December 7, 2017, Colleyville, TX—Madison Advisors today announced the release of its new research study, “Color Print Migration Market Update 2017.” The report provides an overview and analysis of color inkjet technology adoption by both print service providers and enterprise in-plants over the last five years, compared to expectations.  The report also supports Madison Advisors’ view that print will experience a revival thanks to color inkjet technology available in the market today.

“Our latest research reveals that adoption of color has grown, but not as fast as anticipated,” said study author, Gina Ferrara, senior analyst at Madison Advisors. "The data uncovered that 62 percent of the total images produced in 2016 by service providers and enterprise in-plants combined were still monochrome.  This shows there is plenty of opportunity for color inkjet printing to penetrate the transactional printing industry.”

Some key observations in the study include:

• Print service providers produced the majority of image volume: 81 percent of the total image volume was produced by print service providers, despite the equal number of service providers and enterprise in-plants involved in the study.
• Use of color is not volume dependent: With only 3 percent of the total image volume, broadband/cable had the highest use of color at 98 percent. Banks represented close to 25 percent of the image volume and yet 54 percent of those images were monochrome.
• There have been notable increases in the insurance and healthcare verticals: Although the insurance and healthcare verticals still continue to lag, the use of color by these two verticals combined increased to 16.3 percent, up from 5 percent in 2011.
• There is still a large opportunity for color inkjet growth: Of the total 39.78 billion images accounted for in this research, approximately 62 percent were monochrome, indicating that there is still a significant market opportunity for color inkjet.

Madison Advisors has observed the industry’s migration from monochrome to full color over the past decade. The report uncovers why many print service providers and in-plants have been slow to convert their transactional communications from monochrome to color. The analysis also examines the unexpected challenges and benefits of investing in color inkjet technology, as well as its impact on a multi-channel customer communications delivery strategy.

To purchase the full report “Color Print Migration Market Update 2017,” click here.

By Gina Ferrara, Senior Analyst

Everything old is new again.  It is a phrase that makes one think about trends in the fashion industry.  But instead of hemlines and platform shoes, I’m thinking about how this phrase relates to print.  Let’s face it.  Printed business-to-consumer (B2C) communications – known as transactional communications – had become the proverbial thorn in the side of companies who generated them. These documents were printed because they had to be, especially if dictated by certain regulations.  When electronic delivery was introduced, print was anticipated to be a thing of the past.  After all…these documents weren’t that pretty to begin with.

Fast forward to present day.  Adoption rates for email delivery have hit a plateau while other digital channels such as mobile, SMS and even social media have become preferred delivery channels for consumers, thanks to technology.  But despite the availability of these digital channels, print is making a comeback and as organizations work to develop an omnichannel customer communications strategy, print has taken center stage.

Madison Advisors continues to monitor the print and mail industry and our Color Print Migration Market Update 2017 is a continuation of our research efforts on the migration from monochrome to full-color print output for enterprise in-plants and service providers. In 2011, our first color migration research report revealed that the use of full color for transactional communications was less than 1 in 5 images. Because the price point for a color image was significantly higher than it is today and investing in color inkjet technology required significant capital, this was not a surprise.  But as our latest research illustrates, transactional communications continue to migrate away from monochrome to full color, just not as quickly as anticipated.  But this is not bad news, because the data reveals that there is room for growth, and with growth comes opportunity.

In 2016, 62% of the 39.78 billion images produced by the participants in our research were monochrome.  For industry-leading color inkjet printer manufacturers, this represents greater opportunity to penetrate the transactional print industry. Service providers who have made the investment in color inkjet can attract more clients, and enterprise in-plants can improve the look of customer communications and potentially bring in work such as marketing collateral that was previously outsourced to a third party.

Color inkjet technology continues to improve with higher production speeds, lower operational costs and better quality of output.  Adding color to transactional communications increases brand recognition and creates synergy between print and digital communications with a consistent look and feel.  Color can be used to improve customer calls to action by highlighting important information in documents, and it can increase document clarity with colorful charts and graphs.  Despite the focus on digital transformation and creating digital experiences as a part of a multi-channel customer communications strategy, it is critical to consider the important role print can play.  For example, print can be used to drive consumers to a digital channel with website information, QR codes that can be scanned with a mobile app, or personalized URLs (PURLs). These “cross-channel” interactions increase engagement and enhance customer experience by allowing consumers the opportunity to engage with a brand through their preferred channel.

In the fashion industry, everything old is new again – but in the print industry, everything old is getting even better.