How Wide-Format Printing Can Get Small Businesses Ready for the Holidays

How Wide-Format Printing Can Get Small Businesses Ready for the Holidays
How Wide-Format Printing Can Get Small Businesses Ready for the Holidaus

The holidays are fast approaching and retailers need to get ready. For many small businesses, this means investing in wide-format printing to best reach holiday shoppers.

Stand Out During the Holidays with Outdoor Signage

Preparation for the holidays begins outside most retail stores in the form of signs and banners. According to a FedEx survey, nearly 76% of consumers said they had visited a store they not previously visited because of its signage.

The most obvious way to enhance a store’s existing signage is to hang a promotional banner on the outside wall or at the entrance. Throughout the year, retailers use banners to advertise special sales or new merchandise. During the holiday season, banners can further promote the retailer as a holiday shopping center or to simply wish customers good cheer during the holidays.

Retailers shouldn’t limit themselves to hanging banners on their buildings. Banners can be located anywhere in the retailer’s shopping area –in front of the store or down the street, at busy intersections, outside shopping centers or malls, even near competing stores. Banners can be hung from light poles, held upright with ground stakes, slung over the side of a building, or suspended over a street or walkway. 

Outdoor banners are low-cost advertising. A banner printed on a wide-format printer costs substantially less than renting a billboard or constructing a plywood or metal sign. Retailers can use wide-format printers to create vinyl, fabric, or mesh banners up to 100 feet long. 

Get Into the Holiday Spirit with In-Store Signage

There are multiple uses for wide-format printers inside the retail environment. Retailers can use wide-format printers to create all in-store signage and displays to make the most out of holiday traffic. 

Holiday Signage

Wide-format printers can create all types of signage for holiday-related products and promotions. Hanging banners are ideal for wide-format printing, as are posters, ceiling danglers, signs, endcap headers, and more. 

Holiday Displays

Displays of holiday merchandise are a necessary part of a retail promotion. Only wide-format printers can print all the high-resolution graphics necessary to create a large holiday display. 

Holiday Wall Graphics

Retailers can easily convert their store into a holiday headquarters by printing extra-large wall graphics. Use a wide-format printer to create high-resolution indoor or outdoor murals designed to immerse customers in the holiday spirit. 

Holiday Window Clings

Retailers shouldn’t overlook the promotional potential of their exterior windows. Wide-format printers can easily create window clings and decals that promote the holiday spirit along with the retailer’s holiday merchandise. 

Dealing with the COVID-19 Crisis During the 2020 Holiday Season 

The COVID-19 crisis has dramatically affected all facets of retail since the spring. Experts expect the crisis to continue for at least another 18 months, which means it is likely to impact the holiday shopping season.

While stores will hopefully be allowed to stay open during the holidays, retailers will need to adapt to protect both their customers and their employees from the virus. Wide-format printing can help with issues such as social distancing and virus control.  

Signage for Social Distancing

One of the most important factors in dealing with the coronavirus is maintaining social distancing guidelines. Retailers can help their customers maintain social distance by using floor graphics spaced six feet apart. Wide-format printers can print vinyl floor graphics of any size or shape for social distancing or promotional uses. 

Additional social-distancing graphics are also suited for wide-format printing. These include signs instructing customers of social distancing guidelines, as well as mask-wearing regulations. The larger the graphic, the more likely customers are to follow the rules and stay virus-free.

Replacing Signage for Virus Control

Another coronavirus-related consideration is the increased need to replace store signage. To protect against both the coronavirus and seasonal flu infections, all in-store materials need to be replaced frequently. In-store signage will have a shorter shelf-life; therefore, retailers will need to dispose of and replace old signage once a month, if not more frequently in high-traffic and high-touch locations. That means more printing of more signs – both smaller and wide-format. 

Turn to Cartridge World for Your Holiday Printing Needs

Wide-format printers are surprisingly affordable and they quickly pay for themselves in the busy retail environment, especially during the holiday season. Cartridge World offers a variety of professional wide-format printers from Canon, Copystar, Epson, HP, Lexmark, Xerox, and other industry leaders. 

Cartridge World has been offering printers and print services to businesses in the Quad Cities area for more than 15 years. As a locally owned and operated business, we make it easy to get the printers you need. We offer a variety of purchase and lease plans, as well as more comprehensive managed print services. We can help your business get the tools you need to succeed. 

Contact the professionals at Cartridge World Quad Cities to learn more about how you can use a wide-format printer in your business.