Zazzle continues to dazzle

Those who do their holiday shopping online may have already discovered Zazzle, the online retailer that allows users to create their own merchandise. Many, however, probably do not realize the website is responsible for about 700 jobs in the Bay Area. Most of them are in manufacturing, and many more are across the globe as budding online retailers use Zazzle to launch their own products.

Founded in 1999 by Beaver and his two sons, Bobby and Jeff, Zazzle is now set to take over a huge building in Redwood City that PDI/DreamWorks now occupies. The headquarters will house a team of engineers, customer service agents, artists and marketers in a 120,000 square-foot facility at Pacific Shores Center, near the Port of Redwood City.

That facility will house about 200 employees as its manufacturing plant in San Jose currently employs about 500 people.

The company partners with American Apparel, Disney, Warner Brothers and other companies to allow users to use iconic characters such as Mickey Mouse on their custom products that Zazzle manufactures.

Massachusetts-based American MoJo is an example of one of Zazzle’s success stories as is Poco Modo. MoJo stands for Moms and Jobs and the company is starting to create jobs in the Boston area for out-of-work mothers by selling its Zazzle-made products.

Poco Modo is another company that works exclusively with Zazzle. Poco Modo sells personalized birth announcements, magnets, mugs and other products on its online retail site.

Zazzle launched officially in 2005 and had about 100,000 web hits a month. The company was backed by $16 million in venture capital at that time. Now, the Zazzle website gets about 20 million hits a month and has expanded into South America, Asia and Europe.

Zazzle can turn a virtual concept into a reality in one day, which includes shipping. The more a buyer purchases, the less costly the products.

Cafepress, Shutterfly and Spreadshirt are main competitors but Zazzle developed its own color-print technology that allows it to mass produce customized T-shirts, for instance, at little cost.

Although, the company is surging in the market, its biggest problem is still "awareness,” said Jason Kang, vice president of marketing at Zazzle.

On Cyber Monday, the company saw its numbers surge over the same day last year, Kang said, and the company is starting to advertise on radio.

It has also recently partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Open Innovation to find the world’s next big customizable product.

The "Million-Dollar Innovation Challenge” is looking to develop the next, most innovative customization product or company.

"In this economy, Zazzle users don’t have to invest in inventory. It is a more elegant way to start a business,” said David Gross, Zazzle’s senior director of product.

There is virtually no limit on what Zazzle can customize, from skateboards, to table runners and key chains.

Victoria Robinson, the company’s product manager for Germany, said Zazzle continues to grow internationally.

"In Germany, it is working well. They are ordering a lot of Christmas presents,” Robinson said.

Beaver’s family is involved in the day-to-day business of the company. His two sons, who developed much of Zazzle’s technology, did so while students at Stanford University. Beaver’s wife now handles human relations for the company, which also hires extra workers during the holidays, mostly in manufacturing.

Beaver made a career starting semiconductor equipment businesses before partnering with his sons on Zazzle.

"It is far from Utopia, but we’ve come a long way,” Beaver said. "We still have a long way to go.”

For more information, go to: www.zazzle.com

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by e-mail: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.