The United States is in a financial crisis on par with the tumultuous economic times of the 1930s. And while it is impacting automakers, retailers, financial institutions and many segments of the print industry, some trade-only printers seem to be getting by unscathed.
“The economic recession has not affected our business negatively at all; in fact, it has helped us expand our network of print buyers to over 50,000 nationwide,” said Zarik Megerdichian, CEO at Glendale, California-based 4over, Inc. “We have opened three new production facilities, ranging from 42,000 to 50,000 sq. ft. each, [and] hired about 150 new employees all within the last few months. We are discovering more and more resellers are taking advantage of our services now, in order to grow their business.”
Brad Wallans, vice president of Trade Secret Printing in Toronto, Canada, piggy-backed on those comments. “The biggest challenge we have is managing the growth, which has been double digits for over seven years now,” he stated.
Riverside, California-based CCI & PartnerPrinting.com also is experiencing growth despite the rocky economy. “We are moving to a larger facility and we are adding equipment and staff and we are increasing our production capabilities,” noted Dean Lerch, vice president – marketing.
And because these companies work closely with national print franchises, their businesses continue to thrive.
Forget about the days of competing with quick print retail chains, Megerdichian said they work together. “We do not compete with them since they sell direct to the end-users,” he proclaimed. “In fact, we complement their business by fulfilling their print needs. We provide print services to thousands of quick printers and print franchises.”
Lerch said PartnerPrinting.com was “one of the early pioneers of the online web-to-print wholesale ‘to-the-print-trade-only’ business models. We offered high-quality, full color offset printing; printed on multi-million dollar state-of-the-art sheet-fed offset presses, as an online wholesale resource exclusively for print resellers.” Lerch further explained that by printing in a gang-run format the company refined the process of putting multiple jobs on one large press sheet and calibrating its presses to ensure color consistency in gang-run environment. That’s important, he noted, because this color calibration process produces high-quality printing for a fraction of the cost of traditional stand-alone print runs.
Lerch continued, saying every print job placed on a large press sheet (2" or 40") is shared with other jobs of like paper stock, quantity and ink (4/0,4/1,4/4).
“The high-end presses we use typically cost approximately $800 to $1,000 dollars an hour to operate,” Lerch explained. “By putting 100-plus business cards–possibly from 100 different customers–at one time–on one sheet, one press–, each customer gets the benefit of the high-quality print performance of the press but at a fraction of the cost (1/100th).”
Lerch offered an example. “If you were to rent a stretch limousine for just yourself, you would pay the full hourly rate of say $100 an hour (with a possible four-hour minimum). But, if you were to invite eight friends to join you, your cost would be divided by eight ($12.50 an hour, total four hours $50). You get the benefit of the classy limo, but you share the cost with others and you all win. We do the same with our press (limo), everyone on the press sheet (in the limo) splits the cost of the press time (hourly), the plates, inks, make ready, etc. Everybody wins, high-quality printing at a fraction of the cost. Our model allows our customers (print trade resellers) to sell printing to end-users, that we manufacture for them, and that we ship direct to our customer’s customer (end-user) directly, with the name of our trade customer on the box. The end-users never know we were involved in any way.”
Lerch said all of this approximately started five years ago. He noted the online web-to-print business model began and has grown tremendously since then. “Both web-to-print, digital and most recently grand-format printing online have allowed small businesses and end-users to quickly and easily price and purchase their custom print projects online 24/7,” he added.
To handle changes in marketplace demands, companies offer new and expanded features, are attentive to customers’ needs and welcome new technology. Lerch explained that its newest and best opportunity is its proprietary, customized, turnkey retail storefront-branded website program. The company also meets customers’ needs because CCI & PartnerPrinting.com “can add products and services quickly as they increase in popularity or demand,” he mentioned.
Megerdichian noted that 4over “constantly works toward improving our services and embrace[s] the technology to achieve optimum output. Some unique features include real-time status check, online chat system, quick uploads, state-of-the-art print production and an arsenal of high-tech printing equipment.”
