Kitting Services UK: How to Get a Multi-Item Campaign Out the Door
Kitting is packing every item in a campaign into one box before it’s sent, so each site receives a single pack with everything it needs and nothing it doesn’t. If you’re sending more than one printed piece to more than one location, kitting services are what turn a pile of separate deliveries into one box per site.
Picture a store manager in launch week. The posters turned up on Tuesday, the shelf strips are still “out for delivery”, the counter unit went to the wrong branch, and the letter from head office is in a box nobody has opened yet. Every piece was printed perfectly, and the campaign still goes up late, or half up.
A campaign with one printed item is a print job. A campaign with eight is a logistics job dressed up as a print job, and that’s where kitting comes in.
What is the difference between kitting and pack-out?
Kitting is putting several components together into one pack, and pack-out is the wider job around it: the packing, labelling and despatch. You’ll hear the two used almost interchangeably, and for most campaigns you’ll want both.
The alternative is sending each component straight from wherever it was made. It sounds simpler, but it isn’t. Six components going to two hundred sites is twelve hundred separate consignments, each one a chance for something to go astray, and staff at the other end piecing your campaign together from parts that arrived on different days.
Is kitting worth the cost for a multi-site campaign?
Kitting usually pays for itself, and the saving rarely comes from the packing. It comes from everything that stops going wrong:
- One delivery per site, so one tracking reference and one thing to chase
- Everything arrives together, so nothing sits in a stockroom waiting for the rest
- No assembly at the receiving end, which matters when that end is a shop floor rather than a warehouse
- Every pack is built the same way, instead of depending on whoever opened the boxes
- One point of accountability if something does go wrong
That last one is the most underrated. When a campaign arrives in parts from three suppliers, working out what went missing can take longer than fixing it. With one partner handling print fulfilment and delivery, there’s one team to call and one answer.
How do kitting services handle different packs for different sites?
Kitting services handle site differences by setting up pack variants before anything is packed, then matching each site to the right variant using your distribution list. Very few campaigns send the same pack everywhere. Big stores get more than small ones, regions get different offers, some sites have a window and some don’t, and franchise sites often get different material to owned ones.
Done badly, that means a spreadsheet, a lot of counting and a few mistakes. Done properly, each pack type is agreed up front and every address on the list is mapped to one.
Your distribution list is the most important thing you’ll supply. Old addresses, closed sites or missing store-format codes cause exactly the problems kitting is meant to stop. If yours needs a tidy-up first, you’re in good company. Most do, and it’s far easier to sort before packing starts than after the vans have gone.
What does a kitting supplier need to know from you?
A kitting supplier needs to know what goes in each pack, which sites get which version, and when it all needs to land. In a bit more detail, that means:
- Every component, with the quantity per pack
- How many pack variants there are, and which sites get which
- The order things sit in the box (the instruction sheet usually goes on top, not a poster)
- Anything that needs protecting, folding, rolling or keeping flat
- How the outer box looks and is labelled, including whether staff should know what it is without opening it
- Delivery timing, and whether everything lands on one day or in waves
- Whether anything comes back at the end, and how
You don’t need every answer on day one. At Birch, we work through this with you as part of the brief, the same way we’d plan any print campaign from the first call to delivery. If the artwork is still in progress, our design for print team can get each component print-ready alongside it.
What should go on a campaign instruction sheet?
A campaign instruction sheet should show what’s in the pack, where each item goes, and what to do with the packaging. It’s the most important thing in the box, and on most campaigns it’s an afterthought.
The person opening the box is busy, wasn’t at the briefing and has a shop to run. A sheet written for head office won’t get read. A single page with a picture of each item and where it goes will get your point of sale up properly. Put it on top, print it on a colour that’s easy to spot among everything else, and it costs next to nothing extra.
Can campaign packs be stored and sent out later?
Yes, kitted packs can be stored and sent out later, which separates printing from delivery. Components can be printed when press time is free, packed in advance and despatched to land on launch day.
That takes print off the critical path in the busiest months, when lead times stretch (our guide to Q4 print lead times covers what to book early). It also makes staggered launches, regional phasing and top-up orders much simpler, because your print schedule no longer has to match your campaign calendar.
What should you plan for before booking campaign kitting?
Before booking campaign kitting, plan for spares, bought-in items, carriage and returns. These four catch out more campaigns than anything else:
- Print a few extra of each component to cover damage and late additions to the list. A pack that’s short of one item is a pack that can’t ship.
- Bought-in items. If the campaign includes things that aren’t printed, such as branded merchandise, someone has to source, receive and hold them, and their lead times are often longer than the print.
- Weight and size. These decide carriage costs, and sometimes what the outer box can be.
- If display equipment comes back at the end, it needs a route home.
How does Birch handle kitting for campaigns?
At Birch, we assemble, store and despatch campaign kits from our 27,000 sq ft warehouse in Ilkeston, with print, storage and packing all managed under one roof. Packs are built to agreed packing specifications and checked before they leave as part of our quality assurance process, and every delivery is tracked with a courier consignment number. We can also split or phase deliveries so packs reach different sites in line with your schedule, and there’s no minimum order, so fifty packs get the same attention as five thousand.
Got a multi-item campaign coming up and not sure where to start? Get in touch and we’ll talk it through.
