Page 12 - Widthwise Magazine

Widthwise 2020
Q18. Are you finding it harder to retain staff? No
92.98%
Yes
7.02%
Q20. Do you plan to make any of the following strategic changes in 2019? (please select all that apply)
None of those below Research new markets Work more closely with suppliers to identify/sell new applications to new markets Realign your branding/company name/website image Recruit people with particular new sector knowledge Restructure/refocus sales/marketing teams Spend more time on print application R&D Move premises/expand existing premises Involve in-house creative team more in project handling Buy in databases (for your own marketing purposes) Appoint a new business development manager
38.18% 31.14%
24.56% 19.30%
16.67% 7.46%
6.14% 3.51%
3.07% 1.32%
0%
printers are SMEs - the 2020 Width- wise survey (which remember was of 228 domestic companies in the sector) suggests that almost two out of three have ten employees or less - may turn out to be a strength. If people across the world decide they really don’t want to buy a new car, there is not much, given their respective market shares, that Ford, General Motors or even Toyota can do to protect their revenues and profits. Yet most wide-format printers - even the 28.3% of companies with revenues of £1m or over - still have plenty of scope to win new business and explore new markets. The downside of diversification - especially for larger PSPs - is actually pretty limited.
The great worry is that all this economic turmoil will lead to a price war among wide-format print providers. Even before the pandemic, 35.7% of respondents indicated that their clients’ top priority was price, while 26.3% said it was a fast turn- around. If the industry allows itself to be judged, primarily, on unit cost, it is unlikely
interested in the lone creative genius in
a black polo neck jumper and just want someone to follow their brief even if they are not entirely sure what that brief is.
The kind of disruption the UK wide-format sector is experiencing now
- both in terms of the scale and the speed of change - will inevitably cause some closures and prompt some owners to get out before the going gets even worse. Yet it might also provide significant opportu- nities for the survivors.
Assets - be they latex printers, entire companies or a particular customer base - are likely to be available at knockdown prices. That may explain why 13.6% of the PSPs polled in July saw mergers and acquisitions as a great opportunity, a far higher level of interest than in previous years. Some wide-format printers may also be tempted to align themselves, formally or informally, with companies that supply other services to their exist- ing customers.
The other upside is that British PSPs are unlikely to have to pay more to rent
their premises in the near future. Capital Economics is predicting a 10% drop in the value of commercial property and, as a po- tential harbinger of a readjustment to come in the UK, the overcapacity in commercial property in America has driven rents down by 20%.
The economic shock provided by the pandemic and lockdown may finally pro- vide the incentive the British wide-format industry needs to look to the B2C market as well as B2B on which it has tradition- ally focused.
While serving consumers, as opposed to companies, may be problematic for some PSPs - a few disgruntled punters can make a real difference when margins are so slender - it does, at least, offer the industry a different revenue stream, one which could grow substantially in the years to come. Even for PSPs that hold back from such a strategic shift, investing in ecommerce should save money, time and complexity by easing interaction with corporate customers.
The fact that so many wide-format
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