Applies to Cmsmart Print Shop Store 2.0.1 (parent theme Cmsmart Stores 2.0.0) with Cmsmart Product Designer 2.18.3 · Updated October 2026. This guide follows a fresh Store Setup install end to end: branding, the sample catalogue, pricing and print-ready output, payments and shipping, and a first test order.

In short

  • A live, print-ready WooCommerce store for business cards, postcards, flyers and marketing print — built, branded and taking a test order inside one working session.
  • Cmsmart Store Setup installs the Cmsmart Print Shop Store preset with Cmsmart Product Designer and a sample catalogue already in place; you brand it, configure pricing and payments, then go live.
  • What it takes: a Cmsmart Fullstore plan, about an hour, and the product range you actually want to sell.

What does manual quoting cost a print shop?

Every quote a print shop builds by email or phone means re-keying the job, re-pricing it by hand and waiting for the customer to reply before production can start. Cmsmart replaces that loop with live pricing and approved artwork on the order itself, so staff stop quoting the same business card twice.

Print is not a shrinking market — the U.S. commercial printing market alone was estimated at USD 129.21 billion in 2025, and most of that volume is won or lost on how fast a shop can answer "how much, and when." The usual pain points behind a manual process:

  • Quotes by email or phone. Every job gets re-typed from a message or call before anyone can price it.
  • Proofs that go back and forth. A PDF proof means another email thread before the artwork is approved.
  • Reprints. Files that reach press without a bleed, safe-zone or resolution check come back as a reprint, not a reorder.
  • Abandoned carts. A buyer who can't see a price until someone replies often buys from whoever shows one instantly.
  • Staff time. Someone re-enters the same order into a spreadsheet or print MIS after it's already been quoted once.

A rough way to see the cost: (quotes handled by phone or email each week) × (minutes spent re-keying and pricing each by hand) × (your staff's hourly cost) = hours spent quoting instead of printing.

What would it look like if the store ran itself from day one?

With Cmsmart Print Shop Store, a buyer configures their own business cards or flyers on their phone or desktop, watches the price update live, and pays online — no email thread, no phone tag. Cmsmart Product Designer checks the file and queues a print-ready PDF the moment the order comes in.

Example scenario. A local business owner opens your store at 9pm on their phone, taps Start Design on Standard Business Cards, builds the card in the mobile editor, watches the price update as they pick paper and quantity, and pays. A print-ready file is queued before your shop opens the next morning.

See it running in the live demo, or check the product page for everything it includes. Install first. The Cmsmart Print Shop Store is a parent/child theme pair plus Cmsmart Product Designer, set up from your Cmsmart dashboard or uploaded by hand. We cover that upload step by step in Install a Cmsmart Store: parent and child theme, step by step — come back once "Your store is live" shows the installer has finished. Everything below assumes that part is done.

How does the Cmsmart Print Shop Store solution work?

Cmsmart Print Shop Store pairs a print-shop storefront theme with Cmsmart Product Designer, running on WooCommerce so the store, its data and its customers stay yours. The preset ships with pages, a sample catalogue and the designer already wired to demo products, ready for you to rebrand and restock.

Four building blocks make up the preset, all visible in the live store:

  • Storefront theme. Cmsmart Print Shop Store (child theme) on the Cmsmart Stores parent theme, block-based and editable in the Site Editor.
  • Product Designer. Cmsmart Product Designer sits on every product as a "Setting Cmsmart" box: Enable Design, a Modern editor layout, templates, DPI and dimensions.
  • Pricing & quotes. An "NBD options" box holds separate tabs for Printing Option (the price a buyer sees) and Request Quote (jobs that don't fit a standard price); a Product Builder tab is there too for component-based products, a different module.
  • Checkout & production. Standard WooCommerce cart, payments and shipping zones, plus Cmsmart's AI preflight check and a print-ready PDF that matches the order, queued the moment the buyer presses Process.
WordPress Appearance Themes screen, the first step of a WooCommerce print shop store setup, with Cmsmart Print Shop Store active and the Cmsmart Stores parent theme installed alongside it
Appearance > Themes: Cmsmart Print Shop Store is the active child theme, with the Cmsmart Stores parent theme installed next to it.

