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The Fall Of Blockbuster Should Surely Point The Way For The Print Industry

January 17th, 2013 - Posted by Jamie Thomson, Managing Director

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So where did it all go wrong for Blockbuster? They seemed to be leading the way just a few decades ago and I am sure many of us were loyal clients at some point in the past. Then came the likes of Netflix who launched a download version of their service and soon after, iTunes began distributing movies to portable devices and Apple TV. Blockbuster appeared to ignore the innovations happening around them and believed that people wanted to come into the store and talk to their staff, get recommendations, and make their choice, but of course this was not the case. In reality the internet itself could provide all the recommendations they needed and the convenience of renting with a few online clicks became impossible to beat.

With stories like these appearing ever more regularly these days (Comet, Jessops and HMV to name but a few) I am surprised to still be told by many print companies that they do not yet see a place for Web to Print in their current service offering. Nevertheless other print companies are thriving by offering clients the online self service route that Web to Print provides. Will slow adoption by some companies leave them behind in the race for sales growth in 2013 and beyond?

I suppose at this point I should be clear on what this actually means for the average small to medium size printer. I am not for one minute suggesting that they can start to try and compete with our own industry versions of Netflix or iTunes; the likes of Vistaprint and Moonpig. Attempting to capture a huge slice of the online print market is going to be reserved for those few with huge marketing budgets and the ability to offer the lowest cost solution to a mass audience. That is really just one side of the coin for Web to Print and not the right path for the majority of SME print providers. For most, the business to business route is going to be the route they understand best and is the real way they can grow online with minimal investment. This route will offer clients the self service choice and will actually begin to strengthen their client relationships by offering real value and convenience to their business.

Blockbuster, like so many others, may have suffered from the misconception that an online purchase in some way weakens the relationship between buyer and seller. In the same way some of your own sales team might convince you that their client will only buy from them in person, that they need constant hand holding at every stage. In reality offering the client a convenient self service path for some purchases (clearly not all) is the way to retain loyalty and grow business in the modern economy. Combine this with the benefits to the printer of less administration, ready made job tickets, completed proof approvals and print ready files and it is a win-win for both parties.

So if you recognise your own business as still more of a blockbuster and less of a Netflix, then maybe now is the time to revisit your business model. Give RedTie a call today and we can discuss what Web to Print actually means for you and how you can best apply it to your own business.