The past five years have not been kind to the printing industry. Internationally, the printing industry has experienced significant decline in all sectors, except maybe packaging which is the one area where there is still a steady rate of growth. We have seen companies of all sizes struggling to survive and we have even seen some companies closing.
However, a recent report published on the state of the printing industry in South Africa gives us hope that the situation may not be as bad as we had previously feared. While there has been some contraction in the volumes of material printed due to the increasing use of electronic communication methods, it seems that there is still a strong connection between doing business and the need for printed materials.
The survey which was conducted in April looked at the importance of printing, the role it plays and the alternative channels that are used for communication. Encouragingly the report states that South African companies, in general, see printing as being a very important part of their communications strategy. As many as 92 per cent of respondents viewed printing as critical to their business while more than 90 per cent viewed it as more effective than digital communication.
The survey did show that there is an increasing acceptance of mobile marketing tools but also said that, in the local market, the majority of this is SMS based and not the use of mobile websites. As many as 84 per cent of respondents said that they expect to see an increase in the use of print as a communications channel over the next two years.
As a technologically advanced printing company, we at House of Print, see the importance of a range of different communications channels, but we know that for the foreseeable future, print will continue to be of prime importance, especially as the rate of literacy continues to grow. As the improved levels of education have an impact, there will be a growing demand for printed material and only thereafter will the demand for digital and electronic channels grow.
House of Print has invested, and continues to invest, in state-of-the-art technology in order to meet your requirements. We are also moving into wider areas of production so as to be able to meet more of your needs for commercial printing, signage printing, point-of-sale, financial printing and even packaging.
We will continue to invest in the latest technology to be able to offer you a one-stop shop and to ensure that we offer you the very best quality and fastest possible turnaround times.