By Sander Sondaal, Director Commercial Print Sales, Ricoh Graphic Communications, Ricoh Europe
Predictions for printed books continue to signal a buoyant future.
Following the trend bucking Europe-wide increase in sales of physical books during the pandemic – something I explored in this blog – optimism for hard copies remains.
In fact, printed books are significantly more popular than ebooks according to Statista’s recent Advertising & Media Outlook.
Germany led the way with 58.3% of the estimated share of the population purchasing a printed book in 2021 compared to 14.6% choosing an ebook. Next was Spain with 48.8% compared to 14.6% and in Great Britain it was 48.5% compared to 20.3%.
Even in the United States, where ebooks are very popular, 44.6% of the population bought a printed book compared to 23% choosing an ebook.
In fact, Statista predicts global book sales, of both physical and ebooks, will reach US$127.00bn in 2022 and enjoy an annual growth rate (CAGR) to 2026 of 1.48%.
Smithers’ The Future of Digital Printing to 2032 also signals a continued uplift.
It states books are set to be the second fasted growing printed application between now and 2032. Smithers identified growth segments and technologies for the $136.7 billion digital printing market across the next decade. It said the buoyant outlook for printed books was being driven by integration with online ordering and the capacity to produce shorter runs to order.
It states inkjet will increasingly dominate, due to its superior economics when single-pass web machines are linked to suitable finishing lines.
It also highlights its ability to deliver high quality printing colour output across a wide range of standard book substrates and outstanding results on standard offset paper grades at faster speeds.
There will also be new revenue earning opportunities for Print Service Providers as sheetfed inkjet systems are adopted more widely to print book jackets and covers.
Both digital continuous feed inkjet presses and digital sheetfed presses can support the agile production of books in various run lengths. They allow the printed book market to respond to fluctuating demand in a cost efficient way. Software solutions drive intelligent and effective workflow and maximise efficiencies to effectively manage run length diversity.
Take the next steps to your page-turning future by exploring how to create a flexible end to end production environment that addresses today’s book production needs.
www.ricoh-europe.com
