Plant Tags That Sell: Streamline Ordering & Proofing with All-in-One System

Did you know that 61% of consumers purchasing plants make their decision based on the information they read on a tag accompanying the plant? Research shows that 34% of buyers even find the absence of a tag as a red flag signaling to abandon the purchase. Tags are quite important in plants selling business. People learn from them, save them and somehow prefer to get back to the tags rather than use Google search when they need information.

Producing plant tags doesn’t sound like an uphill battle. At first glance.

Imagine you need to create high volumes of well-designed, qualitative, attractive tags with accurate instructions for a wide variety of plant species. This requires complex workflows and precise proofing on each step of production.

Our client a company that provides growers and retailers with high quality consumer focused plant tags with more than 70 years of experience in the field.

The Client decided to apply technologies to these intricate and confusing processes and create a system that will collect all needed functionality in one place – from content and design of tags to printing and delivery. First Line Software was selected as a development partner to create the solution.

The Challenge

Ordering tags online is a complex project as it involves many parties, each of which must complete its part of the work and approve the final version of the order.

• Retailers and growers – need to order tags, specify plant species, pricings, quantity of items, approve final designs and arrange order and delivery;
• Experienced horticulturists –  provide and approve instructions for different types of plants;
• Designers and content makers – create the visual part of the tag;
• Manufacturers –  produce and print physical items;
• Delivery services – deliver ready items to the clients.

The right understanding and organization of the data workflows between everyone involved was one of the main challenges in the system development. The First Line Software team delved into the specifics of the process and was able to create an effective structure within a single solution.

Previously, all the interaction was organized through e-mail and calls. The client received a bunch of PDF-s, printed it, out marked and made changes. Scanned, sent back and waited for the answer. And if any mistake occurred the process starts again. While plants are ready to be shipped, prices are changing, and 800 other tasks are waiting for attention.

Client believed that growers and retailers have better things to do than struggle with ordering tags online.

The Solution

The developed system is an all-in-one tool for streamlined proofing and ordering right away, that contains:

• All the ordering information in one place
• Easy-to-use search “by image” or “by list”
• Repository of stock und custom tags
• Shopping cart and order history
• Shipping tracking
• Online proofing

Online proofing allows users to edit tags directly in the layout that will be sent to the printing press. Changes are made immediately as they are applied online. Clients can actually see what they will get as the final item. No room for human errors and time-consuming approvals left. For any item the history of changes and activity is stored allowing it to get back to the previous versions if needed.

Our team had successfully accomplished the task of preparing a system for high loads during the calculation of high volumes of tags layouts simultaneously.

The Result

The final solution successfully works on a market. It became a strong competitive advantage for our client. The convenience and accuracy provided by the all-in-one system is most appreciated by major clients. This allows our client to be the priority provider for the largest US retail chains and growers.

Learn more about Print Technologies development at First Line Software.