The new Printing Outlook 2024 report provides detailed analysis of the latest WhatTheyThink Business Outlook Survey, the latest industry economic data and macroeconomic trends, as well as industry and cultural technological trends to look out for in 2024 and beyond.

WhatTheyThink is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Printing Outlook 2024 now available at the WhatTheyThink Report Store.

Some highlights:

• 26% of print businesses surveyed said that revenues for 2023 had increased more than 10% compared to 2022.
• All told, 57% of print businesses surveyed reported an increase in revenues in 2023 compared to 2022.
• The top challenge this survey was “increasing plant productivity”, selected by 44% of respondents. “National economic conditions,” selected by 39%, is number two.
• “Improving economic conditions” returns to the top of the New Business Opportunities at 29%—although we’re not sure how much better the economy could have gotten.
• “We have no planned investments” was selected by 24% of respondents; “finishing/bindery equipment for digital equipment” (22%) and “workflow automation software” (17%) look to be the top investments for 2024.
• 62% respondents say they have implemented some kind of workflow automation in their facilities—most commonly “software-based estimating,” “software-based automatic processing of prepress files,” and “web-to-print/online storefront.”

The executive report looks back at 2023 as well as ahead to what the industry can expect, economically and technologically, in 2024 as the economy at large and the industry in particular struggle to return to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy. Last year’s major challenge— consumables and supplies availability and cost—has largely abated, while the other major challenge— employee scarcity—persists. Automation appears to be taking center stage, but what does that specifically ran? What other trends are impacting the industry, and how will they play out in 2024 and beyond?

The report features the results of the WhatTheyThink Printing Industry Business Outlook Survey conducted in Fall/Winter 2023, and includes current and expected business conditions, top business challenges, top business opportunities, and planned investments for 2023. Additional questions asked about what new capabilities they had recently added and were planning to add—production inkjet? Wide-format? Textile printing? Packaging? The report also looks at print businesses’ hiring plans for the next 12 months, what positions are being sought, and how they are searching for employees. The report also looks at automation—who has implemented it and what do they mean by “automation”—as well as so-called artificial intelligence (AI) (aka machine learning) and the extent to which it is on the industry’s radar and is being implemented—or is likely to be.

The report also offers the latest government data on shipments, establishments, profits, and employment for commercial printing, signage and display, and packaging and converting businesses. The report also includes macroeconomic data to look at how the overall economy might impact print businesses in 2024, and includes an industry forecast to 2033, as well as technology and cultural trends the industry should prepare itself for in 2024.

Print business owners will find the report essential for their planning, in order to put the marketplace and their strategic actions in realistic perspective. Industry suppliers will benefit from the insights into printer decision-making processes and the foundation of new industry demographic data that debuts in this report. Non-economic trends also offer ideas for what to pay attention to in the new year, and larger cultural and technological; trends indicate where marketing professionals and brandowners will likely be focusing their promotional dollars.

“Last year’s Printing Outlook report had the theme ‘back in black,’ as 2022 saw demand for print resurging from the pandemic,” said WhatTheyThink managing editor Richard Romano, author of the report. “And, yeah, it was probably a little unreasonable to expect that 2023 would keep that momentum growing. But we’ll put a positive spin on it: 2023 was a period of normalizing. Not as bleak as 2020 and 2021, not as great as 2022, but more in line with what a ‘normal’ year looks like.”

The report is available in the WhatTheyThink Report Store at https://store.whattheythink.com/downloads/printing-outlook-2024/.