Packaging Printing: Making Your Product Stand Out on the Shelves

The box on the doorstep is the first thing an online customer sees of your business. The carton on the shelf is what makes a shopper pick your product up instead of the one beside it. Packaging protects the product, carries the ingredients and the barcode, and sells; and with short-run digital printing it no longer needs a big order or die tooling to look the part. This guide explains which box suits which product, how to size it, and how to prepare artwork that prints right first time.

Which box for which product?

Corrugated boxes for shipping and display

Corrugated boxesShipping

• Mailer and shipping boxes: rollover hinged-lid mailers that close without tape, printed outside or inside and out, supplied flat
• Display and event boxes: counter display units, branded event bins and point-of-sale displays
• Print: full colour directly onto the board, with an optional laminated finish
• Sizing: internal length × width × height, measured with the product and any packing inside

See corrugated boxes

Fluted board cushions the product and holds its shape in the courier network. Because every box is cut and creased to your product's dimensions, there is less void fill, less movement in transit and a better fit for your brand. Tell us the weight of the contents and how the box will travel, and we will recommend the board.

Paperboard cartons for the shelf

Paperboard boxesRetail

• Product cartons: tuck-end cartons cut to the size of your product, matt or gloss laminated, with optional spot UV
• Gift and presentation boxes: base-and-lid, drawer boxes and slipcases, with acetate windows and fitted inserts
• Board: 240 gsm for light cartons up to 600 gsm for sturdier boxes
• Extras: die-cut and acetate windows, inserts that hold the product in place, hang tabs for retail display

See paperboard boxes

Nothing else gives the same smooth, premium print surface at retail-friendly cost, which is why paperboard is the packaging of cosmetics, candles, confectionery and supplements. Matt suits natural and premium brands; gloss makes colour pop; spot UV lifts a logo or a pattern on a premium range.

Rigid boxes for a premium unboxing

Rigid boxesPremium

• Lift-off lid boxes: separate base and lid made to your size, direct printed or wrapped in printed matt vinyl
• Drawer boxes: a slide-out drawer in a printed sleeve with a ribbon pull, and foam inserts cut to hold each item
• Finish: direct printing for a seamless look, or a vinyl wrap over every face and edge
• Sampling: send the products or their exact dimensions; approve a sample before a larger run

See rigid boxes

A rigid box tells the customer that what is inside is worth keeping, and it usually is kept, long after the product is used. Solid board gives real protection for fragile and high-value items, and the box keeps its shape for years.

Sleeves, tags, labels and wrapping paper

Coffee cup sleevesIn every hand

• What they are: card sleeves that slip onto disposable cups, printed in full colour, without the cost and minimums of printing the cup
• Uses: everyday café branding, or sponsor, launch and promotional messages with a QR code
• Sizing: the sleeve must match the taper of your cup, so tell us the volume or send a sample cup
• Artwork: set up on the sleeve template with the logo centred on the front panel

See coffee cup sleeves

Swing tagsFinishing touch

• Standard: rectangular or square tags with a punched hole, single or double-sided
• Custom: shapes that follow your logo or product, matt, gloss or spot UV, supplied strung
• Content: logo, product details, price, barcode, care instructions or a message
• Artwork: PDF at finished size with 3 mm bleed; mark the hole so nothing sits under it; barcodes as solid black vector

See swing tags

Wrapping paper turns every parcel into a branded experience: your design printed in full colour on 80 gsm paper, on 500 mm rolls of 25 m or 45 m, in a gloss, matt or kraft finish, with production typically 7 to 10 business days after proof approval. Supply the artwork as a seamless repeating tile, or send your logo and colours and we will build the repeat. See wrapping paper. And for the product itself, product labels on laminated vinyl carry the brand, the ingredients and the barcode onto bottles, jars and tubs.

Sizing, dielines and artwork

Our design studio prepares production-ready packaging layouts and bespoke dielines if you would rather not build them yourself.

How we print packaging in Cape Town

Custom short-run packaging is built for startups, boutique brands and e-commerce: digital printing presses and precision digital die-cutting tables produce custom boxes, sleeves and labels with low minimum order quantities, from 25 units, and no traditional die-making costs. Corrugated is printed directly onto the board; cartons and rigid boxes are printed, laminated, cut and creased under one roof at our factory in Atlas Gardens, so you can test a design in the market before scaling up.

Tell us what is going inside, the style of box, the finish and the quantity, and send your artwork or ask for the dieline. Your quote states the timeline, and for standard boxes you can also order online from our standard range. Agencies and print brokers can produce the range through our Reseller Partner Programme.

Frequently asked questions