Printer Relevancy Determined by Innovation, Pricing, and Production

So it's no secret that print demand is changing - to stay relevant printers need to adapt to these changes. Preferably this happens sooner rather than later if a printer has any hopes to maintain or grow its market share. Infotrends came out with new findings from a study “Production Print Services in North America: An Evolution in Progress.” The study shows how evolving behavior by customers and pricing demands are determining the future for print service providers.

By now, printers know they need to be cost effective in order to win/retain business, but it doesn't stop there. The best price is not everything. The industry has gotten really good at teaching customers how to treat it, price alone is not good enough - not if you want to be around for the long haul. PSPs also need to continue the push to showcase innovative solutions all while maintaining productivity for their own well being. The study shows that In-Plants really need to heed this insight as they were the hardest hit during the economic downturn but the least likely to adapt new capabilities and offerings.

Demand for value add services (like CRM, web hosting, e-comm.) will grow 18% by 2013 according to the survey. Pay per Print establishments are more likely to reinvest in their businesses, focusing on segments like marketing professionals in addition to traditional print buyers. Digital will continue to cannibalize offset as demand increases for shorter run, full color production. The kicker is that both offset and digital are not seeing revenue growth which may result in further market consolidation. To read the entire article and its findings, click here.