The Impact of Digital Printing and Personalization on Packaging Purchasing

Customization is one of the big objectives for packaging professional. A product’s frequent availability without any striking features may harm your brand reputation. Your brand may end up being referred to as a “Me Too” brand  FMCG companies. Hence, personalization is the best objective to consider for creating your strong brand presence.

This topic also intrigued me a lot. “How can I add new things in packaging?”  was my next question. There is a huge scope for R&D in it. I have written various related articles. The extract of my 18 yrs work can be read in my 4 books.

I used to believe that digital printing had limited applications, especially in markets like India. However, my perspective changed when my friend’s daughter was born. Upon receiving a gift hamper from “Baby Dove,” with each pack personalized with his daughter’s name, I realized the power of digital printing. This thoughtful gesture by the hospital, facilitated by their partnership with Dove, made the experience feel deeply personal. I learned how digital printing can be leveraged by brands if done right! Since then, we had done multiple projects on digital printing and explored the wide possibilities that can be achieved with this technology.

Shrink sleeve packaging is the most crucial part of branding. Here are the points that can help you create an aura in the market:

• Short runs and specialized projects :

Digital printing of shrink sleeve packaging gives you an edge over your normal high production packaging. Digital printing with fast results and cost efficiency is the way to move ahead in the market. This is the best-suited approach for any new development. If you need to experiment with packaging, then digital printing is the best way to start. You don’t have to think twice about budget and MOQ with digital printing.

• Customisation & personal approach are possible :

No technology can save you if you can’t personalize the demand. Customers always prefer “made to order” for them. Customization can be implemented in so many ways. For example, for a particular season, occasion, festivities, etc., you may customize your packaging. E.g., Keventers Diwali Milkshake shrink sleeve gave a boost to sales.

• Niche marketing :

Catering to customers of a limited section with specific tastes and habits in the form of customized shrink sleeves can be an exceptional way to establish your brand. Digital printed shrink sleeves by one of our clients had different flavours of yoghurt with a specific sleeve for each flavor. It was a niche smaller volume product range, but digital printing made it easy to provide initial launch quantities with multiple flavours for the pilot launch.

Taking this “Niche marketing” to the extreme, a one-to- one approach is also possible, e.g., Coke’s “Share a Bottle” campaign for BOPP labels created a wonderful case study for the digital printing industry

• Key clients :

Well, this is not just a normal saying that “80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers.” If you are able to pull through this customization concept with digital printing packaging, then you are able to do more sales with existing clients.

• Edge over customers :

If I were handling a brand of FMCG product, I would surely come out with different shrink sleeve packaging for every occasion. It would help me stay connected to my customers and give me an edge over competitors in the market who are still under the illusion of “High MOQ – low cost” packaging concepts.

• Flexibility and New business model :

Rigid mentalities or concepts are hard to let go of. This often occurs with brands that maintain large-scale production and fail to experiment. For instance, “Urban Gabru,” a male grooming brand, led its way from a small-scale startup to a well-known name in the male grooming section with digitally printed packaging. Now, they offer different products under the brand name.

• Fast TAT :

With digitally printed shrink sleeves, you have the advantage of implementing projects immediately. You don’t have to wait for cylinders to arrive. Fast turnaround time is the best thing about digital printing.

• Multiple SKUs in a single run :

This is another challenge resolved with digitally printed shrink films. In a single run. you can get packaging for your different SKUs. No need for segregation and printing separately.

• Print anytime :

Flexibility is always available to you regarding timing and delivery. You can opt to print according to your needs.

• Environment friendly inks, no solvents :

Looking for sustainable options? Wanting to reduce your carbon footprint and earn fewer credits? Then digital printing is the solution. Inks are water-based, no solvents are used in it. You can optimize more such features with Digital printing. And with AI being in use, design is not that tough. Go out and explore the shrink sleeve packaging as you want. It is possible indeed.

With this note, Let’s catch up again with exciting topic. Share me your feedback. Write me on info@tauruspackaging.com or connect with me on +91 96674 00924.