Key findings are that 44% of respondents predicted a decline in turnover over the next three years, and that two-thirds are planning to widen their service offering, with the most popular diversification area multi-channel communications.

“We were very pleased that the industry is looking to have conversations with customers to increase the value they offer,” said Antony Paul, head of marketing programmes at Neopost.

He added: “44% is about right in terms of what we expected.”

The three biggest challenges identified by respondents were overcapacity, competition from other media changes and technological changes, identified by 54%, 53% and 41% of respondents respectively.

On why Neopost commissioned the research, he added: “Print is an increasingly important sector for us. We started out in traditional mail but we can now help printers with multi-channel communications too.”

Neopost is also showcasing its multi-channel DS-1200 Production Folder Inserter and OMS-500 Output Management Software at Ipex. The Neopost/BPIF research is available in draft form exclusively from the Neopost stand, and will be formally released after Ipex.

“We thought with an event of this profile and with the change in Ipex where it’s migrating to address the wider communication mix, it seemed to make sense to share that insight in a show about transition,” said Paul.