CUSTOMER BACKGROUND
America’s oldest family-owned and operated retailer of athletic wear, sporting goods and fan gear maintains more than 150 stores throughout the Northeast Corridor from New England to Virginia operated with more than 5,000 employees. Since it was founded in 1889, the sporting goods store has continued to inspire sporting event participation and celebrate the achievements of local teams and athletes in the communities it serves.
THE CHALLENGE
The company printed a great amount of signage—local signs placed around communities, in-store signage promoting sales and product display signs—but had been outsourcing these print jobs. When it decided to bring the printing inhouse, the company used a very basic sign printing program that only printed in black and white. Knowing that printing in color would help attract attention and drive sales, the retailer sought a printer that would not only produce vibrant store signage for the company’s many locations, but could also print on a wide variety of media while adhering to a sensible budget. The retailer tested a variety of color printers from manufacturers including HP, Lexmark and Xerox, but could not find a solution that would meet its color printing needs and fiscal requirements.
THE SOLUTION
OKI Data representatives met with the sporting goods retailer to assess the challenges the company was facing and gain a comprehensive understanding of the company’s price and device performance requirements. OKI Data recognized the customer’s need to print on media of different sizes and weights and the desire to implement ondemand color signage printing in a cost-effective manner, and recommended a high-quality, energy-efficient HD digital color printer from OKI Data Americas.
The recommended solution was a perfect fit for the retailer and within months, the company had installed an OKI HD digital color printer within each of its 150+ retail locations. The new devices were placed in busy store areas, such as the customer service counter or front desk, allowing for increased productivity and efficiency for employees and technicians within the workplace.
The OKI color printer enables on-demand production of signs in crisp, bright color output through the HD color printing technology’s multilevel LED printheads and microfine toner. Delivering the exceptional advantage of media flexibility, the OKI printer allows the store to print on a broad variety of signage, including banners, labels, envelopes and heavier card stock.
AccessVia, a partner of OKI, worked with the retailer to understand its precise objectives and helped to create impressive signage. In just six weeks, AccessVia carried out a complete implementation of the company’s AccessVia Web dSignShop Software as a Service (SaaS) for the customer’s in-store publishing system. With the services of AccessVia, combined with OKI’s digital color printer, the retailer was able to achieve superior quality at an affordable price.
OKI Data also delivered on-site personal training for front-desk employees and store technicians in every retail location, answering questions and providing immediate, customized attention. With a knowledgeable support team in every store, there was no need to call upon outside technical assistance. The retailer’s printing and technical support was completed entirely in-house.
CONCLUSION
The retailer is more than satisfied with OKI Data’s recommendation and customer support. By printing inhouse and in color, the company is saving money it was spending on black and white printing from an outside company. The HD digital color printer from OKI Data enables the customer to not only meet its color printing requirements, but exceed them by providing on-demand in-store signage with sharp detail and bright colors. OKI Data’s dedication to gaining a comprehensive understanding of the customer’s print requirements resulted in a cost-effective, colorful and overall successful solution.