Razar marks its first year as VeloBlade Nexus sales lead the way on the stand
Vivid returned to The Print Show a year after launching Razar there. Over the three days, it took orders for Razar and sold several VeloBlade Nexus cutting tables. One of those, a 3.2m machine, went to exhibition specialist GES and only has to travel round the corner of the NEC after the show.
Razar combines spot UV, cutting, creasing and taping in a single system. A printed sheet goes in at one end and comes out finished, with no need for any other finishing device.
Lewis Evans, Director at Vivid Technologies, says, “Razar was launched here last year, so there’s a bit of sentiment for us coming back. Since then we’ve installed multiple systems, which we’re really pleased about. We’ve taken orders at the show, and I’m really excited about what’s coming next.”
Who’s buying Razar
Packaging is the main market, but Vivid has installed Razar alongside most of the major small format digital presses. “Packaging is a growing part of our industry, but it’s really anyone with a small format digital printer, whether that’s an HP Indigo, Konica Minolta, Canon, Ricoh, Xerox or Fuji. We’ve installed alongside most of them now,” explains Lewis. “Some of those customers are working with really nice brands and doing some lovely work. It’s exciting to see what they’re producing.”
Existing customers make up a good share of the orders. Several who already run a VeloBlade Volta have added Razar to their line-up. “They can see it cuts and creases, but it also does the spot UV, and hopefully spot foil soon. So they’re thinking, I’ll go for that. As with everything Vivid brings out, it’s retrofittable. Foiling is next, and we’re pushing the boundaries on what Razar can do.”
Speed to market
Lewis puts that pace down to Vivid making its own products. “In a competitive industry, being in control of your own products, your own inventions and your own patents is a must. As a growing family-run business, our strength has always been our speed to market. If we come up with an idea and we all like it, it happens straight away.”
Busy from the first ten minutes
The VeloBlade Nexus range narrowly outsold Razar on the stand. Soyang Europe also took a Nexus for its showroom, and the company even closed a sale within ten minutes of the doors opening on day one.
“GES have had multiple VeloBlades from us now, and it’s a huge exhibition company, so we’re really looking forward to working with them again,” says Lewis. “Day one was steady, and the second day was really busy, with lots of buyers looking for a show deal, which we like to do at Vivid.”
He praises The Print Show team and the other exhibitors too. “Credit to the organisers for the hard work they put into putting on a great show. And fair play to the other stands. Some of the designs were really unique, and people had clearly thought about them. It made the show much better.”
Vivid has exhibited every year since the show began, and Lewis is open about the reason. “Money is the number one reason. We come back if we make good money out of the show, and we always do well with orders. They get the right audience and the right traffic. For our industry, it’s probably the best show in the UK.”
Lewis concludes, “Even in this day and age, digital marketing can only do so much. This show proves that every year.”