The New York Times has an article on the success of VistaPrint and their new partnership with OfficeMax:

AMONG Internet businesses, perhaps only one has managed to reach a market value of more than $1 billion by getting customers to hand out millions of promotional messages for it.

The company is not Amazon, eBay or even Google. Rather, it is VistaPrint, a printing company that has strung together 28 profitable quarters by selling — and giving away — business cards. The free cards, of which VistaPrint has distributed 2.5 billion, carry the company’s marketing message on the back.

VistaPrint, a publicly held company based in Bermuda, sells a variety of wares online, from custom-printed rubber stamps, checks and notepads to marketing brochures for small businesses. Now it is stepping into the offline world, too, through a partnership announced this month with OfficeMax.

The article quotes WhatTheyThink.com's Senior Editor Gail Nickel-Kailing who said, "This makes all the sense in the world, [OfficeMax] can take a little bit of profit off the top of each order, and they don’t have to mess with it."

The article goes on to point out that VistaPrint has technology and processes in place that allows them to make money on business cards. A product that does not typically bring in a high profit for most printers. The article does not mention VistaPrint actions to protect its intellectual property through litigation with other printers (WTT coverage here).

VistaPrint has taken a systems engineering approach to print specification and manufacturing, a strategy that allows them to highly automate all aspects of their business. This approach increases efficiency and lowers their operating costs and makes it easier for them to develop strategic partnerships like they have with OfficeMax. Print becomes a plug and play component to the partners' business offering.

For an inside look at VistaPrint, check out WhatTheyThink.com's Inside VistaPrint Limited special report.