Offset Or Digital: Which Printing Serves The Best?

When it is time for product box printing, brands cannot seem to make up their minds about which type they should go with. The two most famous kinds of printing are offset and digital. These printing techniques depend on various factors, and a brand must consider each before thinking about one.

Offset printing uses wet ink with printing plates and takes a lot of time to print on a product. It's very economical and can produce specific designs. Digital printing involves electronic files. It is most effective for small businesses and short-lived products like brochures.

Many business cards are printed through this technique. Custom printed product boxes are also gone through the process of offset and digital printing.

Advantages Of Offset Printing

Offset or lithography involves transferring the image from an aluminium plate to a rubber, known as a blanket. From this blanket, the image is transferred to the target, the product box. It is called lithography as well because before, aluminium limestone was used as a source of transferring the image. 

Offset printing is used in almost everything that is around us. It uses a CMYK color palette to print, and the prints we see in our magazines, newspapers and even stationery are all printed through the offset technique. Following are the advantages of offset printing:

Retail Industries

Industries as big as food, cosmetics, and other retail businesses use offset printing because this kind of printing provides benefits. Offset Printiideally perfectly and has a variety of colors due to the CMYK color palette. This technique is cos-effective for giant setups. Product box printing with offset technique results in quality and ensures the brand’s name and message. 

This technique has fewer wasted prints, and the price gets low as your product boxes increase. This is why it is the number one choice for all the food supply chains and cosmetic brands. Even dairy product box printing is done through offset printing.

Product Friendly

Offset printing is product friendly. Being product-friendly means, it can easily be printed on any product. This is why industries use offset printing. It is as easy to print on the primary product as it is to print n the packaging.

All famous beverage companies use offset printing techniques to print o their plastic, glass or aluminium bottles. Product boxes with logo are also printed through offset printing.

Smooth Finishing Codes

Product box printing is incomplete without the finishing coeds, especially those meant to be luxurious. This is why high-on-demand brands use offset printing. Offset printing can easily make use of matte, gloss or soft touch.

Offset printing enhanced the product’s packaging, which is why it is the favourite choice of every retail brand. 

Drawbacks Of Offset Printing

But a few drawbacks of offset printing are: 

Not Suitable For Small Brands

Offset printing is not suitable for small brands because of its cost. As discussed earlier, offset printing serves big businesses the best. Small setups usually need less product box printing, and thus it can be costly for them to use this technique. You also need to invest in offset product box printing at the start. 

Customized Plates Cost A Lot

Custom product packaging is high in demand these days; therefore, brands need to have them in their stores. With offset printing, however, these custom printing costs a lot because they need to have Customized plates for printing.

Unless a packaging company is proving the brand with these plates for free, the amount of these customized plates can add up a lot. 

Advantages Of Digital Printing

Digital printing is mainly used for small businesses and short-lived products. All that you need is an inlet printer and digital images to print the images on your product. 

It is easier to print digitally and does not require large setups like offset printing. Following are the advantages of digital printing:

Perfect For Small Business

Digital printing is perfect for small businesses and those who are just starting. It takes a lot less effort and money to print. Product box printing in small quantities is perfect because it costs less. The digital printing setup can be done in a small warehouse as well.

The brochures are made through the digital printing technique since it costs less. Even the big brands use digital printing for these short-lived brochures and pamphlets. 

Minimum setting cost

Unlike offset printing, you do not need a large sum in your bank to agave a digital printing setup. Digital product box printing costs a minimum of zero if there is already an inkjet printer at your place. 

Drawbacks Of Digital Printing

However, with roses come thorns. Following are the few drawbacks of digital printing:

Not Suitable For Large Scale

Opposite to offset printing, if you have a large amount of product box printing, you must not use digital printing. This type of printing is only suitable for small setups, and therefore, it needs a lot of money when you are trying to have it imprinted on some 50,000 cosmetic boxes or so. 

All the small-scale setups that start from the living room use digital product box printing. 

Not Many Options For Finishing Codes

You must say goodbye to some classic finishing codes if you use digital product box printing. Unlike offset, this printing does not offer many finishing codes, so you have no option but to surrender.

This is why digital printing is cost-effective because it does not offer many finishing codes. 

Bottom Line

Look at your business, product, market plan and the investment you are going to have before choosing the product box printing. If you are a large-scale setup, you must go with offset. Otherwise, digital is the best option.