February 20, 2002 - WhatTheyThink.com and CAP Ventures have released their monthly Print Buyer Pulse Index. The data is compiled each month from print customers throughout the United States. The goal of the index is to provide real-time analysis of print demand directly from the end user. The survey asked print customers to indicate whether they expected their print spending to increase, stay the same or decrease over the next 6 months. It was followed with a question that asked what percent they expect their print spending to change during that period. The February polling of print customers indicated that 36.0% of print customers expect their print spending to increase over the next 6 months, up from the 28.0% in the January poll. Only 10.5% of print customers indicated they expect their print spending to decline over the next 6 months. This is lowest percentage of customers expecting a decline since December. Overall, printer customers’ outlook for their print spending over the next 6 months is expected to increase a modest 1.6%. One important observation is that 65% of the largest print customers (annual spend of $1 million or more) expect an increase over the next 6 months, another 30% expect spending to remain flat, and only 5% expect it to decline. This improved outlook among large print customers should be good news for many medium to large commercial printers. Premium Access members at WhatTheyThink.com can view charts, graphs, demographics and complete comparisons with previous months. The data can be accessed at www.whattheythink.com