Cmsmart insight: the "NBD options" box groups several modules in one metabox, but they're separate products under the hood — Printing Option prices a job, Product Builder assembles one from components, and Request Quote catches anything that doesn't fit either. Configure the one your product actually needs instead of assuming they overlap. Once a buyer approves their design, Cmsmart's approved-artwork lock keeps that file from being overwritten by a later edit.

WordPress Site Editor open on the Header template part, showing the Site Logo block and main menu of the Cmsmart Print Shop Store
Site Editor > Patterns > Template Parts > Header: swap the logo and review the menu here.

What's the business value of running on Cmsmart?

Running on Cmsmart turns quoting, proofing and print-ready output into store features instead of manual admin work, so the measurable gains are activation time, order accuracy and repeat business — each one tied to a KPI you can track against your own baseline, not a promised percentage.

BenefitHow it shows up in your businessKPI to track
One hour from catalogue to live storeSample pages, menus and a product catalogue are already imported, so you spend the hour branding and configuring instead of building from a blank themeTime from "Set Up" to your first test order
Printing Option + Request Quote on every productA buyer with a non-standard job (different stock, finish or size) can still send a lead instead of bouncing off a product page with no priceQuote requests captured per month
Preflight Check before ProcessFiles are checked for issues before they're queued as print-ready, instead of being caught on pressReprints per 100 orders
Reorder for repeat clientsAn existing client re-orders the same stationery in a couple of clicks instead of emailing the original order againShare of orders from returning customers

ROI worksheet (use your own numbers). Hours reclaimed per month = (quotes you currently handle by phone/email) × (minutes saved per quote once pricing is live on the product page) ÷ 60. Reprints avoided = (your current reprint rate) × (jobs per month) × (cost per reprint). Plug in your own numbers before presenting this to a partner or a bank.

The shift this preset rides is already underway in the data: the global web-to-print market is forecast to grow from USD 26.59 billion in 2025 to USD 36.38 billion by 2031 (a 5.43% CAGR), as more print buyers expect to configure and price a job online rather than wait for a reply.

CapabilityGeneric WooCommerce themeCmsmart Print Shop Store
Demo content & pagesBlank theme — you build every page and menu24 pages and menus imported with the preset
Product customizationNeeds a separate plugin, configured from scratchCmsmart Product Designer's "Setting Cmsmart" box is already on each product (design on/off, editor layout, templates, DPI)
Pricing options & quotesNot included; needs its own pricing plugin"NBD options" box with Printing Option and Request Quote tabs on every product
BrandingManual child-theme or CSS workHeader and footer template parts editable in the WordPress Site Editor, on the Cmsmart Stores parent theme
Store numbersA separate analytics plugin to install and configureCmsmart > Overview shows revenue, orders and production queue out of the box
ActivationTheme price onlyIncluded with the Cmsmart Fullstore plan (see the pricing page for current rates)

Where do I see my store's numbers?

Cmsmart > Overview is the store's home screen for numbers: revenue and order counts for the last 30 days, what's waiting in production, a revenue trend chart, top products and the most recent orders, with quick links into orders, products and tools — no separate reporting plugin to configure.

Cmsmart Overview admin screen with revenue, orders, in-production and AI token stat cards, a revenue trend chart, top products and recent orders
Cmsmart > Overview: revenue, order and production stat cards, a revenue trend chart, top products and the most recent orders.

Check this screen in the first week after going live — it's the fastest way to see whether branding and pricing changes are actually converting, before you wait for a monthly WooCommerce report.

How do you handle the WooCommerce print shop store setup, from install to go-live?

