Online shopping habits hit wide-format print
So far this year, 820 high street retails stores have closed, with 15 major retailers going bust or downsizing, leaving more than 5,500 employees without a job, and the blame increasingly is laid on the rise of online shopping.
Tuesday, 06 Jun 2017 15:38 GMT
Margins have been cut due to retail stores migrating online
Each store is a customer to one or more printers, sign-makers and wide-format printers, meaning a net loss of business to be had as the number of new stores opening is still lower than those closing. And with online shopping continuing to grow it means less and less work for the wide-format print industry.
This year alone, we have seen the demise of Kit and Ace, Transline, CPL Foods and Millcliffe Ltd, Jaeger, Interio, 99p Stores, Brantano, Jones The Bootmaker and Agent Provocateur. And then The Post Office has announced it is to close 37 directly-managed Crown Post Offices following on from shutting 62 branches 2016.
The knock-on effect of all of this has been on their suppliers who include the wide-format sector—and of course each supplier will also be a possible customer of a print outfit making the rise of online shopping a growing menace to the industry.
The Post Office says the decline in direct mail, parcels and letters is one of the factors behind the trend while Agent Provocateur and fellow fashion retailer Jaeger have pointed the finger at online shoppers deserting their High Street stores.
This year alone, we have seen the demise of Kit and Ace, Transline, CPL Foods and Millcliffe Ltd, Jaeger, Interio, 99p Stores, Brantano, Jones The Bootmaker and Agent Provocateur”
When the Anton Group hit the buffers, its list of creditors was an eye-wateringly long one.
Associated industries such as Macfarlan Packaging lost more than £60,000 and Parcelforce over £72,000.
Print industry credit intelligence experts ICSM Credit in Somerset say it has not seen so many printing firms going to the wall since 2008 following the economic crash. This time, it seems that it is not a recession that is driving the cull, but rather changing shopping habits.
