At PRINTING United Expo, the Alliance Insights research team took to the stage to break down several recent and upcoming reports that together paint a picture of where our industry is today – and where it will likely go next. Nathan Safran, vice president; Lisa Cross, principal analyst; and Onamica Dhar, economist, all with the Alliance Insights research arm of PRINTING United Alliance, shared a ton of great data breaking down everything from automation adoption to convergence, to AI usage across the industry.

Here are five key highlights from their data.

1. It’s been a challenging year, but not for everyone.

Dhar presented the preliminary findings from the upcoming State of the Industry report, with the caveat that the study is still ongoing and open. They feel they have enough responses for a statistical majority based on past SOI reports, but these exact numbers could shift slightly when the official report is released later this year.

Sales, she noted, increased just 0.6% for the first three quarters of 2025 on average, but only for about 37% of printers in the survey. 62.9% saw those numbers either flat or declining this year.

2. Tariffs are a real concern.

A staggering 93.5% of respondents noted they have already seen impacts from tariffs, and they don’t expect that to change. Nearly 70% expect to see their operating costs continue to increase in 2026, with 62% anticipating a reduction in profit margins as a direct result of tariffs. Only 36.6% expect to see a direct reduction in sales growth attributable to tariffs specifically, but nearly half expect to see supply chain disruptions in the coming year.

3. Automation is a critical factor for the future.

Cross took the stage to look at other factors impacting printers across every segment, and she called out automation as one that most printers say is important to growing their business, and yet, she noted, 79% of commercial printers and 67% of wide-format printers say they currently have no or minimal automation in place. It’s a disconnect and shows just how much opportunity is still out there for shops that want to see gains in the coming months and years.

4. Convergence is continuing to pick up speed.

Cross also noted that convergence is only becoming a bigger factor in print. They have been tracking the trend for more than five years, and it’s no longer a niche phenomenon – 96% of printers now say they serve multiple print segments instead of staying in one traditional lane. Driving that shift? 90% of customers, Cross reported, now expect a print provider to be a “one-stop shop” instead of having to go to multiple vendors for different printed elements. And fortunately, she noted that 90% of printers have said that new print technologies and automation solutions are making it easier than ever to expand into adjacent segments.

5. AI is everywhere.

“You can’t open the news – whether it’s tech or otherwise – and not come across something related to AI,” Safran said. And the printing industry is no different, with AI showing up in a big way across the PRINTING United Expo show floor, in products, technologies and companies that span every segment and process.

He noted that 85% of printers have adopted some kind of AI tool already, or are at least experimenting with AI, which, he said, is an unprecedented rate of adoption for any technology in history.

Read the full story on Printing Impressions, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic content partner.

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