Pitney Bowes enters US personalized postage market with Zazzle alliance
Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI) today announced it is launching a customized postage service through a new alliance with Zazzle (http://www.zazzle.com), the Internet's leading customized products marketplace. The new service allows customers to create full-color customized stamps using images they upload at the Zazzle website, or a vast collection of images already available on the site, including famous characters from The Walt Disney Company and other special collections.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050718/NYM076 )
"Letters are such a personal form of communication, and our new service allows that personal expression to go outside of the envelope as well," said Ian Siveyer, vice president of postal solutions at Pitney Bowes. "This alliance gives consumers unprecedented choices to create one-of-a-kind, colorful stamps."
"We like Zazzle because it's an established, high-volume site where thousands of customers are already designing and ordering a wide variety of customized goods," Siveyer continued. "Extending this product line to include stamps is a great way to reach creative people who are looking for new ways to express themselves."
The alliance calls for Pitney Bowes, the world's leading provider of integrated mailing solutions, to provide the software that manages the postage transaction between the customer and the United States Postal Service. Consumers can go to Zazzle's website, quickly and easily upload their own images or choose from Zazzle's special collections. Postage can then be customized using Zazzle's design tools that provide a broad array of choices for colors, layouts, styles, fonts and more. The combination of Zazzle's online interactive marketplace and Pitney Bowes' expertise in postal technology creates a fully-integrated customer experience that is both highly secure and easy to use.
Visitors to the Zazzle website can design sheets of 20 stamps available in the most common denominations from $0.23 (postcards) and $0.37 (first-class letters) to $3.85. After the order is complete, Zazzle will review all uploaded images for adherence to USPS guidelines for customized stamps. Once approved, the stamps are printed and shipped to the customer within 24 hours.
Siveyer noted that customized stamps are a relatively new product category. "This new product line is made possible thanks to recently-released guidelines from the United States Postal Service. We think it's a terrific way to make mail an even more appealing communications channel, and we look forward to working with Zazzle and USPS to ensure the success of this alliance."
About Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes is the world's leading provider of integrated mail and document management systems, services and solutions. The $5.1 billion company helps organizations of all sizes efficiently and effectively manage their mission-critical mail and document flow in physical, digital and hybrid formats. Its solutions range from addressing software and metering systems to print stream management, electronic bill presentment and presort mail services. The company's 80-plus years of technological leadership have produced many major innovations in the mailing industry, and it is consistently on the Intellectual Property Owner's list of top U.S. patent holders. With approximately 35,000 employees worldwide, Pitney Bowes serves more than 2 million businesses through direct and dealer operations. More information on the company can be found at http://www.pb.com.
About Zazzle
Zazzle is the leading customized products marketplace for consumer enthusiasts to share and celebrate their interests by creating apparel, posters, cards, stamps and more. Zazzle combines on-demand manufacturing, a robust online community, the largest online collection of customizable digital images, and unmatched personalization tools to empower consumers to create their products. In addition, individuals can choose to become contributors by sharing their unique creations in Zazzle's public galleries. Within these galleries, anyone can browse, comment and connect with others who share their interests. Contributors also earn royalties every time their creations are purchased by others. For anyone who wishes to create, wear, display, sell or celebrate their interests, Zazzle provides a compelling interactive marketplace to a worldwide audience. For more information, please visit http://www.zazzle.com.
Media Contact: Matthew Broder Pitney Bowes Inc. 203-351-6347 [email protected]
SOURCE Pitney Bowes Inc.
CONTACT: Matthew Broder of Pitney Bowes Inc., +1-203-351-6347, [email protected]
