WebImprime : a Web-to-Print Company Adaption to the Portuguese online/offline shopping behavior

: a case on online consumer behavior and STP strategies

Abstract

The growth of the internet use has enhanced, in the last years, the chance for companies to take advantage of this medium in their businesses. The Web-to-Print and Print-on-Demand models have arrived recently to the Printing Industry aligned with that premises. However, the recurrence to physical printing stores in order to satisfy printing needs, such as the print of stationary material, is still a reality in the Portuguese Printing Industry. WebImprime - the first Portuguese web-to-print company – is operating in that industry only with an online store. Nowadays it is struggling to grow its market share, since the Portuguese consumers are still reluctant regarding web-only shopping. Besides, a big Portuguese chain that operates in various business segments is about to enter the market with both physical and online presence. Simão Vaz, the marketing manager and co-founder of the company, is facing a challenge on whether to change its strategy by shifting its focus from the current target (online consumers, who represent only 7% of the market) to the majority of print consumers, the offline ones. Putting that hypothesis, along with the teaching case, a deep study on the situational context is done, being afterwords complemented with an analysis of the online and offline consumer´s behavior as well as shopping habits, while suggesting ways to improve the company´s website reliability and, at the same time, triggering the viability of opting for a hybrid strategy with the purpose of reaching both segments and getting an higher market share.

Date of Award	25 Feb 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paulo Alexandre Gonçalves Marcos (Supervisor)