Christmas is just around the corner - and more and more of us will be doing our festive shopping online. According to IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group), the UK is Europes leading e-retail economy, with sales estimated to reach 81bn this year and its currently growing at 18 per cent each year. In the UK, 37 million of us are Internet shoppers.
Not so long ago, buying something mail-order meant waiting 28 days for delivery. Now we expect our goods within a few days if not, the next day. To make this happen, online traders need a fail-safe system for packaging, delivery and despatch and integrated labels are at the very centre of this process.
Paddock Wood-based Priory Direct (part of the Priory Business Group PLC) is the UK and Europes leading supplier of integrated labels and the company has been involved in this sector ever since people started to buy online.
As often happens in our business, we responded to our customers needs, says Bob Pitman, managing director of Priory Direct. Weve been supplying business forms for more than 30 years and our customers started asking us for a way of making the despatch process easier for them.
Integrated labels are labels which are integrated into a sheet of paper which, when it comes to Internet shopping, is usually the sales receipt. Today, they are used worldwide by all types of businesses from the largest online retailers to personal sellers. Priory Directs customers include the smallest e-retailers, right up to companies selling many thousands of items everyday through eBay, the Amazon Marketplace, their own webstore or, quite possibly, all three.
Integrated labels make the whole sale and despatch process as straightforward as possible, with less chance for goods to go astray - as there is no need to spend time matching receipts to labels and labels to products, says Bob. Today, most of us have received something from an online retailer - so weve seen integrated labels in action.
Priory Direct offers a wide variety of integrated label sheets. When it comes to what size of integrated labels to select, it comes down to what information a customer needs to fit on it and the system/software being used to print it.
Ideally the label itself should accommodate the delivery address, a Postage Paid Impression (PPI), and an if undelivered return address. The sheet can include a range of details from an invoice and companys logo to sender information or terms and conditions. Priory Direct also offers bespoke versions giving businesses the opportunity to include their corporate colours for instance.
Today, integrated labels are central to the success of internet shopping without them we wouldnt receive our goods online as quickly or as efficiency, adds Bob.
Image supplied of Bob Pitman
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