This increase in quality is one of the reasons those operating in this sector have given for the sudden rise in people using wall graphics – a demand upturn demonstrated by the fact that printers are increasingly gravitating towards this sector, with 29.1% of respondents to PrintWeek’s recent Wide-format Survey operating in the wall graphics arena, an increase of 5% on the year previous.

Those printers argue that the technology has opened up a market that is here for the long term. Others disagree. They claim that the rise is more down to cost – paint and wallpaper are by comparison relatively expensive – and that the increase is just a fad and so running to buy the latest roll-to-roll wide-format press is not a clever bit of capitalising on a growing sector, but a fool’s errand into a temporary boom.

Of course, wall graphics are not new. Companies have been cutting vinyl to fill wall space for many years – things are just a bit more advanced than in the early days. Consumer wall graphics retailer Supernice has been operating for eight years in the US and five years in the UK, and Louise Sandor, director at Supernice, the European distributor of Blik wall graphics, says the technology change from when they first started out has been massive.

"At the beginning we just had cut vinyl, but now we have printed vinyl so we have a much faster production process and much more flexibility," she explains. "It also means you have a lot more detail so the designs can be more intricate."

Longer lasting
On the quality side of things, no one questions the advances that have been achieved. The new machines on the market are not just more complex in the work they are able to do, in terms of colour and design, but they are also able to create something much more long-lasting. John Sulzmann, managing director at wide-format printer Artworks Solutions, says that this has created a much better product.

"The new presses are much more stable, you don’t have to worry about cartridges and heads dropping out; the colour consistency is much better as a result too," he reveals. "Also, the inks we use now are a lot more durable. The solvent and pigment inks previously used were not scratch- or fade-resistant, for example, but UV inks don’t have that problem. Further treatments including liquid lamination also improve scratch resistance."

It’s not just quality where improvements have been made – the flexibility of the substrates that can be used has also increased and has played a big part in the sector’s growth. Sulzmann reveals that he can now print on anything from MDF to acoustic ceiling tiles to glass, so customers have a lot more choice. Andy Voss, managing director at Lintec Graphic Films, which supplies window graphics materials, agrees, explaining that, in the past year or so, the company has been able to really develop the products it offers.

"Our range has really evolved in the past 12-18 months," says Voss. "With the substrates now the look is better with superior see-through vision, and then we went further and introduced a hard covering for the product. The latter is crucial for the commercial market as it means that, when cleaners clean the glass, they don’t damage the graphic; before when a cleaner scrubbed it or if you had a downlighter on it for example, the graphic would be damaged and you would get a haze."


Roughed up
As well as the substrates being more robust and more options being available, the applications of these substrates have also expanded. Where once you needed the smoothest of walls with the right type of finish in order for a wall graphic to have any chance of staying put and looking half- decent, the substrates that have become available recently have expanded the places you can use the products. Kevin Wallace, managing director at consumables and substrates supplier All Print Supplies, explains that surfaces such as open brick work, unpainted plaster, rough surfaces or walls with unusual coatings can all now have something stuck onto them.

Wallace adds, though, that price is as much of a factor in the increased demand for wall graphics as the technology improvements giving improved flexibility and choice of substrate – although much of these cost improvements are also down to technological advances.

"A few years back, the costs would get very high and so the logistics of doing wall graphics cost-effectively were not there. Very few people could have afforded to buy the products," he explains. "Recently, though, the costs have reduced. The media has come down in cost, as have the inks, and then you have the fact that lamination is no longer necessary. That office that would have perhaps cost £1,500 to kit out a few years back will now only cost you less than half of that as a result."

From a customer perspective, whether business or consumer, the lower prices make wall graphics a viable alternative to wallpaper and paint for arguably the first time. And the reductions have come at the same time as the price of paint and wallpaper is going up thanks to the high prices of raw materials, making the wall graphics market even more enticing. Additionally, the lower hassle and cost of application – with wallpaper and paint, the wall preparation and application can be laborious and expensive – makes, in some people’s view, wall graphics cheaper than its rival furnishing options.

Ronald Gomes of commercial interior design agency 7Gods certainly believes the rise of wall graphics on the business side of the market is primarily down to cost.

