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Morten B. Reitoft: Please introduce yourself, Miki Rubin, your company, and in what way you are involved in Imprimu?

Miki Rubin: With pleasure! Although, I would first like to thank you for inviting me to participate in this series of interviews.

My passion for print started from a young age, working summers in the family business. Later, while in college in NYC pursuing a career in finance and entrepreneurship, I found myself grabbing the highest-paid part-time job available for international students on campus: the print shop. I started as a digital press operator and later took on additional roles, managing hundreds of MFP leases across several campuses. At the time, I viewed this job as good pocket money while studying and dedicating my summer internships to finance, my chosen major. A few weeks before graduation, in 2008, the financial markets crashed, and it was time to redraw career plans.

By Miki Rubin, Imprimu & Morten B. Reitoft INKISH

Miki Rubin: I was offered a management-trainee rotational position back in Panama with the local printing equipment distributor for Konica Minolta, Riso, Duplo, Samsung, and other great brands. What originally started as a two-year gig turned into 10+ years of an amazing learning and growth experience. I found myself eventually leading the tech support team (by the way, I firmly believe that many industries can learn from print what genuinely great customer service looks like) and later leading strategy and operations. It was a wonderful experience that allowed me to work very closely with regional allies, technicians, clients, administration, logistics, sales, and OEM's.

Parallel to this, I was constantly asked by friends and contacts to recommend where to print "X." Being on the supplier side; I understood fully what margin the printers were charging to their final customers. And while I saw continued growth of the install base, nothing evolved on the end-customer experience side. This smelled like an opportunity worth exploring.For many years I was amazed by what online print was doing in Europe and decided to visit OPS (Online Print Symposium) in Munich 2019, where I had the opportunity to hear and share with top leaders in the field. It served as one of the catalysts for me to leave the corporate world and innovate.

We build Imprimu as a regional network of local, satisfaction-guaranteed, online print hubs in Latin America. Not only are we offering local customers a new experience, but also, through our network, access to an almost untapped market for global players looking to enter it.

We are an early-stage startup, so as founder and CEO, my role is pretty dynamic. My main roles are business development, leading regional expansion, managing provider relationships, fundraising (currently raising!), and many others. I also book time every week as 1st line customer support to have direct insight into the "front-lines" of the business.

Morten B. Reitoft: IMPRIMU is addressing online-print customers - Today, I believe that most online printers are focusing MAINLY on commodity products. Do you think Online Print will be the most dominant channel for all types of print in the future?

Miki Rubin: You are right; most online printers currently focus on commodity products. However, we aren't only focusing on the classic online-print market; we focus on solving clients' needs, which can't always be done with commodity products. It's a different approach, which has allowed us to do some pretty cool niche productions, even in gifting and merch. Imprimu's philosophy focuses on the framework and experience rather than the specific product at hand, evangelizing between commodity and niche products.
I think it's important to define what online print is, and that's somewhat subjective. Most people begin searching online; you might end up on a B2C shop, Instagram business account, or even at a company's LinkedIn profile. What the process is until payment is what varies, and that's where I believe we will see a change in the next few years.

Generational changes are happening worldwide, affecting the purchasing and decision processes both in individual buyers and corporations, where convenient online tools are gaining traction. Businesses are transitioning over time to purchasing more online, and not only print.

Also, many designers and agencies with face-to-face relationships with customers are using professional online print solutions targeting resellers (like print.com, OnlinePrinters, Probo, etc.) to produce products for their final customers.

Regarding transaction volumes, online-print will be the most dominant channel (direct or through resellers). However, regarding $ amount transacted, large accounts like labels and packaging will mostly stay offline.

Morten B. Reitoft: Will Online Print be able even to advise customers who have doubts about paper, production technology, design limitations, etc.? or will there be a bigger differentiation between the PSPs able to deliver that service level compared to the online printers?

Miki Rubin: There is a significant portion of the business that can't be replaced by online-only. Large corporate accounts need face-to-face interaction, credit, etc. However, I do see online print as an enabler for these relationships, a hybrid if you will.

We see great results from our live chat and WhatsApp support, where customers browsing our site get personalized service. It also provides us with a channel to follow up on interesting leads.

I believe it's important to take a step back and re-address the value proposition to the end customer, whether online or offline. For example, owning the design part of the process can leverage the relationship and invite the customer to re-engage.

Also, some pretty nice websites do a great job explaining substrate options and technology, some with amazing videos and others even sending free samples of materials. Reseller platforms delve into more options and details because of the type of customers. And let's not forget the convenience of online reviews...

It will definitely be interesting to see how differentiation evolves between offline vs. online in the coming years.

