Large boxes needed to display master shipping labels explaining where the boxes originated and where they were going. The large boxes were packed with small boxes requiring product identification labels.
Amory, president of distributorship Premier Bar Code Systems, Center Valley, Pa., earned the entertainment company's business based on a referral from a colleague who couldn't handle the vast logistics of the account. A manufacturer preprints some of the labels with bar codes and prices. Garment sellers buy the other labels as blank stock and print them in house. Amory ensures that all the labels arrive at the right destinations at the right times. She simplified the process by accepting orders via email, and she plans to implement a web-based ordering system soon. Amory also penetrated the account by selling hang tags for garments inside the boxes.
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Glenn Anderson, president of
distributorship Inform Business Systems Inc., Millbury, Conn., provided a
fiber-optics company with removable labels that apply to spools of
fiber-optic materials. The labels are circular, with holes in the center
measuring 1 5/ 8
inch
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The entertainment company orders millions of labels each year. It relies on bar codes to track shipping times of its goods, predict replenishment needs and augment marketing efforts, Amory says. Bar coding is one of many aspects that make the labels market profitable and interesting, she says. "It's a fun business to get into because you're always doing something different," Amory says. Even labels in the same industry for the same application can have completely different looks. "It's exciting to learn about new applications for products that have been out there for so long," she says.
Gaining Advantages
George Wright IV, a 24-year industry veteran and vice president of New York distributorship Product Identification and Processing Systems, recently designed merchandise return labels that included the U.S. Postal Service's delivery confirmation bar codes. Wright provided the labels for products offered at a major national bookseller's new online store. Constantly consulting with the post office and the bookseller, Wright printed several test versions of the labels to double-check their graphics, placement, bar code content and bar code print quality. "The customer's delighted, and the Postal Service has touted it to other potential customers," he says.
Despite an emerging trend of manufacturers printing directly on corrugated paperboard, Wright says, many small companies find that labels are more cost-effective. Small companies tend to buy inexpensive, multipurpose boxes, then use labels to identify the boxes' contents, he says. "If you're Proctor & Gamble, the Bounty cartons are printed in tens of hundreds of thousands," Wright says. "But if you're a small to medium business, one carton or package is for 12 different products."
Distributors find many advantages to selling labels, including repeat business and opportunities to be creative and solve problems. "Once you get the business, you usually keep it because you've got plate and die charges involved," says Glenn Anderson, president of distributorship Inform Business Systems Inc., Millbury, Conn. "So it's not as price-sensitive. Also, it's a consumable product that usually involves a lot of volume." Anderson has sold labels for six years, and they account for 25 percent of his company's sales.
Tips to Make Sales Stick
Amory previously worked at a labels manufacturer, which gave her a 12-week training course on printers and label materials. Distributors should seek as much information about labels as possible, she says. "If you don't understand the makeup of the item, you'll have problems," she says. Gain lucrative results with these tips from successful labels distributors:
* Target the right applications. Carl McKirgan, a 35-year industry veteran and owner of distributorship Gulf Atlantic Business Forms, Naples, Fla., recently provided an automotive company with labels that help it comply with ISO 9000 standards. Printed on a fluorescent substrate for easy viewing, the OK-to-package, OK-to-ship and inventory labels helped the company identify approved packages of plastic ties and alligator clips used for holding together engine tubes and wires. Every three months, the automotive company orders approximately 50,000 labels. Other applications distributors successfully complete include labels for packaging, promotions, shipping, tracking, and compliance with Food and Drug Administration standards.
* Keep your eyes peeled.
While touring a winery, Anderson noticed a stack of labels under a sign
that read "Bad Labels." He spoke to the head of the winery and discovered the
winery had problems with the labels' adhesive, then successfully suggested an
alternative pressure sensitive adhesive. "That led to [orders for] nine other
labels for different wines they have," Anderson says.
* Ask the right questions.
"The application is the important thing," Amory says. "Ask how long it
will be used and where it will be used." Distributors often have to tailor
labels' adhesives and substrates to their surroundings. For example, permanent
adhesive works poorly in cold environments, Amory says.
Anderson recently created labels with
permanent adhesive that apply to spools of fiber-optic materials. The labels are
circular, with holes in the center measuring 1 5/8 inch. "It took months of
testing, because with this particular application, they recycle the spools,"
Anderson says. "They need to take the labels off and not have any adhesive
residue, but it has to be able to stick throughout the whole operation."
* Add marketing value.
