New research from Smithers says digital print output will increase by 65% over the next 10 years, from $US139 billion in 2019 to $US230 billion by 2029. The dynamic growth rate will be driven by package printing, books and other graphic printing areas.
“By 2029, print industries will change significantly as a result of economic, technological, demographic, ecological, and behavioural factors,” according to a new Smithers report titled The Future of Digital Print: Long-Term Strategic Forecasts to 2029.
“New digital equipment and consumable sales will grow, reflecting the cost-effectiveness of inkjet and electrophotography for short to medium runs. The new capabilities in digital printing will enable print suppliers to offer customers greater agility while a number of societal trends will fuel overall digital print growth.”
The forecast says the global digital print market will reach just over the equivalent of 3 trillion A4 prints in 2029, at an average CAGR of 5.3% in value over 2014–29.
“The current shift from physical print to online in publication, advertising and transactional print sectors is resulting in lower print volumes and an increased consumer expectation for content (online or printed) to be more tailored to their interests, which supports digital printing,” says the report.
“E-commerce and m-commerce (mobile commerce) sales are increasing, disrupting traditional retail and enabling more efficient supply chains. In this area, the ability to produce goods or packaging on demand exists and will grow using digital printing.
“In packaging, brand owners are looking for innovations to support a switch to more sustainable packaging while seeking new ways to use printed packaging to engage consumers (including versioning, personalization of packaging design, and using time-sensitive event-related packaging). These factors together support increased demand for cost-effective, short-run print and digital print processes.
Key Industry Growth Segments
“The growth in digital print between 2019 and 2029 is predominantly based on increased demand in books, advertising, commercial print, labels and packaging,” according to Smithers. “The highest growth is in packaging, which increases from $6.3 billion in 2019 to $32.5 billion in 2029, a huge increase of 418% over the decade.”
Evolving Digital Printing Technology
Significant R&D investments in hardware, software and chemistry are delivering presses that are more reliable and productive and bring new capabilities that open new applications, the report says. “Equipment can be integrated into complete production systems that reduce cost of manufacture by re-engineering manufacturing. In addition, economies of scale are being realized as demand for printheads, inkjet ink and toner increases. High-productivity digital presses can use bulk ink packaging and direct distribution of ink and toner, which lowers the delivered cost of consumables.
“Over the next 10 years digital printing technology will develop along with the associated eco-system of workflow, substrates and finishing. The overall communications sector will be very different in 2029 as rapidly developing social media and online methods connect more people and things. Inkjet and electrophotography methods will evolve with incremental improvements in equipment performance while ink technology will deliver better results on a wider range of standard print and packaging substrates.
“The most significant change for digital printing over the next 10 years will be through developments integrating digital print, particularly inkjet, into broader production systems. This includes workflow and finishing to simplify and speed up time to market for many print products.”
For more information on The Future of Digital Print: Long-Term Forecasts to 2029 and other market reports, visit smithers.com.
