2021 is about to pass. In this year, we have had a “difficult” life. In China, you may have experienced “raw material rise”, “double reduction” and “power rationing”, but your peers in Germany also experienced similar experiences with us. In this article, let’s take a look at how Bernd zipper, a German printer, evaluates their 2021.

It doesn’t help the situation. I will talk about the future of COVID-19.

According to the German Institute of economics, the inflation rate in August 2021 was 3.49% and that in October was 4.5%. Inflation has worsened, not just in Germany, and inflation will soon spread throughout Europe. Printing enterprises in high inflation countries are increasing the export of printed products. Therefore, German printing enterprises should also be prepared for price competition.

As consumer products enter the supply bottleneck period, the output of industrial production is shrinking. But the service sector is recovering steadily. In Germany, the combination of online and offline has been very common. According to the prediction of sinus market and sozialforschung research, German social structure and new forms are being reshaped. On the one hand, modernization defines a new environment. On the other hand, the society is more subdivided and the division of labor is developing at a high speed on its own road. The importance of sustainable development and environmental protection are forming a new social part.

In any case, the society is developing towards modernization, and digitization has promoted the development of the original conservative society. Sales of online consumption are increasing. According to bitkom’s latest survey, the number of retailers on social media has doubled, and more than 68% of brands have their own social media accounts to attract potential customers. 33% of brands also advertise on social media. Overall, the industry association found that 75% of enterprises are active on Facebook, instagram and other platforms to varying degrees, more than twice as much as two years ago.

Therefore, the novel coronavirus pneumonia has changed the way of life of society, especially people’s buying behavior. Individual areas of printing are “booming”. B2C products in folding cartons, labels, photo books and other fields increased by 15 ~ 20%. CEWE, known as European No.1′s photo book printing company, has seen a healthy growth in sales under the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have to face the fact that the market will be more centralized and the number of printing manufacturers will be less, but the scale will be larger and the profit will be higher.

Companies that can continue to invest in printing also have great potential. B2B and B2C product suppliers need to do more advertising to stabilize product sales. When customers understand the method of “mass customization” and ask printing suppliers to do it, then “direct mail” will revive. The brand chamber of Commerce will think about how to match the products with personalized packaging, which is printed with personalized graphics and sent to consumers by express. Therefore, how to integrate printing as a manufacturing step in the supply chain is particularly important. However, for brands, they generally do not consider setting up a printing factory as a supporting.

“What can we do as a printing enterprise?”, I am often asked this question. My replies are “follow the trend, solve customer problems and create value”. Social media is not the enemy. The combination of social media and print is the booster of advertising. Don’t pay attention to whether you have long-term customers and whether the sales team is loyal. Because even for companies with a long history, their customers may change. Forget loyalty! Instead, make sure that complex processes in your organization become streamlined and simple.

Paper prices will rise, energy costs will rise, and wages will rise. In the medium term, no one can afford these costs, especially when the new crown attacks not only their health but also their financial reserves. The purchase price of printed matter will rise. It is expected that the price increase of printing products in Germany will be between 6.8% and 8.2% in 2022. So it’s time to raise prices.

What’s next? The clock is ticking. How can we make full use of time? Companies that fail to rebuild the company’s genes can continue to operate and sell in the same way. But if you are really passionate about printing products, you need to reflect.

We first examine whether the company has four basic characteristics, namely lean, agile, virtual and collaborative? These are not popular slogans, but a specific proposal for action. Learn from startups and become fast, lean and agile again. Because printing enterprises face customers like this. If you don’t do virtual thinking today, you need to quickly learn or find a partner who can. As a commercial printing enterprise, you do not need to have textile printing skills, but you must be able to provide customers with more solutions. The platform connects suppliers, intermediaries and end customers. The digital platform enables efficient collaboration, which is also the feature of the business model of the modern printing industry.

Printing is irreplaceable now and in the future. The Internet is a pioneer. We should thank them for this, because latecomers can continue to make persistent efforts in their achievements. But often the so-called subversive may not win the greatest victory, but the fastest responder. Printing enterprises must change, otherwise their industry people will appear and occupy the printing production link of the whole value chain. “Hurry up!” This applies to the entire printing industry!