Car wraps and wallpaper provide new opportunities in wide-format printing

Printed wallpapers and car wraps could provide a huge new revenue stream for the wide format printing industry, one expert has claimed.

In a blog posted on whattheythink.com, printing expert Dan Marx explained that two individual markets could provide a wealth of new opportunities in the printing world: home decorating and vehicle manufacture.

Where cars are concerned, Marx cited the recent decision by Smart to offer custom wraps on new vehicle purchases, as noted by prweb.com. This will allow buyers to have a unique and striking-looking car that sets them apart from everyone else on the road. If such a scheme takes off across many more manufacturers (especially given that Smart is affiliated with Mercedes-Benz), there could be innumerable new opportunities for wide-format printers.

Next, Marx turned his attention to the printed wallpaper market, where patterned and mural-type prints are becoming increasingly popular. Provided this trajectory continues, wallpaper printing could become commonplace, bringing with it a huge potential revenue stream for printers.

Marx concluded: "Digital printing in general, and wide-format digital in particular, have changed the printing game. It is so much more than a new kind of tool, like a better tennis racquet or an improved putter.

"It has changed the way the game is played, changed the boundaries, rewritten how points are earned. And it is the companies that can take advantage of all the change (and its inherent opportunity) that comes their way that can emerge, transformed and strong, from the experience."