Need printed bottle labels? Here are your options for 2019
In recent years, technology has significantly improved boutique manufacture ring of quality goods, such as organic fine foods, all natural cosmetics, essential oils, craft beer breweries and boutique wineries are becoming increasingly popular small business ventures.
As a result there is a high demand for customised label printing and application solutions to help boutique manufacturers get their products looking good and ready for sale.
Lets take a look at the bottle labelling options that are available to small-scale manufacturers in 2019, and compare some of the pros and cons.
Whether you are manufacturing wine, beer, cosmetic products, or food products (as long as you package your product in a bottle) there are two main ways that you can go about labelling your bottles.
You can either order your labels online in large batches, or you can print them by yourself on demand. (A third option would be to outsource both your label printing and application to a third party service provider, but for a small scale manufacturer, minimum runs can make this less feasible.)
Buying labels online in batches
This is perhaps the most popular option that boutique manufacturers have been using over the past few years.
Craft beer makers have been creating designs for their bottle labels, and then sending those designs out to firms that specialise in printing high volumes of labels for clients and the firms then print those labels and ship them to the boutique manufacturer.
This option has its advantages. For starters, it’s very convenient. Ordering high volumes of labels in one go also allows manufacturers to reduce costs. But on the other side of the coin, stock piling labels ties up a lot of capital in labels.
Many boutique manufacturers are beginning to realise that ordering labels online might not be the most practical option for them.
Given the nature of small manufacturing businesses like craft breweries, fine wine, cosmetics and food, manufacturers need to have the flexibility to make drastic changes in the way the present and market their products in response to demands and trends.
Printing high volumes of labels and stockpiling them denies small manufacturers that branding flexibility and can result in massive waste.
Printing and applying your own labels
New technology means boutique manufacturers are now able to print and label their own product on demand, right at their own premises.
Companies like Great Engineering, an Australian manufacturer of bottle labeling equipment, now have label applicators that come standard ready to fully integrated with any colour printer, allowing boutique manufacturers to print labels and immediately apply them onto bottles.
This technology is revolutionary, and small-scale manufacturers who have embraced this solution have reported numerous benefits to their businesses including saving on label costs and significantly reducing your labour costs associated with labelling and packing product.
One example is The Tumut River Brewing Co, Australia’s smallest ever micro-brewery. Tim and Simon, the owners of the brewery, have indicated that their success was significantly aided by having the ability to print and apply their own labels on demand.
Tim says that “As craft brewers when you are starting out, a really big impediment to releasing a new brew is having to go through all the rigmarole involved in getting your beer sold. Every new beer needs to be named, bottled, have a label designed, printed, and applied to bottles, so it’s ready to buy”.
That whole manufacturing process was a major challenge for them. They would tie up a lot of capital buying and stockpiling printed labels, and they would often experience delays when they placed orders for new batches of labels.
They were unable to customise their labels for marketing purposes during special occasions such as Christmas, and all these issues were an impediment to sales.
The entry of the combined printer and applicator into the market made everything a lot easier for them.
Tim says that “The day I first saw the bottle labeller integrated with an Epson Printer, I instantly realised that all the inherent risks associated with trialling and selling a new beer had been eliminated. Suddenly, developing new lines was far less risky and far more affordable. We can now make and name a brew, then design a label for it and have it ready to sell in just a couple of days.”
Photo by sydney Rae
