By the Stats: Catalogers Software Expenditures Plunge by More Than 40 Percent

A report released recently by research firm The Industry Measure shows that catalogers will spend 42.6 percent less on software this year than last year. Specifically, the firm estimates that catalogers will spend $5.89 million, compared to $10.26 million last year.

The reason for the huge drop, The Industry Measure says, is because this year will represent the culmination of a wholesale transition from outsourced to insourced prepress for catalogers that began in the early 2000s.

What’s more, catalogers and other publishers have been shifting more of their marketing materials to the Web, e-mail and other online alternatives to print. Such choices don’t often require software spending, per se, since Web site programming and e-mail marketing isn’t considered a software expense.

The Industry Measure drew its conclusions in its report, “2007 Graphic Arts Market Demographic Profiles: The Industry Measure Updated Snapshots of the Printing, Publishing, and Creative Markets,” issued in January.

For information, go to theindustrymeasure.com.