President of Korea Federation of Printing & Information Industry Cooperatives
Paper presented by the Republic of Korea
at the 5th Annual Meeting Of the Forum of Asian Graphic Arts Technology (FAGAT) in Manila
5. US e-commerce Printing Companies
6. Characteristics of the B2B Printing Industry
7. Asian B2B e-commerce Printing Market
8. Conclusion
| Site | Main Concerns |
|---|---|
| Storefronts | |
| Printnation.com | Sell printing machines and consumables goods to medium-sized printing companies |
| Goprinter.com | Shopping Mall for printing consumable goods |
| Prepressmall.com | Transaction primary/secondary market for printing machines |
| Colorok.com | Transaction color management facilities and software |
| Printeralliance.com | Community for purchasing paper and consumable goods |
| Paperexchange.com | Paper distribution to large size printing companies |
| IPrint.com | Personal/SOHO service for small size printings |
| RFQ | |
| Printbid.com | Auction service for customized orders |
| Printmarket.com | Auction service for customized orders |
| 58k.com | Auction service for customized orders |
| Workflow Management | |
| Collabria.com | Provide printing service ordering, DB, process management systems |
| Impresse.com | Provide printing service ordering, DB, process management systems |
| Noosh.com | Provide printing service ordering, DB, process management systems |
| Printchannel.com | Provide printing service ordering, DB, process management systems |
| Mediaflex.com | Process management system based on digital printing |
| Magnifi.com | Designing services |
| Other Services | |
| ProofitOnline.com | Remote on line editing |
| Heeelp.com | Prepress consulting to members |
| Printlink.com | Headhunting service within printing industry |
As the article was published in 1999 and the Internet has continued to develop since then, it is expected that more online printing com-panies exist at present. An update of the current market was published in the Seybold April 2000 volume 29, Number 10 Report under the title ' e-commerce in Printing: Update on the News and the Workflow Issues '.
The report analyzed various e-commerce-related companies; some have been listed on NASDAQ while others have perished. This is no difference from any Internet company. However, the increasing number of e-commerce players are significant.
| Description | Content |
|---|---|
| Electronic Catalog | Dividing system, product coding system, standardization, riders, unit price, inventory, order capacity, pictures, voice, mobile photo clips, design templates, document database |
| Community | Strategic alliance of buyers and sellers |
| Solution | Electronic catalog management, printing process management, member management, ordering and bidding, auction/reverse auction, security, payment, XML/EDI |
To establish the back-end part there are several issues that need to be completed.
- *High-speed network: Due to the printing industry's characteristics of using huge graphic files, a highly efficient transmission line is needed. The current network cannot provide such efficiency. Thus, a special network must be constructed.
- * Large-size file server: This is to set up a database, where such large files can be hosted and managed for single or multiple orders executed by clients.
- * Offline distribution: Even with a full digitalized process, an offline distribution system has to exist to fully serve clients' needs.
To establish the front-end part: we need to have an electronic catalog, e-community and a solution like other B to B e-commerce.
B2B e-commerce can be divided into two parts: within the industry and
outside the industry.
- Within the printing industry: exchange printing machines, consumable
goods, including printing paper.
