A wide range of label printers provide viable diversification opportunities for dealers.
How many labels do you see in a day? Probably a lot more than you think. There are about 230,000 brands in the U.S. market and that translates into a lot of labels on jars, wine bottles, and countless consumer products. Nearly all are printed in high volumes on big presses that churn out labels for hours each day.
But outside the household-name brands, many labels are ideal candidates for smaller and more affordable toner and inkjet printers, while many more basic ones are perfect for thermal printing. All open the way to a wider range of companies for which you can add value while bringing in new revenue that adds depth to your dealership. And by the way, don’t think for a minute that labels are a niche market. Labels and packaging represent a growing segment of the printing industry and finding ways to serve customers in this space is a pathway to sustainable profitability.
Labels Matter
In packaging, it’s called the “three-foot effect,” the eye-catching design that makes a shopper snatch a package off the shelf for a closer look. For the guy driving the delivery truck, labels provide clear addresses and a bar code that helps track a package to your door. In a hospital, it’s a patient’s name and a bar code on a wristband. Every one of them matters. We’ll look at the fancy consumer ones first.
Most labels we see on store shelves are printed by the tens or hundreds of thousands for major national brands. These eat up a lot of time on high-end label presses and can make label costs for brands needing shorter runs unaffordable. In the battle for retail shelf space, a growing number of local brands turn to small toner and inkjet printers for their labels. Think wineries and craft brewers, purveyors of assorted sauces and dressings, and local bakeries, for example. All have low volumes that are a perfect fit for small-label printers. It’s just economics. The pre-press and set-up costs associated with a big flexographic or offset press are too high for short runs of labels to make sense. Meanwhile, the old-school, low-dollar alternative—the desktop printers that turn out a few dozen labels of limited size per hour—is not a good fit for even small commercial print shops.
So, what is a small product company to do? Having a local printer output short runs of labels on a toner or inkjet press is one approach, but labels requiring special shapes, pressure-sensitive substrates, and runs as short as a few hundred can be expensive when printed at a print shop. In some cases, this increases costs-per-label because most of the print shop’s machines are not designed for label production, a somewhat specialized offering.
Affordable Options
Fortunately, there are readily available and affordable options for quality label printing—which is where your dealership comes in. Savvy print providers are adding label printing to their repertoire, based on and in anticipation of customer demand. They are looking for affordable machines that address customer needs, and the dealer channel is well-positioned to help them succeed with devices that are great fits for dealers and a new range of customers.
Konica Minolta offers two label presses, the toner-based AccurioLabel 230 for volumes up to about 500,000 per month and the Muratec inkjet Precision Label Series PLS-475i for more modest volumes (Konica Minolta acquired Muratec in 2017).
With a print width of up to 13 inches, a speed of 76 feet per minute, 3600 x 1200 resolution, and a roll diameter of up to 24-inches, KM’s AccurioLabel 230 can print many labels quickly on a variety of paper stocks without the need to pre-treat the paper. The lack of pre-treatment separates this machine from other vendors chasing label printing as a desired market segment.
Its inkjet counterpart, the PLS-475i uses Memjet print heads to print up to 9.3-inch wide while running at up to 60 feet per minute. According to Konica Minolta, the machine fills the gap between inexpensive desktop label printers and costly production-class label presses. It offers a compelling option for label production in retail outlets, commercial printers, and brand owners seeking to bring label production in-house. Konica Minolta sees the label market evolving to where customers want the ability to print relatively short runs on pressure-sensitive clear substrates such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and BOPP (biaxially oriented polypropylene) without paying the higher costs of producing short runs on larger presses.
“Konica Minolta’s machines are both available through Konica Minolta Business Services (KMBS) and dealers, and the PLS-475i was created specifically for dealers,” said Russell Doucette, product marketing manager for label products at Konica Minolta. Having access to both machines is a boon for dealers because it broadens the range of companies they can target. Dealers should not be dissuaded by the faster and more exotic label printers on the market. Not only do those come with significantly higher acquisition costs, but they are also sold direct and may not be a good fit for profitable label production in smaller businesses.
Training and More Training
Another important difference is training. “Training not only makes label printing accessible for more customers, it includes sales support for dealers and post-sale support for customers as they learn to produce labels that make their brands stand out,” noted Doucette.
The challenge for dealers hoping to add label customers is staking out new territory. Label printing comes with the need to be conversant about PET and BOPP substrates, roll-fed printing, pre-cut labels, and even different types of customers. Konica Minolta makes a point of educating dealers by teaching salespeople about the market potential, talking with prospects about the value of label printing, offering up ways of closing a deal, and even supporting customers once they make the leap to label printing.
The type or size of the dealer can be important.
“Larger dealers can be more attuned to a variety of customer needs because they usually have a wider range of customers,” explained Dave Clearman, director of sales and marketing for Konica Minolta’s Precision Label Series of inkjet printers. “It can be a bigger leap for smaller dealers that may not have the same breadth of experience, but we are still able to help them have the right conversations. It’s all about teaching them what to ask, how to listen to and learn from the answers, and how to engage with the prospect.”
As you might expect, conversations with prospects also vary by type of end-customer. For example, a commercial printer will have different concerns than the local brewer seeking to bring the labeling of its bottles and growlers in-house, or a baker seeking brand consistency on a dozen different product lines. A dealer may sell to all of these customers and addressing their concerns can be critical to making a sale.
Labels That Tell a Story
While retail labels are intended to be eye-pleasing and attention-grabbing, informational labels can be every bit as important. After all, the address label on your monthly supply of wine delivered to your house needs to be clear, easy to read, and have a bar code for tracking and generating an email confirming delivery. Likewise, a hospital wristband has your name, may list any allergies, and has a bar code that links to your tests, x-rays, meds, and treatment protocols. This is so critically important that wristbands are immediately replaced if a barcode cannot be read by the code reader. Countless other small labels are placed on company furniture, computers, and office equipment to track an organization’s assets.
