When your consumers are demanding same day/next day delivery the need to get your product to market reliably fast is more critical than ever and yet external forces are making this ultra-challenging. Digital transformation, inflation and spiralling energy prices are making life ever more challenging for brands and retailers.
It’s all pretty scary and not everyone will make it through, but there are ways to help take the pressure off and as packaging experts we focus on helping our clients improve their speed to market and save money on their packaging.
With increasing demand to get product to market quicker. A product that is six months late to market, earns 33% less profit over five years according to a classic study by McKinsey.
Marketing budgets climbed from 6.4% of company revenue in 2021, to 9.5% in 2022, but dropped to 9.1% in 2023, still lagging behind pre-pandemic spending. (Value is key) [1]
I’m sure you would all agree that delivering fully print-ready artwork right first time across all SKUs and formats inclusive of all local marketing and legislative demands is the Gold Standard. Instead of striving for this, many existing artwork management processes create a false start by actually building artwork corrections into their process to allow for amends. This is a high risk model – time is so critical yet allowingthe potential for human error in what is supposed to be an automated process? In this ruthless retail environment, even the tiniest gain equals an advantage, why adhere to out-dated processes and poor design that also zaps energy and resource.
By shifting your focus instead to ensure the pre-artwork data is 100% correct, a truly automated model can deliver significant time savings and ensure your product is launched in the most efficient and quickest way possible, without the risk of mistakes.
76% of brands complain of being extremely time pressured. 89% of clients believe their market is moving faster than ever before. The top brand challenge is how to prioritise opportunities with stretched teams and budgets.[2]
Existing ‘semi-automated’ artwork systems actually work on a ‘dynamic content’ basis which is now being replaced by new generation fully-automated digital technology. By entrusting your packaging artwork to a fully-automated digital system you are circumventing the risk inherent in ‘old ways’.
Technologies that support transparency and supply chain resilience will also be the technologies that drive sustainable practice and underpin customer perception in the future. We believe it’s not enough to simply keep up with new technology, you need to stay ahead., or be overtaken. The future of artwork production goes way beyond the capabilities of existing systems and we have spent years developing a better way. Our disruptive, technology ecosystem transforms the global approach to packaging, pioneering the right choices for our clients, consumers and the planet.
e-volve is a transformational packaging artwork tool, which fully automates the complete creation of packaging artwork. Unlike existing systems, e-volve produces fully print-ready artwork, right first time across all SKUs and formats inclusive of all local marketing and legislative demands and it does this at the touch of a button! e-volve can be adapted to your processes, and is easily and quickly installed with minimum disruption to your business.
e-volve goes way beyond the capabilities of existing systems and can save you 60-80% on existing artwork costs, read our case study about how we helped a leading European retailer do just that. Don’t get left behind, ensure you are first to the finish line and get in touch if you would like to know more.
Sources:
[1] Gartner – What marketing budgets look like
[2] DBA – What clients think report 2023
To find out more about e-volve, request a live demo here.
