SOI Forms: Diversify to Multiply
For years, the printed forms segment has been the central topic of some ugly rumors: They aren't very eco-friendly; there's no money in this maturing market; a permanent transition to electronic forms is inevitable. Sound familiar?
Fact: Many industries are struggling thanks to a turbulent economic climate; forms are no exception. A convenient "quick fix" is unlikely, but don't dismiss the traditional business forms sector just yet. Forms have dodged a few potentially fatal blows thrown by emerging technologies, proving they still have some fight left.
Just ask Chris Giller, president of New Concord, Ohio-based Carbonless and Cut Sheet Forms. "Clearly, the overall market for forms has shrunk. Predicting the ultimate demise of the market is a stretch. We continue to flourish and expect to in the future," he said.
The glory days of the six-part form may be over; however, that's not slowing down Minneapolis-based Custom Business Forms.
"There are opportunities that are different from what we have seen in the past. You have to be able to adapt to your clients' changing needs," noted Frank Miske III, vice president. "As a forms printer, I am getting more opportunities to print items I have not seen in the past. We have branched out into other types of print and we can match or exceed the quality level of the digital printer."
Miske has created a multi-faceted plan to maintain the company brand. "Our plan for survival focuses on growing our medium- to long-run projects. We realize that printing a $12 business card is not really our niche, even though we provide that service for our clients," he said. "We are also exploring partnerships with both printing brokers and distributors to increase our presence in the marketplace."
Furthermore, Custom Business Forms is making an effort to strengthen its online presence. Miske added, "We are exploring social media and we have hired a dedicated IT person. My clients also have access to the same information I do, so they are bringing me ideas and innovations."
Fortunately, Giller isn't seeing too many new hurdles for 2012. "The challenges this year are the same as [in] years past. We need to effectively market ourselves, produce great products and control our costs," he said. "Whether it be due to better paper, technical advances and better employees, we are able to produce better and more cost-effective products than ever before."
Irv Michlin, director of marketing for Hauppauge, New York-based Maggio Data, anticipates a further decline in traditional transactional forms, but he believes the "big drop" already has occurred and remains hopeful.
"There are still folks who want hard copy statements and invoices, and there is a growing opportunity to combine transactional documents with direct marketing—TransPromo. In addition, there is a need to drive people to the Web. The printed document is still an effective way to accomplish this," he mentioned.
Many diversification opportunities exist for those who are open-minded. Michlin encourages others to think "print," instead of limiting themselves to "just forms"—a strategy that has worked well for Maggio Data.
Jim Maggio, vice president of Maggio Data, explained in more detail. "We have three experienced sales directors along with about a dozen experienced customer service reps who are there to help our distributors grow. This means adding more products, more constructions and features. Maggio is no longer another plain vanilla forms company," he commented.
Maggio went on to say, "We have added integrated and blown-on labels, as well as press die-cutting which allows us to produce perf-out ID cards with process color very efficiently. While we started with low-res ink jet imaging, we moved to 600 DPI imaging capability as we recognized the applications across the [other] products and markets. Barcoding jobs have become the norm rather than the exception in our manufacturing process."
Even though business models are shifting to print-related services and many are being swayed by the charms of technology, forms are still relevant. "Novice distributors need to look at the printed forms market as an opportunity. If their customers have a need, then they would be foolish to not address it," Giller stated.
Miske pointed out some of the potential pitfalls from purchasing over the Internet. "Internet buying is more anonymous; when things go as planned, it's great, but when things go wrong, it is very difficult to resolve the situation," he remarked. "I have 35 years of experience in the printing industry. I would rather discuss a project up front with my clients to make sure we are both seeing the same outcome. I often have cost-saving ideas that would never come up on an Internet bid."
On the other hand, forms bring their own challenges. For Custom Business Forms, it's dealing with the cost per job.
"Multiple part forms have shrunk to one or two parts. We now have to sell three times as many jobs as we did in the past," Miske shared.
An aging workforce is another problem. "It is getting harder to find younger employees to run presses," Miske observed. "I think the younger employees are more receptive to learning the new technologies, but they are not as interested in the traditional offset printing process."
No matter the industry—forms, labels, direct mail, promotional products—listen to your customers.
"As a medium-sized, family-owned company, we are first and foremost dedicated to running a profitable company and strategic growth. To do this, we must meet the needs of distributors and their customers," Maggio said. "After a brief decline, we have stabilized and are growing once again."
Perhaps Miske summed it up best. "It certainly is not an industry for the faint of heart. ... We have seen the fallout from the last three years of economic downturn in our industry, with many long-term printers closing their doors. My best advice would be to listen to your best customers—they will guide you in the direction you need to follow," he concluded.