Saving the pennies is currently on everyone’s mind, with catalogue producers no exception. Laura Blows speaks to industry experts to reveal how to cut a catalogue’s production costs.

The rising economic pressures from the credit crunch, along with consumers’ increasing use of e-commerce, have made it necessary for catalogues to prove that they can still provide value for money. To combat this, many companies are looking to remove any superfluous costs from a catalogue’s production process, and thankfully there are a number of ways to cut costs throughout the workflow without affecting quality.

One area where cost is predicted to rise in 2009 is paper. This could well seem a daunting prospect as paper costs already account for around half of the total production cost, says Simon Biltcliffe, manager director of the online print management company, Webmart.

He explains: “Paper is the biggest single element of a print job. The cost of paper is going to go up from here as capacity has been taken out of the market faster than the decline has occurred. Around 10% of paper capacity has been taken out of the market in this year alone.”

There are ways to cut down on paper costs without compromising the catalogue’s quality however. Danny Doogan, group environmental officer at specialist paper supplier Media Paper Management, says: “The obvious and most effective way of achieving a cost saving is by reducing gsm. It is usually feasible to step down a paper weight, for example 80gsm to 75gsm, or 60gsm to 57gsm, without compromising too much with opacity or bulk. This may also produce the added advantage of reducing postal costs.

“In general, whiter paper grades such as woodfree and medium weight coated are less opaque in lower weights and more expensive than alternative grades that aren’t quite as white – hence savings can be achieved by switching to a cheaper product and by reducing paper weight.”

It is also possible to reduce costs without changing the paper used by evaluating whether the size of the catalogue’s pages are as effective as possible. Doogan says: “Changing the size of the end product will have an impact on paper usage, for example by reducing the width of a publication from a super-sized A4 to a standard A4 width it could produce an instant saving of nearly 10%.”

Richard Owers, marketing director of print company Pureprint Group explains the impact that changing the size of the publication can have on press. He says: “Instead of going for an A4 format on a B1 press with eight pages to view, it is possible to use the maximum sheet size and by reducing the page size succeed in fitting 12 pages to view on a sheet, which saves money on paper, plates and printing without materially affecting the look of the job.”

Simply making sure you are on the right press can make a big difference with regards to cost, Biltcliffe says. He explains: “It doesn’t matter how good the printer is; if you are on the wrong press, it will cost you. If you see more than a few millimetres of paper coming out of the press ask the printer why, because the chances are you’re on the wrong press.
“You could save around 20% of cost without changing the catalogue simply by making sure you are on the right press. You should also look at the next print process up, such as sheetfed to web offset, as your requirements may have changed and a different process may now be more efficient.”

Changing the catalogue’s pagination and the amount you print can also reduce cost, as Biltcliffe explains: “Generally if the pagination is in multiples of eight it’s efficient, but if it’s multiples of four then you are paying for more than you are using. Also look at your database and distribution channels, as not printing more than you will need will of course save you money.”

For Niel Crozier, head of graphic services at marketing services provider CDMS, whose clients include Shop Direct Group, the parent company of retail brand Littlewoods, says paper, print and transportation are the biggest costs facing its catalogue production.

With the growing use of internet shopping, and e-catalogues on the rise, Crozier says his priority for customers is to produce a printed catalogue as quickly as possible, to the best quality, while reducing or holding costs. This is no mean feat, as CDMS produces the data and manages the print for nine 1,200-page catalogues in January and June every year, and nine 800-page catalogues in March and September, along with a variety of direct mail, leaflet and brochure work. For Shop Direct Group alone, Crozier estimates that CDMS handles 75,000 pages a year.

While Biltcliffe speaks about looking at the next print process to help save money, Crozier has found himself looking at going ‘down’ from gravure to heatset web offset print to improve speed to market and print prices, subject to run length.

Crozier explains: “There are companies now, such as Mohn Media, which have huge capacity with large pagination heatset web offset presses. They are almost matching the speed and quality of gravure. The gap between the two processes is beginning to be blurred. As the marketplace seems to be edging towards smaller volume and lower pagination catalogue runs, this may drive the catalogue market to consider the web offset presses, and as there is more capacity in this market, it may help drive print costs down.”
According to Crozier, CDMS tends to print in Europe, working with printers in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain as the print cost is cheaper and the quality threshold is higher than in the UK gravure market. However, there can be a big difference in the prices charged for the same printing process.

Biltcliffe explains: “The cost of a print job can vary greatly: prices can double from cheapest to most expensive. It’s not that printers are trying to rip people off but no-one knows the price of print. With a web offset job, there can be a 40% price difference from cheapest supplier to most expensive.

“To help ensure you are paying the right price, you should get at least three or four quotes. With Webmart, our customers type in their requirements and it instantly comes back with quotes from suppliers, and reveals the industry average for that work, so customers can be sure that they are paying a fair price.”

Working with suppliers at the start of planning can also help to guarantee that the catalogue is produced as effectively as possible, as Crozier explains: “We have a print production team that has a good relationship with suppliers. We hold an annual Gravure Quality Forum in Europe to establish best process and delivery for our clients, where the team picks up information about new processes the supplier may have which can be beneficial. With catalogues generally going out at the same time, catalogue printers tend to have high peak times of the year, so talking to printers and understanding their work requirements helps us to plan effectively.”

Suppliers often like to be involved with their customers at the start of the process, as Mark Harvey, sales manager for St Ives, explains: “Our catalogue manufacturing experience lends itself to being involved in the production process at the earliest possible stage. Meeting the customer and discussing opportunities to fine-tune the specification of a catalogue can lead to cost savings.”

While getting advice from your printer can certainly help, obtaining independent advice is also beneficial, as printers are likely only to recommend their own services, Biltcliffe says. He explains: “People don’t really want to know about print: its not sexy. Many print buyers do not understand the details of print, so we try to fill the knowledge gap by providing tips and advice about all various print processes on our website, saving you years of pain learning the hard way.”

Learning the tricks of the trade can help to cut costs, but Crozier points out that there is only so much you can do to reduce the cost of paper and print without reducing quality. He says: “At CDMS, we offer advice such as paper grades and optimum press fit to help reduce price, but for our customers, quality is paramount. We therefore ensure that our workflow process is as efficient as possible.

“Electronic approval for us is huge. One page may require five contract proofs, but that can be cut down to two using electronic approvals. It is currently used for smaller publications in our company, but this is increasing. We have also been looking into colour-calibrated screens for soft proofing so we can approve colour on screen from remote locations to increase the speed to market and reduce the use of proofs.”

Crozier adds that CDMS’s AMS asset management suite receives 80,000 images a year and this is expected to rise to over 100,000. This helps to make production run smoothly, by having all images ready for any format in one central location. CDMS has also created Mitto, an image uploader used by photographers, which preflights images to ensure that potential image problems are removed before the images enter the production workflow.

Printers are also aware of how streamlining the workflow can benefit customers so some are offering value-added services. For instance St Ives has a software package called DNA, which provides asset management, paper management, production tracking and quick quoting. St Ives also offers Agfa Delano’s online file upload and approval system to save time for the customer and reduce the need for hard copy proofs.

While streamlining the workflow, reducing the amount of paper used and ensuring that you print most effectively may not individually save you a fortune, when combined they may make significant savings; and when it comes to saving money throughout the catalogue production process, every little helps.