The printing industry can never die – it is the industry that has lived since the origin of mankind.
Printing started off as a form of communication during the age of the Neanderthal man and homo erectus. However, in today's world, printing is more than just a form of communication. It is what runs the world- right from circuits on the boards of high speed processors and super computers to the printed electronics that have paved the way for multi -dimensional printing.
Why Entrepreneurship? What is the “start-up frenzy” culture everyone is talking about?
Adaptation is necessary for the growth of any industry in any field. As changes and obstacles occur, any enterprise should have the capacity to adapt and conform to these effectively. Entrepreneurship is the right platform to achieve this.
Today’s trends and interests are not what they used to be a couple of years ago. The youth don’t want to read newspapers anymore. Why? Smartphones provide real-time updates on events happening at every corner of the globe.
For many people, walking into retail stores for shopping is a thing of the past. The advent of e-commerce has enabled the delivery of products to almost any given location, often as quick as just a day! Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, says that in a few years, manufacturing industries will have to adapt themselves to personalization and customization or risk having to shut down.
With the start-up revolution in full force, investors and venture capitalists are on the lookout for innovative and disruptive technologies. People want printing-flexible options: they prefer 10 varieties of 100 items each, over 1000 items of the same variety, even if it means higher costs. There are people in the printing industry who already are on the move towards personalisation. A few start-ups that are into personalized printing include Inkmonk, onlineprintingz.in and Printo. This is just the tip of the iceberg – there are many such ventures!
So how can wholesale manufacturers and retailers in the printing & packaging ndustry adapt to the trends?
To keep it simple, they need to digitize as soon as possible. The sector of digital printing needs to be utilised and there needs to be solid research in the areas of 3D printing.
There are a few specific sectors like the invitation and greeting card industry that needs digital marketing, digital printing and in-house designing teams that can cater to the needs of the personalization. The concept of e-cards is growing increasingly popular. It uses the concepts of digital designing, digital marketing and web publishing.
In the packaging industry, 3D printers can be used to make 3D models of the package that can be viewed physically and presented to the customers. The traditional packaging companies usually send their design to a sampler, who takes a few days and send it back to the company. If the company were to own a 3D printer instead, they could print even complex designs in a few hours and present it to the customer with the same exact dimensions!
E-Commerce in the printing & packaging industry:
Printing and packaging industries have also embraced the e-commerce revolution – it is now possible to design and have products delivered right at your doorstep! Many countries support and promote start-ups through government funding or through incubation centres.
The printing industry is very vast, provides many jobs and is an easy-to-learn industry where you too can become and entrepreneur!
The author’s family has been in the printing industry for three generations .The author is also the founder of Printer’s Desk, which offers personalization and customization of printed products.
