January / February 2023 xxxxx 2023 Predictions 24 Growth can be challenging but it’s invigorating and exciting and our people are the best asset we could ever invest in. Printers will recognise the value of data and how that can drive everything for proving the return on investment (ROI) on a printed product to analysing performance and understanding customer behaviour. Sustainability will continue to gain momentum. Businesses will realise that offsetting is not the best way to become sustainable and carbon offsetting will be challenged. Collaboration will also be a trend. Suppliers, business partners, customers, and employees will help drive our amazing industry forward. Embracing digital transformation, managing supply chain costs, and making sure we look after our people in tough economic times will be the biggest challenges for 2023. Following the recent announcement of a strategic collaboration with Sealed Air including their making an investment in the company and purchasing a Beam 2C, the opportunity for strong and lightweight corrugated inserts is strategically important and an incremental opportunity moving into 2023. 1. More companies will build sustainability roadmaps and raise the weight of sustainability considerations in their decision making. 2. Digitalisation will continue its healthy growth across the packaging industry. 3. Staff shortages will increase the attractiveness of equipment that requires fewer and/or lower skilled operators. The demand for digital printing in packaging will be a key trend, driven both by the opportunities for packaging reduction and the growth in e-commerce deliveries. Digital print is playing a pivotal role in both areas helping brands remove packaging and labels by printing direct onto products as well as meeting the demand for personalised high-impact corrugated packaging for e-commerce. It goes without saying that sustainability and the environmental impact of production will continue to feature more prominently in 2023, with businesses seeking to reduce their energy and materials usage. Again, the employment of highly precise and energy efficient digital printing will play a significant role in this, as firms seek to optimise their new more local supply chain partnerships. Also linked to the drive for sustainability is the growing interest in the use of aqueous inks in printing and innovations such as the Xaar Aquinox will be a key driver for the exploration of more sustainable digital printing across an array of sectors (including fabrics, textiles, and direct to substrate printing) for 2023. Logistics and political unrest have changed worldwide print fulfillment and is driving more work to be printed locally. Simply, the trends will be economics, sustainability, and shorter runs. We are already seeing the return of print for personal connection as people are tired of electronic invitations and emails. Printed direct mail for personal connectivity is on the rise and so brings the need to add attractiveness to the print. Scodix offers an economic and productive solution to elevate print. Another trend is the unboxing experience to drive social media exposure. Embellished print designs will support brands to stand out, surprise, and impress. The first trend, and the most pressing now, is reconsidered formats in response to increased pricing. Anything that can be done so as not to raise prices for customers without losing the quality of work. Further refinements in targeting and intended use of print and mail will also come about in response to pricing, in order to preserve industry standards. I can also foresee a retro approach to print and mail coming back into trend, as in times of uncertainty people value things that evoke a sense of trust and reliability. This could include stylistic decisions as well as practical decisions about packaging and design. Finally, I expect more focus on the environment in the next year, even more than it already has become a focus for the industry. A focus on ESG (Environmental, Social, Goverance) is certainly a message I am hearing from some of our key clients, and I think Propack is ahead of the game with this. Anthony Rowell, sales and customer success director at Tradeprint Simon Lewis, VP of marketing at Highcon Justin Noble, head of product management at Xaar Paul Franklin, sales manager for UK and Nordics at Scodix Jason Clough, managing director of Propack
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