Gap in the market
While cutbacks to UK design won’t necessarily be brutal, the downturn will have an impact on the £11.6bn-turonover UK design industry. A leading London design house does not come cheap, so there’s a gap in the market for the printer with the right shaped business model.
“We don’t have the overhead of a design agency, because the overheads are paid for by running the explains,” explains Peter Harrison, production director of The Printing House. A combined printer-designer can provide a cost-effective proposition. “In effect, all we have to cover is the cost of software, the computer and wages,” adds Harrison. The Crewe based offset and digital house follows the well-worn strategy of using underpriced design as a way to hook a customer, then making up the margins on the ensuring print. “The first job is always tough. You quite often give the design away at no charge to land a new customer, “he says. It’s not a charity though, but a strategy. As the firm’s designers become increasingly fluent in the customer’s design needs, the client relies more heavily on the supplier and foster a good relationship, allowing it to edge the price up.
To be continued…
Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.
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