The print market in Israel is very competitive. According to rough estimates, there are more than 1,000 printing companies in this country, of which some 85% are small enterprises.
Rapid advances
Over the past decade, the industry has undergone major changes worldwide. Computerized technologies have transformed the printing realm. Digitalized equipment has reduced the need for manpower and makes printing much easier, more effective, and more economical.
With this advanced technology, printing companies continue to do most of the work they had been doing in the past, such as printing newspapers, books, pamphlets, stationery for businesses and government, business cards, almanacs and daily planners.
And with the help of the computerized printing equipment, the work is now done more quickly and more cost-effectively.
Holiday rush
While the printing industry produces these items all year round, religious holidays such as Rosh Hashana and Passover set the wheels of motion into overdrive.
For Rosh Hashana there is a surge of demand for calendars and day timers, and Passover calls for a host of Haggadot. In addition, there is an increased demand for greeting cards, as individuals, families, and businesses want to wish their loved ones and business associates a happy holiday.
For Christmas and New Year’s, as well as the Muslim feast days such as Eid al Fitr and the Islamic new year, there is also an increased demand for specialized calendars and diaries.
Calendars and day timers are very practical items and consequently are in constant use. Those that are commissioned by commercial enterprises and feature the company logo are a daily reminder of the business in question and the products or services it offers.
Seeking new horizons
Due to the crowded nature of the market, printing companies are constantly striving to devise new sources of demand – new work that will increase their turnover and thereby raise their profit margins.
One of the rapidly growing areas in that regard is creating products that serve as mementos of special family or corporate events. In that sphere, an appropriate gift can be a photo album that is tastefully designed in terms of the photos, text, and graphics.
Structuring the big picture
The album can be worked on collectively by the family members or company personnel in which they can all take part if they so choose in creating the album which is then presented as a gift to a family or an individual family member. In either case, the contents of the album should be carefully selected.
The photos and mementos should be geared specifically to the occasion and the recipient(s), such as a birthday, wedding anniversary, or corporate celebration. They could include photos and texts that reflect times both past and present that are meaningful to the people involved.
Demand for such albums is increasing because they are easy to produce and can be tailored to any situation.
A comfortable creative process
Tom Gornih is the deputy CEO marketing of MyAlbum, a printing company that specializes in producing personalized albums.
Gornih explains,“Demand for our personalized albums products is increasing very quickly. Essentially, the albums are designed by the client, and we have developed a user-friendly proprietary software which makes the design and production of the albums very simple. I say ‘user-friendly’ because the whole process is done via remote control. Clients execute the whole process from the comfort of their home or office, using their own computer. The software can make suggestions about what pictures could be used, the color scheme, etc., but the final decision is the client’s.”
She adds, “The software incorporates our wide experience in the printing world, as we have been producing calendars, day timers, Passover Haggadot stationary and the like for many years.”
Once the clients have designed the album, they send it to MyAlbum via the Internet. The company then prepares it for print and sends it anew to the client for final approval it then prints the album and sends the finished product to the clients.
Gornih reiterates, “The entire process is very user-friendly to the client because everything can be done from their home or office.”