Chas Moloney, marketing director, Ricoh UK
The biggest opportunity for printers will be the loosening of marketing budgets when the UK comes out of recession, as is expected in the first half of 2010. Marketers will, however, be under greater pressure than they were before the recession to demonstrate a higher return on investment on any increased spend, so printers must be able to offer clients a competitive advantage by making smart use of data and being a flexible and responsive supplier. Therefore, the biggest threat in that respect will be complacency. Ipex will be an important chance for printers and vendors to re-connect and plan for growth - especially digital print.
Michael Burman, managing director, FE Burman
The printing industry at the end of 2009 is saddled with two problems: we are selling a commodity and there is overcapacity. We have to accept that ink on paper is only one of many ways in which we all can communicate. Thus in a competitive environment, it is vital we make the purchasing of print as accessible as possible and also publicise its strengths and advantages. So from data analysis to personalised printing, any new and developing technologies will need to be examined to see if they can help us all stay in the communications industry. Our slogan for 2010 should be ‘the print industry is dead, long live the communications industry’.
Paul French, managing director, Robert Horne
We can’t expect the market to make any significant shifts until towards the end of 2010, if at all. Paper consumption, which had already been in decline over the past ten years, has fallen by as much as 14% and is expected to decline further still. For Robert Horne, 2009 was a difficult year – much harder than anyone envisaged. However, we move into 2010 with solid plans in place to develop our business in commercial print, sign and display, wide-format machinery and new growth areas of packaging and litho consumables. I don’t expect it to be an easy journey, but our people are totally committed to delivering service and value to our customers.
Bryn Oakley, partner, Astra Printing
January has been promising, and, while no-one is out of the woods, we are cautiously hoping that this trend continues. Any recovery I think will be slow, but this is mainly down to nervousness. One of the main opportunities in 2010 is to make people realise that global warming is a selling tool for the print industry and that using paper is great for the planet. Equally, I predict digital capacity will increase as everyone has been jumping on that bandwagon, Astra Printing included. As a result, the advantage of digital will wane as everyone reduces prices to get work and there is a real risk of overcapacity.
