The brand new Printing Outlook 2024 report supplies detailed evaluation of the most recent WhatTheyThink Enterprise Outlook Survey, the most recent trade financial information and macroeconomic tendencies, in addition to trade and cultural technological tendencies to look out for in 2024 and past.
WhatTheyThink is happy to announce the fast availability of Printing Outlook 2024 now obtainable on the WhatTheyThink Report Retailer.
Some highlights:
- 26% of print companies surveyed stated that revenues for 2023 had elevated greater than 10% in comparison with 2022.
- All advised, 57% of print companies surveyed reported a rise in revenues in 2023 in comparison with 2022.
- The highest problem this survey was “rising plant productiveness”, chosen by 44% of respondents. “Nationwide financial situations,” chosen by 39%, is quantity two.
- “Bettering financial situations” returns to the highest of the New Enterprise Alternatives at 29%—though we’re undecided how significantly better the financial system might have gotten.
- “Now we have no deliberate investments” was chosen by 24% of respondents; “ending/bindery tools for digital tools” (22%) and “workflow automation software program” (17%) look to be the highest investments for 2024.
- 62% respondents say they’ve applied some form of workflow automation of their amenities—mostly “software-based estimating,” “software-based automated processing of prepress information,” and “web-to-print/on-line storefront.”
The manager report seems again at 2023 in addition to forward to what the trade can count on, economically and technologically, in 2024 because the financial system at massive and the trade particularly wrestle to return to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy. Final 12 months’s main problem— consumables and provides availability and price—has largely abated, whereas the opposite main problem— worker shortage—persists. Automation seems to be taking heart stage, however what does that particularly ran? What different tendencies are impacting the trade, and the way will they play out in 2024 and past?
The report options the outcomes of the WhatTheyThink Printing Trade Enterprise Outlook Survey performed in Fall/Winter 2023, and contains present and anticipated enterprise situations, high enterprise challenges, high enterprise alternatives, and deliberate investments for 2023. Extra questions requested about what new capabilities they’d just lately added and had been planning so as to add—manufacturing inkjet? Broad-format? Textile printing? Packaging? The report additionally seems at print companies’ hiring plans for the following 12 months, what positions are being sought, and the way they’re looking for staff. The report additionally seems at automation—who has applied it and what do they imply by “automation”—in addition to so-called synthetic intelligence (AI) (aka machine studying) and the extent to which it’s on the trade’s radar and is being applied—or is more likely to be.
The report additionally provides the most recent authorities information on shipments, institutions, earnings, and employment for industrial printing, signage and show, and packaging and changing companies. The report additionally contains macroeconomic information to take a look at how the general financial system may affect print companies in 2024, and contains an trade forecast to 2033, in addition to know-how and cultural tendencies the trade ought to put together itself for in 2024.
Print enterprise house owners will discover the report important for his or her planning, in an effort to put {the marketplace} and their strategic actions in reasonable perspective. Trade suppliers will profit from the insights into printer decision-making processes and the inspiration of recent trade demographic information that debuts on this report. Non-economic tendencies additionally supply concepts for what to concentrate to within the new 12 months, and bigger cultural and technological; tendencies point out the place advertising professionals and brandowners will probably be focusing their promotional {dollars}.
“Final 12 months’s Printing Outlook report had the theme ‘again in black,’ as 2022 noticed demand for print resurging from the pandemic,” stated WhatTheyThink managing editor Richard Romano, creator of the report. “And, yeah, it was in all probability just a little unreasonable to count on that 2023 would preserve that momentum rising. However we’ll put a optimistic spin on it: 2023 was a interval of normalizing. Not as bleak as 2020 and 2021, not as nice as 2022, however extra in keeping with what a ‘regular’ 12 months seems like.”
The report is on the market within the WhatTheyThink Report Retailer at https://retailer.whattheythink.com/downloads/printing-outlook-2024/.