Thermal paper is everywhere in daily life. In a fast chain restaurant, it consumes plenty of receipts per month. The consumption is also huge in ecommerce, manufacture, supermarkets, banks, hospitals everyday. When you start a thermal paper business or consume rolls for your business, you need to recognize and identify thermal paper from other types of paper.

There are mainly 2 types of paper used in ecommerce and retail industry. — Thermal paper and Art paper.

Thermal Paper

Thermal paper has a smooth surface which is coated with dye chemicals. When exposed to heat, the paper will change color to show text or image. No cartridge or ink ribbon is required for thermal printer. You can test the paper with a thermal printer. If you don’t have a thermal printer available, you can try to check it with your fingernail. Just run your fingernail firmly across the paper, it will leave a mark if it’s thermal paper. There’s also an exception. You’d better check it on both front and back side of paper. For some specific printers, thermal paper surface is on the back side of paper.

Thermal paper is the most widely used paper rolls for ecommerce & other industry as well. It has some outstanding advantages. It’s printed quicker. Only thermal paper and thermal printer are needed. No need for extra consumable such as cartridge and ribbon. And it’s cheaper.

If you just started a new ecommerce business, restaurant or other shop, just buy a thermal printer and thermal paper rolls.

Art Paper

Art paper, is a staple at the office. The sizes may vary, depending on what type of documents you print, but the popular one is the A4. Whether at home or the office, art paper is useful only in traditional printing with the use of ink or cartridges.

If you put a art paper and a thermal paper side-by-side, you can notice the significant difference on the surface. Neither sides of the art paper have a coating, which results in a less bright and smooth surface than thermal paper.

Art paper can be only used in thermal transfer printers with ribbons which can transfer the image to the paper surface to generate the texts or images. One of the caveats in using art paper for printing receipts is that it’s not economical. You need to replace ink cartridges, which are costly if you’re doing this daily.