The Print Distributor Market Changes with the Times

The print distributor market has evolved quite dramatically in only the past two decades, and nowhere is that more evident than in what exactly we call these businesses. Traditionally called “trade brokers,” that term has become passé, and “distributor” has become the preferred term for referring to what can be described as “non-asset-based sellers of print.” 

“One thing that differentiates our manufacturers from other print manufacturers is that most, if not all, of them work as trade-only manufacturers,” said Matt Bruno, executive vice president of the Print Services & Distribution Association (PSDA). “So they don’t sell direct-to-end users for the most part. And I think that the term ‘broker’ sort of diminishes what they do. It commoditizes their business. On the manufacturing side, they don’t like to look at their partners as brokers. They like to look at their partners as strategic partners to get their product to the end users. From just the outside looking in at the distributors, the term 'broker' I think also trivializes what they do.”

Semantics aside, the print distributor industry is a just-over-$5 billion industry, with the largest companies—which include Inner Workings, Williams Lea, HH Global and Proforma—account for about $2.5 to $2.7 billion of that.

“The remaining balance is shared by a strong, diverse group of smaller organizations,” Bruno said. “We range in membership size from $500,000 in annual revenue to $300 million in annual revenue and really everything in between."

Like the printing industry in general, the majority of the distributors are small businesses. It has become more difficult to accurately size the distributor industry because, as we have been seeing in commercial printing in general, the lines are blurring as “print” comes to include more and different applications, especially where wide-format, textile and industrial printing are concerned. In the distributor industry, the line between print distributors and promotional product distributors is starting to blur.

“A lot of our promo product distributors do a little bit of print,” Bruno said. “What do you call a calendar? Is that a promotional product or is that just print?”

And then there are printed 3D objects like pens, golf balls and smartphone cases—print or promotional products? 

The evolution of the print distributor industry parallels the evolution of its trade association, the PSDA. Originally founded in 1946 as the National Business Forms Association, it became the Document Management Industries Association as its members increasingly handled more than forms. In the 2000s, it became the Print Services and Distribution Association as, again, what distributors were actually handling changed.

“You have really had to try to change with the dynamic in the print industry,” Bruno said. “What we were doing 10 years ago in the print industry is not what’s going on today, and the distributors are also a part of that. The flexibility and capability to procure print became easier and more accessible, so they had to find a way to differentiate their business models by offering more than just print.” 

Distributors today are handling everything from the original forms that PSDA founding members were distributing, to promotional products, window and floor graphics, trade show graphics and what we often call "tchotchkes." They are also involved in services like event management. At the end of the day, though, distribution is really about facilitating print procurement for their own customers and end users.

“They’ve really embraced this idea of technology and how they can use it to make buying and assisting their clients easier, and do it in a way that not only allows them to make it easier to buy for their clients, but then also make it easier for their suppliers to work with them,” Bruno said. “They’re creating these technologies that are connecting the entire supply chain from order entry all the way to order fulfillment.”

It was a tough journey, though. As companies like the Vistaprints and Shutterflys of the industry leveraged technology, it changed how print procurement had to work.

“I think that a lot of our distributors weren’t ready for that initially,” Bruno said. “Once they understood that this is how we have to do business going forward, they’re embracing it so well now that it’s been amazing to see how much they’ve been able to accomplish and how far they’ve come.”

However, that said, the technology available—especially to smaller businesses—isn’t always able to handle issues unique to print procurement. The affordable options for small businesses, such as those for the promotional products industry, are product or SKU-based. That gives a distributor or printer a pool of specific products that they can offer to their customers.

“Well, print doesn’t work that way,” Bruno said. “When you’re trying to provide print to your customers, you’ve got everything from the stock that it’s being printed on to the colors, cover stock versus the inside stock—there are just a lot more product specifications that are required.”

“The technology that we’re working with is pretty limited in scope, function and process automation,” said PSDA President Nathan Goldberg. “So when we are trying to compete with larger companies that have their own platform or other industries where they have invested a lot more money in new technology and new processes, it’s very difficult.” 

Technology has been one challenge, but again, like in printing in general, distributors face a human resources challenge.

“One of the other pervasive issues that we face is a lack of interest by younger generations, and the challenge of attracting top talent to our industry,” Goldberg said. “When you meet with somebody who’s 25 years old and super smart, they can be an asset to your organization. But when you tell them that you’re in the printing business, they say, ‘Wow, people still do that?’”

So the challenge is to craft a narrative that will convey the sense that, yes, print is cool, but there is more to this industry than just print.

“Part of what we’ve been able to do is create that narrative that’s not like, ‘Hey, we’re not selling print,’" Goldberg said. "We’re helping business owners grow their businesses from a marketing and branding and operational standpoint. Print is just one of the products that we happen to produce or sell, but it’s really about creating solutions—technology solutions or warehousing and fulfillment solutions—that help our customers take care of their business.”

As e-commerce and web-to-print become more prevalent, as printing equipment, particularly digital printing equipment, becomes less expensive and easier to use, is there any advantage to working through—or even being—a distributor, rather than working directly with a printer? And what about end users buying their own printing equipment themselves and starting up an inplant? 

“There’s a lot of pressure from the equipment manufacturers to sell equipment, and they’re selling it to our end users,” Goldberg said. “We try to get to those customers ahead of time and say, ‘Listen, are you in—say—the construction business or are you in the printing business? If you’re in the printing business then you should definitely buy that flatbed printer. But if you’re in the construction business, than you should probably focus on running your construction organization and not necessarily running a printing business.'” 

And for end users, working through a distributor has a number of benefits.

“There is not a manufacturer that I’m aware of that owns all the equipment that your customer would need to produce everything they need,” Goldberg said, “especially when you get to large companies that need to produce thousands of different kinds of printed pieces. To own all that equipment would cost $10 maybe $50 million—and you’d have to keep it busy.”

Then there is geography.

“If you need something produced and there are eight guys in the country that could produce it, I can find one of those eight guys and I can find the best price based on the geography and the specs of the job,” Goldberg said. 

As with a lot of print these days, distributing is not just about selling products at the best price. It’s about cultivating a relationship with a customer beyond simply taking orders.

“I really like the opportunity to meet with business owners,” Goldberg said, “and talk to them about their organization, the challenges they’re having, the outcomes that they’re trying to produce, and see if there’s a place for me to provide value. It’s really the consultative side of the industry, which is really what I think most of us are after and really enjoy.”