Solopress has expanded its online trade printing service to deliver a more bespoke offering for high volume professional print purchasers, whether resellers, print management or other printers.
The Solopro service is a package that can be tailored to individual clients, including discounted prices compared to those available through the public face of its website. The move is in response to awareness that trade customers, with established relationships with their customers, were not able to make a margin on these products. And, as many smaller printers have reduced their production capacity during lockdowns, perhaps turning off their litho presses, there is growing interest in using trade printers. At the same time volumes of standard business card orders, flyers to advertise restaurants and the like have dwindled because these sectors have been forced to close.
“That has had a massive impact on our sales,” says managing director Simon Cooper. “We need a vibrant economy and then we will see the revenue flow back.” Not all printers will survive until that point and if they do, not all will be inclined to return to the pre lockdown capacity. “As demand does pick up, we are efficient resource for them,” he says.
The result has been Solopro to cater for these companies. At the same time the company has installed the HP T250 HD inkjet web press, upgraded its HP Indigo cut sheet presses and updated its workflow. This has allowed the company to introduce differential pricing.
“This would have been challenging under normal circumstances – it has been easier when we have not been full to the gunnels,” says Cooper. “We thought that this was the time to offer a way to make sure we were providing a tailored service to resellers and printers. Previously there hadn’t been any differentiation in the way we looked after customers. Now Solopro customers get access to a dedicated team of our most experienced account handlers who really understand the printing process and can provide the kind of support that professional customers would expect to find.”
Applicants will be vetted to ensure they have the credentials and volumes that Solopress is looking for and to ensure that these companies are financially sound as, for the first time, the company is prepared to offer credit terms.
“We will always make sure that work for these customers is prioritised through production to ensure that if there are any times when work is running late, we are looking after our biggest customers,” says Cooper.
The pricing will be different for different customers, he says, reflecting an appreciation that these customers need to make a margin. “We want to take discussions about price off the table. This is about understanding the pricing they are getting at the moment and working with that. This is a far more consultative approach,” he explains.
It will also include product types that are not listed on the website. Despite being a pioneer in online printing, Solopress has always retained a more conventional bespoke element to its its business and Cooper wants to highlight this “off piste” aspect to Solopro. “We can go beyond the products on the website, and can adjust the price list engine behind the web page,” he adds.
There will be a sample book showing the standard products and materials sent to resellers in the first instance, and more sophisticated tools are already under consideration as the service develops.
He says: “There is a huge opportunity that has been passing us by until now. It’s time to get focused.” The team and the technology is in place, the account managers, the pricing, the ability to deliver a job the same day. Now it is about attracting the whales, “the higher spending customers that have not come to us in the past. Now we are sharpening our process in these areas and are more focused and competing.
