Printers Offer Views on Alternatives to Print

How acceptable are electronic alternatives to offset printing? Specifically, to what extent is the Internet an acceptable replacement for traditional offset printing? Small and mid-size printers say they are blasé about the effect of the Internet. The consensus is that CDs, the Internet, or broadcast media have not shifted demand away from traditional offset printing. However, large printing firms report that the Internet is replacing print in many applications, specifically "enterprise" applications.

A look at the potential threat posed by Internet, by type of printer, indicates that magazine and book printers over time have felt the most threatened. Still, compared to other business challenges reported, competition from the Internet is not a major challenge.

Nonetheless, small commercial printers report that print is declining as a medium. Mid-size printers see a transition of much work from print to non-print media, although they do see many traditional print applications, like packaging, remaining viable. Large printers say that, although print volumes will experience very little, if any, growth, the demand for print will still always exist as print continues to remain an effective means of communication.