10 Printing Industry Trends 2025: What’s The Opportunity for Your Business?

Summary

Starting from woodblock printing that dates back to the 6th century to laser, and now the latest 3-D printing.

The printing industry has been continuously evolving.

In such a scenario, if a business doesn’t follow the Darwinian theory, ‘Survival of the fittest’, it’ll surely meet its ‘Waterloo’. Because, never-ending evolutions will render that business unfit for survival over time.

Digitization, AI, IoT, and so many other technologies have swarmed the market. And no industry is off the hook unless they embrace them. So is the case with the print industry.

It’s become imperative for printing industry owners to put their thinking caps on and go that extra mile to grow their revenue.

Here are the emerging printing industry trends for 2025 and beyond. While you might find plenty of them on the internet, the following ones can definitely make a difference to your print business.

1. Customization Remains As Perennial as Grass

Whether it’s Shopify’s tailored recommendations, Nike’s co-creation service, or StitchFix’s curated styling, there’s a lot of talk about personalization. This simply tells that people love the touch of personalization in products or services.

In such a scenario where personalization has taken the eCommerce industry by storm, how can the print industry stay behind?

Luckily, the proliferation of Web to Print has made it extremely easy for print businesses to sell custom products online.

With a Web to Print store integrated with a Product Design Tool, you sell various a variety of customizable products ranging from custom apparel to gifts to marketing collateral.

An all-in-one Web to Print Solutions is an excellent solution for those businesses who want to make an online shift. You get everything you need to successfully start and manage your print business.

On the other hand, if you already have an existing store, you can easily integrate the Product Design Tool to get started with product customization.

Having a tool comes with numerous benefits, like enhanced customer experience, improved satisfaction, and increased sales.

Start selling customized products with an advanced Product Design Tool.

Ever wondered how easy it could be to customize any product that you want?

2. The Curious Case of ‘Smart’ Printing

The Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence have managed to carve out a niche for themselves everywhere today.

Both AI and IoT are playing vital roles in revolutionizing the printing industry. Here’s a gist of how the new era of smart printing looks:

IoT

✅ With innovative printers in place, more and more printing service providers are getting smart, and saving paper and resources.

✅ Printing businesses can use print management software that integrates smart algorithms to recommend layouts and minimize wastage of paper.

✅ Further, printing sensors can send signals to indicate the need for machine maintenance or ink replacement. This is highly effective in reducing downtime of every printer machine.

AI

✅ AI can also help reroute printing jobs automatically to another printer. This way, printing jobs become hassle-free and efficient.

✅ AI-generated designs are another trend to keep in mind. With the product design tool’s AI-image generation option, you and your customers can seamlessly create images for product personalization. A simple prompt is enough to generate high-end images.

✅ Besides creating images, the tool generates text, like quotes, that you can add effortlessly to your custom designs.

Handpicked related content for you! – Read all about optimizing your printing business operations with the help of Print MIS/ERP Software. Automate your print workflow and be more efficient!

3. On Your Guard! Security in Printing Has Become Mandatory

Cybercrimes are plaguing anyone and everyone. The printing industry is no exception. Companies dealing in print services and products must ensure that they are cyber-secure.

Currently, we are witnessing print service providers prioritizing print security more than ever. Here are a couple of points that will help you get more understanding of what security means in printing.

✅ Installation of security software can help you secure sensitive data of customers against tampering or hacking.

✅ You can also increase the security of printing jobs. Additionally, you can control what employees of different departments can print with the ‘printer authorization’ feature.

✅ Print security assessment reports help identify vulnerabilities and take necessary actions to create a secure environment.

4. The Not-So-Surprising Boom of eCommerce

Lately, eCommerce has taken the entire world by storm.

If you have an offline printing business, setting up an eStore estore to sell print products is sure to work wonders.

If you already have an online presence, it’s time to jump on the latest eCommerce trends to create excellent shopping experiences.

Personalized marketing, voice search, chatbots, highly optimized websites, and quick fulfillment processes are some ways to lead your industry.

Want to take your printing business online? ?

See how an All-in-one Web to Print Software can assist you in everything from building to managing to growing your business.

5. Marketplace Model is the New Black

There is a surge in shoppers buying from online marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, etc. To be precise, they are five times more likely to search on a marketplace than a company website.

To cater to this new buying pattern, printing businesses are replicating the successful model of online marketplaces.

One of the most popular examples of a print marketplace is Zazzle. It is a C2C marketplace that connects independent designers to shoppers. Creators can monetize by providing their creative services, while shoppers can buy products with unique prints.

