Economic Downturn? Optimism Is in Digital

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With the upcoming Ipex 2010, Canon Europe reveals the ‘top line’ trends uncovered by a survey of print service providers and industry commentators into the impact of the recession on the printing industry.

The survey on the impact of the recession on the printing industry, the third to be sponsored by Canon Europe and conducted by Frank Romano and a team of print media graduates from the Rochester Institute of Technology in the USA, provides a further snapshot of the state of the printing industry. The results of the previous Canon ‘Insight’ studies into the future of digital printing and into the CRD (Central Reprographic Department) market were published in May 2008 and May 2009 respectively.

For this third survey, Romano’s team interviewed the largest sample to date, a total of 840 printers, 65.5% of whom were based in Western Europe. The sample included 383 of the 464 interviewed for the 2008 study, the remaining 81 having either merged or gone out of business.

Despite the earlier gloom, by the end of 2009 print service providers were reporting some clear optimism about 2010 and the future. This optimism could be founded on the fact that more than half of companies with a digital printing capability improved their revenue and profit in 2009 compared with 2008.

The final analysis of the survey is currently being completed and the results will be published in May 2010. The key findings of the survey demonstrate how important the adoption of digital printing has been to the survival of professional printers and how those emerging from the recession are likely to be better positioned to exploit future opportunities and overcome future challenges.

Rethink Business
In the last quarter of 2008, as marketers slashed print budgets, printers were forced to rethink every aspect of their business and to implement improved production methods to streamline staff and reduce costs. As print runs became much shorter, those who had implemented digital printing were well prepared for the shift. Those with only offset presses, and particularly those with older generation offset presses, were not geared up for it and were therefore not able to meet the changing demands. As printers acted to adapt, sales of digital machines consequently exceeded those of other presses during 2009. For example, the survey shows that while revenues from offset lithographic output declined by 18.1% in Western Europe during 2009 (compared with 2008), revenues from digital (toner and inkjet combined) output increased by a total of 27.2%.

Wide Format, Multimedia
For the purposes of the survey, ‘digital printing’ included not only document printers, but also wide format inkjet, and it appears that those in wide format printing did particularly well during the economic downturn. In fact, 86% of respondents said that display printing on wide format printers had helped them to survive the downturn. Commercial printers, who had previously avoided wide format as too niche, now discovered a growing market for signage and other display products as well as new industrial market segments for printing on fabrics, canvas and other materials.

One of the key elements to survival during the recession has been business leadership.  Those companies leading the recovery demonstrated that, by focusing on key selected markets (where they could add value) and by providing multi-media services (to differentiate themselves from competitors), they could ensure the long-term future of the business.