Category Archives: Office Supplies

Digital Printing: Turning Packaging into Art

Have you ever thought that packaging could be art? Have you wondered how to do this? With more and more boxes getting the art treatment, it makes sense why people will want to create product packaging that impresses people. With different companies including Michaels doing this, you might wonder if there is a way for you to get the most out of this. Here, we’ll go over how you can do so.

More than Just the Cardboard Box

Cardboard boxes are good, and they do the job. There is just one problem. They’re kind of bland.

They usually are super boring, and plain, not really distinguishable. How can you make this become even more amazing?

Well, the artwork will definitely make it different, and it’s something that a lot of people have moved towards, as the packaging that’s eye-catching offers numerous benefits. A branded box that’s stylish will not only make the appearance better, but it also makes the first impression unique, memorable, and the like, especially when you deliver this along with some of your competitors.

The benefits aren’t just for one customer and their impression either. With the digital age coming forward, ecommerce has offered marked support from different efforts that have made marketing different. Some of these include unboxing, and also affiliate marketing, and influencers. In the age of social media, being able to offer a package that looks good, and definitely makes this work, will definitely offer a better result.

This is something that you’ll want to do, as the packaging of the product is what sells it. This is what gives everyone the first impression. You want it to be unique, memorable, and look super different.

We also want to make sure that we hit the attention of those who arne’t buying from us, in order to get the sales even further. This is something that’ll definitely make things easier.

If you’ve been involved in B2B ecommerce in any sort of way, then you know about how important the design of this improves the chances of a purchase being made.

Look at the packaging industry, and how it’s started to embrace the usage of printing digitally. It certainly will change the way that you look at this, and how it’s done.

How it’ll advance Packaging with a Packaging Supplier

The best way to get a chance to get a leg up in the industry, is of course with a packaging supplier.

This is because, they make sure that the package is ready to go, and it allows you to talk to customers, to find out what options they want, and they also can make it so that the package not only looks good, but communicates all of the branding points.

For many people, this type of packaging experience can change the way that the person sells the items. The right packaging can hit the right high notes,, and anything that this low notes will certainly get tossed to the side.

If you’ve ever thought about possibly getting some new packaging, it’s better to do that now, than wait too long. Your best option at this point, is to also look at the different ways that you can channel this through customers, into many businesses. Getting customers interested in the packaging that you offer, providing a fun packaging experience that’s branded and cool, will bring your packaging abilities to new levels.

When you build a custom packaging experience, it’s more than just a pretty package, you’re bringing art to life, and digital packaging lets you do just that, and more!

How to design a good Packaging Strategy

The functions of packaging is really important, and most of the time, the packaging operates at above a tactical sort of level, and usually, the activities get addressed, and success happens for the long term due to goals. Packaging needs to look at the way that the function of this improves the organizational goals, and that’s where a packaging type of strategy comes in. This is in fact, essential for building this.

Departments that are trying to do this without a good idea do fail, because they’re not properly aligned, and no objectives are met with this, and you have to understand the objective and goals of such. There are certain steps for you to take, and we’ll go over the three major ones here.

Discovery

This is where you look at what’s currently happening, and also, it determines the overall goals that the organization might have as well. This is usually the goals and missions, and they tend to be known. Plenty of companies make it very easy to see the statements, and what’s carried through.

To create a good packaging strategy, you need insight, and you need to understand the right industry, and the strength of what’s going on within, and you must understand the stakeholders and also the goals that are there too.

Understanding all of this is vital, and it also requires an industry analysis too, looking at the different nuances of each industry, and what’s important for each.

The statement of goals

This is the point where you’ve done an analysis, looking at what matters to the organization, the goals of this, and the needs of such.

This is where goal statements get made, and of course the idea of mission and vision statements are utilized.

Vision statements of course, are the big types of pictures of what the organization is supposed to accomplish, with the mission statement being a more general aspect of this.

At this point, there also might be other mission statements put in place too. Some of them include the business processes to manage this, the equipment and resources that are used, the engineering services that are there and also the technology that’s being used to reach all of these goals. They all come together, to build the vision statement, the big picture, and it helps with developing a strategy.

