Blogs

I’ve seen some fabulous digitally printed bespoke wallcoverings of late, but do enough people know what’s achievable? And how can you convert your capability into a stronger order book? If you are happy to tell your story please get in touch.

Info on the annual printers’ carols at St Brides has put me in a bit of a festive mood but had me wondering about how many companies use this season of goodwill to thank their employees for a year’s hard work well done – or even to incentivise them in some way for the new year ahead. I haven’t heard of anyone doling out frozen turkeys or bottles of drink to staff for many a year – but are there other ways in which you are this festive period to raise morale?

But will they – the customers that is. Nowadays you can print on almost anything, but do enough prospective customers know it? What this sector needs is a proper channel through which we can educate the design sector (and I’m not just talking the agencies that already work with print in some form or another – but the design community at large) about the enormous potential of what we can deliver. There are plenty of printers doing their bit to get the message across - but what we really need is a high level, high profile campaign that really engages with the enormous range of designers out there. How would you like to see that take shape?

It’s clear that the recent Spandex Open House was a real success, which had me wondering about the future positioning and importance of such ‘mini-events’ within the industry. What do you particularly like about them and how far would you travel to get to one?

Well here’s some great pre-Christmas cheer - 0% finance on large-format printer solutions! It’s unlikely Stanford Marsh is alone in offering such deals to lure potential customers still trying to find some way of buying new kit. What’s the best finance deal you’ve been offered this year?

For Fespa and the likes of printing equipment suppliers, the world is becoming smaller by the day and doing business outside their own geographical base is part and parcel of running a business. But what about you – how much business do you do outside the UK? ‘Export’ is practically a dirty word to many wide-format PSPs, so are there sound reasons for that being the case, or is it just that UK printers continue to live up to their isolationist label?

What do you think of Epson getting into the dye-sub market? We’re all very aware of how slow the textile print market has been in taking off in the UK but could these new printers convince you to look again – or are you waiting for more direct-to-textile printer offerings?

Are you involved in printing for the industrial sector at any level? If so, I’d be interested in talking to you so please get in touch.

I’m now putting together the questions for the 2013 annual Widthwise Survey on the state of the UK wide-format print market, and that activity - along with the publication of the report ‘Wide Format Printing: A Critical Element in the Communications Mix’ from InfoTrends - has prompted the question: what information do you want to help you grow your business? Let me know ASAP so that I can take your requests into consideration when finalising the questionnaire.

Just a quick reminder that you have until 9 November to nominate your company as a Digital Original. Image Reports, with the support of Fujifilm is looking for print companies that bought their first a wide-format inkjet printer over ten years ago. The editorial team will then draw-up a list of 10 operations considered to have the most interesting and illustrative business development story to tell. If your company makes it to that list we’ll be in touch before Christmas to schedule a full interview in 2013. To get in on the action go to: http://www.imagereportsmag.co.uk/industry-data/digital-originals

Are you seeing cuts in substrates prices? News that William Smith is cutting the cost of four of the 3M films in its portfolio has set me wondering about whether we’re likely to see a bit of a reversal in media prices. At a Round Table discussion I chaired yesterday on the state of the wide-format market, there was plenty of talk about margins and the need for printers to apply pressure on their suppliers to push costs down as print customers continue to demand cheaper print...

...and from what I can see the wide-format print sector is booming! Or is it just that everyone is rushed off their feet filling orders but making no margin? Does busy necessarily mean money-making? Let me know if the marginally improving general economy is beginning to help you towards better profitability or whether other factors are having more impact on how you develop your bottom line.

I am looking for print companies that bought their first wide-format digital inkjet printer over ten years ago in a campaign designed to acknowledge the sector's pioneers. Either click on the link in the banner below or go to http://www.imagereportsmag.co.uk/industry-data/digital-originals to nominate your company and I will take it from there – easy-peasy! The result – ten companies with the most interesting story to tell will feature in Image Reports during 2013.

Do you invest in experimentation? By that I mean, do you actively set aside time and resources to ‘play with’ substrates etc. to see what new applications you can use them for. I’ve been talking to a few companies that do just that with the expectation that sooner or later they will hit upon a novel product that they can sell at high margin and I’m wondering just how strong that development streak is within the wide-format sector.