McKirgan provides decals to a manufacturer of hurricane shutters. When
the manufacturer's customers close their shutters during inclement weather, they
can see the manufacturer's name and an image of the American flag. The
manufacturer was pleased with the decals' promotional value, McKirgan
says.
* Create a special die size.
"Once you have it, no one's going to take it away from you," Anderson
says. "Also, you can add colors because you've got plates involved." Marketers
love the distinct looks of custom-cut labels, he says.
* Consider digital printing.
Wright says his clients increasingly prefer digital printing for
multicolor promotional labels. With orders of fewer than 2,000 labels, it's less
expensive to use digital printing than flexographic printing, he says. Because
digital printing is relatively faster, however, some of Wright's more
time-pressed clients have paid extra for digitally printed label orders of more
than 2,000.
* Offer printers. "More
companies are taking it upon themselves to print shipping container and other
item labels in house," Wright says. His distributorship installs on-demand label
printing systems for end users who want to complete their own printing. Wright
compares printers to razors, and blank labels and ribbons to razor blades:
People always need to restock them. "It's a huge, growing and very competitive
market," he says.
| Distributors find high demand for promotional labels. Glenn Anderson,
president of distributorship Inform Business Systems Inc., Millbury,
Conn., provided a winery with foil-stamped labels for wine bottles.
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* Serve as an advisor. Ask clients about their budgets and label volumes, how far in advance they usually place orders, and how soon they need the labels, Amory says. Use their answers to draw up long-term label plans for them, she says. For example, clients might want to start outsourcing labels, but eventually purchase label printers. By providing advice, she says, distributors can cement clients' trust—and their accounts.
* Ask manufacturers for advertising help. McKirgan recently added a hyperlink on his web site that leads customers to a list of his label manufacturer's offerings. McKirgan also suggests obtaining free brochures from manufacturers and using them as sales call leave-behinds or including them with bills.
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Distributors use bar coding to add value to product identification,
sales and shipping labels.
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* Educate bar coding clients. "One of the problems we encounter daily is a lack of customer knowledge about bar coding requirements," Wright says. Confer with manufacturers to learn exactly what your target industry needs. For example, approximately 10 years ago, the retailing industry set standards for bar coded labels. To help explain decisions to end users, Wright provides detailed emails, informational attachments and links to related web sites. "Knowing what your customer really needs, as opposed to what they think they need or can articulate, is one of the keys to success," he says.
* Research. McKirgan recently won another distributor's account for labels featuring instructions on opening a hotel's safes. The hotel complained that its labels kept falling off. After investigating, McKirgan discovered that smooth paint had been fused electrically to the exterior of the safes. He searched extensively until he found a manufacturer that could produce an adhesive strong enough to attach the labels to the safes' surfaces.
Rita Tiefert is an assistant editor at Print Solutions. Email her your comments at rtiefert@PSDA.org.
Thanks to Paxar Corp., White Plains, N.Y., for assistance.
Samples courtesy of Paxar Corp., White
Plains, N.Y.
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Label Technology: On the Horizon
The most popular new label
technologies include radio frequency identification (RFID) labels. Also
known as smart labels, they contain text and radio frequency chips in
which information can be stored, read and written repeatedly.
Manufacturers
appreciate RFID labels' flexibility--they can be produced on demand or on
more traditional presses. End users appreciate that radio frequency
scanners don't need direct lines of sight to read the labels--they can
place one or two scanners on conveyor lines instead of investing in
multiple scanners. "It's going to be a big cost savings," says George
Wright IV, vice president of New York distributorship Product
Identification and Processing Systems. On the other hand, RFID labels
often cost as much as 75 cents each, even in large volumes, he
says.
Wright predicts the
first widespread deployment of RFID labels will occur in the next two
years, in the application of parcel sortation. The health care industry
already is seeking ways to use smart labels. "An interesting example is a
talking prescription label in which compressed speech has been embedded in
the chip underneath the label," Wright says. A person with impaired vision
could run the label past an RFID scanner, and an embedded speaker would
read the prescription and identify the drug.
Other new label
technologies include laser compatibility improvements and secure adhesive.
Pinnacle Label, a Dallas-based manufacturer, offers its proprietary Clean
Edge Technology(R) labels, which don't have adhesive around the outer 1/16
inch of label sheets. According to the company, Clean Edge Technology
prevents adhesive from squeezing out and causing paper jams. Wayne
Trademark Printing & Packaging Inc., a manufacturer in High Point,
N.C., recently earned a patent for its adhesive impregnation process,
which allows security features to be embedded in the adhesives of pressure
sensitive materials.
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