Second drupa Global Trends Report Issued
- Published: April 02, 2015
CHICAGO, IL | Messe Düsseldorf North America (MDNA) announces the second drupa Global Trends report, tracking key economic and market developments in the global print industry over the period leading to drupa 2016 and beyond. This is based on a survey conducted in October 2014 in which more than 1,100 participants took part. Many areas of print are covered, including a number of areas of specific interest to converters. 
MDNA says 810 printers participated in the survey, and while a majority were from Europe (513), the rest of the world was well represented in all regions (297). Suppliers were issued a full separate supplier survey, sharing some questions with the printers but also asked other, more specific questions relevant to them.
Following is the table of contents:
• Executive Summary
• Economic Summary
• The full report; Printer and supplier economic assessments of their own businesses
• Financial performance trends for printers and suppliers • Printer operational performances trends
• Capital expenditure trends for printers and suppliers
• Strategic issues for printers and suppliers
• Market specific trends for printers
Initial results from the second "drupa Global Trends" report are showing sustained recovery from the recession with some surprising insights and positive feedback, according to Messe Düsseldorf. This report is designed to highlight economic and operational trends in the worldwide print sector. The report includes developments and important key data from the worldwide print sector–such as financial conditions, business climate, investment plans and technologies used, as well as trends.
Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, CEO of Messe Düsseldorf, summarized the key results of the study: "The generally upbeat picture reported by the expert panel surprised us. Both the print service providers and the international supplier industry gave a positive evaluation of the economic situation of their own companies as of October 2014. Even more surprising, however, was that the print and supplier industry is heading into 2015 with a very positive outlook.”
The question “How do you see the outlook for the coming twelve months?” was answered by 48% of service providers surveyed with expectations of an improvement in their companies’ economic situation while only 7% expect a decline. The results from the worldwide supplier industry were also positive: 51% forecast an improvement and only 8% a decline.
The results of the individual performance measures surveyed are much more diverse, according to Dornscheidt:
1. Sales for print service providers continue to rise—but are less pronounced. 39% of print service providers report an increase, whereas 22% show a drop in sales. This positive balance of 17% is well below the positive net balance of 27% from the first survey.
2. The margins for print service providers continue to fall. Almost half (43%) of the print service providers surveyed report falling margins, while just 16% succeeded in increasing margins. Positive exceptions here are the markets of North America and the Middle East, where 29% and 28% reported increased margins.
3. Digital print is growing fast but is still a small percentage of turnover for most printers. As quickly as the share of digital printing in the overall print technology mix continues to rise, most turnover continues to be generated from traditional print. Only 10% of the print service providers surveyed generated more than 25% of their 2014 sales in digital printing (2013: 8%).
4. Print service providers are not turning to services outside the print sector. Often recommended as a new business area—but not yet realized in practice: Just 27% of the print providers surveyed get more than 10% of their sales from services outside the print sector (e.g. asset management for customers, updating databases, etc.).
Drawing an initial conclusion from the second drupa Global Trends report, those surveyed feel positive, says Dornscheidt—even if some measures are still showing negative trends. This general optimism is supported by the investment plans cited both by print service providers and supplier companies.
This 2nd Global Trends report is complemented by drupa’s Global Insights reports, the first of which was published in October 2014 –The Impact of the Internet on Print – The Digital Flood (available from the drupa website). A second Global Insights report will be published this Autumn, covering technologies and applications that can create growth in print. Messe Düsseldorf, in its role as drupa organizer, thanks its two partners for conducting and authoring these two report series: Printfuture (UK) and Wissler & Partner (Switzerland).
The Executive Summary is available as a free download in seven languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Russian) at this link. The complete version of the report in English can also be purchased there for €249.
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