About the future of Ukrainian printing houses in Europe

On April 24, the UNIAN news agency held a press conference “Wolf Printing House – a European Challenge.”

 The press conference spoke not only about the prospects of the Wolf Printing House in the European market. General problems of printing in Ukraine were discussed. These are import dependence, devaluation of the national currency, a reduction in the volume of the printing services market, the loss of external and part of internal customers.

But for the Wolf Printing House, the crisis is a transitional state in which the need for an innovative view arises. “Innovation allows us to perceive printing as an art. That is why the Wolf Printing House has long become part of the country’s corporate culture,” says Tatyana Petrik, head of the branch network of the Wolf Printing House. For Wolf employees, the crisis is the starting point to begin to act proactively and improve business, regardless of market conditions.

The motives for Ukrainian printing companies entering the EU markets are obvious. “For development and technical re-equipment, foreign currency is needed, and many printing houses are ready to provide high-quality printing services and compete in the field of service,” emphasizes one of the conference speakers, editor-in-chief of Print+ magazine Igor Agarkov. Turning the “weaknesses” of Ukrainian printing houses (primarily the low cost of services) into strength is quite within the capabilities of the Wolf Printing House and other companies (packaging, book, commercial). After all, Ukrainian printing houses, paradoxically, print quickly and efficiently, offer original products, and provide high-quality service.

For example, Ukrainian online printing stores are no worse than their European counterparts. And here, too, “Polygrafiya on-line” http://wolf.ua/ (a project of the Wolf group of companies) is a soloist. And Ukrainian printers are no strangers to competition. They can do it in Europe too. Moreover, as part of the program to enter the European market, a Representative Office of the Wolf Printing House was opened in Germany, and the Polygraphy online online store (analogous to the Ukrainian resource “Poligraphy Online”), adapted to European requirements, was launched.

Two objective reasons that may make it difficult to enter the European market include imperfect logistics and difficulties with customs (but the positive point is that the import tax has been abolished), as well as the imperfection of payment systems. But go to the online store “Online Printing” and the like. Most payment instruments (payment by cards, LiqPay, WebMoney) are at your service. Logistics? “We are developing a joint delivery mechanism with the world leader DHL Express, which will serve as an example and facilitate the work of our exporters to the European B2C market,” says Pavel Dubrovin, development director of the Wolf Printing House.

Honorary guest of the conference President Council of Germans in Ukraine Vladimir Leisle spoke about the standards of doing business in Germany, where the Wolf Printing House has opened a representative office. This is absolute transparency, honesty, decency towards partners, high-quality service.

It is gratifying that in Ukraine there are more and more printing houses with a certain civic position... The Wolf printing house is one of the most socially responsible printing houses . Its leadership is well aware that its actions on the European market influence the formation of the international image of Ukraine.

And it calls on all colleagues to take into account the most important points related to entering the European market: maximum openness, the availability of an English version of the website and specialists, ready to communicate in English and other European languages, actions to build a reputation and much more.

Information: Wolf Printing House is one of the leaders in the Ukrainian printing market. Operating on the market since 1995. In 2009, a decision was made to develop a branch network of the printing house. Today it has representative offices in Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Lvov, Odessa, Kharkov. In 2015, the Wolf Printing House doubled its production capacity and announced its entry into the European Union market. “We support the philosophy of peace, and therefore growth,” the company says.