As part of a strategic expansion of its sales territory, Portuguese print e-commerce company 360 onlineprint is now active in the UK, following a funding round of just over US $20 million from various German, French and Portuguese sources including the European Regional Development Fund.
Established in 2013, the company is already active in Portugal, Spain, Brazil and Mexico. The new expansion targets North America and 14 other European countries as well as the UK. 360 onlineprint uses a ‘without fabrication’ business model, making it in effect a print broker. It claims to have 60% market share, based on volume of online visits compared to competitors, and offers a range of printed products from business cards and simple stationery to flyers, t-shirts and banners to SME and professional print customers. By focusing on software development, embodied in a series of modules, it operates an aggregation service that it says allows it to guarantee lowest prices.
The software development covers both internal operations, such as product catalogues, prices and integration with payment service providers, and production and logistics partners. As well as picking and packaging software, this also includes algorithms that select production sites based on product type and delivery destination.
Technology director Hugo Neto said, ‘In a context of rapid growth like ours, we must always be one step (or two!) ahead of all challenges, in order to be able to act as business facilitators. 360 onlineprint is an innovative, technology-based company, therefore we always pay close attention to the latest trends in matters such as performance, scalability, automation, artificial intelligence or augmented reality.’
The 360 onlineprint portfolio currently comprises around 400 products across seven ranges and fulfils 4500 orders a day. It plans to expand this vigorously to over 20,000 products over the next three years, aiming to include the packaging for its orders, magazines, catalogues, books and derivatives, roll labels and ranges for the food service industry. It expects to expand its current staff of 200 – of which 60 are software engineers – by a further 100 in the next 12 months. Initial production for UK customers will be in Portugal but the company is looking for UK partners.