Determine the objectives

Finally, once you’ve got the statements that are there the goals of the organization, the next step are the activities that are used to create goals. This flows through different parts of the organization, and the activities since then become more precise and further defined too. There are also other tactics that occur too, in order to help reach this.

Every single organization utilizes different types of forces so right now, there is no specific standard for this. the experience from different organizations and their types might be helpful with determining the overall objectives that are there.

You essentially need to set up the exact processes that are needed to fix these issues, and also other protocols that’ll hit these goals.

The objectives will discuss the roles and responsibilities, along with the tactics.

This is a lot, and it might be a very long road to go on, but when you do this for your packaging strategies, you’re building the focus that you want to, in order to meet those objectives and success that you want for the long-term, and also building that organizational competitiveness that puts you over the others, and gives you that vital edge over the other people that may offer similar things.

Why You Should Get a Sample Box

If you’re someone who has a specific type of packaging, you might want to consider sample boxes. While it might seem like a good idea on paper, when you get a box and attempt to put it together, it may require a bit of tweaking. We’ll go over here, why you should get a sample box for your packaging needs.

Test the fit

Another thing to check before you ship it out is to test the fit. It’s hard to determine those dimensions that are exact, especially for products that are shaped weirdly. A sample box is a great way to evaluate the design and the structure, and also ensure that the packaging fits the product in a secure manner. When a box leaves room to move around, there is a chance that it will break. Plus customers will see that as a waste of space.

If it’s too small, then you risk product damage because you can’t offer any sort of cushion. You want to test this early, so that you can accommodate this product, so that it fits the needs that are there in a comfortable manner, and to help you get the best results that you can.

Check Quality

You want to make sure that the printing, the finishes, and the like look good. While it might be good on paper to have some kind of finish, when you get the finished product, it might not look good. This is important, because a good printing output helps to showcase the brand to others better.

If your artwork wasn’t actively converted correctly, you can work with the designer to help with this. You may need to fine tune the details, and produce samples so that it’s good, and appealing to the customers. Checking quality early on, before you order boxes, will help you spend less down the line, and improve the way that the box communicates to others.

Add Finishing Touches

Finishing touches are good, because they let you find the flaws you didn’t see within the proofs. Sometimes, the proofs might look good, but when you get the sample box, you may want to tweak the fonts, adding some minor modifications to ensure that the product that you get at the end does look good. A lot of businesses blind themselves to the errors, and they may not care about it. but you know who will care about it?

The customer. A lot of times, customers have eyes like hawks, and they will notice those design flaws. When you get a box, make sure that all finalized tweaks are done so that you’re not getting customers upset. Plus, if you do have a good box, but a customer has a suggestion, you can add it down the line.

First impressions matter, and it’s vital to have a box that looks good, and one that showcases the best work possible. A sample box allows you to properly judge the box before it’s shipped out to customers.

There are tons of options for samples too, and you can ask for existing samples, which are there to help you determine if the thickness, the stock, and the printing or cutting is best for this. You can also test the package durability as well with existing samples.

You can also get custom ones from certain retailers, and these are made with you in mind, giving you an idea of what this will look like when it’s produced, giving you a feel for the quality, and it can also help you determine whether you need to change things or not. Overall, get a sample, and make the changes now before it’s too late.

Considerations for laminated standup pouch types

Pouches that stand up and are laminated are a unique way to both display and also store the products of your choice. You can choose the size of the packaging, the color, even the lamination you wish to add to make it creative and fun. What should you determine when you’re choosing this kind of packaging? Here is what you need to know.

How it’ll Show off the brand

Being able to recognize the brand is super important. If the product justifies purchases that are repeated, it’s important to make sure that you offer pouches that are customized, in a manner that offers a packaging that customers can see, and then choose the product that you have.

How you want to Sell and Promote It

The biggest focus of a pouch is making sure that you use it in the manner that you want to. There are smaller pouches which we call sample or promo pouches, which are basically a way to get people to try out the product before they decide to buy it. Your ultimate goal with this, is to get customer favor, and usually, this alone will sell the products that are there.

The Way they’re displayed

Pouches are used for display reasons that show the products that are there.

Sometimes, pouches that are made in smaller, simplistic ways earn the favor of others, because instead of something huge and obnoxious crowding the shelf, this can stand neatly on its own, making it easier for you to showcase the product, allowing you to improve the makeup of this.

