Digital printing is an emerging technology that doesn’t follow the same rules as traditional printing. It is fast and economical in small quantities, with the associated cost savings for your business. Conventional printing, on the other hand, has significant set-up costs, and is therefore better suited to large print runs. If you are printing many thousands of copies, traditional printing might be cheaper on a per-unit basis. On the other hand, if you are a small company or customer interested in a limited number of booklets, flyers or business cards, digital printing might well be more suitable.

The scales at which conventional and digital printing are economical are wildly different, then. But quality and speed also come into the equation. All things being equal, with traditional printing you would expect higher quality to mean slower production and higher prices. This is not always true with digital printing, where similar or even higher quality can be carried out faster due to higher-end printers being used. The results of a comparison between three major companies (Vistaprint, Moo and Printed.com) for a set of business cards are therefore surprising. Because of the differences in product, exactly comparing like with like is difficult. However, that actually doesn’t affect the end result of the process... 

Price

The quoted price for broadly similar jobs are widely different. Vistaprint comes in at £54.79, Moo at £59.39 and Printed.com at £36.98. For such a range of prices, you would expect significant variation in quality and speed of delivery. This proves to be the case, although not in the way you might expect.

Quantity and quality

Firstly, it’s worth saying that Vistaprint and Printed.com both give you 250 cards for your money, whereas Moo provides just 200. Now, the difference between Vistaprint and Moo’s prices might be explained by the fact that Moo provides a matt laminated silk finish, whereas Vistaprint’s is an uncoated matt finish. But the third digital printing company, Printed.com, provides the same matt laminated silk finish as the expensive option, but at a price of less than 15p per card versus almost 27p per card for Moo – almost half the cost.

Of course, finish isn’t the only factor. What about card weight? Well, once again Printed.com comes in a tied first, this time with Moo, both of whom offer 350gsm card against Vistaprint’s 280gsm.

Speed

You would typically expect higher quality and lower prices to be associated with slower delivery, but once again the comparison shows that not all digital printing companies were created equal. Vistaprint and Moo offer standard three-day delivery at £14.95 and £15.50 respectively. Printed.com has a standard two-day turnaround, at the lower price of £7.65.

On these criteria, Printed.com comes out a clear first for our three digital printing companies, proving consistently faster, cheaper and better quality than the competition. These curious results might partly be explained by the different printers the three companies use. Vistaprint uses a Xerox printer, whereas Moo has an HP Indigo 5500 and Printed.com an HP Indigo 7500. For differences between Xerox and HP Indigo, you will have to look at the reviews of print quality and other comparison factors on the web – there are plenty of these around. The two HP printers, though, seem to be much of a muchness in terms of quality. It’s just that the 7500 seems to be geared to higher print volumes – presumably enabling a faster turn-around time.

Conclusion

Digital printing is a fast, cheap, high-quality and scalable technology. There are a number of big companies on the web, but these offer very different deals. Of the three companies reviewed here, Printed.com comes out on top – but if you know of any other contenders, do get in touch.

This article was supplied by printed.com, a supplier of quality digital printing and an accredited member of the Direct Marketing Association.