Online Print Symposium 2025: Online print is at a crossroads, but the signs are pointing to growth

Over the two days of the event, two keynote speakers, eleven speakers and four start-ups provided exciting insights into their business models and corporate culture. They answered questions as to how AI is used successfully and discussed what companies in the online print industry will have to face in the wake of the Accessibility Improvement Act.

Increasing complexity in the value chain and the most important trends in online print

Dr. Michael Fries, Executive Vice President for Europe and Global Manufacturing at VistaPrint, summed it up in his opening keynote: “The growth dynamic in online print is no longer the same as it was a few years ago. Print runs are going down, individual orders are becoming smaller in value. Customers are changing, there are more and more individualization techniques.” As a result, complexity is increasing in all areas of the value chain. Print service providers who want to remain successful in the future must learn to manage this complexity, including with the help of artificial intelligence.

The online print industry is at a crossroads, as Bernd Zipper, founder and CEO of zipcon consulting and co-organizer of the Online Print Symposium, underlined in his presentation “Changing the game in Online Print 2025”. He outlined the key trends, such as social commerce, AI and many others, that will permanently change the business of online print service providers in the coming years. He emphasized not only the impressive development that this industry has already undergone, but also that it is now at a critical point in its growth in the face of multiple (economic) crises and ever new legal regulations. What once began as a niche has developed into a technically highly automated, innovation-driven and marketing-oriented key sector within the printing industry.

At the moment, online print shops are having to adapt to and deal with so many things in so many areas. Nevertheless, Bernd Zipper is certain: “Onlineprint continues to grow”. And not just too fast, as his figures show. The online print expert predicts growth of +9.2% in total online-generated print revenue (OGPR) this year. At +8.9%, growth in the B2C market will be even stronger than in the B2B market (+6.0%). However, in order to benefit from this growth, online printers need to be one thing above all: resilient, flexible and agile. Because: “Companies that do not manage to work in a resilient, flexible and agile way will find it difficult to survive. We must furthermore all be aware that the most important currency for future growth is trust.”

Customer First – and how to successfully “flirt” with new customer groups

Trust, credibility and authenticity were also central themes in other presentations, albeit from different perspectives. “Why do we focus so much on production, but so little on the people who ultimately receive our products?” asked Annegret Bönemann, Head of CX Practice at the Amsterdam-based company foryouandyourcustomers, ”In the future, it will depend on how well we understand and serve our customers.” How can this work? Bönemann showed the different levels that need to be considered in order to get a complete picture of customer needs – and explained how a customer-first driven business model can be successfully implemented. Three simple steps were enough: eliminate the obvious problems, talk to your customers, to listen, not to sell, and consciously integrate CX into business operations.

The presentations by Florian Hommeyer and Rick Azas focused on customers – or more precisely: how to reach new customer groups via social media. While content creator and entrepreneur Hommeyer emphasized the importance of authenticity for a successful social commerce strategy, which is ultimately based on the principle of H2H – Human to Human, influencer and brand ambassador Rick Azas took the OPS participants on a “deep dive” into the influencer business based on his own path to social media stardom. He spoke about the various channels, including WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Spotify, used examples to show how supposedly sober brands successfully present themselves on Instagram, TikTok and the like, and gave tips on what is important when it comes to social selling.

Lean processes through AI and the value of people for companies

Online print shops, like companies in other industries, are increasingly caught between one aspect – process optimization and increased efficiency – and another – the value of employees. The more efficient and automated a company’s processes are, the lower the error rate and the higher the customer satisfaction. Hans Scheffer, CEO and founder of HelloPrint, used the example of his own company to show how AI can help streamline company processes and teams while still achieving significant increases in revenue as a company.

Jed Seifert, co-founder of the US DTG and DTF specialist Stakes Manufacturing, reported on efficiency gains of a completely different nature – providing a counterpoint to the previous topics. Ten percent of Stakes Manufacturing’s workforce are people with mental and physical disabilities, and, for Seifert, this is one of the reasons for his company’s success. He explained in a very personal way why inclusion is a matter close to his heart and what positive effects this has had on his team of employees and the entire corporate culture. His presentation drew a standing ovation at the Online Print Symposium.

