04 NOV, 2020

Topic: Article, Market Forecast

The large format printer market is projected to grow from USD 9.3 billion in 2020 to USD 11.2 billion by 2025; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.8% from 2020 to 2025. Key factors fueling the growth of this market include surging demand for large format printing in the textiles, advertising, and packaging industries; growing adoption of UV-curable inks in outdoor advertising, CAD, and technical printing applications; and the increasing importance of digital document production in commercial printing applications.

The large format printer market includes major Tier 1 and 2 suppliers like Hewlett Packard, Canon, Epson, Mimaki Engineering, Roland, Ricoh, Durst Phototechnik, Xerox, Konica Minolta, and Agfa-Gevaert. These suppliers have their manufacturing facilities spread across various countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, and RoW. The large format printers manufactured by these companies are used by end-use industries such as apparel and textiles, signage, advertising, decor, and CAD and technical printing. Covid-19 not only impacted the operations of the various printing equipment manufacturing industries, but also affected the businesses of companies from the above-mentioned industries. The COVID-19 has also impacted the demand side of the market. The pandemic scenario due to COVID-19 has lowered the demand for apparel and textiles from the customers due to low spending power and reduced investment in lifestyle needs. This has declined the demand for large format printers from apparels and home decor applications. Also, the continuous fall in the global demand and export shipments for home decor products is also expected to negatively impact the large format printer market.

UV-curable inkjet printing technology has transformed the large format printing market. It offers direct-to-rigid print capability, thereby eliminating mounting and trimming costs. The UV-curable ink provides various other benefits, such as high-quality images and improved productivity; it also saves time and operating costs. Additionally, UV-curable ink technology does not require coated media as it can print on any substrate, such as foam board, wood, cardboard, glass, and vinyl. This ink dries as soon as it is cured; this has resulted in the higher adoption of UV-curable inks in various industries for printing purposes. Thus, UV-curable inks are ideal for a wide range of large format indoor and outdoor applications, including billboards, banners, indoor signage, window graphics, and posters.

The growing popularity of digital media, including digital signage and advertisements, is expected to reduce the demand for print in certain categories, particularly directories, advertisements, and others. Digital signage, billboards, and other media are increasingly being used in the outdoor and indoor advertisement industry. Digital signage is a part of out-of-home advertising and can be of different types. It can be a backlit display showing ads, LCDs, or indoor signage used at point-of-purchase (PoP)/point-of-sale (PoS) platforms. Digital signage is used for a wide range of applications, such as providing public information, displaying the menu, advertising, brand building, as well as for influencing customer behavior, and enhancing customer experience. Advertising using large format printers incurs high costs and allows static information display only; all these factors pose a challenge for the players in the large format printer market.

Large format printers play a vital role and form a lucrative and fast-growing segment in the decor market. The major benefits offered by these printers include their ability to produce higher quality images and graphical presentations than that of standard printers. In home furnishing & decor and vehicle wrap applications, these printers offer the optimum document size and high image clarity required to print on the end media efficiently. Large format printers efficiently assist architects in printing designs quickly and accurately. Vehicles wraps are an excellent cost-effective medium for mobile advertising that can reach thousands of travelers on a regular basis. These are becoming a popular advertising media. Thus, the growing demand for vehicle wraps from the decor industry is likely to boost the requirement for large format printers worldwide.

Installation and maintenance of large format printers require high initial investments. Large format printing also requires lots of printing materials. Similarly, annual electricity consumption by large format printers is too high. The design complexity of these printers and the high costs of inks are among a few of the major factors responsible for the high operational costs of large format printers. Though the top tier manufacturers are now offering large format printers at low prices; a few things such as the increased running, maintenance, and operational costs should also be considered. Thus, the high maintenance cost is posing a challenge to the growth of the large format printer market.

Large format printers with a print width ranging from 24” to 36” are expected to continue to account for the largest market share owing to their versatility for various applications, from tile murals and signage to CAD applications. These printers can print pages in quick succession than other printers, and these printers are suitable for low-volume environments. These printers are technologically advanced with features including inbuilt RAM and storage and web connectivity, along with Wi-Fi certification.

The market for UV-curable ink-based large format printers is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth can be attributed to the numerous advantages provided by UV-curable inks, which includes but is not limited to; the ink dries almost instantaneously because of its high density, is UV resistant, and does not have any significant environmental impact. This makes it durable and suitable for printing on a wide range of flexible materials, along with rigid substrates such as wood and metal for direct print. Therefore, the UV-curable ink is increasingly replacing solvent ink despite being expensive owning to its added benefits.

In 2019, the signage segment accounted for the largest share of the large format printer market by application. Signage is one of the most effective medium of marketing, which fosters the demand for large format printers in various uses such as indoor and outdoor signage boards to show warning signs on highways and roads, large corporate emblems, and retail promotional advertisements. Signage acts as an influencer at the point of sale and as an attraction point in booth decoration. All these factors contribute to the growth of the large format printer market for signage application.

The large format printer market in APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth can be attributed to the increasing use of large format printers in graphics printing, apparel and textiles printing, and computer-aided design (CAD) and technical printing applications. APAC is a leader in the overall textiles industry. China and India are the largest suppliers of textiles; these countries constitute the maximum number of textile printing owners and marketers and hold the most extensive base of textile manufacturers as well. Also, the fast-growing retail advertisement and graphic printing industry in emerging economies such as India is expected to contribute significantly towards the growth of large format printer market in APAC.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic is expected to impact the global large format printer market. The entire supply chain is disrupted due to limited supply of parts. For instance, the outbreak of COVID-19 in China resulted in lockdown measures which included the shutdown of manufacturing facilities and warehouses and affected the global exports and shipments of various industries. Also, legal and trade restrictions, such as sealed borders increase the shortage of required parts. The lockdown also led to a fall in the domestic and export demand for apparel and textiles, home furnishing and decor, as the impact of COVID-19 spreads to other countries.

The key players operating in the large format printer are Hewlett Packard (US), Canon (Japan), Epson (Japan), Mimaki Engineering (Japan), Roland (US), Ricoh (Japan), Durst Phototechnik (Italy), Xerox (US), Konica Minolta (Japan), and Agfa-Gevaert (Belgium).

These companies focus on adopting both organic and inorganic growth strategies, such as product launches and developments, expansions, agreements, partnerships, joint ventures, collaborations, mergers, and acquisitions to strengthen their position in the market.

Note: Report conducted by MarketsandMarkets