The Chetan Jain Column: The impact of digital printing and personalisation on packaging purchasing

Customisation is a key goal for packaging professionals. A product that is widely available without distinctive features can damage your brand’s reputation, potentially leading it to be seen as just another generic FMCG company. Hence, personalisation is the best objective to consider for creating your strong brand presence.

This topic intrigued me a lot — “How can I add new things to packaging?” was my next question. There is a huge scope for R&D in it. Over my 18 years of experience, I have written several articles on the topic, and the essence of my work is summarised in my four books.

I used to believe that digital printing had limited applications, especially in markets like India. However, my perspective changed when my friend’s daughter was born. Upon receiving a gift hamper from Baby Dove, featuring multiple packs personalised with his daughter’s name, I realised the power of digital printing. 

This thoughtful gesture by the hospital, facilitated by their partnership with Dove, made the experience feel deeply personal. I learned how digital printing can be leveraged by brands if done right. Since then, we have done multiple projects on digital printing and explored the wide possibilities that can be achieved with this technology. 

Shrink sleeve packaging is the most crucial part of branding. Here are some things that can help you create an aura in the market:

Short runs and specialised projects
Digital printing shrink-sleeve packaging gives you an edge over your normal high-production packaging. Digital printing with fast results and cost efficiency is the way to move ahead in the market. This is the best-suited approach for any new development. If you need to experiment with packaging, then, digital printing is the best way to start. You don’t have to think twice about budget and minimum order quantities with digital printing.

Customisation and personal approaches are possible
No technology can save you if you can’t personalise the demand. Customers always prefer made-to-order. Customisation can be implemented in so many ways. For example, you may customise your packaging for a particular season, occasion, festivities, etc. The Keventers Diwali Milkshake shrink sleeve is a good example of this. 

Niche marketing
Catering to customers of a limited section with specific tastes and habits in the form of customised shrink sleeves can be an exceptional way to establish your brand. Digital shrink sleeves required by one of our clients had different flavours of yoghurt with a specific sleeve for each flavour. It was a niche small-volume product range, but digital printing made it easy to provide initial launch quantities for multiple flavours. 

Taking niche marketing to the extreme, a one-to-one approach is also possible, like Coca-Cola’s Share a Bottle campaign for BOPP labels, which created a wonderful case study for the digital printing industry.

Key clients 
Well, it isn’t just a saying that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers. If you can pull off this customisation concept with digital printing packaging, then you can do more sales with existing clients. 

Edge over customers
If I were handling a brand of an FMCG product, I would surely come out with different shrink-sleeve packaging for every occasion. It would help me stay connected to my customers and give me an edge over competitors in the market who are still under the illusion of high-MOQ–low-cost packaging concepts. 

Flexibility and new business model
Rigid mentalities or concepts are hard to let go of. This often occurs with brands that maintain large-scale production and fail to experiment. For instance, Urban Gabru, a male grooming brand, led its way from a small-scale startup to a well-known name in the male grooming section with digitally printed packaging. Now, they offer different products under the brand name. 

Fast turnaround time
With digitally printed shrink sleeves, you have the advantage of implementing projects immediately. You don’t have to wait for cylinders to arrive. Fast turnaround time is the best thing about digital printing. 

Multiple SKUs in a single run
This is another challenge resolved with digitally printed shrink films. In a single run, you can get packaging for your different SKUs. No need for segregation and printing separately.

Print anytime
Flexibility is always available to you regarding timing and delivery. You can opt to print according to your needs. 

Environment-friendly inks, no solvents
Looking for sustainable options? Want to reduce your carbon footprint and earn fewer credits? Then digital printing is the solution. Inks are water-based, and no solvents are used in them. You can optimise more such features with digital printing. And with artificial intelligence being in use, design is not that tough. Go out and explore the shrink-sleeve packaging as you want. It is possible indeed.