The severity of the economic damage caused to the printing industry in the pandemic is something that cannot go unnoticed. The industry is witnessing an influx of delayed deliveries due to a significant rise in the volume of shipped packages both locally and internationally during the pandemic. COVID-19 and its safety measures that shipping carriers are adhering to are the root cause of delays in deliveries. Shippers hold packages for longer which leads to losses as it is hard for the sender to follow up and confirm order delivery.

Add to this, erratic operations, insufficient manpower, add-on costs and lack of awareness that disrupts shipments in the printing industry. Moreover, it is not just the pandemic but the Governments globally are introducing more environment-friendly measures, recycling, transport and travel along with shortage of drivers due to the Covid restrictions which have forced Print Providers to reshape their shipments for a more sustainable future.

Effect of the pandemic on print industry shipments

During the lockdown, the B2C market expanded exponentially as consumers increasingly chose the internet to order a print. Not just the rise in volumes but the print profiles have changed dramatically with even B2B consumers ordering large prints online. In response, print companies accelerated their investments in logistics, increased shift to seven days a week and started making noticeable investments in people, assets and e-commerce to meet demand.

January printing shipments came in at $6.57 billion, down from December 2020’s $7.17 billion, and then a further drop in February to $6.34 billion.

However,

March shipments roared back from a historical low of $6.39 billion in February to $7.44 billion in March, the second-best March in the past five years. Thanks to the agility and entrepreneurial spirit of print providers, marked by the reopening of businesses, vaccination efforts and the pick up in the events market.

Get the full story

How can you rethink reshipments as a print service provider?

– Think Digital

– Improve Customer Experience

– Upgrade Your Communication

Shipment strategies for tomorrow must be planned for today.

Print providers must work out short and long term shipping and maintain a shipping log. It is important to streamline the shipping process. Dedicated staff that handle shipping (packaging and tracking shipment, informing customers of their delivery, communicating the shipping terms, the shipping details, identifying and reporting missing shipments) are in place.

Think Digital!

The buzzword for 2021 is – digital. Strategic investment in intuitive print solutions like the web-to-print to reset and optimize shipping is the need-of-the-hour. This is because, firstly, the printing industry is closely related to other industries such as restaurants, theatre businesses for printing signage, stickies, cards and so on. Secondly, there is an increase in demand for merchandise, masks, gloves and so on. Print providers must stay adaptable to meet the changing demands.

Digital workflows amid social distancing are a boon – 1. They can be operated by a single staff member who can monitor and track the shipment. 2. They can cater to the changing shipping needs of the consumers. 3. They help to foster real-time shipping communication to ensure speedy and accurate delivery.

The digital print solutions will help you plan your delivery routes. You can scale your business operations as and when your print orders grow and optimize your deliveries. Most essentially, they will help you keep your print business afloat even during these tough times with minimum monitoring and manpower.

Improve Customer Experience!

Today, customers have the least tolerance for a bad/poor customer experience in a physical store, even less when purchasing with say print-on-demand stores. Due to less personal interaction during an online transaction, customers simply want an outstanding experience and nothing less.

Some frequent questions which crop up with shipping include –

1. Where is my print?

2. When will my print arrive?

3. Can I cancel my order?

4. Can I get a refund?

Therefore, it is important to communicate shipping times for print-on-demand products as they can take longer. These could take 2-4 business days to dispatch and then the time of shipping (based on location) is added to it. To reduce complaints and negative feedback it is important to communicate the delivery time to customers. In reality, customers do not mind waiting as long as they are aware upfront of the period they need to wait for the print to be delivered.

To stand out, give precise and reasonable shipping quotes to your customers. Track your drivers and make sure deliveries are on time while still keeping in touch with the dispatch.

Clear shipping communication goes a long way to differentiate your print solution’s offering, does away with any misunderstandings and ultimately creates a better customer experience with realistic expectations.

Upgrade Your Communication

With the online markets booming like never before, print providers would have to focus on niche product and service offerings with a personalized touch. Customers need to feel valued and automated communication messages such as an auto-generated shipping email or phone message can help establish this for print businesses

A thoughtful, email or phone message saying – Thank you for placing your print order with dispatch details is a great tool to earn brownie points from your customers. With customers relying heavily on e-commerce print businesses would have to Get Creative to get more done. Not only will this be appreciated but it will inform the customers about their shipment and let them rest easy.

Want to know how to consistently generate value for your customers via interactive print solutions? Read Personalized Paper’s success story here to find out

The post Should Print Solution Providers Rethink Shipment Post-Covid? appeared first on OnPrintShop.