Private traders - owners of small printing outlets - turn to the services of small printing houses; government organizations - for internal document flow (tax authorities, postal workers, etc.); educational organizations - for reproduction of teaching materials; banks, trading companies (price lists); catering establishments and manufacturers (price tags, labels, menus, copies of certificates); large factories, advertising and PR agencies (questionnaires, leaflets, flyers), etc.
Typically, a small printing house requires equipment capable of short terms carry out not very large printing orders. However, you won’t be able to get by with just one machine. The second component is the so-called “auxiliary” machines, which allow you to perform a number of actions with already printed products. It is the combination of these two types of equipment that can be considered a mini-printing house. In the Moscow market of printing services, both printing houses and clients are clearly divided: small orders are carried out in mini-printing houses, medium ones in medium-sized ones, and large orders, respectively, in large ones. The main thing here is to identify the niche in which you are going to work when starting a printing business. If you already have potential customers, you need to purchase equipment that will be used as much as possible. If you purchase too powerful equipment, you will have to look for additional clients in order to load the machines “to the fullest.”
Risograph and offset
The equipment of small printing houses is divided according to several criteria. Some entrepreneurs buy risographs, others - color copiers, and still others - offset printing machines. Risograph is, first of all, black and white printing. There are also color risographs, which allow, for example, to print a black and white leaflet with a red flag. Business documentation and instructions for household appliances etc. You cannot print business cards on a risograph - for this you need an offset machine that allows you to print complex colors and combine them. If we talk about offset printing, then the additional ones will be: a cutting machine, equipment for production printed forms(copy frame and processor for developing plates), binding apparatus, folding machine, etc.
A good risograph costs about 10 thousand dollars, although the price varies greatly depending on the configuration. The price of a color copier is from 10 to 50 thousand dollars. For 10-15 thousand dollars you can also buy a used one- or two-color offset press. You can use it to make business cards and other simple work. A mini-printing house consisting of one offset printing machine, if you know the market for used equipment, can be “built” for 10-15 thousand dollars. But you can invest 150-200 thousand - it all depends on the amount of starting capital.
Sergei Nemtsov, director of the Moscow printing house Elena, says: “We were originally an advertising agency, placing orders with printing houses. Then we bought small cutters and other office devices. That is, they began to handle the final finishing of printing themselves. Having gained experience, we decided to purchase an offset machine. Initially, our focus was specifically on offset printing. Considering the investment, this is, of course, expensive equipment. But there are numerous leasing and lending systems that make it easier possible start business. Although now I would be looking for used equipment, but in good condition. This is the same as in the case of a one-year-old car - it is already completely ready for use, it does not need to be brought to mind. Prices for used equipment - from 15 thousand dollars, new - from 200 thousand dollars. The range of prices on the Moscow printing equipment market is very large - it all depends on the technical characteristics.”
The hot breath of competitors
A risograph is cheaper and, as a result, more accessible, but you need to be aware that such equipment is possible not only for you, but also for your competitors. The lower its cost, the closer their breath will be felt. To build a business, you need to realistically imagine who the service will be provided to, what your advantages will be, etc. “You can, for example, play at speed,” says the director of the advertising agency “Soloist” Alexander Er, who opened a printing house at his advertising agency about four years ago. - For example, make all orders as soon as possible. Employees must be prepared to stay overnight. Thus, the audience of “hot” clients is covered. You can offer options for printing technologies, advise what is suitable for the customer and what is not, focus specifically on high quality services, taking into account, of course, other factors.”
All mini-printing houses share a similar operating principle based on screen printing. First on Russian market Apparatuses from the company Riso, a pioneer in this field of printing, appeared, called “risographs,” and the company Duplo, which later entered this market, prefers to call its devices duplicators. Currently there are three main manufacturers on the market - Riso, Duplo and Ricoh (all Japanese). Ricoh devices are also produced in Europe and Russia under the brands Rex-Rotary, Nashuatec, MB, Gestetner. In the Moscow market now, entry-level A4 format devices and A3 format systems are mainly in demand. It is difficult to say exactly which manufacturer is better. All devices are designed approximately the same. Of course, we are not talking about prestige here: it is more appropriate to compare a mini-printing house with a truck, and it doesn’t matter which truck to transport boards on.
The most popular is printing from scanned paper originals. However, an increasing number of consumers are paying attention to such details as the presence of a computer interface (RIP) for connecting the mini-printing house to a PC and printing electronic documents (the unit is supplied or purchased separately) or a network card - for using the mini-printing house as a device network printing.
Draft horses
Risographs can be called the workhorses of the office equipment market. They are designed for fast (up to 120-130 ppm) and economical printing on A6-A3 paper. With circulations in the range of 50-5,000 copies, they successfully compete in cost per print with copiers and small-format offset presses. The cost of a copy in this case decreases sharply as the circulation increases. Important advantages of mini-printing houses are the long service life of the machines (up to 9 million copies), low energy consumption (up to 400 W) and environmental friendliness (consumables are often non-toxic). Unlike offset printing, when working with a mini-printing house, no costs are required for preparing the printing process. Even if you purchase used equipment that was operated by the previous owner without any maintenance, the “insides” of the device may be completely intact and intact.
