Making Transition Easier in a Changing World.

Change is constant. As individuals, organizations, sectors, and communities, we all evolve over time and learn as we do. It can be good to make a change, and at Catapult, we’re proud of how much we have shaken things up in the labelling industry.

But no-one likes change for change’s sake. It should always been meaningful, measurable, and focused on making things better, rather than just different. That principle is certainly at the cornerstone of the Catapult business. We wanted to create a unique model that not only offers customers something different, but something transformative; a service that makes a genuine commitment to delivering value and keeps the promises we’ve made.

This year we’ve already successfully transitioned more than 60 brand new customers to a different way of doing things by bringing them across to Catapult and showing them just how much quicker and slicker label printing can be. Our customers are ready for change, and we’re making sure they benefit from the change we can give them. We understand what they need, and we’re stepping up to be the change we want to see in our industry.

Why are our customers hungry for change?

Often people accept the status quo when they cannot see any alternative. But Catapult is offering a tangible, customer-focused alternative to old ways of working and there are clear reasons why our customers want change and are ready to embrace it.

Print businesses have been growing by buying up competitors. It’s been a short cut to growth for many, but, in reality, this canabalization in our industry has seen service standards stagnate and customer choice compromised. Operators have been able to use their acquisition trail to buy a bigger order book, but those gains have come at a high price for customers. Companies that have swallowed up any businesses they could sink their teeth into are now carrying the extra weight of repaying significant debt. Their focus, as a result, is on protecting the EBITDAR, compromising customer service, lead times and pricing as a consequence. No wonder customers are looking for a different approach that puts their priorities first.

And those priorities are business-critical. With costs rocketing for supermarkets, brands and retailers, the end client is looking to their supply chain to keep costs down and deliver reliable quality and lead times on an agile basis, so that they can compete for consumers’ hard-earned cash. The lackadaisical attitude to helping customers manage costs, quality and lead times from the labelling sector’s old guard is the exact opposite of what their customers really need right now, so no wonder they are gravitating to Catapult as a company that can offer them a different and better way of doing things. Print buyers are not just trying something new; they are fighting to survive in a world where consumers are buying less and trading down to make their money stretch further, prompting a need for reduced costs and better service all the way down the value chain.

Understanding what customers want

At Catapult, we have developed better ways of working that have started a revolution in our sector, and the rest of the industry is struggling to play catch up. We’re definitely not driving change for change’s sake, however, but have been very strategic about making change matter by focusing on our customers’ priorities: price and lead times.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  But we’ve had to work hard to win hearts and minds along the way because so many in the marketplace were frightened to jump ship having been burned by fake and broken promises before.

That’s why making sure we can consistently deliver on our promises – with the right systems, machinery, technology and talent – is so important to us. We understand that you get one chance to get it right in a production environment. If the production line stops, or there’s a product recall, the customer stands to lose a lot more than they might gain by choosing the bargain basement option. So we never reduce costs by cutting corners, only by peeling away layers of inefficiency and complacency.

Making change easy

Part of the way we’re making change look easy in our sector is by making it simple for our customers to switch to Catapult.

We have set up a dedicated team to make transition easy, with professionals whose only focus is to get everything right; from trialing materials, and testing applications, through to accurate artwork.

One customer told us ‘plan for my failure’ – and we get that, so many customers have had to firefight bring themselves back from the brink of disaster due to supplier failures and broken promises in the past. But we always ensure that we put the right support around our customers’ businesses, aiding a smooth transition and gaining their confidence that we really can put our money where our mouth is.

Change can be hard, but we have made the transition to Catapult easy, adding value to our customers’ businesses and helping them save money, reduce lead times, improve quality and benefit from unbelievable customer service. Put simply, we’re making our customers lives easier, whatever changes they may face.