18
THECOMMERCIAL GREENHOUSEGROWER • MARCH 2018
• LA"ELS
receive his/her delivery of plugs arrivebut no label to
insert at time of potting andpacking. This leads todouble
handlingof a crop and an unnecessary labour cost. The
label, however, is an important tool inmarketing tohelp
provide the information the home gardener needs tomake
an informed choice on their purchase.¹
He reminds us that, by teaming upwithMasterTag, Ball
Colegrave has tackled this issue headonby providing
a helpful labelling ¸solution¹ for its customers. He says:
¸The associationwithBall Colegrave as the exclusiveUK
distributormeans that, withmore than2,600 varieties
in theMasterTag label catalogue, there is a suitable
MasterTag label for every seed and seed-raisedplants
listed in theBall Colegrave catalogues. Thismakes the
sometimedifficult task ofmatching label toplants easier
andmore efficient.¹
Stuart adds that, for pot bedding and
perennials, Ball Colegrave supplies a
larger colour label. He explains that
the firm took the initiative todesign
and supply its own 4¹ 10cm high-
impact colour labels formore than
1,000of its cutting-raised, selected
seed-raised andperennial varieties in
its plant andperennial catalogues.
Stuart says: ¸Both theBall and
LastingBeautyPerennial labels are
stocked inour distribution facility
and are sent with a customer’s plug
andplant delivery in abundle count
exactlymatching the number of
plants in theplug tray. In thisway, we
can helpour customers save time on
ordering labels,make sure the label
is therewhen they really need it and
give themmore time to concentrate
on running their business and
growingplants.¹
He reveals that the reaction from
growers andgarden centre staff to
theBall andLastingBeauty labels
has been ¸extremely positive¹.
Meanwhile, Hortipak has a similarly
handy service – namely its ¸stock
ondemand¹ label service, which it introduced last
year 2017 . Available from its new e-store www.
hortipak.co.uk , it sees the labels printed toorder
and ready for dispatchwithin fiveworkingdays
from receipt of order. Philip adds that Hortipak
has added further varieties to this service for this
year’s season. He also informs growers that the firm has
launched its 2018 stock label andPOS variety list – a
comprehensive list which includes the exclusive range of
Ball Colegrave ‘Trends’ POS. ProducedbyHortipakwith
Ball Colegrave for their summer showcase events – and
covering themost popular ‘trends’ gardens Bcolour theme
andplanting combinationsD – these largebanners are
designed specifically to aidgarden centres inpromoting
plants by colour.
All shapes and sizes
In addition tobeing able toorder their labels easily, the
horticulture sector has an increasingly diverse range of
labels to choose from. AsBambooPrint’sDuncan says:
¸We canmake labels of prettymuch any siae and shape –
themajority aredie-cut, andwith a few restrictionswe can
make virtually any profile, however intricate.¹
Hortipak’sPhilip says that bespoke labels remainpopular
with customers as they look to
differentiate their products from those
of their competitors. The current trend
for potswith lock-in label slots, for
example, has seen label companies
create shapes to fit these lock-in
pots. He says: ¸We have solutions
that work for all potmanufacturers’
slots.We havebeenworkingon
innovative newproducts andwe look
forward to launching them in the
2018 season sowatch this space.¹
‘Bespoke
labels remain
popular with
customers as
they look to
differentiate their
products from
those of their
competitors’
PPCLabel’sCatherine affirms that lock-in labels
havebecomemorepopular with retailers but
argues that thedrawback for growers are the
additional costs of suchpots and the fact that
manual label insertion is ¸a lot slower.¹ She says:
¸We recently had a grower who looked atmoving
over to lock-in labels but decided togowith a TagWeld
machine to reduce his labour costs rather increase them.¹
She reminds growers that PPC’s TagWeld systemwas
first launched in2010 at the Four Oaks trade show and,
BambooPrint’sDuncanMcLintock notes
that good typography can sometimes be
just as striking as a colourful image.
