Learn the fundamentals of print-on-demand.
The low-risk business strategy known as print on demand, or POD, has gained a lot of traction in recent years. With this dropshipping strategy, retailers can make money without having to bear heavy expenses.
Like any business, having some prior experience is beneficial. You can find all the information you need to consider if you're thinking about launching a print on demand (POD) business with articles from our blog or on Shopify Youtube.
Today's post will address the fundamentals. Discover what Print on Demand is, what business options are available, and the key benefits and drawbacks of opening a store using this model by reading on.
Contents
Part 1 - What is Print on Demand?
Part 2 - Types of Print on Demand services
Part 3 - Popular Print-On-Demand Sites
Part 4 - Who is Print on Demand for?
Part 5 - Pros and Cons of Print on Demand as a business model
Part 6 - Tips for starting with print-on-demand
Part 7 - Design, test, sell, and grow
Part 1 - What is Print on Demand?
With the help of the print-on-demand business model, vendors can only create catalog goods in response to consumer requests. Every time a customer places an order, a manufacturer produces the item and oversees shipping.
You can customize a huge selection of articles for a Print on Demand store. The categories with the highest demand include wall art, stationery, and clothing. You can print books that you self-published with this model as well.
The biggest benefit of print-on-demand is that you don't have to make a minimum quantity; instead, you only make an item when a customer requests it. As a result, in contrast to other business strategies, the initial investment is modest. It is also less risky because you would simply be taking on expenses.
Part 2 - Types of Print on Demand services
There are two main types of Print on Demand companies: POD Fulfillment services and POD marketplaces.
POD Fulfillment Services
A Print on Demand Fulfillment Services company is a strategic partner that manages all the logistics related to a Print on Demand Store. These providers are in charge of printing your designs in the products that you choose from their catalog. They also manage the delivery and shipping part of the purchase funnel.
If you choose to work with this kind of partner, you have to take into account that it’s your responsibility to create your store’s website. You will be the “seller of record.” This means that other business aspects, as customer service and tax management. Your partner is only in charge of logistics.
Part 3 - Popular Print-On-Demand Sites
To help you out, we put together a quick overview of some of the most popular print-on-demand sites that cover a variety of scenarios. All of these services are free to set up (you only pay when you order a product), plus they integrate with your Shopify store.
Let's look at some of the best print-on-demand sites.
1. Printful
Printful is a popular choice among print-on-demand sites because of its wide selection of high-quality products and brands (Gildan, American Apparel, etc.), easy-to-use mockup generators, and options for adding your own branding to the unboxing experience.
For apparel products in particular, Printful offers a number of printing techniques you’ll want to be aware of:
- Direct to Garment prints directly onto clothing—especially good for simpler designs (i.e., witty t-shirts). You can only print on certain areas of the product as a result.
- Cut and Sew is sometimes known as “all-over print.” The article of clothing is cut, printed on, and then put back together for a seamless print across the entire piece. While the base costs may be higher, this lets you create a more premium product that could sell for more. This is not to be confused with “sublimation printing,” which is a less accurate but more economical method of achieving an all-over print.
- Embroidery is perhaps the most complex printing technique because the final product is actually a threaded design with a 3D effect. This is best for simple designs that involve only a handful of colors, and for products like hats.
You should also be mindful of how additional customizations affect the price. Printing on the sleeve or inside label, for example, will usually mean paying a nominal fee on top of base cost.
Besides apparel, Printful also offers mugs, bedding, pillows, framed posters, beach towels, aprons, and more.
2. Lulu
Lulu is a self-publishing platform for printing and distributing your own books and ebooks, offering many of the tools you’d need. It's one of the most popular print-on-demand companies.
Lulu Direct is its print-on-demand offering and lets you choose from a wide selection of book sizes, binding types, and page/print quality to build your own book product.
While there is no built-in editor to design your book, Lulu Xpress does offer downloadable templates to get you started. It even has a transparent pricing calculator to help you cost out your project, including various shipping options.
There are also discounts available if you’d like to order in bulk.
3. Gooten
Like Printful, Gooten offers a wide range of products that you can customize with several that are unique to Gooten, such as calendars and dog beds.
However, since Gooten uses an international network of vendors and dropshippers to print its products, there’s also a lot more variance between its items in terms of print quality and shipping. But that also means you’re likely to see lower product and shipping prices as well.
