Drupa: ‘Print Got Its Mojo Back’

Drupa has revealed a preview of its fourth Global Trends report featuring research based on a survey of roughly 850 printers and 300 suppliers across the global print industry.

Sabine Geldermann, director, says in a release that “showcased a global print industry that has regained its confidence in the future, with lots of fresh technology and applications demonstrated to enthuse both printers and their customers alike. … Print got its ‘mojo’ back.” This optimism is reflected in the report, with 42 percent of printers describing their business as “good” in 2016. Only 11 percent reported their business as “poor.”

The association doesn’t shy away from the need for change, however: “All printers, whatever market or region they are from, know that if they want to succeed in the long term, they must continue to adapt to the ever changing market and economic conditions. This needs a ruthless approach to efficiency and automation while at the same time learning new skills and adding new value services,” Geldermann adds.

Additional takeaways from the report, focused on the year 2016, include:
• The package printing market rose 39 percent
• Functional printing rose 34 percent
• North America was the strongest region with a market increase of 49 percent
• Twenty-eight percent of printers reported that more than 25 percent of their turnover was digital in 2015; this figure fell slightly to 27 percent in 2016
• Inkjet was the dominant technology for most functional applications
• Digital grew from 37 percent in 2013 to 50 percent in 2016 in the areas of commercial and wide-format print
• In 2014, 24 percent of offered digital print; in 2016, the figure rose to 34 percent
• The number of web-to-print installations fell “significantly” in regions such as North America and Australia/Oceania

The full report and an accompanying executive summary will be available in a few weeks.