But the big advantage of the latest generation of copying machines is their ability to work on almost any paper - from inexpensive thin paper (46 g/m?) to cardboard (240 g/m?). Experts strongly advise purchasing A3 format devices, even if you plan to print only A4 format copies. The fact is that on an A3 format machine you can print two A4 format copies at once in one pass. This extends the life of the device, reduces costs and significantly speeds up the printing process. And to “cut” finished copies, you can purchase a special cutter capable of cutting stacks of paper up to 500 sheets thick.
It is at the very beginning of organizing a business that it is necessary to solve an important problem - what equipment to buy. There are two ways to go here. The first is to purchase used cars, the mileage of which allows, at some cost, to produce high-quality printing that can satisfy the needs of not too demanding customers. The second way is to purchase completely new equipment. Some experts argue that starting with a new car is better. This is especially important if you do not have a highly qualified equipment specialist on staff who can quickly find the cause possible problems and eliminate them. In the experience of many print shop owners, used equipment often malfunctions and requires close monitoring.
Except cars
If we talk about others necessary requirements business, then, first of all, this is the premises. No matter how small the printing house is, it requires a warehouse (both for source codes and for finished products). In general, a mini-printing house takes up little space - you can start with 40 square meters. m. However, there are cases when a mini-printing house was located on 20 square meters. m. - literally in a fenced off corner office space. Under such circumstances, it is quite possible to combine both production and office in one place. When they are separated, of course, mobility will be lost and the logistics of the process will need to be established.
It is difficult to name the period during which the equipment can pay for itself. The profitability threshold in this case depends on many reasons. “I can say one thing,” says Alexander Er, “if you start a business with the production of printed products using offset equipment, you will need about a year just to bring the work of the printing house to a more or less coordinated relationship between customer orders and your capacities. The payback period for equipment also depends on the availability of a customer base, the location of production, and much more. If we talk about the return of “our own people,” then we can name a period of three years. In the first year, of course, you no longer need to make investments, but the balance will actually be equal to zero. Until you get into proper shape technical parameters your equipment, until orders are placed, you can forget about constant serious income.” Many printing house owners share the same opinion. The famous proverb is quite applicable to this business: “The first year you feed the business, the second year the business feeds itself, the third year the business feeds you.”
But with well-structured promotion of services, a lot can be achieved. There are examples of people who, even though they are not specialists in printing issues, but have an entrepreneurial spirit, have achieved great success in this direction.
“If you buy new offset equipment, the printing house will pay for itself no sooner than in three years. Of course, when buying equipment that has already worked for some time, there is a risk that it will break. There are no guarantees. And how long it will take for used equipment to pay for itself is unknown. But usually, if you take an “old” machine, in a year or a year and a half you can “recapture” it, and then the profit will come,” says Sergei Nemtsov, director of the Elena printing house.
Labor results
It is very difficult to guide the reader on profit - it depends on many things, but on average, a mini-printing house (offset press + auxiliary equipment) can actually generate an income of about 2-5 thousand dollars a month. Let's look at a simple example. The price of one print on a copying machine is $0.5, and the cost is about 12 cents/print. With an almost full machine load, you can get a “dirty” profit of 10 thousand dollars a month. With the deduction of maintenance costs, rent of premises, and employee salaries, the result is about 2-3 thousand dollars of net profit per month. However, we must remember that in the summer there is actually a low season for printing houses, but costs remain.
Rent of premises, salaries to employees, modernization of equipment - all these are constant expense items. Future owners of mini-printing houses should pay special attention to the issue of purchasing consumables. There are quite a lot of so-called “compatible” materials on the market, which are about 30% cheaper than the originals. However, all risograph sellers are strikingly unanimous on the issue of choosing consumables - they strongly recommend that their clients use only original materials and fundamentally do not sell any others. The consequences of using unbranded materials are catastrophic. For example, if you use compatible consumables on Riso, you can safely save $1,000 for a new drum. It’s one thing if an inkjet printer worth $100 fails, but another thing is a risograph thirty to forty times more expensive. It also happens that one thing may be written on a tube of paint, but inside there may be something completely different. In the case of compatible materials, there is a chance that it will end up on a refilled tube, where ordinary printing ink is sometimes poured. And although experts usually distinguish “linden” by smell and consistency, it is very difficult for the average user to assess the quality of the paint. To avoid troubles, it makes sense to buy consumables from the same company that provides service.
Success Factors
As for other success factors, the first place is the presence of a client base. Of course, the efficiency of order fulfillment and the location of the production itself are also important. Enterprises in industrial zones or with a complex access system may scare away customers. “In principle, it doesn’t matter where the production is located,” says Sergei Nemtsov. “The main thing is that there is convenient access to the office - loading and unloading of goods is ongoing.”
