Amid the smell of coffee and just-cooked bacon, attendees and sponsors arrived for Day Two of the 2026 Wide-Format Summit, readying themselves for a day punctuated by new knowledge, meaningful connections, and deeper knowledge of solutions and future directions, delivered through general sessions, small-group case studies, and intimate, one-to-one meetings.
The Shape of Things
Lisa Cross, principal analyst for Alliance Insights (which operates under PRINTING United Alliance) Current Trends in the wide-format segment Pressure to grow sales while managing rising costs. Top concerns: increasing sales 59%, rising substrate costs 58%, Rising labor costs 55%. But there are strategies producers can undertake to address those issues.
Tariffs, Cross said, are changing customer behavior – they are becoming more selective about what they print, what they specify, and who they buy from. For instance, 73% of producers report that sales cycles are increasing. Further, generational shifts are at play. She reported that Millennials now account for 59% of print buyers.
Within her fast-moving and information-rich presentation, Cross also addressed the effect of industry convergence, including the segments producers are branching into, as well as their reasons for doing so.
Read this full article on Wide-Format Impressions, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic partner.
