Most wide-format print companies are stepping into the events market when graphics are needed to turn a basic space — like an event tent — into a branded wonderland for an evening, a weekend, or a specific function. But for Traverse City, Michigan-based TentCraft, that common need suggested a greater opportunity.
Matt Bulloch, the company’s president and CEO, notes, “We are a vertically integrated manufacturer, and traditionally a lot of the margin comes from the printing.” Over the years, clients have requested that TentCraft not simply manufacture frames and signage, but also offer rentals for customers who need them for a short time and don’t want to invest in tents or other elements. He hesitated, he notes, but, “our sales and our marketing team created a business case and said, ‘hey, we think we can make rental work, you know, we can make the goods as they’re requested for rental, cover the cost on stuff that we know we can rent again, and then still charge the customer for the soft goods. And then if they don’t want to own the assets afterwards, they can send it back to us. We’ll clean it, refurbish it, store it and then we can send it out again.’”
Bulloch notes the approach is not necessarily groundbreaking, but that it was certainly an entirely new business model for him and his team. They had to learn it from the ground up. Rental companies aren’t exactly hard to find, so he admits he was a bit skeptical, but has been “pleasantly surprised how much demand there is.”
Read this full feature on Wide-Format Impressions, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic partner.
