Small Business Can

Hi folks,

Would you like to specify a print job and let Irish printers come to you with prices?

Via, www.theprintplaza.com you now can.

We're still some way off a full launch but I'd love to get your input (read constructive criticism) on where we're at to date.

Basic function is in place, some housekeeping & tidying to do still.

Comments?

regards

Brendan

Sounds like a good idea. You should only list printers that do NOT offer a design service. Too many printers are competing with designers these days and I don't believe designers will want to hand work to their competitors.

Thanks Alec,

very interesting point, one I hadn't considered at all!

Brendan

Most printers offer in-house design as well as print services - so you are alienating a lot of your target market if you expect designers to use a service that can potentially be disadvantageous to them .

Also, there is often far more to consider than price alone. Designers will prefer to work with printers who give good value and dependable service, and not necessarily the lowest price alone. Likewise printers appreciate designers sending business their way, and therefore will not want to ruin a good working relationship.
Of course there will always be plenty who are only concerned with getting the cheapest price, but cheap always looks cheap.

Maybe you could provide more information on why people should use your site, especially when you are charging an 8% middleman fee? Your information is not convincing, so maybe you could expand on it a bit more, like selling the idea a bit more to make it sound more attractive than just picking up a phone or sending an email. Will you vouch for the printers that you recommend, and mediate if there is a problem etc...

Hi Anthony

Thanks for your input

Let me try and address some of these.



I could add that criteria to the RFQ form. I want quotes from "Dedicated Printers only"



8% is small in comparison to several factors.
1- the automation & convenience of finding the most suitable provider, beats spending a day repeating your specification to 50 printers for 10 to give you an instant price 5 to come back within 24 hours and 35 to never bother getting back to you.
2- the potential saving (for buyers) when a suitable provider prices a job over a less suitable provider pricing a job - not every printer has the most suitable machinery for every job. Identical Job Quotes regularly vary 1:1.6 , 1:2 or more is not unusual.
3- Providers are free to quote however they wish, many will see an 8% charge as fair for providing work they are better equipped for, so returned quotes wont be +8% in every case.

The site has two features to assist selection (not just price) a feedback system and a certified system, which as the site grows will become invaluable in sifting true top performers from .... well ... others.

We also will act to ensure no project goes ahead without proper credit referencing of buyers, new buyer will have to either deposit payment with us or with the printer before a job will go ahead - we aren't willing to lumber bad debts on our printers.

Thanks for taking the time to consider the matter.

Brendan

Hi Brendan

I like your concept very much and have to disagree with the two comments above. Businesses are looking for value for money and any purchasing manager/director who is worth there salt will give a detailed specification for what they are after. Any printer/designer will appreciate a detailed specification and can provide a competitive quote based on this. There are too many middle men taking a slice in business and i understand you are positioning yourself as a middle man but you are giving the added benefit of cutting out the time factor for a client to search for a price while also providing a competitive quote.

Another avenue you could look at is charging a small number of printing companies to quote rather than the client/winning supplier as this will make your offer more appealing to the customer as your 8% is not added to the suppliers fee.

I am wondering why you are limiting yourself just to the printing industry. I for one am crying out for a supplier to offer a service similar to yours for any service in any industry and if someone has enough money to market the site correctly will surely be a millionaire in a very short time.

Anyway that is my tuppence worth.

Cheers

Karl

Like the idea!

Hi Karl,

Thanks for the encouragement!

The basis of the code for the site allows for the same process across any industry, but the myriad of different questions is just too large, and just leaving a "Enter your description here" field is too vanilla for any one particular market; if it were to be held on one site.

Maybe there are w hole series of plazas out there; Last week I saw a site which allowed for buying & selling Scottish highland sheep!! The mind boggles!!! Sheep Plaza, Engineer Plaza, ......

Another particluar aspect of this is the geography. There are numerous sites which offer "outsource" programmers- where the lowest cost could just as easily be Romaina or India. I Think this application of the "Compare the Market" concept should work well.

Regards

brendan