Global industry association Fespa has launched its third Print Census to help identify the challenges and opportunities faced by printers around the world in the age of Covid.
The regular international survey, created to provide ongoing insights into industry trends, got underway with visitors to Fespa Global Print Expo and European Sign Expo in Berlin from 31 May to 3 June.
The third iteration will delve further into the six core areas that emerged from the analysis of the 2018 Print Census: market optimism, changing customer demands, the evolving wide-format product mix, the importance of digital technology investment, the rise of textile printing, and environmental pressures.
Fespa hopes that exploring these same topics four years on will allow it to assess how long-term trends are progressing and to better support its members and shape its future product offering.
The Print Census also aims to identify new drivers of change in the industry, for example by exploring equipment, software and workflow trends, as well as pricing and margins.
The report will also seek to understand the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic on print and signage businesses. The survey will also be carried out at upcoming Fespa exhibitions in Brazil, Turkey and Mexico.
An overview of the findings will be published in spring next year at Fespa Global Print Expo 2023 in Munich. The full analysis will be accessible free of charge to members of Fespa’s national associations and Fespa Direct Corporate membership holders. Non-members will be able to buy the census report.
Graeme Richardson-Locke, Fespa’s head of associations and technical lead, said: “At Fespa, our purpose is to deliver education and inspiration to our communities to help them prosper.
“By hearing from our members and visitors to Fespa’s worldwide events about how trends in the market are impacting their businesses and how the pandemic has changed their ways of working, we can obtain a clear picture of the commercial reality for printers and sign-makers around the world and deepen our understanding of how the market is diversifying.
“This enables us to adapt our products to ensure that, in conjunction with our local associations, we’re providing the right support to help our members to succeed.
“Delivering these services to our community is more vital than ever and, with an informed view of the commercial backdrop, we can help them make informed decisions to support their recovery and long-term growth.”
The survey is available to complete online at www.fespa.com/printcensus/survey in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Further translations into Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbia, Slovakian, Thai and Turkish will be available from mid-June.
