PRESSING ON
6 Q U I C K P R I N T I N G / J u n e 2 0 1 4
w w w . q u i c k p r i n t i n g . c o m
GROUP PUBLISHER Kelley Holmes kelley@quickprinting.com
800-616-2252 x6104
EDITORIAL Denise M. Gustavson Denise. Gustavson@cygnus.com
DIRECTOR 800-616-2252 x6218
EDITOR Mark Vruno mark@quickprinting.com
800-616-2252 x6225
Senior Bob Hall browndawg@aol.com
Consultant
Sr. Contributing Tom Crouser tom@crouser.com
Columnists David Fellman dmf@davefellman.com
John Giles john@johngiles.com
Contributing David Claerbaut drdc46@yahoo.com
Columnists Nancy DeDiemar nancy91762@gmail.com
Mitch Evans mitch@mitchevansconsulting.com
Steve Johnson steve@copresco.com
Stuart Margolis bPfaff@margolisbecker.com
Joe Rickard jrickard@intellectives.com
Tawnya Starr tawnya.starr@firespring.com
Debra Thompson debra@tgassociates.com
CORPORATE 3 Huntington Quadrangle, Suite 301 North
OFFICE Melville, NY 11747
Phone: 800-308-6397 Fax: 631-845-2741
Account Executives Kimberly Jorgensen x6103 kimberly@quickprinting.com
Paul Zimmerman x6214 paul@quickprinting.com
Production Manager Suzette Schear x6260 suzette.schear@cygnus.com
Art Director John Sidor x6362 john.sidor@cygnus.com
European Sales Representative, ITSL Media
Julian Maddocks-Born, Sales Director
julian@itsluk.com, +44 (0)1442 230033
Benedict Hume, Sales Manager
benedict@itsluk.com, direct line +44 (0)1442 288287
CIRCULATION Tammy Steller x1393 tammy.steller@cygnus.com
For change of address or subscription information,
call 877-382-9187, fax 920-563-1704, or
circ.quickprinting@omeda.com
REPRINT SERVICE For reprints and licensing, please contact Nick Iademarco
at Wright's Media 877-652-5295 ext. 102 or
niademarco@wrightsmedia.com
LIST RENTALS Elizabeth Jackson ejackson@meritdirect.com
847-492-1350 x18
CEO John French
CFO Paul Bonaiuto
SVP, Strategy & Business Development Blair Johnson
VP, Marketing Gerry Whitty
VP, Audience Development Julie Nachtigal
VP, Technology Eric Kammerzelt
VP, Production Operations Curt Pordes
VP, Human Resources Ed Wood
w w w. M y P R I N T R e s o u r c e . c o m
Q U I C K P R I N T I N G • P R I N T I N G N E W S • W I D E - F O R M A T I M A G I N G
Full-Court Press
O
ur basketball theme for 2014's "Top 100" quick and small com-
mercial printer rankings is in honor of this month's NBA pro
basketball finals. But while defense may win championships in
sports, being proactive and "offensive," if you will, is more effec-
tive in growing profits in the printing business.
Like basketball players, who are considered among the world's most elite
athletes, quick print firm owners and managers need to be fast, flexible, and
versatile with all aspects of their game—from prepress services to digital
and offset output to print finishing and everything else in between. To that
end, digital printing and copying in color accounted for nearly one-fourth
of the $470+ million sold by these 100 Most Outstanding Printers (MOPs)
last year, up from one-fifth in 2012. (See our coverage beginning on page 12
for a detailed breakdown of the num-
bers, including infographics).
It is no surprise that the business and
consumer trend toward more color
documents continues. Meanwhile, the
monochrome digital numbers were
basically flat, down by less than one
percentage point. Mailing services
didn't jump much higher, either—
nearly even year-over-year, hovering
slightly below five percent. Prepress/
premedia also kept its feet on the hard-
wood, staying at around six percent.
Taking a nose-dive, as if chasing after
a loose ball, was interactive/web-based services: down from 1.23 percent
in our last report to only 0.03 percent now. Even more surprising is that
wide-format print services took a hit, representing 4.87 percent of sales
in 2012 but only two percent in 2013. But those printers who are adding
larger formats to their mix are seeing margins spike. (See story on page 22.)
Vertical Jumps
In postpress, however, there was more than a four percent elevation
in bindery/finishing services, which grew to 13.7 percent. The biggest
thunder-jam slam dunk came from the miscellaneous category called
"Brokered/Other Services," which nearly tripled to more than 33 percent
(from 12.76 percent). Trade printers take note: That substantial leap trans-
lates to sales of more than $155 million in 2013.
The figures compiled annually in these pages represent a microcosm
of our industry. For example, is it shocking, really, that offset printing
percentages are down? Multicolor offset dropped a full eight percent-
age points, to 1.15 percent from 9.15, while four-color process jobs fell
off even more substantially: representing more than 14 percent of sales
in 2012 but only 0.6 percent in 2013. Even monochrome offset sales
decreased by nearly one-half (3.8 percent vs. 6.14 percent).
2013's numbers reflect some
dives, several major leaps, and
one massive slam dunk.
By Mark Vruno
'Brokered/Other'
services had the
biggest 'leaps' of
all: nearly tripling
to more than 33
percent of all quick
print sales in 2013.
QP_6-7_0614 Editorial.indd 6 5/15/14 4:13 PM