Kmart Australia is using Afinia Label’s L301 Color Label printer, powered by HP thermal inkjet technology, to personalize Vegemite and Nutella jars at the point of sale.

Afinia Label, an OEM customer of HP Specialty Printing Systems (SPS), manufactures and distributes industrial color label printing and finishing equipment in more than 55 countries around the world. In a recent holiday campaign with Kmart Australia, Afinia Label L301 Color Label Printers were purchased from Rawson Print Co. and deployed across 214 stores to personalize labeling on jars of Nutella and Vegemite. With the rise in online shopping, Kmart Australia saw this promotion as a way to offer a unique experience for customers visiting the brick and mortar stores.

The personalized products became available across Australia in time for the holiday shopping push. The campaign was designed to be marketed to Christmas shoppers, with Afinia Label L301s printing custom color labels with personalized messaging at the time of purchase. Store guests simply select jars of Vegemite or Nutella that service representatives then print and label on the spot. The labeled jars are then ready for gifting or personal use.

The promotion proved extremely successful, resulting in a planned expansion of personalization across additional brands in the future.

“Afinia Label’s printers offer the professional capability and small, desktop-sized footprint necessary for these types of in-store personalization campaigns,” says Nathan Daniel, EMEA Sales Manager for Afinia Label. “Now, smaller and larger brands alike are able to capitalize on this trend of custom packaging and bring it to new heights through this more personal, single-purchase approach.”

Michael Boyle, general manager, Graphics Solutions Business, Asia Pacific and Japan, HP, adds, “As brands continue to look for ways to connect with their audiences, we are seeing a growing trend of mass personalized packaging, including desktop label printing campaigns in stores. HP is powering the trend with flexible and affordable in-store printing solutions that make it possible to offer an individual, memorable experience for its customers.’

The Afinia Label L301 Color Label Printer is based on the HP OEM Scanning Imager 850 and offers color in 4800 x 1200 optimized DPI. This printer, and others such as the larger format L501, are available through Afinia Label’s worldwide network of dealers.