In October and November 2020, WhatTheyThink’s Business Outlook Survey asked print business executives and owners about their 2020 business conditions, expected 2021 business conditions, business challenges, biggest perceived opportunities, and investment plans. We also asked about respondents’ opinions of virtual events, as well as their 2020 hiring plans. The results of this survey—and much much more—are included in WhatTheyThink’s Printing Outlook 2021 special report. Over the past couple of months, we have been providing some top-level findings from that report.

Just about one-fourth (24%) of businesses surveyed have no investment plans for 2021. It’s tempting to attribute this to the pandemic, but the trends this year don’t differ too much from the last few pre-COVID surveys—and, in fact, in our Fall 2019 survey, before COVID, 32% said they had no planned investments for 2020.

Get the Full Report

The complete Printing Outlook 2021 report includes all our survey data broken down by establishment size, as well as industry statistics from third-party sources, extensive macroeconomic commentary, industry trends to look for in 2021 and beyond, and our industry forecast to 2030. The report can be purchased in our eStore at https://store.whattheythink.com/downloads/printing-outlook-2021/.