Global digital print market to grow at 6.45% CAGR to 2026

Why inkjet is feasible – the Ricoh blog

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Global digital print market to grow at 6.45% CAGR to 2026
The Ricoh Pro Z75 iB2 digital inkjet press is said to be more than 12 meters long Image Ricoh

The global Digital Printing Market will grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 6.45% between 2021 to 2026 says market research consulting firm Mordor Intelligence, Sander Sondaal, director, Commercial Print Sales, Commercial and Industrial Printing Group, Ricoh Europe in his widely distributed blog of 28 May 2021.

This is being driven, in part, by advertising, commercial, security and transactional work benefiting from on demand, fast, affordable, high quality results. A key factor also highlighted was an increased use of variable data printing (VDP) such as customized content and images in marketing and promotional campaigns.

Short run self-publishing will contribute to this positive outlook, too, as it harnesses the flexibility, optimized stock handling, and minimization of time to market for printed content.

This optimism, given the past year, is welcome but not a surprise. And the highlighted sectors are where we expect digital print inkjet to become the most desirable technology. Important, too, is inkjet’s feasibility and how it can respond to evolving market demands. There are three crucial areas that inkjet delivers on for graphic arts specialists.

Quality and flexibility

While quality is fundamental to our research and development, it is equally important that new systems and solutions are flexible and adaptable to changing market demands. That includes our flagship color continuous feed inkjet press, the Ricoh Pro VC70000. It is enabling operations to expand their capabilities. Examples include Print Service Providers (PSPs) strong in transactional print that are now transitioning into magazines, brochures and books. Offset image quality is achieved by the recently previewed Ricoh Pro Z75 B2 color sheetfed inkjet press through Ricoh’s own printhead, aqueous ink and dynamic drop size technology. But it also offers media versatility for those seeking to expand their application range and profitably meet increased demand for short runs.

Productivity

Digital print, and particularly inkjet, is ‘an increasingly important and valuable part of the overall print market’ according to Smithers Pira’s The Future of Digital print vs Offset Printing to 2024. It stated inkjet will increase competitiveness on longer runs via new generations of high throughput presses and offer new revenue streams for graphic arts specialists. The agility of digital print inkjet drives this by allowing the efficient completion of short and long runs with equal ease. Set up is fast and simple, too, maximizing up time.

Cost

The ability for digital inkjet to print on demand and produce what is needed when it is needed avoids waste and supports just in time delivery, eliminating the need for inventory. This reduces costs and saves time. Inkjet supports cost effective production, too, by being able to handle quick turnaround smaller repeat orders of longer runs previously printed offset.

These elements make inkjet viable and feasible, but they are not the only consideration.

Inkjet can open up new opportunities. Each printed page can be unique and incorporate data helping ensure content is relevant. This arms marketeers with creative ways to develop engaging communications.

Is also offers greater efficiency by delivering items on time in the quantities required.

To learn more about inkjet’s feasibility and how you can make the most of the growth opportunity visit https://www.ricoh-europe.com or contact your local Ricoh company to discover more.

Sander Sondaal is the director of Commercial Print Sales, Commercial and Industrial Printing Group, Ricoh Europe

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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