- Benefits are:
- * Easy collection of information and comparison
- * Cost saving
- * Cost saving in inventory management
- Outside the printing industry: exchange with client companies and
consumers
- * Cost saving for both parties
- * Produce new business opportunities
- * Improving existing industry structure
| Region | 1996 Demand | CAGR w/o Sub.(%) |
Projected 2003 Demand | Electronic Impact | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| w/o Sub. | w/Sub. | ||||
| Newspapers | |||||
| Rest of World | 8.6 | 2.0% | 8.9 | 8.8 | -0.1 |
| Japan | 3.2 | -0.2% | 3.2 | 2.9 | -0.3 |
| W.Europe | 6.9 | 1.2% | 7.1 | 6.6 | -0.5 |
| U.S. | 9.8 | 1.9% | 8.6 | 7.4 | -1.2 |
| Total | 28.5 | 27.8 | 25.7 | -2.1 | |
| Magazines | |||||
| Rest of World | 1.4 | 2.4% | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.0 |
| Japan | 2.8 | 2.8% | 3.0 | 2.8 | -0.2 |
| W.Europe | 7.2 | 2.8% | 8.7 | 8.1 | -0.6 |
| U.S. | 2.4 | 0.0% | 2.4 | 2.2 | -0.2 |
| Total | 13.8 | 15.6 | 14.6 | -1.0 | |
| Directories | |||||
| Rest of World | 0.4 | n.a. | 0.5 | 0.4 | -0.1 |
| Japan | 0.3 | n.a. | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| W.Eupore | 0.4 | n.a. | 0.5 | 0.3 | -0.2 |
| U.S. | 1.1 | n.a. | 1.2 | 0.9 | -0.3 |
| Total | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.0 | -0.5 | |
| Catalogs | |||||
| Rest of World | 0.7 | 2.0% | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.0 |
| Japan | 1.1 | 3.0% | 1.3 | 1.2 | -0.1 |
| W.Eupore | 2.0 | 4.0% | 2.6 | 2.4 | -0.2 |
| U.S. | 1.9 | 4.0% | 2.6 | 2.2 | -0.4 |
| Total | 5.7 | 7.3 | 6.6 | -0.7 | |
| Books | |||||
| Rest of World | 1.0 | 2.0% | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| Japan | 0.3 | 0.0% | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| W.Europe | 1.2 | 3.0% | 1.5 | 1.4 | -0.1 |
| U.S. | 1.7 | 3.0% | 2.1 | 1.8 | -0.3 |
| Total | 4.2 | 4.9 | 4.5 | -0.4 | |
| Cut-size Paper | |||||
| Rest of World | 2.0 | 10.0% | 3.9 | 3.9 | 0.0 |
| Japan | 1.1 | 5.0% | 1.6 | 1.6 | 0.0 |
| W.Europe | 3.7 | 10.0% | 6.1 | 6.3 | 0.2 |
| U.S. | 3.8 | 5.0% | 5.4 | 5.7 | 0.3 |
| Total | 10.6 | 17.0 | 17.5 | 0.5 | |
*W/SUB = BCG projection using model to assess model to assess substitution impact f electronic media
However, there is a great need to reform in order to survive, since
many leading companies are transforming their processes to go online, and
there is a very high possibility of the printing processes being brought
in-house, once the online process is finished, resulting in many
printing-related companies to lose business. This is why there should be
efforts to build a strong service, so that client companies will judge
outsourcing to be more efficient and cost saving.
The diagram above is
a summary of a report by the Boston Consulting Group in 1999 on 'Paper and
the Electronic Media: Creating Value from Uncertainty'. This report is a
study of the effects over paper consumption versus the steep increase of
electronic information transmitting media such as the Internet. The
diagram shows effects over several industries. The only industry that
showed increase in paper consumption was office usage. Unlike the magazine
industry where huge amount of the current demand will be reduced by 2003,
office paper is expected to increase by 500,000 tons. By 2003, 5.2 million
tons of paper will be replaced by electronic devices. This is meant to be
only one of the effects of the Internet on the printing industry.
Therefore, the printing industry needs to reform itself in order to
survive.
Unlike the US market which is large enough to concentrate on domestic sales solely, any country in Asia needs to expand into Asia and other continents with a VORTAL site (Vertical + Portal) in order to survive and secure scalability, as stated in the August 8, Asian Wall Street Journal article ' Business to Business Exchanges in Asia will have to offer more than just an electronic forum if they are to flourish.
Overall, the Asian market, unlike the US market, is relatively behind in terms of constructing the infrastructure for e-commerce, and also has a lower investment efficiency rate because each market is too small for independent investments. To overcome such limitations, a regional approach should take place, looking into the Asian market as a whole, especially for the printing industry which is relatively small in size. Given a consolidated market place, Asian participants will be able to enjoy synergy effects, as well as sharing resources. B2B e-commerce, eventually, is to focus outward than inwards, and therefore, promote international exchanges worldwide.
2001/01/29 00:00:00