RPI accelerates strategy to become global leader of personalized print solutions with acquisition of Blurb®
The acquisition extends RPI's overall strategy to offer a full suite of services and e-commerce platform solutions to businesses around the world, leveraging the strengths of each organization to deliver a comprehensive e-commerce print solution for professionals, businesses, and consumer brands
SEATTLE, Aug. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Reischling Press, Inc. (RPI) a pioneer in the personalized print services market, has acquired Blurb®, an industry-leading e-commerce platform of print-on-demand books, magazines, wall décor, and digital services for self-publishers and creative professionals, the company announced today.
The acquisition extends RPI's overall strategy to offer a full suite of services and e-commerce platform solutions to businesses around the world, said Rick Bellamy, CEO of RPI.
"This is a strategic acquisition for us and culminates the long-term partnership between our two companies," Bellamy said. "Blurb's primary audiences are creative professionals and self-publishers, and this acquisition leverages the strengths of each organization to deliver a comprehensive e-commerce print solution for professionals, businesses, and consumer brands."
RPI and Blurb have partnered together for years in the publishing and personalization market, with their business relationship beginning in 2005. Blurb was the enabling customer for RPI's acquisition of Paro in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in 2011.
"RPI has produced the vast majority of Blurb's volume for years," Bellamy said. "Therefore, our overall customer base will continue to receive RPI's focus and commitment to an excellent customer experience. We plan to expand our capabilities across our existing in-house and partner network platforms to service our customers through our operational excellence."
Rix Kramlich, CEO of Blurb, will become general manager of RPI's new eCommerce division.
"Becoming part of RPI is a natural next step for Blurb," Kramlich said. "It will enable us to focus on and accelerate improvements in the things that our users love about Blurb - our world-class creation tools as well as the breadth and quality of our printed products."
Blurb will become an RPI company and continue to maintain offices in San Francisco and the UK. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many RPI and Blurb employees are working remotely at this time and will do so for the foreseeable future. Other terms of the deal, including acquisition price, were not disclosed.
This is the fourth acquisition for RPI. In 2019, RPI acquired the assets of SoftPrint Holdings, which accelerated RPI's ability to deliver expanded services for product builders, increased manufacturing capacity, and reduced delivery times for RPI's customer base. It also expanded the company's geographic distribution footprint.
In 2013, the company acquired DPI, an Atlanta-based company that provides web-to-print, on-demand products and services for business-to-business customers. In 2011, RPI acquired Paro, a company based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, that provides print products for the corporate and consumer markets in Europe.
About RPI
RPI is a leading make-on-demand producer of private label personalized print services to businesses around the world, including books, greeting and holiday cards, apparel, and business products for e-commerce companies, mass retailers, and Fortune 1000 corporations.
RPI's blue-chip retail and e-commerce customers rely on its consistent, reliable execution and state-of-the-art manufacturing for the rapid delivery of innovative products utilizing consumer-generated content. RPI has one of the industry's largest fleets of HP's Indigo digital printers and has been listed on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies for seven years.
The Seattle-based company, which celebrated its 40th year in business in 2019, has additional production facilities in Kennesaw, GA, Rochester, NY, and Eindhoven, NL. The company has received strategic investments from HCAP Partners and Riverlake Partners.
About Blurb®
Blurb® is a self-publishing platform and creative community that enables individuals, creative professionals and businesses to create, publish, share, and sell high-quality photo books, trade books, magazines, and eBooks. Blurb is accessible across the globe with free, innovative book creation and layout tools. Using the Blurb Print API, content-focused organizations are able to offer their customers the ability to create and print branded custom books. Founded in 2005, Blurb has more than 2 million independent book authors worldwide with more than 22 million units shipped to 70 countries around the world. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and can be found online at http://www.blurb.com.
SOURCE Reischling Press, Inc
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