Are you wide to wide format?

Grow your margins with wide format...

The modern Irish printer needs to be wide to all the ways of capturing revenue in a more diverse market. 

One sure-fire way to grow your business is to carve out a piece of the booming wide format sector. This print segment has exploded in recent years and there is a ready-made market waiting for you to grab it. 

At Neopost we want to help you to succeed in this innovative and exciting market place. Here’s what you need to know...

First and foremost, the latest Info Trends figures suggest that on average a customer will purchase wide format print 4.6 times a year. 

So who exactly buys wide format print?
Potential customers include business owners, marketing managers, brand managers, merchandisers, media buyers, department heads and managers so there is a huge market there to be utilised. The services that these customers require include packaging, interactive print, marketing services, short run packaging, outdoor advertising and wide format point of sale materials. 

The top ten wide format prints purchased by customers include:

• Banners - 91.7%
• Window Displays - 82.6%
• Indoor Wall Graphics - 81.8%
• Point of Sale/POP - 77.3%
• Trade show displays - 74.2%
• Presentation Graphics - 73.5%
• Floor Graphics - 69.7%
• Vehicle Graphics - 64.4%
• Backlit Signage - 63.6%

By offering your customers a whole host of extra services it will keep your business ahead of the leaders and meet the very demanding requests of customers. The demands of customers are ever changing and are becoming more and more apparent. The latest trends suggest that more than 60% of orders need to be shorter runs and turned around in 48 hours. 

Another contributing factor to the growth of wide format is price. The top challenge “downward pressure on prices” reflects the fact that wide-format has become a highly competitive market. Price is more than often the preferred reason for selecting a preferred provider, however if you can be sure to offer a top quality, differentiated service with high quality print results customers will begin to think twice as to whether price or quality is the deciding factor.  

After you meet your customers demanding requests there are huge benefits to your business in branching out into the wide format market: These benefits include:  

• Growing Margins, 
• Offer a variety of applications,
• Drive opportunity and demand from customers.

Everyone it seems sees wide format applications as a growth area. More than two-thirds of companies expect 2014 to be more profitable than 2013. Getting there requires a plan and Neopost is here to help you expand into this market. With our own in-house financing we can get you up and running in no time. 

Duncan Groom, Sales Director in Neopost Ireland, gave his comments on the Wide Format Market:

‘’we have seen a lot of growth in the Wide Format side of our business over the past year both in hardware and supplies. Customers who entered the wide format market over the past three years are now revisiting the market looking for extra capacity. Many of these customers are commercial printers who dipped their toes in the market two year ago, and have found a ready-made market with their existing customers. They have also enjoyed margins that are well in excess of what’s achievable in the sheet fed sector and a market that is steadily growing. If printers are to prosper over the coming years they will need to diversify and many see wide format as a good fit’’ 

Wide format printing opens up exciting new possibilities – profitable ones – for commercial print providers who are forward-thinking, willing to break from the traditional ways of thinking about print, and willing to do their homework.

Neopost can support your entry into the wide format market, we'd be happy to help in any way we can. Just call us on 1850 33 44 55 or leave a comment below...