Custom printed boxes might be a more expensive option for your product packaging when compared to plain brown boxes because of the additional design and print costs that come with them. In other words, since custom boxes are more complicated to produce, the costs to manufacture them will be higher yet worth the investment made.
When you as a brand owner, choose to ship your products in a unique, high-quality box emblazoned with stunning, multi-color graphics; your customers will certainly have a great first impression by noticing the difference. It develops a sense of personalization for the customers and thus enhances buying behaviors.
So, if you’re still not sure whether a custom box with high-end, multi-color printing is a better choice than a plain, brown, cardboard box, here are a few box printing techniques to know about.
1. Flexographic Printing.
Flexographic printing utilizes flexible photopolymer printing plates that are wrapped around rotating cylinders on a web press. These inked plates possess a slightly raised image while rotating at high speeds to transfer the image to the substrate. Since flexography inks can print on many types of absorbent and nonabsorbent materials; it’s a more basic form of custom box printing usually consisting of 1-3 colors on shipping boxes. Therefore, remains an ideal option for simple graphics, logos, or mages.
2. Digital Printing.
Digital printing is by far the simplest, most convenient, and budget-friendly method of box printing. In this process, a digital-based image gets directly to a variety of media i.e., where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers. Digital printing remains a cost-effective custom printing option for your product packaging, as it consists of full-color prints directly applied to a corrugated box.
3. Litho Laminating.
Litho Lamination is a box printing methodology that utilizes a lithograph i.e., a printing system that works on the premise that water and oil don’t mix. During the process, rollers apply the ink and the image meant for transfer to the printing paper and the paper is then laminated onto a backing board i.e., corrugated cardboard. For this reason, packaging manufacturers, as well as business owners, prefer the litho lamination process for ‘buy-in-bulk’ items in order to combine the versatile properties of corrugated with high-quality, custom graphic printing.
Cost and Time Frame.
When you are opting for custom box printing for your product packaging, you need to know that simply adding one-color printing directly to a corrugated box, may only increase the cost by 10%. However, the cost will go up incrementally for each additional color used after. Therefore, the more complex and colorful your box design is, the higher will be the printing cost. Therefore, always keep in mind the budget you have for the custom printing of boxes, and then choose an appropriate printing medium.
That’s a brief description of how custom box printing is being utilized in the packaging industry.