Gooten has an intuitive image editor that gives you a good sense of what your final product will look like.
4. Printify
Printify is another print-on-demand service that features the usual selection of t-shirts and hoodies. What’s notable about Printify is it also offers an international vendor network that enables a number of unique white-label products you’re not likely to find elsewhere, such as jewelry, clocks, shoes, and water bottles. In fact, the platform boasts over 200 products you can print on.
While Printify is free to use, a premium subscription is available that gives you 20% off of all products for $29 a month, which is a solid option if you’re looking to scale up later and improve your profit margins.
Print on Demand Marketplaces
A Print on Demand Marketplace is an e-commerce platform that allows you to sell your Print on Demand products as part of their catalog. This means that the site is the “seller of record,” so they will manage production and dropshipping, but also taxes, and customer service.
The only thing you need to do in this case is to create or legally purchase your designs. Once you upload those designs to the platform, you will receive a royalty every time a customer makes an order. Some marketplaces also promote your products. This way, they will be visible for your target without any investment from your side.
Many popular marketplaces allow you to upload and sell your POD designs. Merch by Amazon, Redbubble, and Zazzle are three well-known examples.
Part 4 - Who is Print on Demand for?
Beginner retailers. Print on Demand is perfect for those who don’t have any experience in dropshipping or retail but want to try a new business idea. As this business model does not require a significant investment, rookie mistakes won’t cost you a big loss. You will also be able to do useful market research at low risk.
Artists No matter if you are an amateur that wants to turn their passion into profit or a professional searching for a new source of income. If you are creative, you should take a look at Print on Demand. By uploading your designs to a marketplace or store, you will be able to turn them into products and reach a growing audience.
Part 5 - The Pros & Cons of Print on Demand
There is no need to generate a minimum stock. This means that you won’t have to invest money in creating products that you won’t sell. Also, you won’t need to have a physical store or a place to put the stock while you are trying to sell it. This model allows you to reduce not only the risk but the cost of selling your items.
The advantages of Print on Demand
- You don’t need to invest in machines to produce your personalized items. Industrial printers, cutting machines, and sublimation devices can be costly. With Print on Demand, you won’t need to buy these resources before knowing if you’ll succeed. You can create a successful business without having this equipment.
- Print on Demand allows you to make better use of your time. You don’t need to manage production, shipping, or logistics, so you’ll have more time to invest in design or marketing. You can focus on growing your business.
- As we said before, Print on Demand is perfect for rapid experimentation. You can get a real impression of your target’s preferences without risking to lose your money.
- Print on Demand allows you to offer a wide variety of products by contacting just one provider. This way, you can create a big catalog without having to manage several partnerships at a time.
The disadvantages of Print on Demand
- Your partner will be in charge of manufacturing. This means you’ll have less control over the whole process (almost any). You won’t see the final products before shipping, so you will have to trust that they reach your quality standards.
- Your products’availability depends on your partner’s stock. If your provider runs out of a product (e.g., mugs), your customers won’t be able to buy a version with your design printed on it.
- Some processes, as devolutions or reimbursements, can become more complicated.
- Once you pick a fulfillment services provider, you will have to stick to a limited catalog. If your provider does not give you the option to print your designs in some objects (e.g., hoodies), you won’t be able to sell them.
Business experiments. In 2020, scaling your business requires giving up on gut-feeling decisions. Rapid experimentation is the best way to make wise and practical choices. Is it worth investing money in creating a stationery collection? Give it a try with Print on Demand and let real data help you make the right decision.
Passive income. If you’d like to earn some extra money without making an investment or committing to a conventional job, Print on Demand is an excellent source of passive income. You just need to upload your designs to a marketplace. They will manage the promotion, the production, and the delivery of the final projects. You’ll only have to worry about getting paid.
Book authors. If you have a book that you’d like to publish, but you don’t have the support of an editor, Print on Demand gives you the chance of self-publishing. The provider will only print your book every time a customer demands it, so you won’t have to print a minimum stock.
Part 6 - Tips for starting with print-on-demand
Using a print-on-demand service might be easier than managing your own inventory, but there are some considerations unique to this approach that you should be aware of. Luckily, for most of these challenges you’ll face, there are creative solutions.
Here are some of the best print-on-demand tips to help you out.
