Navigating Challenges: Inflation and Pricing Strategy
This industry is not for the faint of heart. The challenges are vast and the profit margins are slim We could be doing things a lot easier for the return. But for a lot of us, we’re here for the long haul. It is in our DNA.
That’s said, I wouldn’t be opposed to a break once in a while….but I fear that’s not in the cards for 2025.
Last month I wrote an article on tariffs and how, as an industry, leaning on and leveraging software, we could combat that beast.
But let’s not ignore the other beast in the room: inflation.
Over the last few years, inflation has been a convenient catch-all to account for the rising costs of products, manufacturing, and services across all sectors.
Although we’re all experiencing the effects through the rising cost of everyday essentials, businesses are significantly affected through the increased cost of raw materials, energy, transportation, as well as higher labor expenses and interest rates.
You could argue that certain price hikes are truly a result of inflation, while others may be a less obvious connection but to do that is splitting hairs as the outcome remains the same: both consumers and businesses have to confront the challenges of higher prices to cover cost increases while trying to balance their budgets, maintain their customer bases and increase market share.
This perceived lack of control and reduced purchasing power may cause consumers and businesses to delay making an investment. To maintain profitability, businesses need to get creative with pricing strategies to counteract and adapt to this change in dynamic.
Inflation: A Broad Concept in Today’s Business Environment
Although often referenced in the current business landscape, inflation is a fairly complex construct. In simplistic terms, it is the rate at which prices increase over a specific timeframe as a result of various factors. Key contributors include:
- Global supply chain disruptions
- Higher production costs
- Increase labor costs or shortages
- Fluctuations in commodity/material prices
- Variations in interest rates
The resulting business challenges from cash flow to forecasting difficulty and profitability can feel insurmountable, especially given the continual doomsday reporting.
In reality, exactly how bad is it and is there anything to do to combat it?
As a benchmark*, the Federal Reserve likes to keep inflation at 2%, with the current rate in the USA at 2.4%, which some may argue is within an acceptable range. However, while headline inflation (including food and energy) is at 2.4% year-over-year, core inflation (excluding food and energy) remains at 2.8%. This suggests that while overall price increases may be moderating, there will be underlying price pressures that persist. This is problematic given our industry’s already laser-thin margins.
If you believe the daily news, there is nothing for a business to do but to raise prices and pay more, but there are some creative things you can do to remain competitive.
First, let’s understand the impact on our industry, then what we can do to combat the effects.
Inflation and the Printing Industry
In the printing industry, price changes are heavily impacted by inflation through the rising cost of materials including ink, paper and other materials. Although some printers have managed to raise their prices to offset these increases successfully, others have encountered narrower profit margins due to surging operating expenses and fear of what price hikes will do to their customer base.
In an industry already burdened by narrow margins, any disruption will significantly impact the bottom line. When you factor in the constraints of inflation, it can feel like you’re caught in a never-ending cycle of challenges.
Communication is Key
Look, nobody loves a price increase, but if done fairly and with integrity, most people will understand.
To manage high inflation while retaining customers, the ability to communicate and concentrate on things that matter to your customers is key:
- Articulate a clear strategy for the necessity for price adjustments. Emphasize the importance of your partnership and delivering quality of goods and services. Work together as partners, not as a quick yes or no decision but to meet in the middle in a place that works for every party, profitably.
- Demonstrate value by outlining every step of your services and solutions, offering demonstrations, evaluations and samples as well as team bios and experience in specific segment areas. Offer references in specific segments to provide data and value points.
- Establish grace periods to ease the transition to new pricing with plenty of advance notice if contracts are going to change to allow for customer adaptation, adjusting their budgets and plans.
- Create bundled options for multiple products and services in a one-time purchase. Use this opportunity to explore other potential areas to grow your revenue with your partners that could mitigate some of the increases.
- Extend legacy pricing to reward long-term customer loyalty and long-term renewals.
- Consider a loyalty program or selective increases to long-term vs. net new customers.
- Provide tiered pricing for a range of products and services, emphasizing volume discounts and seasonal promotions.
- Focus on high-impact items and add-on services that will have an immediate impact on your customer’s business.
- Encourage feedback
- Provide a platform for customers to share their thoughts and inquiries in an organic manner, with their peers.
Transparency and customer-focused communication are essential for building trust.
The MIS Solution
A strong business management system, specifically a Print Management Information System (MIS) can optimize your operations from order entry to invoicing through workflow automation. It helps manage costs efficiently and facilitates the seamless movement of jobs through your production process by eliminating manual touchpoints and bottlenecks, minimizing costly and unnecessary waste.
Moreover, an MIS enhances resource optimization by eliminating redundant tasks and automating various processes. This ensures a streamlined production flow that effectively monitors both estimated and actual costs while effortlessly managing inventory and capacity planning.
Finally, a comprehensive system integrates your investments – such as web-to-print, accounting and other essential applications – eliminating the challenges and expenses that arise from using separate systems, and providing a solution driven by real-time data for better business decision-making.
Next steps
No matter which market or segment you operate in, inflation will impact your business; this is a certainty. Equally certain is the fact that every business can enhance its efficiency and productivity by implementing systems that are flexible, modular and specifically designed to tackle the pain points and improve your bottom line.
At Avanti, we’re here to help. We offer a no-obligation demo of our award-winning ePS Avanti Print MIS and workflow evaluation that helps assess or reassess your business. If you have areas of improvement that require a fresh pair of eyes from experts.