In the case of a mini-printing house, first of all, you need to think about what it will do and for whom. Advertising in this type of business is mainly direct marketing, that is, the manager calls potential clients. Although some entrepreneurs place advertisements in newspapers and magazines such as “Goods and Services”. Another important point: printing services are complex. There are no clear, at first glance, obvious measures to determine whether the work was done well or not. It is easy to determine an outright defect, but in printing there are many intermediate criteria. The client, having learned about you, will not immediately run to place an order - you need to win his trust.
Regarding the pricing policy, we can say the following: if you calculate operating profit per order, that is, based on direct costs from total income, you can say that printing is a highly profitable business. The seller can vary the prices for the service depending on how much he wants to receive a given order. There is a wide range of all possible actions: since mini-printing houses are designed for small and urgent orders, you can “play” on raising prices for “urgent” clients. For example, invitations are needed for some event in the morning, and the customer arrives, say, the day before at six in the evening. Then you can demand an additional fee for urgency - as a rule, the client agrees to this. The price in this case can double. Ideally, by the way, it makes sense to organize a 24-hour printing house - in this case it will generate maximum income
Alexander Ivanov
Every self-respecting company, even the smallest one, must have a printer, or even several. However, this does not in any way reduce the huge demand that exists today in the printing services market.
And every year it grows more and more. Moreover, while large enterprises cooperate quite comfortably with equally large printing houses, small firms have a hard time.
In most Russian cities, not including Moscow and St. Petersburg, there are not many companies offering high-quality printing services in a short time. And to get to the market giants, you will have to stand in line, because they are always more than supplied with orders.
This is a niche for business - there is enough space for a novice entrepreneur in the small and even medium segment. And there will still be more.
The market for this type of service is growing every year, demand is increasing, so why not make another offer? In this article we will look at questions that will help you develop a business plan for a mini-format printing house. And starting small, you can always grow into something large and successful.
We are planning issues to be reflected in the business plan for creating a printing house
Open small company offering printing services is not nearly as difficult as many people imagine. Moreover, depending on the equipment that you plan to purchase, the costs may turn out to be quite adequate. Of course, this business, like any other, has its own nuances. You need to know about them and take them into account. We will help you with this by sorting out everything you need to open a printing house. The following points must be considered and included in your business plan:
- choosing a location and searching for premises;
- range of services offered;
- sales of services and pricing policy;
- purchase of printing and other equipment;
- recruitment of printing house personnel;
- advertising your company;
- financial plan - costs, profitability, profitability.
As you can see, you will have to think through a lot of details before you begin any specific actions. But by including all these questions in your printing house business plan and analyzing them, you will be able to start your business more confidently, having a good understanding of what you are offering and to whom, how much you are investing, and what kind of return you expect to receive. Let's start with the simplest questions - the location of the future action.
A place to open your own printing house
Naturally, supply must be created where there is demand. And he is the highest in business center cities - where a large number of firms are concentrated. Big and small practicing various types activities that have existed for a long time or have just opened. They all need to print something. For some, these are advertising brochures and business cards, for others, forms of business documentation, for others, booklets, manuals, magazines, and the like.
As a rule, in such busy places in terms of business there are already small printing houses or departments providing various types of printing services. But believe me, there is enough demand for everyone. After all, your potential clients are not only those companies that are located in the nearest area, but also partners/clients of these companies who come on business and, perhaps, need your work.
As for the premises, you won’t need a lot of space to work in a mini format. You can sit on forty squares or eighty squares. It all depends on what equipment and in what quantity you plan to purchase, as well as on the budget available for these purposes. In the end, you can always expand the existing space by moving to a larger premises or “squeezing out” your neighbors by occupying additional territory.
Mini-printing services: creating an offer
How to open a mini printing house? Should we reduce the range of services offered or limit the offer for each type to a specific volume of work? You can choose any option, but it’s better not to skimp on variety. After all, it may turn out that there will be greater demand for some services on certain days, and you will be able to provide any of them.
So, we settled on offering various printing services. Then the range of activities will be quite wide. This includes:
- development of layouts for various printed products (forms, brochures, business cards, leaflets, calendars);
- replication in small batches;
- copying, including color;
- lamination and binding.
Not bad at all for a mini-printing house. However, it is worth understanding that in order to engage in such diverse activities, you will have to invest in special equipment and hire staff who can provide all of the above services at a high level.
Sales of printing services
A new company that wants to make a name for itself must appeal to customers, attract them and make them loyal. This is largely achieved through variety (for example, an offset printing house can offer more), quality (which should be higher than that of competitors), and also the cost of services.
Before setting prices, analyze your competitors' policies in this matter. Even if they are insignificant, they are still lower than those of neighboring companies - 5% is quite enough to seem “nice” to clients.
Also, focus on your other advantages in order to gradually raise the price level in the future. Work faster - what some people do in three days, you do in one. Always remember high quality, be it a large client or a small office. Appreciate everyone.
For large order volumes, make a small discount if further cooperation is important to you. Or, for example, offer the next print “as a gift” (in an adequate size, of course). This way you will teach clients to contact you, and not go to any printing house.
♦ Capital investments – 700,000 rubles
♦ Payback – 10–12 months
Today, it is rare for any business (even small-scale) to do without printing information and advertising products, business cards.
