The acquisition of Canvas On Demand allows CafePress users to create personalized custom canvases

The acquisition of Canvas On Demand allows CafePress users to create personalized custom canvases from photographs.

CafePress.com, an e-retailer that sells customized merchandise, has acquired Canvas On Demand, an online service for creating personalized custom canvases from users’ photographs. The acquisition includes Canvas On Demand Pro, an online service providing professional photographers with canvas printing technology, and Great Big Canvas, an online shop of licensed photos produced on canvas.

Financial details of the deal were not revealed.

The acquisition of Canvas On Demand fits with the CafePress strategy of bringing together a community of artists and iconic art, in addition to enabling customers to find and create original works of art. In 2008, CafePress bought ImageKind, an online art community where artists sell their art on a range of canvases and frames.

Canvas on Demand co-owners and co-founders Joe Schmidt and Tom Lotrecchiano will become the general managers of all of CafePress’ art business, overseeing the management of Canvas on Demand and ImageKind. Canvas On Demand operations will remain in Raleigh, NC.

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“CafePress is committed to growing our art business and we are privileged to be joined by Canvas on Demand in this pursuit,” says Bob Marino, CafePress COO.

CafePress, No. 120 in the Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide, also announced this week that its Print-On-Demand technology will power a new ABC Online Store where fans of the ABC television network’s popular shows will be able to buy official merchandise, along with merchandise designed by fellow fans. CafePress will manage a variety of fulfillment services for the ABC store, including printing, packaging and shipping all purchases.

The new arrangement expands a licensing agreement announced earlier this year which enabled fans of selected ABC television shows to design and sell authorized show merchandise on CafePress.com.

Web-only retailer CaféPress.com offers 300 million products from about 6.5 million sellers. The customized products—including T-shirts, mugs, posters and other gifts—are produced at CafePress’ digital print facilities in Louisville, KY, Portland, OR, and Prague in the Czech Republic.

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