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TRENDWATCH FORECAST 2000 REPORT PREDICTS MAJOR CHANGES AND CHALLENGES FOR COMMERCIAL PRINTERS IN NEXT 12 MONTHS
HARRISVILLE, RI -- November 3, 1999 -- In a soon-to-be-released special report, TrendWatch pinpoints critical factors planting the seeds of upheaval in the 6th largest industry in America. The report's highlights were first presented at a recent executive briefing event at GraphExpo '99 in Chicago, October 19th. Due to the overwhelming response to the presentation, TrendWatch has announced the upcoming release of a special report entitled, TrendWatch Forecast 2000 for Printers. The report is scheduled for release on November 15th.
"In an industry that has been growing faster than the gross domestic product (GDP), these revelations represent a significant departure from historical trends," said Dr. Joe Webb, TrendWatch Partner. "In the general commercial printing industry estimated at almost $80 billion, even a slight decline is significant in terms of lost business revenue. We deem the coming revolution to re-shape the industry as a whole."
According to TrendWatch Forecast 2000, the following themes will become evident in the next 12 months:
- Because print buyers have new media choices and consumers are adapting to these media, there will be a decline in overall demand for traditional print products;
- Printers will have to continue to restructure to increase productivity, deal with employee shortages, and fight off declining prices as marketers re-allocate budgets for on-line media and print buyers rethink the way they use print;
- Workflow will become "the" critical issue as PDF workflow and other approaches, clear the way for digital infrastructure needed for direct-to-plate digital printing.
While printers are beginning to embrace the Internet as a business tool, it is also taking business away, causing print volumes to decline. Noted San Francisco-based TrendWatch partner, Jim Whittington, "We're now seeing this situation in Silicon Valley and expect it will spread quickly to other regions of the country. Print jobs that just six months ago went on-press are now produced in PDF formats for distribution via customers' websites."
Whittington continued, "Quick printers and small commercial printers have already felt these effects as their small business and small office computing customers have replaced printed pieces with on-line versions. Now, it is likely that plants of all sizes will begin to feel Internet related volume declines by the end of 2000."
At the Graph Expo'99 presentation, TrendWatch spoke to a capacity crowd of industry executives about what they can expect in the coming months and years.
According to TrendWatch:
- Overall, the outlook for traditional printing practices and businesses is turning pessimistic;
- Media buyers' budgets are tightening and they are permanently shifting a portion of their spending, originally earmarked for print, to new media channels;
- After all these years, direct-to-plate will be major bright spot in 2000 in what is shaping up as a lackluster year for capital investment overall;
- Industry consolidation will soon result in plant closures--consolidators will truly consolidate, but they will have to deal with a shortage of managers capable of directing multi-plant, multi-technology, and multi-media companies;
- Printers' Internet use will grow and broaden significantly from e-mail (to logistics, and critical marketing and management channels);
- TrendWatch research indicates that the majority of printers are still not worried about technology related issues.
Added Whittington, "This is a remarkable time to be in the industry. It's analogous to the beginning of the industrial revolution when technological change was creating new markets, new groups of customers, and certainly new types of businesses. We're just beginning to understand the scope of change and we see that the effects will be far reaching for print businesses of all sizes."
TrendWatch Forecast 2000 will be published on November 15th and will include these and other discussions for 2000 and beyond. Pre-publication copies of are available by phone (800-283-8063) or via the TrendWatch eStore (www.trendwatch.com).
Pre-publication orders can be placed at the secure TrendWatch website until the end of business November 14th, 1999. The pre-publication price is $750. Starting on November 15th, the report will be $975. Special prices for current TrendWatch survey subscribers are available.
Contacts:
Dr. Joe Webb, TrendWatch.
Phone 401-568-9899.
Mr. Jim Whittington, CMC, TrendWatch.
Phone: 415-380-8561.
Craig Kevghas, CPR Marketing.
Phone: 978-392-8990.