Print output for wide-format and other signage applications are recovering from a downturn
at the beginning of the decade. The outlook is still challenging however, as new priorities are
established in printed advertising, point-of-sale (PoS) signage, posters, decals, and vehicle
graphics.
In a latest expert study from Smithers,‘The Future of Printed Signage in a Digital World to
2028’, it shows that in 2023 a total of 10.08 billion square metres of signage media will be
printed globally, down from 10.81 billion in 2019. By value, this segment was worth $45.4
billion in 2019, which fell sharply to $36.8 billion in 2020. In 2023, the global printed signage
market total value will be worth $40.9 billion.
The sector is approaching the end of its post-Covid recovery curve however, and is now
beginning to plateau, Smithers analysis shows. Its dedicated market forecast is for signage
print volumes to increase moderately at a +0.7% compound annual growth rate to reach
10.4 billion metres square in 2028. Sales value will be slower to rebound with a marginal
CAGR of +0.2% forecast for the same period. With any genuine expansion coming from Asia
and other developing economies, total value will reach $41.4 billion in 2028 at constant
prices.
Smithers tracks the market outlook for seven different formats of both indoor and outdoor
signage across 26 national and regional markets for a 10-year period. The transition away
from physical signage is most advanced in economies with greatest access to the Internet.
Advertisers are increasingly targeting consumers via social media, websites or other online
channels; while the increased preference for e-commerce is damaging the outlook for retail
formats. Simultaneously there has been investment in electronic signage that can reproduce
static physical adverts – as well as video and touchscreen functionality – but there is a
significant up-front capital cost.
This effect is most evident in reduced volumes of large permanent or semi-permanent
formats; such as posters, billboards, sails, and hot air balloons. The outlook is more positive
in retail signage, mainly various PoS display formats. In-store signage is seen as an
important tool to draw shoppers back through the doors for physical retail, and there is
innovation to use such media to link to the online world and integrate with multi-platform
marketing campaigns. This is pushing OEMs and print service providers to improve the
range of value-adding effects on printed signage, as well as diversifying their product
mix.
The regions where genuine growth will occur over the next five years are concentrated in
major Asian markets like India and China, Latin America, and parts of Eastern Europe;
tracking the roll out of supermarket retailing and other amenities to a growing, but not yet
fully digitalised consumer base.
Further sub-dividing the market by print process, it is clear that market changes caused by
Covid-19, are directly favouring inkjet systems, and the process will progressively take share
from analogue competitors (Offset litho, Screen, Other). This reflects several factors,
including the adoption superior printhead technology, inks, coatings, and signage media on
wide format inkjet. Furthermore, as print run lengths for signage trend downwards, inkjet is
increasingly cost-competitive against analogue. The greatest losses will be in screen
printing, with marginal decline in offset litho production, contrasting with inkjet growing at a
+1.2% CAGR, globally.
Smithers comprehensive dataset also tracks the impact on demand for signage media. This
shows a greater use of coated woodfree, other paperboard, and new textile materials, in
signage printing across the next five years.
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