Commercial
printing industry refers to the services offered by printing
industry for commercial applications. Commercial printing services
include binding, composition, layout, graphic design, plate making
and press production. Commercial printers are used to construct phone
books, magazines, labels, catalogs, advertising brochures, newspaper
inserts, corporate reports, direct mail marketing, for printing
financial documents, business forms, promotional materials and
training manuals. Besides paper printing, printing presses also
print on apparels, textile products, metal, glass and plastics.
Most
of the commercial printing units offer multiple services such as
design and prepress; printing; finishing that include binding,
cutting, and folding along with fulfillment including storing,
packaging and shipping. Services included in commercial printing are
lithographic printing, screen printing, flexographic printing,
gravure printing, book printing, quick printing, loose leaf binding,
prepress and trade binding services.
Offset
technology is the most widely used commercial printing technology.
However, there is a shift in trend presently in commercial printing
from offset technology to digital high speed inkjet technology. The
transformation is due to the fact that inkjet is more effective and
efficient way to print mails and other complex personalized messages
than the offset technology. Reduced costs for color printing and
better return on investments are some of the other advantages that
has resulted in wide doption of inkjet technology. The demand for
commercial printing is majorly driven by advertising needs of
businesses such as advertising firms and the volume of commercial
printing is highly dependent on the growth of the economy,
particularly the consumer spending power.
Large
printing presses gain profitability by bulk buying materials such as
ink and paper, thus serving a large customer base nationwide and
making effective use of presses. However, small press companies
compete by offering a service to specific applications. The demand
for printing services is recurring and depends on economic activities
in the country, owing to which major players are prepared for demand
fluctuations by deploying multifunctional printing equipment that
caters to the demand of various printing applications.. Currently,
the commercial printing market is facing many challenges. Digital
technology is a major threat to the commercial printing market.
Prices for digital printing are reducing below the offset printing
prices, owing to which companies that delays to shift to digital
printing are expected to be at risk.
Decreasing
sales and the plummeting unit selling prices are also factors
hampering industry profit of the commercial printing market.
Companies in commercial printing market require a substantial capital
investment to remain competitive, however, with a reducing sales
volume, maintaining consistent market share is a challenge.
However,
the current trends in the commercial printing market are helping
sustainability of the market in the competitive environment. Some of
these trends are, advancements in offset printing leading to lowered
cost per page, mass customization of printing services that helps to
cater variety of customers and new printing technologies such as
digital plate making has enabled acquisition of a wide customer base.
Some
of the major companies in the commercial printing market include
Cenveo, Inc., Quad/Graphics, Inc., R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company,
Dai Nippon Printing Co. Ltd., Toppan Printing Co. Ltd., TC
Transcontinental, Inc., Vistaprint NV, Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA,
Lagardere SCA and Quebecor World, Inc. among others.
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