The Amazons of printing

Puneet Chadha

In today’s publicity-driven world where advertisements,
posters, design and marketing materials are becoming ever more important, the
graphics printing industry is poised for rapid growth. With this growth, the
number of opportunities for print service providers (PSPs) is likely to grow
exponentially. This is particularly true when one considers the advancements in
printing and digital technologies, which have brought high-quality, low-cost
printing in large format within the reach of many smaller PSPs, who can now
offer their customers better services at more affordable prices.

Print service providers in the graphics market–professional
photo labs, sign makers, billboard providers, screen printers and high-street
copy shops–selContinued...

The vendor: Providing the solution

Large-format printer vendors are uniquely qualified to help PSPs address these
issues. With flexible financing and support, purchasing programs can be adapted
to meet different PSP needs. Vendors need to find both creative solutions to
reduce initial outlay (leasing or repayment schemes) and provide PSPs with the
expertise and support to run the printers.

As they look to help PSPs expand business and grow their
customer base, vendors such as Hewlett-Packard are beginning to develop
financing, hardware-supply and support programs that are uniquely tailored for
the large-format printing PSP market.

In addition, vendors have an important consulting role to
play. Many PSPs remain unaware of the benefits large-format printing can bring
to their businesses — an area where vendors can use their market expertise to
help communicate the business opportunities and potential for generating extra
revenue.

The PSP: Reaping the benefits

Large-format printing enables PSPs to offer a new range of services to customers
who previously looked elsewhere for their large-scale printing needs.
Professional-looking images, digital printing and cost-effective print runs are
now within the range of even the smallest PSPs.

An added bonus

A welcome knock-on effect is the demand that large-format printers create for
other PSP services. On the front end, service providers can offer large-scale
scanning, design or file management. On the back end, mounting and laminating
are almost universally required for large-format prints — and performing this
service themselves enables PSPs to offer quick response times for customers. All
these add up to increased revenue and profitability for PSPs, in addition to
increasing customer satisfaction with new services and fast turnaround times.

For quick printers and high-street copy shops, large-format
printers can also be just as successful. An HP DesignJet 3000CP large-format
printer, for example, can help boost services and revenue. This is also true in
the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in China. Local markets are increasingly
moving in this direction, and customers are beginning to look for professionally
done posters and other high-quality color prints. As such, a future trend will
likely see PSPs offering large-format printing backed by full finishing
services.

The bottom-line

As more and more businesses are finding, large-format printers offer numerous
business benefits to today’s print service providers. They enable companies to
offer much wider — and much better — graphics printing services, allowing
them to increase their customer base, raise customer loyalty, and, perhaps more
importantly, increase their revenues. By taking the plunge with large-format
printers, PSPs stand to grow their businesses in more ways than one.

The author is Business Unit Manager, Large Format Department Imaging &
Printing at Hewlett-Packard Far East Pte Ltd., Singapore.