Helping clients choose the best vehicle wrap

by eudore_chand | 7 September 2021 2:22 pm

By Ginny Mumm

As the economy begins to right itself, demand for vehicle wraps—both personal and commercial—has never been stronger. Offering more design and finish options than a paint job, vinyl wrap is overtaking the market as the favoured medium for corporate advertising. In addition, vehicle wraps provide consumers with an affordable way to show off their personal brand, or simply change the colour of their vehicle. Print shops across Canada are seeing an increase in requests for everything from a simple chrome delete to fully designed graphic wraps.

We talked with Roxanne and Albert Peters, owners of Autoexotic[1] Trim and Signs in Grande Prairie, Alta., about the growth they’ve seen over the years in the vehicle wrap and graphics market, and how they help clients choose the best option for their business or personal vehicle.

All in the family
The Peters’ purchased Autoexotic in 2001, and have used the versatility of vinyl to grow their business to include decals, paint protection, vehicle graphics and wraps, pin striping, fleet branding, tank wraps, signs, banners, magnets, sandwich signs, interior and exterior signage, and window and wall graphics. They also provide some print-and-ship work, typically for existing clients.

Located in downtown Grand Prairie[2], the shop has been in its choice location since 2000. Autoexotic shares a strip mall building with one other business. Autoexotic’s production area, front office and two vehicle bays fit comfortably inside the approximately 3,000-sf facility. Roxanne is the office manager and handles inside sales, design and installation, and shares some of the production duties. Albert is the sales manager, handling outside sales, customer service, designing and installing, and any removal jobs that are needed. Allison Nurcombe-Richardson has been with the shop for 16 years and is the production manager, as well as helping out with inside and outside sales, and installations. Shelby Peters Friesen has been working with her parents full-time for four years as an installer and is learning to do more of the design work as well as customer service.

Like many shops, Autoexotic experienced some ups and downs in sales throughout the past 18 months, however, business has been booming since spring of this year. With the economy picking back up, many of their clients began refreshing or even expanding their fleets.

Production technology that powers growth
Autoexotic’s production room is anchored by their Roland DG TrueVIS VG2-540 wide-format printer/cutter, along with a Roland DG[3] GR-540 large-format vinyl cutter. “We’ve always relied on Roland DG print technology for the quality of the production,” said Albert. “The new VG2 has a wider overall colour gamut that helps us match more colours more closely. We’re also running the orange ink, which comes in handy for our construction and oil and gas industry clients. The printer’s output is vibrant and precise, and the fast drying time helps us meet our deadlines.”

Industrial-sized opportunities
Autoexotic specializes in graphics for big trucks and rigs and provides logo design services as well as graphics production, and installation. In addition to wraps[4] and lettering, they also offer striping and decals. They work on the larger sleeper semi-trailers, 400-barrel tanks, tank trailers and Super Bs, along with king-sized utility trucks with cranes.

Autoexotic also handles plenty of box trucks, vans, personal vehicles, boats and snowmobiles, and has wrapped race cars, dirt bikes, golf carts, and helicopters. They’ve gone above and beyond to wrap the roof of a high-rise Kenworth sleeper semi-trailer, and even offer custom touches such as wrapping the interior panels on vehicles.

Roxanne and Albert estimate their shop has done hundreds of wraps over the years. Between 50 and 60 per cent of their business is fleet wraps. As mentioned, many of their customers work in the oil and gas industry, as well as the trucking trades like construction, electrical, plumbing, etc. Their fleet clients will order truck or equipment decals in sets of 20 to 50 at least once a month, and sometimes more often. Autoexotic supplies and install various decal packages, and helps these clients with their signage needs as well.

In terms of their vehicle graphics work, about 70 per cent is lettering, and of that percentage, about half is printed and half is cut vinyl. About 15 per cent of their vehicle graphics business is partial wraps and 15 per cent full wraps. “Wraps are definitely on the increase. We get a minimum of a phone call a day asking, ‘Do you wrap?’” said Roxanne. The requests range from smaller jobs, like a chrome delete, to grills or bumpers, on up to colour change wraps and full graphics.

“We find it difficult to sell a designed partial or full wrap for a personal vehicle,” said Roxanne. “Most of the designed wraps we do are for commercial vehicles. These clients are looking for impactful graphics that represent their brand and advertise their services.”

Standing out from the crowd
In and around Grand Prairie, the Peters can name at least five well-established sign shops that are their direct competitors, along with several shops that do paper printing and some vinyl printing. There are also a few “backyard shops” that pop up, with wrappers that work out of a basement or garage. “The market for wraps continues to get more crowded here like in other cities. It’s really important for us to maintain our relationships with current clients and to always provide quality wraps at a good price so that we can stay competitive,” said Albert.

In addition to providing quality products, the Peters believe that being a well-established shop and maintaining a strong reputation for excellent service has helped their business thrive. “We have contacts that bring us business when they move from one job to another, so we are able to expand our client list,” said Roxanne. “I like to think the reason for that is our service and the quality of our work, but also the personal connection that we make with our clients.”

Helping clients decide which way to wrap
There are many elements clients need to consider when deciding between lettering, decals, a partial wrap or a full wrap. To help customers assess their options, Autoexotic offers a free, no obligation in-person consultation. “If possible, we have clients come to us for the consultation, so we can go through all the options with them and show them some examples of our work here in the shop. Sometimes, however, they need us to go to their location, for example, if they are considering a wrap for a big rig,” said Roxanne.

“Cost is always a major factor,” adds Albert. “Our industrial clients know the value of a high- quality wrap in terms of design, colour, and print accuracy, and also the value of durable inks and materials. For colour change wraps or other personal wraps, it very much comes down to price.”

Another important consideration is what style of wrap works best for a company’s logo and represents their brand well. “As an example, you wouldn’t want a small decal for an industrial company—they need to have uniform representation of their logo across their fleet. It also matters what type of vehicle they are wrapping, for instance, a trailer versus a car,” said Roxanne.

Roxanne notes design is involved to a certain extent with every vehicle wrap project, though the amount of design work varies greatly from job to job. For instance, designing a trailer wrap is more involved than creating door decals. “We do logo design as well, but we find that usually starts with a simple request for some decals. We are always happy to help our clients by creating the right design for their wraps, decals, and signage,” she said.

For many clients, helping them finalize their wrap decision is a process of refining their vision. “The majority of our clients know roughly what they are looking for, whether it be a full or partial wrap,” said Roxanne. “We listen to their vision of the finished product and work with them to design a wrap that will help them achieve their goals.”

A bright future for wraps
“The number of requests we field for wraps has absolutely increased in the last five years,” said Albert. “We predict demand will continue to rise as print technology manufacturers develop new generations of printers and keep increasing the colour gamut, and media manufacturers produce additional colour and texture options for vinyl media.”

“We are a small family-run business and we are passionate about what we do. We always strive to provide the best in everything that we produce, from our products to our service,” said Roxanne. “We have an outstanding team, and production equipment that can handle any size fleet. We look forward to continuing to serve our clients’ wrap needs as the economy recovers.”

[BIO] Ginny Mumm is a freelance consultant for digital inkjet printer/cutter provider Roland DGA. For more information, visit www.rolanddga.com.

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/helping-clients-choose-the-best-vehicle-wrap/

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