Jordan’s National Press has become the first company in the country to invest in Taopix’s photo commerce software platform.
Founded in 1925, the 180-strong company is one of the largest printing establishments in the Middle East, housing the latest state-of-art prepress, conventional and digital printing as well as postpress equipment at its site in Amman.
The company first invested in digital equipment at Drupa in 2008 with the purchase of a Kodak Nexpress S3000. Since then, it has added Konica Minolta and Ricoh digital presses to its impressive plant list.
National Press Finance Director, Karim Samman, says “Like many other print businesses, we’re witnessing a shift away from traditional offset to digital print and this shift has given us the opportunity to diversify. Our customers are asking for photo books and other personalised photo products and we’ve realised that there is a gap in the market.”
“We’ve already invested in the digital presses so it made sense for us to look for a design and ordering software that would give us an end to end platform to satisfy the demand in the market.”
“I began my search a while ago and came across a Taopix demonstration online. The software looked simple to use from a consumer perspective and I thought it would be an effective tool to help us expand our B2C side of the business. This service is not offered in Jordan which makes it a great opportunity for us.”
“The beauty of Taopix is that it looks simple on the outside, as far as end users are concerned, but it’s sophisticated on the inside. It has great functionality and customisation options, and I’m expecting the purchase to open new doors for National Press.”
“We plan to produce photo books, calendars and personalised notebooks that are easy to print and bind and launch with a completely new B2C web store.”
“We’re looking to target families, students and newlyweds. We’re also looking to offer customized event giveaways and high quality albums for wedding photographers and photo books for travel companies.”
“It’s important to be first in any market and we want to be market leaders in the photo personalisation market. We plan to focus on the Jordanian market first then, if there is an opportunity to grow across other regions, we will embrace it.”
Taopix Business Development Manager for the region, Michael Carey, says “It’s always exciting when a new customer comes on board but even more so when they’re in a new territory and have the opportunity to create a completely new market. We wish Karim and his team all the best in their new venture and will be on hand to help them reach their goals.”