Quark Enlists Printers
Helping franchises and independent printers compete with FedEx Office and UPS Stores, Quark gets sign-on from major U.S. printing franchises Allegra Network, AlphaGraphics, PIP, Signal Graphics, and Sir Speedy, as well as some independent printing operations.
Bill Esler -- Graphic Arts Online, 2009-11-19 21:38:22 EST
Quark announced the launch of QuarkPromote.com, an online print buying service that channels printing jobs to quick and small commercial printers who are members of the Denver premedia software's Quark Alliance.
Aimed at small business customers, the site houses browser-based applications for creating marketing materials from templates, which are then channeled to local print shops for pick-up or mail delivery. Allegra Network, AlphaGraphics, PIP, Signal Graphics, and Sir Speedy have signed on to support the effort. Quark says independent shops have as well.
Quark says QuarkPromote allows printing customers with no previous design or printing experience to customize hundreds of professionally designed templates, designed in Quark Xpress 8, for business cards, postcards, flyers, brochures, etc. After browsing the free professionally designed templates, which include suggested marketing text and stock photos, customers customize them with information about their company, then place printing orders for pick-up at nearby printshops.Quark says QuarkPromote.com offers 4-color, 2-sided materials printed on high-quality paper and standard 5-7 day delivery by mail at a competitive prices, with free shipping--a sale point that parallels FedEx and UPS Store offerings.
"We are entering a booming Web-to-Print market with an exciting offering," says Ray Schiavone, president and CEO of Quark.QuarkPromote.com parallels initiatives by two other natinoal pritning chains not listed in Quark's program: FedEx Office and UPS Store/MailBoxes Etc. By establishing the printing program, Quark may hopes to get a foothold among franchise and independent printing firms, where it has lsot ground to Adobe's Creative Suite applications. Printers would need to use Quark Xpress to print the files uploaded by the online customers at QuarkPromote.com.
"We are adding more printers every day. Printers of any type - large or small - that meet our high standards are invited to participate," says Terry Welty, Quark Senior VP marketing. 
QuarkPromote.com will also include a free directory of professional graphic designers that customers can use to find a nearby designer should they need other types of specialized materials—presumably using Quark Xpress. Designers can join by creating a free account at www.ilovedesign.com; listings in the free directory will be available on QuarkPromote.com beginning in December.
"The goal of Sir Speedy, PIP, and Signal Graphics is to offer small businesses the same type of Web-enabled customizable marketing materials and services previously available only to large companies," says Rich Lowe, president and COO of Franchise Services, Inc., parent of PIP Printing and Sir Speedy.
Darnell Ghidotti, VP business solutions at AlphaGraphics, a Salt Lake City franchise subsidiary of Pindar.
"As a part of the QuarkPromote.com community of printers, we are pleased with the opportunity to provide a convenient and high-quality print experience to small businesses."
Quark says QuarkPromote.com lets customers edit customized templates in a downloadable rich-design application. "This is substantially different from other Web-to-print offerings that generally rely on an editing process that can often be rigid and unreliable, limiting creativity and control," says the company. The QuarkPromote.com template editor is currently available for Windows, and the recommended system requirements are a Windows PC with 1GB RAM and a 512MB graphics card.