Why digital printing is profitable for you?
The following article was published in a specialist industry quarterly for cosmetic industry manufacturers. No. 1/2018, which included the following text, was also distributed during the Packaging Innovations fair on 17th-18th April 2018 in Centrum Expo XXI in Warsaw.
Enjoy the reading!
If you are a manufacturer of cosmetics or the topic of labels is of interest to you, you probably had contact with at least one of the following situations: short product series, various fragrance versions or container volumes.
At the stage of introducing a cosmetic to the market, it is difficult to forecast its sales success. Printing labels with traditional technologies (e.g. flexo) is connected to the necessity of ordering a large number of labels “to start with.” In many cases, the better alternative would be to order labels according to actual demand. This is the possibility offered by digital printing.
No costs related to preparing the setting for printing
The simplicity of using digital printing is that it takes place directly from a file saved in PDF format. This makes introducing small changes, even just before printing, possible, without generating additional costs, and it involves only sending a new file to the printing house. When starting production of a new label design, the only additional cost may be the purchase of a punching die – this is an expense of several hundred PLN. The good news is that this is a one-time cost. Additionally, it can turn out that the printing house has a punching die of similar dimensions, for which you do not have to pay.
Make yourself visible, give the consumer something really special
Making yourself visible among other manufacturers and proposing something special to the consumers is worthwhile.
Digital printing enables printing variables and personalisation – it is a bridge between a creative concept and the realisation. Creating labels with dedications or names could effectively draw the attention of a target group. In the era of customisation, a cosmetic with the inscription: “Cream for the most beautiful Mom for her 50th birthday” might be more popular than “Cream 50+.”
Free proof print instead of cromalin
Attachment to the old method of ordering labels can cause unwillingness to change the vendor. The force of habit, the comfort from a relationship are doubtless great advantages of collaboration with one printing house for many years. Besides, nobody likes buying a pig in a poke. However, some printing houses, using e.g. HP Indigo equipment, meet such concerns head-on. Does the perspective of free proof print of the proper label design sound attractive? If so, checking the quality of digital printing is at your fingertips.
Proof print enables verification of expectations in reality, checking the quality of the materials and the colours – this allows for avoiding the anxiety before finalisation of the target order.
What about printing the (really) small batches of labels?
Let us imagine the following situation: a new version of a product, lack of certainty about the expected sales. Dilemmas concerning printing a large number of labels and the risk that without the interest in the cosmetic, the cost of purchasing labels is going to count as a loss. Does it sound familiar at all?
In such a situation, the printing house can be of assistance – if it uses digital printing, due to the lack of costs of preparation, as we mentioned in the beginning. Depending on the printing house, the minimum quantity can be related to a specific value of the order or the number of labels.
Habits, customs, good relationships established with a printing house used for many years are great advantages. However, it is worth to be open to new possibilities and use (at least to satisfy curiosity) new printing technologies.
