RESSOURCES
The digital packaging industry is growing fast; the latest research estimates that the global digital labels and packaging market will grow 70% by 2024[1]
One reason for this swift growth is that the package in today’s market has become much more than a container. It’s a powerful marketing tool.
Differentiation is critical – packages need to stand out from the competition, while still displaying a relevant and compelling message. Brand owners are seeking to gain an edge, not only with innovative new products, but with countless variations to serve every conceivable preference.
Using XMPie, not only can a customized package be beautifully designed and enticing, but it can become the starting point for a dialogue between the brand and the consumer. XMPie’s core VDP and web-to-print technologies are designed to bridge print and digital touchpoints so that you can connect your package to landing sites, emails, or even personalized videos. Perhaps by adding coupons to the package to attract the consumer, collecting data to build persona profiles, so the brand has a pulse on what consumers like and dislike, or engaging the consumer with a holiday incentive. There are many ways to take advantage of this growing business opportunity.
Why is the digital packaging industry growing?
The brands clearly want more package variation, different sizes, and personalization options which, of course, demand shorter runs that only digital technology can produce economically.
There are security considerations that are driving this growth because packaging often has stringent labelling and security requirements so late stage customization is needed, a trend that is very much being led by the pharmaceutical and food industries.
More and more brands are also using their packaging as an integral part of their digital marketing strategy. The package has become an important touchpoint with a lot of potential to attract and engage customers through technologies such as NFC, QR codes and Augmented Reality.
And of course, as in every industry, there are economic pressures to become more efficient and agile across the whole manufacturing and logistics process.
How can you take advantage of the packaging opportunity?
Aside from the hardware to physically produce packaging cartons, you also need to implement a workflow for fulfilling your orders, and XMPie StoreFlow can help.
XMPie’s StoreFlow web-to-print solution can also be used as a web-to-pack offering, whereby you can add packaging products to your store for your customers to customize and order. StoreFlow uses a template-based process so you can optimize your workflow, serve your clients faster and offer more variations, personalization, and sizes.
There are many benefits to offering packaging via StoreFlow. Not only does it reduce the costs of acquiring, processing and fulfilling orders, but the software is easy-to-use and adaptable, and increases workflow efficiencies.
Many of the value props are the same as for any other type of digital printing:
- Customers have convenient access 24/7.
- They can also navigate around the store easily, and there are easy-to-use browser visualization options, so non-pros can also visualize the appearance of packaging in the editor.
- Users are given accurate WYSIWYG proofing
- You can offer several payment options such as credit card, PO, and budget center.
- And view your order history with live status and reordering
- Templates are created with Adobe InDesign to ensure brand compliance, colors and design integrity.
- And you can save time because ordering is fully digitized and automated, no need for calls and manual tracking.
- You can also add an approval process for orders by specific users or groups; approvers can view order details and proofs, and can approve, reject with a comment, or amend the order.
With our web-to-pack solution, you can also offer an interactive 3D preview capability thanks to our new integration with BoxItNow, a 3D digital packaging solution. Customers can quickly create paperboard package designs for users to visualize their concepts without having to wait days for quotes or prototypes.
Voila? Not so fast. You still need to go out and sell your capabilities to prospects who are looking to fulfill either short-run or high-impact carton packaging.
With StoreFlow you can quickly prepare a proof of concept store to demonstrate how you can speed up time to market; offer 24/7 ordering options; provide a minimum order quantity of potentially one piece; provide a reduced cost for customization and last-minute design changes at the point of ordering; enable split-shipping; and improve logistics in getting the cartons to stores.
To find out more about our Web-to-Pack solution and to request a demo click here.
[1] Smithers Pira: « Valued at $18.6 billion in 2019, the digital print for packaging segment is expected to grow to $31.6 billion by 2024, at an impressive compound annual growth rate of 11.1%.”