All are thermal labels, and the small printers that produce them are often overlooked in the label market. These utilitarian labels may lack the “glamour” of shiny and embossed labels on a wine bottle, but they are an indispensable part of the label market.
“These small printers fill a need in the market that is easy to miss but are an essential part of many businesses,” said Tony Venice, director of product marketing for Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS). “They are an excellent opportunity to increase business with existing customers and even gain new customers.”
Three Toshiba models that could find homes with some of your existing or prospective customers include the HSP, the FP2, and the DBEA4D, devices that serve a range of diverse needs. Each presents an opportunity for dealers seeking to expand their market.
The HSP is intended for receipt printing and is reportedly simple to connect and use. You’ve probably been handed a receipt printed by an HSP and not even thought about the device just a few feet away. The more interesting device for many businesses is the FP2. This compact printer, weighing just one pound and about 4 x 5 x 3-inches, can be equipped with a shoulder strap and used to print labels that can be quickly affixed to products—new price, bar code and all. For instance, a stock person in a grocery store could use a handheld barcode scanner to identify a product and print a label with a new price for items that are on sale. Then, when the strawberries are all labeled, the work moves on to packages of carrots or bags of coffee.
Less portable but enabled with duplex printing is a 9 x 9 x 9-inch cube called the DBEA4D. This device can simultaneously print shipping information on one side of a sheet and a packing list on the other side. This provides an immediate reduction in waste, helps eliminate packing and shipping errors, and reduces labor costs.
Big Market for Small Labels
The market—and demand—can be substantial. Venice cites health care, logistics, and manufacturing as some of the biggest segments, each with needs that require different printers, software, and substrates. It’s easy to dismiss these monochrome labels as uninteresting but consider the difference they make.
For example, In health care everything is inventoried and tracked using monochrome, thermal-printed labels that usually contain text and a barcode. There are labeling needs for all the standard supplies and equipment that keep a hospital running, labels for medications (that may include usage instructions), and the aforementioned wristbands, to name only three. And your company can sell all of it.
Logistics operations may have different labels for warehouse inventories and shipping. Venice explained: “The shipping label may be a specialized two-part style to facilitate returns because a returned item may not go back to the place it come from. The company handling the shipping has to provide a label that will work for the brand owner, the shipper, and the end-customer.” And they need the right type of printer and substrate to meet the requirements. Or, consider a label being scanned using a bar code reader or a new label affixed to a box using a belt-mounted label printer.
Labels are a key part of manufacturing, too. Most parts in cars, appliances, and technology have labels, usually monochrome and often printed with thermal technology. You find them if you repair your own car, yard equipment, and appliances.
Then, there’s retail, where portable printers such as Toshiba’s FP2 are commonplace in retailers large and small, playing a key role in informing customers and moving products out the door when prices are changed. That “Buy One Get One” deal on coffee? The label on the bag may well have be printed on a small portable label printer.
Clearly, there is more to labels printed in basic black than is readily apparent. For dealers, the abundance of seemingly innocuous labels is an opportunity. Take, for example, the small local hospital where you placed a dozen copiers and twenty MFPs. They may well need thermal printers to produce wristbands, prescription labels, and inventory tags. But they don’t call your company because you are “the copier and printer guy,” so that business goes to someone else.
Maybe it’s time to up your game by learning about small printers, the substrates they use, and devices like the handheld scanners used to read barcodes.
“Things like the scanners are third-party devices that the companies using these printers need,” said TABS’ Venice. “And, they can often be bundled with thermal printers.”
Venice suggests bringing a line of thermal printers on board, then working with your sales team to train them on the new opportunity. For instance, when one of your sales team members goes into a hospital where they are a known quantity, it takes little effort to ask how the hospital handles the production of small labels and who is responsible for those purchases. It can result in a new contact, a new conversation, and even a new sale. At a retailer, manufacturer, or a warehouse, ask if they ship products out of the location and how their inventory labels are printed. Never stop asking questions!
The thing is, if you add a line of thermal printers, your existing sales force can ask these questions and potentially bring in new business. According to Venice, “Sales reps who understand a customer’s needs can be successful because they are known quantities who can go in and get the conversation going.”
As A3 and A4 printers are decreasing in importance, there is a timely and an abundant market for all kinds of labels. To fill the emerging gap, dealers should be actively looking for new ways to support changing customer needs. No matter where you begin, look for needs and fill them. Start by following the advice of Tony Venice: “A good salesperson is one who listens!”
Introducing Supplies Network’s barcodeSELECT Program
This past summer, Supplies Network launched barcodeSELECT, an automated, hands-off approach to replenishing thermal barcoding supplies. This service is designed to help resellers engaged in managed print services (MPS) add and monetize a new category to their offering. This service is complemented by a full array of barcode supplies and printers from Zebra Technologies, a leader in the industry.
In The Cannata Report’s August issue, Sarah Custer, vice president services and solutions for Supplies Network, said, “This market is expected to reach over $45 billion by 2023 and represents a great opportunity for resellers looking for an additional opportunity that leverages existing resources and expertise.”
She explained that identifying customers is straightforward, as usage of this technology is concentrated in the health care, warehousing, manufacturing, and travel and hospitality industries.
“All of the same revenue opportunities apply to this market, as they do in the office printing market,” Custer told us. “Customers can lock into agreements for consumable supplies with a focus on the media, such as labels or ID wristbands for the health care market, while seeking opportunities to upgrade, refresh, and right-size the thermal printer fleet within those environments.”
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