Many print service providers assume that quoting software and web-to-print software are two names for the same thing. They are not. One prices custom work quickly and accurately. The other lets your customers order repeat products themselves through a branded portal. GelatoConnect Estimator and Store Link: Web-to-Print solve different problems at different points in the buyer journey, and knowing which one you need, or whether you need both, can save you months of evaluation. This article explains what each product does, where each one wins, how they work together, and how to decide based on the kind of work your shop actually handles.
What GelatoConnect Estimator is
GelatoConnect Estimator is a quotation and pricing engine for print service providers. It turns an email, a spec sheet, or a screenshot into an accurate, margin-aware estimate in about 15 seconds, using an engine trained on millions of real print transactions and pricing rules you configure to match your own costs. Customer-ready quotes follow in under five minutes.
It addresses the problems that come with manual quoting: slow turnaround on requests for quotation, inconsistent pricing between estimators, and margin erosion when pricing lives in one person's head. Every estimate uses the same data, the same logic, and the same margin rules, so pricing stays consistent no matter who produces the quote.
A key capability is the Self-Quote experience. It gives your customers a branded, self-service version of the same estimating engine your internal team uses:
- Customers access a customer-facing version of the estimator
- The experience is branded with your identity, including colors, backgrounds, and customer-specific pricing
- Customers submit quote requests and receive estimates directly, with no manual back-and-forth
- You keep full control over pricing logic and approval workflows
BSG uses this approach to compete for large contracts. After deploying GelatoConnect Estimator, the company doubled its win rates, grew margin by 11 percent, and won a £750,000 contract by responding first. ESP Colour now processes more than 200 estimates a day at roughly 15 seconds each, a 95 percent reduction in quoting time. You can see a live branded Self-Quote portal built on the same engine at BSG's customer quoting portal.
What Store Link: Web-to-Print is
Store Link: Web-to-Print is a native B2B ordering portal built into GelatoConnect. It lets you launch a branded storefront where your customers can:
- Browse products
- Personalize templates
- Reorder items
- Submit orders directly into your production workflow
It addresses a different set of problems: corporate clients waiting on a sales rep to place routine reorders, no branded ordering experience for repeat collateral, and orders that have to be re-entered by hand. Instead of buying a separate portal from a third-party vendor, you get an ordering layer connected to the production system you already run.
The Store Link: Web-to-Print platform supports:
- Customer-specific catalogs
- Predefined products
- Approval workflows
- Contracted pricing
- Branded storefronts
- Template customization (InDesign, PSD, PDF)
Purchase order numbers and department-level ordering are captured on every order. New client portals launch in hours through self-serve setup, not months of configuration.
You can see a live branded Store Link storefront in action at ESP Colour's B2B ordering portal. GSB Digital also uses Store Link: Web-to-Print to replace a legacy B2B portal, giving its financial services clients branded storefronts to order business cards and collateral on their own.
GelatoConnect Estimator vs Store Link: a side-by-side comparison
| GelatoConnect Estimator | Store Link: Web-to-Print | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Pricing and quoting custom work | Ordering and reordering catalog products |
| Best for | Non-standard, spec-driven jobs | Repeat corporate collateral |
| Customer experience | Describe a job, receive a quote | Browse, personalize, order |
| Pricing logic | Dynamic, calculated per job from your rules | Contracted, pre-set per client |
| Handles custom specs | Yes, built for it | No, catalog and template based |
| Handles high-volume reorders | Not its purpose | Yes, built for it |
| Approval workflows | Yes, on quotes | Yes, on orders with spending thresholds |
| Branded portal | Yes, Self-Quote | Yes, one storefront per client |
| Where it fits in the buyer journey | Pre-sale, winning the job | Post-sale, serving and retaining the account |
How GelatoConnect Estimator and Store Link work together
The two products are not competitors. Store Link: Web-to-Print is the commerce and ordering layer, and GelatoConnect Estimator is the pricing engine you can plug into it. In a single portal, a customer can place a standard order for catalog products at contracted prices, then request a quote for a non-catalog job without leaving the experience. The catalog order routes straight into production. The custom request runs through the Estimator engine and returns a price.
That combination closes a common gap. A branded storefront on its own handles predictable, repeat work well, but it stops at the edge of the catalog. The moment a client needs something bespoke, they fall back to email and the wait begins. Adding the Estimator means the same portal that serves routine reorders can also price custom work on demand.
For you, the benefit is one connected customer experience instead of two disconnected tools. Pricing, products, and fulfillment all flow from the same GelatoConnect account, so there is no duplicate catalog to maintain and no manual re-entry between systems. Your client sees a single branded destination for everything they order from you, whether it is a run of business cards from the catalog or a one-off custom job that needs a fresh quote. If you want to see this in practice, you can request a demo and walk through the combined experience.
Which one do you need? Three use cases
Use case A: custom, high-touch B2B work
If most of your revenue comes from non-standard jobs, each one spec-driven, quoted individually, and often competitive, your constraint is quoting speed and pricing consistency. The winner here is GelatoConnect Estimator with Self-Quote. It lets you respond first, price accurately, and give key accounts a branded portal to quote their own work against your rules. A web-to-print catalog would not help much, because your work rarely repeats in a fixed form.
Use case B: repeat orders of catalog products
If your revenue is built on corporate clients reordering the same collateral, such as business cards, brochures, point-of-sale materials, and branded merchandise, your constraint is the manual effort of taking and routing those orders. The winner is Store Link: Web-to-Print. A branded portal with contracted pricing, approval workflows, and personalizable templates lets clients serve themselves while orders flow straight into production. An estimator adds little here, because the pricing is already agreed and the products are fixed.
Use case C: both
Most established print service providers do both kinds of work, and this is where the two products compound. Store Link retains your existing accounts by making routine reordering effortless, while the Estimator catches new custom demand the moment it appears, inside the same portal. Together they cover the full range of what a client buys from you, from predictable repeat runs to one-off bespoke jobs. If you are not sure which describes you, map your last fifty jobs: the split between repeat catalog orders and custom quotes will point you to the answer.
Frequently asked questions
Is GelatoConnect Estimator the same as web-to-print?
No. The Estimator prices custom work and produces quotes. Web-to-print lets customers order predefined products through a storefront. Different jobs, different points in the buyer journey.
Can Store Link: Web-to-Print handle custom quotes for non-catalog jobs?
On its own, Store Link handles catalog products at set prices. To price non-catalog jobs inside the same portal, you plug in GelatoConnect Estimator.
Do I need the Estimator to use Store Link?
No. Store Link works as a standalone ordering portal. The Estimator is an option you add when you want live, calculated pricing for custom work alongside your catalog.
Can my customers see live prices in Store Link?
Catalog products show contracted prices by default. For dynamic, calculated prices on custom work, add the Estimator to the portal.
Do I have to pick one to start with?
No. Many print service providers start with the product that matches their most pressing constraint and add the other later.
Choosing your starting point
The simplest way to decide is to look at the work in front of you. If you are losing custom jobs to slow quoting, start with GelatoConnect Estimator. If corporate clients are tying up your team with manual reorders, start with Store Link: Web-to-Print. If both are true, the two work best together. Book a demo and we will help you map your job mix to the right starting point.
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See how GelatoConnect Estimator turns hours of manual quoting into accurate, branded print quotes in seconds — and how it plugs into Store Link storefronts to power customer self-service.
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