By now, it’s no secret to anyone involved in the printing industry that the market for traditional printing services is a “mature” market that will grow slowly, if at all, for the foreseeable future. The undeniable reality is that the printing industry has been shrinking, not growing, for several years. As Dr. Joe Webb has repeatedly noted in his columns here at WhatTheyThink, printing industry shipments (on an inflation-adjusted basis) have been steadily declining since 2000, according to data compiled by the U.S. Commerce Department. It’s also now clear that core print manufacturing services (prepress, press, and bindery/finishing) have become commodities that earn only commodity-level profits. These powerful market forces have made it extremely difficult for most printing companies to consistently grow either revenues or profits.

Core print manufacturing services have become commodities that earn only commodity-level profits. A growing number of printing companies have turned to value-added services to solve the painful and persistent problems of lackluster revenue growth and anemic profitability.

Over the past several years, a growing number of printing companies have turned to value-added services to solve the painful and persistent problems of lackluster revenue growth and anemic profitability. And, most printing company managers believe that value-added services will play an even more important role in the future than they do today. According to the 2006 edition of NAPL’s State of the Industry Report, nearly 69 percent of printers participating in the state of the industry survey believe that the demand for value-added services is growing.