In recent years, the global label sticker market has shown a steady growth trend. According to industry data, the market scale has exceeded 30 billion US dollars in 2024 and is expected to reach 45 billion US dollars by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 8%. The core driving force for market growth comes from the dual demand for "environmental protection" and "customization" in the consumer market. Traditional label stickers with single functions and non-environmentally friendly materials are gradually eliminated by the market, and products with green attributes and personalized designs have become the industry mainstream.

In terms of environmental protection demand, the tightening of global environmental protection regulations has promoted the upgrading of label sticker materials. The EU's "Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive" requires that the recyclability rate of packaging materials must reach more than 90% by 2030. China has also introduced relevant policies to encourage the use of degradable packaging materials, which has promoted the transformation of label sticker substrates from traditional PET and PVC to degradable materials. At present, the market share of label stickers made of plant fiber paper and PLA (polylactic acid) substrates has increased from 15% in 2020 to 35% in 2024. Such substrates can be completely degraded in the natural environment and are compatible with water-based inks during printing, significantly reducing VOCs emissions, adapting to fields such as food and pharmaceuticals that have strict requirements for environmental protection. Some enterprises have also launched "recyclable labels", which use substrates consistent with packaging materials to ensure that labels and packaging can be recycled together, reducing resource waste.

The outbreak of customization demand has promoted the iteration of label sticker printing technology. With the rise of niche brands and cultural and creative products, customers have put forward personalized requirements for the pattern, shape and function of label stickers — such as special-shaped labels for cultural and creative products, bronzing texture labels for beauty brands, and high-temperature resistant labels for electronic products. To meet these needs, the application proportion of digital printing technology in label sticker production has increased from 20% in 2020 to 40% in 2024. Digital printing does not require the production of printing plates, can realize "printing from one sheet", and the pattern resolution is more than 1200dpi, which can accurately present complex textures and gradient colors, providing customers with flexible customization solutions. At the same time, some production lines also support "on-demand function addition", such as adding fluorescent anti-counterfeiting, temperature-changing color development and other characteristics to the label according to customer needs, further improving the degree of product customization.

From the perspective of market competition pattern, enterprises with dual advantages of "environmental protection + customization" are more likely to occupy market share. At present, in the high-end label sticker market, the premium space of environmentally friendly material products reaches 20%-30%, and the profit margin of customized labels is more than 15% higher than that of ordinary labels. In the future, with the further improvement of consumers' environmental awareness and the continuous refinement of personalized needs, the label sticker market will also develop in a "greener and more flexible" direction, such as developing innovative products such as edible labels and intelligent sensor labels, further expanding the market boundary.