Canvas & More, a specialist personalised print business based in Cape Town South Africa, found themselves short-changed when working with photo personalisation software before joining forces with Taopix. The retailer, specialising in photobooks, personalised magnets, canvases, and personalised puzzles have a company mission to deliver premium products within the fastest possible timeframe. As a team of approximately 75 employees, they have a company ethos of striving for excellence within their 1500m2 warehouse – the hub of their business.
Jeremy de Goede, CEO of Canvas & More, tells of how inadequate and oversold software providers caused difficulty for the company. “We were looking for a good online photobook software to integrate with our website to start selling photobooks. We did try and take short cuts to keep the initial expenditures to a minimum and signed up with another photobook software provider. We were promised the world and they failed dismally, dragging our name through the mud at the same time.” With company reputation dwindling at the hands of a third party, de Goede understood that not only was change needed for his business to offer the service their customers deserved, but also needed for Canvas & More to avoid spiralling into a brand to avoid. Such change was vital for the survival of the small business.
In early 2022, de Goede was introduced to Taopix. As a market-leading photo personalisation software provider, Taopix embodied the high-quality products and ease of use that de Goede needed for his business. After having been disadvantaged by inadequate software, there was understandable hesitance to commit to a new provider. 8 months after introduction, Canvas & More selected Taopix as their new photo personalisation software for their range of photobooks.
“Taopix is a high-end solution which we found to be quite pricey, especially for a small business launching a new product from scratch. Its values of incredible customer service and premium products/solutions align perfectly with ours – we’ve realised that the old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ definitely rings true. We now stand out from our competitors as we are running with the elite software solution. Taopix is worth every cent.”
The extensive period of consideration resulted in what de Goede describes as “an emergency integration” of the software which was “efficient and stress free”. Confident from the increased volume of photobook orders since replacing their previous photobook software with Taopix, Canvas & More have been able to invest in their production methods with the welcome addition of a new mini press.
“As a business, we realised that if we want to impress our customers and benefit from word-of-mouth referrals, we needed to deliver the very best photobooks possible. For this reason, we decided to invest more to upgrade our photo printer after we saw that there was potential in the new product.” An increased quality of product has allowed and encouraged continual internal investment within the business, with results above what was previously possible for the brand. To date, Canvas & More are proud to share that they have serviced over 1 million customers. Continual investment, higher quality products and an expansion of product range creates great revenue forecasting for snowballing success of the brand. De Goede goes on to share, “Knowing that we have such a strong, reliable software partner by our side has given us the confidence to ramp up our photobook marketing efforts and scale that side of the business – knowing we won’t let our clients down”.
Michael Carey, Commercial Director at Taopix, states that “We were thrilled to welcome Canvas & More with their ambition of increasing the scale of their business and quality of their products. Being able to facilitate such success after they had been dealt a bad hand epitomises our ideology at Taopix, where we believe in a ‘value added’ approach. Through our attentive representatives and dedicated support team, who can seemingly move mountains, we work with our customers to create the best opportunity for their success.”
Today, Jeremy de Goede has ambitions to expand Canvas & More into an international brand – ambitions much more achievable thanks to the successful expansion. Increased revenue, better technology, and a larger pool of potential customers all derived from working with Taopix has ascertained that the business is on the right path to breaking into personalised print markets beyond their South African roots. As a global brand itself, Taopix has experience in navigating personalised print within various market locations and are well positioned for supporting Canvas & More in this expansion.
If the plight of Canvas & More’s previous insufficient software provider is a truth too close to home, or if you’re considering a break-out into the personalised print market, Taopix can assist you in achieving your goals. Contact Taopix to gather more information on how your business would benefit from working alongside the leading photo personalisation software.
