Big Picture - March 2020 - 16

beyond décor

Redefine Your
Value Proposition

How to attract customers for your décor print business. | by Rachel Nunziata

f the wide-format print industry wants to properly kick

off the best decade ever, it's time to get real and redefine
our value proposition.
A majority of us have already concluded that in some
décor verticals, wallcovering for example, the debate
between digital and analog is a moot point. The benefit of
digital wallcovering lies in creative flexibility. It's a means to
produce multiple brands or product lines without expensive
tooling and set up, and it provides better adaptability in
response to new trends in the market; it's less about competing
with repeat patterns designed for miles of hotel corridors,
resulting in bidding wars over pennies per square foot. We have
the means to produce just about anything. With faster,
color-accurate printing, finishing, and cutting equipment, and
more durable and flexible low-VOC inks with certifications as
high as Greenguard Gold Certified becoming more common,
this is one of the most exciting times in our industry's history.
This includes exterior markets more keenly aware of wide-format print technologies. But what, if anything, is holding back
the industry or your décor print business?

BIG PICTURE

March 2020

INDUSTRY EVOLUTION
When I first entered the digital print industry in 2013, I had
very little knowledge of what wide-format printing was or
the scope of the digital print community. However, I do
remember being skeptical of those giclée fine art prints,
which were slowly replacing darkroom prints. But let's face
it, change is inevitable. My career began at Ringling College
of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, in 2003. I spent the
majority of my time in the darkroom during an era when

digital technology, both capture and output, started reshaping everything I loved about film photography: the artistic
and technical challenge of using available light, the discipline
of carefully composing the perfect shot in-camera so you
didn't waste a single frame (or college student budget), and
the magic of processing my own film. Plus, who could forget
the moment when you first saw an image slowly appear on
the emulsion of light-sensitive paper? Digital imaging
technology democratized the art of photography, at first
cheapening it, but mostly opening doors to a whole realm
of possibilities.
Fast forward and that same magical moment happened
when I began working for a wide-format print media and
equipment reseller and saw a tech department full of wideformat printers in action for the first time. Never before did I
realize the wide range of applications possible through digital
printing: fine art rag paper, canvas, backlit material, adhesive-backed materials, polyester fabrics, banners, and P-O-P
signage were just some of the options for photographers with
pigment printers. As a newbie sales rep, it was my job to vision
cast those options for my clients (photographers and fine
artists) and teach them how to leverage their wide-format print
equipment to build a profitable print business and unlock new

RACHEL NUNZIATA is a digital print business and market development specialist
with an undeniable enthusiasm for interior and home décor segments. She is a
graduate of Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, Florida, and has a knack
for enabling synergies between artists, interior designers, and industry experts.
You can connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter @RachelNunziata.

https://www.twitter.com/RachelNunziata?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelnunziata/

Big Picture - March 2020

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