European labelstock demand remains strong as COVID-19 pandemic recovery
begins
Eighty-three percent of brand owners project that
label purchase volumes will increase or remain the same in 2021 across all formats,
despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains. According to this year’s
FINAT RADAR Brand Owner survey, 74% of companies anticipate that volumes will
increase, despite 46% of firms revealing that they had experienced supply disruptions
over the last ten months.
The encouraging news is that despite the uncertainty, the outlook for the European
narrow web market remains positive. 38% of firms say that they plan to increase
procurement volumes between 4 and 6%, and 7% of the companies surveyed
suggest volumes could even increase between 7 and 15%.
However, the survey also reveals shifting priorities in light of the pandemic,
including a heightened interest in ensuring that supply chains are resilient to
shocks. Last year, just 7% of survey participants said that it was important that label
vendors have more than one production facility. This year, the same figure has
increased to 25%.
The second major indicator of this trend is the surge of interest in the flexibility of
digital label presses. Even during the height of lockdown, just 7% of companies
reduced digital label spend. Today, one in three companies specifically identify
events in 2020 as the motivation for sourcing more digitally printed labels, owing to
the advantages of shorter lead times and greater assurance of supply chain
availability that the technology enables.
The shift to digital is not necessarily entirely shaped by recent events, however, as
the survey also reveals other factors that are driving the changes, with the top
reasons identified as the ability to print small run sizes as well as improved
turnaround time. But what the survey does show is that fewer buyers are
interested in the sort of late-stage customization options offered by digital printing.