IDC: By 2024, the overall market revenue of digital industrial printers in China will reach as high as 1 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 9.5%.

The Global Industrial Printer Market Tracking Report for the fourth quarter of 2024 released by International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that in 2024, the overall market revenue of digital industrial printers in China reached a high of 1 billion US dollars, an increase of 9.5% year-on-year. Among them, the large-format digital printing machine saw a 1.4% year-on-year decline, while digital textile printing machines saw an 11.4% increase, and digital industrial label and packaging printing machines saw a 29.1% increase. IDC found the following trends in the Chinese digital industrial printer market in 2024: - The growth in demand for advertising printing alleviated the decline in the large-format digital printing machine market in 2024. - The demand for large-format engineering machines continued to decline year-on-year in 2024. The decrease in the number of new engineering projects undertaken by the real estate and architectural design institutes led to continued overall low demand in the market. In pursuit of maximizing operational efficiency, related companies further tightened their budget for office equipment procurement. Additionally, the confidence of homebuyers did not show a clear recovery in 2024, which also partially impacted the sales of existing and new homes, thereby affecting the initiation of new projects. - The market revenue for digital advertising printing machines saw positive growth in 2024. However, markets such as wedding photography, graduation photos, and personal portraits performed poorly last year. On one hand, with the changing marriage concepts of the younger generation, wedding forms are increasingly focused on personalization, simplicity, and rationality, impacting the traditional demand for wedding photography. On the other hand, the photography industry faces fierce market competition, rising costs, and rapid changes in consumer demands, affecting customers' demand for new equipment purchases. - The third industry, represented by culture and tourism, continued to inject strong momentum into the domestic economic development in 2024. Many cities with unique cultural intellectual property creatively developed attractive tourism resources, promoting a strong recovery and high-quality development in the domestic tourism industry. The tourism market overall progressed steadily, with vibrant consumer market activity, serving as a powerful engine driving domestic demand and boosting market confidence. - The digital textile printing machine market steadily grew in 2024, moving towards a high value-added track. IDC's classification of digital textile printing machines includes flocking machines, low-speed digital printing machines, high-speed industrial digital printing machines, and digital T-shirt direct printing machines. In 2024, both flocking machines and low-speed digital printing machines showed a downward trend in the domestic market. On the other hand, the market size of digital T-shirt direct printing machines and high-speed industrial digital printing machines both saw positive year-on-year growth. On one hand, the slowing global economic growth weakened the confidence and purchasing power of domestic end consumers, leading to a suppression of demand for non-essential consumer goods like apparel and home textiles. On the other hand, amid increasing domestic market competition, many brands specializing in low value-added equipment gradually shifted their business strategies towards overseas markets to gain more sales opportunities. This shift indirectly reflects the maturity of the domestic digital textile printing market, as equipment products transition from simple price competition to high value and high quality direction. At the same time, Chinese digital textile printing equipment has gained significant recognition in domestic and international markets, with products gaining international reputation, driving the notable growth of apparel and home textile exports. These factors objectively provide strong support for the growth in demand for high-speed industrial digital printing machines. In 2024, there was strong demand growth for digital industrial label and packaging printing machines, with outstanding contributions from the fast-moving consumer goods and cultural creative industries. The market revenue for digital industrial label and packaging printing machines saw further growth in 2024. The digital industrial label market developed rapidly, while the packaging printing machine market steadily grew, with corrugated printing machines performing particularly well. Despite the overall rational consumption and cautious purchasing behavior of domestic consumers in 2024, practical, trendy, and well-designed product packaging continued to stimulate consumer purchasing desire. The growth in industries such as e-commerce, express logistics, and fast-moving consumer goods drove increasing demand from printing factories for digital industrial label and packaging printing equipment that could meet personalized and innovative requirements. Simultaneously, the rapid development of the cultural creative industry also prompted printing companies to increasingly demand creative and innovative labeling and packaging solutions. These factors collectively drove the rapid development of digital industrial packaging and labeling printing equipment. Sun Hongqing, Senior Analyst of IDC's Print, Image and Document Solutions Research Department in China, believes that the scale of the digital industrial printer market in China continued to steadily grow in 2024, showing good development momentum. Although there is a gradual differentiation in profit margins for equipment, certain types have achieved higher profit levels due to technological advantages and innovative applications. IDC recommends that equipment manufacturers keenly observe the dynamics of the domestic market, grasp hot trends, accurately target market demands, create more targeted products and services, stand out in fierce market competition, consolidate their competitive position. At the same time, there is a need to continue to invest in product quality and research and development, innovate thinking, actively explore new application scenarios, attract more potential customers, and expand a broader market space.