Hi I'm new. I live in Southern Maine. There seems to be alot of screenprinters around. How do you know if the area is too saturated for another business? Any help would be appreciated.
Try your local chamber of commerce and see how many printers are around you. It also wouldn't hurt to find out what the printer does. Some printers may specialize in just uniforms. That would leave the rest of the world for you.
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__________________ At the edge of our dreams lay the ideals of true creation.
as much as you think there are printers u should aslo concentrate on how many good or best printers are out there as in terms of giving the best product on time and service and professionalism, etc etc, try to think if you can find something unique that u could offer that the others dont. you will be amazed how the market is still open for you in many cases. hope it helps.
I have 4 competitors within one - two square miles . Actual Printers. Tons of ad specialty and embroiders who offer screen printing as well. If your product & services, business ethics, etc. are good youll do fine.
Rizzo and Richard make a very good point Pat. I live in a not-so populated area with several other screen printers. But I'm a graphic artist since the late seventies and I offer something they can't...design.
If they want a one color print, I use half-tone, and cross-hatching tricks that makes it look like multi-color. Plus the business ethics plays a large part. I'll eat profit to give the 4-H, little leagues and schools and break. Not to make a sale, but because it just feels good to do it. Plus, I turn-on some of the other printers to orders that I don't want and they do the same with me.
Good luck in your endeavor.
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__________________ At the edge of our dreams lay the ideals of true creation.
We are kind of lucky....we are the only shop in town(pop. 6500)...but for so long everyone used the printer the next town over...16miles away...well when we opened they still continued to use the out of towners...it took us 3 years of hard work to bring it all back in town.We did it by sponsoring youth teams...even if the "other" printer printed the order.We jumped on every opportunity we had to support the community....now...we are the printers for the area and have even pulled from their area...our reputation and giving back to the community have taken us very far in a short period of time....be visible.....be generous....and you'll be successful!...good luck!
__________________ The Shirt Shak-TSS Grafx-TSS Sporting Goods...Gettin it done since 2001
Area A has 1 printer, as the area they're in can support 1 printer.
Area B has 30 printers, and the area can support 25 printers (over saturated).
If Area A's printer is good, what chance do you have of breaking in? In the case of Area B you only have to be better than 6 printers (20%) in order to break in.
When you're trying to push the other guy out of business, the more people there are the easier it should be to be better than a few of them.
area is saturated? 
