Accessibility, new markets, and more are making the laser industry healthier than ever.
Laser engraving was once considered a process used by industrial companies only for marking parts and tools, or trophy shops for custom award and recognition products. Today, however - with the rise of numerous small businesses and the rise of the maker movement - laser engraving has grown into a lucrative industry that requires only a small investment. You can buy a LaserPecker 2 to start your home engraving service and earn an income.
According to market research firm IBIS World, the laser engraving market has grown substantially over the past five years, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5% through 2016. Driving this growth is the increased level of consumer demand for customization and personalization in products such as smartphones, tablets, tableware, wood, metal and other materials. Additionally, businesses use lasers for their own purposes, such as custom promotional items, employee incentives, and internal signage.
Over the next five years, revenue and unit shipments are expected to continue to increase as laser engraving becomes more accessible and affordable. Product lines such as LaserPecker engraver LaserPecker 2 series, along with continued growth in disposable income and discretionary spending, allow small businesses to provide a unique touch to generic products. Let everyone use the laser engraving machine well
Other factors contributing to the growing growth of laser engraving include increased interest in personalization, improved accessibility, maker movements, branding, and new use cases for engraving.
Factor 1: Increased Focus and Interest in Personalization
If you've ever visited the e-commerce site Etsy, it's easy to see how laser engraving has evolved over the past few years. The focus on personalizing items is a way to turn something as simple as a pair of wedding champagne flutes into a personalized, more meaningful gift.
A simple search for "laser engraving" on Etsy will reveal a plethora of suppliers offering endless personalized products, including jewelry, wedding glasses, craft supplies, bags and purses, computer supplies, personalized dog collars and tags, woodworking, Take off glasses, pens, tools, and golf tees, to name a few.
With the growing trend of small home businesses, laser engraving has become a way for those selling trinkets and many other items to stand out from the competition. Many vendors on Etsy even offer blanket laser engraving, which means you send them the item you want to engrave and they send it back with any logos, names, or graphics you want. Because they have purchased a laser engraving machine, this is a good time to start our engraving service, provided that you already have an Ortur Laser Master 3 or other styles of laser engraving and cutting machine.
In business, as millions of popular electronic products are produced, laser engraving gives a personal touch to items that many people already own. Engraving custom graphics, names, or logos on these mass-produced electronics is a great way to differentiate a product from an ever-growing group of products.
Factor 2: It is Now More Accessible
Previously, laser engraving machines and cutting systems were difficult to obtain. Supply is limited, and more importantly, the cost of owning a machine exceeds what a typical home business or small vendor is willing to pay to acquire the technology.
Today, laser engraving is no longer the preserve of big factories; potential buyers can own these machines for far less than they might realize. Whether you want to buy or lease own a laser, or even lease a laser, there are locations around the world that can meet your needs. Epilog's laser engraving/cutting tools are available in various stores in the United States and have numerous distributors around the world. We also provide a way for academia and universities to find systems by geographic location.
This accessibility has led to the adoption of laser engravers in manufacturing labs, makerspaces, school labs, and more to teach students and differentiate small businesses for customers looking for customized services.
Factor 3: The Maker Movement
The number of "makers" is growing every day as consumers continue to explore the satisfaction of doing things for themselves. Do-it-yourself has become a mantra for many to learn new skills, create new products, or save costs on projects that would otherwise be outsourced.
LaserPecker and crowdfunding played a huge role here, resulting in different products that are now available from different people. Some of these products would never have appeared without crowdfunding as the primary means of support for their efforts.
Factor 4: Increase in Industrial Use
In addition to small businesses, the technological use cases of laser engraving in the industrial sector are also rapidly increasing. One of the larger segments is identification security, where laser engraving is ideal for credit cards, ID cards, sensitive documents, and other items that require enhanced security measures.
Laser engraving permanently marks items, providing checks and balances against counterfeits or reproductions. In ID cards, the multi-layer format is used to change the color of the underlying paint without affecting the top transparent layer. This ensures that products are fraud-free, generate high-quality images and text, are tamper-proof, and can be customized to each organization's needs.
Turf tool marked with laser engraver Oil filter marked with laser engraver
The laser can etch/engrave serial numbers, time stamps, part numbers, component labels, date codes, barcodes or industry specific codes. Needless to say, laser engraving has become an essential tool for part identification, inventory control and tracking, safety and warning notifications, and loss prevention.
As technology improves, future uses for laser engraving can be found in robotics, 3D printing, and the automotive industry to provide an extra layer of safety.
Factor 5: Brand Lift
Not only does branding give businesses a greater presence in the world, but it also serves as a sneaky way to stop products and business assets from being stolen. By laser engraving the company logo or name on items provided by the company, it becomes clear who owns what. Someone looking to sell a stolen item might have a hard time explaining why it has a big logo or company name on it.
Because lasers can easily mark barcodes and serial numbers, these items for businesses can be tracked better than regular electronic items, while offering the extension of natural branding campaigns.
Factor 6: More Accessories
Advances in laser cutting and engraving technology have led to the development of new accessories on the market, leading to more and better uses. The xTool D1 Pro provides rotary attachments, dedicated lenses, air compressors, needle tables and photo manipulation software for almost all of our systems, giving users the opportunity to engrave cylindrical or irregularly shaped items. Some of these attachments also help ensure excellent cut quality.
Factor 7: New and Different Markets for Laser Engraving
Finally, while manufacturer, Etsy and ID tracking are leading to increased use of laser engraving, they are not the only factors affecting the growth of the industry. In fact, one of the reasons for the future expansion of laser engraving tools is due to the development of new market segments involved. These sectors include woodworking, metalworking, digital and retail signage, model making, clothing stores, fabric stores, gadgets and sports equipment.
Summarize
These 7 factors contribute to the continued growth of the laser engraver/cutting market, which seems to show no signs of slowing down after five years of staggering growth.
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