December 20, 2019

MPS has strong popularity and penetration into larger organizations but, smaller organizations continue to aquire A4 and inkjet hardware, supplies, and related services transactionally. It’s unclear the extent to which smaller organizations are open to, or are interested in, a Micro-MPS, alteratively called subscription print or print as a service. And, if they are open to these services, what kind of services do they want.

September 30, 2019

Interchangeable lens cameras (ILC) continue to make up about 80% of revenue and over 50% of shipments of the camera hardware market. ILC features such as enhanced full-frame image sensors with more resolution, higher sensitivity, wider dynamic range, and oversampled 4K video capture are becoming product differentiators and will help to drive future sales. The 2019 study continues to build on the research conducted over the past decade.  

November 20, 2018

The traditional office environment is transforming, becoming an ecosystem for secure information exchange, mobility, collaboration, business process automation and cloud computing. Knowledge workers now DEMAND full access to the business, anytime and from anywhere. Significant technology shifts will bring about immense change for traditional office technology providers. How will traditional vendors be positioned for this revolution, its impact and a possible deluge of new players? This study will help vendors understand key trends and demographic influences, and identify major opportunities for technology and services within key vertical industries and business processes.

October 31, 2018

MFP platforms have undergone several evolutions over the past 15 years as technology has enhanced. Vendors have released different iterations of these platforms in response to developments like better front panels, web services architecture, or android technology.  However, there is still a large variation in what vendors offer. Some OEMs are just beginning to work in web services while other have had that technology for over a decade. Some OEMs maintain huge developer networks and large portfolios, while others rely on a small network of trusted ISVs and offer only a few apps. And despite the ongoing investment in platform technology, there are still many unknowns about the role that platforms and apps play in the industry.

September 30, 2018

Print service providers must overcome a dizzying array of obstacles to successfully grow their operations. Competition from other providers and digital media are compelling printing organizations to rethink their marketing, sales, and operation strategies. The challenge is determining the strategies and investments that maximize results. This research study will identify the best practices driving and supporting print service providers in improving operations and business growth. 

September 30, 2018

This new multi-client study will help subscribers understand how to increase "share of wallet" with key demographic groups for imaging-related products and services. The research will define buyer personas for each generation based on lifestyle and life stage, quantify buying power of the high-spending generational personas, and will identify how best to market to these personas.

September 06, 2018

Keypoint Intelligence–InfoTrends has conducted an extensive analysis on the growing opportunity for production sheet-fed inkjet printing systems in North America and Western Europe. This research is designed to provide OEMs, paper mills, finishing equipment vendors with insights for product development decisions and resources for accelerating sales.

August 23, 2018

ILC revenue now makes up about 80% of the camera hardware market. The ILC market is divided into two segments: DSLRs and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. DSLRs still account for the majority share of sales, but mirrorless cameras are getting more attention and steadily gaining share. Expectations are high that new entries will accelerate the gains. This study will build on previous research to examine the importance of photos and photography in consumers' lives as well as analyze what motivates them to purchase. 

March 30, 2018

InfoTrends is conducting an extensive analysis on the growing opportunity for high speed inkjet printing systems in North America and Western Europe. The study is focusing on key application categories including transactional, promotional, publishing, and packaging (primarily folding cartons). The research will include in-depth interviews with 75 existing roll fed and cut sheet inkjet press users as well as a survey with over 300 companies that are considering purchasing a system in the next 6 to 12 months. The research is designed to provide OEMs, paper mills, and finishing equipment vendors with insights for product development decisions and resources for accelerating customer sales.

January 30, 2018

Businesses that use personalized videos in their customer communications can achieve improved response rates as well as higher ROI. Personalized videos represent several key elements of an effective modern messaging campaign—the captivating nature of video attracts attention in an increasingly cluttered mix of messages, and 1-to-1 content rewards that attention with a more meaningful engagement.

