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Frequently Asked Questions

Who are you?

We're a print broking company based in London, as our name suggests: we broker print.

What does a print broker do?

In much the same way that other commodities can be brokered (insurance, mortgages, pensions etc.), so too can print: that's what we do.

We act as an out-sourced sales solution to our trade-only suppliers. Those suppliers maintain low overheads by – among other means – not employing dedicated sales staff of their own: they out-source sales on a part-time basis to us. We then represent a “collective” of printers, who together offer a complete print solution.

Traditionally, you'd buy business cards from one supplier, brochures from another and large-format graphics from yet another. To free up our customers' resources and save them having to shop around, we do it for them: all in one place.

For example?

As well as providing a one-stop managed print solution, our customers use us for many other things:

A complex project, which would normally involve several suppliers with different areas of expertise? Free up your resources to concentrate on that project and out-source the printing to us.

Exhibiting at a show or fair? Similarly, concentrate on the logistics and leave the printing of business cards, exhibition graphics and stands, leaflets and flyers to London Print Brokers.

You don’t have any printing presses?

No. We are a print management company, utilising the varied and diverse equipment of our equally varied and diverse supplier base. We're just like a huge print company which can produce anything that you require: we represent the entire industry.

The industry is so varied and diverse that no individual print company could hope to serve the entire market competitively. They'd have down time on their presses and so on. We've taken a number of trade-only print companies, with diverse equipment able to serve the whole market, packaged in up and brought it to the market as London Print Brokers.

Is this a new market niche?

Print brokers and managers have been around for a while. In fact, some of the most successful print management companies don't have any presses of their own. There are many print management companies but London Print Brokers are the only company with a name which suggests what we do: we don't apply a veneer.

How can you be the cheapest, quickest and most environmentally friendly?

We can tick all of the boxes but not always all at the same time. Whatever is most important to you though:

We do scour the market for our customers to get the best deal. We make sure that each project is produced on the most appropriate equipment and because we have a wide ranging supplier base, we have access to just about any printing press you'd care to think of. No individual printing company would be able to address every printing need but we can, through our diverse supply chain.

We keep prices down by using trade-only suppliers and maintaining low overheads of our own. Our extensive supply base means that we can always find the right supplier for the job: this benefits our suppliers by making a contribution to their overhead and it benefits our customers because of the reduced rates which we are able to acquire printing for.

Often though, a customer requirement will be very specialised or time-sensitive. In these instances, price is not necessarily the primary concern.

In these instances, our customers have come to us because they don't know where else to go. They could undertake a lengthy search for the most appropriate suppliers but to free up their resources, they come to us instead. As well as our general print management service, we're able to offer a service wherein our supply base allows us to provide pretty much anything, any time. Again, we're print managers and exist as an out-sourced print procurement service to our customers.

Who are your customers?

Our customers include individuals, members of the public, sole traders, small, medium and large companies; government departments, local authorities and charities.

In any case - whether sole trader or multi-national corporation – each of our customers is equally important to us and they come to London Print Brokers for the service which we provide in procuring their print.

How do you make money?

As a business, we naturally need to remain a profitable concern. We maintain low overheads by not having our own printing equipment, among other means. We procure print on behalf of our customers through trade-only suppliers who have low overheads themselves: they don't employ sales staff (they out-source that operation to us) and they occupy premises in geographical areas where business rates are competitive (out-of-town).

We find that once we apply a modest margin to our purchasing prices, our prices to the end-line user are representative of those which they would find in the commercial market and often more competitive. Our service is value-added and our diverse supplier base allows us to be a one-stop print solution to our customers, saving them the cost and resource of employing a print-buyer.

How many of you are there?

We are a family business with several field-based sales agents.

Who are your competitors?

Commercial printers and High Street-based print shops. Neither do what the other does but we offer what both do and more besides. Our managed print solution means that we can offer our competitors' services in one basket; often at a reduced cost.

Why are you better than them?

Many traditional print companies try to offer the one-stop print solution which we do but they have higher overheads than us. Therefore, all non-core business which they outsource will come at a premium. They also don't have the resources to have researched their non-core business market thoroughly enough, nor usually sufficient staff to offer the level of service which we offer on out-sourced work. We are dedicated to a constant awareness of the market and the changes therein to consistently offer our customers the best print solution.

Because we out-source all of our customers' projects, our internal resources are free to manage our customers' printing for them.

What are your environmental credentials?

We are a 10:10 company and have offset our carbon footprint by planting trees through Carbon Footprint Limited. We maintain a minimal carbon footprint by using public transport and operating from the field or home. Our registered office is just our official address where all statutory documents from Companies House are sent.

We are a responsible, environmentally aware company and we ensure that our suppliers comply with the latest environmental legislation and guidelines. Our environmental policy can be viewed here.

Why don't I deal directly with your suppliers?

Because they only deal with the trade, including print managers and brokers like London Print Brokers. If they were to deal directly with customers, they would need to employ sales staff and incur the salaries and indirect costs associated therewith. They can't justify such an expense with their individual, specific offerings, so they out-source their sales on a part-time basis to us, as do all our suppliers.

Why wouldn't your suppliers approach me directly?

Because they don't have dedicated sales people and employ us in that function. From our point of view, if any of our suppliers were to adopt such a practice, they would deny themselves the other leads which we might otherwise introduce to them.

Why should I deal with you and not a “traditional” printing company?

Because we represent a one-stop solution for all of your printing needs. Rather than shop around many printers for the best deal and most appropriate production medium, we do that for you.

What about prices?

It is impossible for us to provide a definitive price list because the market is always shifting and we can always get the best deals from suppliers with down time on their presses.

Also, because we provide a complete print solution, the range of products which we can supply is simply too large to give a price list for.

Who is responsible for my print?

We are: even though we're print managers – middle men – the buck has to stop somewhere and as far as you're concerned, that buck stops with us. Otherwise you may as well deal directly with our suppliers and for reasons given above, you really don't want to do that. We provide a complete managed print service, which extends to total responsibility for your printing. We're the ones that approve proofs on-press, so that you don't have to. We're the ones that advise on pre-flighting your files and we're the ones who are ultimately responsible for your printing and all that's entailed therein.

So, why should I use London Print Brokers?

Because we're easy to use: in much the same way that we're an out-sourced sales solution for our suppliers, we act as an out-sourced print-buying operation for our customers.

What now?

Email contact@londonprintbrokers.com or call 020 3287 8500 for a general chat or to arrange a no-obligation consultation.

London Print Brokers: we're open.