific action buttons.
Do you want to upsell via Related Products?
Related Product displays are great for upselling, but their implementation can be complex or straightforward. We need to know whether you want to include related product displays on product pages. Including them will involve some configuration of the eCommerce platform during development. The visual design will also need to take account of these on the product page displays. Some options for Product displays include:
- A tagged list of products from the same category
- A tagged list of products across multiple categories
- A mapped list of related products on product detail pages
Do you want to upsell via Related Products?
Related Product displays are great for upselling, but their implementation can be complex or straightforward. We need to know whether you want to include related product displays on product pages. Including them will involve some configuration of the eCommerce platform during development. The visual design will also need to take account of these on the product page displays. Some options for Product displays include:
- A tagged list of products from the same category
- A tagged list of products across multiple categories
- A mapped list of related products on product detail pages
Conclusion
These are the main questions we ask customers about their products and product catalog when scoping and planning a new eCommerce development project. There is a lot to consider here – but the scoping process will go faster, and you will be better informed about what you will get at the end of reviewing it.
Key Details
Price: TBD
Setting: Remote
Duration: TBD
Product Development
Frequently asked questions, answered.
What are your development hourly rates?
Hourly rates range from $125 to $250 per hour, depending on the experience level of the developer/consultant and if it’s standard front-end development or requires back-end development that affects the core PrintNow code base.
Do you only charge by the hour, or will you provide us with a per-project flat rate?
The short answer is we offer both, but generally, customers are more comfortable with a per-project flat rate. Overall, the pricing structure you choose depends greatly on many variables and comes down to what makes the most sense for you.
Charging per hour
Charging an hourly rate is a better option in some scenarios. If the scope of work isn’t clear from the outset, we may recommend this approach. Or we may offer a service to properly define project details to help it move to a per-project flat-rate option. Per-hour pricing also works well for maintenance updates or long-term ongoing projects.
Charging a per-project flat rate
Charging a flat rate makes the most sense when the client brief is clear and structured, and we can predict how much work the project will entail. Some clients are more hesitant to agree to a flat rate. Presenting one flat rate before any work is done can make some clients nervous or cause sticker shock, prompting them to go elsewhere.
I'm interested in development services. How do I get started?
Scroll down to the bottom of this page and submit the online form after clicking on the “Request more information” button. A technical consultant will contact you to schedule a meeting with a broad understanding of all development services to investigate further.
Get More Information About PrintNow Development Services
Want to learn more? We can help find the service that’s right for you.
Need additional help or more marketing services?
For deeply customized execution or consultancy services, our partners offer a wide range of services to help you grow better. To find out more, click here.