Despite the strong potential of personalized video, enterprise adoption has been slow thus far. Widespread use has been hindered by a limited understanding of the consumer’s perspective, along with a lack of established best practices for incorporating this new tool into a customer communications strategy. The unrealized potential of personalized video calls for focused research and technological clarity.

This proposed consumer study aims to align the implementation and execution of personalized video campaigns with the expectations and preferences of those who will ultimately watch them. We also intend to provide roadmap planning input so technology vendors and solution providers can translate the revealed consumer expectations and preferences into functionalities and features of their personalized video offerings.

December 27, 2017

Graphic communication providers are investigating new ways to grow business. More competition has firms looking to offer new products and services to increase business from current customers and attract new customers. Sign, display, and specialty graphics are important applications offering growth opportunities to commercial printers, sign shops, screen printers, and ad specialty providers. Increased competition has providers exploring new products and services to expand into adjacent service markets where they can leverage their existing operational knowledge. To that end, firms are investing in wide format printing devices, software, and media/substrates to differentiate from competitors, grow revenues, and improve efficiency.

December 22, 2017

Keypoint Intelligence—InfoTrends believes that e-commerce represents the largest risk of third-party toner and inkjet cartridges to the OEMs. Preliminary results of our Business Purchasing Survey show about 20% of businesses report they “shop the internet” among the top two ways in which they purchase ink and toner cartridges. Among the 20%, about half report a product issue.

Purchasing supplies through e-commerce marketplaces is risky for both OEMs and end users. Both the customer experience and brand integrity are negatively impacted, creating a serious marketing challenge.

December 19, 2017

As delivery of transactional communications continues to shift from physical to digital environments, the pricing discussion is becoming more complex for service providers and technology vendors. This is accentuated by emerging digital channels and the increasing need for real-time use of transactional data to drive communications. Service providers are bringing a variety of approaches to the market, making it difficult for enterprise prospects to compare competitive offerings. At the same time, many enterprises continue to separate print from electronic delivery in the RFP process, reducing opportunities for service providers to showcase pricing for a holistic approach to creation, management, and delivery of transactional communications.

Implementing digital channel delivery requires IT infrastructure and activities that are not always visible to clients. These capital-intensive investments often require a swift ROI that is not compatible with a print-oriented pricing model.

November 08, 2017

Objectives of this research study:

• To estimate and forecast the digital production printing as well as the color digital label and packaging markets in China for the years between 2016-2021
• To identify and explain market trends in China for production level digital technology for commercial printing-particularly for packaging and label converting
• To advise clients about key production digital printing markets in China and give insight to help clients compete effectively there

October 31, 2017

Selling communication products, services, and technologies requires having a deep understanding of customers’ and prospects’ competitive market. The challenge is that all industries have unique needs, preferences, and buyer requirements. Understanding key industry trends and dynamics is essential for developing the right products and services and targeting the right buyers.

Keypoint Intelligence—InfoTrends’ new 2017 study will survey key communication decision makers across multiple industries to uncover the key trends and challenges influencing media choice, purchasing requirements, vendor selection, and selling opportunities.

October 27, 2017

Research objectives:

• Size and forecast the Japanese digital production printing markets (Commercial print, Quick print, Copy shop, Form printing, CRD/In-Plant) in terms of placements, installed based, print volume, etc…
• To understand current market size and pain points for 3 major categories of production print solutions and provide the forecasts in Japan

September 29, 2017

ILCs play an increasingly important role in the ongoing development of the digital camera market, as ILC revenue rapidly grows to a majority percentage of the hardware category. The ILC market is divided into two segments: DSLRs and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (or “mirrorless”). DSLRs still account for the lion’s share of sales, but the mirrorless segment is demonstrating its ability to capture share amongst consumers in the U.S. Evolutionary ILC features, such as full-frame image sensors, high ISO rating, and 4K video capture, are becoming more important and will help to drive future sales.

