At a media lunch in Sydney’s Darling Harbour this week Grant Harrod, CEO of Salmat said all the print work for the nationwide service will be outsourced to the more than 200 printers on Salmat’s payroll, with this number set to increase as the LDN rolls out.
As well as cost and service considerations, Salmat will engage printers with the aim to create the shortest possible distance between the printer and the local distribution centre.
Commenting on the new service, Harrod says, “SMEs across Australia now have an easy and effective way to market their local area. LDN fills the gap in the catalogue distribution market and enables Salmat to service a much broader range of business.
“Instead of having to go through the time consuming process of dealing with graphic designers, printers and distributors, SMEs can now go to LDN with an idea and deal with one person, one invoice and know that their catalogue will be on the streets within two weeks.”
The LDN brings together independent acquisitions made by Salmat over the past five years and newly created offices to form a national network of 15 regional and metropolitan branches.
According to the company, the new service provides clients with fast professional design services and competitively priced print run of up to 100,000 items. The programme was piloted in the Adelaide branch, which the company says produced significant, positive customer feedback.
Harrod also commented on the market trends being experienced by Salmat, he maintains while the company is benefiting from technological changes, “old world” services such as print and mail are continuing to support the business.
He says, “Salmat accounts for 60 per cent of all commercial mail with Australia Post today. We are seeing a surge of interest in hard copy paper and we are focusing on developing colour in order to make a static bill a form of direct marketing.
“The old world of mail could re-emerge with the help of colour print and adjoining media streams.”
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