To widen your customer base, and generate new revenue streams, you can consider creating a print marketplace.

Based on your business logic, you can choose to have a B2B, B2C, or C2C model. Typically, a marketplace platform includes three main stakeholders—the admin, end customers, vendor, reseller, or artist.

This centralized platform allows marketplace owners to monetize each transaction that takes place on the platform.

Handpicked related content for you! – Know all about how you can successfully build a print marketplace with an added USP of product customization. Explore important features like branded stores for vendors, inventory management, payment modules, and such.

6. 3-D Printing is Going Mainstream

3-D printing used to be a niche area earlier. But with the advent of high-tech 3-D printers at highly affordable prices, this industry has witnessed a big revolution.

While some leading brands have already embraced it, some have yet to do so. 3-D printing can be a boon to different industries like construction, education, automotive, art, furniture, firearms, eyewear, aerospace, and more!

So, 3-D printing technology is one of the fastest-growing printing industry trends that you can’t afford to miss out on in the years ahead. By delivering 3-D prints to customers, print service providers can make huge profits.

7. Cloud Printing is the New Buzzword

Cloud printing is a game-changing trend that will shape the print industry’s future.

Many big players, like Linux and Lexmark, have already gotten on the bandwagon by providing cloud-managed print services.

It eliminates the need for on-premise employees and servers. One can easily carry out a print job even remotely with cloud printing.

With its power, driverless printing is possible. Meaning, you do not need a software driver to connect a device to a printer every time. Printers access whatever they need to print straight from the cloud service.

8. The Expansion of On-demand Printing

Print-on-Demand is a trend these days. Most of the e-commerce store owners are utilizing this business trend.

If you are into printing products, you can become the next print-on-demand king like Printful or Printify. Here’s everything that you need to start the business:

✅ An advanced AI-powered product design tool
✅ An eCommerce store
✅ Order Management System
✅ Multiple pricing and inventory options
✅ Multiple seller platform

Once you have these basic things in place, you can quickly start printing and selling customized orders on demand!

However, it will come with its own set of challenges. You may face issues with creating and previewing product mockups, tool integration with your existing eStore, print file issues, and more.

But the good news is that with a pre-built print-on-demand solution, you can save yourselves from all the trouble!

What’s shaping the web-to-print industry?

9. The Industry is Going Green

The print industry can’t go on without accepting the elephant in the room – environmental concerns and sustainability.

? According to a Nielsen survey, 73% of global consumers say they would definitely change their consumption habits to reduce environmental impact.

Sustainable printing practices earlier were optional. But with the rise in awareness among people, they have become necessary.

HP has already initiated low-carbon printing. This is an initiative taken to reduce the impact on the environment.

✅ Many companies have started leveraging sustainable printing methods like LED UV printing, digital printing, using recycled paper, etc.

✅ Brands have also started selling products that promote sustainability, for instance, apparel made from recycled materials and other alternatives to packaging.

Zara is one of the top brands that offers sustainable packaging. Besides that, Adidas X Parley are on a mission to launch entire product lines made without using plastic or microbeads!

10. 3D Product Configuration

3D product configuration becomes an asset and a unique selling proposition for you because not a lot of businesses are offering this. In short, you can ‘stand out’ from other brands and eventually gain attractive sales.

✅ The tool offers customers a one-of-a-kind design experience and lets them leverage the interface to design the product however they want.

✅The 3D Product Configurator also provides real-time previews, allowing users to visualize their designs and then place the order. They can also make design changes, change the color, experiment with pattern options, materials, and more—all in real-time.

✅ Brands integrating 3D configurators gain an edge by catering to evolving consumer expectations. For instance, Nike is one of the popularly known brands that offers 3D configuration service. And it won’t be wrong to say that a lot of Nike-lovers own a pair personalized pair of shoes!

✅Moreover, when the tool is smooth and quick to use, it just adds to the uniqueness!

It’s Your Turn ?

You can see that the printing industry is rapidly evolving. Many big players in the print industry have already welcomed the latest trends.

However, these trends have yet to cover a long distance before every single business adopts them. But surely, these printing industry trends are going to bring revolutionary changes in the entire industry.

If you own a printing business and you need any support to manage or grow your business then PrintXpand is your one stop solution!

We have been assisting print providers, eCommerce owners, trade printers, and such with our cutting-edge Web to Print Solutions.

Whether it’s integrating a Product Design Software on your online store, or streamlining your print operations with an ERP, we have got you covered!

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