Millions of e-commerce cartons are shipped around the world every day. In some cases, consumers may see vivid images on the inside and outside of the carton, and the packaging received by different consumers in different regions is different.

As the demand for personalized differentiation and unique functions surges, packaging companies based on fiber, plastic and glass substrates are turning to digital inkjet printing technology to respond to quick market changes and cost-effectively. Not only are OEMs the key beneficiaries of these technologies, the influence of digital printing has also touched every corner of the supply chain, from brands to retailers to all emerging forces eager to adopt digital printing packaging.

Although digital printing has been used in the label industry for nearly three decades, Jean Lloyd, global chief analyst at Keypoint Intelligence, emphasized that digital printing is still seen as a novel technology in other packaging fields. She further pointed out: "With the rise of the packaging industry, many companies want to get involved because this field is critical and the opportunities brought by digital inkjet printing technology have been widely recognized." At the same time, direct printing is gradually gaining favor due to its characteristics such as reducing waste.

1. Learning Curve

Digital printing is still in its infancy in the packaging industry, but packaging companies are realizing new benefits and applications as machine manufacturers continue to improve equipment and expand capabilities. This process takes time and patience.

Rob Daniels, digital business manager at Fortis Solutions Group, emphasizes that you will gradually become familiar with and master the work you are doing in about 12 to 18 months. To reach the stage of optimizing and perfecting workflows, expect to take 18 to 24 months of continuous efforts. He also pointed out that the turning point for profitability through digital technology usually occurs within 6 months to a year after going into work.

He pointed out the high costs of printing plates, tools and pre-production in the operation of analog label printing. Although the initial investment in digital printing equipment is indeed a challenge, he emphasized: "As we gradually built customer trust and won orders from large companies focused on prototyping and R&D, this trend changed. Our continued pursuit of economic benefits has driven us to upgrade to the latest digital printing equipment every 18 months, just as easy as turning on the light."

Robert Seay, vice president of Georgia Pacific, who leads digital printing strategy and growth, also shared his insights. The company was not in a rush to launch its unique digital printing service, Hummingbird, but instead experimented with the technology for several years. Robert Seay noted that "customers have been very receptive to this technology because it brings them significant value - such as improving the overall efficiency of the supply chain, reducing inventory costs, accelerating goods turnover time, and reducing unnecessary waste." 

The uniqueness of the digital printing system is that it can print a limited number of products on demand. Compared with analog systems, this flexibility allows companies that adopt this technology to control production volume and costs more accurately.

Robert Seay added: “During some special period, no one could accurately predict the demand for materials. But the application of digital technology appropriately responded to this uncertainty. We can quickly adjust production plans, produce small batches, achieve fast delivery, and flexibly adjust inventory according to real-time demand.”

Compared with traditional plate printing systems, digital printing has significant advantages in work clarity and overall quality. William Barlow, market development expert at Printpack, praised this and said: “The quality of digital printing is extremely good.” Printpack uses digital printing technology in the field of flexible plastic packaging. William Barlow further emphasized that “Compared with flexo or gravure printing, digital printing can present more delicate and detailed graphics.”

From the converter's perspective, a significant advantage of digital printing systems is that it simplifies the processing process of repetitive orders, which saves a lot of time and directly translates into increased profits. Smith Lankford, general manager of packaging at Quad printing and marketing solutions division, stressed: “By entering the order data into the ERP system, the system can quickly generate the required files, eliminating the cumbersome processing steps before traditional printing. The files are directly prepared and queued on the digital printing press waiting to be printed. In this way, we have almost completely eliminated the complex pre-preparation process that was previously necessary in offset or flexo printing.”

2. Building Brand Relationships

The integration of digital printing technology has given converters great flexibility, allowing them to quickly adapt to the ever-changing needs of customers. Lloyd from Keypoint noted: "In many areas, such as packaging, it is critical to meet brand expectations, understand their unique needs and keep up with the market."

This technology not only significantly improves work efficiency, but also helps brands quickly introduce new products to the market. Barlow from Printpack said that they have received a lot of positive feedback from many aspects, including speed of new product launch, cost control and optimized material use.

While the packaging industry has recognized the many advantages of new technologies, most customers are still unfamiliar with this technology and find it difficult to clearly state their needs. However, this situation is gradually changing. Daniels observed that many well-known brands are actively seeking digital solutions to improve the quality of their products.

Ken Hanulek, vice president of global marketing of EFI, said that their team is currently actively working directly with major brands to help them understand the important value of digital printing in the packaging field.

Jeff Wettsten, vice president of packaging at Keypoint Intelligence, pointed out that despite the growing trend toward digitalization, many converters still think traditionally about printing decisions and have not yet proactively upgraded their digital capabilities.

Lankford from Quad confirmed this and further elaborated: “Customers are not particularly adamant about whether a product must be printed digitally. They are more concerned about the print quality of the product and the consistency of the brand across various platforms. Therefore, we tend to use digital printing as a flexible solution to meet the individual needs of customers in the most cost-effective way.”

The flexibility and customization of digital printing technology have shown significant economic and efficiency in the prototyping and testing stages, far superior to traditional analog technology. In this regard, Pedro Gonçalves, Vice President of Marketing for Tetra Pak USA and Canada, emphasized: "Brands can now more accurately conduct A/B testing on small orders of different packaging designs, thereby quickly identifying the product version that best meets the needs of each market, effectively reducing resource waste."

After weighing the cost and efficiency, OEMs and converters have reached a consensus that digital inkjet printing has more advantages in short-run printing. Gonçalves further explained: "Small-run printing is seen as an advantage in the field of digital printing, not its limitation."