It also prevents packaging that’s distracting too, since they usually are made in ways that are simpler, so customers can see those, and there is ultimately far less demand. There is now more emphasis on the way that the products work, and the actual item inside.

Preserve and Protect

The main goal here is to protect this pouch, preserving it.

This gauge is the main factor for ensuring that the product protects everything in a way.

If you have objects that are sharp, or even big and bulky, you might want to choose the gauge that’s bigger for this.

You also might want to consider this factor when you’re looking to freeze the items.

The right gauge and the features of the bad, and also materials and additives are great for ensuring that everything that’s frozen is preserved and protected over time as well, ensuring the proper freshness for the item, no matter how long it’s on the shelf.

You may want to consider this factor for those products that do need freshness. One example of this is coffee. Some of these pouches offer what’s called degassing valves, so that all of the excess gas that’s in there, and it offers a chance to keep the beans nice and fresh.

There are a lot of great ways to use this, not just with coffee, but other means too. If you’re choosing a product that’s good for you to enjoy, and one that’s important to sell, you should always make sure that you start with the needs that are important, and you should also focus on these features that are custom as well.

A lot of people can benefit from this, and the cool thing about these pouches is how easy they are to use. With these standup pouches, the future is here, and you’ll be able to, with this, offer the top experience that you can to customers of all types.

Pouches are the future of packaging, and something to keep in mind as well.

What Freeze Drying Food Is

If you’ve heard about freeze drying food and packaging, and have been curious about this, you’re not the only one. Many people want foods that are shelf-stable, and according to the current reports, this trend has grown. A lot of customers are moving towards items that aren’t perishable, and they want to have foods that are freeze-dried, making this immensely popular.

For those just learning about this, you might wonder what it is, and here, we’ll go over this newfound technology, and why people are jumping on this.

What is It?

This is basically called lyophilization, which is basically the dehydration of food, where the moisture is then taken out, and it prevents the spoilage of items, building a better shelf life.

Normal dehydration gets rid of a bit of the heat, but freeze drying is done on super cold levels of temperatures.

This is actually considered to be the ultimate method to dry things, since this preserves various nutrients, the compounds, the texture, the color, even food flavor. But the downside to this, is that it can cost a lot, which is why this wasn’t limited to food production for those who are in space, specialty foods, and some sports foods that athletes eat.

Nowadays though, there is more freeze dried foods than ever before, including convenience store foods and the like, and there are many companies getting onto this as well.

How this works

It’s a process, and it uses something called sublimation, which is basically a process of changing the water that’s free within foods from solid into glasses, such as water vapor, without hitting the liquid levels either. It’s complicated, and it requires three parts.

The first, is the freezing part, which is the most important. It gets below triple point, which is another word for past the different phases, and is usually done with atmospheric pressure.

Then, after that you get sublimation, the drying part of this, lowering your pressures, and adding the heat to make this start to sublimate. This creates a vacuum that controls some pressures, speeding up the process of this as well.

Finally, you’ve got absorption, and this is the process that’s the second part of the phase of drying, where it gets rid of the water that’s not frozen in there, and it usually increases this temperature to slightly past 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

The foods to Try

There are tons of foods that can be freeze dried, but some of the most common ones are as follows: \– veggies and fruits

Grains and some legumes
Teas, coffee, and juices
Whole meals
Legumes and grains
Meats, eggs and seafood
Sweeteners and some spices in liquid form

Some of the most popular freeze-dried foods that people like to have are strawberries, bananas, milk, coffee that’s instant, chili con carne, syrup, and also pad Thai.

These are usually stored and packaged within different spaces, and when it’s done correctly, this can last up to 25 years. How does it make it necessary? Well, usually the environment protects this.

It needs to be in areas that are cool, before 70 degrees, are nice and dry so that they’re not humid, don’t have oxygen in there, since it can reduce the oxidation from happening, and finally, it has to be dark, since some of the antioxidants will decrease when the sunlight hits them

If you’re interested in these foods, consider adding these to your lists of foods to package, and also some of the other great foods that you can have as well. Try it today to see if you like it.

