Our self-serve trade print portal is PrintIQ. It makes ordering print jobs with Mediapoint quick and easy. Amongst the features within the self-serve print portal you’re able to access live pricing 24/7, get quotes, view your previous / current orders, and submit artwork.
Jamie (Mediapoint Founder) has put together a useful video walkthrough to showcase the PrintIQ workflow. Learn how to view products, put a quote together, confirm your orders and see helpful metrics when you need them.
We’ve developed PrintIQ to cater towards customers that require fast, efficient print at the best-price.
Our trade printing portal enables us to guarantee next-day turnaround on certain products when ordered by cut-off times. High volume resellers love the ability to easily build quotes, submit their artwork and track progress live, in one place.
Sign Up to Access Trade Only Pricing
Want to access the best priced trade printing? Sign up for a PrintIQ account today.
In this article we’re taking a further look at the inner-workings of our automated printing system. Jamie explains why we can’t (and don’t) change a job once it hits production.
We’ve previously touched on our automated processes. They bring benefits to efficiency as well as pricing. Today, Jamie delves into why we can’t adjust orders once they hit production. Watch and read on to learn more about our automated print system.
Our Automated Printing System is too Good
Our automated printing systems are extremely efficient – just like the rest of our processes. An order can hit production within 10 minutes of being confirmed. Artwork pre-processing, stock selection and printer setup is all automatic. So there is little opportunity for any manual adjustments to the print run.
Our system and processes are established to deliver on the requirements of high volume resellers. We do not offer bespoke services or undertake any manual processing as this would reduce efficiency, minimise our ability to deliver on customer demands and increase costs.
Changing Orders Changes The Quote
Mediapoint’s ability to deliver quick trade printing quotes is underpinned by scaled volume and inventory calculations. When a job is submitted for quoting on our self serve print portal these calculations are completed and price locked in.
Once the the quote is accepted our automated print system sets printing in motion. If there were adjustments to an order (quantity, product type etc.) quoted prices, batching lots, and dispatch estimates would be incorrect.
Changes to Jobs Impact The Key Benefits of Trade Printing
Our focus is on delivering high volume printing with a quick turnaround as a trade printing partner. That’s why the onus is on clients to deliver finished artwork and confirm their requirements. The tradeoff for this lack bespoke customer service is quick turnaround and low prices. Any changes to orders would impact the key benefits for which Mediapoint is known.
We find that print resellers are more than happy to take the extra time to review and confirm orders. This hasn’t changed in over 16 years of business. Our customers can continue to pass on the best prices and lead-times to their own clients thanks to our automated print system and adjacent processes.
Sign up for a PrintIQ account to view our product pricing and get ordering today if you’re looking for a trade printing partner.
In this article we detail our Mediapoint’s print process and how that facilitates expedited completion of print jobs for customers.
We operate by a single rule when it comes to dispatching: One Job is One Dispatch.
Whilst other trade printers may split orders or create kits to be dispatched to multiple locations, we’ve consciously chosen not to do this. When you order using our self serve printing system we treat that order as an individual batch intended for one destination.
Over 150 orders a day are handled by Mediapoint’s print process. It involves the use of a highly-automated system and optimised, Lean processes. The moment an order is placed in our system every element required to complete the job – materials, print time, custom packaging, staff – is locked in. Everything is accounted for which leads to jobs completed exactly as intended.
Automation means leaves no room for ad-hoc changes but it means we can deliver on high volume orders with a quick turnaround. Furthermore, customers are benefitted by predictable lead times for print runs.
Splitting print orders is one such sacrifice of Mediapoint’s print process. However, we believe it is outweighed by the benefits of streamlined procedures and the ease of using our system.
Mediapoint’s Print Process Minimises Mistakes
Following our simple rule minimises any chance of mistakes throughout our trade printing process. Common mistakes from other trade printers who do split orders:
Underdelivering stock amounts to each destination
Jobs going to wrong locations
Varied delivery times due to different couriers / routes.
Delayed delivery due to the time it takes to finish and package split jobs individually.
Each of these issues can be detrimental to both our reputation and that of our clients who have their own service-level guarantees in place with their customers.
Don’t forget every added step in the print process will add costs. This leads to increased prices and reduces the amount of margin passed onto customers.
Customers Can Still Order Multiple Jobs
When working with Mediapoint’s print process you can still have printing delivered to multiple sites. However, each pack need to be ordered under separate job numbers. The time it takes to complete multiple orders on our automated printing system (PrintIQ) is negligible.
The individual number of jobs aids in visibility of job progress for customers. Since each job number is treated separately there is full transparency around dispatch timelines and destinations. This also reduces the requirement for our teams to read convoluted notes or do extra work that may slow down the trade printing process.
Playing to Our Strengths
The advantages of Mediapoint’s print process are the ability to access live 24/7 pricing on orders, access to the lowest prices, next-day turnaround on most products, and outsourcing of high volume jobs to focus on sales rather than production. By providing clarity of our process, utilising a self-serve printing portal, and implementing automation at every stage we can sustain our standards and deliver on these advantages for every customer.
If you’re a high volume reseller looking for trade printing partner that offers the lowest prices, than look no further than Mediapoint. Simply sign up for a PrintIQ account to get started.
We delve into our definition of a trade print client and how it ensures a transparent relationship that benefits everyone.
