The 12-staff business, which operates from 929sqm premises in Hackney, East London and sells directly to consumers via its website, took delivery of the device in July after it experienced a 400% increase in sales volume over the lockdown period.

“We needed to expand our printing capabilities and packing stations to meet demand. We are still seeing significant growth and expect to make further purchases in the next 12 months,” said Parrot Print owner Matt Dahan, who praised the print speed and quality of the SC-S80600.

“We offer same day dispatch on all orders placed before 12pm, and our customers expect the ultimate in print quality with no compromises. Until we moved to the Epson SC-S80600s there was always a trade-off between speed and print quality.

“Another fantastic feature was its reliability and ink costs, our machines can be running for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we’ve never had any major issues at all. We really hammer these printers and they are totally bomb-proof – a big change from our previous printers.”

With a list price of £17,795, the 64in (1.62m-wide) machine uses Epson's UltraChrome GS3 nine-colour solvent inks, including a red solvent along with the option for white or metallic silver inks. It runs at speeds up to 95.1sqm/hr.

Dahan said the Epson printers, the first of which it installed in March 2018, have enabled the business to confidently explore new markets.

“We’ve been able to grow into the US market, as well as the EU. Due to the speed and quick turnaround of the printers, we’ve been able to print so much more out of the printer footprint we have. We are currently seeing over 100% growth year-on-year.

“Epson have been great partners throughout, offering excellent advice and feature requests. Their customer support and technical advice is second to none, offering next day callouts for any technical issues. For example, when we had an unfortunate power surge that blew out our printheads they were all replaced by the next day, ensuring almost no downtime.”