Production print for retail
A national capability overview for retail decision-makers
Retail moves at retail speed. Your print has to keep up.
Every season, every store reset, every promotion lands on the same thing: the printed piece has to be right and on the floor before the window closes.
Production print
assessment & managed service
Every season, every store reset, every promotion lands on the same thing: the printed piece has to be right, on brand, and on the floor before the window closes. FlexTG builds and runs the production print environment behind that work — assessed without an OEM agenda, serviced nationwide, and measured on throughput, turnaround, and cost.
We speak retail
Retail changed channels. It never stopped printing.
Your customers shop everywhere at once — phone, store, marketplace, mailbox. Print did not leave that mix; it moved closer to the data behind it. Shorter runs, more versions, tighter windows, tied to a campaign that is already live online.
$15T
global retail market
Still one of the largest consumers of printed communications worldwide.
65%
produce printed and electronic catalogs
Only 19% of retail respondents had gone electronic-only.
~3 in 4
personalize direct mail
Retail respondents using customization or versioning to sharpen the message.
What changed
- Campaigns run cross-channel. 92% of retail direct mail users coordinate mail with email or other digital campaigns.
- Runs got shorter and smarter. Digital is used most for short runs of customized catalogs (45%) and targeted inserts and coupons (39%).
- The package became media. Nearly three-quarters of retailers shipping direct to customers are improving the unboxing experience.
- Web-based ordering is table stakes. Buyers expect online job ordering and asset management, not email and phone calls.
What did not
- Print still carries the promotion. Signage, POP, inserts, coupons and direct mail remain core to how a retail offer lands.
- The calendar is unforgiving. More than 20 shopping “seasons” a year means production windows measured in days, not weeks.
- Retail print spend is real. Respondents responsible for marketing collateral reported an average of $47,979 per individual print job.
- Store operations run on documents. Labels, plan-o-grams, forms and shipping paperwork never stop.
Sources: Keypoint Intelligence, US Vertical Vision Study (2020), as published in Ricoh’s Retail Vertical Market Guide (June 2022); Xerox ProfitAccelerator Retail Segment Overview. Figures describe the retail market overall, not FlexTG customer results.
What retail teams manage
You are not short on ideas. You are short on hours, budget and lead time.
These are the constraints retail marketing, merchandising and store-operations leaders describe in industry research — and the same ones we hear in assessments before we touch a single device.
“Every campaign starts with a cost conversation.”
52.1% of U.S. retail firms name campaign costs among their top three marketing challenges — the single most-cited barrier.
“The date never moves. Everything else does.”
44.2% cite not having enough time. With 20+ shopping seasons a year, a slipped proof becomes a missed floor set.
“We are running more channels with the same team.”
31.1% cite understanding and using new marketing channels; 92% of retail direct mail users now coordinate mail with digital campaigns.
“I have to show what the spend returned.”
21.6% cite measuring results or ROI — hard to do when print volume, cost and turnaround live in four different vendor portals.
“Nobody owns the whole picture.”
Retail organizations reported an average of 4 print vendors, 3 of them under contract, on terms averaging 2.6 years.
“Fast is not a bonus. It is the requirement.”
Buyers rank breadth of services and competitive pricing highest when choosing a provider, with 1–2 day turnaround close behind.
None of this is a printing problem. It is a production, workflow and vendor problem that shows up as printing.
The work itself
Three departments. One production calendar.
Retail print does not sit in one place. Store operations, marketing and merchandising each generate their own deadlines, formats and approvals — and they all land on the same presses, finishing line and delivery window.
Store operations
Keeps the doors open and the audits clean
- Forms and response documents
- Invoices, bills and statements
- Labels and pressure-sensitive labels
- Pick lists and shipping documents
- Loss prevention and security reports
- Training manuals and booklets
Marketing
Drives traffic, response and loyalty
- Direct mail and personalized promotions
- Catalogs and magalogs
- Brochures, flyers and inserts
- In-store advertising and signage
- Loyalty program communications
- Coupons and seasonal offers
Merchandising
Makes the floor set land on time
- Plan-o-grams and floor plans
- Floor, window and wall graphics
- Shelf talkers and price signage
- Point-of-purchase displays
- Versioned regional signage kits
- Banners and posters
What that demands of a production environment
Short-run and versioned
Exact quantities by store, region or banner — without warehousing obsolete stock.
Variable data
Offers, names and imagery driven from your customer and loyalty data.
Signage and large format
Floor, window and wall graphics produced to the same schedule as the mail drop.
Finishing that holds
In-line, near-line and offline: cutting, folding, creasing, coating and booklet work.
How FlexTG can approach it
A production environment built around your calendar, not a catalog.
FlexTG is an OEM-neutral national provider of print and document services. The recommendation is shaped by your volumes, formats and deadlines — then serviced by the same company that made it, in every market where you operate.
Unbiased assessment across a multi-vendor estate
Identify, assess and track every asset in your print and document ecosystem — production devices, office fleet, finishing and the work routed outside.
Match production to the calendar
Review seasons, versions, formats and delivery windows so every campaign reaches the production path that fits.
Bring the vendor picture together
Consolidate volume, cost and turnaround visibility that today sits across separate vendor portals.
Service the estate nationwide
Set maintenance, supplies, reporting and ownership expectations across every market where you operate.
Approach is proposed for discussion and tailored to the environment assessed with your team.
Turnaround, quality and control
Throughput, turnaround and cost. Measured, not assumed.
Retail teams need a production environment that lands the floor set and the mail drop on the same date — with visibility into capacity, sourcing and what the work actually costs.
| Outcome | What to examine | Where opportunity can appear |
|---|---|---|
| Throughput & turnaroundKeep work moving |
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| Cost & material controlReduce avoidable waste |
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| Quality & accountabilityMake standards usable |
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Potential outcomes depend on the assessed environment; no savings, uptime or turnaround figure is implied.
The next step
The production print assessment
Before any recommendation, begin with the environment your team actually runs — the campaign types, workflows, store footprint, outside providers and cost lines connected to production.
Scope & baseline
Confirm the settings, communication types and priorities that define a practical starting point.
Walk the environment
Review production devices, office fleet, finishing, workflow and the work routed outside.
Analyze and model
Bring volumes, formats, turnaround and cost lines together into one current-state picture.
Readout and plan
Review findings, agree the measures that matter and shape the roadmap with your team.
What you receive
- A current-state map of the production work your teams run today, in-house and outside.
- A view of workflow, turnaround and finishing across the communication types in scope.
- The cost and vendor lines connected to production, gathered in one place.
- A complimentary cost benefit analysis of the environment assessed with your team.
- A proposed, right-sized production print roadmap to review together.
Request your production print assessment
Tell us where the work sits today. A FlexTG production print specialist will follow up to scope the assessment.
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