How Many Labels Should You Order for Your First Production Run?

Start with your production quantity, not the label price

Your first calculation should be simple: how many finished products are you planning to make?

If your first production run is 750 bottles, jars or packs, that gives you a sensible starting point for the label quantity.

From there, think about what else those labels need to cover. You may need additional labels for production set-up, samples, photography, testing or replacements if some are damaged during application.

The amount of allowance needed will depend partly on how your product is packed. Labels being applied automatically on a production line have different requirements from a small batch being labelled by hand, so it is worth telling your label printer how the labels will be applied rather than simply adding a fixed percentage.

Be careful about ordering too far ahead on a new product

Ordering more labels normally reduces the cost per label. That does not automatically make the larger order better value.

A first production run is often the point at which small changes become apparent.

You might decide to adjust the artwork after seeing the finished product in market. Ingredients or product information could change. A barcode, address or regulatory statement might need updating. You may introduce a different pack size or discover that one product in the range sells much faster than another.

If you have 8,000 unused labels carrying the old information, the saving you made on the unit price quickly disappears.

For a new brand or product launch, flexibility can therefore be worth more than achieving the absolute lowest label price.

Do labels have a minimum order quantity?

Minimum order quantities, or MOQs, vary between label suppliers.

At Label Apeel, we do not have a minimum order quantity. That means the starting point is the quantity that makes sense for the project rather than having to reach an arbitrary number of labels before we can produce the job.

That does not mean every quantity costs the same to produce.

The label size, material, number of designs and any specialist finishes can all affect the economics of a job. Foiling, embossing, shaped labels and other embellishments may also involve tooling or additional production stages.

The useful question is therefore not simply:

“What is the minimum number of labels I can order?”

It is:

“What quantity makes sense for this production run?”

Those are not always the same thing.

Where does digital printing help?

Digital label printing has made shorter production runs much more practical.

It is particularly useful where quantities are lower, there are several versions of the same label, or the artwork may change between runs. This is one reason startup brands, product launches, limited editions and smaller batches no longer necessarily need to commit to very large label quantities.

You do not need to decide whether your labels should be printed digitally, though.

Tell us how many products you are making, how many different designs or SKUs are involved and what you need the finished label to achieve. The print method will then be chosen around the job.

As quantities increase and a product becomes established, another production method may become more economical. That can be reviewed as the brand grows rather than something you need to solve before your first run.

Think about each SKU separately

If your first launch contains several flavours, fragrances, strengths or product variants, avoid automatically ordering the same number of labels for every SKU.

Your production plan might be:

• 1,000 units of your main product
• 500 units of a second variant
• 250 units each of two more experimental products

Your label order can reflect that.

Short run label printing gives brands more flexibility to produce different quantities across a range instead of holding large amounts of label stock for a slower-selling variant.

This can be especially useful for startup brands that are still learning where demand sits across the range.

Consider how quickly you can reorder

Ordering cautiously does not mean constantly running out of labels.

Before settling on the quantity, think about your expected sales or production rate and when you would need to place the next order.

If you expect the first batch to last six months, your approach may be different from a product expected to sell through in a few weeks.

Once a product has an established sales pattern and the artwork is unlikely to change, carrying more label stock may make sense. At that point, larger production runs can reduce the unit cost without creating the same risk of obsolete stock.

So, how many labels should you order?

For a first production run, start with the number of products you genuinely expect to make and sell, then allow for the practical requirements of filling, packing and applying the labels.

Before increasing the quantity just to achieve a cheaper unit price, ask:

• Is the artwork fully settled?
• Could any product information change?
• Are we testing a new product or variant?
• How many units of each SKU are actually being produced?
• Are the labels being applied by hand or machine?
• Will we need labels for samples, photography or testing?
• How quickly could we reorder?
• How much unused label stock would we be comfortable holding?

For an established product with predictable demand, ordering further ahead can make good commercial sense.

For a first launch, a smaller and more flexible label run can often be the better decision.

If you are not sure what quantity to request when asking for a quote, tell us about the production run instead. Let us know how many products you are making, whether there are several versions and what stage the brand is at. We can then work out the most practical way to produce the labels without asking you to become a print expert first.