The inaugural Durst Oceania and ProPack.pro 2023 Labels State of the Industry Report shows there are two types of businesses in the category – the haves and the have nots.

To produce the results for the 2023 Labels State of the Industry Report, ProPack and Durst commissioned an external research agency to conduct a phone survey of Australian and New Zealand label converters with 200 businesses surveyed in Australia and 100 surveyed in New Zealand.

The results from the 2023 Labels State of the Industry Report shows a category with two types of businesses – those that are comfortable and performing well in a slightly positive or flat economic environment and those that are finding the sector very challenging – with some wanting to find a way out of the industry altogether.

While most label converters did not want to share specific details about their businesses – some were happy to share their thoughts – on the basis of anonymity. For the purposes of transparency and authenticity, we have published direct quotes from the survey.

The most positive label converters described their business as unaffected by the recent changes to the economy with one saying: “We have not seen any slow down or changes to our business with inflation and interest rates. We are flying”. Another company was hesitant to share that they were performing well: “We are crazy busy – but maybe we shouldn’t be telling anyone about this.”

At the other end of the scale, there were a number of companies that openly asked for advice about how they could sell their business with one saying: “I just want to retire. Do you want to buy my business?”. Another company said: “We are just trying to stay alive at the moment – interest rates are killing us and we are probably going to need to consider selling up.”

Here is a snapshot of the 2023 Labels State of the Industry Report:

How is your company performing in the current business environment?

Extremely Busy – 8%

Comments:

• “We have not seen any slow down or changes to our business with inflation and interest rates. We are flying.”
• “We are crazy busy – but maybe we shouldn’t be telling anyone about this.”

Busy – 17%

Comments:

• “Our business is travelling very well and we have busy periods, but the material increases are having an impact on profitability.”
• “We have recently upgraded our equipment and we own all of our equipment, so we are travelling quite well at the moment.”
• “We have not experienced many issues and things are travelling well from a sales perspective as well which is nice.”

Going Ok – 36%

Comments:

• “The current economic environment is indirectly affecting our business. When it affects our clients, then there is direct impact on orders and the performance of our company.”
• “I feel as though the government is making life very hard for us and for small businesses in general. Things could always be better, but we are doing fine.”
• “Business has been tougher since July, but our business is holding up.”

Challenging – 33%

Comments:

• “We have found business to be tough and challenging to bounce back since Covid three years ago – we have not recovered to the same level since pre-Covid.”
• “Since the beginning of the new financial year, we have seen a reduction in work and a reduction in run-lengths.”
• “There seems to be the same overall number of clients, but lower runs and more spread out and not as frequent.”
• “We are located in an isolated state, and we are finding the business very challenging at the moment.”
• “We are doing it very tough and I think that everyone is doing it tough as well.”

Help! We Need To Sell – 6%

Comments:

• “We are just trying to stay alive at the moment – interest rates are killing us and we are probably going to need to consider selling up.”
• “I just want to retire. Do you want to buy my business?”