In 2021, there is no denying that we live in the ‘on-demand’ era.
Whether it’s food, clothes or television, it seems like almost everything is available ‘on-demand’.
Print is no different.
Whether you are a publisher looking for a flexible solution to print your books, or an e-commerce business owner seeking a flexible printing solution for custom-made catalogues and brochures, print on demand is all about helping you:
- say goodbye to excessive minimum orders
- get your printed product directly to your customer, without you needing to handle it
- save time
One of the big headaches for publishers, self-published authors and e-commerce owners alike is that they typically need to order minimum quantities of products.
This brings about subsequent issues of warehousing, packing and handling and shipping.
All of these tasks add significant time and costs to the process of simply getting your products to the people who order them. This can also be a problem for businesses who require printed goods as part of their wider marketing efforts.
On Demand Print can solve almost all of these problems, opening the door for far greater efficiencies and cost-saving.
As your local Print On Demand specialists, SOS Print + Media have over 40 years of experience in the On Demand Production game, making us your perfect partners for all your printing requirements.
So, with that in mind, let’s have a deeper look at how Print on Demand works, and the benefits it can offer you.
What is Print On Demand?
Print On Demand (POD), sometimes known as “on-demand printing,” is an e-commerce concept that allows you to submit your print job for exactly the required quantity. It is different to the traditional ‘print lots, store and then use’ and it has no minimum quantity.
When using an on-demand print platform, it means there is no more managing of physical inventory and juggling stock numbers. Instead, you register with a POD platform, which handles the printing and fulfilment for you.
This means no more worrying about how many copies you need to print, no more distribution headaches, no more inventory management problems and no more pulping of outdated materials. What’s more, it will save you time and money as you are relieved of stock management and delivery responsibilities.
All of those components are handled by a third party, meaning you don’t have to worry about stock holding costs or wastage when printed materials are no longer current and need to be updated.
How does Print on Demand work?
The goal of any Print on Demand process is to make life simpler through improved efficiencies and seamless workflows, that bring cost savings and lessen the environmental footprint.
At SOS Print + Media, we do this by helping our customers easily produce and ship all of their ‘ink-on-paper’ printing requirements.
But how does it actually work?
The process is simple:
Your products:
Let’s organise what you need to print. If you have print-ready artwork, you can upload it to our secure file server. We can store it in a library and use it when we need to print for you. You can also upload artwork every time you need to print.
If you need help with your artwork, talk to us and we’ll help with a design or layout.
We can price your items in advance or you can use our online quote forms to get pricing.
Ordering:
You can send us orders in many different ways: email, online forms or through an EDI integration directly from your system.
Delivery:
We then produce and fulfil to its final destination(s).
That’s it!
What Are The Benefits of On Demand Printing?
Print on Demand is growing in popularity for a range of reasons especially in the publishing sector..
There’s no inventory to keep or demand forecasting with POD—just place a book, magazine or brochure order and print it, one at a time.
Before the advent of print-on-demand technology, publishers would declare titles out-of-stock if sales did not justify a return trip to the printer for the required number of print copies via offset printing. As a result, irregular demand from shops and libraries was unmet.
This brings us to our first advantage…
No Bulk Printing or Minimum Orders
The emphasis with print on demand is on the ‘on-demand’ portion – the printer will only produce the goods after it has been ordered. This means you won’t have to risk your money by ordering a large quantity of copies that don’t sell as well as you expected.
Easy To Customise Or Update Your Products
Have you spotted a grammatical error that escaped your editors? Has something changed and you need to update your text? Need to get a former member of staff off that brochure?
With Print on Demand, this is easily achieved with minimum fuss and without having to throw out a whole heap of paper!
Save Time
A printing company with a large digital capacity can manufacture most documents on demand for fast distribution.
What does that mean? A speedy turnaround for you and your customer.
Keep Titles and Products In Stock
Have you ever looked for a book in a bookstore or on the internet just to find out it’s out of print? There isn’t such a thing with POD, making it a very popular solution for indie publishers and self publishers. Print On Demand publishing stores your book in an online database and produces copies as needed, ensuring that your books are available for as long as you want them to be.
Reduce Financial Risk
Print On Demand lowers the publisher’s financial risk in printing and distributing a book. Prior to POD, a publisher had to forecast demand over time, print, warehouse, and ship the number of copies they estimated would be sold, which meant they were frequently wrong.
POD combines the opportunity to assess demand for certain titles with a pay-as-you-go model that limits your financial commitment.
Contact SOS Print + Media
In 1976, SOS Print + Media Group was established. SOS has a $25 million annual revenue and employs 60 full-time experienced staff. SOS provides long-term supply chain efficiency to clients across a wide range of sectors by providing solutions that include on-demand production, unique web tools, and effective account management.
SOS maintains a comprehensive equipment list with redundancies of machines in print production, finishing, and binding to ensure continuous production in the event of machine failures, and has developed a comprehensive equipment list with redundancies of machines in print production, finishing, and binding to ensure continuous production in the event of machine failures.
SOS Print + Media has a large selection of digital printers and can offer technology solutions to both large and small publishers.
We have the best and most cost-effective printing engine, whether you need 25 or 1,500 books produced. Cut sheet toner printers to high volume inkjet printers can all print text pages.
Get in touch with us today to learn more about how our Print on Demand service can help you!