"One of our clients wanted to create a feature wall, and so we came up with a design but we found that the cost of getting wallpaper printed was too high – if you want something unique, the costs can be extortionate," he explains. "We decided to switch to a printed graphic instead as it was more affordable and the quality is now at the point where it is more than a match
for wallpaper."

The costs have come down for a number of reasons. More demand has obviously given economies of scale and more printers competing for work has also driven down prices. Sulzmann adds that the cost of entry has helped as well, not just because the consumables have come down in price as Williams mentioned earlier, but also because the printing kit itself is cheaper than it once was. The key, though, is that technology has meant quicker, more reliable production, as well as higher quality, which has increased demand to create the aforementioned economies of scale, so a cheaper end product can be achieved.

The lower cost has a knock-on benefit for both the consumer and commercial sides of the market as it enables more frequent purchases and, as a result, customers take advantage of the major benefit wall graphics have over wallpaper and paint: their ease of removal.

On the consumer side of the market, Supernice’s Sandor explains that, in the major cities where rental properties make up a high proportion of residential space, removable wall graphics have become a great way of personalising a house or flat that you are not allowed to paint or wallpaper. If you move frequently, or get bored of a particular design; the costs are low enough now to simply change to something else. And the fact that, when you peel off the graphic, it leaves no trace of its presence means that the deposit cheque remains untouched.

On the commercial side, Alex Wilson, marketing manager at Service Graphics, explains that the removeability is also a key reason for choosing wall graphics, especially when it comes to retailers.

"With retailers, changing the graphic is quite important and the beauty of some of these products is that, though they stick fast, if you apply a bit of heat to them to get them off, they come away easily and leave no residue so that the wall can be returned to normal or have a new covering put up with no hassle," he explains. "So for short-term campaigns it is perfect."

From a print perspective, these multiple reasons for engagement in the product – quality, flexibility, varied customer base, high demand, and apparent low cost of entry – makes wall graphics a very appealing market to get into. However, Sulzmann has a word of warning: it is not just about buying a press.

"We have a design department, with three full-time designers," he reveals. "They take the client right from the concept stage of producing samples and colour matching and things like that, and then it goes into production and then we fit it. It is very important that if you are in this market you offer a front-to-back service. If you don’t and third parties start getting involved, you open yourself up to all sorts of problems. You have to have control of the whole process."

Service Graphics’ Wilson agrees, stating that fitting in particular has to be offered as part of the service.

That said, on the consumer side, Sandor explains that the fitting is done by the consumer themselves, and the designs are mostly licensed images. While licensing is extremely expensive, the consumer side of the market is undoubtedly a less involved option, but then those in-house production benefits are outweighed by the need to find a way of getting the designs and products to the consumer market.

Levelling out
Getting into the sector is tough then, and some have suggested that the effort may not be worth your while. Sandor, for example, believes that the market for wall graphics, at least on the consumer side, has already peaked.

"I think the demand may have reached a plateau if I am honest," she says. "Demand will remain steady, but when it first came out it was a new thing, so growth was rapid, but the market has now matured and we have found our audience. "

7Gods’ Gomes foresees a similar situation on the commercial side. "I think the trend will last a good few years, though I can’t see it lasting forever," he admits. "To call it a fad would be inaccurate, though; it is a great solution for interior space."

If correct, this would suggest there’s very little room for new operators in this sector, as it has reached a size beyond which it would be a sustainable new business move. Some, however, disagree with Gomes
and Sandor.

"There are more and more printers getting into it, but I don’t think the market is in any way getting saturated," says Voss. "For example, you don’t see many window graphics out there so there is still a massive scope for expansion. In Japan, you see window film everywhere. Almost all windows are used as billboards. Here it is still in its infancy. Now we have moved on from the iffy-looking vinyl, it is a prime opportunity to move up that level."

Williams, too, sees the market expanding for some time yet. "As people see more of it, the more people want to do it," he says. "Someone will go into a reception or office and see a great-looking wall graphic and they will want to be a part of that and it grows from there. It’s a domino effect."

Which opinion will prove correct will no doubt depend primarily on the ability of the technology behind wall graphics printing to keep evolving. The position of the market currently is primarily down to the technological advances already achieved and if printers are going to make the right call about whether to be involved in this sector, predicting how much further that technology could go will be key.