Wide Format Imaging

For print providers, there are few more challenging and competitive fields in which to ply their trade than the retail industry. This is a business that depends on a continuous string of sales and promotions for its very lifeblood. And because prices and promotions can change in a New York minute, nimble responsiveness is required of any vendor turning out retail signage and printed point-of-purchase advertising.

The challenges of serving the point-of-purchase and retail signage markets have changed over the years, said Kirk Green, president and CEO of Ferrari Color, with offices in Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Sacramento. One of the positive changes is that buyers of retail and POP signs have become more sophisticated with time.

While exceptions exist, the days when buyers imposed impossible expectations on providers are largely gone, said Green. "Now there's a wonderful sense that most buyers know what can be done, and what the limitations are," he noted.

What hasn't changed is the competitive nature of retail, which still demands that print vendors step lively and meet rapid turnaround schedules. That's a big reason Ferrari Color runs 24 hours a day, with round-the-clock staff to handle printing, make adjustments, and field calls and emails from customers. There are clients, Green said, who will call the night crew to discuss a project and when it can be completed.

Addressing the fast-changing, fast-moving demands of clients reminds Green of an incident that occurred several years ago. Ferrari Color was producing signage for a casino in one of the Western states, and the casino operators had given the shop plenty of time to generate signs promoting a headline act on one of the casino's stages.

Suddenly, the headliner became incapacitated, and the signs Ferrari Color had produced were instantly worthless. New signs had to be created-and pronto.

"We built our business to be able to handle that kind of situation, and we turned it around in 24 hours," Green said. "When your client has invested a lot in a promotion, then our element of that promotion absolutely has to be in place at the proper time. It's execution and meeting your obligations. That's one of the reasons we have retail clients that have been with us for 15 years."