Every self-respecting company, even the tiniest one, must have a printer, or even several. However, this does not in any way reduce the huge demand that exists today in the printing services market.
And every year it grows more and more. Moreover, if large enterprises quite comfortably cooperate with no less large printing houses, then small firms have a hard time.
In most Russian cities, not including Moscow and St. Petersburg, there are not so many companies offering high-quality printing services in a short time. And in order to get to the giants of the market, you have to stand in line, because they are always provided with orders with interest.
Here is a niche for business - there is enough space for a novice entrepreneur in a small and even medium segment. And it will remain.
The market for such services is growing every year, demand is increasing, so why not make another offer? In this article, we will consider issues that will help you develop a business plan for a mini-format printing house. And starting small, you can always grow into something big and successful.
We plan questions for reflection in the business plan for creating a printing house
To open a small company offering printing services is far from as difficult as many represent. Moreover, depending on the equipment that you plan to purchase, the costs can be very adequate. Of course, this business, like any other, has its own nuances. You need to know about them, and they need to be taken into account. In this we will help you by sorting through the shelves everything you need to open a printing house. The following points must be considered and included in your business plan:
- selection of location and search for premises;
- range of services offered;
- sales of services and pricing policy;
- acquisition of printing and other equipment;
- recruitment staff printing;
- advertising your company;
- financial plan - costs, profitability, profitability.
As you can see, you will have to think through a lot of details before you begin any specific actions. But by including all these issues in the business plan of the printing house and analyzing them, you will be able to start your business more confidently, understanding well what you are offering and who you are investing, what kind of return you expect to receive. Let's start with the simplest questions - the place of future action.
A place to open your printing house
Naturally, the proposal must be created where there is demand. And he is the highest in the business center of the city - where a large number of firms are concentrated. Large and small, engaged in various activities, existing long ago or just opened. They all need to print something. For some, these are advertising booklets and business cards, for some, forms of business documentation, for some, booklets, manuals, magazines, and the like.
As a rule, in such busy business places, there are already small printing houses or departments providing various types of printing services. But believe me, there will be enough demand for everyone. After all, your potential customers are not only those companies that are located in the nearest area, but also partners / clients of these companies who have arrived on business and may need your work, among others.
As for the room, then to work in a mini-format a lot of space is not required. You can sit on forty squares and eighty. It all depends on what equipment and how much you plan to purchase, as well as the budget available for these purposes.In the end, you can always expand the available space by moving to a more spacious room or "squeezing" the neighbors, taking up additional territory.
Mini printing services: creating an offer
How to open a mini printing house? Trim the range of services offered or limit the offer for each type to a specific amount of work? You can choose any option, but it’s better not to save on variety. After all, it may turn out that the demand for some services on certain days will be greater, and you can provide any of them.
So, we settled on the fact that we will offer various services in the field of printing. Then the range of activities will be quite wide. It can be attributed to:
- development of models of various printed products (forms, brochures, business cards, leaflets, calendars);
- replication in small batches;
- copying, including color;
- lamination and binding.
Not bad for a mini typography. However, it is worthwhile to understand that in order to engage in such a diverse activity, you will have to invest in special equipment and hire personnel who can provide all of these services at a high level.
Printing services
A new company that wants to declare itself should appeal to customers, attract them and make them loyal. This is largely achieved due to diversity (for example, offset printing can offer more), quality (which should be higher than that of competitors), as well as the cost of services.
Before setting prices, analyze the policies of competitors in this matter. Let them be insignificant, but still lower than that of neighboring companies - 5% is enough to seem "pretty" for customers.
Also emphasize your other advantages in order to gradually increase the price level in the future. Work faster - what one does for three days, you do for one. Always remember the high quality, whether it is a large client or a small office. Appreciate everyone.
With a large order volume, do a small discount if further cooperation is important to you. Or, for example, offer the following print "as a gift" (in an adequate size, of course). So you teach customers to contact you, and not go to any printing house.
Purchase of equipment for all types of printing
So we got to the most expensive item of planned costs. Equipment for mini printing should in no case be worse than in any large office. The quality of the services provided directly depends on the machines used, and for the company starting work, this is the most important condition. Of course, the products of leading manufacturers of printed equipment are not cheap.
