The Hidden Cost of Ordering More Than You Need

Cost of Waste

When ordering multiple label types, does your supplier require a minimum for each one? You might need 1,000 of one label and 5,000 of another...but you're forced to order 5,000 of each. 

The excess? It sits. It ties up cash. It often goes to waste. Behind the scenes, this creates more complexity than most businesses realise, especially as product ranges expand. 

Where Complexity Creeps In

As your product range grows, so too does the number of individual product variations you need to manage. Each variation is often treated as its own line item; ordered, stored, and handled separately. While this might work early on, it becomes harder to manage at scale. Small, fragmented orders can lead to higher unit costs, more stock sitting idle, inefficient warehouse space utilisation, and slower fulfilment times. Over time, this starts to hurt margins and impact operational efficiency. 

Cause and Effect

Ordering labels this way doesn't just affect procurement, it flows through your entire operation. It can lead to higher warehousing costs, lowered operational efficiency, increased labour and handling time, reduced inventory turnover, cash flow strain, and greater risk of stock obsolescence. The hidden costs mount up to more than you might think. 

Label Families

At Cohesion, that's exactly the problem our Label Families system was designed to solve. Instead of treating every variation separately, labels are grouped based on shared specifications: size, shape, and material. These labels are produced in one run, creating a more streamlined fulfilment process. The artwork can be completely different, but as long as those three factors are consistent, the labels sit within the same family. This approach simplifies how labels are ordered, stored, and replenished — without limiting flexibility. 

The Real Benefit

All variants within a Label Family share the same unit price, allowing you to combine multiple artworks into one order quantity. Instead of ordering large volumes of individual SKUs just to reach price breaks, you can access higher volume pricing while only committing to smaller quantities of each label variant.

For example, if you have five label variants that share the same size, shape, and material, they sit within one Label Family and share the same unit cost. From there, you can order as many variants as you like — even as low as one roll per variant — while still benefiting from combined order quantity pricing.

The result is lower costs, less stock on the shelf, and a much simpler ordering process when artwork changes or new products are introduced. 

Why It Matters

You're able to access bulk pricing without overcommitting. This means you can test and launch new products with less risk, lower upfront investment, and a more agile supply chain.

The Cohesion Difference

If any of these frustrations sound familiar, we'd be happy to review your current labels and show you how they could be structured into Label Families to simplify the process and reduce costs. Please reach out if you'd like to explore this further.

We sweat the small details, because they make a real difference. Grouping multiple SKUs of the same Label Family in one order is just one of the ways we help Australian businesses reduce costs and keep things moving.