Latest research from print analysts Smithers Pira says digital print will grow to more than a fifth of all print in five years time, while overall print volumes are shrinking, but cash value is rising.
According to the research the average value of print is increasing slightly over the ten-year period 2014–2024, as a result it says of changes in the product mix and the print processes employed. Typically digital printing, especially non-commodity printing, has a higher margin than offset.
In value terms, global print output is set to grow from US$808bn in 2019 to US$863bn in 2024 – a CAGR of 1.3 per cent.
The figures tie in with the Australian experience, where volumes have been shrinking for a decade, since the GFC, but value has remained fairly static, at around $8bn.
Smithers Pira’s latest market report, The Future of Digital vs Offset Printing to 2024, shows the global output measured in billions of A4 prints was 49,665 in 2019, which it says will remain static through to 2024.
Digital print, and especially inkjet, is an increasingly important and valuable part of the overall print market. Accounting for 13.5 per cent of total market output in 2014, this has risen to 17.4 per cent in 2019.
As it has done so it has displaced and taken work from offset litho and other existing analogue print process. Technical innovations and shift in market demands will further support this trend through to 2024, pushing digital’s share to 21.1 per cent.
This will see digital colonise new spaces in key markets, such as packaging; increase its competitiveness at longer runs with a new generation of high throughput machinery; and offer new revenue streams for print service providers.
The report confirms that both analogue and digital print production are becoming more efficient, which contributes to improving unit costs. In addition, increasing capabilities in short-run printing and associated downstream converting processes are leading to improved supply chain efficiencies, in which print production is closely matched with demand.
Many different factors are shaping demand across the print industry, and print supply chain participants have a variety of options to draw on when determining how best to meet changing demand patterns.
The role of print is changing, with the main dynamic being the impact of the internet and mobile connectivity on the way both businesses and individuals communicate and access information. This affects every segment of the traditional printing business, and is changing expectations of what is acceptable in relation to speed, relevance and degree of interactivity of information, irrespective of the medium used.
The report cites several key drivers affecting demand for offset litho and digital, which are highlighted below, the impact of these is covered in detail in the report:
- Rising global consumption through a combination of population growth, increased urbanisation and the rise of a global middle class with discretionary spending power
- Fundamental changes in the way consumers and businesses disseminate and access information – and the channels used by advertisers – from print to electronic media
- Increasingly agile supply chains with on-demand and just-in-time models adopted across print markets
- Consumers, businesses, brands and governments demand products and production technologies with improved sustainability and environmental profiles
- Growing use of artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things and other Industry 4.0 technologies to enhance the productivity of print processes.
The Future of Digital Vs Offset Printing to 2024 compares digital and offset litho printing over the period 2014–24 in publication, graphic and packaging applications. It looks at trends affecting the demand side of print and printed packaging over these ten-years, and reviews how print production and technology supply chains are responding. It is available on the Smithers Pira website for £4,750 which is about $8000.