At Mediapoint we define a trade client as any entity reselling print; not the end consumer. So when we say, “we are a trade only printer” that means we don’t deal with retail customers. This has a few benefits for our customers but it’s important to know what such a trade printing relationship means.
Our Definition of a Trade Print Client Sets Accountabilities
We have found that there are fewer crossed wires, faster turnaround and better results when dealing directly with print resellers. One line of communication makes each party accountable for certain tasks. For Mediapoint that’s print, cut, finishing and packaging. For our trade clients that means they handle preparation of artwork and communicating with the retail customer.
We find that this task split is appealing to trade printing clients. It provides peace-of-mind that their customer won’t be poached. This is all too common when there is no separation between the end customer and the trade printer. Either organically or by intent resellers can be cut out of deals as customers seek to lower prices or reduce administration.
Our Definition of a Trade Print Client Enables Us to Support More Businesses
As a print reselling partner with a focus solely on trade clients we are able to support more than just traditional print shops. Our definition of a trade print client extends beyond print resellers or print brokers. Marketing/design agencies, individual consultants are also in need of a high volume printing partner. Our ability to blind ship orders and deal direct is particularly appealing to these organisations.
Considerations for Working with Trade Printers
A trade printer’s number one priority should be to give its resellers the most margin. That’s how we operate at Mediapoint. We’ve heavily invested in our manufacturing and our process. That means all other areas of the business including the frontend, prepress, and dispatch need to be fairly automated.
So if you require personal service on every order, a trade printer like us may not be optimal. You will be directed to an automated system for the aforementioned benefits of speed, efficiency and cost.
However, you’ll have access to the best printing prices and reclaim time back to grow your business. Not to mention peace of mind. These are the tradeoffs to consider when comparing trade printing VS In-House Production.
A quality trade printer (also known as a Wholesale Printer) will deal only with you – not your customer – allowing you to focus on growing relationships and your customer base. After all, trade printing is a service where you outsource to a supplier who producing work on your behalf. You are then left with greater equipment availability for priority, short-run jobs and/or more time to focus on growing your business.
If you think you fit into our definition of trade and are looking to outsource your printing, sign up for a PrintIQ accounttoday.
Read on (and watch) to learn why we have strict, print job cut off times for certain products. We break down how that enables service levels above and beyond the competition.
Mediapoint averages 150+ orders a day. To deliver on these with next-day turnaround, we have established Lean processes that other trade printers can’t compete with.
A strict printing cut-off time of 12pm underpins these procedures. At this time, every day, our system automatically locks out any new next-day orders. From there, automations begin to run; preparing all inventory, equipment, artwork files and staff required for a batched print run.
Print Job Cut Off Times Create Predictability
Keeping strict printing cut off times (and making it clear to customers) means a predictable service level for customers. With no variance in lead times they have peace-of-mind that jobs will be completed and dispatched as expected.
It means that our printing teams have a clear set of tasks to complete. That means we can adequately prepare our lines for maximum efficiency. Set print job cut off times are key to batching jobs, minimising change to stock and print modes during operation.
We’ve previously discussed locking into one print mode only which helps maintain quality and speed.
Printing Once A Day Reduces Costs
We pride ourselves on offering the best prices. To do so we need to find savings wherever possible – all of which are passed onto our clients. Inventory represents a significant portion of any print cost. A batching process helps us keep an optimal amount of inventory on hand. Plus, we end up using less resources per print run. Trade printers need definitive print job cut off times to effectively schedule completion of these job batches.
Another overlooked cost of printing is labour. This rises significantly when print runs are not batched. The time it takes to set up equipment for each differing print run, to cut print jobs, to complete finishing work and to package items are all areas where great savings can be made. In combination with our automated PrintIQ system – which reduces the need for manual servicing of quotes and design – we significantly reduce costs.
These savings then provide margin for our print reseller customers to play with when on-selling work.
Mediapoint’s Print Process Benefits Our People
The batching process and printing cut off times mentioned above mean our staff just need to complete each task once before moving onto the next stage of the print run. They become more efficient and we can do more, with less people. Unlike other trade printers, our teams are not burdened by wastes of rework or overproduction. In fact, our staff gain valuable time back and are involved in every stage of the work, allowing them to build and maintain their skillset.
Our Durst 512R LED in action. We used the points in these posts when making decision to buy this printer as it fit our business
Our Process Keeps Us Honest
Our established, automated system for overnight printing means there is minimal variance in our output and a predictable low-touch level of service. This reduces friction in the ordering process, and allows us to be transparent about how jobs are handled.
This visibility is useful for resellers looking for the right trade print partner for high volume output. It removes the guesswork involved in the print process for them and ensures they can deliver on service levels to their own customers.
We’ve established our print job cut off times based on experience and optimisation over the last 16 years of servicing high volume resellers. In that time we’ve identified that the 12pm cutoff provided an ideal lead-time for a majority of our clients and our internal processes. Furthermore when rush print jobs are required (which we don’t cater to) our customers’ in-house capabilities can handle them.
As we say, “the proof is in the print” so if you’re looking for a trade print partner that can deliver on high volume jobs day-in, day-out, give our 24-hour turnaround process a try on your next high volume print run. Simply sign up to PrintIQ here and order by 12pm for dispatch by next business day.
