On the surface, a wide-format printing studio may not seem like the most dynamic business concept. But once you dig a little bit deeper, you quickly realize the opportunities to provide solutions to organizations across a variety of industries and discover a breadth of revenue-generating channels.
For a snapshot of the top revenue generators, take a look at our infographic below:
What Are the Top Industries for Wide-Format Studio Owners?
The No. 1 industry for SpeedPro owners is advertising and marketing firms. A close second is small-format and commercial printers, as well as sign companies. Both are wholesale arrangements with other firms that serve the end user.
Advertising and marketing companies work with SpeedPro to help satisfy the marketing needs of their clients. This segment has helped grow the wide-format printing industry by 6 percent and Speedpro by 11 percent. Marketers use wide-format for brand and product awareness and cultural enhancement through environmental graphics, window graphics, POP displays and many other applications.
Quality and customer service follow-up are the most important requirements for satisfied clients. The gross profit margins for this industry tend to be some of the highest, as quality and service trump price every time.
Meanwhile, the partnerships SpeedPro owners forge with small-format and commercial printers and sign companies frequently yield steadier business. Franchisees become a wholesaler for small format and commercial printers, and we enable another sign company, for instance, to provide full service to their clients.
The relationship is often reciprocal. Commercial printers can help SpeedPro owners provide a full suite of printing solutions to their clients. In most cases, it’s a very cooperative arrangement – and not competitive. Margins are a little lower than those from projects with advertising and marketing firms and other end users, but the work is stable, which helps cash flow and allows a studio to cover more of its overhead.
Other important industries for SpeedPro include construction, retail and consumer products, and events and conventions. All of these are solid-margin industries as each project is completed in collaboration with the client and customized for their specific needs.
SpeedPro franchisees by and large experienced strong sales in each of our top ten industries from 2017 to 2018.
What Are the Products for Wide-Format Studio Owners?
Wide-format printing business owners deliver a wide array of product-based solutions to their clients. Like any product, there are those that provide higher and lower profit margins.
Wall, window and floor graphics are high volume and some of the higher-margin products among SpeedPro studio owners. The cost to produce and apply these products is relatively limited compared to other products. The next two highest volume products are signs and vehicle wraps. Vehicle wraps typically yield a slightly lower margin as they require more labor hours to apply. The volume of these products among SpeedPro studio owners vary widely – some do a large number of vehicle wraps while others do very little. It depends on the market demand.
Banners are among the highest volume products based on materials needed for production but offer the lowest margins. They help with cash flow to cover overhead costs while the other main products drive the greatest per-product profit.
Textiles and soft signage are among the fastest-growing wide-format printing products, replacing rigid substrates due to lower cost over the long term. They’re also increasingly in demand because they:
- Are reusable
- Don’t require skilled installers
- Are more environmentally friendly
- Are easy to ship and store
Most of these products are custom and require collaboration with the client. They are not commodities that clients can simply order online. This helps to keep margins strong as studio owners seek opportunities to deploy these products.
For a better understanding of the services and products SpeedPro studio owners provide, take a look at one of our recent articles.