Other advantages of working with 4over include: “fast turnarounds, high-quality prints, easy ordering process, piece of mind, no worries about financing a press or going through all the trouble associated with running your own equipment. Due to its high volume of work, 4over.com also offers very competitive prices that other print shops can not,” Megerdichian went on to say.
Wallans believes its online quotes system is unique. “We allow our customers, who are brokers and other smaller printers, web-enabled access to our estimating software. It has a really intuitive interface, that anyone with print knowledge can pick-up and get real contract pricing 24/7. So rather than waiting for prices from an estimator, they can get instant prices on even the most complex print product, while in their customers office—right from their iPhone, for example.”
CCI & PartnerPrinting.com gains a competitive edge with the help of a cutting-edge proprietary workflow technology that provides superior print quality and faster turnaround times, Lerch declared. In addition, the company is pioneering a new hybrid of screening technique that utilizes both AM and FM screening technology on the same press sheet. And, in May 2009, it will be G7 certified, which is the highest level of printing standard in the industry today.
“Quality, performance, low price and exceptional customer service offers our customers the best overall trade print value of any other online web-to-print trade-only resource,” he said.
Wallans noted that its location is an advantage. “Being located in Canada, with our dollar trading around 80 cents v. U.S. dollars, makes a buy in Canada a great option,” he said. “We can ship a lot further than we did a year ago and still be competitive.”
In order for 4over to stay competitive, Megerdichian remarked that it has automated numerous production stages. It has developed in-house systems as a way to increase the speed of production while minimizing errors. Though the company just began branching out into the wide-format product line—banners, signs, billboards, POP displays, building and vehicle wraps—this year, it plans to expand it. “We are expanding the wide-format services into our East coast region facilities and make them more accessible to all our customers nationwide,” Megerdichian stated.
CCI & PartnerPrinting.com plans to expand its product line to include magnets, ad specialties and grand-format print products. “We will be adding satellite production facilities throughout the country to place production closer to the end-user thereby reducing shipping time and shipping costs for our nationwide customer base of over 15,000 trade partners,” Lerch commented. “We will be adding web printing, screen printing, digital printing and online print and mail services to our online product offering.”
Digital presses are the future for Trade Secret Printing. “It’s on our to-do list, but the quality of production from these devices are continuing to improve and we will at some point add them to our equipment capabilities,” Wallans declared.
In regard to equipment, Megerdichian explained that 4over purchased many new pieces of equipment due to its expansions earlier this year. For instance, the company purchased six new Komori Presses, numerous cutters, die-cutting equipment, folders and stitchers. It also bought numerous wide roller and flatbed printers to accommodate the expansion of its market into the wide-format branch.
Despite the poor economy in the United States and Canada, Trade Secret Printing entered the web printing market last year when it purchased a 24-page Goss Sunday press.
Wallans went on to say the company made a decision to expand its digital offerings this year by adding large-format printing—much like its offset equipment. “We again went beyond what a typical quick printer has inplant, going with a 90" output device and a UV flatbed printer. ... We are also entering the packaging side of the business later this year, and have some folding and gluing equipment on order.”
CCI & PartnerPrinting.com recently purchased new Komori presses, new die cutters, new spot UV presses, new pile turners and new plate makers. Also, Lerch mentioned that in about three months the company is moving to a 90,000 square-foot building, which is more than double the size of its current facility. “We will begin producing grand-format and digital press printing at this new facility.”
Though these companies currently are doing better than others in different sectors, Lerch believes things will only get better for the industry as a whole.
“The print market nationwide is estimated to be over 166 billion dollars [in 2008], Lerch added. “The future of our trade-only business model will transcend into a nationwide network of trade printers, territory-specific manufacturing locations and the most comprehensive product line of print products offered by any online web-to-print resource. We will help our trade partners grow their print businesses both locally and nationally. The future is bright and will be driven by sophisticated software, technology, viral marketing and CRM management tools that will take us into the next century.”