By Melissa Donovan
Growth, partnership, trust—all words associated with a trade-only printer. Print service providers (PSPs) that decide to outsource work want to expand services with a successful collaboration.
High Requests
Trade-only wholesale printers are helpful for a number of reasons but one scenario is when there is an application that a print provider has yet to master, but its customers are requesting it. Instead of saying no, outsourcing to a trade-only printer is a great option.
Application requests that has spiked in recent years include custom printed yard signs for political races and real estate agents. “These are extremely effective to communicate and promote and we use high-speed digital flatbed printers and graphic screen printing equipment using UV ink,” notes a representative from YardSignsResellers.com.
In the traditional printing arena, hot items in the marketplace right now include folding cartons and roll labels, according to Jennifer Hoyt, director of marketing, Stouse, LLC. “Folding cartons are thinner paperboard generally used on retail shelves for food products, cosmetic items, and nutraceuticals. Hundreds of new items crop up for sale in retail every day. Folding cartons require specialized machinery to produce and have had high minimums in the past. With digital equipment, trade-only printers like Stouse have entered the market giving PSPs the ability to purchase and resell the items with beautiful printing, low minimums, and popular box styles and sizes to choose from.”
Working with the Weary
It can be terrifying to vet a third-party player to outsource your printing to, but it’s important to feel trust between yourself and the trade printer.
“It’s a big move to place your trust in a trade printer. The feeling of losing control over your customer’s order can be scary. The only real way to get through this challenge is to work closely with us. Place a few small orders and see how they go. Learn what to expect in terms of quality, lead times, and cost. Internal work such as labeling or self promotional products is a great place to start. Taking the time to overcome any anxiety will pay dividends in the long run. This allows you to say yes to more work, service your customers better, and ultimately be more profitable,” explains Gene Hamzhie, CEO, FireSprint.
Factors like competitive pricing, high-quality printing, and turnaround times are expected considerations when determining a trade-only partner. “Beyond those, a wholesale trade-only printer should provide top-notch customer service and the right equipment, coupled with expertise to avoid potential pitfalls and obstacles. They should invest in systems that make it easy to place orders and track jobs, blind ship—to save time and money, and offer marketing tools to help one sell. Knowing that the partner meets all of these key attributes gives print providers confidence that their partner will be able to deliver on an urgent request for a hot application,” says Hoyt.
“Our customers put their reputation on the line when they outsource, and therefore we’ve developed high standards for manufacturing superb-quality printed products that are recognized throughout the industry. We are experts at handling the specialty graphics products that many printing companies don’t want to mess with or don’t have the equipment to produce. Our reputation as a partner would be in jeopardy if we couldn’t assist PSPs in delivering their orders at 100 percent,” notes Hoyt.
Past the Prime
Trade printers are primarily used for, well, printing, but they offer other things too.
For example, at FireSprint, the company offers kitting, fulfillment, and large amounts of free content. “Utilize this content to not only learn more about our industry, but within your own marketing and advertising. Check out our selection of free industry calculators as well,” suggests Hamzhie.
SinaLite similarly offers various business tools to all of its members. This includes apparel, promotional items, and packaging resource centers to help print providers learn how to sell these newer applications to their customers.
Top Options
We’ve compiled a list of wholesale, trade-only printers to consider reaching out to.
Advertising Ideas, Inc. is a business to business (B2B) website for trade customers only. It prints and manufactures custom tents, custom advertising feather flags, table covers, step and repeat backdrop banners, vinyl banners, advertising inflatables, wind dancer air puppets, and trade show displays. It specializes in printing on fabric, banner material, canvas, and rigid substrates for trade professionals.
FireSprint is a wholesale-to-the-trade sign and graphics printer. It offers both screen and digital printing. Next day production and one to three day shipping are available on many of its most popular products. Think FireSprint for yard signs, stickers, banners, foam board, posters, political signs, corrugated plastic, PVC, styrene, magnetic, and vinyl.
ImagineThis is a premiere large format and out-of-home digital print shop. It specializes in going large. Whether a PSP is looking for large quantity orders or the largest outdoor graphics, ImagineThis delivers customers high quality and quick turnaround at competitive pricing. This includes billboards, digitally printed awnings, banners, building wraps, trade show graphics, vehicle wraps, and wallcoverings. It recently introduced StickOut Adhesive, a highly textured, printable, adhesive-backed coated aluminum material, used best for short- to medium-term exterior applications.
Miratec Systems is a family owned, wholesale-only graphics manufacturer that has been serving the sign industry for over 30 years. It pioneered advancements in the sign industry with PureColor Technology, online ordering systems, on-time guarantees, unmatched warranties, and unbeatable customer service. It matters to everyone at Miratec Systems that it delivers the highest quality products, which include printed flexible faces, printed vinyl, short-run custom vinyl, banners, wall murals, window graphics, and vehicle graphics.
Signs365 is a grand format, trade-only wholesale printer. It offers a variety of full-color, high-quality printed products all produced in 24 hours. $10 Overnight Anywhere shipping is available on all products.
SinaLite prints out of a 100,000 square foot facility and helps over 10,000 businesses maximize its print profits. With offices in both Canada and the U.S., SinaLite has invested over $40 million in state-of-the-art technology to print high-quality products at wholesale prices. It produces wholesale signs, banners, and wall decals.
Stouse has been printing roll labels for over 40 years—from simple one-color flexographic labels to detailed prime labels. Stouse is a leading wholesale trade printer offering a complete line of decals, magnets, roll labels, signs, plastics, and custom items made to order.
Yard Sign Ninjas offers no minimums on orders, with a goal to deliver quality products while building the best B2B relationships with recurring resellers in all industries. Products include corrugated plastic yard signs, poly bag yard signs, poly-coated cardboard signs, and patented wire stands.
YardSignsResellers.com specializes in custom printed yard signs digitally printed and screen printed, also printed rigid substrates like foam board, aluminum, PVC, and corrugated plastic.
Trade Only
If you are overcome with requests that you can’t handle, but don’t want to turn work away, consider reaching out to any of the vendors mentioned in this piece.
May2023, Digital Output
