The facts & figures

Apr 1, 2007 12:00 PM

On average, about two percent of a company's revenues involve print. This includes everything from utility materials like forms, stationery and business cards to promotional brochures and direct mail, to publications for publishers to sell, to preprinted stock that runs through MIS printers for transactional bills and statements — and everything in between.

Most printing comes from the business community. Publishing (where the printing is one of the final products) is now about 30 percent of all print purchasing, but it tends to be purchased differently than business-related print.

Complex and very complex jobs account for 60 percent of the revenue of the printing industry. An oversimplified workflow: one-third prep and program, one-third print and one-third finish. In other words, most printed products are complex because they use multiple steps in the printing process, and the more complex the product, the more it needs a godfather (or godmother). What is scary is that many complex print jobs often are initiated without any consultation with the printer.

The major change in print buying is that less experienced people are the buyers. At one time companies had purchasing departments with specialists in various areas; today, they are mostly generalists. Thus, marketing and communications departments buy direct where they can, or they combine the printing with the design purchase. As a result, more creative professionals buy printing than ever before.

Source: Frank Romano/RIT surveys.

How did the following change in the past year?

	Decrease >5%	Decrease 1-5%	No Change	Increase 1-5%	Increase >5%
Paper costs	0	1.3%	3.9%	47.4%	47.4%
Logistics/transportation costs	0	2.5%	6.3%	38.0%	53.2%
Overall material costs	2.6%	5.2%	3.9%	58.4%	29.9%
Labor Costs	0	1.3%	15.0%	75.0%	8.8%
Ink costs	0	1.3%	21.5%	49.4%	27.9%
Prices charged to customers	6.3%	16.3%	18.8%	46.3%	12.5%

Printers' costs are on the rise: a snapshot of the printing industry

Consulting firm Grant Thorton (Chicago) recently surveyed 81 printers on financial, operational and market issues. Nearly half reported annual sales of less than $10 million, 43 percent reported sales of $10 million to $100 million, and 11 percent reported sales of more than $100 million. Top product lines sold among printers were advertising collateral, with an average 20 percent of sales; direct mail at 16 percent; other markets at 17 percent; books at 11 percent; and forms/labels at an average 11 percent. Among the “other” markets identified, business cards/stationery was the most frequent response.

See www.granthornton.com/printers.

Print makes an excellent investment
“Researchers found that U.S. advertisers spend $167 per person in direct mail marketing to earn $2,095 worth of goods per person, scoring a return on investment of 13 to 1.” (Source: “Why Print? The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper.” www.printcouncil.org)
Top 10 stock photography clichés
Forty Media (Phoenix) a Web design, development and branding agency, has identified the “Top 10 Stock Photography Clichés.” Topping the list is:

The Handshake of Synergy:

“You've made the sale and closed the deal. They can't back out now — you shook on it!”

See www.fortymedia.com/blog/post/20.
Delivering on campaign promises
How successful was your last direct mail campaign? The Direct Marketing Assn. (DMA) (New York) “Response Rate Report” can aid your analysis. The publication offers response rate benchmarks specific to individual marketing campaigns across eight media applications, by four different campaign objectives in 17 major industries. This popular report includes information on revenue/cost
per contact and revenue/cost per order.
Cost is $245 for DMA members;
$445 for nonmembers.
See www.the-dma.org/research.
Hop on POP
InfoTrends (Weymouth, MA) predicts the retail value of printed point-of-purchase (POP) materials in the United States will to grow to over $28.8 billion in 2011, representing a five-year compound annual growth rate of 6.7 percent. Research for the study consisted of in-depth interviews with chain stores and franchise retail establishments, consumer packaged good manufacturers, print service providers, ad agencies and marketing service companies. InfoTrends also surveyed over 180 companies that participate in POP planning, design and implementation processes.

See www.capv.com.
The skinny on perfect binding
Most perfect binding equipment can accommodate a minimum thickness of 1/16 inch. Lay-flat and PUR binding require a greater minimum thickness of 14 inch. To determine how many pages are necessary to meet these minimums, find out the specified paper's ppi (pages per inch) for the desired finish and basis weight. (Source: “Binding Basics” at www.mohawkpaper.com.)

How many printers do you deal with?

The number of printers that print buyers work with depends on how much they buy. An overall trend of companies reducing their number of suppliers has emerged. Over 90 percent of buyers say they work with the same group of printers through the year.

Annual print buy	Under $10,000	$10,000 - $50M	$50,000 - $100M	Over $100,000
No. of print suppliers	5.0	5.7	6.9	11.5

Source: Frank Romano/RIT surveys

It's not so easy being green
A survey of Fortune 100 companies in North America has found that barely half of the companies that have embraced a sustainability strategy have taken concrete steps to deliver on their promises. While 60 percent of North American firms in the survey have a documented corporate-level sustainability strategy, just 36 percent have adopted a formal sustainability strategy for their supply chains — a crucial step in ultimately being able to deliver on their sustainability promises. The study, conducted by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney (www.atkearney.com) in conjunction with the Institute for Supply Management, surveyed firms across a variety of industries to assess corporate sustainability practices and understand how sustainability is impacting businesses.
So many e-mails, so little time
According to the DailyBulletin.com: E-mail traffic hit 171 billion messages per day globally in 2006, up from 135 billion at the end of 2005. (Reportedly 70 percent of it is spam.)
First-class mail volume was 44 million pieces in 2006, down from 56 million in 1999.
FedEx delivers an average of 3.3 million packages a day, up 10 percent from 2002. (Sources: Tekrati Inc., USPS, FedEx)
Up close and personal on the Internet
A Pew Internet Research Study (Washington, DC) found that the Web has become increasingly important to users in their everyday lives. Pew's surveys found that 45 percent of Internet users, or about 60 million Americans, say that the Net helped them make big decisions or negotiate their way through major personal episodes in their lives in the previous two years. Pew's March 2005 Major Moments Survey repeated elements of a January 2002 survey. Researchers found that over the three-year period, Internet use grew by the percentage of respondents who went online to:

54% help another person cope with a major illness. (40% coped themselves)

50% pursue more training for their careers.

45% make major investment or financial decisions.

43% look for a new place to live.

42% decide about a school or a college for themselves or their children.

23% buy a car.

14% switch jobs.