Interview Phil Oakley - HP Interview Phil Oakley, UK&I CountryManager, Design - HP Graphic Solutions Business


What have been the biggest developments affecting your business and Large Format printing this year? Cloud technology has made a huge difference to business, not just ours but across the industry. Print on the go is the biggest implication for us, of course, and this has a knock on effect on D&P retailers. Web enabled devices are changing the way people work and the way consumers buy products, and with consumers storing all their photographs digitally now, the ease of printing from wherever they like is making a huge difference to printing and buying habits. Of course there have been other developments as well, in things like ink and media, but this is the main change which is affecting all of our businesses.


Is this likely to continue into 2011? Definitely. In our industry this means web-enabling printers to keep up with demand, making them accessible from wireless devices and networks and making sharing photos with the machines to print easier. The key development here is and will be driverless printers, being able to simply plug in a USB stick with files and print them off without having to connect a computer, making the whole process quicker and more convenient. Large Format Printing will be affected by trends like iPhone and mobile device use just like other industries will. HP have the benefit of seeing these effects across the


other areas of the business. 2011 will also see faster printing products, lower ink consumption and lower running costs. The aim is to make this whole sector more accessible for everyone, and we’re aware that ongoing costs are something which deters potential investors. These improvements in convenience, cost and speed will help lower volume users to make these products profitable.


Some say the 6x4” print is dead. What opportunities are there for the high street retailer using Large Format? If traditional prints are dead, it’s because consumers have no need for them now. They can review their prints on their camera and on their computer, and share them the same way - they don’t need prints to look at their pictures or show them to their friends and family. What you need, then, is to offer something your customer can’t get on Facebook or print at home - end products like canvas prints, posters, special media. You need to sell them a real, tangible product, as many retailers in our industry already are. That’s where you need the versatility of something like a water-based pigment printer that can work with different media: it allows you to make these different products. Then you need to get clever with them, be a bit imaginative and sell them.


Large Format, by its very nature, takes up large amounts


“If traditional prints are dead, it’s because consumers have no need for them now.”


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of space and is perceived as inconvenient. How are you addressing this? We’re always looking at making our products more convenient and compact, although obviously there is only so small you can make a large format machine! The key is getting the right printer for your store, for example most retailers won’t need the very biggest machines. Multi-functional products help to save floorspace because they save you buying separate machines to do different jobs - if you have one that does it all, even if it’s a bit bigger, it saves you room. To make things easier, we work on keeping machines simple, with minimal set up and training required, media which anyone can click-in and click-out, and machines which run without needing constant supervision. All these things save time, effort and staff-power.


Who should be investing in Large Format printing capabilities? Anyone with the vision to make it work for them! You need to look at what you can do with these machines, how much you can make from them and work out whether you’re going to make the most of the opportunities offered, up-sell to these products and make yourself a profit. Prices are coming down, so if you’ve been holding back this could be the time. In better financial times, people just jump into purchasing but few have that luxury now. It is an investment and there are running costs to consider, but Large Format printing offers a huge opportunity for those with the imagination and drive to sell these products.


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