Print Monthly

Sussex Beds has experienced a period of growth and is planning to expand to its tenth physical store in March. The firm credits the purchase of its HP DesignJet Z6610 production printer for this success.

Since installing the printer four years ago, the firm says its average order value increased by 60%, conversions by 8% and gross profit by 5%.

Steve Pickering, managing director of the company explains why this is: “The retail sector has struggled over recent years due to changing buying habits and we were not immune to a decline in footfall.

We decided to take drastic action and invested in our own printing equipment that would allow us to create a brand for our premium products while producing all other in-store display material we needed”

“We decided to take drastic action and invested in our own printing equipment that would allow us to create a brand for our premium products while producing all other in-store display material we needed.”

According to Pickering, the firm started off just producing posters, but quickly realised the opportunity it gave to create point-of-sale products, wall coverings, and ticketing and detailed labels for mattresses.

The firm saves costs by producing its printed products in-house

Last year, the firm invested in a second DesignJet Z6610 at its headquarters in St Leonards.

Pickering adds: “We love the turnaround speed and the flexibility offered by the DesignJet printers – and the associated reduction in cost. For example, printing window posters for all of our stores in-house costs one-tenth of the price of outsourcing the project.

“We can also make changes at minimal cost. Every shop is different, so we can test and measure the performance of a display project before rolling it out across several stores, at a much lower price point than outsourcing.”