The impact of the internet on print - The digital flood will focus on the challenges and opportunities arising from the transition to online communications.

It is said to illustrate how print buyers, printers and their suppliers are being compelled to deal with new challenges and opportunities such as web-to-print, VDP, augmented reality, QR codes and smart technologies such as printed electronics.

One of the key trends covered in the first Global Insights report is around the rise of e-commerce, which the report said is "growing in most global regions at rapid rates" resulting in printers "having to play catch-up".

"While 51% of the survey panel had web-to-print services, only 14% reported it transacted more than 25% of their orders," the report stated.

Catalogues were cited as an example of how e-commerce is affecting print, with publishers using printed catalogues to drive online sales, leading to 60% of catalogue printers reporting growth in on-demand production.

The report will also highlight the rise of "mass customisation", with 72% of commercial printers questioned offering VDP services, 56% reporting moderate or fast growth in the proportion of variable pages and 38% expressing an intention to invest in digital electrophotographic colour cutsheet printers.

Werner Dornscheidt, president and chief executive of Messe Düsseldorf, said: "With its detailed analysis of the global markets and the overview of current trends, the Drupa Global Insights report is an important contribution to strategic decisions that need to be taken by printers and suppliers alike."

Other trends covered include: CRM, DAM and 'big data'; the automisation of workflows; and how the digitisation of communications is affecting the demand for commercial print and driving demand for greater substrate variety (paper, board, film, metal, glass).

The report was compiled from an online survey of around 1,100 international key executives from the printing industry, conducted in spring 2014.

The English language version will be available in mid-October and will cost €249 (£200) per copy (although it will be available free to exhibitors and to those who took part in the survey).

The subject of the three subsequent surveys and their corresponding reports, which could examine areas such as cross-media and digital take up, will be decided closer to their publications.