Students of many specialties also often resort to professional printing services over the years of their studies (print the same project or bind a diploma).
What can we say about various public organizations and political parties - the main suppliers of waste paper.
The demand for professional printing services today is simply enormous and there is no sign that it will decrease.
All this leads to the fact that many begin to think, how to open a printing house and how much it might cost.
You should not immediately aim for a large printing factory with many presses. Start with a mini printing house, the business plan of which is you and.
All you have to do is use these calculations or make your own if you plan to open a different kind of business.
Advantages of opening a printing house
There are a number of reasons for opening a printing house:
- Printing services are needed not only in megacities, but also in small towns where there are private enterprises, educational institutions, party cells, public organizations etc.
- In order to open such a business, large expenses, special permits, and huge working areas are not required. You will not often be pestered by the health station and other inspection bodies.
- Printing is a profitable business if you have a good customer base.
- It is possible to purchase the equipment you need for half the price, if it is not new.
- Quite fast payback for printing compared to other types of business.
How to open a mini printing house: planning
Resume
In Soviet times, any type of activity, and even more so such a strategically important area as printing, was in state hands.
With the collapse of the USSR, it became clear that huge publishing houses and printing factories were unprofitable. It is much more profitable to maintain a mini printing house.
This type of business, despite the fact that there are a great many large and small publishing houses and printing houses operating in our country, still remains profitable if you optimize costs and acquire regular customers.
There is plenty of competition in this sector, but not so much that you should be afraid of it.
Professional equipment is expensive, and renting premises doesn’t cost a penny, so get ready for the fact that to open a mini printing house you need to have at least 700,000 rubles + annual expenses on consumables.
Pursued goals:
- Buy inexpensive but high-quality equipment, thus reducing the initial costs of the business.
- Find premises for a printing house at an affordable cost, which would have a strategically advantageous location: the city center, an easy-to-remember address.
- Hire qualified employees who can easily replace each other and have work experience.
- Acquire a base of regular customers, open new sources of income for your printing house.
- Provide the city population with printing services of varying complexity.
- Constantly improve your own business, modernize equipment, and gain the opportunity to fulfill even complex large-scale customer orders.
- Build a profitable business that would pay for itself within a year.
Mini printing house marketing plan
When thinking about opening a printing house, you should consider high level competition in this sector.
Many entrepreneurs have long realized how profitable this type of business can become by investing in printing presses, risographs and other equipment.
But there are enough unoccupied niches left in this area, so if you create competitive advantages, you will not be afraid of the owners of other printing houses.
Competitive advantages of the printing house
Interesting fact:
Color printing appeared in the 14th century. For this technology, a huge number of engraved tablets were used, and each was painted in the desired color.
Even before opening a printing house, it is important to think about how exactly you can stand out from your competitors in order to quickly build a customer base.
Well, of course, while working, you shouldn’t forget about increasing not only your turnover, but also your advantages.
Here are some ways to quickly promote your business and increase your customer base:
- Availability of equipment that would print products of impeccable quality.
If you purchase a low-quality risograph, printer or scanner, wanting to save money, then the client simply will not return to you. - Acceptable pricing policy for printing services.
- System of discounts for regular customers and wholesale consumers.
- Ability to fulfill urgent orders at any time.
- Availability of the home delivery service if we are talking about a large batch of printed products.
- Polite and qualified staff who will treat each client with understanding and respect.
- Convenient location of your printing house so that the client does not have to travel to the edge of the city.
Business target audience
To designate the target audience of a mini printing house, the age or gender of the potential client does not matter. Even his financial situation is not so important (although getting a few rich regular clients will not hurt).
You only need to consider the scope of your customers' activities.
The main clients of printing houses are students, private entrepreneurs, media editors, public figures, and political parties.
Advertising for printing houses
A newly opened printing house needs high-quality advertising.
You must quickly convey to your potential client how advantageously you differ from your competitors in the quality of your products, pricing policy, etc.
Since you have your own printing equipment, you can save on creating leaflets, booklets, and banners.
It is advisable to create your own website where the client can see samples of your products and find out about prices.
And don’t forget about popularizing your printing house in social networks, thanks to which you can reach a student audience.
It is also important that each of your clients is satisfied with the services provided to them and wishes to return to you again and recommend your printing house to their friends.
Hand out your business cards to all new clients.
Staff for mini printing house
You won’t be able to handle all the work on your own, so you can’t do it without hiring qualified personnel.
You will definitely need several generalists (people who know computer graphics programs and knew how to handle equipment), an accountant (preferably part-time while you have a small business).
You can handle leadership functions quite well on your own.
If you do not plan to clean the printing house yourself, then do not forget about the cleaner. You can hire a woman of retirement age part-time, because cleaning a small office only takes 1-2 hours in the morning.
All this implies the following monthly salary expenses.
How to open a mini printing house: implementation
Printing house schedule
Before starting work, you need to draw up a business plan for a printing house with specific calculations (or use a ready-made one).
In addition to it, you need to draw up monthly or at least quarterly plans (provision of printing services, expected profits, actions to attract customers, etc.).
