On such small margins does high-street success turn and yet, with retail budgets shrinking, this poor print performance could become a more common occurrence. Pressured into lower prices, some printers are turning away from wide-format OEM to lower cost third-party inks in an effort to maintain margins.

But while this move was once a sure-fire recipe for disaster, resulting in the scenario above, today it is different: the dichotomy of OEM versus third-party alternatives has been complicated by a third force.

The dangers of switching to third-party inks from OEM options have been well-documented and ingrained into the print psyche – some would argue by the OEMs themselves – for as long as ink alternatives have been available. And, as a result, many are put off even considering third-party inks.

"We’ve all heard horror stories about third-party inks wrecking inkheads and suchlike," says Brad Candy, operations director at display specialist Octink. He adds that he has thus never risked trying third-party inks to produce Octink’s range of wallpaper, hoarding cladding boards or other outdoor marketing materials; items which have to last at least 18 months or even as long as five years.

Kevin Wallace, managing director at consumable supplier All Print Supplies (APS), agrees that third-party inks are still automatically seen by most as inferior to OEM.

"A lot of the third-party inks that you saw a few years ago were nowhere near as good as the OEM inks," he says. "So people say, ‘I’ve tried those inks years ago and I’ll never try them again.’"

These poor quality third-party inks would never go the distance longevity-wise, even if the initial result seemed fine, he explains, because in order to produce such a low-cost product, the pigments or UV stabilisers – the most expensive element of any ink – would be cheaply-sourced.

Low quality inks, often produced in South East Asia, could also cause problems, he says, when used on heavily-plasticised lower-cost materials: the plasticisers have a tendency to migrate out of the film and affect the colour and longevity of the ink.

But what people don’t realise, says Wallace, is that the market situation has changed – while there are still cheap, poor-quality inks out there, a lot of third-party inks are now just as good as the OEMs; in effect meaning a third force has joined the inks fray. 

"Now you’ve got, say, an OEM ink for £100, a good quality third-party ink for £70, or an old style sub-standard third-party ink for £50," he says.

Three categories
Shaun Holdom, business manager at ink manufacturer Colorific Ink, agrees that there are now three categories of ink.

"It is misleading to say that all third-party inks are inferior, because all of the reputable companies, including the OEM manufacturers, use the same kinds of pigments," he says. "If you want to produce a good quality ink, there aren’t actually thousands of different raw materials out there to choose from."

It’s all very well pointing this fact out, but when it comes to peering into an ink drum at the purchasing stage, it’s unlikely you’d be able to distinguish between the bad third-party ink and the partner that is more comparable to the OEM. But there are ways of flushing out the offender, enabling you to pick the superior product.

Steve Howes, production director at display specialists Harlequin Display, says that, through tireless research, his company found a high-quality ink 80% cheaper than the officially recommended one.

"My advice is to trial it, trial it and trial it again," says Howes, reporting that Harlequin looked at inks from the UK, Europe and South East Asia before deciding on a supplier in Korea. "You should shop around to see which is going to work for you, because it won’t necessarily work for everybody, as everyone is using different machines and substrates," he says.

Aside from a printer trialling an ink for themselves, there are some other fairly simple things to look for when researching third-party inks. The history of the company is a good indication of how reliable it will be, as is its reputation with other printers.

Howes would add that meeting representatives from the company face-to-face is a good way of gauging its reliability, and for this reason the company did a lot of its research at the Fespa and Sign & Digital UK exhibitions.

Most crucial will be interrogating a supplier on what tests they have performed on the ink to see how long it can be expected to last in various light and weather conditions. Then it is important to ensure suppliers stick to these claims and stand by an official warranty, says Colorific Inks’ Holdom.

"The key is to work with people who will support you," he says. "Even an OEM ink manufacturer can have a problem, but it’s how they support you that will make a real difference to the success of your ink."

Of course, this research is all very well when you’re dealing direct with a manufacturer. A pitfall to watch out for, however, is buying inks from a seemingly reputable distributor who, unbeknown to you until your colours fade nine months down line, has switched its self-brand to inferior inks to keep down costs.

Choosing a distributor with dual branding on its inks is one way to work with a distributor, but also ensure fresh and good quality inks.

"In some ways, it would be better for us commercially just to have our name on our ink boxes and not Nazdar’s as well," he says. "We could then make a switch to a cheaper supplier without worrying the customer. But we made the decision to be open, so that people could see we couldn’t suddenly sell them a cheap ink."

Inks from a distributor might also be of questionable quality as a result of being sat on a shelf waiting to be sold: a company supplying direct to the customer is more likely to be manufacturing fresh inks to meet demand.

However, even if a printer is convinced of the quality of a third-party ink and is happy to use it, there is still, argue some, a significant incentive for digital printers to stick with OEM inks.

"We use the official OEM inks on our digital press, because otherwise our warranty would lapse," says Stewart Powell, production director at commercial printers Superior Creative Services, "and we would worry that the wrong inks might block out printheads."

Service support
But Harlequin’s Howes counters that it is worth considering whether you might potentially save more money using lower cost inks and paying extra for the service support, which otherwise comes with the machine’s warranty.

"We did consider whether to pay less on inks and more on service," he says. "It was a balancing act. In the end, we decided that it was more cost-effective to pay for the OEM inks, as we get good ink rates from Vutek anyway."

Tudor Morgan, group marketing manager for graphics, wide-format and Fujifilm Europe, adds that contrary to what some printers believe, no digital press owner should receive poorer service support because they choose to lose their warranty and pay for service calls.

"All major manufacturers want you to buy a second machine, so even if you move to third-party inks, we won’t want to upset you and lose your business," he says, "Next time you upgrade, we want make sure we’re waiting on the subs’ bench."

So, for many, OEM inks will always be the obvious choice to ensure that print buyers are satisfied by the longevity of their outdoor or indoor POS piece. This is, most would agree, a largely risk-free option. However, where there is a risk that printers’ margins will vanish before their eyes, third-party inks can – now that there are more reputable companies on the scene – be seen as a viable option.

Where the printer has the time to ask around and research a few different companies, third-party inks could prove a long-lasting and low-cost third way.