Custom labels for products are no exception to the age-old rule; most of the time you get what you pay for. Far too often, we hear horror stories from customers about their experiences ordering labels solely based on the price per label. We have a history of doing things a little differently at Wizard Labels than the rest of the industry. That’s why we decided to raise the ‘status quo’ for a standard label order. There is more to the labeling industry than meets the eye, and there isn’t always a wealth of information available to someone ordering labels for the first time. Naturally, price per unit is a comfortable and familiar metric that potential customers use to determine which printer they will place their label order with. However, it’s important to realize what you may receive when ordering custom labels for products at the lowest possible unit price.
Throughout the majority of our industry, a quote for standard custom product labels normally defaults to the least expensive (and least durable) label material, i.e. Semi Gloss Paper. This material may be fine for some products (particularly those with a very short lifespan, but in many instances the product is intended for a lengthy shelf life or exposure to harsh conditions. For example, using a paper label on a bathroom product (or a food product) where it’s exposed to moisture and/or repeated handling would be a poor choice.
Now, the material you choose certainly can have some impact on price, but it’s important to understand that false economics often have costly results – so the “cost per label” is not the only factor you should consider. After all, the label itself is a critical part of the product – well designed, properly printed, high quality labels create a very different impression in the mind of the shopper than a product with a label that looks like it was produced on a desktop printer in a home-office.
Unlike most companies in the label printing industry, the standard material that we use here at Wizard Labels is a plastic labeling material called BOPP – which stands for Biaxially-Oriented PolyPropylene (yes, we know that’s a mouthful). Anyway, it’s what we use at Wizard Labels as our mainstay offering. Being a plastic, the labels are effectively impervious to water and other elements that the packaging may get exposed to. This means that your product will retain its “brand new” look throughout its normal life. And even better – the price differential between the two materials is inconsequential in a typical digital print run (where volumes are usually lower than in the traditional flexo plants).
What all of this boils down to, is that we have deliberately chosen to not even offer the industry standard semi-gloss paper – we’ve standardized on the BOPP material to guarantee high quality labels for your products. While you can’t control every environment in which your product is stored or used, you can take steps to ensure that your product labels stand up to natural use over the life of the product. A business owner shouldn’t have to pay extra for having your labels printed on a quality material. That’s why we have raised the status quo for custom product labels.