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The economy is so-so, but is that the print industry’s real problem?
By Andy Brown
Business owners always seem to agree when the country’s economic outlook is good, but when bad news circulates, fights break out. Companies argue about whether it’s wiser to slash expenses or reinvest heavily in new products and services. No matter what they do, it’s too late, meaning that by the time good economic data are available, the real-time situation has already changed.
Keep this in mind when reading this year’s annual Top Trade Printer rankings. In 2007, only 30 percent of respondents realized double-digit growth, while nearly 40 percent experienced flat or negative growth.
It’s not easy to parse the numbers. There’s no doubt that some printers are squeezed by overall economic conditions, but it’s hard to tell whether their problems will go away when conditions improve. Some printers are having a bad year. Others are simply not going to make it. That’s because they haven’t adjusted their business models or strategies to keep pace with the industry’s transformation. It’s too early to tell who will come out on top in the long run. Meanwhile, the Top 100 should serve as a useful benchmark.
Survey Methodology
Information in the trade printers’ rankings comes exclusively from the companies themselves. A survey form is sent to known contacts listed in our database. We follow up with reminders and solicitations to companies that haven’t responded by the deadline. This year, the deadline to return surveys was March 21, 2008.
Participants are asked to report their FY 2006 and FY 2007 sales figures. The difference between those numbers is used to calculate a company’s growth percentage. The fastest-growing companies are noted on page 56. The survey also asks for a company’s number of employees. The FY 2007 sales figure is divided by the number of employees to determine the highest sales per employee rankings (page 56).
Additionally, participants are requested to indicate sales figures for the following categories: commercial printing, cut sheets, labels and tags, paper-based products, plastic products and envelopes. These figures are used to rank the largest trade printers by product subsets. When distributors decline to break down their sales figures by category, they are not included in the product sales lists.
Andy Brown is managing editor of Print Solutions magazine. Email comments to abrown@psda.org.