Labels are on just about everything that we buy, eat, wear, use. Many people don’t really give them a second thought, but in fact labels are at the heart of business efficiency and safety.

The fact that you’re reading this eBook says that you understand the importance of labels to a business. If you’re here because you’d like to know more about choosing the right label printer for your business, you’re in the right place!

Over the next few pages, we’ll take you through the detail and make sure that by the time you’ve finished reading, you understand all the key factors that you need to take into consideration when you’re buying a label printer, to make sure you get the perfect fit for your labelling needs.

Whether this is your first label printer purchase, whether you’ve been using them for a while and want to upgrade or whether you simply want to know more, you’ll find everything you need to know in the following pages.

The importance of labels

Whether they’re in retail, logistics, hospitality, shipping, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, manufacturing - just about every business needs labels in order to track, count, price and ensure safe use of their products. They would not be able to list ingredients, materials, hazards, and safety information.

Labels therefore need to be legible - whether being read by the human eye or a scanner. They need to stay on the goods and remain legible through a whole range of conditions, from weather, to friction, to chemical processes.
Once the label becomes illegible, it’s no exaggeration to say that the goods may well become unsafe, unsaleable or untraceable.

Given the importance of labels to a business, it’s becomes clear that finding the right printer to produce them is a big deal. The wrong decision could cost money, time and safety. But faced with so many options in the market, how do you know what to pick. How do you know exactly which label printer is right for you?

It’s easy to think of label printers as a commodity - all the same, with the decision made on price. But when you dig a bit deeper, there’s a lot more to choosing a label printer than many businesses realise. The devil, as they say, is in the detail. With label printers, it’s a question of horses for courses - with a range of technologies and options, and it’s essential to choose the right label printer for your business. Getting it right will lead to a rapid ROI. Getting it wrong can be a costly mistake.

Here at Toshiba, we’re experts in label printing and we want to share our knowledge with you, and explain the five things you need to know before buying a label printer. Once you understand these five things, and apply them to your label printing requirements, you can be confident that you’ll be buying the right printer for your business. One that will help you create an efficient, cost effective, and business-appropriate labelling operation.