Now Out there! WhatTheyThink’s Annual Printing Outlook Report Appears to 2024

The brand new Printing Outlook 2024 report gives detailed evaluation of the most recent WhatTheyThink Enterprise Outlook Survey, the most recent trade financial knowledge and macroeconomic traits, in addition to trade and cultural technological traits to look out for in 2024 and past.

WhatTheyThink is happy to announce the speedy availability of Printing Outlook 2024 now accessible on the WhatTheyThink Report Retailer.

Some highlights:

• 26% of print companies surveyed mentioned that revenues for 2023 had elevated greater than 10% in comparison with 2022.
• All instructed, 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 circumstances,” chosen by 39%, is quantity two.
• “Enhancing financial circumstances” returns to the highest of the New Enterprise Alternatives at 29%—though we’re unsure how a lot better the economic system might have gotten.
• “We’ve no deliberate investments” was chosen by 24% of respondents; “ending/bindery gear for digital gear” (22%) and “workflow automation software program” (17%) look to be the highest investments for 2024.
• 62% respondents say they’ve carried out some type of workflow automation of their services—mostly “software-based estimating,” “software-based computerized processing of prepress information,” and “web-to-print/on-line storefront.”

The manager report appears again at 2023 in addition to forward to what the trade can anticipate, economically and technologically, in 2024 because the economic system at giant 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 value—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 traits 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 circumstances, high enterprise challenges, high enterprise alternatives, and deliberate investments for 2023. Extra questions requested about what new capabilities they’d lately added and had been planning so as to add—manufacturing inkjet? Huge-format? Textile printing? Packaging? The report additionally appears at print companies’ hiring plans for the subsequent 12 months, what positions are being sought, and the way they’re looking for staff. The report additionally appears at automation—who has carried out 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 carried out—or is prone to be.

The report additionally provides the most recent authorities knowledge on shipments, institutions, income, and employment for industrial printing, signage and show, and packaging and changing companies. The report additionally contains macroeconomic knowledge to have a look at how the general economic system would possibly affect print companies in 2024, and contains an trade forecast to 2033, in addition to know-how and cultural traits the trade ought to put together itself for in 2024.

Print enterprise homeowners will discover the report important for his or her planning, so as 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 knowledge that debuts on this report. Non-economic traits additionally supply concepts for what to concentrate to within the new 12 months, and bigger cultural and technological; traits point out the place advertising professionals and brandowners will seemingly 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,” mentioned WhatTheyThink managing editor Richard Romano, creator of the report. “And, yeah, it was in all probability somewhat unreasonable to anticipate that 2023 would maintain 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 step with what a ‘regular’ 12 months appears like.”

The report is offered within the WhatTheyThink Report Retailer at https://retailer.whattheythink.com/downloads/printing-outlook-2024/.