Five Print Trends to Look Out for This Year
/by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
At the back end of last year, a report by Smithers entitled The Future of Global Printing to 2024 forecast that the global print industry will be worth $874 billion by 2024, with its overall value increasing by 1.3 percent year-on-year. While this is a particularly volatile market, constantly subjected to wave upon wave of disruption as the digital revolution marches on, it is also incredibly adaptable, capable of evolving with the times while other industries often falter. And these impressive figures are perhaps testament to this.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Caroline culler, DISTRIBUTED UNDER A CC-BY-SA 4.0 LICENSE.
Technology adoption in this market is not an option, but an absolute necessity, as printers know that investing in the latest innovations is the only way they can remain competitive and drive value. The industry also has to be incredibly intuitive when it comes to second-guessing the requirements of the market. As newspaper and magazine print runs dwindle, media transitions online and physical advertising spend declines, printers have had to pivot and focus on areas which are on the rise and more likely to generate profit, such as labelling and packaging for example. And when you throw rising paper, postage and freight costs into the mix, the landscape becomes even more challenging still.
So what does the year ahead hold for the print industry? And what are the key trends likely to affect the market in the coming months? Here are our top five:
Automated workflows
In recent years, print companies have witnessed a sharp increase in demand for smaller print runs. Coupled with this, they are also being put under tighter time restraints, with customers demanding quicker turnarounds than ever before. This change in working culture is no doubt having a major impact on productivity, which is why the subject of workflows has been cast into the limelight. Printers have started incorporating automation into both their internal and external workflows in an effort to boost their operational capacity and to ensure that staff can provide better customer care, while many of the more menial and repetitive workplace tasks are automated. This is a development we expect to see become more widely adopted during the course of the year.
Lean, mean printing machines
As printers explore leaner, speedier and more cost effective ways of working, we have seen a rapid uptake in digital printing and widespread rollouts of inkjet printers. With relatively low operating costs, high output speeds and now also more affordable than ever, inkjets have long been touted as the most economical and efficient option for printers. With predictions stating that inkjet printing will grow at a rate of 9.4 per cent year-on-year, it would seem that this new decade could see inkjet crowned king.
3D goes mainstream
Despite all the furor and headlines around 3D printing, few people have actually witnessed its cutting-edge capabilities or figured out how this game-changing technology can be applied in different contexts, so as to be of wider benefit to society. Aside from pockets of innovation in the automotive and manufacturing sectors for example, where practical uses have been realised, 3D remains a largely untapped space. However, with materials becoming more accessible and affordable, experts are predicting this to become a huge growth area in years to come and for 3D to finally enter the mainstream and fulfil its massive potential.
Eco and sustainable printing
For obvious reasons, there are a range of sizeable challenges and obstacles for the print industry when it comes to going green. But despite this, there are plenty of steps being taken to make the industry as sustainable and eco-friendly as it can possibly be. The availability of more environmentally-friendly technology with energy-saving features, alongside vast improvements in ink manufacturing, both in terms of materials used and recyclability, are steps in the right direction. It is likely that during the next few years we will see an increase in printers taking advantage of these options to enhance their green credentials.
Voice tech
Much of the latest printing hardware being launched in the market is being developed to harness and embed voice-related features. In the home print market, virtual assistant voice activation is being employed at a growing rate as innovations such as Goggle Assistant, Apple’s Siri and Amazon Alexa widen their influence, and this is now expanding into the office print space. Surely it is just a matter of time before voice and speech recognition becomes the new normal across all areas of print.
While the print market has faced years of continuous disruption, evolving consumer habits and expectations and a range of unique challenges, it has learned to confront these issues head on and move with the times. Though 2020 is unlikely to be a year of massive, wholesale industry change, it will no doubt be one of consolidation and slow evolution, in which we see existing innovations and trends continue to take hold and expand globally.
KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (formerly Cenveo Publisher Services) is the industry leader in print and digital solutions for every stage of the publication lifecycle. We are your source for content services, offset and digital print production, binding, fulfillment and more. Email us at info@kwglobal.com.