Finding Food Packaging Vendors

If you’re someone who is looking to package and carry food, you have to look at some different aspects of this to get the most that you can out of this. For some people, contract packaging might be the answer, and usually, they offer an infrastructure that’s specialized to make the correct options for food. You don’t want to choose between different vendors that you discover with google, you should definitely have certain criteria. What are they though? What’s the ideal criteria for the job? You’re going to find out here.

What’s the Food you’re Packaging

First thing is you’ve got to determine the food that you’re packaging. This is pretty obvious, but some foods require you to have different machinery, service, and materials too. For frozen foods for instance, you’ve got some different requirements than powders and liquids. If you have different types of foods and multiple variants, you want to find a vendor that’s able to manage this.

You want to make sure the food vendor you choose has everything that you’re looking for.

What Else to Look For?

You should look through different keywords, such as frozen food, or maybe powdered food. Look as well at different materials that help with this, the machinery, and also some of their resources.

If you notice that the same company appears when you search for different keywords, that’s something good, because they have the materials that you need.

You also want one that offers the needs that you have. you want to make sure that the company is able to package everything that you need to.

You want to make sure that you have different co-packers too with different abilities, such as cold storage for example. You want to look at their websites, the identity that they have, and any knowledge that’s proper to fix the packaging solutions that are there too, in order to help you make the correct decision. Don’t be afraid as well to look at the sales team through a LinkedIn search too.

Find a Couple of Them

Don’t settle for one and done. Choose between two or three of them, compare the capabilities that they offer, the machinery, the services, and the materials that they offer.

When you search this, you want to choose one that offers good customer service too, and one with decent reviews.

What next

Okay, so you’ve settled on a couple of vendors, and they look reliable. Next, you want to get references. If they can’t provide that, that’s a red flag. You can also ask for their qualifications and how they can prove to handle this project.

You want to make sure that it offers the correct certifications as well, and make sure that there are some requirements for capabilities there too, and that they can handle other aspects. And also see if they’re able to manage the project. Do they have stretch film to make this work? Do they have representatives that can show which vendor is necessary for your needs?

If this is all there is, you’re definitely on the right path to a good packaging vendor, for it lets you see the vendors that are suited to the needs that you have, and also makes you choose the correct vendor for the job, and one that can help you get the most out of this.

Finally, make sure that you talk to the customers, as you can see this from the training, testimonials, and the reviews. Ask for references, contact them, that way you can make the correct decision for the right types of aspects that you should focus on.

What are the True Costs of Repackaging

One thing that’s incredibly frustrating for companies is repackaging. When products are wrongfully packaged, or defective, this causes repackaging. While a lot of packaging suppliers do like to have repackaging, since it increases revenue, the best way to do this is to not have to repackage the products. Most places want to see you save some money. When you repackage stuff, it costs more labor, time, and money, which is why a lot of companies would like to avoid this sort of thing. But a lot of companies don’t even think that it’s a huge deal and repackaging usually only costs a couple hundred dollars.

But that’s going to happen every so often, and that causes a lot of things to add up super quickly, and you can have thousands over the year lost from this. When it’s not unchecked, it’s very costly.

So now that you get the costs of this, what can you do to save yourself money with repackaging, and how can you prevent it from happening? How costly is it? It’s much more costly than one might think when they first look at this.

First thing is that it causes materials to be wasted. This is usually a self-explanatory cost, but when you repackage stuff, you have to get new materials, new products, and the like, and that adds up.

Another place where it’s wasteful is the labor. For most packages that must be done over, you’ll have to waste more labor, costing double or even triple what it normally should, especially if you have to fully repackage everything that’s there. It also diminishes productivity. If you’re repackaging 5% of the products for example, you’re wasting 5% of that time that could be for packaging new stuff on this.

It also wastes energy in an environmental sense. You’re wasting the materials, spending more energy to get the package redone. This is actually harmful for the environment, whether you want to admit it or not. It also creates frustration, which for humans, impacts the morale of people, and reduces productivity.

Finally, you’re also creating a lot more trash too. Those scraps that you accumulate begin to get a lot worse, and that includes storage, handling, and even disposal, so it can also, along with the environmental impact, just be incredibly wasteful for a lot of people too.

So what can someone do? The best way to prevent this, is to do a line audit. That way, you can look at the source of where the problem is, handle this wherever you can, and do something about it too.

