VistaPrint

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VistaPrint
Type Public (NASDAQ: VPRT)
Founded 2000
Headquarters Hamilton, Bermuda
Key people Robert Keane (CEO); Wendy Cebula President - VistaPrint North America; Janet Holian President - VistaPrint Europe; Trynka Shineman (CMO)-VistaPrint North America; Nick Ruotolo (CMO)-VistaPrint Europe; Don Nelson (CIO)
Industry Printing Companies
Products Business Cards, Websites, Postcards, Magnets, Car Door Magnets, Invitations, Announcements, Hats T-shirts, creative services, etc.
Revenue US$ 256 million (2007)
Employees 1,300 (as of April 29, 2008)
Website www.vistaprint.com

VistaPrint is a web-based manufacturer of customized printed products such as business cards and t-shirts which operates 19 Web sites, localized for languages and currencies.

Contents

[edit] Business

Based in Hamilton, Bermuda, VistaPrint employs over 1,200 employees globally in its offices and printing facilities. The company’s US offices are located in Lexington, Massachusetts, while its European offices are in Barcelona. Its two printing facilities, which total over 200,000 square feet of production space, are located in Windsor, Ontario and Venlo, the Netherlands. VistaPrint uses patented technology to aggregate and print large numbers of customized orders in its automated production facilities in North America and Europe.[1] This technology enables VistaPrint to print an average of 30,000 orders daily.

Orders for customers in North America are printed in the company’s plant in Windsor, Canada[2].

European and Asia Pacific orders that are placed by consumers are manufactured by VistaPrint B.V. in Venlo, the Netherlands[3].

North American printing facilities in Canada

VistaPrint's European printing facilities in the Netherlands

The company’s customer service center, VistaPrint Jamaica Limited, is headquartered in Montego Bay, Jamaica and is staffed by company employees since its doors opened in November of 2003[4].

[edit] History

The company was founded in 1995 and went public in 2005 [5][6] and is traded on the NASDAQ as VPRT. As of 2008, Europe was VistaPrint’s fastest growing geographic market.[7]

In 2007, VistaPrint entered the services and wearable markets, offering mailing and creative services[8] and T-shirts[9]. The company also entered a strategic partnership with OfficeMax where customers were able to order business cards, brochures and other printed materials in stores under the OfficeMax ImPress brand [10]. VistaPrint further expanded their product line in April of 2008 with customizable Web sites[11].

In May 2008 the company changed their organizational structure to consist of two geographically-focused business units, one in North America and the other in Europe. The North American unit will be led by President - VistaPrint North America Wendy Cebula, who was formerly the chief operating officer; former Chief Marketing Officer Janet Holian has been promoted to the position of president - VistaPrint Europe and will lead the European team from Barcelona [12][13].

[edit] Criticism

VistaPrint's partnerships in the United Kingdom have attracted criticism[14][15]. Critics have stated that VistaPrint's customers are enrolled without their knowledge in a reward voucher scheme operated by an associated company, VPrewards.com, at a cost of £9.95 a month, that no information on the reward scheme is provided to customers subsequently and that it is up to the customers to detect the fact that they have been enrolled as members and to cancel unwanted membership. A similar scheme operates in the U.S.A.[16].

