New Signs Point To Better Bottom Line

Most customers make up their mind about a place before they even shop around. That's why first impressions-and the signage used to create them-are so important.

It's also why a number of retailers, as well as small- and mid-size businesses, now create their own signs in-house by using on-demand color signage printing. This solution lets companies improve their signage by continually updating it to match changes in inventory and customer needs. Plus, when compared to outsourced sign production, on-demand color signage printing eliminates waste, dramatically decreases lead time and can reduce signage costs by up to 75 percent, according to trade industry reports.

It's a fact well known to Sam Ash Music Stores, the second-largest musical instrument retailer in the U.S. The company uses an on-demand color signage printing solution from OKI Printing Solutions to let each of its stores create and print its own signs, price tags and flyers.

"We constantly bring in new products and have frequent promotions at our stores, which means we must be able to create and distribute merchandising signs quickly," says David Ash, the company's COO. "By bringing sign-printing capability in-store, we are now able to turn around sign production quickly for last- minute sales and new products, and avoid the costs, delays and unreliability of shipping."

Ann Priede, an analyst who covers the digital printing industry for market research firm Lyra Research, expects more retailers to follow Sam Ash's lead and expand their use of store-level printing in the future. "It's much easier and ultimately less expensive to do that right here, in-house," she says.

Sam Ash Music Stores uses the C7350 Color Signage Printer from OKI Printing Solutions, which is compatible with Web-printing software from AccessVia. Store employees are able to select from several pieces of corporate-designed signage on the company's intranet and print signs, price tags and flyers instantly when they need it. OKI Printing Solutions also offers the C9600 Color Signage Solution, which provides even broader color signage capabilities for printing on a variety of media.

"The signs we are currently printing have a professional look that makes our stores 'pop,' " says Ash. "And our managers have embraced the sign system for its usability and speed."

For more information, visit www.okiprintingsolutions.com/us. In-store, on-demand color sign printing can cut costs and increase efficiency.

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