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Co-organizer Bernd Zipper is well-aware of what will be important in online print this year: “Online print is still in the fast lane – but the speed, especially for smaller standard print stores, is slowing down. The winners here are the print resellers in social commerce – a field that is virtually unknown even to some online printers. These creator businesses are being successfully expanded by a small number of companies that have recognized this trend. The OPS will take a closer look at this trend and bring two successful players on stage to present their learning.”

Social selling in online print and an AI-first strategy

This year’s Online Print Symposium once again offers useful, practical and applicable content as well as valuable insights into the bigger picture. In the online world, only those who manage to adapt to the constantly changing requirements and trends in society will be successful. This creates pressure to innovate, but at the same time offers enormous growth potential. For this reason, social media – and even more: social selling – are a focus of this year’s Online Print Symposium.  Successful online printers no longer see social media as a “nice-to-have” in the communication mix but rather recognize social media as a sales channel and driver of growth. At the Online Print Symposium, two speakers will reveal why this is the case and what companies should bear in mind in order to build a solid business on the most popular social network platforms.

Entertainment educates, advertising message sells

With 4.8 million followers on TikTok and more than 1.1 million fans on YouTube, Rick Azas is a real social media giant. What began with tutorials on Flic Flacs and other acrobatic jumps has developed into a successful business model. Today, Azas uses his platforms not only for fun challenges, but also to build and sell his own brands and products. Companies such as Red Bull, Disney, Meta and Chupa Chups rely on his expertise to maximize their reach on the social web. At OPS 2025, Rick Azas will provide an exciting insight into the influencer business and show how social selling works.

Successful social media coach Florian Hommeyer will also offer another perspective on social media and social selling. “Social media is the new television. And anyone, absolutely anyone, can start their own channel. But most companies – hoping that time will rewind – prefer to cling to the old radio, which used to work so well. But it won’t. Time has never turned back. The new channel to tomorrow’s customers is social media – if you don’t exploit the potential, someone else will.”

From online-first to AI-first

Hans Scheffer, CEO and founder of the Dutch online print platform HelloPrint, has always done things differently from everyone else and is considered a true visionary in the online printing industry. Back in the early 2000s, he revolutionized the way print products were sold with the brands Flyerflyer.nl, Flyerzone and Drukland, namely by making use of e-commerce. Now he is setting new standards with HelloPrint: his goal is to create the world’s largest platform for personalized products with an AI-first strategy. In his presentation, he will share his experiences as managing director of a company that relies on the power of technology above all else. Scheffer will show how HelloPrint has grown from a local provider in the Netherlands to a global company with a turnover of 100 million euros, which is now about to take the next expansion step. Scheffer will place a special focus on how to build a corporate culture that radically and consistently implements new technologies.

The full program of the Online Print Symposium 2025 with all speakers and the first start-ups of the popular Insight Pitches is available on the event’s website.

Accessibility Act: The end of web-to-print? Or an opportunity for AI + print?

An important part of this year’s OPS program will also be the discussion round on the EU’s Accessibility Act, which at the end of June will oblige all online retailers to make their digital offerings accessible and understandable – i.e. barrier-free – for people with disabilities. This also applies to online print shops. At the Online Print Symposium, Dr. Martin Schirmbacher, specialist lawyer for IT law at Härting Rechtsanwälte, and Michael Darsow, Head of Web Applications at Cewe, will talk about the scope of the law and the potential impact on the print and media industry. The regulations could have far-reaching consequences for web-to-print solutions – not just due to the fact that many of the current systems do not technically meet the future requirements, but also because of the extremely high level of complexity resulting from the large number of configuration options for print products. The definition of an overarching taxonomy and, unsurprisingly, AI could help. Because without a solution, the Accessibility Act could become a do-or-die moment for many online print stores, as Bernd Zipper summarizes bluntly.

If you have not yet secured a ticket for the Online Print Symposium, you should be quick! There is still space available. Bookings can be made via the OPS 2025 website: Tickets & Prices – Online Print Symposium 2025

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