Ready to open the door to a new book of business? Wise has long produced prime and industrial labels in mid- to long runs, but with the purchase of our new HP Digital Label Press, we can now produce short-run labels — even in runs as short as one — opening a whole new range of opportunities for our customers.
Today’s label market is changing dramatically, and our purchase of the HP 6K Digital Label Press is designed to enable our customers to keep up with where the label market is going. This is towards more personalization, more SKUs, and the rise of micro-brands competing with larger brands in every way, including the sophistication of their labels.
Opportunities in Micro-Businesses
As an example, let’s take the micro-brewery market. These niche businesses are known for their unique, high-quality craft beers, each created in small batches. This means the need for highly creative, eye-catching prime labels in small batches, too.
Unlike large brewers, which build their businesses on fewer SKUs in mass quantities, craft brewers build their businesses on variety and more SKUs. For the distributor, this means the ability to order labels in order runs, in extremely high-quality color, often with multiple colors (including spot brand colors and embellishments). To offer this level of quality in short runs often requires a digital label press.
The other need of this market (made possible with a digital label press) is prototyping and test runs. Craft breweries regularly try out new brews, and they will do a test run of their creations in micro batches. This means micro batches of labels, as well. The extremely short-run labels for these test runs use the same substrate, the same artwork, and the same embellishments as the full production run, just in very small quantities until the product proves to be commercially viable.
This micro-brewery market tends to be flexible and open to experimentation. As an example, one craft brewery created 50 different SKUs of one of its brews, each featuring the logo and promotion of a college or university to be promoted in its local market. In total, this was a large run, but broken into 50 different SKUs, it was a perfect application for a digital label press.
Short Runs in the Durable Label Market
This short-run marketplace translates to durable labels, as well. Retail products need to be packaged, marketed, and sold, but on an operational level, they also need to be identified, warehoused, and shipped. This requires durable labels that must stand up to a wide variety of environmental stressors such as extreme temperatures, moisture and humidity, and exposure to chemicals.
Take the example of one a Wise distributor who serves an outdoor power equipment company that is releasing a line of battery-powered lawnmowers. Before launching the line to all retail outlets, the manufacturer did a small test run of less than 1,000 units. The distributor ordered durable labels for this test run in anticipation that, once the market testing is complete, it will ultimately lead to a full market release and a durable label order of 100,000 or more per year. Fortunately for this distributor, a digital label press can handle both run lengths!
So where are you going to find these short-run orders?
- Small to mid-sized businesses you may already be serving with other products.
- Micro-businesses in fast-growing niches (i.e., craft breweries, wineries, cannabis market)
For customers of any size that require:
- Test runs
- Custom specialty runs for niche markets
- Prototypes
Same Sales Contact, New Product
If you are not already selling short-run labels, don’t let the idea of moving into this market scare you. In the large brands, the commercial print/promotional products and packaging are handled by different people in different areas of the company. In small and mid-sized companies, however, they are often handled by the same person, likely the person you are already talking to about business forms, office supplies, and promotional items.
If you are selling commercial print or promotional products, don’t miss the opportunity. Ask about labels, too.