“Most clients have an idea of what they want their final product to look like, but they are not able to describe to us what that vision is exactly, but they have one. Unfortunately, we can’t read minds.” These were the words of Michael, a renowned printer in Lagos when asked about his pains dealing with customers.
On the other hand, Ibukun, the Head of Sales at a renowned company in Nigeria said, “Many times, I meet with a printer and explain what I’d like my final product to look like. I leave, feeling I was clear enough, but when I receive it, it’s like they weren’t paying attention at all.”
It was concerns like these that led the team at Pringine to conclude that customers experience difficulties explaining their branding ideas to a printer. Often, there’s miscommunication, which leads to undesired results after printing. Customers don’t pay in full because many printers fail to deliver correctly. On the other hand, printers want payment in full because many customers fail to complete payment after delivery. To solve these problems, Pringine is bringing accuracy, trust and convenience to the printing industry in Nigeria, and Africa as a whole.
The team at Pringine had developed a powerful product design tool that lets you easily convert your branding ideas into beautiful and professional product mockups with a single drag-and-drop interface that eliminates miscommunication, and to seamlessly send it to a vetted and approved printer who confirms their order, prints and delivers within three working days. Its escrow ensures the customer pays in full before printing starts, assuring the printer that payment is secured, and the customer that the printer receives it only after an accurate job is done.
“When you design your product mockup on Pringine, you can either publish it to your storefront for public sale or send it directly for printing. When the product is purchased from your storefront, or when you send your mockup directly for printing, a vetted and approved printer receives this order, prints and delivers within three working days using one of our courier partners,” Solomon Igori, the CTO, described the entire process. “If the customer is satisfied, Pringine releases the payment to the printer, else, we investigate the issue, and resolve it as soon as possible, so that both parties are satisfied.”
“Pringine was created to disrupt 27% of the $6 billion printing industry in Africa, which accounts for the printing of custom merchandise and marketing materials and is valued at $1.6 billion. However, we will be starting with the $200 million Nigerian print market. This will be our entry market, and our point of expansion,” says Chidi Nwaogu, the CEO.
Pringine makes its revenue from the 10% commission it receives from fulfilling each printing orders and projects a revenue of $14 million within the near five years. “We have adopted an agent model where people, we call agents, help onboard printers and businesses on our platform and receive a commission when we fulfill a printing order that involves any of the parties they help onboard on our platform,” says Esther Njoku, the CMO, when speaking on ways Pringine will enter and conquer the Nigerian market.
When asked about what makes Pringine unique, Chidi said, “Our Escrow system, which fosters transparency, our access to multiple vetted and approved printers, and our design collaborative feature, which allows designers and business owners to collaborate in real-time on a product mockup, makes us stand out. These are some of the uniqueness of Pringine that gives us a competitive edge over other print-on-demand platforms.”
Speaking about the future of Pringine, Solomon said, “We are working hard to improve our product, and we will be launching our mobile applications for customers, printers and courier partners. This will be launched in the first quarter of next year to make communication and operations seamless. Also next year, we will also be launching our 3D product design tool with an AR product mockup rendering feature that will give our customers a realistic visualization of how their final product will look like when printed. These and many more are coming from the Pringine team.”