Daniels from Fortis said that focusing on small-run production not only gives small and medium-sized enterprises the ability to compete in the market, but also enables them to compete with large companies. In this way, they can provide entry-level packaging that is reasonably priced and professional in appearance, thanks to the rapid development of digital printing technology, which has brought disruptive changes to the entire packaging industry.

3. Promoting the Desire to Purchase

Although E-commerce is the main application of digital printing technology, the value of digital printing technology is not limited to this. Digital printing technology has also significantly improved the quality of retail packaging in physical stores, helping merchants gain an advantage in the fierce market competition.

O-I Glass’s new technological innovation is eye-catching. It can print 3D transparent ink on the bottle, creating a unique embossed raised effect. Liman emphasized that this technology makes the original ordinary stock bottle look brand new, as if it has its own custom design, greatly enhancing the uniqueness and recognition of the brand. He praised: "This is a landmark innovation."

Compared with traditional offset or flexographic printing technology, digital printing technology gives customers unprecedented design freedom. This means that manufacturers can create multiple packaging styles for the same product, giving customers more choices. Gonçalves emphasized that this variety not only makes the goods on the shelf more eye-catching, but also conveys a unified brand concept between products with different designs. He used the cooperation between Tetra Pak and Flow Beverage as an example to show how to effectively achieve this goal by printing fiber cartons in different colors and designs for the same beverage product.

Print-on-demand technology has greatly improved the flexibility and responsiveness of seasonal product inventory management. As Georgia-Pacific's Seay said, brands and retailers often experience a surge in demand after the first round of printing of seasonal products. However, high inventory costs are prohibitive. By implementing a just-in-time production strategy, companies can respond quickly to market changes and avoid the risk of obsolescence caused by inventory backlogs, thereby reducing capital occupancy and operating costs.

By using version control strategies, manufacturers have carefully designed unique packaging appearances for products in various markets. For example, they printed the logos of local home teams on beverage cans to make the products more regional. In the current market environment, personalization and customization are highly sought after. "Today, consumers are no longer satisfied with the globally unified appearance of goods. They are more inclined to choose products that reflect regional culture and characteristics," said Liman.

4. Interaction with Consumers

In the fast-changing era, brands are pursuing personalization with unprecedented enthusiasm to deepen their connection with consumers, cultivate firm loyalty, and guide their purchasing choices. In recent years, the trend of "unboxing" videos on social media has attracted the public's attention, allowing people to share their first experience of opening online shopping packages. This intuitive and real feeling quickly attracted the public's attention.

Hanulek emphasized that the first contact between consumers and brands or packaging contents is the moment of unboxing. He emphasized: "With digital inkjet printing technology, we can not only convey information, but also enhance this experience through high-quality printing effects, thereby establishing a closer and deeper emotional connection with consumers."

Daniels used Fortis as an example to explore the impact of personalization on consumer perception. He pointed out that although many sandwiches at gas stations or convenience stores are actually produced and distributed by large suppliers, these sandwiches are printed with the unique logo of each convenience store through digital printing technology. Daniels stressed: "This approach subtly creates the impression that the sandwiches are local specialties made in the gas station itself, which is crucial because more and more consumers now prefer to buy locally made goods rather than those imported on a large scale." 

Hanulek also further emphasized that carton packaging advertising has great growth potential in the field of digital printing. For example, in 2019, Amazon briefly replaced its regular brown cartons with limited-edition cartons featuring Taylor Swift's "Lover" album advertisements for shipments. This randomization technology is now seen as relatively simple to implement and can reach the target audience more accurately. Hanulek happened to receive such a special carton, but he admitted: "I was not familiar with the songs on the album. I couldn't even name three songs, which made me question whether they had misanalyzed my demographic data."

Digital inkjet printing technology has brought unprecedented innovation to the decoration of carton interiors, whether it is basic printed instructions or decorative elements designed to enhance visual appeal. Given the growing problem of package theft, many brands and logistics parties are looking to use digital printing technology on the inside of cartons to enhance the security of e-commerce transactions. Hanulek emphasized that although it is necessary to ensure the coordination of the printing press environment to achieve harmonious unity between the inside and outside of the carton, the return on investment of this effort is very high. He said that existing software and slightly adjusted cartons printing inks and coding technologies can effectively assist this process.

As technology develops, brands have begun to adopt digital printing technology in large quantities to add codes and marks to packaging. Digital inkjet printing, with its excellent clarity and stability, ensures that scanning equipment can accurately identify these codes. In stark contrast, traditional analog printing often make codes difficult to read due to blurred images.

Brands can integrate augmented reality technology into packaging design by allowing consumers to scan codes on the packaging. O-I has introduced this feature on its digitally printed wine bottles. “When consumers scan the artwork with their phone, it comes to life and provides an online experience.” said Liman.

Leeman further emphasized that this combination of multiple functions and fashionable, dynamic graphic design is particularly attractive to young consumers who are highly demanding of data and personalization. Therefore, digital printing has opened up a whole new market for brands, allowing them to reach potential customers that were previously difficult to reach. At the same time, brands are also eager to provide consumers with more detailed product information through supply chain tracking and tracing technology. "Against the backdrop of data explosion, the demand for embedded information in printing has become stronger, which has driven further improvement in printing quality," said Philippe Le Sage, leader of HP Specialty Printing and Technology Solutions business. He also mentioned that the transition from basic codes mandated by the government to data exchange actively carried out by brands today is epoch-making.

As traceability technology continues to advance, more detailed data is provided to consumers. Now, consumers can clearly know the proportion of recycled materials in products or the original source of materials. Le Sage emphasized that brands can understand the number of times consumers scan product codes and how they interact with these codes, which is undoubtedly a two-way information flow process. He is optimistic about this and predicts: "As data continues to accumulate, this technology will usher in a leap forward. Currently, few technologies on the market can reach this level."