State of the Industry-Industry Wide

These values, in turn, support more geographic and demographic variation in packaging designs, more test marketing, and closer integration of packaging design and printing with a marketer's overall strategy.

But the package printing environment is not without its concerns. Like other segments of the print industry, packaging faces stiffer competition from non-print options. Items sold through a Web site don't require the attention-getting package designs so essential to winning shelf space in stores. Indeed, these items are often shipped in polyester bags or plain white cartons, requiring little or no printing. In this way, the growth of e-commerce may undermine the prospects for package printing in the next several years.