Living Large: Penthouse Possibilities with Wide Format

Printers adding wide format are seeing a quick return on their investment and now have a way to provide their existing customers with new services to drive revenue, agreed the participants of the “Living Large: Penthouse Possibilities with Wide Format” panel, held by Printerverse at Print Media Centr’s booth (701) on Sunday. The panel consisted of leading vendors in the wide format space.

As with any new service, printers are asking why they should get into wide format, what are the new markets and how they can make money with this service. Tom Wittenberg, Sign & Marketing Manager, HP (Booth 1825), reported wide format printing can be powerful. “An advertiser has seven seconds to make an impression on a customer and 70% of large format is responsible for creating that purchase opportunity,” said Wittenberg. “Large format helps a customer move from mass marketing to ‘me’ marketing.”

Brian Phipps, President, Mutoh America (Booth 2475), reported wide format can expand the products printers sell to existing customers. “Technology and quality are getting better,” said Phipps. “Better inks are driving it. You can print on almost anything. Printers can get into wide format at a low cost, gain experience, and broker work until they have the money to buy a bigger machine.”

The expanding substrates give commercial printers new applications to sell, said Mary Ann Geers, Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy, GPA. “The growing markets are large window displays and décor products for both retail and the home. New applications are being developed. For example, alumigraphics is a substrate material that conforms to the texture of rough or smooth surfaces such as concrete and asphalt. It offers a wide range of outdoor possibilities.”

The panel believes adding wide format will put profitability and growth back into a printing company. Randy Paar, Marketing Manager, Display Graphics, Large Format Solutions, Canon (Booth 1500), sees printers using wide format to diversify their business. “The profitable companies are moving pass printing banners and offering high margin products that make dollars by the square foot.”

Rich Farmer, Director, Wide Format Sales, Ricoh USA (Booth 2035), noted wide format uses the same business practices they are already using and has many of the same challenges. “Finishing automation will be critical in the process, but the equipment is getting easier to use,” said Farmer. Most printers already have a background in RIPs and color management so the key will be learning the substrates. There is also a wealth of training available for the different applications.

MIS solutions to estimating and managing the workflow are also available to make the transition to wide format production. Understanding and estimating substrates is one of the more difficult areas for printers, said Stephen Feldman, Director, Product Management, Avanti Systems (Booth 1879). His company allows a printer to estimate wide format as well as commercial print and capture production data to help calculate future prices.

The panel concluded that wide format is getting easier, faster, and eco-friendlier. With the expanding applications and faster ROI, printers should look to complement their commercial printing services with the wide format services.