LEXINGTON, KY -- WhatTheyThink, the leading media organization serving the printing and publishing industry, announces the immediate availability of Trends and Future for Financial and Transactional Printing. This  study focused on transactional printing at commercial printers as well as in-house data centers and print-for-pay data service bureaus is now available.

Purchase Trends and Future for Financial and Transactional Printing

A principle objective of the study was to develop a comprehensive analysis of the digital printing (including inkjet) market opportunity for this application, and identify drivers and threats to printed output in 2006 while, at the same time, forecasting trends and opportunities through 2012.

The research was unique since, in addition to the traditional round of expert and industry interviews, it captured the responses of 547 consumers in an online survey about their current and future use of paper and online transactional documents.

Marco Boer of I.T. Strategies who conducted the research for PRIMIR noted, “The rate of migration to e-statements is highly varied, depending on business sector and size.”  For example, banks who on one hand have a 40% online banking rate find that 70% or more of their customers still want paper statements.  While some credit card providers encourage electronic payments to save on remittance processing costs plus paper, printing and postage costs, other providers see paper as a great monthly communication vehicle with their customers.  The latter group is generally open to the transpromotional opportunities.

There is much industry buzz about opportunities in transpromotional statement printing, however, the operational/technical challenges for implementing this new ‘marketing opportunity’ in-house requires corporate level decisions far beyond the simple acquisition of a high-speed color transaction printing system.  Despite the challenges,  transpromotional printing is an opportunity for the astute ‘commercial’ or digital printer who has already mastered the technical skill sets, implemented new workflows, and has the high speed color printing system in place. 

The bottom line according to the study is that financial and transactional printing is still a strong viable market, despite all the hype about electronic bill presentment and payment.  Transpromotional printing is highly effective in certain markets, but printers entering this market segment need to understand the overall costs for implementing a totally new workflow that supports transpromotional statement production.

About WhatTheyThink

WhatTheyThink comprises the largest graphic arts community in the print industry. Started in March 2000, WhatTheyThink.com provides daily news, interviews, research, and many more resources to our members. Our goal is to provide unbiased, real-time market intelligence to print and publishing executives.

The name WhatTheyThink (provided by an industry consultant) reflects our goal of developing a community built on what industry professionals had to say. We wanted unbiased takes from print buyers, designers, printers, and suppliers. Not just the big printers or the suppliers who were “buying advertising,” but ideas and knowledge from every corner of the industry.

About PRIMIR

The Print Industries Market Information and Research Organization (PRIMIR), provides in-depth research and analysis for the graphic communications industry.  PRIMIR research is funded by member dues as well as through support from NPES.  PRIMIR annually provides over $600,000 in current research studies including relevant market data and detailed information on graphic arts and related fields.  Members also benefit from meetings, market research skills building, and robust networking opportunities.