As the coatings and construction industry navigates an evolving landscape, IMCD’s latest Customer Trends Survey provides insights into the key megatrends shaping the market in 2025 and beyond. Carola Duncan, Global Marketing Director, shares how the survey was structured, the most surprising findings, and the major opportunities and challenges for decorative and industrial coatings.

随着涂料和建筑行业的发展,IMCD发布了最新的客户趋势调查,该调查提供了2025年及以后塑造市场的主要大趋势的见解。IMCD的全球营销总监Carola Duncan,分享了调查报告的形成,最令人惊讶的发现,以及装饰和工业涂料的主要机遇和挑战。

Carola Duncan: At IMCD Coatings & Construction we launched our first Trends Commentary in 2021 to identify key industry trends and inform industry innovation. For the second edition in 2023 we introduced insights from our Customer Trends Survey. This year’s edition survey follows a pulse format to ensure up-to-date data and perspectives as to what trends will shape our markets in 2025 and 2026.

We emphasized local market adaptation, tailoring survey design and translations. Conducted over four weeks in 2024, the survey covered 30 countries across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Responses were segmented by line of business, country, company size, and role, targeting key market segments such as adhesives and sealants, construction, decorative paints and industrial coatings. Nearly 1,500 respondents participated, primarily from R&D (40%), management (22%), and purchasing (20%), with industry experience ranging from 10 to 30+ years.

Carola Duncan:为确定关键的行业趋势并为行业创新提供信息, IMCD涂料与建筑公司在2021年发布了第一份趋势评论,在2023年第二版中,引入了客户对趋势调查的见解.今年采用脉冲格式,确保最新数据和观点,形成报告,确定2025年和2026年哪些趋势将影响我们的市场。

2024年,IMCD花费四周时间, 专注适应当地市场,量身定制调查设计和翻译,覆盖美洲、亚太、欧洲、中东和非洲的30个国家,根据业务线、国家、公司规模和角色,针对粘合剂和密封剂、建筑、装饰涂料和工业涂料等关键细分市场进行了分类.采访了来自研发（40%）、管理（22%）和采购（20%）,行业经验从10年到30年以上不等的近1500名受访者,出具了2024年趋势报告

Duncan: First, was a very positive surprise as the participation almost doubled compared to the first survey, reflecting strong engagement from the industry. The second surprise was a shift in megatrends expected impacts. In our survey we differentiate four megatrends shaping our industry: Green & Circular, which focuses on minimising environmental impacts; Healthy Future, which emphasises creating safer, label-free formulations; Smart Functionality, which enhances products with features that go beyond primary functions; and Efficiency, which optimises productivity and material use.

Duncan：惊喜众多.首先,与第一次调查相比,参与人数几乎翻了一番,反映了行业的强烈参与度。

其次是对大趋势预期影响的转变.以往的调查区分了塑造行业的四大趋势: 专注最大限度减少环境影响的“绿色与循环”,强调创造更安全/无标签配方的“健康未来”, 超越主要功能并增强产品多方面功能的“智能性”,和优化生产力和材料使用率的 “效率”趋势.

One of the biggest shifts was the declining emphasis on the Smart Functionality trend, dropping from 22% to 8%.This is largely due to the impact of the Healthy Future trend surging from 18% to 30%, making it the second highest ranked trend, showing a shift in focus very visible within the industrial coatings and decorative paints sectors.

Green & Circular remains the leading trend across all regions except the Americas, where Efficiency is seen as having the most impact, likely influenced by economic factors and the region’s emphasis on cost-effective production. This clearly shows a growing prioritization of health-conscious choices and enhancing the sustainability profile of formulations.

而2024年最大的变化之一,是市场对智能性的重视程度大幅度下降,从22%下降到8%.这很大程度上是由于健康未来趋势的影响,从18%飙升至30%,使其成为排名第二高的趋势,工业涂料和装饰涂料行业的重点转变非常明显。

除美洲外,绿色与循环仍然是所有地区的主要趋势,在美洲,可能受到经济因素和该地区对成本效益生产的重视影响,效率趋势反而是最具影响力的.这清楚表明,市场越来越重视注重健康的选择,并加强配方的可持续性.

Duncan: Firstly, two sustainability-driven mega trends emerged as dominant, Green & Circular and Healthy Future. Compared to 2023-24, these trends have gained significance, with 68% of respondents identifying them as the most impactful, up from 52% in the previous period.

