In recent years, with the rapid development of digital printing technology, digital printing is gradually applied to more and more printing subdivisions. Driven by consumers’ demand for small-batch and personalized packaging, more and more printing enterprises begin to choose digital printing to complete small-batch and personalized packaging orders. 

In response to this trend, Napco Research published a paper in《 Digital Print Packaging: The Time Has Come! 》In this article, the benefits of digital printing and packaging to marketing, digital printing and packaging in the practical application of challenges and opportunities, launched a survey and analysis.

 So, what is the status of digital printing and packaging? Come and find out！ 

 1.Digital printing and packaging and marketing benefits

The first question Napco Research asked was “How does digital printing and packaging relate to marketing benefits?” To some extent, the following set of data reflects the positive attitude of brands towards digital printing and packaging.

 79% of brands agree that packaging is an important marketing tool for their companies, and packaging is seen as an important part of the brand marketing strategy.

40% of brands listed “designing packaging that encourages consumers to buy” as their top priority.
60% of brands said customised or personalised packaging had a positive impact on sales.

80%of brands prefer printing companies that offer digital printing packaging options. 

It can be seen that brand owners pay more and more attention to the role of personalized packaging design in promoting marketing, while digital printing has gradually become a bonus recognized by most end customers with its advantages of short turnaround time, flexible and convenient, and high efficiency.

2, digital printing packaging challenges and opportunities 

When asked about the biggest obstacles in the practical application of digital printing and packaging, most printing and packaging companies indicate that with the continuous development of digital printing technology and the strengthening of relevant personnel training, technical limitations (format size, substrate, color gamut and printing quality, etc.) are no longer the main problem they face.

It should be noted that, although there are still some technical problems to be overcome in these fields: for example,

52% of printing and packaging enterprises choose “color matching between digital printing equipment and traditional offset printing equipment”;

30% of enterprises choose “substrate limitation”;

11% of respondents chose “cross-process color matching”;

3% percent of companies said that “digital printing resolution or presentation quality is not high enough,” But most respondents said that color management practices, operator training, and technological innovation can effectively address these difficulties. Therefore, technical limitations are no longer the main factor hindering the development of the digital printing

In addition, the “customer boycott” option is not listed as one of the major obstacles to digital printing packaging, indicating that the acceptance of digital printing packaging is gradually improving.

It is worth mentioning that 32% of respondents believe that the number one reason for not investing in digital printing is that it is not suitable for the printing and packaging companies themselves or packaging processors product mix.

16% of respondents said the reason for not investing in digital printing was that they were happy to outsource their digital printing and packaging orders.　

Thus, digital printing packaging market opportunities and challenges coexist. On the one hand, brands not only attach importance to the appearance and practicality of packaging, but also increasingly regard it as an extension of marketing strategies, thus further promoting the development of customized and personalized packaging market, and bringing new growth points for the application of digital printing in the field of packaging.　

In this regard, digital printing equipment suppliers should actively improve in terms of format size, substrate, color gamut and printing quality, accelerate the innovation and development of digital printing equipment, and further reduce technical restrictions. At the same time, we actively provide customers with complete solutions and value-added services, help customers adjust the product portfolio, and jointly develop the digital printing and packaging market.