Plants without a tag or with the wrong tag on the shelves. It not only annoys the end consumer, but the retailer, grower and breeder as well. Therefore, a new way of tagging entered the market about 4 years ago and it is now becoming more of a norm in the US, explains Mike Howden of Macore, a tag and label manufacturing company. They are tagging directly on the pot from the bottom up. Macore started to produce these tags 2 years ago and call them Hanging Potlock Tags.
Mike Howden at Cultivate'19 in Columbus (OH), USA
No or wrong tags affect the industry
According to Howden, labels have become more and more essential nowadays as new gardeners see so many possible varieties and they want to see what they are buying, especially the bloom. Therefore, more and more products are already sold at retail or at garden centers flowering. And, particularly when a product can't be sold flowering, tags are essential. However, the traditional tags, which are inserted into the soil often have the tendency to fall off. "As a result, the plants won't have a label or are even labelled wrongly. This contributes to a negative consumer experience and in turn, will affect the entire chain."
Hanging Potlock Tags
The Hanging Potlock Tags are - as in the name - hanging and pot locked. And this is the main difference between the regular tag and this new generation of tags. "The tags are attached to the pot by inserting the tag from the bottom up into the lit of the pot. In this way, they can't fall off easily also not when the plant is becoming more vigorous. And just like the regular tag, it has almost 100% marketing space, but important is that the tags can easily bend without breaking. For this reason, we use polypropylene material", he says.
And what about sticking in the tags? According to Howden, labor usually does not find it hard to insert and pull it through. "It is a little different, but not more time-consuming than inserting it in the soil."
Increasing demand
Macore introduced their first Hanging Potlock Tags two years ago and they have seen the demand increasing rapidly. We hear positive reactions out of the chain.
Future developments
Howden expects the US label and tag industry to develop even further in the future. "In Europe, we already see that it is not only used anymore to show the product and share the caring tips, it has become more a marketing tool and I think we will see this in the coming years developing in the US as well. All in all, I think the importance of tags will increase."
For more information
Macore
Mike Howden
Email: mike@macore.com
www.macore.com