By Sander Sondaal, Director Commercial Print Sales, Ricoh Graphic Communications, Ricoh Europe
When considering where your operational profits are being generated what is your main focus? Margins on jobs? Order volumes? Application diversity?
Increasingly ink and toner choice is being explored by Print Service Providers (PSPs) for its ability to enhance profitability. That is the finding of the global Taktiful/WhatTheyThink 2023 Specialty Digital Ink and Toner Embellishment Study.
It reported that 41% of survey respondents who own digital ink and toner embellishment technologies said that the main reason they added specialty ink and toner capabilities was to generate more profit.
It also found 27% said that specialty ink and toner jobs were ‘always’ more profitable than regular CMYK jobs, and 36% said they ‘usually’ are.
A further 55% were satisfied with the profits they made from these jobs, while 40% were satisfied with the sales of these jobs.
With 75% of respondents stating clients are interested in specialty ink and toner capabilities there is a lot of opportunity to capitalise on.
NAPCO Research’s study, Adding Value to Digital Print, found print providers are levering Digital Print Enhancement to improve profitability. The survey of both print providers and marketers/brand owners found many printers are looking for new value added print applications to help boost their profit margins and differentiate their offerings.
At the same time marketers value providers that offer ways to enhance print. Of the 600 brand owners/marketer respondents that influence commercial printing taking the survey, 52% said it was highly important that their print providers offer unique ideas to enhance the print they purchase.
The right technology innovation can transform printed materials from commodity, price sensitive offerings to higher value products that command a premium.
Brands are prepared to pay premiums. Up to 33% for speciality colours such as white, metallic and fluorescent and 31% for security ink.
Digital printing simplifies processes and reduces production costs for special effects while offering a wide array of value added options.
For example the fifth colour station on the Ricoh Pro™ C7200X digital colour sheetfed press offers neon pink, neon yellow, white, clear, gold and silver toners as well as invisible red toners.
Neon pink and neon yellow toners enable colours to pop, gold and silver elevates any application from catalogues, posters and flyers to direct mail, brochures, and invitations, and invisible red supports security features. White can be used as a base layer for high quality graphics on coloured and transparent media and clear can be used to add patterns or enhance photos.
All of which enable PSPs to expand their creativity while also boosting their profitability.
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