For businesses looking to gain additional market share in competitive sectors, marketing plays a crucial role – and this often takes the form of printed materials. This means the market for large format printers for printing marketing materials is growing – and this presents opportunities to resellers.
With the economy continuing to experience sluggish growth, it means that in many sectors, such as retail, hospitality and leisure, competition for customers is fierce. This means that marketing retains its importance and, often, physical media such as posters, flyers and display banners still play a crucial role in this as businesses try to entice customers into their premises.
This also means that printers are needed to create the marketing collateral – and many businesses look to do that in-house to save money – meaning it is a growing market for resellers.
Andy Gregory, sales director at Hybrid Services, Mimaki’s exclusive UK and Ireland distributor, says that demand for large format printers from businesses to produce marketing materials remains healthy. “Particularly where businesses regularly require posters, display graphics, event materials and other short-run marketing collateral,” he adds. “Companies that opt for in-house production can enjoy greater control over turnaround, cost and timing – all of which is invaluable when campaigns need to move quickly.”
Jason Kabi, business development manager, wide format at Data Direct, says that Data Direct has been promoting the Mutoh range of wide format printers and found that demand is growing in the UK. “The UK large format printing hardware sector is a mature market with an estimated value at £448 million looking to increase steadily over next few years,” he says.
“A major catalyst for this demand is Brother Industries’ £170 million acquisition of Mutoh. This massive consolidation has significantly boosted UK market confidence in Mutoh’s long-term servicing, hardware availability, and R&D backing.
“Data Direct has expended the dealer network for the Mutoh product range around the UK, helped by opening a showroom at their Bradford office demonstrating the latest technology including the new water-based UV Mutoh HydrAton 1642.”
Trends
But while demand is strong, what customers want from their marketing collateral – and the printers that print it – is changing.
Andy says the biggest change Hybrid Services is experiencing is the demand for flexibility. “Campaigns can evolve quickly, run lengths are typically becoming lower, and businesses increasingly want the ability to personalise or localise material without creating excessive stock,” he says. “In addition, and as would be expected in the current economic climate, running costs, energy consumption, waste and overall production simplicity are also becoming more important considerations.”
Jason agrees that customer demands in the UK large format printing market are shifting. “The customer is now looking for a more durability, they no longer want cheap, short-lived promotional materials that warp, fade, or yellow under UV exposure,” he says.
“Customers now demand ‘operational durability’, specifying materials based on exactly how many years they will perform in the field. The customer is looking for cross-compatible hardware, they want a single wide-format asset capable of jumping seamlessly between flexible vinyl, textured wallpaper, rigid packaging prototypes, and direct-to-object items like promotional tech accessories.
“This explains the surge in UK interest for hybrid systems and flatbeds like the Mutoh Xpertject 1462UF, which features dual printheads to layer CMYK, white ink and varnish simultaneously on objects up to 150mm thick. Along with Mutoh’s MS51 Eco-Solvent inks because they are completely hazard-label free and require no specialised room ventilation, satisfying strict UK health and safety audits right out of the box.”
AI impact
Resellers also need to be aware of the impact that AI is having on this sector and the printers within it.
Andy notes that at present, much of AI’s impact is happening around the printer rather than within it. “It is already being used to support content creation, artwork preparation, resizing and creating a range of campaign versions, potentially making printed marketing material quicker and easier to create,” he says. “On the production side, AI is likely to play more of a role in workflow automation, maintenance, colour management and quality control.”
Jason says that in terms of printers, Mutoh’s AI addresses structural bottlenecks across four key areas. “At the hardware level, AI uses arrayed visual sensors and internal machine learning algorithms to keep printers operating seamlessly,” he says. “This directly limits material waste and downtime.
“Mutoh’s specialised VerteLith RIP ecosystem utilises machine learning algorithms to auto-populate Pantone spot colours, map smooth gradient steps and predict overall ink usage profiles before the head even fires.
“Fixing the Imperfections of Generative AI Artwork, using tools like ChatGPT to create their own marketing assets creates a major technical challenge. A graphic that looks clean on a 6-inch phone screen often reveals severe pixel artifacts, garbled text, or texture noise when scaled up to a massive 64-inch banner.
“Advanced print shops feed client-supplied artwork through tools like Adobe Firefly’s to organically reconstruct missing pixels and smooth out noise artifacts.”
Jason adds that with Smart Web-to-Print Frontends, AI has compressed the bridge between a business customer ordering a poster online and the Mutoh printer activating on the factory floor. “New web-to-print frontends use localised AI engines to create realistic 3D mock-ups of a sign displayed directly inside an office hallway or window layout,” he says. “This removes the traditional friction of multiple back-and-forth proofing reviews between designer and client.”
Reseller conversations
In conversations with customers about marketing materials and purchasing large format printers for that, there are certain things resellers should be highlighting.
“As ever, a conversation with a customer should start with what they want to produce, rather than the specification of the printer,” notes Andy. “Resellers have an important consultative role in understanding applications, volumes, media requirements and the skills available within the customer’s business and then matching those needs to the right technology.
“Ease of use of the entire system – which is why Mimaki has introduced hardware like the CJV200 Series printer/cutters – hardware and software training, localised after-sales support, ongoing running costs and application versatility can be every bit as important as headline productivity, particularly for customers who are investing for the first time, or don’t currently employ experienced print operators.”
Jason agrees, saying that resellers should move away from selling technical hardware specs and instead lead conversations focused on business relief, operational cost reduction, and localised compliance. “UK businesses face high commercial energy rates, strict corporate sustainability mandates and shrinking margins,” he says. “Marketing conversations must position large format printers like Mutoh as financial assets that optimise cash flow and win local contracts.”
Future
As mentioned, there is positive sentiment in this sector of the market currently, and there are hopes that it will continue to grow in the next 12-18 months.
“There are good reasons to be positive, although investment decisions will remain carefully considered in the current economic climate,” says Andy. “Marketing is becoming more responsive, while exhibitions, events and physical brand experiences continue to create demand for printed graphics alongside online activity.
“Over the next few years, the opportunity is likely to come from helping businesses identify where bringing production in-house can primarily ensure control across the whole job, as well as saving time and money, improving flexibility and allowing users to produce applications they currently outsource.”
Jason too remains optimistic, pointing to how the large format printing sector is anticipated to continue to grow over the next 12–18 months through late 2027. “Digital wide-format inkjet technology is expanding at a steady CAGR of 3% to 4.1%,” he adds.
This article first appeared in Print in the Channel magazine issue #40
