London personalised photo canvas printing business Parrot Print has invested in its fourth Epson SureColor SC-S80600 following a period of record growth.
Founded by photographers with a genuine passion and understanding for providing customers with top results, Parrot Print sells directly to consumers via its website. It made the latest addition to its responsive print production environment to address rapid growth driven by an increase in orders placed during lockdown.
“We saw a sudden 400% increase in sales volume over the lockdown period,” explains Matt Dahan, owner of Parrot Print. “We needed to expand our printing capabilities and packing stations to meet demand. We are still seeing significant growth and expect to make further purchases in the next 12 months.”
The ability to react so quickly was enabled by the operation’s own developed automatic order processing software and its fleet of responsive Epson SureColor SC-S80600s. The 64-inch systems feature Epson UltraChrome GS3 9-color solvent ink – including a red solvent along with the option for white or metallic silver inks – for outstanding photographic print quality, durability, and media compatibility. Their combined precision media feeding system and high-performance Dual-Array PrecisionCore TFP print head, support enhanced productivity.
Parrot Print chose its first Epson SC-S80600 when it was looking for a reliable wide-format printer to replace existing printers. Matt states: “When we were in the market for a new solution, all research led us to the Epson for our requirements. We did review other solutions but liked the Epson because it was cost effective and easy to operate. Also important was the print speed possible when running high quality print settings.”
Matt continues: “Print speed and print quality were the big considerations for us. We offer same day dispatch on all orders placed before 12pm, and our customers expect the ultimate in print quality with no compromises. Until we moved to the Epson SC-S80600s there was always a trade-off between speed and print quality.”
There were other capabilities that proved important he pointed out: “Another fantastic feature was its reliability and ink costs, our machines can be running for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we’ve never had any major issues at all. We really hammer these printers and they are totally bomb-proof – a big change from our previous printers.”
The productivity, reliability and high quality results have enabled Parrot Print to confidently explore new markets. Matt states: “We’ve been able to grow into the US market, as well as the EU. Due to the speed, and quick turnaround of the printers, we’ve been able print so much more out of the printer footprint we have. We are currently seeing over 100% growth year on year.”
He also adds: “We require half the amount of physical staff a traditional manufacturing business of our size would need. Each manufacturing staff member has 40 sq/ft of space to themselves, at their own stations, so we were socially distancing before the pandemic!”
As for working with Epson he says: “Epson have been great partners throughout, offering excellent advice and feature requests. Their customer support and technical advice is second to none, offering next day callouts for any technical issues. For example, when we had an unfortunate power surge that blew out our printheads they were all replaced by the next day, ensuring almost no downtime.”