Do you need stuff repackaged

If you’re constantly repackaging things, or wondering why that’s going on, the first thing you must do is figure out where the problem is coming from.

You’ll want to look at the package itself and figure out exactly the location of where everything’s going wrong.

Depending on the line size, and the like, this also may require you to do other things to help reduce the labor costs, but it’s an investment. You should always make sure that you check the packaging line, resulting in finding, fixing, and also replacing the issues.

The best thing to do, is to get a supplier on this, and have them look at everything with a fine-toothed comb, in order to ensure that any bottlenecks and the like are then refused, and also fixed before they get worse.

Fix the repackaging line, do something about it, and you’ll begin to notice the changes that happen with your packaging line.

Ways Small businesses can Save Money

A lot of businesses are struggling because of many challenges they now have, including inflation, and a whole lot more.How can you prevent the rising inflation costs from destroying the business? Here are a few ways for you to do this, and also fight against the ever-rising cost of such.,

Consolidate your Suppliers

You’re probably spending way too much on the packaging partners. Having someone who can handle all of the aspects that packaging creates will save you a boatload of money. That way, you’re not paying a ton of people to get the job done. It also takes a lot less time, and exposes a lot of great things.

Process and Audit Packaging

If you’re having issues with packaging, consider auditing the packaging and the processes to get the best kind there. This includes how the packages get handled with the supply chain, moving faster with a lot less touches, and getting the products to the market much sooner. You may also want to look at places where the packaging might be done off site, or through third-party suppliers that are there improving the efficiency of this.

A lot of times, doing this as well will help to identify the opportunities to save costs, and a lot of times, this can be revamped to make it a lot better. You also might want to see if there is a LEAN type of operation going on there, helping to make sure that the processes that are used are ideal, and so they’re saving you a boatload of money.

Redesign the packaging to evaluate this

You also might want to look at how you’re packaging the products. There are times when you may have packaging that’s too over packaged, which is a fancy name for way too much filler or something else that’s not making it necessary.

You can redesign this, saving you a lot of costs and also reducing the costs of shipping due to eliminating the weight. There is also the possibility of SKU consolidations, which actually save you some money because you’re not leaving the items all over the floor, preventing it from possibly getting harmed as well.

Sometimes, there are also types of packaging that get run on different equipment, offering a leaner packaging process that’s automated to save on the labor and the materials. There are definitely benefits to this, especially since labor costs are rising, and if you can, automating the packaging process will save you a ton of money. You should also look at product samples, offering better labor costs, rates for shipping, and lowers the returns that are there too.

Sometimes as well, “tweaking” your product dimensions of some cartons, or even changing the flaps will change the costs that are there, and even eliminate the unnecessary costs that sit there too.

Review It

Finally, review the techniques for printing. This is something that a lot of ecommerce brands will realize, especially as they start to make this work. You should look at the printing and cutting and see if there is a way to possibly get digital printing. You also want to make sure that you’re not using too much of this, but instead, you want to make sure that you send them out with the right kind of printing that looks good.

At the end of the day, getting a packaging partner can help with this, and if you’re someone who is struggling to hit the margins with the product packaging, consider these techniques, and use them today to improve your packaging experience as well too

How to Make the Perfect Holiday Packaging

Looking to create the ideal packaging this holiday season? You’re not alone. Packaging is made to make the thing look better for customers and increase their interest. There are tons of packaging that you can look at too, including paperboard, boxes, mailers, tubes, and a whole lot more. Packaging is a way to look different for companies during the holiday season, communicating the package contents, the volume of this, and really get the festive feelings going. The right packaging is great, and there are a lot of great printed kinds of packaging that’ll help to celebrate the season and impress those around you.

First, find the Prints and the Budget

Your first step, when designing holiday packaging, is to find the ideal image for your product, and how you’d like to print it. Some packaging looks good with it on there, others may look better with the packaging being more holiday themed.

You also need to look at the budget too. Your budget may include the amount allocated to the custom packaging, the cost for a unit of this, how complex it is, and the like. Make sure that you fully clarify all of these before you set the number and order anything, as it’ll help you get the most that you can from this.

