Printing Impressions 300 Fast-Track Firm: Graphic Village Thrives with M&A and Full-Service Excellence

The printing businesses recognized as Fast-Track Firms on the newly published, 2023 Printing Impressions 300 (click here to access the complete PI 300 list) of the largest printers in the U.S. and Canada, as ranked by annual sales, are not all the same. They serve different constituencies in different ways. What joins them is not necessarily what they do and how they do it, but instead their commitment to growth, to expansion, to customer service, and to exemplary sales performance.

Read below why Printing Impressions recognized Graphic Village as a Fast-Track Firm.

Graphic Village | Cincinnati, Ohio

Most Recent Fiscal Year Sales: $35.7 Million
Previous Fiscal Year Sales: $22.7 Million
Percentage Growth: 57%

Graphic Village has been able to expand its production capabilities and geographic reach by acquiring numerous companies, according to Eric Kahn, its executive chairman. | Credit: Graphic Village

“We are a complete marketing solutions provider,” Eric Kahn, executive chairman, points out when asked to describe Graphic Village. He says the company started in commercial printing, but has grown and developed through 18 acquisitions during the past decade. “We acquired direct mail companies, then a wide-format company, then a marketing company, and we also added folding carton capabilities.” But Graphic Village’s approach isn’t limited to adding application areas. After purchasing many companies locally, Graphic Village is now expanding its geographic reach.

The company’s approach to revenue growth and diversification remains centered around M&A activity. “We look straight ahead,” he says, “and continue to focus on growing through acquisition.” Graphic Village also incorporates state-of-the-art capital investments into its broader growth strategy. This has included strong investments in high-speed inkjet, including systems from Canon and HP, as well as the recent purchase of a SCREEN Truepress Jet520HD+ inkjet web press. The company was also one of the first to acquire a Scodix press for digital embellishment capabilities. Looking forward, Kahn is also investigating digital solutions for short-run packaging.

Kahn points out that Graphic Village’s strong performance comes from a number of factors, the first of which is “all the pieces coming together — we’ve done six acquisitions since COVID.” While sales were slower than hoped during the pandemic, the subsequent rebound “gave us a nice boost,” he says. Next, the company is strongly diversified in terms of the markets and number of customers it serves. “I don’t want to have a 40% customer,” he says, “[and] we don’t even have 10% customers.” Finally, he believes Graphic Village’s full-service approach is a winning strategy: “Customers appreciate that they don’t have to go to five or six vendors.”

Asked about the path forward, Kahn expects more of the same, saying the company will continue to make geographically focused acquisitions in the next year or so. Graphic Village also maintains a sister company, known as Intrinsic, which provides branding and strategy services — another piece of its “full-service” pie.

He believes industry consolidation will continue, some of which will be driven by new, more competitive technologies — and the price tags that go along with them. Due to the capital costs, some smaller companies won’t be able to compete. Thus, he says, “larger organizations can make the purchases and [continue to] spread out.”