2012 State of the Industry Report: Fundamental Market Shifts Underway

“Printers need to assert themselves and become more competitive, continually looking for new opportunities and ways to add customer value. They should be aiming to move out of commodity markets,” says FESPA’s Felton. “The areas in which printers judged themselves before—i.e.: quality, speed, service—are all a given in today’s market. Printers need to do things differently to really stand out. They need to help their customers by offering innovative solutions that go beyond print to help them meet their business objectives. Understanding what your customers need so that you can deliver a quality product is crucial. It’s not enough just to do as you always did; you have to see things from the customer’s perspective.”

“The digital print transformation is unstoppable,” says HP’s Garcia. The market will continue shifting analog pages to digital, moving to very short runs and niche applications and mass personalization. B2C Web-to-print offerings will continue to grow as wide-format continues its march toward mainstream. But one question remains: are you prepared to change and move with it?