Keypoint Intelligence—InfoTrends new 2017 study builds on research conducted in 2016. It will examine more closely the use of video by ILC owners. It will also consider the attitudes, behaviors and needs of both replacement and “step-up” buyers, with the goal of identifying paths to purchase. The study will focus heavily on ILC “intenders” as part of the research. It will pay careful attention to these intenders and what motivates them, what inhibits them, what marketing messages appeal to them, and how they choose an ILC.

December 31, 2016

Increasingly, marketing professionals, and indeed enterprises as a whole, are striving to find more effective ways to manage vast amounts of ever growing customer data. Some enterprises are moving towards operational and/or customer communication centers of excellence, which in turn can frequently involve the CMO and have implications for direct marketing activities. Marketers are also gradually increasing the use of personalization within direct mail campaigns. This study will provide insights for vendors and service providers that compete in the direct marketing marketplace. It will help them understand how data is changing marketing initiatives and campaigns, evolving business models, unmet needs and how to position themselves to exploit opportunities that arise from data driven change.

December 31, 2016

When it comes to the challenges that print and marketing service providers face, increasing sales consistently sits at the top the list. Although marketers continue to shift spending from print to other channels, companies still report that offset, digital, and wide format are the most profitable parts of their businesses. The industry has struggled to profitably sell value-added services despite hardware and software advancements that are designed to streamline processes and increase profitability. This study will identify today’s best practices for companies of all sizes in the U.S. and will recommend strategies to help propel businesses forward in every condition.

December 31, 2016

Our longstanding research into the Print on Demand market in China continues this year but will have an important addition, a focus on the market in that country for color digital print systems that print packaging and labels. This new report will give qualitative and quantitative insights about two categories of digital printing in China. The 2016 report will include a survey of packaging and label converters, and also of commercial printers. That survey, as well as personal interviews and other research, will examine the status and prospect of packaging and label printing applications at converters in China, and will also gauge the interest in such applications on the part of commercial printers there.

December 31, 2016

With the exception of a few devices, production color digital printing has been a process color world, where everything is reproduced with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks or toners. Many years ago, market leaders at the high end envisioned opportunities with value-added special effects beyond process color. They implemented the use of spot colors, clear toners, dimensional, and other effects that took advantage of the unique capabilities of digital print, namely the ability to personalize, on-demand print, and just-in-time manufacture documents that could not easily be reproduced using conventional methods. These trailblazers at the high end showed how production digital print could push beyond the short runs and quick turnarounds of much process color work.

December 31, 2016

Information security is major top of mind concern and investment area for key vertical markets, and business generally. In fact, InfoTrends research has indicated that improving security was the overall #1 document related priority for major document intensive vertical markets. With rapidly evolving security threats, compliance needs, and customer expectations, vendors must be constantly assessing their security features and functionality. Vendors that best understand these trends will be better positioned for success in the market for office document hardware, software, and services.

October 01, 2016

The U.S. photo and video market is at a crossroads, due in large part to the diverse behavior of millennials who capture, curate, create, and share imaging content in a seemingly endless number of ways. This multi-client study provides detailed profiles of younger millennials (13-24) and older millennials (25-34), with an eye toward identifying differences both between and within each segment. A combination of research methods were used to develop millennial imaging personas, and to uncover motivators / triggers that lead to specific behaviors and specific purchase activities.

August 15, 2016

The 2016 study builds on research conducted in early 2015. It probes deeper on the opportunities for lenses, with an eye towards what will prompt different types of ILC owners to purchase additional lenses. It examines more closely the use of video by ILC owners. It also considers the attitudes, behaviors and needs of step-up buyers, with the goal of identifying paths to purchase.

July 20, 2016

The office document industry in Australia is showing an increased focus on paper-intensive industries with many of the market-leading OEM suppliers and channel businesses aligning their organizations and go-to-market strategies to identify and address print as well as paper-intensive applications and workflows. Growth in this industry requires the capture of market share from competitors and the ability to fully engage in managed print services. However, mature markets also present the challenge of entrenched competitors with long-established distribution partners. As a result, capturing market share demands new ways of aligning strategy with distribution channels and exploiting innovative ways to segment markets and customers.

