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The Competitive Landscape
Continues to Shift
Printers must employ disruptive thinking and creative
ideas if they want to lead the pack. By Bob Hall
here is no denying that the
face of competition for the
small commercial print segment continues to change. At
one time, competitors were
other independent and franchise printers in town, then
came Kinko's and other chains, then the
Internet changed the rules and Vistaprint
and other online printers were in the
competitive mix. Meanwhile, the typical job mix was changing, and simply
putting ink or toner on paper and competing on price was no longer enough
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QUICK PRINTING / July 2013
to ensure success. And then came the
doomsayers—PrintisDying!
Well, let's get one thing straight from
the outset. Print isn't dying, but it sure
is changing and printers are having to
adapt to compete. According to a recent
InfoTrends survey of 1,000 companies,
nearly half reported that they were linking their printed marketing materials
to online digital channels. Those same
companies reported that online marketing and mobile will see growth while
printing will see continued decline.
That said, print will still account for 30
percent of marketing expenditures. However, things such as printed brochures
and direct mail will be linked to online
websites, social media, and mobile apps.
So, not only is the competitive landscape changing, so is the nature of print
itself. To get a read on what is really
going on in the field, I asked several
industry professionals how the following are affecting the small commercial
market segment:
• Online printers (e.g.: Vistaprint,
4Over,Moo.com,etc.)
• Big box stores and shipping franchises (Staples, Office Depot, UPS Store,
FedExOffice,etc.)
• Traditionalprintersmovingtoonline
options(e.g.:Web-to-print)
• Demand for non-traditional services
such as multi-media marketing campaigns, mailing and fulfillment, website
maintenance, list maintenance, etc.
w w w. M y P R I N T R e s o u r c e . c o m