While entry-level systems are helping smaller businesses get into digital printing, there is also a blending taking place between larger, well-established sign shops and PSPs. Formerly two separate camps, they now share a much greater linkage of business and purpose than even three years ago.
There are still highly successful specialists in the sign industry, of course, but as more PSPs seek to provide a broader product portfolio, their business model has come to include both commercial printing and sign printing.
More than 60,000,000 m2 (645,834,625 sf) of graphics have been printed with durable aqueous ‘latex-based’ inks so far.
In today’s competitive market, PSPs that focus on a broad range of high-value applications are thriving, while those stuck in old business models are struggling. Similarly, some sign shops are looking for economic benefits by expanding their product range to include small-format offerings, including garments, labels and packaging. While the printing itself may be easy for them, the challenge is in finding the best ways to use the specialized capabilities of their industrial inkjet presses, such as variable data printing (VDP) and versioning. Finding value in those capabilities is very important in the face of competition from other sign shops and PSPs alike.
New markets for traditional signmakers to move into include textiles and interior décor. To reach these markets’ customer bases, however, shops will have to move beyond graphic arts and into their own marketing services—with less of a focus on how to print and more on what to print and why.
Many markets are still shifting from analogue printing to digital. Inkjets alone are already a very broad category of the industry, allowing the luxury to not force one specific technology onto everyone who wants to produce wide-format graphics.
Chris Morgan is senior vice-president (SVP) of HP’s graphic solutions business. For more information, visit www.hp.ca.