July 15, 2016

The relevance of print-only outsourcing contracts is in decline. Enterprises are seeking external support for cross-media communications, creative services, data management, analytics, and other value-added services. Savvy and forward-thinking document outsourcing providers are in a unique position to help their customers transition to more effective communication platforms. This study identifies emerging services opportunities and offer a road map for document outsourcing providers to build new businesses around them.

December 16, 2015

With advances in technology, this benchmark study is designed to look at what the future holds for marketers, consumers and direct mail printers as well as the requirements for support from both equipment and software providers. It explores how marketers want to leverage direct mail to effectively engage consumers. The study provides strategy and business development support to help vendors, print service providers, and marketing service providers capture high value pages and services in a cross media world.

November 11, 2015

Businesses and organizations of all sizes invest significantly in efforts to communicate with customers. Organizations of all sizes rely on a broad communications mix to steer operations, accelerate sales, and drive revenues. Customer communications span many channels—print, online, mobile, social media—and the challenge many organizations face is selecting the right mix to maximize results. Digital media continues to disrupt corporate communication requirements and spending, and organizations are integrating channels to deliver the most effective and efficient mix to serve and engage customers. This research study evaluates communication trends, identifies media usage and spending, and defines key decisions makers’ criteria for selecting media and providers across small and medium-sized business and large enterprise organizations in key vertical industries.

November 11, 2015

Manufacturers of consumer products and the companies that create packaging for them face many challenges today, often ones digital production methods help address. Manufacturers need to customize products to target many markets, and to put new versions on retail shelves quickly. Converters need to print short runs of packaging for brand owners efficiently and cost effectively. For all the companies involved, these basic challenges lead to a host of others in communications, job management, printing, and fulfillment.

September 16, 2015

This research uncovers the relative opportunity to print across a broad range of mobile device users from teenagers to office and mobile business users to retired people. The goal was to understand what each of those groups and other groups of people need in order to satisfy their desire to print from their mobile devices. The study looks at attributes such as the needs, behaviors, and desires of business users vs. personal users who wish to print. Are business printers and personal printers very different? Do they experience different barriers?

July 15, 2015

This study will provide hardware, software, app and service providers with information to help them understand the evolving relationship between photo products and mobile devices. It will consider what vendors are successful (and why), examine current consumer behavior (with an emphasis on pain points and unmet needs), outline the future potential for mobile print through new market models, and offer recommendations for clients.

May 01, 2015

Scanning has emerged as not only a means to digitize paper but, with the aid of solutions, a sophisticated method of capturing information, automatically identifying and organizing it. Specific processes that are very tied to regulation or compliance are especially sensitive to the use of solutions that can meet initiatives internally and externally. While scanning and capture is quite pervasive, paper is still present in many departments and areas of business, often used as means to communicate, capture information and even signatures on forms. This study looks to understand what the future holds for document scanning and capture solutions and the associated devices as business is faced with more and more demands to be digital, entirely.

April 15, 2015

InfoTrends new 2014/2015 study picks up where the 2013 study left off. At a macro level, it considers consumer attitudes, behaviors, and potential market opportunities surfacing beyond camera bodies and the associated still photos. The study hones in on video activity, lenses, and other accessories. The study also examines what could turn DILC “intenders” into actual buyers. It pays careful attention to these intenders and what motivates them, what inhibits them, what marketing messages appeal to them, and how they are likely to use an ILC.

December 24, 2014

Effective supply chain management includes making sure that products are available to end users, priced properly and represented accurately by distributors. Executives have to develop strategies to deal with different size accounts, different geographic regions, and different types of distributors. This study is designed to identify new ways to approach managing the supply chain to improve customer loyalty, provide better brand messaging, and maximize profits.

December 24, 2014

The objective of this study was to identify and quantify the business inkjet value gap and translate these findings into a commercially actionable set of recommendations. The study addresses the go-to-market challenges arising from product and customer beliefs and biases surrounding laser and business inkjet technologies.

