The Kettering-based printer's comments came in reaction to a prediction by Barclaycard chief executive Antony Jenkins, who claimed contactless payment technology would lead to the death of plastic within 10 years.
Lance Hill, managing director of print services at 4DM, agreed with Jenkins' assessment of the market and the anticipated rise in the use of smartphones, rather than credit or debit cards, to make payments.
He said: "Whether we like it or not, new technology is definitely going to have an impact on print.
"And there's obviously a tie-in from a marketing point of view because the data collected from [smartphone] payments can be used to send out marketing messages."
Hill added that the market for transactional print in the UK was bound to decline, as the next generation would not want paper statements.
"They'll have everything on their phone and the phone will become almost like a laptop," he said.
"Direct mail companies need to adapt and integrate some of this new technology. We as an industry need to wake up and make sure we're switched on to it."
4DM chief warns of DM sector's need to adapt
4DM has warned that the direct mail sector needs to adapt to new technologies now or face becoming obsolete within a decade.
