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VistaPrint Small Business Survey: Limited Budget & Employees Require 'Back to Basics' Approach

Press release from the issuing company

LEXINGTON, Mass.--May 6, 2005-- VistaPrint USA, Incorporated, a subsidiary of VistaPrint Limited, the source for high-quality graphic design, Internet printing and premium service, today announced the results of a small business survey. Conducted via email, more than 30,000 small businesses responded to questions about their company and their needs as a small business in today's competitive environment. With limited budgets and few employees, results show small businesses rely on basic sales and marketing techniques to gain sales and grow their businesses. Nearly 90% of the respondents to this survey have fewer than ten employees and almost 50% have a marketing budget under $500. Business cards are extremely important to those that responded with 67% considering them the most important marketing material for their business. Brochures and flyers are second and third with 12% and 10% of the respondents respectively. 47% of small businesses that responded do give away products with company information on them to drive sales, yet email and word of mouth remain important methods with which to inform customers of special offers, tying at more than 35% each. "VistaPrint was founded to service the small business community by offering high-quality, low-cost products in small print runs," said Janet Holian, chief marketing officer of VistaPrint. "With a limited budget of $500, a small business customer could buy business cards, magnets, postcards, brochures, flyers, holiday cards and thank you cards for the whole year. This is a fantastic value for our customers." Unlike traditional graphic arts and printing techniques, which produce custom printed orders one at a time, VistaPrint employs proprietary technologies to aggregate custom orders from around the globe and to print them in groups at highly automated production facilities. This technology enables VistaPrint to deliver high-quality, customized orders simultaneously and for a fraction of the cost of most graphic designers and traditional printers. About the Survey VistaPrint emailed a survey out to 1,126,717 registered buyers on April 23, 2005 and asked them to respond to six questions. A minimum of 31,890 people responded to each question. Questions and results are available upon request.