Morten B. Reitoft: Does online equal low price, or is that one big misunderstanding?

Miki Rubin: I think it is a matter of convenience and user experience, which varies per product, customer, and geography. There is no question that online print can facilitate part of print processes, and in a market like ours, online print also addresses extreme fragmentation. Therefore in the long term, online print will naturally push for lower costs. The same happened to many other industries that have been digitized. But the end-focus is not a lower price tag for the end customer; instead, value add along the process and experience of procurement for everyone involved.

Morten B. Reitoft: Looking at your website, your site is available in Spanish and English; why is that? And With that said, do you believe that a Latin American service can attract global customers?

Miki Rubin: It's not just our website; we also have English-speaking customer support. This has allowed us to attract high-level corporate customers, often multinationals, who likely might not have engaged us at all due to the language barrier. And yes, there are niche products that we can produce for the US market. But that's another story. And lastly, our CTO is dutch, so he'd have a hard time if it was all in Spanish ;)
(By the way, our site still needs work, and you will see some nice changes soon. Still, as is and with our marketing campaigns, we are already getting great leads.)

Morten B. Reitoft: Are you a print service provider, a printing company, or an IT company?

We are Imprimu :) It's a complicated question to answer, but it really depends on who we are speaking to. For an end-consumer, we are a print service provider; for a corporation, we are a printing company; and for a PSP, we are an IT company. We don't own hardware, if that's what you ask...

Morten B. Reitoft: How fragile is a company like IMPRIMU to local and global competition? And how do you address this?

Miki Rubin: We are a startup, after all, so there is definitely vulnerability. However, everyone is fragile in the long term unless they adapt (especially in our industry). We focus on solid foundations and relationships that will allow us to grow while providing value to everyone involved.

Locally, competition is something we look forward to. Firstly, it helps us educate consumers in our market on online print and eCommerce. Secondly, it makes us always strive for excellence. I would be more worried without competition.

Globally, despite its enormous potential, Latin America has typically been seen as a complicated and sometimes 'not-worth-the-headache' market. The main reasons for this being our expensive logistics and complicated customs within the region. It's an extremely annoying issue to tackle for them.

We have outlined a solution for this and are already exploring synergies with global firms in the industry... I wouldn't be surprised if something interesting emerges from these conversations. We have proven serious opportunities in several of the top growth eCommerce markets globally, and having a partner with more mature technology and experience will just push us forward faster.

Morten B. Reitoft: One thing is the user experience of any shop; what about the technical infrastructure?

Miki Rubin: My father always used to say while we were trying to close a deal: "don't focus only on this sale; take into account your next sale."

User experience is essential, but that's not an exclusively online thing. Companies should always be customer-centric. Several years ago, in business meetings with Japanese OEMs, they would ask for our org charts and would always get weird looks when I placed customers at the center and all the organization looping around.

The technical infrastructure is critical, but I see it as part of the user experience too. Customers' expectations need to be met, and without the appropriate technical infrastructure, it's impossible to.

Morten B. Reitoft: If printing companies are considering the following (please advise).

Miki Rubin: It isn't easy to give generic answers since each PSP is in a different situation (financial, capability, geography, etc.). So here are a few thoughts on each.

Morten B. Reitoft: I am a PSP, and I would like to become a supplier to an online service

Miki Rubin: Make sure you aren't doing it out of desperation, and that online provider VALUES your supply.

Morten B. Reitoft: I am a PSP, and I want to create my own service

Miki Rubin: Start by working on social media presence. Building a webstore is very complicated and a different business by itself. There are many white-label solutions out there, but providers often don't really care about your end customers; it doesn't make a difference to them if you have one checkout or 1,000.

Morten B. Reitoft: I am a PSP, and I have specialized in a certain niche product

Miki Rubin: Speak to your customers and try to find improvements, value-added services, and other products you could offer. I don't think it's wise to put all your eggs into one basket.

Morten B. Reitoft: Where do you see IMPRIMU in 2, 5, or 10 years?

Miki Rubin: 2 years: the strongest network of on-demand print/promotional/gifting in Latin America with customer satisfaction guaranteed at its core.

5 years: Being the top-of-mind name in online print for Latam, launching a few niche products sourced from our network into US/Canada markets.

10 years: There is an ever-increasing need worldwide for localized and near-shore production in several product lines. This is felt very strongly today with the current logistics complications around the globe. Imprimu's quality-focused and process-oriented PSPs, together with a dynamic and powerful technological network, will be extremely well-positioned to fill needs and opportunities for on-demand production and customization of a wide array of products, not only print.


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