Continued growth: Online printers transform the printing sector / Onlineprinters has leveraged the industry transformation (FOTO)

Fuerth (ots) -

In spite of the fact that the industry's doom has been predicted
several times, the European printing sector continues to flourish,
generating an annual revenue of EUR 80 billion. "Companies that
embrace the transformation have significant growth opportunities,"
says Michael Fries, the CEO of Onlineprinters GmbH. The international
group of companies, known under the brand name of diedruckerei.de in
Germany, is one of the top 3 online print providers in Europe.

The printing industry has undergone massive transformation for
years. Figures published by Intergraf, an organisation that promotes
and protects the interests of the printing and graphic industry,
confirm this: Over a period of ten years (from 2005 to 2015), the
number of print shops declined by 14 percent to just over 110,000
companies in 2015. During the same time, the number of employees
decreased by a third to 622,000. Sales in contrast have continued to
be robust: For more than ten years, the European printing market has
generated around EUR 80 million in turnover each year. "Nevertheless,
the industry is experiencing a massive and disruptive transformation
process which shakes the whole sector," says Michael Fries and he
adds: "Each company has to challenge its business model and align it
to the new requirements on the market. In the future, products such
as business cards and flyers will be ordered online almost
exclusively and produced by large online printers. But this does not
mean that local printers have no future, quite to the contrary, today
there is a growing trend to work together: "Special print solutions,
local support and customised services are the strengths of classic
print shops. A lot of them purchase products such as letterheads,
posters and brochures from online print shops such as Onlineprinters
and operate as resellers. At the same time, we also purchase from
specialist providers such as manufacturers of letterpress business
cards and promotional items for which Onlineprinters provides a
marketing platform. Companies that differentiate their business model
will be successful." This new form of competition only has advantages
for customers: The quality of service in the industry is increasing
and there is a suitable provider for every print project imaginable.

Online printers are a trend

In the early 2000s, Onlineprinters made the transition from being
a traditional, family-run commercial printer to becoming an
e-commerce business that has established a strong position today.
Local print shops can thrive, too, but only if they adopt a clever
marketing concept and specialise in specific products or services.
Onlineprinters is a reliable partner for such printers, especially
when it comes to top-selling products such as flyers, business cards
and brochures. The commercial printer E. Meyer in the town of
Neustadt an der Aisch near Nuremberg in the south of Germany was
forced to realign its business to survive the fierce competition in
the industry. In 2004, founder Walter Meyer took the business online:
He launched the website diedruckerei.de which offered printed flyers
and posters customers could order online. The initial objective was
to support his parents' print business; today the group generates an
annual turnover of more than EUR 200 million. The former pioneer of
the industry has become one of the major online print providers in
Europe.

Quantity and quality

Michael Fries expects online print shops in Western Europe to
continue their two-digit growth in turnover in the next years. "We
currently serve one million clients, most of whom are business
customers, in more than 30 European countries," Michael Fries says.
Since 2008, the Franconian company has expanded its operations to
other European countries. With the acquisition of UK printer
Solopress and Danish market leader LaserTryk, the company became the
Onlineprinters group, one of the market leaders in Europe today,
which produced and sold 3 billion+ printed products in 2018 - from
business cards, letterheads and flyers to brochures, roller banners
and large-format advertising banners. The products, which are for the
most part standardised, are printed in gang runs to guarantee low and
transparent prices. Instead of printing each job separately, the
e-commerce business combines up to 50 print projects on the same
sheet using complex algorithms. In this extremely economical process,
less paper goes unused which helps save cost and the environment.

More employees

Contrary to the general trend in the industry, the workforce of
Onlineprinters continues to grow: starting with some 20 employees in
the Franconian town of Neustadt an der Aisch before launching its
e-commerce operations in 2004 to more than 1,400 employees in 2018,
working in an international corporate group at sites in Germany, the
UK, Denmark and Poland. The company is looking for qualified
employees at all its sites: More than 100 vacancies are currently
available.

About the company

The Onlineprinters Group, which operates under the brand name of
diedruckerei.de in Germany, is one of the leading online print shops
in Europe. Employing a staff of more than 1,400, Onlineprinters
produced 3 billion+ printed advertising products last year. More than
1,500 print products including business cards, letterheads, flyers,
catalogues, brochures, large-format advertising systems and more are
sold to 1,000,000 customers in 30 European countries through 18 web
shops. Internationally, the provider of online print services is
known under the brand name of Onlineprinters. British market leader
Solopress and LaserTryk, the Scandinavian number one, are members of
the Onlineprinters Group.

The video "A look behind the scenes of Onlineprinters":
http://bit.ly/onlineprinters-en-printing-press

The video "How an offset lithography printing press gets
installed": http://bit.ly/onlineprinters-en-printing-press

Contact:
Patrick Piecha
Head of Press & Public Relations
press@onlineprinters.org
Phone: +49 9161 6209807
Mobile: +49 174 30 77 250

Original-Content von: Onlineprinters GmbH, übermittelt durch news aktuell