The festive season in India presents a lucrative opportunity for print companies to cater to the heightened demand for customized labels and packaging from brands and fast-moving-consumer-goods companies. To capitalize on this, presses can offer festive-themed designs, limited edition packaging and personalized labels tailored for gifting. Also, emphasizing eco-friendly options such as sustainable and recyclable packaging can attract environmentally conscious brands. Special promotions such as volume discounts and bundled services can also drive business.

To capitalize on the opportunity of festive season, some India printers collaborate with local artisans, incorporating handcrafted elements to give products a unique, traditional appeal. Others focus on interactive packaging and functional gift boxes to enhance product appeal.

The key is to engaging with brands early, showcase a strong portfolio and offer pre-season campaigns. Doing so helps to secure festive-season business and ensure timely delivery during the busy period.

Here's how two India print leaders — Priyesh Dalmia (pictured first below), CFO of Champion Packaging Industries Pvt. Ltd. (a new owner of an HP Indigo 25K), and Anushka Namugade (pictured second below), Digital Marketing at Trigon Digipack Pvt. Ltd. (owner of three HP Indigos, including the first HP Indigo 200K in India) — approach festive season:

How do you anticipate demand for innovative packaging and labels during the festive season in your region?

Priyesh: India is a vibrant country, with August to December being the peak demand season for flexible packaging especially due to festivals. Being a part of the flexible packaging industry for many years now, we start anticipating the demand or pulse of our customers for their orders. Each year, the requirement and introduction of new products in the market is at its peak for all types of industry. Snack food and agarbatti (incense sticks) manufacturing companies in particular add most to the demand. This year, we see a lot of companies going for customization of the products for their employees as well as specific clients. This trend is going to be a huge boost for the digital printing industry. 

Anushka: Our country is full of diverse religions and cultures, and there is a festival always around the corner! We are known in this industry for providing innovative packaging solutions and are constantly challenged by our customers to think outside the box. We work on many personalised products during the festive seasons, and we are currently working on gift boxes as well as a new vertical that is most in demand during festivities. Brands start planning well in advance and look at us as partners in their packaging development journey. For us, every new project marks a milestone in our creative endeavours.

What new packaging designs are you introducing specifically for the festive season? Can you share some examples of festive packaging projects you are currently working on?

Priyesh: We are working on shaped pouches along with variable data printing as new product availability for our clients. We are also exploring a lot of opportunities using holographic films. Our MDOpe pouches are already a hit this season, owing to their sustainability factor. Based in Bangalore, we cater a lot to the agarbatti industry. Some of the new trends that we are working on are glitter pouches with use of holographic films, customer-specific orders with their branding taking centre stage. Shaped pouches especially for navratri and diya are seeing a lot of fresh enquiries.

Here's a product image from his company, Champion:

What materials and finishes are you exploring to make your packaging stand out?

Anushka: We look at packaging as a story that is written keeping the brand's expectation and vision in mind. The sky is the limit while envisioning what a product's packaging should look like and we aim to bring that vision to life from a more realistic perspective. We have introduced a new vertical of rigid boxes and canisters, wherein we can explore so many finishes and different materials to beautify the packaging. For a recent project of ours, we procured material from Europe that had a special texture to amplify the texture that was present in the artwork. While working on a project, the one question we always ask ourselves is, "Why us? What value can we add to this?" That approach helps us with exploring limitless opportunities. 

Here's a product image from her company, Trigon Digipak:

How do you ensure the quality and durability of your packaging during high-demand periods?

Priyesh: Owing to our experience over the years, we start taking advance orders for our regular jobs. Irrespective of the order quantity and pressure to deliver, quality and durability are two aspects where we do not compromise. The quality parameters and quality-check process is the same for all projects.

Anushka: We are equipped with both a skilled team and technological infrastructure to produce volumes with utmost attention to the quality of the products. We have two factories in Mumbai with state-of-the-art infrastructure and designated departmental teams to control the quality, even in times of chaos due to timelines.

Are there any eco-friendly or sustainable packaging options you're offering?

Anushka: Yes, we are currently providing two major sustainable options in flexibles: 100% recyclable pouches and paper pouches. These are being currently used by many of our customers in different industries. 

Priyesh: The buzzword for the season is sustainability, where all are trying to help the environment in their own way. We are receiving a lot of enquiries for MDOpe pouches, which are easily recyclable. Apart from this, we are also promoting minimalist designs that reduce ink usage and emphasize sustainability.

How do you handle large-scale orders and ensure timely delivery?

Priyesh: Large-scale orders are the ideal customers for any manufacturing industry. Our setup and team is prepared to manage a more than 50% surge in demand. Our constant effort to keep upgrading our machinery and train our team with latest technologies and management skills, is an added feather in our hat. 

How do you collaborate with clients to create customized packaging solutions? 

Anushka: It is about asking the key questions and understanding the purpose of customization. We help in producing variable and static QR codes for customer loyalty programs, personalised products in terms of names, images, etc., for gifting and customisation in terms of having different variables printed on every pack to make every product unique.

Priyesh: Personalizing packaging and labels for the gifting industry can significantly enhance customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Based on specific market surveys and research we are offering name and message personalization along with a variety of designs to choose from. The digital printing technology is a game-changer allowing us to produce small batches of customized packaging efficiently. Variable data printing and incorporation of dynamic QR codes are some other innovative options we offer. Also, we are working to develop an online tool where customers can design their packaging by choosing colors, fonts, and adding images or text. And offering custom illustrations or caricatures based on customer-provided photos is gaining a lot of attention.

Thanks to both of you for your insight!