As businesses exist in all sizes and structures, print options exist in many forms to cater to the needs of business printing. Many small businesses can rely on local print shops to generate their documents. Medium and many large size firms contract with full service printers for their printed materials. Some businesses which require large quantities and a variety of documents set up their own in house print shops.
Though a significant portion of materials formerly printed have now been consigned to company web sites, most firms still have the need to produce printed forms and informational literature for their customers. To serve the requirements of all sizes of businesses, the print industry has evolved in a segmented manner. Small local print and copy shops are so common that they are found in strip malls and commercial districts everywhere.
Mid size industrial print shops and large full service printers are oriented towards serving larger companies whose printing requirements are too complex or large for the capabilities of local copy shops. As in any other occupation, the law of supply and demand ultimately rules. As the quantity of documentation needed by a firm increases, the cost per unit correspondingly decreases.
The average small business, such as a restaurant or local merchant, needs a range of materials in relatively small quantities that can be produced by a copy shop with little difficulty. Most local shops have a designer on hand or one they contract work out to, who can design materials such as business cards, brochures, fliers and menus. They may also offer branding services that can design logos and identity packages at a reasonable cost.
Since small companies usually order documents in small press runs compared to the norms of the printing industry, local print shops may generate all their work on digital copiers and may not even possess a traditional four color web press. The digital copier revolutionized the industry and the technology behind them has had a huge impact on both costs and capabilities.
Mid size print companies may offer both copying services and the traditional technology of offset web press services, which are normally used to print runs in excess of five thousand, This is where economies of scale enter into the picture. Smaller runs are more economically produced using copier technology, because there is a cutoff point at which preparing the plates for offset technology is not economical for small runs.
A sort of middle ground exists which is called reprographics. This is a photography or xerography based technology based increasingly upon the use of digital copier technology and is used for reproduction of catalogs, signage, trade show graphics and material of mid to lower quality requirements. The full service printers offer the entire range of capabilities and tend to concentrate on higher quality and quantities.
Another segment of this industry which is often similar to full service shops are the in house print facilities set up by larger companies whose business printing involves mass quantities of documentation. They may offer the full range or may be separated into offset and reprographics shops, depending the the firms requirements. Companies may do a cost analysis to determine if their needs economically justify setting up their own print facility.
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