For decades now, pundits have been declaring that “print is dead!” In this age of recycling and pre-cycling, printed materials are sometimes considered an unnecessary waste and expense.
Despite studies that consistently indicate consumers – including both baby boomers and millennials - prefer print to digital media*, commercial print providers are facing an ever changing business environment.
Gone are the days when business printing meant long offset runs producing tens of thousands of pieces which were warehoused until they could be consumed over the course of months or even years. Cost- and efficiency-conscious business owners now print their analog media on demand. This move has challenged traditional offset print facilities but is proving to be a boon for quick turn digital print shops.
Commercial printers have learned that they must adapt to changing business trends or be forced out of the marketplace. For commercial print vendors, it’s innovate or die.
Forward thinking commercial print companies have embraced changes in their industry. It’s not uncommon now to find print shops providing other products and services. Graphic design and marketing services, large format printing, and promotional product sourcing are now in the toolkit of many print companies. And web-to-print solutions are rapidly becoming something consumers are requiring from their print vendors.
Vistaprint introduced online print purchasing to consumers in 1995. Since then, many other print companies (including AlphaGraphics) have starting offering their own online platforms.
Buying print online is a trend that continues to grow. In 2001, roughly 3% of print orders were placed online. By 2014, that number was up to 30% and is expected to rise to 50% by 2017**. That’s a trend that commercial print companies cannot afford to ignore.
Not all web-to-print platforms are alike. Some can be branded for and tailored to suit the needs of specific customers. Some can allow consumers to select templates and create their own designs. Others allow companies to manage their sales and marketing collateral – becoming a library of up-to-date materials which their employees can access 24/7, 365 days a year.
The best platforms can do all those things and more. Some can be expensive to build out and maintain. Others are offered as free services to business customers. All can be beneficial for everyone involved – providing businesses with a low or no cost resource and giving print vendors a direct link to their consumers.
Innovation in the print industry has changed the way commercial printers sell print.
Print companies who can’t or won’t innovate are losing market share to those companies who have embraced these changes. Smart print companies have found a way to leverage digital tools to increase their sales of printed materials.
And smart consumers have found a way to leverage their purchasing power to convince commercial printers to provide digital platforms that make the buying process easier, quicker, and often less costly.
In commercial printing as in many other businesses, it’s innovate or die. And the innovaters are flourishing.
-LG, AlphaGraphics Franklin | April 2016
* https://www.jwt.com/en/worldwide/thinking/embracinganalog/
** http://www.designnbuy.com/the-web-to-print-trends-defining-2016/