Targeting the Right Markets for Inkjet Growth
Getting in the inkjet game may seem daunting, but the reality is that inkjet technology has arrived. Savvy businesses are already reaping the benefits of early adoption. These companies are effectively growing their inkjet businesses by delivering relevant applications against a number of parameters, including cost, productivity, and print requirements. As with any technology, success in the inkjet market begins with an understanding that it’s not the technology itself that makes the difference—it’s the solution that you build around it. This is precisely what’s so exciting about inkjet technology… it opens a number of new opportunities for print.
In the Canon Solutions America sponsored webinar entitled Targeting the Right Markets for Inkjet Growth presented by Printing Impressions and Book Business magazines, Barb Pellow, Group Director of InfoTrends/Keypoint Intelligence, stated, “the big thing about inkjet is that you need to have the right fit for the application. Inkjet printing is uniquely designed for those applications that require high volumes as well as high speeds. With compelling cost-per-page metrics, high-speed continuous-feed inkjet systems enable true business model transformation in terms of customer operations, targeting and personalization, and profitability.” These factors can have huge business implications beyond the typical cost cross-over curves and are driving growth for businesses that have already made the decision to invest in color inkjet.
TOP TEN FASTEST-GROWING APPLICATIONS BY ABSOLUTE PAGE GROWTH
Source: U.S. Digital Production Printing Application Forecast, InfoTrends 2015
High-speed inkjet printing enables much greater flexibility, creating an automated process that produces timely, accurate, and personalized documents to meet today’s market requirements. Pellow continues, “The real focus is on the applications. Three categories dominate today’s production color inkjet printing market — transaction, promotional, and publishing. Within those categories, two or three key applications are dominant. For transaction, it’s bills, statements, and TransPromo. For promotional, it’s direct mail and catalogs. And for publishing, it’s books and magazines.”
During this webinar, Pellow was joined by a panel of Canon Solutions America customers from each of these categories, including:
- Robert Radzis, Chief Customer Officer of SG360°
- Jeremy Hess, Director of Sales and Marketing for the Business Development Group at Gasch Printing
- Jake Bruhnding, Director of Business Development at Impact Proven Solutions
Pellow presented the latest research and trends for each segment, providing a compelling reason to consider inkjet technology for business growth. Then, each of the three customer speakers provided insights on how inkjet is creating new revenues with existing clients, opening up new sales opportunities and more jobs, and bringing in more money and higher profits. Furthermore, each panelist exploited previous challenges faced by inkjet and how their companies made the decision to invest in Canon Solutions America inkjet technologies.
Listen in to hear valuable industry insight from the panel. Specifically, Robert Radzis discusses the importance of leveraging inkjet for new opportunities and understanding the real value proposition of the technology. He notes, “There is a difference between inkjet and other technologies (for example, toner or offset). In the past, inkjet was the lower cost alternative to offset, but now we say that it’s an opportunity for higher returns. Inkjet adds value, and in our shop it is ten times faster at a tenth of the cost of consumables.” Meanwhile, Jeremy Hess explains how the advancements in inkjet printing quality impacted the decision to invest at Gasch Printing. He elaborates, “Making the transition to inkjet was a big jump for us. In the past, the quality did not meet our standards and we would never make an investment if it meant taking a step back in terms of quality. Now, all of that has changed and the quality meets our expectations.” Finally, Jake Bruhnding offers insights on substrates and describes how improved quality really motivated his salespeople. He explains, “Substrates were really important when we made the decision to invest in inkjet. Paper is the fifth color in the inkjet world. At Impact, color inkjet generates new opportunities for TransPromo. Shortly after we installed our inkjet technologies, our sales teams developed a new passion for selling! They are identifying new revenue opportunities, selling more to existing clients, and have a more compelling story when selling to prospective customers.”
This in-depth webinar provides a deep dive on today’s market opportunities, the value proposition for inkjet, investment decisions that must be made when considering inkjet technologies, how the addition of inkjet can change a business’ capabilities, and the challenges that still remain. If you’ve recently invested in inkjet or are considering doing so in the future, you won’t want to miss this webinar replay.
TARGETING THE RIGHT MARKETS FOR INKJET GROWTH WEBINAR
1:01:15 video