Customized calendar websites are thriving

Yofus.com is a popular online personalized-printing service provider. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Web-based photo-printing services originated in the United States with Shutterfly and Snapfish, both founded in 1999 to "turn digital snapshots into tangible things".

Online personalized printing arrived in China around 2008.Many providers sprang up in the following three years. But it is only in the past two years that business has surged, Dong said.

"The rise is based on the development of printing technologies, DIY software, quality smartphone photography and mobile Internet," Dong said.

Digital printing reduced the costs of printing small quantities. Creating stencils during the offset-printing era was expensive, he explained.

Improved smartphone-photo quality and mobile Internet have made DIY online printing easier, he said.

"More important are the trends in which people value uniqueness, and pursue and share happiness," Dong said.

Yofus engages social networks by providing digital versions of DIY calendars users can easily share on WeChat, China's biggest instant-messaging platform, and Sina Weibo, China's answer to Twitter.

These versions contain links enabling followers to make their own or buy their friends'.

Exploring the 'blue sea'

China's first e-commerce printing annual symposium was staged in 2013-the year regarded as the beginning of the industry's rapid growth.

"Internet-based personalized printing is still in its initial stage. The market growth requires more publicity," Dong said.

"We need to change the idea that producing printed material is expensive and time-consuming, and requires big orders of several thousand copies. It can be quick and easy, and a single copy."