Neil Shackleton, founder of Medoola, gives his Packaging Perspective.

It is fascinating to see, as a packaging consultant to the FMCG and pharma market sectors, how digital print has entered the packaging sector over the past decade and how it continues to evolve.

The mainstay is of course labels. Smithers Pira’s ‘The Future of Labels and Release Liners to 2023’ predicts continued 5% growth. However, we are now seeing the same digital technology used on flexibles, cartons and corrugated, ensuring that the overall growth of digital print continues to make its move on more, traditional print processes.

Digital offers many opportunities for the ever-increasing number of products and brands that come to market and end up on retailer’s shelves. So many start-ups are thriving, often without retail support. The growth comes from robust B2C e-commerce sales, and micro businesses love that bespoke labels and short print runs give them the freedom to evolve and grow. It is a market that digital printers should explore, as start-ups are appreciated by the more discerning consumers who invest in brand values over volume and cost.

Larger brands that use more traditional print methods want to understand that digital is now a valid and robust competition on larger volumes. But with digital’s continual evolution within the packaging sphere, there is an educational issue for brand owners. The questions I often ask myself is, do they really understand the digital opportunity? The answer is more often than not, no.

Many procurement teams of course point to the savings in set-up costs that digital can offer. This positive is undoubtedly something that grabs the attention of those with multi-SKU ranges where savings can be significant. Supply chain directors are interested in the potential for low inventory management through ‘print on demand’ opportunities, and the marketing teams appreciate the potential for personalisation and seasonal print runs that can inject impetus into a brand campaign.

I have worked with FMCG brands to implement the popular hybrid approach to print runs. However, a successful switch could only happen thanks to my knowledge and expertise on the digital and flexo print processes, and how a combination of the two meets their overall business objectives.

Brand owners need help in evaluating if the three critical factors mentioned above have a tangible benefit in reality. This perhaps presents an opportunity for print partners to guide and assist by taking a slightly different approach to packaging support.

It seems, from the recent roundtable debate for this magazine, that OEMs are a sticking point. What surprised me is that the OEMs are on the whole not understanding the needs of their label print clients who have very clear ideas on increasing efficiencies. In my opinion, the best way to tackle this issue is to get brand owners to present the right questions to OEMs, which printers can feed through. It may seem convoluted, but it ties in with print convertors educating brands who are often swayed by machine operators in capabilities. Be bold and directly inform brand owners that this is not the case. 

Why are brand owners reluctant? Part of the problem is the evolution of digital itself. Brand owners are keen to effectively pigeonhole digital into its existing portfolio, without really considering where and how it can be put to maximum use.

The hybrid solutions, which are coming into the market, have been well received by my clientele. It gives brands an opportunity to embrace digital technology in a gradual way, rather than challenging it and dismissing digital as a viable option.

Digital printers need to think from a procurement, supply chain and marketing perspective and delve beyond the headline benefits of digital print. On-demand print is not a trend that will come and go quickly, and you will find that larger brands will want to emulate the micros sooner rather than later. Digital can implement those changes swiftly and efficiently, which means that brands no longer have the excuse to miss out on crucial opportunities. 

Neil Shackleton, founder of packaging consultancy, Medoola, has worked in the print and packaging industry, as well as in brand management. Contact neil@mymedoola.com or visit www.mymedoola.com