Sure to cause a stir among some printers, one of the paragraphs appearing in the “Executive Summary” of the soon-to-be-released in the 2021-2022 Digital Color Pricing Study reads as follows:
Blaming Covid-19 for all the problems – While there is no question that Covid-19 has had a dramatic impact on our industry in terms of both profit and sales, there are underlying problems that continue to impact our industry as well. Many firms were facing modest to serious financial problems long before March 2020 came along. Now, 12-months later, an unknown number of firms have closed their doors, while others are counting upon more federal and state relief packages to help them survive. We predict that 2021 will experience a significant reduction in the number of total printing firms. Many of those firms that will close their doors have been poorly managed for years, and yet they will seek to blame Covid-19 for most of their problems. Ironically, while many printers will cite Covid-19 and pricing by competitors as an excuse for not raising prices, other printers, sometimes those right down the street, will review a study such as this and move ahead with confidence and raise prices based upon what they uncover in this study. While “belt-tightening” and improved efficiency can always help to reduce the need to raise prices, prices still need to be adjusted and raised and “smart” printers do just that.
The new NPRC Digital Color Pricing Study is scheduled for release on March 15-16, 2021, but advance orders can be placed now with delivery of the Pricing Study PDF guaranteed no later than March 16, 2021. To place your advance order, visit the NPRC Bookstore.