As soon as your business pays off, you can stop making monthly/quarterly plans, and limit yourself to annual ones.
Stages of launching a mini printing house
The hardest thing for you is to find suitable premises with an affordable rental price, purchase good equipment and hire experienced employees.
To rent premises, choose not expensive commercial space (shopping centers charge a lot of money per 1 square meter), but simpler organizations, for example, public institutions located near the center.
In order for the printing house to operate successfully, you do not need European-quality repairs.
Professional new equipment costs big money, so to start with, a used one will do, but make sure it is in good condition.
Personnel for the printing house can be found through recruitment agencies or the labor exchange.
To launch your mini printing house from scratch with proper planning, it will approximately take no more than 5 months.
| Stage | Jan. | Feb. | March | Apr. | May | June |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registration of an enterprise (IP) | ||||||
| Rent of premises and purchase of necessary furniture (tables, chairs) | ||||||
| Purchasing the necessary equipment | ||||||
| Printing house staff recruitment | ||||||
| Printing house staff recruitment | ||||||
| Launch of a printing house |
Table of costs for opening a printing house
High-quality professional equipment, even if used, is not cheap, but you cannot do without it if you want to build a successful business.
No one will come to your printing house if you print products on a regular printer.
The main costs of starting a business look like this:
| Expense item | Amount (in rub.) |
|---|---|
| Total: | 680,000 rub. |
| Enterprise registration | 30 000 |
| Premises rental (30–40 sq. m.) | 20,000 per month |
| Buying furniture for work | 100 000 |
| Purchase of printing equipment (2 powerful computer, risograph, copier, scanner, printing machine, printer, paper cutting machine) | 450 000 |
| Consumables (paper of different types and thicknesses, ink, films, etc.) | 10 000 |
| Salary to employees | 43,000 per month |
| Advertising | 10 000 |
| Additional costs | 17 000 |
In addition to the initial opening costs of 680–700,000 rubles, you will also have mandatory annual business expenses.
Now we are talking not only about employee salaries, renting premises or taxes, but also about maintaining the equipment you have and purchasing the paper on which you will print.
Here's a rough plan annual expenses printing houses for these purposes:
| Expense item (name of equipment) | Cost of one copy (in rub.) | Copy production plan for the year | Amount of annual expenses (in rub.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total: | 400,000 rub. | ||
| Risograph | 0,4 | 400 000 | 160 000 |
Copier  | 0,3 | 150 000 | 45 000 |
| Printer | 0,35 | 200 000 | 70 000 |
A3 paper  | 0,38 | 8 000 | 3 040 |
| A4 paper | 0,15 | 800 000 | 120 000 |
Services that a printing house can provide
We invite you to take a short excursion into the world of modern printing
by watching the following video:
Calculation of revenue and profit of a printing house
| Printing service | Unit cost (in rub.) | Unit production plan for the year | Total amount (in rub.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total: | RUB 3,800,000 | ||
| Layout | 170 | 5 000 | 850 000 |
| Printing promotional products | 25 000 | 10 | 250 000 |
| Replication on a risograph | 400 000 | 5 | 2 000 000 |
| Document binding | 3 000 | 50 | 150 000 |
| Document lamination | 2 000 | 40 | 80 000 |
| Copying (A4 paper size) | 150 000 | 1 | 150 000 |
| Copying (A3 paper size) | 5 000 | 4 | 20 000 |
| Printout | 150 000 | 2 | 300 000 |
Download a ready-made business plan for the printing house with quality guarantee.
Contents of the business plan:
1. Privacy
2. Summary
3. Project implementation stages
4. Characteristics of the object
5. Marketing plan
6. Technical and economic data of equipment
7. Financial plan
8. Risk assessment
9. Financial and economic justification for investments
10. Conclusions
As you can see, with proper management of a printing house, there is a chance to earn three times more than the initial investment, that is, the business can be made profitable.
Of course, you will have unplanned expenses (some equipment may break down, employees will demand higher wages, etc.), but there is nothing stopping you from increasing the pace of production and gradually increasing the cost of printed products.
Thinking how to open a printing house, and when taking the first steps to build a new business, do not put development on the back burner competitive advantages and ways to attract new customers.
The more successful your start from scratch is, the faster your development.
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Let us briefly describe how to open a printing house from scratch. Where to start a business for an inexperienced entrepreneur? To do this, you will need to draw up a competent business plan, study the market and think through many issues, take care of paperwork, etc. When the right approach You can achieve full payback within a year.
Today printing occupies an important place in people's lives. Such services are used by students, office workers, advertising agencies, various companies, tourism and political organizations. And even in the presence of high competition, you can count on the fact that the mini-printing house will always have customers.
- Advantages
- Business format
- What documents are needed?
- Services offered
- Selecting a room
- Staff
- Where to find clients?
- Tips for beginners
- Reviews
Advantages
The opening of printing will be profitable project. After all, her modern capabilities provide certain prospects for development:
- Both in large metropolitan areas and in small towns, printing services are used by many institutions - public and political organizations, schools and institutes, magazines and newspapers, advertising agencies, travel agencies, various private enterprises, office companies, etc. The demand for printed products increases with every year.
