New PRIMIR Research Explores Tag and Label Printing Trends

RESTON, VA—January 27, 2015—PRIMIR, the Print Industries Market Information and Research Organization, has completed a new research study: "Tag & Label Printing Trends."

Conducted for PRIMIR by LPC Inc., Austin, TX, the study provides an understanding of current and future functionality of tags and labels in the United States and Canada by format and end-use market segment. It also provides data on the relative size of each segment along with forecasts to 2018. More than 250 brand owners, packaging buyers, and tag and label printers and converters participated in surveys and qualitative interviews for the study.

Through 2018, some segments will do better than others. For example, the study projects sleeve label technologies and in-mold labels to grow 3.4 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, while glue-applied labels are forecast to decline -0.2 percent CAGR during that same time period.

The research study indicates, however, that tag and label run lengths in North America are declining an estimated 7 to 9 percent annually. As a result, each year, higher volumes of once conventionally printed applications (offset, flexo and gravure) migrate to digital printing presses. While approximately 74 percent of presses sold into the North American tag and label industry in 2013 were conventional, it is expected that by 2018, 50 percent of the presses installed in the tag and label market will be digital.

Brand owner respondents indicate that they are seeking print vendors that have the ability to handle the needs of an entire brand, including a wide range of run lengths, sample and prototype generation, and inventory management. They are also exploring innovation in such areas as extended text labeling, extended color gamuts, and thinner, less expensive, more environmentally friendly substrates.

The study was recently distributed to all members of PRIMIR. An informative overview podcast (http://tinyurl.com/pejclpz), by LPC study authors, can be accessed complimentary at the PRIMIR website on the "Tag and Label Printing Trends" page.