A PEiR Group Staff Report

Lot of talk out there about digital printing, the digital economy… and digital this and that these days, right?

But you know people are seriously evaluating the digital marketplace when the global stock markets sic their analysts on the industry. Dublin, Ireland-based Research and Markets recently compiled a report on our “Digital Future,” – and came up with some interesting findings.

The report covers a variety of topics including past, present and future market positions; technologies and products; equipment suppliers, document management, financing and economics of print, plus a resources section of suppliers.

Interviews with companies such as Quark, IBM, OCE, Hewlett Packard, One2One, Lloyds/TSB, British Airways, Renault UK, TJ International and more are featured.

Key Conclusions from Research and Markets:
The Digital economy is on a solid growth track. In addition to its steady growth as a sales opportunity, we are seeing rapid, consistent growth in digital printing and black-and-white and colour copying volumes, as well as significant plans to invest in additional digital printing units, whether as upgrades or as additional capacity. Both printers and their customers are consistently showing growth in their use of key applications like Web-to-print, variable data printing, and short-run digital printing.

Key to growth in the digital printing marketplace is the diversity of press sizes, speeds, and price ranges in the equipment market, reducing the barrier to entry and making digital production affordable in production environments of all sizes and volumes. The data clearly shows that the line of demarcation, in terms of size, between serious players and those whose budgets are too restricted to do anything but dabble, have all but disappeared.

Quik Facts:
- 41% of all graphic arts firms now say they offer some type of digital printing in-house;
- 17% of graphic arts firms say that their volumes of full-color digital printing are increasing “a little” (1-25%) or “a lot” (25% or more);
- 11% of creatives see “digital printing” as a top sales opportunity for their businesses.