Epson labels help Nettmat compete in the grocery and recipe market

Nettmat decided to buy a ColorWorks C3500 label to offer personalised marketing, and help them keep up with the competition in the Norwegian curated groceries and recipes market.

The curated grocery and recipe market in Norway has seen significant growth over the past few years. According to the financial newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, the two largest companies in the market generated NOK 300 million in business last year between them. 

"Rogaland is Norway's number one culinary region, with skilled producers and fantastic ingredients. Local ingredients and a strong relationship with local producers is a foundational concept," say Thomas Bergo and Frode Amdal, the founders of Nettmat, who work round the clock to maintain their place in a competitive market.

Working with recipe-developer Stian G. Iversen, Nettmat has created nearly three hundred recipes to date, with new ones developed every week. These go into four different types of pre-packed bags of groceries, adapted to the everyday needs and culinary preferences of busy consumers.

As the name implies, the "Everyday bag" contains everyday foods. The "Tempo bag" is a new concept, which includes meals that take only four minutes to prepare. The "SOLO bag" is specially designed for singles, and the "Vegetarian bag" for vegetarians, the latter devised in cooperation with Norway's leading vegetarian blog. 

Grocery bags with raw ingredients demand labelling of both the outer bag and all the ingredients inside with packaging and expiry dates. Frode and Thomas were quick to realise how buying a dedicated label printer instead of outsourcing production could result in lower costs, greater flexibility and smarter marketing.

After research, the decision was made to buy a ColorWorks TM-C3500, with separate DURABrite Ultra-ink cartridges. The ability to replace individual colours as they were used helped to streamline Nettmat's costs, while label printer's LCD screen allowed them to easily monitor print status and ink levels.

"Having an in-house printer offers more flexibility than handing it over to an outside supplier. We use the included software to design and print a few thousand labels per week. As a rule we print four hundred to six hundred labels at a time, and this doesn't take long," says Thomas.  

The printer is not only used to communicate food-related information such as packing date, shelf life and producer – it also serves as a marketing tool.

"We create labels based on seasons and other occasions, such as to wish our customers a happy Constitution Day or Midsummer. This gives our deliveries more of a personal touch," says Frode.
Thanks to a growing customer base, the duo have just expanded their premises, to include more storage space, a kitchen and a shop. The latter is where 100-150 customers stream in every Monday to pick up their grocery bags and buy staple goods from local producers, which are also labelled using the Epson printer.