Widthwise 2024


Q10. Will you enter any of these markets for the first time in the next 12 months? Exhibition/display graphics


11%


Textile printing for banners/flags Signage


Retail/POP/POS Wallpaper/murals


Billboard/outdoor advertising Floor graphics 3D Print


Textile printing for garments


Textile printing for home/interiors Transport graphics/vehicle wraps Posters


Packaging


Cardboard engineering Building wraps Contracting


Fine art/photography


Industrial speciality (eg ceramics) Other


Not sure None


9% 9%


7% 7% 7%


5%


4% 4% 4%


2% 2%


2% 2%


2% 2% 2% 2%


16% 1% 56%


over the next two years, while 53% are confident that it will grow. Indeed, 53% of respondents said they were very optimistic about their performance over the next two years, while 37% described themselves as mildly optimistic. Tat said, this confidence isn’t quite reflected in their recruitment strategies: only 35% of companies expect- ed to increase their workforce, while 61% assumed it would stay the same. (To be fair, this apparent discrepancy may be explained by the fact that 7% identified staff recruit- ment and retention was one of their main worries looking ahead.) Tat upbeat mood is reflected, in an


oblique way, by the fact that 56% of print companies do not intend to enter a new market during the next 12 months. A certain amount of diversification is always desirable but a desperate scramble to find


new applications to suit new clients can be distracting, expensive and, at worst - especially if it leaves existing clients feeling unloved or ignored - downright ruinous. Te print market which is tempting most newcomers is exhibition displays and graphics (a new target for 11% of respondents) closely followed by signage, and textile printing for banner flags (both of interest to 9%). Tese sectors have been the traditional


mainstays for most print service providers but their future is uncertain. Te decline in bricks and mortar stores has slowed - in 2023 there was a net loss of 14 shops a day in the UK - and industry analysts now be- lieve that e-commerce’s share of the market could peak at around 65%. Tat’s high but better than what many pundits predicted a decade ago. Even so, Marks & Spencer, one


of the country’s most significant retail- ers, which has anchored many shopping centres, plans to close another 110 stores by 2029. Many other high street brands - notably Cath Kidston, Hotter Shoes, Muji, Ted Baker, Le Pain Quotidien and Wilko - have either closed, entered administration or been acquired. With 34% of print service providers saying that retail was their most lucrative market, this turmoil could prove a drag on industry performance. Aſter fears that 300,000 jobs could be lost


in lockdown, the exhibition business has bounced back strongly, attracting 6.92m visitors in 2023 but the long-term prognosis remains uncertain. Te question is whether a triple whammy of lockdown, the internet and new ways of working will prove to have profoundly, and irrevocably, altered executives’ enthusiasm for such events.


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