Malaysian personalized gifting startup shares business growth

In your search for customizable gifts, you may have come across Printcious. You’ve been in the gift industry since 2007, but initially under a different name: Heartbeat.my.

They are now fully online and will celebrate their sixth anniversary as Printcious in 2021.

It’s a proud accomplishment for the team that made it this far when they were still just starting out and seeing healthy cash flow.

Since our last interview with the team in 2016, he has gone from a B2C approach to a B2B approach.

CEO Vincent Tong told the Vulcan Post there were three reasons:

• B2B has a higher average order value,
• B2B tends to have lower customer acquisition costs (CAC) and higher useful life value (LTV) than B2C.
• There is still a great opportunity in the B2B gift market.

This move paid off, as they saw 20% year-over-year growth in users, 70% of their revenue coming from the B2B sector and 30% from the B2C sector.

“In 2020, regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic, we will print more than 100,000 items per month, from B2B and B2C bulk orders,” added Vincent.

Data is king

The changed shopping habits during the pandemic also boosted their production, and SMEs have continually sought out gifts such as mugs, badges and laces to promote their brands and retain their customers.

Our mood has not been affected by the pandemic either, as we still have festivities in small, safe circles and share gifts.

Printcious is used to this influx of orders over the holiday season, and after all these years in the industry, they know how important it is to brace themselves and be prepared for the growing demand.

They predict their customers’ buying habits in the coming weeks based on data collected over the months and ensure their inventory and workforce can keep up with demand.

“We anticipate market demands or carry out our market research on the basis of Google Keywords Research and Google Trends. In other words, high search volume equals high demand, ”said Vincent.

For example, from April to June 2020, they found that the demand for puzzles increased significantly according to Google searches.

“After doing some research online, we found that everyone stayed home and enjoyed their puzzle game. With this information, we quickly replenish our materials to avoid shortages. Next, we review our marketing and production strategies to fully focus on these highly sought after products. “

Customer feedback is also important; You can get it through WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, with their customer service team available every day.

Stay one step ahead

A simple Google search would tell you that while Printcious is a household name in the personalized gift industry, it is by no means the only one out there.

Vincent, of course, is aware of this and has already put a plan in place to keep Printcious one step ahead.

“We started to focus on the merchandise program and actively seek partnerships and co-branding campaigns with retailers, Youtubers, KOLs and other public figures so we can work together to build brand awareness. while finding a solution for their products to meet the needs of goods, ”he said.

However, he added, “To be honest, personalization of gifts is not so popular in the ASEAN market as it is in Western countries.”

For Printcious, competition is a good thing, as they can split the “tuition” between themselves when they educate the market about personalization of gifts.

Plus, Vincent thinks it’s a healthy part of any industry because it’s a reminder not to take things for granted, to keep working hard, to keep moving forward, and to follow trends.

Regardless, he also said that most of the people in the custom printed gift industry are friends of Printcious as well.

Personal gifts won’t go out of style

I am by no means a great gift and I personally have a hard time personalizing printed gifts for someone because I never know if it’s something they want or not. (Although it could be argued that thought matters).

With the evolution of gift trends, I asked Vincent a question of someone outside of the industry: “Do you think personalized printed gifts will ever go out of style?

Anyway, he said no. An entrepreneur article states: “Industry revenues are expected to reach $ 77 billion by the end of 2022. This means that, along with personal and business gifts, the gift industry will account for nearly 80% of retail market share ”.

Printcious’s own research suggests it’s a thriving industry because:

• Now, with advanced printing technology, it is much easier to print a gift on demand at a lower cost.
• E-commerce has made the buying process faster and easier,
• Phone cameras make it easy to create personalized gifts with photos.

Not to mention that consumers tire of ready-made gifts and are actively looking for something special and memorable to impress their recipients.

“Plus, touching people’s hearts will never go out of style. And as we get more and more involved in our life and work, and with the pandemic, we separate more and more, so personalized gifts will place even more importance on recipients as a token. of memory and appreciation, ”concluded Vincent. .

In fact, they are confident enough to invest this year in a new production facility to have more presses in a larger area for on-time deliveries.

• If you are planning to receive gifts for the upcoming holidays, Printcious has given Vulcan Post readers a special discount code:
  VUL65. This code is valid until December 31, 2020.
• You can find more information about Printcious here.
• You can find more information on what we wrote about Printcious here.

Source of featured image: Henry Tong and Vincent Tong, co-founders of Printcious