Vista Print

A large online supplier of printed and promotional material, Vista Print was founded in Paris, France in 1995 by current President and CEO Robert Keane. He developed the plan while he was still in INSEAD Business School and immediately realizing it after he graduated. He is interested in closing what he perceived as a gap in the printing industry’s market with regard to the micro or small business, because the traditional print shops typically generated orders only in the thousands, something many small businesses could not afford.

Using advanced technology to group similar orders in large groups, Vistaprint produces large numbers of orders in short runs. This allows for consumers to get quantities in low volumes, as low as ten for example, rather than thousands. Using the Internet as a medium, graphic design is offered through online design studios. Anyone can then design a product and order it through the site. These processes and manufacturing methods have been incorporated across the company’s vast product line.

Based in Venlo, the Netherlands, Vistaprint employs over 2,700 employees globally in its offices and printing facilities. The company’s U.S. offices are in Lexington, Massachusetts, while its European offices are in Barcelona, Spain. Its three printing facilities, which total almost 800,000 square feet (74,000 m²) of production space, are in Deer Park, Australia, Windsor, Ontario and Venlo, the Netherlands. Vistaprint uses patented technology to aggregate and print large numbers of customized orders in its automated production facilities in North America and Europe. This technology enables Vistaprint to process an average of 71,000 orders daily. Thus, it’s not really surprising if in the 26th annual GAM 101 listing, the company is the 40th largest (by revenue) and the 4th fastest growing printing company in North America. It is also the 6th largest public printing company (by market cap).