A New Look High Street Means Lots Of Opportunities For Print

As we all know many high streets have taken a fearful battering over the last decade or so, brought on both by the strength of the large supermarket chains and e-commerce in the form of Amazon and all the rest.

 There has been criticism of the business rates that shops pay which many see as an unfair tax when online stores don`t have to pay anything in this respect. Certainly revised business rates could help to drive startups and creatives onto the high street and into the centre of our towns and cities which can only be a good thing. And with new creative businesses on the high street the opportunity for print is obvious.

There is a good quote in a PrintWeek article about this very subject from Peter Gunning, the chief executive at Grafenia, who says:

“The things that are going to exist are those that you’ve got to consume in person. People are willing to pay for experiences, they’re just not willing to pay for something they can buy more easily online,” 

“And the experiential businesses that are taking the place of retailers are maybe more focused on brand and using all parts of the mix – online bookings, window displays, point-of-sale and table talkers – to get the most out of the opportunity.” 

Changes To Community Spaces

And as the article also points out there are other areas where print can benefit from changes to community spaces in town centres:  `-there are opportunities here too for printers not necessarily based on the high street. Companies that build close ties with the local community and councils could find themselves at the front of the queue when there is a need for printed graphics to decorate vibrant new community spaces or for printed hoardings to mask building sites.`

This vision of the high street is not quite there yet in our towns and cities but the landscape is already changing and print is in a good place to benefit, certainly as far as Ronset is concerned. That`s all for this blog, if you have any printing requirements give us a call on 01254 297100, and we will be back with more news very soon.