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May 2006 - We encounter digital carbonless paper every day. It’s the white/yellow/pink multipart form you see everywhere. It could be the purchase order you completed, or the receipt at your local automotive quick lubrication spot or a form in your doctor’s office. This is a big market, and one that provides dealers with a big opportunity.
Digital carbonless paper allows end users to print their forms “on demand.” They can run this stuff through a copier or laser printer. But many, probably most, end users instead turn to a local printer for their multipart forms. And this is where an office products dealer can provide a lower cost solution for their customers and find a high margin paper opportunity for themselves. |
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A Dealer Solution
A dealer can provide a better solution for his/her customers than a local commercial printer when it comes to sourcing digital carbonless paper. Basically, the dealer solution comes down to offering cost savings, flexibility and a reduction in waste.
Let’s walk through an example of how a dealer can save his/her customer money on digital carbonless paper using a 3-part form to illustrate. A customer going to a local commercial printer may pay around $0.30 per 3-part set. In United’s January “Consumer” General Line Catalog a 3-part set from Imation/Nekoosa is consumer priced (level 3) at $0.11 per 3-part set. So a dealer could save their customer about 63% from what a local printer would charge.
To be strictly apples-to-apples, it should be noted in the above comparison that the forms in United’s catalogs are blank whereas the local printer has printed the customer’s information on their forms. But this is actually another opportunity for a dealer to provide a solution. The local printer is going to have order minimums per printed form. By selling blanks and allowing the customer to print on demand, a dealer can save the customer from ordering large quantities of a form that could become obsolete and trashed before it is finally consumed. Using blank forms, the end user can print just what they need, when they need it, using a laser printer at their desk. |
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Customer Segmentation
So a dealer can provide cost savings, flexibility and waste reduction solutions for customers. But which customers should a dealer concentrate on presenting these solutions to? While end users of digital carbonless papers cover the spectrum of business types, the market can be segmented as depicted in this chart:
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Help is Available
While at first glance it may appear to be difficult to produce one’s own multi-part forms, with a little explanation it is really quite simple. To help dealers understand digital carbonless paper lingo like “coated front and back,” “straight” or “reverse” and to help dealers pursue this market opportunity call United’s Paper Specialists toll-free at (888) PAPER60 (888-727-3760) or email PaperRap@ussco.com. |
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