Buying printing online threat or opportunity? - news commentary by Andy McCourt

Australian and New Zealand online print procurement sites are proliferating with names such as weprintit.com.au, worldwide.com.au, and the marvelously-named, digiwedoo.com.au an Adeleide shop equipped with HP Indigo colour. Website www.4print.com.au will even find you an online printer anywhere in Australia or New Zealand.

Much of the printing on offer is at very sharp prices. For example, the following special offers can be seen and purchased online, and only online.

Special Offer 1
500 A4 full colour flyers, 90gsm laser bond $139.80
1000 A4 full colour flyers, 90gsm laser bond $182.39

Special Offer
500 A4 full colour flyers, 150gsm gloss $312.42
1000 A4 full colour flyers, 150gsm gloss $380.25

Special Offer 13
500 business cards, full colour, one sided $88.55
(with acknowledgement and thanks to Minuteman Press Perth, www.mmpress.com.au)

Delivery is Australia-wide and prices include GST. The A4 full-colour laser per-sheet price is 30 cents.


Record growth rates for print

October issue of Inc. Magazine, the USA's leading publication for small and medium-sized businesses, ranked 500 fastest-growing private companies. Online digital print-on demand provider Mimeo.com, Inc. www.Mimeo.com ranked #186 on the list, with annual sales growth of 733%.

The list is full of businesses with print-related services. At #16 is CSG - Commodity Services Group - a procurement organisation claiming to save its customers 18% on goods and services. Print is one of its major offerings. CSG grew 4,439% in 2003-04; turnover was $13 million. Another print-paper services company, e-copy, was #92 on the Inc.500 list with a 1,555% 03-04 growth.

At #183 was printingforless.com which grew 933% by offering 'real lithographic CMYK printing on Heidelberg presses.' Other names that crop up on the Inc.500 list include theprinters.com, printinc.com and the americanpublishinggroup.com.

In Australia, the growth of Worldwide Online Printing has been widely reported over the past two years. The big chains Snap and Kwik Kopy both opt for 'login' access to online print buying, and direction to the nearest franchise.

The trend is summed up by ACT-based Printingonline.com.au which has been set up to take advantage of the internet to make professional full colour printing available online to anyone, to any business, anywhere in Australia who needs quality printing and has an internet connection.

MY CALL

It's the second coming of internet-based print procurement. This time it's for real, billions of dollars in print orders will be primarily conducted online within the forseeable future. How many traditional print businesses can boast growth rates in the hundreds, even thousands of per cent?

The emphasis is on 'procurement.' The commoditisation of printing slots it neatly into supply-chain management and there is no better way to manage your supply chain than exclusively online. Everything is logged, trackable, and identifiable. It's like e-bay.

If you think you can hide in 'up-market quality craft-based printing' think again. Offset online printing is growing too with progressive operators building marketing-based websites with strong sales pitches for all types of work.

The good news is that anyone can do it. Your existing business can grow exponentially with a new approach to marketing, building business relationships with buyers online. But it's not just about having a website or accepting emailed PDFs, it's a total culture of online business, transferring the trust and goodwill from bricks-and-mortar business into the virtual world. There's a knack, even an art to it, so do your homework. Take as much care in building your e-commerce website as in buying a new press.

Could you run your business without a phone line? In the not too distant future, it will be nigh impossible to operate without a good interactive website.

Take an open-slather approach and don't limit online commerce to 'privileged customers.' Everyone with an internet connection is a potential customer.

I recall in 1985, at Dynamic Press, a grand Sydney printing house run by the van Werren family, patriarch Arrie van Werren grabbed a fax from his machine and pronounced excitedly, "Here, another order by fax and we haven't even met the person!."

That was then. The internet is now. Plan and implement your online strategy. Make it your #1 New Year 2005 resolution.