54% of Décor Printers Plan to Buy New Equipment in the Next 18 Months

IN OCTOBER 2021, Big Picture magazine and Keypoint Intelligence fielded a survey of US printing establishments to examine the digital printing opportunity in the interior décor market. The businesses surveyed included primarily signage, commercial print, and interior décor-specific print service providers.

The survey found that the décor market presents a growing opportunity for a broad range of product applications.

Among printing establishments that currently produce décor products using digital printing technology, 54 percent plan on purchasing new digital equipment within the next 18 months. Companies in the market for new digital printers are typically looking at dye sublimation, pigment inks, and UV curable inks to meet their décor printing requirements. The fact that so many companies are looking to invest highlights the growing opportunity that interior décor applications represent. Adding further emphasis to this point is the fact that this demand is evident at a time when the economy continues to face challenges caused by the pandemic, such as supply chain constraints, rising prices, and the difficulty in finding skilled labor.

The top three most frequently offered digitally printed décor applications include vinyl wallcoverings, vinyl wallcoverings with removable adhesive backing, and canvas prints. However, the printing establishments that were surveyed do offer a broad array of digitally printed décor product types that go well beyond these three. When asked what applications are growing the most, the top five product types selected by respondents included:

• Vinyl wallcoverings with removable adhesive backing (46 percent)
• Vinyl wallcoverings (42 percent)
• Paper wallcoverings (30 percent)
• Custom printed upholstery (24 percent)
• Paper wallcoverings with removable adhesive backing (21 percent)

As the data illustrates, wallcoverings with adhesive backing are frequently offered and they tend to rank higher in terms of demand.

Those who participated in this survey indicated that digitally printed interior décor applications currently make up 41 percent of their company’s revenue. This suggests that most companies that invested in digital printing for interior décor have successfully seized this opportunity. Most of the printing establishments are likely to have a strong return on investment. Although 26 percent of those surveyed noted they have little demand for these types of products today, part of this is related to the fact that their companies are in early stages of pursuing the interior décor opportunity. Moreover, half are seeing growing demand (29 percent) or strongly growing demand (21 percent.) This provides another indication that the interior décor segment is an attractive market opportunity that is worth investigating.