[edit] Awards

Year Award Name Recipient/Rank
2008 Internet Retailer Top 500 Retail Web sites VistaPrint #57
NEDMA Marketing Prodigy Christine Wallace[17]
ComputerWorld Premier IT Leaders Wendy Cebula[18]
Printing Impressions 400 VistaPrint #32[19]
2007 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 VistaPrint #205[20]
CIO 100 VistaPrint[21]
Deloitte Technology Fast 50, New England VistaPrint[22]
ComputerWorld 40 Under 40 Wendy Cebula[23]
Internet Retailer Top Retail Web sites VistaPrint #79[24]
The Globe 100, The Best of Massachusetts Business VistaPrint #12[25]
Boston Business Journal Best Places to Work VistaPrint, Midsized Company Honoree[26]
NEDMA Creative Excellence Award Silver Medal - Best Catalog[27]
Marketing Sherpa Email Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, VistaPrint[28]
2006 Internet Retailer Top 500 Retail Web sites VistaPrint #96
Small Business Technology Magazine Product to Watch Customized Printed Products[29]
Foil Stamping & Embossing Association Bronze Leaf[30]
MetrixLab Best Website of the Year www.vistaprint.es
Deloitte Technology Fast 500 VistaPrint #140[31]
Deloitte Technology Fast 50, New England VistaPrint
2005 CIO 100 VistaPrint
Print Excellence and Knowledge Awards, Sponsored by Print Solutions Magazine VistaPrint
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Robert Keane[32]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Patent 6,976,798: "Method for processing aggregate print jobs"
  2. ^ "Plant Expansion Creates 100 Jobs", Windsor Star, May 14, 2008. 
  3. ^ "VistaPrint Expands European Printing and Distribution Plant", Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, April 9, 2008. 
  4. ^ "VistaPrint Opens Call Centre in MoBay", Jamaica Gleaner, November 21, 2003. 
  5. ^ "VistaPrint to raise up to $61M in IPO", September 8, 2005. 
  6. ^ IPO Center, VistaPrint MSN Money Central
  7. ^ Steverman, Ben. "VistaPrint Chases Away the gloom", Business Week. 
  8. ^ "VistaPrint Ventures into Mailing, Creative", Printing Impressions, June 25, 2007. 
  9. ^ Splash Magazine Staff. "Father’s Day Gift Guide", Splash Magazine, June 12, 2007. 
  10. ^ "VistaPrint steps into stores with business printing services via OfficeMax terminals", Internet Retailer, September 2007. 
  11. ^ "Going beyond business cards, VistaPrint will host sites for small companies", Internet Retailer, April 2008. 
  12. ^ "VistaPrint restructures, names Wendy Cebula president", Mass High Tech, May 22, 2008. 
  13. ^ "VistaPrint, Lexington", Boston Globe, May 14, 2008. 
  14. ^ Dibben, Margaret. "Ski firm says I booked online - but I was only browsing", The Observer, 2007-09-23. 
  15. ^ Scamwatch - Small Business. Federation of Small Businesses. Retrieved on 2008-05-15.
  16. ^ "Comsumer complaints about VistaPrint.com", consumeraffairs.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-23. 
  17. ^ "Prodigy Award Winners", New England Direct Marketing Association, May 2008. 
  18. ^ "Class of 2008 Yearbook: The Honorees", ComputerWorld, December 2007. 
  19. ^ "Printing Impressions 400", Printing Impressions, December 2007. 
  20. ^ "Deloitte Technology Fast 500", Deloitte, September 2007. 
  21. ^ "Winner Profile - VistaPrint", CIO, September 2007. 
  22. ^ "Deloitte technology Fast 50, New England", Deloitte, September 2007. 
  23. ^ "Profile: Wendy Cebula", ComputerWorld, July 9, 2007. 
  24. ^ "The Top 500 Guide", Internet Retailer, June 2007. 
  25. ^ "The Globe 100", Boston Globe, May 22, 2007. 
  26. ^ "Best Places to Work", Boston Business Journal, May 2007. 
  27. ^ "NEDMA Creative Excellence Award Winners", NEDMA, April 17, 2007. 
  28. ^ "MarketingSherpa's Email Award Winner Gallery 2007: Creative for Your Swipe File", Marketing Sherpa, March 13, 2007. 
  29. ^ "2006 Product of the Year to Watch", Small Business Technology Magazine, January 31, 2007. 
  30. ^ "Bronze Leaf Award", FSEA, December 2006. 
  31. ^ "Deloitte Technology Fast 500", Deloitte, October 2006. 
  32. ^ "Robert Keane", Ernst & Young, July 15, 2005.