Dealers for whom print has been a dominant part of their business equation—managed print services (MPS) being an integral part—may be discouraged by the decline in print volume that accelerated through COVID and still continues.
These last few years have been challenging. But challenges can also present opportunities. While there’s still room within MPS for business growth, I’ve long believed that dealers looking to be strong and relevant must expand their reach beyond MPS and incorporate additional revenue sources.
The transition from being a copier and printer dealer to full technology partner and “one-stop shop” can take a dealer down a number of different roads. There are numerous ways in which a dealership can diversify its offerings. For those interested in strengthening their presence in the print arena, an option worth investigating is production print.
It’s not necessarily right for every dealer’s client base. There are a few industry verticals in which the reception for production print programs will be far more favorable. That said, it’s a business sector heading in the right direction economically. Worldwide, the market was over $6 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach $7.6 billion by 2028.
Also, there’s always interest in and need for cost-effective, fast and accurate printing by businesses that generate large quantities of documents in house or are considering doing so. So that’s a good starting point.
Another factor in favor of production print is the higher level of acceptance of digital printing over the more traditional offset printing. Some of the industry sectors that might benefit from bringing their larger print jobs in house include:
- Real estate agencies (commercial and residential) for which crisp, full-color brochures on upgraded stock are important
- Marketing agencies and advertising agencies that prefer the look of full-color offset but want the option of shorter print runs that aren’t economically feasible through outsourcing to an offset printer
- Larger institutions such as schools, colleges, health care facilities and hospitals
- Publishing companies
- Certain civic and non-profit organizations such as Chambers of Commerce
- Larger corporations across a number of industries
- Print houses that may prefer the flexibility of having a strong digital presence
When assessing if your dealership should expand into production print, one of your calculations should be to see if you have (or believe you can acquire) enough customers for whom an internal printing operation will be beneficial in terms of ROI. It will definitely offer convenience as well as certain other benefits.
The quality and output of today’s production print machines rival the professional web offset print shops that have been a mainstay for many printing jobs. They provide ultra-high output resolution at 2400×2400 dpi and can supporting a broad range of print media. The machines offer six-color printing capability of up to 13,250 sheets, and they’re capable of printing 120 pages per minute (long or short print runs) even when printing in six colors.
The production printer market dramatically increases the level of service that dealers can offer their clients. These machines are capable of meeting and exceeding the capabilities of offset print shops. Book and magazine publishers increasingly are finding that digital works as well as offset in many applications, and the process becomes more economical.
For your clients, the advantages include in-house printing capabilities and the ability to do a “short run” more quickly and economically than through outsourcing. The accompanying environmental advantages may also appeal to a number of customers: less waste of paper, ink and toner. From an efficiency standpoint, clients can save overall time and costs by moving production print in house.
We believe production print is a strong and viable option for dealerships. At Pulse, we’ve partnered with Sharp and are the first dealer in the United States to house their state-of-the-art Sharp 1200S printer. In the very few months we’ve had this new machine online, we’ve shown clients firsthand what production print can do. It’s not for every one of your clients, but if it’s right for enough of them, give it a look.
If you’d like to know more about production print, give us a call. I’ve always believed that dealers should work together for the common good of our industry, and I’m happy to share our experiences with you and show you a machine in action.