Secondly, in our state of sustainability section, we dove more into details about how to adopt sustainable practices. Here we learned that while over 70% of respondents see sustainable products as a key differentiator, willingness to pay for them continues to depend on return on investment or cost absorption by customers. This is particularly relevant in industries such as construction and industrial coatings, where material costs and regulatory compliance significantly influence purchasing decisions. Generally speaking, we see that regulation remains the strongest driver for sustainability, particularly in Europe and North America.

邓肯：首先,与2023-24年相比,绿色循环和健康未来这两大可持续发展趋势占据了主导地位,变得越来越重要,受访者对这一看法的支持率,也从去年的53%上升到68%。

其次，在可持续发展状态部分,我们更深入探讨了如何采用可持续实践的细节.我们了解到,虽然超过70%的受访者认为可持续产品是一个关键的差异化因素,但他们是否愿意为可持续产品付费,仍然取决于投资回报率或客户的成本吸收率.这在材料成本和法规遵从性显著影响采购决策的建筑和工业涂料等行业尤为重要.总的来说,我们认为监管仍然是可持续发展的最强大推动力,尤其是在欧洲和北美.

Duncan: For decorative coatings, the do-it-yourself (DIY) market plays a significant role, making consumer preferences highly influential. We anticipate sustainability to become even more critical as consumer awareness grows. Our trends survey shows that reducing CO₂ and other emissions to the environment are deemed important or very important formulation trends in Europe by over 80% of customers. To achieve that, many decorative paint manufacturers are developing formulations using bio-based binders and recycled fillers.

The challenge is combining alternative raw materials that match the performance of the market-standard paints, including opacity, wet-scrub resistance, weather durability, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). From a technical standpoint, the potential for sustainable transformation in decorative paints over the next decade is immense.

Duncan：对于装饰涂料来说,DIY市场非常重要,消费者的偏好具有很大的影响力.我们预计,随着消费者意识的增强,可持续发展将变得更加重要.我们的趋势调查显示,欧洲超过80%的客户认为,减少二氧化碳和其他对环境的排放非常重要.为了实现这一目标,许多装饰涂料制造商正在开发使用生物基粘合剂和可回收填料的配方.

面临的挑战是生物基产品能否做到传统产品的同等性能,这些性能包括不透明度/耐湿擦洗性/耐候性/挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）.从技术角度来看,未来十年,装饰涂料可持续转型的潜力是巨大的。

Duncan: The industry faces increasing pressure to develop safer, more sustainable solutions while maintaining efficiency and cost control. Achieving the same performance as traditional solvent-borne coatings while ensuring regulatory compliance remains a hurdle. For example, water-based formulations are much more complex and sensitive, with a larger number of raw materials that create even more interactions, making them more demanding in terms of formulation. However, the demand for high-performance and safer coatings presents a significant opportunity, particularly in industries like automotive and industrial machinery, where durability, regulatory compliance, and environmental impact are key concerns.  In that context we expect a rising demand for PFAS-, Tin-, Cumene- and Cobalt-Free resins and additives. Our technical experts and our global laboratories are supporting our customers with the innovative materials from our suppliers to solve these complex transitions.

Duncan：工业涂料行业面临的巨大压力来源和挑战,在于两点:第一,在于需要在保持效率和成本控制的同时,开发更安全、更可持续的解决方案; 第二,在保持传统溶剂型涂料相同的性能的同时,确保符合法规. 相比于传统油性配方,水性配方更加复杂和敏感,里面含有更多的原材料,能产生更多的相互作用,使它们在配方方面要求更高.对技术人员来说,自然难度更大.

当然,挑战也是机遇.对高性能和更安全涂料的需求,也为行业发展提供了一个重要的机会,特别是在受耐久性/法规遵从性/环境等因素影响巨大的汽车和工业机械等行业.这些行业中,预计对不含PFAS/锡/异丙基苯/钴的树脂和添加剂的需求将不断增加,技术专家和全球实验室正在为客户提供来自供应商的创新材料,以解决这些复杂的过渡问题。

Duncan: With Asia-Pacific emerging as the key growth region for respondents to the survey, our approach remains focused on leveraging IMCD’s global footprint. As we are a distributor, we support this growth through strategic partnerships, regional and local logistics hubs, and dedicated local teams, ensuring efficient supply chain management and tailored customer solutions. Our strategy is to provide on-the-ground support, ensuring a seamless supply chain and aligning with the region’s evolving demands.

邓肯：随着亚太地区成为受访者认定的主要增长地区，我们的方法仍然集中在利用我们的全球足迹.作为分销商,我们通过战略合作伙伴关系、区域和本地物流中心以及专门的本地团队来支持这一增长,确保高效的供应链管理和量身定制的客户解决方案/我们的战略是提供实地支持,确保供应链的无缝衔接,并与该地区不断变化的需求保持一致.