WhatTheyThink, the leading online media organization serving the printing and publishing industry, today announced the availability of their most current report titled “Monthly U.S. Printing Shipments, Issue #32.” Authored by Dr. Joe Webb, director of WhatTheyThink’s Economics and Research Center, the report is available for immediate purchase at:
www.wttstore.com/monthly-us-printing-shipments.html
“May printing shipments were $8.04 billion, down -$293 million (-3.5%) compared to May 2007,” said Dr. Webb, director of WhatTheyThink’s Economics and Research Center. “On inflation-adjusted basis, shipments were down -$643 million or -7.4% compared to 2007.”
“This is turning into a difficult time for the industry,” Dr. Webb continued. “Though the overall economy is still not technically in recession, the printing industry has had four negative quarters. There is still a persistent myth that printing volume follows the growth of the economy. The effects of new media, especially web pages and search engines, and the continuing growth in mobile communications, have had significant impact on print volume for the last decade. Corporations are also dealing with increased costs by cutting back on discretionary expenses. Because much of the corporate growth of U.S. companies is overseas and in emerging and frontier markets, the print materials needed for those efforts are often created and produced there.”
Dr. Webb made it clear that there are printing companies that are performing well in this tough environment. “There are some innovative companies that are strategically managing long-term costs, implementing new technologies and anticipating the needs of their client base.” He noted that these companies are often taking work from their weaker competitors and are expanding their businesses. “Not all market consolidation is by merger or acquisition,” he said. “It’s also from the daily battles of the marketplace where weak companies are pushed out and strong companies grow.”
The Monthly U.S. Printing Shipments Report contains both current and inflation-adjusted analysis of commercial printing and print services shipments, and forecasts of 2008 through 2012. It is comprised of Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint files, and an MP3 file of audio commentary from Dr. Webb. The cost of the report is $50.00. Those purchasing the it can easily repurpose the charts and data in presentations, and reports.
The report contains significant and proprietary analysis and by Dr. Webb and WhatTheyThink’s Economics and Research Center. It is a top-level analysis of the U.S. commercial printing and trade services markets such as commercial offset, digital, and other printing processes, as well as prepress and postpress contained in the standard business classification NAICS 323.
www.wttstore.com/monthly-us-printing-shipments.html
WhatTheyThink’s Economics and Research Center contains a blend of free and premium content for graphic arts and publishing executives. It offers an online library of primary research reports, executive summaries of economic trends, and related industry columns, videos, podcasts and webinars.
The Economics and Research Center is exclusively sponsored by MindFireInc, a provider of software technologies that leverage direct marketing and the Internet.
This article was last modified on July 4, 2008
This article was first published on July 4, 2008
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