A WooCommerce print shop store setup on Cmsmart means confirming the install, branding the theme, checking the imported pages and sample catalogue, configuring one product's Cmsmart Product Designer and pricing options, then connecting payments and shipping before you place a test order. Most of that fits inside an hour.

  1. Confirm the install. From your Cmsmart dashboard, Store Setup step 6 "Live" gives you View store and Open admin once the installer has finished on your domain.
  2. Brand the header and footer. In wp-admin, open the Site Editor's Header and Footer template parts to swap the Site Logo block and review the menus.
  3. Check the imported pages. Pages > All Pages lists what the preset creates — Home, Shop, Cart, Checkout, About, Contact, FAQ, plus the Designer, Designer Studio and Gallery pages — ready to edit or unpublish.
  4. Review the sample catalogue. Products > All Products ships with sample business-card and postcard products; replace them with your own range before you accept real orders.
  5. Open the Cmsmart Product Designer tab on one product. The "Setting Cmsmart" box controls Enable Design, the editor layout (Modern, Visual, or the deprecated Classic layout), templates, DPI and dimensions.
  6. Turn on printing options and quote requests. The "NBD options" box's Printing Option tab assigns the pricing set buyers see; leave Request Quote on so non-standard jobs still reach you as a lead.
  7. Set your store address and currency. WooCommerce > Settings > General holds the address, selling/shipping locations and currency that tax and shipping rates use.
  8. Connect a payment method. WooCommerce > Settings > Payments lists WooCommerce Payments, PayPal Payments and Take offline payments — set up at least one before a real order.
  9. Check your shipping zones. WooCommerce > Shipping zones ships with one zone set to Local pickup — add a calculated method if you post orders out.
  10. Run a test order. Open the demo product (desktop or phone), press Start Design, build a design, run Preflight Check, press Process, then check out with Take offline payments so the order lands in WooCommerce > Orders.
WordPress Pages list showing the 24 pages imported by the Cmsmart Print Shop Store demo, including Cart, Checkout, Contact and Designer pages
Pages > All Pages: the 24 pages the demo import creates, 23 already published.
WordPress Edit product screen for Standard Business Cards with the product description, publish box and product image
Products > Edit "Standard Business Cards": title, description, Product data box and product image.

Cmsmart insight: the sample catalogue's product copy doesn't always match the product name — our test install's "Standard Business Cards" product still carried a vinyl-sticker description ("White Vinyl Sticker – High Gloss"), and the same mismatch shows up on the live product page. Check every sample product's copy, images and price before you open for orders, not just the ones you plan to keep.

Cmsmart Product Designer Setting Cmsmart box on a product edit screen, with Enable Design on, Modern editor layout, templates and DPI
The "Setting Cmsmart" box on a product: design on/off, editor layout, templates, DPI and dimensions.
NBD options box on a product edit screen with Design Editor Setting, Printing Option, Product Builder and Request Quote tabs
The "NBD options" box: Printing Option controls the price, Request Quote stays open for non-standard jobs.
WooCommerce Settings General screen with store address, selling locations and currency options
WooCommerce > Settings > General: the store address that tax and shipping rates use.
WooCommerce Settings Payments screen listing Woo Payments, PayPal Payments and Take offline payments
WooCommerce > Settings > Payments: install or complete setup on at least one method before taking real orders.
WooCommerce Settings Shipping screen showing a print shipping zone set to Local pickup
WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping: the demo ships with one zone set to Local pickup.

The test order itself runs on the storefront the same way a real buyer would see it, on desktop or on a phone:

Storefront product page for Standard Business Cards with price, color options and a Start Design button
The demo product page: price, options and the Start Design button a buyer presses to open the designer.
Cmsmart Product Designer open on a business card template, with Templates, Text, Cliparts, Photos, Elements and Layers tools, and Preflight Check and Process buttons
Cmsmart Product Designer open on the demo card, with Preflight Check and Process next to the design tools.
Cmsmart Product Designer open on the same business card template on a phone, with the mobile toolbar for Design, Templates, Text, Cliparts and Photos
The same designer on a phone: a buyer can design and price their card without switching to a desktop.
Video thumbnail for the Cmsmart web-to-print product customization UI demo
Video: Modern WooCommerce product customization and web-to-print UI (Cmsmart on YouTube).

