Inkjet takes market share as innovation quickens, says Smithers

Smithers comprehensively examines and quantifies this market in its latest expert study, The Future of Printed Signage in a Digital World to 2028. This shows that in 2023 a total of 10.08-bn/sqm of signage media will be printed globally, down from 10.81-bn in 2019. By value, this segment was worth USD 45.4-bn in 2019, which fell sharply to USD 36.8-billion in 2020. In 2023, the global printed signage market total value will be worth USD 40.9-billion.

The sector is approaching the end of its post-Covid recovery curve, 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-bn/sqm 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 USD 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 eCommerce 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 diversify 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 of 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 a 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.