Last year at this time, I posted a blog titled "Market reports redux," which was an update of an original blog on the subject of the large number of independent industrial laser processing market reports I had been receiving. At that time, it was 70 reports from 35 research organizations. Exactly one year later, a review of new market reports clogging up my emails for the first four months of 2018 totals 186 reports from 53 research companies.
I think we've now got a booming industry in industrial laser market reports—that's a 165% increase in reports for a total industrial laser market that grew 26% in revenues. Granted several of the 53 progenitors of these reports seem to be branches or subdivisions of the same organization, and many of the reports look to be modifications of the same topic offered earlier—that is, The Global Market for Industrial Fiber Lasers apparently followed by The China Market for Industrial Fiber Lasers by members of the same research group. So, the total number of industrial laser market analyst/research organizations involved may actually only be about 40.
It's easy to see how this works. Start with a major topic—the global market—and when the study is completed, break down data into specific sections such as China, etc., using refined information collected earlier.
For the record, through April 2018, market reports on laser cutting grew 186%; welding, 112%; marking, 255%; drilling, 1000%; other processing, 236%; and general laser processing, 0%. I can't read anything significant into this except that actual revenues for cutting and welding were up only 5% and marking 8%. Could it be that the burgeoning need for laser market reports, driven by the booming 2017 revenues at IPG Photonics and Coherent, may have caused a frenzy for market information around their quarterly report time, leading research organizations to focus on a potentially lucrative business?
It would be an interesting exercise to purchase 10 reports on the same subject and compare information. Assuming they all tapped the same resources, shouldn't the numbers be comparable?
Here's what I do know—if you are a supplier or user of industrial laser processing equipment, you must get a little agitated by the many calls you received from market researchers asking the same questions over and over.