Something Out of the Ordinary

Figures from German industry associations clearly indicate a shakeout of printshops, and yet the remaining companies are still facing fierce competition. What is the solution?

As companies define their strategies for dealing with the crisis, some fall back on a wait-and-see approach. Erich Zahn, Senior Consultant at Heidelberg Business Consulting, says this is definitely not the way to go. Instead, companies should make use of the current lull in orders to prepare for the post-crisis period. This includes operational measures such as optimizing the efficiency of processes (see the article entitled "The Pursuit of Success"  in this edition) and getting the most out of existing equipment. However, this on its own is often not enough. A further step and one that is key from a strategic viewpoint is to strengthen customer loyalty. "The aim is to become indispensible to customers by offering additional services," stresses Zahn.

Shipping Logistics
For example, printshops can send print products to end customers on behalf of their own customers. "Direct shipping by the printshop is normally quicker and more cost-effective for customers because it dispenses with an intermediate step," explains Zahn. If the printshop has the necessary know-how and space, it can also store and manage its customers' print products. This is a strategy that Franz Kuthal GmbH & Co. KG in Mainaschaff has adopted with considerable success. "Had we invested in additional prepress services, we would have been no different from other printshops," states Managing Director Helmut Kraft. Today, the Kuthal affiliate RMD stores, administers, and dispatches not only printed matters, but also advertising media and merchandise for companies in the most diverse sectors.

Other options besides consignment activities are possible, depending on the core skills and infrastructure that are in place. For instance, one printshop based in the Black Forest (Germany) makes luxury presentation boxes, fills them with bottles of liquor, and delivers them to its clients' end customers. Another company located in the south of Germany prints personalized letters for its customers' mail outs, sticks in or shrink-wraps the relevant product samples or advertising media, and sends them out.

Crossmedia
The written and visual contents of items such as product brochures are often reused in different media, including other print products, the Internet or DVD-ROMs. Printshops often own the content, so why not offer to prepare the text and images for the various media as a complete package? No reason at all according to the ABT media group in Weinheim, which has built up a media-neutral data pool. Customers have access to a wide variety of different media at the touch of a button. "Our customers benefit from quicker production, increased market presence, and lower costs. This has made them more loyal to our company and brought us many new customers by word of mouth," stresses owner Irmgard Abt.

Cooperation
It is also possible to expand the range of products on offer by cooperating with appropriate partners. Tecnografica, based in Lamazzo in northern Italy, is a prime example.  The five specialist companies - one each for prepress and postpress, two printshops (web offset, sheetfed offset, and digital printing), and an agency - each operate independently as far as the outside world is concerned. In actual fact, however, they work together. This has the advantage that customers can obtain virtually any print product from a single source - from business cards and brochures to posters and magazines. And of course things can be scaled down, too, for example by working with a digital printer who handles personalized jobs such as mailings or very short runs. The appeal of this business model lies in the fact that sheetfed offset printshops can respond flexibly to a wider range of customer requests. They can also establish whether it is worthwhile entering the relevant cooperation partner's area of business on their own account.

Which additional service is the right one?
Deciding on the right additional service depends on the equipment available, the job makeup, the skills of the company's workforce, and potential customers for the various business models, explains Zahn. Heidelberg helps companies establish which model is most suitable. For example, the Business Consulting section performs profitability analyses and helps printshops make the necessary preparations for the additional business. Valuable assistance is also provided by the Print Media Academy with its comprehensive range of courses covering activities such as unlocking new fields of business and marketing additional products or services.