Drupa Essentials of Print
Lorenzo Villa: Between global trends and local patterns, online printing continues to grow. If the internet has democratised access to information and social media have stimulated interaction between brands, retailers and consumers, Amazon has convinced buyers of all kinds and all ages that buying online is safe, comfortable and even rewarding. And printed products, although more complex and full of customisation and creativity, do not seem to be an exception. The first fledgling phenomena of online print sales go back to the 1990s, but it is only in the last decade that such sales have really taken on significant size, as large players progressively raise the bar in their services and investments and disproportionately broaden their product portfolio, their range of ancillary services, also the geographical reach. All this to the point whereby both the large national operators – those still without an online store, of course – and the thousands of small local print-service pro...