The initial economic impacts of the global pandemic are emerging and the production, direct-to-garment (DTG), and large and wide format sectors are among the many that have taken a hiding.
Some of the major South African suppliers to these markets have, according to media reports, retrenched employees as a result of the economic impacts of the Covid pandemic. These have either been local, citing 45% reduction in “demand for printing services”, or as part of global restructuring. Make no mistake, the effects are being felt by all.
Other reports indicate revenues from major business centres in the business hub of South Africa, Gauteng, have reduced significantly while revenues and demand in the regional provinces fare better. This is likely due to the digitalisation laggard effect. Many are seeing digitalisation as a means to survive the economic hardships we now face and those that formerly neglected to do so out of choice are now doing so from necessity.
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