Sizing the European Printing Industry

The European printing industry is big, no doubt. However, it is a surprisingly difficult task to determine how big the printing industry in Europe actually is. The available data is incomplete, non-comparable, or even non-existent. As a result gaps have to be filled in, data normalised (to make it comparable), different sourced reconciled, and overlaps in segments sorted out. In short, some in-depth industry expertise is required. Digitalprintexpert.de undertook a 2024 European Print Industry Sizing based on the latest data, facilitated by 20 years of experience in print industry sizing by Ralf Schlözer. He is also the European Editor at WhatTheyThink.com and

The data has been compiled from a variety of sources, complemented by estimates and forecasts, and formatted in a way to make all countries and segments comparable. Excel pivot tables allow for straightforward comparisons and custom selections, instead of having to copy and paste pre-defined tables. The data is based on the year 2022, the most recent year for which a sufficient data basis is available.

Covered in the report are the following countries:

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czechia
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom

 

The data includes:

  1. Graphic arts industry, split by commercial print, newspaper print, prepress, and finishing
  • for revenue, number of establishments and employment
  • historical data since 2012 and forecast to 2030

 

  1. Number of graphic arts companies by size classes

– size classes of below 10 employees, 10 to 19, 20 to 49, 50 to 249, and 250+ employees

– historical data from 2012 to 2022 in 2-year increments

 

  1. Full print industry sizing for the year 2022 by the number of establishments and revenue, the following segments:

– graphic arts industry, split by commercial print, newspaper print, prepress and postpress

– Packaging print split by folding carton, flexible packaging, corrugated and label print

– Photocopying services

– In-house printing (as estimates)

 

The European print industry sizing report consists of three easy-to-use Excel pivot tables, which allow for an comfortable selection and analysis of the data. An accompanying PowerPoint presentation provides explanations and definitions. The report can be purchased for €1,800 from digitalprintexpert.de

Additional insight can be booked as a webinar or on-site presentation.

Please contact ralf@digitalprintexpert.de for further details.

20. March 2024 Blog No Comments on Sizing the European Printing Industry

Print – not a small industry

Frequently, even within the printing industry, I hear that print is a small industry. That is certainly true when looking at the single print shop or even at a range of commercial printers. Adding up the pieces there is no doubt however, that print is a not a small industry.

The printing industry, as it is defined by the official statistics, has about 631,000 employees in the EU including the UK according to Eurostat for 2018. This includes prepress and finishing. It does not include big parts of packaging print, in-house print, copy shops and print in marketing and direct mail agencies.

employees print industry
EU print industry sizing
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29. June 2021 Blog No Comments on Print – not a small industry

Virtual drupa – day three

22nd of April is Earth Day – and it is virtual drupa day three 2021. Still there were 57 vendor or conference presentations to choose from. Again, I listened in into about a dozen, with a few more briefly looked at.

As Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection it is no surprise that one of the drupa main conference topics today was sustainability – or in the words of drupa “circular economy”. The other theme of the “connected consumer” was less visible – I guess since all attendees were connected this counts as well.

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22. April 2021 Blog 2 Comments on Virtual drupa – day three

Putting (some) Excitement into virtual events

Yes, we know drupa 2020 has been moved and Covid restrictions mean that there will be no trade shows for 2020 at least. Still vendors want to launch new products and since even open houses are out of question for now the last resort is virtual events. There have been a few in the last couple of months.

There are pundits that extol the virtue of virtual, but I find them somewhat unsatisfying – and I know that I am not alone. There are big differences in the quality of the virtual events as well, in terms of content, presentation and getting the attendants enthusiastic. But the main point is that marketing anything around print, which distinguishes itself as something multi-sensory and tactile, only virtually is a bit dicey.

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31. July 2020 Blog No Comments on Putting (some) Excitement into virtual events

Can virtual events replace trade shows? – The Bobst June 2020 press conference

Trade fairs have been under pressure in recent years. Cancelling most events in 2020 is making vendors considering their stance towards trade shows once more. So far drupa has been beyond discussion as the one trade show in which a vendor needs to exhibit to be taken seriously in the printing industry. Product and technology development plans have been timed for this show to maximise impact. Now drupa being moved to 2021 wreaks havoc to many plans and a good share of vendors decided to hold virtual launch events instead.

Two major vendors bailed out of drupa 2021 recently and opted for virtual events. Xerox cited insecurity around large events during a pandemic. Bobst announced that it was cancelling its participation at most trade shows, including Drupa, citing several reasons: A change in strategy to forego trade shows (except selected few in Far East) in favour of virtual events and experience centers, environmental reasons and that 2021 is already “full” for Bobst.

Virtual press conferences

As the first of the major vendors which cancelled their drupa participation for 2021 Bobst held an international press conference on the 9th of June. Several articles have been written on the launches presented, but I would like to focus on the underlaying question: how well does a virtual event as a substitute for a trade show participation.

First kudos to the event organisers. According to Bobst more than 100 journalists and analysts joined. The virtual press conference was well organized. The stream contained a mix of CEO Jean-Pascal Bobst talking, mixed with slides and him drawing on a flip chart (you still remember what this is?) to explain some workflow details. There was ample time for questions, also expertly moderated by Francois Martin.

Still – getting technology developments explained via a couple of slides always gives me the feel that I want to walk over and kick the tires of the new product at the booth or demo site. Given the wide range of listeners to a call it is impossible to give enough detail for the exports while not to overextend the ones that dabble in this field of expertise (or in the print industry as a whole). Crucially, as an analyst I want to learn about the important points that are not on polished vendor presentation slides, like pricing, availability, tech details, pros and cons and more. I find being able to stand in front of a piece of technology and talking to product managers, sales guys and technicians incredibly helpful. This is usually the opportunity to examine print samples as well. And you have a bit of time to let the first information settle and recall the points you want clarified.

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15. June 2020 Blog No Comments on Can virtual events replace trade shows? – The Bobst June 2020 press conference