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3D printing is still a relatively new concept for many Americans. Consumer 3D printer devices just recently became commercially available. And now the UPS store has even announced plans to make 3D printers available for customer use in stores. So just how many people are interested in using 3D printing? And what do they think about its future?
3D Printing
In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, just 37% of respondents said they know what 3D printing is. While not overwhelming it’s still an improvement from a June 2013 survey, when 31% said they knew about 3D printing. Another 38% of respondents said they’ve just heard of 3D printing. And 25% said they’ve never even heard of it.
User Interest
Only 4% of overall respondents said they have already used 3D printing in some capacity, which is a 2% increase over last year’s survey. After a brief explanation of what 3D printing is, 19% of respondents said they would definitely be interested in using it. 29% said they are somewhat interested in using 3D printing. 30% said they are not really interested in 3D printing. And 17% are not interested in it at all.
Mainstream Practice
So what’s the likelihood that 3D printing will really take off for consumers over the next few years? 24% of respondents think that 3D printing will definitely become a mainstream practice over the next 5 years. 50% think that 3D printing will probably become a common practice in the next 5 years. 21% think it probably won’t become more mainstream in that time period. And just 5% think it definitely won’t.
Photo Credit: Quadrifolium 3D Print from Flickr
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