For retailers and business owners, laminating is a daily task. As soon as the price of the product changes, or the corners of the laminated price sheet start to peel off... it's a task that has to be repeated again and again. We all tire of the inefficiency and monotony of laminating.
Today, we're going to look at the disadvantages of traditional lamination and give you some tips on how to optimize this process.
Why is lamination so ineffective?
Cutting to size: wasting precious time
In the lamination process, cutting the labels is the most time-consuming step. Most companies follow these steps:
- Heat the laminator
- Laminate the labels one by one
- Cut to size
Carrying out these tasks once a year might be conceivable, but when you run a store with lots of customers and this work becomes weekly (or even daily), we're wasting a lot of time (and labor costs!).
Based on our experience and feedback from retailers, die-cutting takes about three times longer than the laminating process itself.
Reducing this work time will increase your efficiency.
Repetitive lamination
In supermarkets and garden centers, due to the higher humidity, laminated cards can start to peel off quite quickly. One of the worst examples is the plastic price labels on frozen food shelves. Water droplets forming on the edges reduce the adhesion of the laminate, causing the plastic to peel off.
But in reality, the edges of plastic-coated substrates also come off for completely different reasons: constant handling of media by staff, and even sunlight and heat can damage labels.
The employees who devote themselves to this never-ending task of laminating deserve a better solution, which will enable them to spend more time looking after customers and the store in general.
For retailers who often need to renew the lamination, we recommend considering a process that doesn't require lamination at all.
Price tags in poor condition and the perception of your brand image
Do customers have a negative opinion of your brand when they see price tags with plastic peeling off?
As a quality company, you naturally do your best to check the condition of the labels. However, other urgent tasks such as inventory tracking, accounting, customer management, etc. can take up a lot of your time. This means you have to work hard to maintain this level of quality, but don't have the time to take care of your store's most visible feature: your price tags.. During a single store visit, each customer makes purchasing decisions based on the information on these labels. In other words, every customer sees hundreds of labels on every visit. If the cards come unstuck and give an unprofessional image, all the hard work you and your staff put into trying to create the ideal environment for product and customer service is wasted.
Laminated price tags are not washable: another major disadvantage of lamination.
When selling fresh foods such as fruit, vegetables, meat, etc., it's common practice to place the price tag right next to the product. Dirt between peeling layers, discoloration of the film, even small black dots (mold!) will immediately indicate a lack of hygiene. Believe it or not, some customers report that a dirty price tag next to fresh or raw food is a major red flag for them. At a time when modern consumers are increasingly concerned about hygiene and cleanliness, this is a crucial point.
It would be different if we could wash the price tags. However, when the cards are laminated, it's impossible to wash them without aggravating the peeling, wetting the laminated paper (and causing the ink to run), etc. The only solution is to laminate them again. The only solution is to laminate them again.
Improve your price tag creation process
Our first tip: print on plastic (not paper!)
Figuring out how to better laminate price labels printed on paper is a headache for all retailers. However, isn't it the equivalent of taking painkillers when you have a headache (instead of tackling the cause of the headache itself)? We use lamination because we want our price labels printed on paper to last longer and look more professional. The problem isn't the lamination, it's the paper!
If you want to reduce lamination "time" and improve the "quality" of your price labels, we recommend you buy a solution for printing on plastic cards.
High-performance plastic card printers can print high-quality PVC cards in less than 10 seconds, without the need for subsequent lamination or cutting. PVC price tags are resistant to low temperatures, humidity and water. They are also highly durable. No residue remains after cleaning, so they can be reused. The cards are also hygienic, making them ideal for food stores.
Manage your price tags intelligently!
Laminating is necessary to improve the attractiveness of a paper price tag, but the time spent on this task could be used more effectively for other purposes, and you could improve the productivity of your store or business. If laminating is a problem for you, switch to a new, more efficient and cost-effective work process!