Hang Tabs are usually clear pieces of plastic with a hanging hole at the top and an adhesive section on the bottom. The hanging hole is usually one of four popular shapes; Euro Slot, Delta Slot, Round Hole or a Hook.

Hang Tabs are a quick and efficient way to add a hanging option to products.  Products in need of hang tabs include those where a hanging hole is not already in the packaging , where a hanging hole cannot be incorporated into the packaging (a common example might be a box of Condoms) or when the product does have a hanging hole but that hole needs to be repaired or reinforced.

Hang Tabs or self-adhesive hooks are most often supplied in sheet form and in roll form.  In the sheet format there may be anywhere from 4 Hang tabs to 20 hang tabs supplied on a sheet of backing paper. Then many sheets are packed into a bag or a box.  Sheet form is really the most basic format of hang tabs supply and is often the cheapest format.  Hang Tabs are often also supplied in Roll form.  The roll format is useful when using a mechanical or electrical applicator in very high volume applications.  In any other type of application the roll format sticky hook can be a clumsy format to use in a store or production line; it may be the only format available from some smaller hang tabs suppliers.

A third format of Hang Tabs is the Pad form hang tab.  This clever format of Hang Tabs involves a “stack” of 5 to 10 pieces of Hang Tabs one on top of the other.  The Top hang tabs is peeled off the stack and applied to the product. The hang Tab below becomes the next Hang Tab to be peeled off and applied; repeated until the bottom/last hang tabs is peeled off a common backing paper.  This Pad format hang tab probably inspired the brand name “scotchpad”.   Hang Tabs are sometimes referred to as do its associated to the products development by a company called Do-It.  There are “Do-its” that are also Pad format.

The pad format allows for easy staff distribution and is a very useful format when shop floor staff needs to repair hanging products or look for innovative ways to lift the visibility of products by taking them to eye level using sticky hooks and perhaps Hang Strips.  It is quite possible to comfortably carry 200 hang tabs on your pocket –something not very practical when considering the sheet or the roll form options.

In very high volume Pad Form hang tabs can work out to be the most cost competitive format as the amount of backing paper for the hang tabs is shared by the “Stack”. This can mean a PAD form hang tabs like the scotchpad range can have one piece of backing paper for 10 Hang Tabs.  In Sheet format or roll format EVERY hang tab has to have its own area of backing paper. Also the manufacturing process of the Pad format can lead to longer lasting expensive die cutting moulds and this can be passed on to clients.

The pad format hang tabs is usually a “flexible hang tab”.  A Flexible hang tabs has a rigid PET hanging hole section and a flexible lower sticky section.  It is commonly know that when comparing the same size rigid hang tabs with the flexible hang tabs the maximum holding weights and endurance for holding weights is less for a flexible hang tabs (perhaps 25% less than a rigid hang tab).  Making up for this loss in holding power is the Flexible Hang Tabs ability to fold down for packing.  For example, a manufacturer adding the option of hanging their product using a flexible Euro Slot hang tab may not need to change their shipping cartons at all – given his products can be have the hang tab fold over the top of the product as it is put into the original shippers used in their packaging operation.

In many developed countries, the main demand and sales for Hang Tabs is generated at the Point of Sale (POS).

These developed countries have most of their non-food products produced and packaged in lower cost areas such as Asia and in particular China.  Where manufacture takes place in the developed country there is the opportunity to supply Hang Tabs to these regional manufacturers.  These opportunities are quite rare as the Hang Tabs are usually applied by hand except in very large scale packaging operations where they may be applied using labelling machines.

Applying Hang Tabs by hand is a costly business and the trend for hang sales of goods manufactured in these countries is to insure the hang sell feature is built into the packaging.  In some instances it is difficult or even not possible to have a built in hang sell feature.  A good example of where a Hang Tab is necessary for hang sell is where goods are shrink-wrapped with a film of plastic and there must not be any holes in this plastic.

Nevertheless, most Hang Tabs sales are to the point of purchase.

Retail shops need to maximise their sales which can be very dependent on how they display their best selling items and items they wish to promote.  It can be costly for shops to hold on to stock for too long as it is capital tied up and even worse capital lost where goods have a shelf life.

Bringing goods up to the eye level of clients and providing more choice and variety within the confines of the retail space available is a key priority for the shopkeeper.  Hang sell of products is a key way to achieve better product visibility and higher density displays.  The tools of Hang sell are Hang Tabs, often referred to as display hooks or Do-Its or even Scotchpads and display strips also called hang strips.

The hang tabs consist of clear pieces of plastic which are partially backed with adhesive. The adhesive section sticks to the product to be displayed and the non-adhesive section with a hanging hole profile projects above the product.  The product having been converted to hang sell is now hung from pegs, rails or hang strips.

Another reason why the POS will need hang tabs is to repair hang sell items that have damaged.  Often cardboard products with a Hang Sell built into the cardboard can tear.  Another common problem is when hang sell holes are cut into packaging like lollies and the cut is not clean.  In these instances the hanging hole can be weekend or not even present.  Large supermarket chain stores will go through hundreds of thousands of hang tabs just to repair broken hang sell packets.

While many shops continue to use older or more traditional format Hang Tabs such as those supplied in rolls or in sheets there is a growing awareness of the Pad Format Hang Tabs.  While the Pad Format Hang Tabs may cost one or two cents more per Hang Tab the added convenience of this format should easily pay for itself.  Pad Format Hang Tabs enables shop staff to easily carry 200 Hang Tabs in their pocket at any time and as these Pad Format Hang Tabs have five to ten times less backing paper per Hang Tab they take up much less space.  Sheet form and roll form Hang Tabs can be stuffed into a pocket but the pocket needs to be fairly large pockets and there is a strong likelihood Hang Tabs will be lost or spoilt by coming off their backing while still in that jammed pocket.