The price for one sample can reach tens and hundreds of dollars. For a mini-printing house such amounts are not affordable. But don’t worry, used equipment will come to the rescue. It costs, as a rule, 30-50% cheaper, and with a competent choice it will serve no worse. In the future, as it develops, it will be possible to gradually replace all positions with new ones.
We make a list of necessary equipment
What equipment should be purchased for a printing company that provides the full range of the above services? The list is as follows:
- The most important object is a printing press for printing. It is worth noting here that you can purchase both a risograph and offset. But in the first case, it is mostly a black and white print. Therefore, it is worth considering and, possibly, spending money to buy offset. In the future, these costs will pay off with interest.
- Copy machine (preferably in different formats).
- Computers (at least two). They must be powerful enough to easily and quickly work with various design programs.
- Scanner and laminator.
- Conventional and laser printers.
For printing, planning to print various color forms, leaflets, brochures, etc. production in large volumes, you will need additional equipment.We are talking about an offset machine, a copy frame (creates forms) and a cutter. For a start, a used single-color machine is quite suitable, the main thing is that it works properly. Thus, an offset printing press will cost a little more, but it can also bring a significantly greater profit.
Mini printing staff
A small company does not require huge staff. It is enough that for each specific type of activity there should be one employee. It is possible that one type of service can be provided by one person, and two other specialists will be required to carry out some other type of service. Depending on the size of your printing house of financial opportunities, determine the required number of employees. At a minimum, for normal operation, you need:
- Head - it may be the owner himself, that is, you. If you have certain knowledge and skills, this position can be combined with the work of an accountant or manager for communication with clients, for example.
- Layout designer (usually all rolled into one).
- A specialist who takes orders and transfers the finished result to customers.
- Printer, if you have a printing press. For printing, this shot is very valuable. It is not easy to find a good specialist, and his harmful and hard work requires a good payment.
- Other employees - a system administrator, a separate typesetter, secretary (in the presence of free financial resources, but these specialists are completely optional).
Make sure that your printing house has a friendly, professional team that can work efficiently, without compromising the quality of services and friendly communication with customers.
New Printing Campaign
The printing house is capable of creating the best advertising for itself. Firstly, these are various printed materials - calendars, posters, postcards for some kind of holiday, on the reverse side of which there is contact information of the organization and a brief range of services offered. Such things usually stay with people for a long time (in a wallet, on a desktop, in a car) and sooner or later bring them to you.
Secondly, a sign. It should be noticeable and possibly "speaking." That is, a person should understand that he can print some material from you, make business cards for himself or get some other printing services.
Thirdly, word of mouth advertising. If your printing house will always have high quality service, reasonable prices and a friendly attitude towards customers, they will advise you to their friends and partners. All other types of advertising are not so effective, and often very expensive.
Counting the numbers: income, expenses and payback
We complete the business plan of the printing house with an assessment of the financial part. The main share of the initial costs is the purchase of equipment - this is about 70% of all costs. Everything here is very individual and depends on whether you will acquire new or used new equipment, which manufacturers and in what quantity.
Amounts can vary from 200-400 thousand to several million rubles. So, for example, acquiring a good used printing machine from companies such as Heidelberg or Roland will cost about 180-200 thousand, and a new one - one and a half to two times more.
You determine the salary of the staff yourself based on the average figures in your area. Rent also depends on many factors, such as the specific city, location (in the center or on the outskirts), area. These are the main cost items. The cost of additional materials, such as sheets, paints, etc., is not so high. Each business plan of the printing house will contain its own figures, which may differ significantly. So, you can open a small company by investing both 500 thousand and 2-3 million.
As for income, it is determined by the load of your equipment and the type of services offered. With high demand and an average price (for example, one print on a copy machine costs about 15 rubles), you can have a net income of about 70-150 thousand per month.This business is considered to be quick-returning and can begin to generate net profit after six months of active work.
Conclusion
In general, we can say that the printing services market is not yet crowded with good companies operating in the small and medium segments. There are competitors, but demand is great. If you approach the organization of a mini-printing house competently, you can take a strong position in this business, achieve payback in a short time and develop, bringing good profit to your company, employees working in it, and, of course, yourself. We hope that our tips on how to open a printing house will help you on your way to achieving your goal.