1. Always order samples
Product quality assurance is essential when you’re using print-on-demand services to sell online.
You want to ensure your physical product looks and feels as you intended, and the best way to do that is to be your own customer, so you can experience first-hand what it’s like to receive your products. Some services, like Printful, even offer a sample discount of up to 20% off or free shipping, so be sure to take advantage of that if it’s available.
Beyond ensuring product quality, samples are also good to have on hand for taking your own product photos for your website and social media profiles.
2. Be strategic about shipping
Even when you’re not shipping products yourself, shipping still offers some complexity in the form of shipping times and costs, and how to set the right expectations with customers. The best print-on-demand companies will be transparent about shipping and be proactive about sharing information on any potential delays.
You’ll want to be sure that you’re accounting for printing times when it comes to shipping. Whatever the shipping times are, be sure to add anywhere from two to four days for production, or more depending on the product.
Always be upfront about shipping times or you’ll wind up with a support inbox full of shipping questions. Outline what to expect on your FAQ page or consider creating a separate Shipping page to explain shipping to customers.
If you can, try to partially or fully absorb your shipping costs into your retail price. Year after year, studies show that surprise shipping costs added at checkout can deter customers from buying. On top of that, free shipping bolsters a number of your other marketing efforts:
- Free shipping is still a great sales sweetener, even if you can only offer it for specific regions, and provides customers with one more incentive to buy.
- Conditional free shipping (e.g., “Get free shipping when you spend $30 or more”) encourages customers to add more to their cart to reach the threshold and usually helps you achieve a better total shipping rate by shipping everything together.
- You can use free shipping to justify longer wait times. Many consumers will wait a bit longer for an order if they know it will save them money on shipping.
3. Create mockups that show off your products
While models can help you snap compelling photos of your products, mockups are also an effective alternative and will be a prominent part of your product pages.
Many print-on-demand services can help you create your own mockups, showing your products on a person or as a flatlay. But there are other services and plenty of free mockup templates that can also bring your products to life. We recommend using Canva mock ups
These mockups are what will sell your products to customers, so it can literally pay to go the extra mile. PlaceIt is an easy-to-use mockup generator that lets you create photo and video mockups for $8 each. Or, if you know the basics of Photoshop or other photo editing tools, you can browse Mockup World or Behance for templates.
4. Find your niche and build an audience
Since your margins will be a bit thinner with print-on-demand products, you’ll want to be strategic about how you position your brand. Having a clearly defined audience (e.g., dog owners) can actually help you lower the costs to acquire customers and maximize your potential profits because your targeting will be much more precise.
Having a niche makes it easier to grow an audience that becomes an asset. Some marketing tactics you can try right away include:
- Start an Instagram and/or Tiktok account and create/curate content to serve your target audience.
- Spend $5-$10 on Facebook ads (to start) to test your products with your target market.
- Collect emails from visitors so you can continue to market to them for free.
Growing an audience is a must for building a long-term business, print-on-demand or otherwise.
5. Create your own online store
If you’re getting into print-on-demand, you’ll come across different marketplaces to sell your custom designs on. For example, RedBubble and Zazzle offer POD services when you create a store on their platforms. People also sell custom products through Etsy, eBay, and Amazon.
These marketplaces do come with some benefits: Amazon alone has 300 million active customer accounts worldwide, putting more eyeballs on your products. Etsy has over 80 million active buyers. Zazzle has a good reputation, listing hundreds of millions of products since its founding in 2005.
When you build a branded storefront on top of an ecommerce platform like Shopify, you can control the experience: how your store looks and feels, how people interact with you, how they discover your brand. It also offers integrations with top POD services so everything happens from one dashboard. Not to mention the lower fees you’ll pay from owning your own store.
Part 7 - Design, test, sell, and grow
Print-on-demand services offer an accessible place to begin for new entrepreneurs or for anyone who just wants to test an idea before they invest in it. There are thousands of white label products out there that you can make your own, and no shortage of possible designs to pair with them.
Select combinations will inevitably sell better than the rest, but it’s relatively easy to repurpose the same core design for several products.
If your business idea pans out and you start generating a meaningful number of sales, you can always graduate from print-on-demand to holding your own inventory, or continue to use these services while finding new ways to grow your audience.
The greatest advantage of the print-on-demand model is the flexibility it affords your business and the time it gives you back to focus on growth.