- To open a mini-printing house you will need little equipment, which implies a minimum or medium investment.
- You will not need to seek operating licenses or obtain any special certificates. The registration process will be short and simple, and regulatory authorities will rarely visit such an institution for inspections.
- If you have a good customer base, you can count on high recurring profits.
- To get started, it is enough to use used equipment to reduce initial costs and only purchase expensive and new equipment over time.
- The high profitability of this type of business promises payback for the project in a short time.
- It is possible to combine several service options at once, thereby significantly increasing the company’s income.
- To accommodate a minimum amount of equipment and furniture, you do not need a lot of space, which will significantly save the cost of renting the premises.
Among the disadvantages of opening a printing industry from scratch, only the high level of competition in some cities is noted. But since their capabilities do not exceed the limited volume of products, with constantly growing demand you have every chance to get your share of customers and make money on it.
Business format
Where to start implementing an idea? Before opening your own printing house, you need to decide on the volume and direction of activity. It could be:
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- Mini printing house offering printing services to private clients or various companies through the production of small products such as booklets, flyers, business cards, posters, etc.
- A more serious workshop with professional and powerful equipment that can print newspapers, magazines, teaching aids, manuals, etc.
The first option allows you to start own business With small investment, and the second offers scope for large volumes of activity with constant cooperation with various enterprises and establishments.
What documents are needed?
One of important advantages when opening a printing house is that this type of activity does not require special licenses and permits. It is enough to register as an individual entrepreneur or LLC. The first option is suitable for printing with minimum quantity employees and small volumes of products.
A legal entity should be registered in cases where you want to engage in large projects, bulk orders and cooperate with companies and organizations. In each of the options, it is advisable to choose suitable system taxation according to a simplified scheme, so as not to pay high deductions.
You also need to submit documents to the following authorities:
- Sanitary and Epidemiological Service.
- Fire inspection.
- Pension fund.
- Statistical bodies.
- Employment service.
Services offered
Having studied the market in this area of business, it is advisable to decide what exactly you will do. The most popular queries among the population are:
- creation of product mockups;
- production of advertising booklets;
- lamination;
- printing of documents;
- photocopies;
- scanning papers;
- binding;
- production of menus, forms, leaflets, brochures, business cards, calendars and other small items;
- production of postcards;
- creating notepads and envelopes;
- pre-press and post-press processing;
- publishing newspapers, magazines, etc.;
- preparation of manuals and other educational materials;
- printing on clothes, dishes, etc.;
- packaging products.
Carefully analyze your competitors and the demand for different activities in this segment. Then you can create a unique offer that will help you win potential customers in a short time.
Selecting a room
It is worth taking a responsible approach to finding a suitable building. There are two main points to consider here:
- Location – ideal location of the printing house is considered central regions cities with high traffic volumes. But even if, in order to save money, you decide to choose a place remote from the center, then it is enough to focus on the proximity of educational institutions, political organizations, advertising or other agencies, which will become your main clients.
- The dimensions of the room should not be too large. For mini-printing, an area of 30-40 square meters is sufficient. m. But it needs to be divided into separate zones - a warehouse, a reception area, a work area, a staff bathroom. Connecting communications is also important - ventilation system, electricity with a power of 380 W and compliance with all norms and standards of SES and GPI.
Remember that placing a printing house in a residential building is highly undesirable. Even having received the necessary permits for this and having arranged everything according to the rules, you can provoke conflicts with the residents of the house, who will be disturbed by the noise of operating equipment.
Keep in mind that renting offices in the city center, especially in big cities, is expensive and such expenses will significantly reduce your profits. To save money, try to choose a building in non-commercial areas. For example, various communal institutions are suitable for this.
Let's list what you need to open a mini-printing house:
- Risograph - for completing complex design projects with the ability to scale up to 200% and print speed of at least 60-130 copies per minute.
- Copier – designed for A3 and A4 formats and makes about 15 documents per minute. It is advisable to select a technique where the toner is capable of making up to 3000 copies, and the photo drum itself has a productivity of 100 thousand copies.
- Laser printer – capable of working with the most popular formats (A3 and A4).
- Scanner – with the ability to zoom 59-200%. It is important that there is access here to directly transfer the captured image to the printer.
- A computer for each employee who will accept and fulfill orders. They must have good video cards installed for working with images and graphic editors.
- Copy frame.
- Cutter.
- Laminator.
- Binding machine.
- Various devices and tools for working with paper and equipment.
You will also need to purchase periodically consumables and monitor the operation of the devices. To set up a printing house you will need to purchase office furniture, and for warehouses - shelving and racks.
To save money, many novice entrepreneurs buy cheap used equipment. But this is not always justified. For example, if you decide to receive a large order from a large client, then such equipment will not withstand the load and will be defective, or even break down at the wrong time. Therefore, sometimes it is more expedient to purchase expensive professional new equipment, but not to risk missing deadlines for completing tasks.