What can Cmsmart build beyond the preset?

The preset covers a handful of demo products end to end, but most print shops carry dozens of SKUs and a paper price list the storefront needs to match. Cmsmart builds that on top of the same foundation as custom development, scoped to your catalogue and workflow.

  • Bulk catalogue rollout. Turning a paper price list into dozens of Printing Option sets instead of configuring each product by hand.
  • MIS/ERP sync. Pushing paid, preflighted orders into an existing print-shop management system instead of re-keying them.
  • B2B ordering. Company accounts, approval flows and negotiated pricing for repeat corporate clients.
  • Custom finishing & pricing rules. Foil, uncommon stocks, gang-sheet layouts or multi-up pricing beyond a standard Printing Option set.

Cmsmart's delivery approach runs discovery → design → sprints → QA → launch → support — see examples on Cmsmart's ecommerce project case studies.

Plan my print shop store

Prefer to hand off the first hour itself? Cmsmart's team can install the preset and import your own catalogue for you through the store preset installation service.

Why work with Cmsmart for your print shop store?

Cmsmart has built ecommerce and web-to-print stores as a Netbase division since 2012, with 6,300+ client projects and 1,800+ live stores behind the Cmsmart Print Shop Store preset. Reviews are public on Trustpilot, so you can check the track record before committing to a plan.

Cmsmart Product Designer is also sold on its own as the Cmsmart Product Designer plugin page, with more guides in the Cmsmart Product Designer user guides and the wider web-to-print solutions hub. The Print Shop Store is one of several ready-made Cmsmart Stores presets — see all Cmsmart Stores if a different product range fits your business better. Rating: Trustpilot 4.2 (404 reviews).

Frequently asked questions

Can I use my own products instead of the demo catalogue?

Yes. The demo catalogue is sample data meant to be replaced — add your own products and turn on the "Setting Cmsmart" and "NBD options" boxes the same way the demo products use them.

Which plan activates the Cmsmart Print Shop Store?

The store is free to set up and runs with sample data from the first minute, but the Cmsmart Fullstore plan activates it for a live domain, along with the other Cmsmart Stores presets. Check the pricing page for the current rate, since plans may change.

Can I change the colours and logo without touching code?

Yes. The header and footer are block-based template parts in the WordPress Site Editor — swap the Site Logo block, edit the menus, and adjust colours and fonts from there.

What happens to a print job the standard pricing options don't cover?

Leave the Request Quote tab on. A buyer with a non-standard size, stock or finish submits a quote request instead of leaving without a price, and your team prices it manually — just without losing the lead.

Where do I check how the store is actually performing?

Open Cmsmart > Overview in wp-admin. It shows revenue and orders for the last 30 days, what's in production, a revenue trend chart and your top products, with no separate analytics plugin to configure.

Do I need to update Cmsmart Product Designer myself?

Yes — it's a normal WordPress plugin update. When Dashboard > Updates shows a new version for Cmsmart Product Designer or the Cmsmart Stores Blocks plugin, install it from there like any other update.

How do I pay securely?

Contracts and payments go to the company, Netbase JSC: plans are paid through PayPal; services are invoiced by Netbase JSC under a written proposal and paid by bank transfer to Netbase JSC's company account or by PayPal Business. Cmsmart (Cmsmart Ecommerce) is the ecommerce brand of Netbase JSC, a company based in Hanoi, Vietnam.

How do I contact Cmsmart or get a quote?

Message the Cmsmart team on WhatsApp at +84 937 869 689 or email project@cmsmart.net; the contact page at cmsmart.net/contact lists every channel, and Request a quote (cmsmart.net/project-proposal) sends a project brief. Customers with a licence open a ticket from the dashboard.

Further reading