Shelby Printing

What Shelby Printing does

Shelby Printing is a privately held, full-service graphic communications company founded in 1996 and headquartered in a 16,000 square foot facility on Pelham Parkway in Pelham, Alabama, approximately 20 minutes south of Birmingham. The company operates Heidelberg offset presses alongside Xerox digital color presses, with a Screen brand direct-to-plate prepress workflow and stochastic dot screening capability, supporting both high-volume offset and short-run digital production. Its service portfolio spans prepress and design, offset and digital printing, a comprehensive bindery (folding, die cutting, saddle stitching, perfect binding, laminating, foil stamping, embossing, and more), variable data printing, direct mail campaign execution with CASS/NCOA certified mailing list processing, promotional products and custom-branded merchandise, wedding and greeting cards as an authorized Carlson Craft dealer, and web design.

The business sells primarily through direct sales representatives (Wayne Watkins, Jen Helvie) and a quote-based pricing model, offering free estimates within 24 hours, 24-hour color proofs, and 3-5 business day typical delivery. Distribution combines free local van delivery in the Birmingham metro area with UPS, FedEx, and freight shipping for national accounts. Revenue is generated from four transactional streams — printing services, promotional products, mailing services, and cards/invitations — each billed per project with unit pricing.

The customer base spans individuals seeking personal stationery, small and medium-sized local businesses, and large national enterprise accounts across verticals including advertising, publishing, education, real estate, hospitality, consumer goods, industrial, professional services, and churches. Ownership sits with founder Kevin C Phillips (Owner) and Alice Sharpe (President), supported by an experienced management team including a Prepress Manager, Bindery Manager, and Office Manager, with most production employees having ten or more years of tenure.

Name

Shelby Printing

Legal name

Shelby Printing

Website

https://shelbyprinting.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Shelby Printing is a privately held, full-service graphic communications company founded in 1996 in Pelham, Alabama, serving SMBs, national accounts, and individuals with offset and digital printing, bindery, direct mail, promotional products, cards, and web design.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Pelham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Printing Services: Offset and digital printing services including prepress, design, printing, bindery, and shipping. Revenue generated from custom printing projects billed per job.
2. Promotional Products: Specialty advertising products including apparel, drinkware, bags, writing instruments, and custom merchandise sold as individual items or custom orders.
3. Mailing Services: Direct mail campaign services, mailing list generation, and variable data services. Includes list certification for postage optimization.
4. Cards & Invitations: Wedding invitations, thank you cards, holiday cards, and greeting cards through Carlson Craft catalog partnership.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Shelby Printing is a full-service graphic communications company that produces commercial offset and digital printing, custom promotional products, direct mail and variable data services, and cards & invitations through an authorized Carlson Craft dealership. Work is performed in a 16,000 sq ft production facility in Pelham, AL using Heidelberg offset presses, Xerox digital color presses, and Screen thermal direct-to-plate prepress equipment, with in-house bindery finishing from concept to delivery.