Staff
A printing house as a business cannot operate without a certain number of people. You won't be able to handle the entire load on your own. Therefore, take care to find qualified employees. At least one of them must have extensive experience and skills in the printing industry. Everyone else can learn the intricacies of the business from the main master.
The staff must have:
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- Cutter – responsible for post-printing processing of products (packing, embossing, cutting, etc.
- The printer or operator controls the equipment.
- Assistants.
- Designer – engaged in pre-press processing of images.
- Manager – forms a client base, draws up assignments and provides advertising campaign agencies.
- Accountant - can work part-time, part-time or perform functions under a contract.
- Cleaning woman.
Experienced entrepreneurs in this area of business note that the largest influx occurs in September and the New Year holidays. Therefore, make sure that your employees have time to fulfill all orders during this time. Additional help may need to be hired for selected tasks for short periods.
Where to find clients?
Basic target audience for mini-printing houses are media editors, students, teachers, private entrepreneurs, political parties, etc. It is important to quickly convey your capabilities and advantages to potential customers. If competition in this area of business is quite high in your region, then formulate a unique and profitable offer that will set you apart from the rest.
Otherwise, it is enough to simply indicate on a business card and other advertising materials the list of services offered. Print informational brochures and leaflets and distribute them in places where your potential clients often visit - universities, libraries, newspaper offices, etc.
To find regular and large customers, it is worth making phone calls to organizations where printing services may be of interest to management. Conduct personal meetings, make mutually beneficial offers, show product samples and create a flexible system of discounts to attract customers.
In cooperation with educational institutions, you can start manufacturing methodological manuals and visual materials. This will not only ensure a profitable order, but will also create a certain reputation for the printing industry.
In order for clients to return to you in the future, and also to recommend the printing house to friends, you need to focus on high-quality and fast completion of the work. Employees must be polite and friendly, help make difficult choices and offer interesting design solutions.
Here you can download a free business plan for a mini-printing house as a sample.
Profitability of mini-printing house
When drawing up a business plan, you need to take into account all expected expenses.
If you purchase used equipment, you can significantly reduce the indicated amount. The exact numbers will depend on how much the particular device you choose costs, since it is the equipment that constitutes the main expense item. The constant maintenance of printing and maintaining the workflow also requires finance.
Don't expect that all year round there will be equally many orders. This business has its own seasonality. Typically, the greatest profits are observed during the holidays and autumn. But even with this, they manage to earn an average of about 3,600,000 rubles per year. It turns out that after ten months we can talk about the full payback of the business.
But this is provided that you quickly form a main customer base or successfully locate your office near educational institutions. Otherwise, you will have to wait a little longer for high profits. This is influenced by many factors - established prices, level of demand, competition, etc.
To promote a mini-printing house from scratch, you will need experience and competent business management. Experts recommend doing the following:
- Take care of working equipment good quality. This is the only way to expect quick fulfillment of all orders.
- Set reasonable prices for services.
- Develop a system of discounts and bonuses for regular customers or wholesale production of printed products.
- Ensure that urgent tasks can be completed at any time of the day.
- Offer free delivery to customers on finished orders.
- Hire only professional employees who can communicate politely and affably with clients.
- Think it over good placement an office close to your potential customers, but far from a competing company.
- Create a unique offer, standing out among similar printing houses in the city.
- When completing a large amount of work, be sure to draw up a contract.
- Small tasks can be performed directly in front of the client.
- If you don’t know how to start a business from scratch, you should purchase a franchise and organize a business according to a ready-made scheme.
Video: how to open a printing house?
Business today cannot do without advertising brochures, business cards, forms and other printed materials. But ordering printing from large publishing houses, and even in small editions, is beyond the means of most entrepreneurs. This means that the services of small printing houses will always be in demand. How to open a printing house, and what difficulties await a beginning entrepreneur in the printing business?
Specifics of the printing business
People who have been working in this field for a long time most often think about organizing their own printing house. Printing requires special knowledge, but this can hardly be regarded as a serious obstacle to opening such a profitable business. You, as the owner of a printing house, do not have to understand all the nuances yourself: there are professionals for this. In small towns, finding printing specialists may not be so easy: be sure to study the labor market for the relevant profile so that you have several workers in mind. In megacities, find people with the necessary skills and education is not a problem.
Private printing houses serve mainly small and medium business: Many businesses need printing services from time to time. With active recruitment, you can get a bunch of small orders, but you can’t count on stability when working with one-time clients. A printing house as a business should be focused on a regular clientele: even at the stage of thinking through an idea, it is important to have an idea of where you will get customers with a regular need for printing, and how you will retain them. It is advisable to already have preliminary agreements in place by the time of opening.
Business organization
It is advisable to open a printing house not as an individual entrepreneur, but as legal entity. Most likely, you will work with organizations, including state and municipal ones, with which individual entrepreneurs may have difficulties concluding contracts.
So, at the initial stage you are required to:
- determine the organizational and legal form of the enterprise;
- undergo state registration or;
- indicate the types of activities suitable for a printing house (printing activities - 22.22; advertising - 74.40);
- choose a tax regime;
- obtain a license if you plan to print strict reporting forms.
