Commercial Print Production USA Market Intelligence

Industry Outlook & Drivers

Regional Market Overview on Commercial Print Production

The four regions southeast, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, and West have the highest concentration of printing companies. PMCs/holding companies, like HH Global, Cenveo, and InnerWorkings, are the key market  players for sourcing end-to-end print services.

Key Insights

• Mid-Atlantic has a higher share of book printers, owing to the concentration in that region of book publishers
• Overall, the states with the highest concentration of industry establishments are California (12.2%), Texas (6.8%), and New York (6.3%).
• Publishing(19%), BFSI (17%), Retail (16%), and Public Sector(12%) are the major industries driving the print management industry. The technology industry has comparatively lesser contribution in the overall print management industry

Emerging Technology Trends 

Software Innovation for Print Business

• The graphic design software used in pre-press stage has wider range of tools and features, enabling lean workflow, compatibility across different files, and collaboration among designers across different geographies

Hybrid Print Technologies

• Print industry is migrating toward integration with digital channels: computer-to-print plate automation. This technology allows the designer to send finished image files to electronic plates, which can read them and help executing complex projects faster

3-D Printing

• Printing is expanding from flat sheet printing to 3-D printing. Commercial printers are technically upgrading themselves to capitalize on the same. 3-D printed materials have greater likelihood of being noted

Digital Content Distribution

• With increase of web-to-print and on-demand printing, digital content distribution platforms are also gaining momentum. Downloading the content on requirement basis provides flexibility, and helps in brand uniformity

On-demand Printing

• As technological advancements are getting better, it is easier for companies to print commercial print items in and around desired locations, in adequate amount and get it delivered without any delay

Web-to-print

• Clients, print designers can upload any document that needs to be printed to cloud services, get it printed by printers closest to where it is required

Sourcing Models

• Country-level sourcing: Sourcing services at a country level, where each country has its own set of printers, catering to their commercial print requirements.
• Regional sourcing: Commercial print services are sourced at a regional level
• Global sourcing: Commercial print services are sourced at a global level.

Sourcing Practices

Organizations usually use multiple print vendors to reduce cost.Generally, buyers engage with global print vendors when they want an enhanced quality of artwork and design. The digital copy is then shared with the regional/country-level print vendor, who takes care of regional adaptation and then prints the content.As a value-added service, the regional vendors also provide warehousing and fulfillment services in order to minimize speed to market. Hence, depending on the complexity, criticality and client involvement in the project, clients can choose between global or regional print vendors.