Look at Your Products

You also need to look at the types of products that you’re selling and consider their packaging too. We mean any sorts of small items that you are going to be selling. For instance, let’s take cosmetics.You can sell these in the normal packaging, but if you’re looking to create sleeves that do fit over this, it can help to boost the way that this looks. You may want to consider different kinds of packaging though, and unique boxes and the like.

This is a great way to improve the exclusivity of the product. If you’ve got holiday collections, you need to have exclusive packaging for this.

Types of Boxes

So you’ve also got the boxes to factor in as well. Mailer boxes are a good base point if you’re someone who doesn’t want to spend too much, but also would like something that looks good. Have a bit more money in the budget? Consider rigid boxes. They even come with lids too, and they also come in unique kinds. This is much more premium, compared to the other kinds of packaging, so it’s best if you make sure that you consider this for any luxury products.

You can also look at different additives that you want on this. For instance, do you want something that’s got a unique shape? Maybe some magnetic locking on this? Or maybe, inserts that are made of foam.

These are much more high-end, but for the big tag products, you’ll want this.

Finally, create it

Finally, you want to just create the box. Follow the composition basics that go into this. You’ll want to balance images with figures to create better symmetry within the designs, and also, you’ll want to look at colors too. Contrasting colors make it look better. For different colors, this is much more appealing visually.

Artwork and designs are some of the biggest parts of this, especially when creating the holiday packaging. To make stuff stand out and offer the right connection, make sure that you mix all of these together in a unique way.

Master this, and you’ll create holiday packaging that really shines, and you’ll get customers who will want more and more from you, and want to get extra packages, even outside of the holidays.

All About Void Fillers

For packaging and shipping, you’ll want to make sure that you fill the box correctly as well. Void fill is something that’s used to aid with this, especially when it comes to both shipping, and packaging the products correctly.

What they Are

They’re basically a kind of material that’s used for one reason: to fill those gaps that are left within your packaging, used to protect your products as they’re transported, and to protect them from moving about, and being a natural shock absorber. When you see this for a practical use, you’ll notice that it also offers a natural aesthetic too to the packaging.

The right void fill must be determined by how you’d like it to be cushioned, and the protection along with the padding that’s needed, and the packaging weight.

Paper Void Filling

This is very cost-effective, and it’s more than just using paper. Even packaging or newspaper, or crinkled paper or tissue paper is a kind of void filler. While it’s not as strong as the rest, this is the most eco-friendly of the items for the sole reason that it can break down, so if you want to utilize older scraps this is the best way to do this. It also isn’t as visually appealing, because it can look dirty and messy.

Filler Wraps

This is a filler wrap that allows for your products to be protected. The most common one of those is bubble wrap, and it’s used as a protective and cheap means. It’s got the downside however, of this is not as sustainable as the paper options, so it’s why some people don’t really like it.

Craft or corrugated paperboard is another one, and this is a more eco-friendly sort of means, and they’re much prettier than bubble wrap, but they don’t absorb the shock as well, and they’re not very malleable.

Foam Sheeting

These are sheets that aren’t around just the product, but within the box, and they’re basically a type of protection that’s there between the box itself, and the product that’s in there.

It’s absorbed in the shock, and while it’s usually good for fragile cookware and glass, this can sometimes cause scratches and dents in some cases.

Another big thing is that they aren’t very eco-friendly, and they tend to be a waste after you’ve used them once. They also tend to make the packaging much bigger, so if you’re trying to save some money on shipping, you may want to look elsewhere.

Peanuts

Peanuts or packaging peanuts are usually known as packing popcorn and are basically loose-fill kinds of packaging that fill up those empty gaps, especially ones that don’t feel uniform.

They tend to be made either through Styrofoam, or biodegradable options, and are made from cornstarch and wheat types, and they’ve become a new, popular way for you to use this type of filling.

The packaging peanuts tend to be a lot more eco friendly when made this way, and also cost less energy for you to make them. They also dissolve in water bodies easily, so you don’t have to worry about polluting anything.

The biggest downside, however, is that they tend to be a lot more costly, so if you want to use this, discuss it with your business, as they can sometimes take a lot more out of your budget.

It’s good to get void filling but making sure that you have the right one will help improve your chances of the packaging being safe, and worth it, so assess your options and make a decision from there.