Lexington, KY - WhatTheyThink, the leading online media organization serving the printing and publishing industry, today announced the availability of their most current report titled “North American Monthly Printing Shipments, Issue #66.” This report is free to Premium Members of WhatTheyThink.

This report is available for immediate purchase for others at:

http://store.whattheythink.com/monthly-u-s-printing-shipments

March 2011 commercial printing shipments were $7.7 billion, up +$270 million (+3.6%) compared to 2010. Adjusting for inflation, shipments were up +0.9%. “March is now the biggest month of commercial printing's year,” explained Dr. Joe Webb, director of WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center. “The traditional seasonality of the industry used to have a very strong October, with both September and November as strong months. That ended in 2007, as more and more retailers shifted their holiday season advertising and promotional plans to other media. Now, March is a bellwether month for judging how the rest of the year may play out.”

Dr. Webb continues to emphasize that this period of improved shipments should be considered as breathing room to get ready for some significant changes in communications technologies. “Some of the general economic indicators are softening. GDP for the first quarter was only +1.8%, and other measures are weakening, too. Commercial printers need to keep restructuring their businesses for the technological changes that are coming later this year, and for what may be another period of economic contraction.” Dr. Webb believes that there will be a large number of TabletPC product introductions beginning in the Fall, and that their convenience and connectivity will broaden the acceptance by consumers and workplaces. “This is a critical year for urgent and decisive actions by print executives,” he concluded.

The latest report includes a discussion of March's shipments, Canada's February shipments, and updated forecasts for the North American printing industry to 2017. It also includes the latest inflation multipliers so companies can adjust their prior financials and better detect underlying trends in their businesses.

The Monthly Printing Shipments Report contains both current and inflation-adjusted analysis of commercial printing and print services shipments, and forecasts for 2011 through 2017. Forecasts are updated every month, and changes are discussed in the report, which is comprised of Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint files, and an MP3 file of audio commentary from Dr. Webb. The cost of the report is $50.00. Those purchasing the report can easily repurpose the charts and data in presentations, webinars, and other reports.

The report contains significant and proprietary analysis and by Dr. Webb and WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center. It is a top-level analysis of the U.S. commercial printing and trade services markets such as commercial offset, digital, and other printing processes, as well as prepress and postpress contained in the standard business classification NAICS 323.

http://store.whattheythink.com/monthly-u-s-printing-shipments

WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center contains a blend of free and premium content for graphic arts and publishing executives. It offers an online library of primary research reports, executive summaries of economic trends, and related industry columns, videos, podcasts and webinars.

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About WhatTheyThink

WhatTheyThink is the printing and publishing industry's leading online media organization; offering a wide range of publications delivering unbiased, real-time market intelligence, industry news, economic and trend analysis, peer-to-peer communication, and special reports on emerging technology and critical events. Serving a membership base of more than 50,000, WhatTheyThink also hosts webinars and live events as well as providing content through a syndication program, which delivers content directly to related websites and through RSS. The organization also provides consulting and speakers bureau services to the industry.