The global commercial print market remains in a forever state of transition. Significant business growth opportunities for printing companies are still on the rise.
The rampant advancement in technology, web-to-print technology in particular, has simplified the print buying process, making it possible for all consumers to personalize items and place orders in a span of minutes.
On top of that, online printing companies can offer a broader range of products, collaborate with consumers more easily, and produce printed orders faster.
Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you sell custom-decorated apparel or personalized packaging, or ready-for-print drinkware – there is potential in every domain, waiting to be tapped by online printing companies.
Top 11 Industries Utilizing Web To Print Platform
The good part is that web-to-print is not restricted to only one industry. It has spread its branches to a range of domains in the print market, and this section aims to give you an overview about all of them.
1. Commercial Printing
Commercial printing is simply defined as the process in which the artwork is transferred onto a piece of paper or card. As of today, it is one of the largest ecommerce industries in the world.
Web-to-print technology has transformed this domain by bridging the gap between digital files and print production in a shorter span.
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2. In-plant Printing
In-plant printers are not commercial printers; instead, they function just like any department of an organization, such as human resources, marketing, finance, or operations.
And they are most prevalent in colleges, universities, government offices, and other financial institutions that have massive internal printing requirements.
In-plant printers typically face many challenges in terms of limited budget and workforce allocation, accessibility, managing urgent requirements, printing in bulk, and lack of swift approval for copyrighting their materials.
Web-to-print technology allows individual departments to interact efficiently, upload their print jobs for processing, reprint previous orders in one click, create customized designs on approved templates, and order items from inventory for printing with ease.
The University of Oklahoma, one of the largest in-plant printers in the United States, uses the Variable Data Printing technique, which allows them to differentiate themselves from other universities and to make personal appeals to convince prospective parents and students to choose them.
3. Wide-format Printing
The global market for wide-format printing is projected to reach 11.4 billion dollars by 2025. [Large Format Printer Market]
It is one of the most lucrative markets in the digital print industry. New applications continue to unfold as new substrates, inks, and marking technologies are being developed, leading to new opportunities for online printers in banners, soft signage, packaging, printeriors, and fabric printing. Major wide-format printers include Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, and Durst Group.
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4. Decorated Apparel
This industry has seen too many ups and downs owing to the ever-growing roster of choices in online competitors, printing suppliers, and home hobbyists who do their decorations. However, it is not all gloom and doom in the decorated apparel industry.
The average apparel order size is increasing, and social media seems to have proven a robust means of attracting a more extensive customer base and generating new leads.
The global decorated apparel market size was valued at $26.75 billion in 2018 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 10.91 percent by 2025. [Grand View Research]
Embroidery, screen printing, patches/emblems, vinyl letters design, and head transfers are the five services that seem to be driving the growth of the market, along with the use of t shirt design software.
5. Promotional and Personalized Gifting
As an evolving industry, promotional gifting has shifted from picture frames and coffee mugs to more personalized items that have creative and innovative packaging, monogram engravings, personalized notes, and so on.
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6. Digital fabrics
Let us take the t-shirt online printing business as an example. Not only are the t-shirts cheap to source and simple to customize but also the global market for such personalized items will soon be worth $10 billion by the year 2025. [Credence Research]
But that is not it. Web-to-print technology has enabled a platform for digital printing fabrics – from being able to choose the t-shirt material to evaluating total costs in real-time.
7. Custom Box and Packaging
A Dotcom Distribution study states 68 percent of customers think a brand becomes more upscale due to its packaging, and 61 percent of them get more excited to see a uniquely packaged delivery.
Licious.in is an India-based poultry company and online seller of meat and seafood, does a great job with its packaging. The brand uses the caricatures of its customers on the delivery boxes. No wonder, Licious.in always receives positive feedback for its unique packaging initiatives.
If you check their social media channels, you will find that their customers have posted pictures of the boxes on delivery. The act of social amplification automatically raises the bar for Liscious.in as a brand.
One of the significant perks of selling your custom packaging services is that it enables the consumers to design the boxes that better fit the product. They can also create corner pieces that keep the fragile products in place. Web-to-print technology offers this functionality.
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8. Printeriors
Printeriors first gained popularity in Europe back in 2015, when leading substrate manufacturers and digital printers joined hands to showcase a new range of applications targeted at the interior design communities in the region.
That opened the doors to new creative possibilities in Europe – where digital print technology could realize innovative interior design concepts in multiple domains such as commercial and residential real estate, retail, and hospitality.
Materials commonly used in such types of printing include metal, woods, glass, ceramic tiles, and Perspex. Don’t be surprised when we tell you that the room interiors in some European hotels are now entirely digitally printed. Isn’t that interesting?
It was only in 2018 that printeriors started to get traction in North America, with designers leveraging the advances of digital textile printing to develop on-demand bespoke cushions, furniture upholstery, carpets, table covers, drapes, and more – without minimum meterage.
This presents an excellent opportunity for online printing businesses to leverage web-to-print technology and enable consumers to get personalized home decor.
Moreover, thanks to the web-to-print business model, online printers don’t have to keep a large stock of pre-printed materials. They can order them as and when consumers demand for them, thus saving both cost and reducing wastage.
9. Photo Books and Booklets
In this time and age, personalized photo books are an increasingly popular product. In fact, B2B production in the global print market represents 59.1 percent of the total sales, and much of this volume is in photo products and personal stationery alone!
Not just that, web-to-print technology has allowed consumers to personalize and order high-quality booklets, photographs, and more such products at their convenience – and that too cost-effectively.
10. Drinkware
Technological advancements and changing lifestyles have prompted consumers to use products that are highly personalized, and the drinkware industry has seen a shift as well. The global market growth for tumblers, for example, is expected to reach $4.19 billion by 2026. [MarketResearch]
Drinkware such as tumblers, mugs, glassware, and ceramic drinkware are a huge ecommerce commodity as an increasing number of consumers are ‘going green’ and opting for eco-friendly and personalized options today.
The industry has been able to meet these demands with the help of web-to-print technology that makes personalizing beverage items possible – for instance, adding a company logo or a photograph on a coffee mug, and using specific colors for its design.
11. Labels and Stickers
This industry thrives on personalization. Given the ever-increasing demand for more creative and innovative ideas, web-to-print technology has enabled consumers to design various types of items – such as product labels, photo labels, barcode labels, asset labels, packaging labels, and mailing labels – using customizable templates.
As of 2019, the print label market is valued at $39.17 billion, and it is expected to be worth $49.86 billion in 2025, at a CAGR of 4.11 percent from 2020-2025. [Mordor Intelligence]
So, online online print shop owners that haven’t adopted the web-to-print technology should do so to capitalize on that growth. After all, who doesn’t love to have the freedom to alter the sizes and shapes of their labels and stickers, and choose appropriate printing materials as per one’s requirement?
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Conclusion:
In conclusion, the widespread use of web-to-print apps across these 11 industries shows how product customization solutions are versatile and effective. From retail and apparel to promotional products and signage, businesses are using these tools to offer personalized products and improve customer engagement.
As technology advances, we can expect more industries to adopt web to print apps to remain competitive and meet the increasing demand for customized products.