December 07, 2014

The purpose of this research was to uncover the relative opportunity to print across a broad range of mobile device users from teenagers to office and mobile business users to retired people. The goal was to understand what each of those groups and other groups of people need in order to satisfy their desire to print from their mobile devices.

November 21, 2014

This study had three primary goals. First, this research uncovered high-volume capture trends within business processes, vertical markets, and across different types of capture environments. Secondly, it verified how effectively image life cycles enable automation within the classification, data capture, data validation, and delivery phases of a document capture operation. Finally, the study identified services and technology revenue opportunities that target business process gaps and inefficiencies.

November 19, 2014

Vertical markets have significant, diverse conditions that can vary substantially. Customers in vertical areas want to distinguish potential suppliers by how deeply they understand their business and process requirements. A basic strategy of selling office technology into business without any explicit expertise into the nature of individual process and enterprise requirements is no longer practical. An in-depth understanding of requirements by market will become essential in order to align strengths with market demands.

November 16, 2014

In the past, production methods for decorative elements achieved the desired look and feel using traditional, analog print processes. Screen, gravure, and lithographic printing have created a wealth of designs, but by their nature they are meant for mass production and cannot efficiently create custom decoration or be cost effective in small batches. Today, after decades of ongoing development and improvements, digital printing is capturing ever-growing production volumes worldwide in a range of décor applications. In this particular study, a series of in-depth interviews and surveys allowed us to assess the impact of digital solutions, examine the sentiment of the Architect & Interior design community (A&D), and quantify the opportunity for manufacturers and suppliers of printing equipment and inks, software providers, and service providers.

November 10, 2014

The office document industry in Western Europe is showing an increased focus on paper-intensive industries with many of the market-leading OEM suppliers and channel businesses aligning their organizations and go-to-market strategies to identify and address print as well as paper-intensive applications and workflows. Growth in this industry requires the capture of market share from competitors and the ability to fully engage in managed print services. However, mature markets also present the challenge of entrenched competitors with long-established distribution partners. As a result, capturing market share demands new ways of aligning strategy with distribution channels and exploiting innovative ways to segment markets and customers.

October 25, 2014

B2 format color digital presses are forming a new, exciting wing of the digital print market in 2014, a dynamic segment that will be influential for many years to come. Sheet fed, full color digital presses for B2 format media starred at drupa in 2012 and since then the commitment of key suppliers to B2 and larger format printers has only grown, as has the interest of prospective users. Today, the ‘B2’ digital press market is at a tipping point: More than 100 presses in this class have been placed globally; meanwhile, more B2 models and even some larger ‘B1’ models are about to launch, and multiple vendors will need major placements to justify their big investments. Will they and their products find success?

August 15, 2014

This study examines various industry segments, and the impact of establishment size in both the in-plant and print for pay segments. This research study builds upon the results of our earlier studies but provides additional granularity. It examines PSP’s in four business segments. Our research indicates that where a PSP falls within this quadrant drives particular behavior including service expansion, the use of technology and capital investments.

May 01, 2014

This study provides vendors and service providers with information to help them understand how to influence consumers and their imaging choices, as well as the products and services that will help satisfy consumers’ unmet needs related to photo and video expression. It considers where revenue opportunities may lie, and how vendors can remain relevant in both digital and print worlds.

April 01, 2014

This study will provide vendors and service providers with information to help them understand how “point-of-view” imaging is likely to evolve, and what cameras, accessories, software, applications, and services will help satisfy consumers’ unmet (or unrealized) needs. It will also consider how big the revenue opportunity may be, and how vendors might be able to capitalize on future growth.

March 01, 2014

The competitive landscape of the printing industry is often harsh and unforgiving. Targeting specific vertical markets and establishing leadership in them is becoming a solid business strategy for many firms. Simply put, vertical marketing is developing products and services that are targeted toward a specific industry. More and more firms are seeking the immense benefits targeting specific industries can deliver.