Many things are on demand. But instant print publications?
Ricoh, a 23 billion dollar global technology company specializing in office imaging equipment, production print solutions, document management systems and IT services, has been selected by Meganews to create an innovative way to print and sell, on demand, hundreds of magazine titles. Sweco created the software to connect the Meganews print on demand machine to the internet. The stand was designed by LA + B.
During the next six months the print on demand magazine vending machine will be tested in airports, hotels, hospitals, grocery stores and other malls across Sweden. Here’s a video of the Meganews Stand.
My opinion? It won’t work.
- You think finding a great app in iTunes is difficult with 900,000 apps after 5 years? Offer on demand printing to thousands of publishers across the country.
- Meganews message is to market to niche publications who can’t compete with larger national circulations. Aren’t advertising rates based on circulation? How will the revenue model change? How has it changed for ads online?
- What is the actual cost to produce an on demand vs. a print publication with today’s cost effective equipment?
- Will magazines still print and mail to subscribers? Won’t this drive up the cost of their subscription copies?
- Two minutes a title to print and bind? Ever stand in a line at your local Redbox to rent a movie? More than 2 people in line and I come back a different day.
- How about servicing these machines? Presses are complicated. This isn’t a vending machine – it’s a piece of manufacturing equipment.
- Vogue September 2013 (the 2nd largest issue in their history) has 665 ad pages – that’s ad pages ALONE – not total pages. Print that on demand?
- How much are these machines? There are 4,600 Walmart stores alone in the US today. Each has a newsstand. Not possible.
I’ll be curious to see how this goes but I won’t be holding my breath.
Using technology to keep costs down and quality up is important. Be sure your catalogs and publications are taking advantage of the best software, equipment and systems available today.