The travel industry has been among the sectors hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with much activity cancelled or stalled due to travel restrictions and uncertainty. 

Business development manager Sam Benbow said that travel firms had already recognised the value of continuing to market to customers, even during periods of uncertainty over travel plans.

He said the business had seen a shift in buying patterns, with travel agents opting for shorter runs or tailored products.

“Being able to produce brochures on demand which are absolutely in line with what customers are looking for is without a doubt the way forward,” he stated. 

“We are already working with major premier operators who have recognised this and how they can use this ability to create a bespoke experience for their clients.

“The days when companies would print 100,000 huge brochures with every destination featured are really long gone," Benbow noted.

Group chief operating officer Jon Bailey told Printweek: “I think it’s a trend we’ve been seeing for a long time, and that has definitely been accelerated by the pandemic. 

“It just needs brands to understand that, and us as PSPs to understand how to make that viable – once you automate you can still have economies of scale, even on shorter runs.”

He likened the situation to “a waiter telling you you’ve ordered too much food – you only need two starters rather than five – and that’s the restaurant you trust and you go back to”.

“We need to be brave and tell people not to print as much stuff. There’s no need to commit to a huge run of something that might become obsolete,” Bailey added. 

“With the technology available to us now, smaller, quicker, shorter runs and being able to make changes fits with the new environment.”

He said that the trend for corporate customers starting to order “like consumers” had been evident for a while, and was gathering pace. 

“Our corporate customers are becoming consumers. They want to be able to order quickly, one-off, next-day, ten-off – it’s really an evolution of that.”

The £53.8m-turnover print and marketing services group was formed through the merger of Precision Printing, Proco and Prime in September last year and has operations in London, Nottingham, Sheffield and Sunderland.

The group describes itself as “an ecommerce company that prints”.