As part of the educational series for 2022, the Ontario Printing and Imaging Association held a webinar today featuring Andy Paparozzi, Chief Economist PRINTING United Alliance.
As part of this session, there were several key highlights that all printers facing these current conditions are critical for success:
- Growth continues but the pace slows noticeably after midyear as the US economy slows.
- Supply shortages and labour shortages continue – and so does the cost of inflation
- Opportunities to expand are present but margin for error continues to shrink.
- Be vigilant – key indicators of where the American economy is likely headed are troubling
- Be aggressive. In times of extraordinary uncertainty, the tendency is to wait for clarity. The opportunity is to create clarity.
More than 70% of commercial printers surveyed to date expect their sales to grow during the first half of 2022 by 11.4% on average but just 40.6% expect their pre-tax profitability to increase.
Top investments on the minds of printing leadership this year includes bindery and finishing equipment systems and an increase in productivity/efficiency.
Keeping your eye on your company’s most reliable, sensitive leading business indicators and monitoring them even more carefully than normal will help you through these challenging times. Think about what you will do better this year than you did last year?
Has your sales team mastered the complete digital sales process? Does each sales rep in your firm have a “social-selling persona?”
Be prepared for the “Data Age” and be prepared for resistance. Treat data as a business asset. Distinguish between data that’s nice to have and data that’s must-have.
Thank you to Andy for this presentation – there certainly were a lot of take-aways, and many items to consider. He really did give the audience the tools to prepare for the changes ahead in a very practical way. Watch for more OPIA educational sessions to come March, and April 2022.
For more details…
2021-22 State of the Industry Report 12
Printing Industry Economic Update, Q4 2021 6