Regarding the tax point, you need to look at the scale of your business and potential clients. “” is quite suitable for a mini-printing house. If you work with large clients - VAT payers, think about finding an experienced accountant.
The following steps you need to take:
- Rent space for a printing house.
- Buy, rent/lease equipment.
- Hire workers.
- Set up an advertising campaign.
Search for premises
You can open a mini-printing house on an area of about 30 square meters, which is quite enough. More important question- location. Large client flow, which ensures placement within shopping center, will only attract you individuals for small services such as copying, laminating, making photo books. Alternatively, small room in the shopping center can be used as an office for negotiations with clients and receiving orders, while the printing shop will be located in another location.
The most preferred location of the printing house is surrounded by potential customers: in a business center, on a university campus. Entrepreneurs will turn to you for advertising printing, universities - for printing educational literature, scientific works, stitching, binding, etc.
To work with big business, municipalities and other “serious” clients, the location of the printing house, by and large, is not so important if you go to the clients’ office, deliver finished products to them and can offer attractive prices. You can safely save money and rent a room for a printing shop in a residential area or in an industrial zone. Main requirements for production premises – good ventilation, extractor hood and, preferably, non-residential property.
Printing house equipment
Professional equipment is something without which a printing house cannot exist, and which will take the lion's share of the initial costs. Is it possible to save money here? Yes, if you buy used equipment or rent it. Well, also carefully evaluate your capabilities and not buy too much.
At first, you can get by with only the necessary minimum, for which you need to clearly define the range of priority services. With the development of production, equipment can be purchased, updated, exchanged for more modern models, but first, provide the printing house with equipment according to the list:
- computers for working with complex graphics programs;
- professional printers;
- copy machine;
- risograph;
- laminating machine;
- booklet maker;
- printing stapler;
- paper cutting machine.
Purchase sufficient quantities of “consumables”:
- paper for different types of printing products;
- cartridges for copying and printing equipment;
- paints and toners;
- film laminate;
- replaceable cutting knives;
- fastening fittings.
Buy furniture for employees, for a client office, or a warehouse.
Recruitment
The staff of the printing house depends on the volume of services provided. With a complete technological chain from the development of layouts to packaging and delivery of finished products, you will have to hire 1-2 employees for each stage of production.
The most important people in a printing house, who are worth their weight in gold, are the printer and a good salesman:
- Printing specialists - employees with special education, scarce, and therefore highly paid.
- The workload of your company with orders will depend on the sales manager. A person working in this position must understand the specifics of printing products and, of course, be actively involved in attracting clients, including having cold selling skills.
Definitely needed technical workers“on call”, who will help the printer, do post-press processing, packaging, and loading.
The rest of the staff: designers, layout designers, proofreaders are also important, but if there is a need to save money, it is better to look for generalists who can combine several professions at once. Some of these workers may not be hired, but freelancers may be hired for specific orders. Entrust small, non-labor-intensive work (lamination, photo printing) to any available employee.
Advertising promotion
When drawing up a business plan for a printing house, provide a good advertising budget - you will need it to make yourself known to potential customers. Print your own business cards, booklets, leaflets with your contacts and special offers. Make them bright and creative - it will be best advertising your work.
Hire promoters to distribute leaflets, make presentations in business centers, contact companies that interest you directly, place an ad in the press and on the Internet, create a website, order a “souvenir” with your logo - promote your services with everyone accessible ways, paid and free. Your task is to convey to as many people as possible more clients benefits of working with your printing house.
Costs of opening a printing house
When talking about printing production, you need to understand that significant investments will be needed in the business. How much does it cost to open a printing house? Count on at least 750 thousand rubles:
- rental of premises – 100–120 thousand rubles;
- equipment and consumables – from 500 thousand rubles;
- furniture - from 100 thousand rubles;
- advertising – from 50 thousand rubles.
- layout designer;
- printer;
- printer's assistant;
- manager
You can take on administrative functions and accounting until the business gets back on its feet. If not, get ready to “fork out” for a competent manager.
Budget for a certain “financial cushion” to cover risks. There is always a certain percentage of defects in a printing house. A mistake at any stage of production can threaten you not only with the loss of the client’s favor, but also with tangible financial losses. If anything happens, you will reprint the damaged edition at your own expense. A remote designer will delay delivery of the layout - you, as the owner, will have to answer for failure to meet deadlines from your own pocket. Printing is not an area in which you should skimp on specialists.
Please note that the summer months in the printing industry are a “quiet” season, and the costs of salaries and rent do not go away. But the pre-New Year period is a busy time for which you need to prepare in advance.
Successful print shop owners advise thinking about what you can offer your clients that will differentiate you from your competitors. For example, urgent printing, round-the-clock operation, etc. – you will find the answer by carefully studying the printing market around you.
As for the payback: it ranges from 1 to 3 years when installing used, but in good condition, equipment. If you buy everything new, you can count on profit after 3 years. Constantly searching for clients is what you will need to do all this time. Only by forming a portfolio of long-term regular orders that covers your running costs, you can guarantee break-even production.