Product overview

Shelby Printing is a full-service graphic communications company founded in 1996, offering a unified suite of print and media solutions. The company operates as a one-stop shop with four core product categories: Printing Services (encompassing prepress/design, offset and digital printing, specialty printing, bindery, and shipping), Promotional Products (custom-branded merchandise and specialty advertising items), Mailing Services (direct mail campaigns with variable data, list generation, and CASS/NCOA certification), and Cards & Invitations (wedding invitations, thank you cards, holiday cards via Carlson Craft partnership). Additionally, the company offers Web Design services. The product portfolio spans printed materials (business cards, brochures, magazines, books, packaging), custom promotional merchandise (apparel, drinkware, bags, writing instruments), and integrated marketing services from concept to delivery. Equipment includes Heidelberg offset presses and Xerox digital color presses, housed in a 16,000 square foot facility in Pelham, Alabama.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Printing Services Full-service commercial printing including prepress/design, offset printing (Heidelberg presses for high-volume runs), digital printing (Xerox digital color presses for short runs and variable data), specialty printing, bindery finishing, and shipping, marketed to small and medium businesses, large national accounts, and vertical-industry clients.
• Promotional Products Custom-branded specialty advertising merchandise including banners, signs, apparel (tee shirts, polo shirts, jackets), drinkware (cups, mugs, coolers), bags, writing instruments, desk accessories, and custom branded items, sold to organizations seeking brand visibility through giveaways and corporate merchandise.
• Mailing Services Direct mail campaign services including variable data printing, mailing list generation across geographic, demographic, behavioral, and psychographic targeting, CASS/NCOA list certification for lowest postage rates, and campaign strategy consultation for businesses running personalized outbound mail programs.
• Cards & Invitations Wedding invitations, thank you cards, holiday cards, and greeting cards sold through an authorized Carlson Craft dealer relationship, enabling individuals to browse and order personalized stationery products fulfilled by Shelby Printing.
• Web Design Web design services for clients that want to establish or refresh an online presence alongside their print, promotional, and mailing projects, packaged within Shelby Printing's broader graphic communications offering.
• Bindery Services In-house finishing services including folding, die cutting, saddle-stitching, inline gluing, laminating, embossing, perfect binding, coil binding, foil stamping, debossing, tabbing, perfing, scoring, collating, shrink wrapping, numbering, padding, drilling, round corner, and wire-o binding, delivered to Shelby Printing's print customers as a final step.

Quantifiable outcome

• Quotes provided within 24 hours of receiving project specifications
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Carlson CraftcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorShelby Printing is an authorized Carlson Craft dealer for cards and invitations. Customers can browse the Carlson Craft online catalog and place orders through Shelby Printing for wedding invitations, thank you cards, holiday cards, and other card products.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• The UPS Store: National franchise providing small-format printing, document finishing, and shipping services in retail locations. Comparable to Shelby for basic business cards, flyers, and consumer print, though lacks Shelby's full mailing and promotional capabilities.
• Cimpress (Vistaprint): Mass-customization printing platform operating Vistaprint and related brands serving SMBs globally. Competes with Shelby primarily on small-format digital print at scale via an online ordering model Shelby does not currently match.
• FedEx Office: National retail printing and shipping chain offering walk-in print, document services, and direct mail. Competes with Shelby for SMB and consumer walk-in print demand but with much broader footprint and standardized pricing.
• Taylor Corporation: Large private printing and marketing services conglomerate serving enterprise clients across direct mail, print, and personalized communications. Comparable to Shelby in printing and direct mail capabilities, but at vastly greater scale and geographic reach.

Direct peers

• Minuteman Press: Large franchise printing franchise offering design, printing, mailing, and marketing services to local businesses. Operates with a similar full-service model and SMB customer base as Shelby Printing.
• AlphaGraphics: National franchise network offering commercial print, signage, and marketing services to SMBs and enterprises. Closely comparable to Shelby's full-service print-and-promo model, with similar reliance on local owner-operated centers and a consultative sales motion.
• Allegra Marketing Print Mail: Franchise network combining commercial printing, direct mail, and marketing services for SMBs. Strong overlap with Shelby's bundled print, mailing, and promotional product offerings and similar local owner-operator footprint.
• Sir Speedy: Franchise printing and marketing services network providing offset/digital printing, direct mail, signage, and promotional products. Direct competitor to Shelby in the SMB and mid-market segment with a comparable one-stop-shop value proposition.

Emerging players

• MOO: Online-first premium printing brand for business cards, marketing materials, and packaging. Comparable to Shelby's higher-end print quality positioning but executes through a digital commerce funnel rather than local reps.
• 4over Inc. Trade-only online printing marketplace aggregating commercial print capacity for resellers and print brokers. Represents the digital procurement alternative to Shelby's offline quote-based model for B2B print buyers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shelby Printing