From inclusion to accessibility in the online store

While inclusion within the company itself plays a central role for Jed Seifert, the panel discussion on the second OPS day focused on inclusion in a different sense. Namely, the accessibility of online stores, which should facilitate people with disabilities being able to use the services of online stores in the same way as people without physical limitations. To this end, the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG – Accessibility Improvement Act) comes into force at the end of June, which – as Dr. Martin Schirmbacher explained in his lecture on the OPS stage – also applies to online print shops. The lawyer from Härting Rechtsanwälte (law firm), who specializes in IT law, introduced the participants to the topic, explained the key points of the law, what restrictions there are and what online store operators now have to do. Michael Darsow, Head of Web Applications at Cewe, described what this could look like in concrete terms. In the subsequent discussion round, Schirmbacher and Darsow provided valuable information and very practical tips on the topic of accessibility – and an answer to the question of whether the BFSG actually means the end of web-to-print in the B2C market: No, it does not.

Company insights that offer encouragement – and start-ups that inspire new ways of thinking

However, the Online Print Symposium had much more to offer in terms of content: Johannes Kautz from Hoodie Hoo, for example, gave an insight into how his company, which was a start-up at the OPS in 2022, has developed in recent years and made a name for itself primarily through influencer portals. Christoph Gamper, CEO and Co-Owner of the Durst Group, explained what he attaches particular importance to when managing and developing his company. In addition to using new technologies as early as possible, people and passion play a decisive role for him. Simon Cooper, CEO of the e-commerce division of Onlineprinters and Solopress, also gave a special insight. Namely, how Solopress ultimately made it successfully through Brexit, numerous changing prime ministers and the coronavirus pandemic, despite a number of setbacks.

Things got more technical once again with Leon Mehlau (Levanty), who spoke about AI-supported automation and explained in practical terms how SMEs can quickly automate digital processes with the help of NoCode tools – without any AI programming knowledge.

Insight pitches deliver innovative business ideas

This year’s insight pitches once again provided interesting new perspectives and innovative business ideas. Among them were:

• surprisa, who intend to revolutionize gift-giving with their DIY packaging,
• CoCoCo, who simplify cross-company collaboration in the printing industry with their platform of the same name,
• enna systems, whose enna cards enable older people and people with disabilities to participate in the digital world, and
• YappyBuy, which has developed “Buddy”, an AI-supported assistant for online retailers.

“Online print represents the part of the print industry that is growing, developing and showing what print can do,” summarizes Bernd Zipper, CEO of zipcon consulting and co-organizer of the Online Print Symposium, “as such, online print is part of the survival strategy of the print industry worldwide – and this was once again impressively demonstrated at OPS 2025.”

“We can see that many topics are being discussed in online print that are also becoming increasingly important for other areas of the print industry. This year, the Online Print Symposium once again proved to be the perfect forum for a future-oriented exchange. To ensure that this remains the case, the Verband Druck und Medien and zipcon will continue to work closely together – with the aim of continuously developing the forum and opening up international perspectives,” adds Jens Meyer CEO of Verband Druck und Medien Beratung and co-organizer of the symposium.

More about the Online Print Symposium 2025 – and the date for 2026

There will be further details of the Online Print Symposium 2025 on the OPS website over the next few days. An initial short video clip of Day 1 can already be found here. In addition, there will also be individual articles about the presentations on www.beyond-print.net in the coming weeks.

Anyone who would like to experience the Online Print Symposium live should mark the date for 2026 in their calendar now: The next OPS will take place on 12 and 13 March in Munich.

The organisers

zipcon consulting GmbH is a global consulting company for the communications, print and media industry with a focus on online print and digital transformation. The company sees itself as an independent and comprehensive technology and strategy consultant. zipcon also produces market studies and various case studies for e-business print, mass customization and multichannel publishing. Leading companies in the online print industry rely on the expertise of this company. www.zipcon.de

The Bundesverband Druck und Medien e. V. (bvdm) is the umbrella organization of the German printing industry. As an employers‘ association, political trade association and technical trade association, it represents the positions and objectives of the printing industry vis-à-vis politicians, administration, trade unions and the supplier industry. The bvdm is supported by eight regional associations. Internationally, it is organized through its membership of Intergraf and FESPA. The printing industry currently comprises around 6,500 predominantly small and medium-sized companies with more than 100,000 employees subject to social insurance contributions. www.bvdm-online.de