Case Study: CRR

A publishing company that provides guide books for pharmaceutical and health care professionals finds a cost-advantage print solution to improve profit margins and gain a reliable partner for all their production and mailing needs.

Challenge:

CRR publishes thirteen books and ships over 100,000 annually. These industry specific guidebooks are updated each year by the various agencies that supply the new rules and regulations. Thus, the guidebooks are written by one source and then published by various individual publishers like CRR. When CRR first approached us, there were seven books in publication. CRR has six to seven competitors that publish the same materials.  CRR management wants to capture more of the market share and to provide the best service possible.

The challenge facing CRR was to differentiate their product and services from other suppliers.  They also wanted to eliminate the need to order in large quantities, turn around orders quickly and still maintain a competitive cost advantage.

Solution:

In initial discussions with CRR, we showed them our capabilities to print "On Demand" for any of the books and for whatever quantity they needed.  Our digital printing capabilities enable us to provide quick ordering turnaround times, which gives them an edge over many of the other suppliers.

Additionally, it was learned that if the pharmaceutical companies put their logo on the cover and use their own company color for the cover, it would differentiate CRR's publications from their competition.  Because of our Xerox iGen3 digital color press, we have the ability to print client specified colors and logo on heavy cover stock.  This enables CRR to offer their client a "custom" version of the standard guidebooks.

This was just the solution that CRR was looking for to set their marketing efforts apart from the other publishers.  In 2004, they began to offer the customized books and found it to reach about 10% of their orders.  In the 2005 version of the guidebooks, the shift to customized books has found acceptance to over 50% of their orders.

Return on Investment:

Because of the value-added service and customized cover, CRR has been able to increase their pricing on the custom books at a premium of 20% over standard pricing.  Also, they have seen a drop-off in the number of companies that compete for market share.  CRR recognizes the value of providing a service and product that sets them apart from the competition.  The end result – more market share for them and a happier client base.