Digital printing is not a universal solution for corrugated packaging, but digital printing is indeed suitable for solving the three major difficulties in traditional printing and packaging, that is, the supply chain is too long, the inventory is large, outdated, and the need for customization and version control.

Lengthy supply chain 

We live in an on-demand world. Enterprises of all sizes and sizes are facing pressure to deliver products in a customized manner, and scale and speed can only be achieved through mass production. The traditional printing and packaging supply chain simply cannot meet this on-demand expectation. From design to delivery, it may take 6-12 weeks to produce corrugated packaging. Most companies have been working under these restrictions for a long time, so that they don't know what the protracted process has cost them, but the price is real, and business opportunities may be lost as a result. Since the turnaround time is 12 weeks, the brand can only make package changes 3-4 times a year. This greatly limits their ability to carry out targeted short-term marketing activities, and also makes brands unable to respond flexibly to market demands regardless of ups and downs. For example, if your summer promotion is very hot, and your carton inventory is used up twice as much as you expected, what should you do? If you rely on a traditional corrugated packaging supply chain, you may be forced to revert to standard packaging and shorten successful campaigns. However, the entire digital printing and packaging production process can be delivered in just 2 weeks. Therefore, when your summer promotions exceed expectations, you can place another order and interact during other holidays.

High inventory and obsoleteContinuing to take the summer promotion as an example, suppose you have anticipated its successful development and doubled the typical packaging order to ensure that you have enough inventory to support the entire summer. This is great, but how much additional warehouse space is needed to accommodate this inventory? Is there space available and how much will it cost?In addition, what if your summer promotions are not performing well and the demand is half of what you expected? So unfortunately, you have to stock a lot of outdated cartons. Not only do you have to pay for storing these extra cartons for a few months, but now you will need to transport them to a recycling plant.Through digital printing and packaging, you can order as many short-term orders as needed, thus saving your inventory time and expenses.

Requirements for customization and version control

Let's take a look at the last pain point, which is the need for customization and version control. A few years ago, this could hardly be described as a "need", but given the proliferation of SKUs and the continued growth of e-commerce, it is safe to say that version control and customization have become essential items in the marketing toolkit. Brands are looking for ways to enhance information and attract customers, many of which are achieved through packaging. The humble brown carton was quickly replaced by packaging with full-color graphics inside and outside. Not only that, graphics are often used to supplement relevant content in the packaging carton or related to short-term promotions. Some brands even create hundreds of versions of packaging by adding user-submitted photos in the design. Of course, perhaps using traditional printed packaging cartons can also achieve this goal, but you may have tried it at the cost.

Digital printing allows brands to aggregate the print volume of multiple sub-brands or SKUs. This greatly reduces the minimum order quantity while maintaining economies of scale in mass production. In turn, this creates endless possibilities for extending marketing activities to product packages. Once you leave a world where packaging takes months to produce, and move into a new future, that is, only a 2-week turnaround time to achieve full production, then the entire set of marketing and consumer participation opportunities become within reach Up. Of course, once again, digital printing is not required in all cases, but if you want to get rid of any of these pains, you should definitely study it carefully and find a digital printing solution that suits you as soon as possible.