After all, why would a client pay a company to print its mail and then have it shipped to another who it then pays to sort the mailings when it could pay one company to do both?

This trend has resulted in a spate of digital printers picking up mailing equipment, or just as likely, mailing houses investing in digital kit. But does this mean that mailing has finally entered the digital arena, or is it merely a passing fad?
From a manufacturer’s point of view, there has been a marked increase in digital printers and mailing houses becoming one and the same.

Digital direct mail
Greg Neesham, sales director at Punch Graphix – Xeikon’s UK sales company – explains: “We are seeing a much wider use of Xeikon presses in established direct marketing companies such as Tangent and Howard Hunt. Several Xeikon users are beginning to experience a growing demand for direct mail type work, and subsequently are starting to look at mailing machines to run alongside their presses.”

In the near future, manufacturers are likely to work a lot more closely with mailing equipment manufacturers in coming up with new solutions for companies looking to make the step up from digital into mailing or vice versa.

The good news is that the technology already exists that allows printers to take a reel of complete print and convert it to fully enclosed mail pieces in one pass. For example, Punch collaborated with mailing equipment manufacturer Kern, which attached a converting line to the end of a Xeikon 5000 and produced envelopes from the printed sheets.

And, as well as larger equipment for mass mailouts, smaller machines are also cropping up. One company specialising in this end of the market is Pitney Bowes, which launched a new range of desktop folder inserters in 2006. This brought some of the functionality previously only available in high-end equipment to a lower level.

As much as anything, the launch of new equipment of this type is helping to fuel the strong take-up growth the industry is witnessing at the moment.

One company that decided to invest in this area is Inc Direct. In June this year, the company announced a £1.5m spend on new printing and mailing equipment, which included two Xerox iGen3 110 presses and a Bowe Bell & Howell eight-station auto inserter, capable of handling envelope sizes from DL to C5. The machine is capable of enclosing multiple personalised items and is set to double Inc Direct’s direct mail output capacity.

The new investment was made on the back of a massive contract win with a major financial institution and Inc says that it expects to double turnover to £7m by June 2008 following the investment.

While mailing lines of this nature have been around for some time, Gary Butters, chairman of GA Print Solutions, believes that it’s only in recent times that people have learned how to use the machines beneficially.

“People have always looked at digital for small runs, which is where the advantage has supposedly been,” explains Butters. “For a long time, people didn’t look at them for their data purposes, which is where it really comes into its own. The data allows you to do variable data and variable images. You can do postcard mailing straight off of the digital press into the post. It is the future of digital marketing.”

“People don’t realise what they can do with the data that they have. They just do door drops, large runs and no personalisation. For small-run targeted mailing, you can’t get better than a digital press.”

This view is shared by Romax managing director Robin Summer. Mailing house Romax has invested heavily in digital printing technology, but customers have taken time to come with them.

 “There is often a slow turnaround,” says Summer. “People think that direct mail and personalisation is beyond them, but they are not aware of how cost-effective it is. The only way to get them on board is to show them what we have already done on our machines.”

As well as being cost-effective, the data handling ability of digital presses can also help to save companies money, particularly when it comes to bulk mailings. The Royal Mail offers savings to companies that sort their mail into specific areas, and John Macdonald, general manager at CGI Digital, is just one printer who is using his digital press to take advantage of these discounts.

“You get a reduced rate if you can pre-sort your mailing into local areas, but you have to keep it in the right order otherwise you won’t get the reduction. By using our press we can achieve this and save ourselves money in the process.”
And one of the key factors for Macdonald is that in-house mailing ensures that you can oversee the whole process and make sure that the same high standard is achieved throughout.

“You want to keep control of your mailing, you get security and peace of mind if you are a one-stop shop plus you won’t have to worry if they [the mailing firm] are doing a proper job. You also get inflated prices when you use an outside mailer – they have to make their profit too.”

So what does the future hold for this sector? Real Digital’s managing director David Laybourne is optimistic. “Digital mailing volumes are increasing, with the drive for change being evolution at the high-volume end, as opposed to in the low-volume arena. We are now regularly undertaking fully digital, variable content mailings comprising 1.5m-2m A4 images. Mailing has definitely arrived in the digital arena.”

But he warns that digital printers looking to jump on the mailing bandwagon may find it tough going and should do their homework before taking the plunge.

“Barriers to entry for digital printers looking to migrate their services to the variable content/mailing arena are substantial and they need to tread carefully,” he warns. “The demands are different and the stakes significantly higher than in digital copy print.  Significant investment needs to be made in technical skills, software and equipment – this isn’t a marketplace that should be approached naively or on the cheap. When dealing with the personal data involved in mailing campaigns, it has to be best of breed solutions across the board.”  

However, Laybourne says it is definitely worth the effort. After all, with added-value services key to the future of print, businesses dealing with variable content adds substantial value and helps shift print away from being a commoditised ‘me too’ service.

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CASE STUDY - CGI DIGITAL
One company that has certainly seen the advantage of bringing together both digital and mailing is CGI Digital. In August 2005, the company acquired digital mailing house 3D Document Distribution with the intention of growing the digital side of the business.

CGI prints statements and bills for companies such as internet providers, alongside printing direct mail. However, increasing the variable work is definitely the direction CGI Digital intends to take.

The company now has three Xerox iGen3 presses, the last being bought in October last year, six Xerox mono cutsheet machines and an IBM 4100 continuous feed line.

On the mailing side, it has a Kalmar Jumbo and two Buhrs BB300 lines – one with a Vas bar code reader for mailing integrity.

And, according to CGI Digital general manager John Macdonald, the intelligent line, using the Vas reader, is key for the future of the company’s digital mailing side.

He said: “Mailing is currently about 30% of the business and we send out about 600,000 envelopes a month. And the value of our mailing will certainly increase as we begin to do more variable data-based work.

“Things like pension statements and invoices are very sensitive so they are higher value. Having variable-data machines allows us to take in that kind of work.”