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Believe it now or later --
We will call 1998 "the good ol' days!"
Washington, DC -- November 10, 1999: Business conditions for commercial printers are headed South just after the millennium according to the newly created TrendWatch(tm) Business Conditions Index, its lowest level since the start of data collection for the Index over five years ago. This Index measures current and expected business conditions in the graphics markets.
The printing industry index dropped from 95.1 this spring to 84.1 this fall (1999), indicating that business conditions for printers look a lot like those of 1996.
However, in 1996 the threat that dollars would be shifting from print budgets to new media was just that, a threat. For many print buyers this is now a realistic choice, and cross-media publishing is growing to be more commonplace, affecting budgets, new jobs, page counts, reprint cycles, and other print job characteristics.
This is important because company selling to printers may have business at risk. If your company sells to other graphics firms, you may have new opportunities as documents are created for cross-media applications. Either way, change is in this South wind, and unfortunately, many printers won't see what's happening until it is too late. Some will blame their sales people for a decline in sales, but it appears that 1999 will go down as the year that the Internet started to shift the printing demand curve.
Also, cross-media (where communication projects are strategically integrated to use the Internet and print together addressing the different needs of market segments and their sales cycles) is becoming common practice. This will significantly change the way print is used in many markets and printers need to learn what their customers are doing and participate. Are printers ready for this shift? If someone has to print out this piece and hand it to the CEO of their printer, it is probably a bad sign, but it's a start!
For more information about the TrendWatch Reports and definitive graphics,
creative and electronic media market information, see our website (www.trendwatch.com).
For more information about how you can receive TrendWatch graphic arts
and publishing market information reports, contact Dr. Joseph Webb or
James R. Whittington, CMC, TrendWatch partners (info@trendwatch.com)
or call 800-283-8063.