By Olivia Cahoon
Print service providers (PSPs) tasked with a job they don’t have the capacity to handle or are not familiar with can outsource to trade-only wholesale printers. By outsourcing, PSPs avoid turning away requests while broadening their services. Located regionally and nationally, these print organizations are equipped to handle almost any print task.
Above: Founded in 2004, Tex Visions provides printing methods and hardware solutions from a 60,000 square foot production facility in Carlisle, PA.
Outsourced Benefits
Working with trade-only wholesale printers allow print providers to utilize outsourced knowledge and experience to deliver cost-effective solutions for customers in addition to gaining ideas for upselling products and growing sales. One of the most beneficial aspects of partnering with a wholesale printer is creating more business and expanding sales opportunities.
“Benefits include the ability to sell an array of products without the investment in equipment, space, personnel, training, and overhead. Even if you do have some or all of the equipment, accepting large jobs that you may not otherwise be able to produce helps scale business,” says Ryan Shacklett, president, Signobi.
Christian Bahnweg, marketing copywriter, Tex Visions, believes PSPs enjoy a number of advantages when outsourcing print. For pricing, wholesale printers can offer more affordable prices than non-wholesale shops because they are able to buy and offer items at bulk prices.
Additionally, partnering with wholesale printers allows PSPs to offer products that they are not required to stock in their own warehouses. “Some of the materials yield higher return on investment (ROI)—enabling the PSP to increase their bottom line,” explains Jennifer Carter, director of business development and strategy, Georgia Printco.
PSPs are also able to focus on their niche and most valuable resources. According to Carter, PSPs can get bogged down with staffing and production issues, inventory, packaging, and shipping. “Outsourcing jobs that would otherwise consume the PSP’s resources helps put those same resources into more economically sound business decisions,” she offers.
Outsourcing jobs also allows PSPs to remain flexible. PSPs avoid employee and space shortages during peak times and vice versa during slow times. Carter believes this is a major benefit for many businesses, especially those that experience seasonal fluctuations.
Analyzing Partnership Costs
Before selecting a wholesale printer, Shacklett says PSPs should be aware of the wholesale printer’s print quality, customer service, and flexibility of online pricing.
PSPs contemplating the use of wholesale printers can analyze costs to determine if it’s practical to use wholesale services. Shacklett suggests PSPs consider if the product is marketable, if there’s money to be made doing it, and if it is complimentary to other products the PSP already sells.
Bahnweg recommends PSPs first estimate the cost of materials, especially since substrates and inks can be expensive. Second, they should look at the cost of the overhead and how much the job will be consumed by operating costs. “Once they have those two numbers, they should add them together and compare them against the quote given to them by the wholesale printer,” he explains.
Wholesale Printers
Wholesale printers are available on a regional and national level with a variety of services to meet the needs of every PSP.
Headquartered in Glendale, CA, 4over, LLC has 20 operating locations and specializes in services including booklets and catalogs, large format, marketing products, offset and digital printing, packaging and labels, promotional products, and stationary and envelopes. The company’s newest products include sidewalk signs, painted edge cards, brown kraft cards, raised spot UV, and raised foil.
Digital Print Solutions is located in Kensington, MN. It offers its services to sign companies, advertising agencies, print shops, photographers, and other resellers. The company provides solutions from banners and flat signs to fabric table covers. Digital Print Solutions ships anywhere in the U.S. and internationally.
El Monte, CA is home to Fly Digital Print, a trade-only printer that does not sell directly to end users. The company specializes in indoor and outdoor wide format printed signs and displays. Fly Digital Print offers adhesives, banners, paper products, textiles, displays, and hardware.
Established in 2001 and based in Lakeland, GA, Georgia Printco offers specialized printing on most substrates using large and grand format printers including dye-sublimation (dye-sub). The company handles its digital printing and finishing services from a 40,000 square foot production facility.
GH Imaging, is headquartered in Muskegon, MI. The company offers adhesive prints, apparel, banners, custom signs, flags, frames, hardware, and table covers. Its equipment includes a direct to garment printer, UV flatbed, UV roll to roll, and a dye-sub fabric printer.
Located in Massillon, OH, ImagineThis offers backlit signs, billboards, building wraps, fleet graphics, outdoor advertising, trade show graphics, transit graphics, vehicle graphics, and vinyl and mesh banners. The company specializes in large quantity orders and large outdoor graphics.
Headquartered in Las Vegas, NV, JW Media provides print order fulfillment for small and large resellers. Its services include banners, custom made fabric, flags, magnets, posters, rigid signs, stands, stickers, and window perforations. JW Media offers same and next day shipping.
Established in 1996, Signobi offers UV flatbed and eco-solvent printing as well as flatbed knife cutting and milling from an 8,000 square foot production facility in Denver, CO. It specializes in contour cutting, white ink, and clear materials.
Based in Shelby, MI, Signs365 offers 24 hour standard production time, guaranteed rush delivery, and overnight delivery anywhere in the U.S. Its equipment includes the Durst Rho 1312 industrial press and HP Latex 3500 printers.
Founded in 2004, Tex Visions provides printing methods and hardware solutions from a 60,000 square foot production facility in Carlisle, PA. The company specializes in digital printing, die cutting, and hardware solutions.
Xarisma is located in Huntsville, AL, and offers printing on a variety of fabrics, vinyl, and rigid substrates. The company is a digital textile printer and manufacturer for banners, custom flags, expendable displays, indoor displays, inflatables, patio umbrellas, silicone edge graphics, street displays, tents, and wallpaper.
Zoo Printing offers a variety of large format products including posters, point of purchase displays, retractable banners, trade show graphics, magnets, labels, window cling, and yard signs.
Wholesale Printing
PSPs have the option of partnering with a wholesale printer to avoid turning away jobs. Before outsourcing, PSPs should analyze ROI by comparing in-house costs to wholesale printer quotes.
Dec2017, Digital Output
