Launching an online business might seem like an overwhelming endeavour. Where do you source products? Store them? What about shipping? Oh, and the startup costs… The fear of a risky upfront investment is enough to make any aspiring entrepreneur get a bad case of cold feet.
But what if we told you that you could start a business without spending a lot of money on
Sounds too good to be true, right? But we’re here to tell you: it’s not! With
This blog post covers the basics for starting out selling
What Is Print-on-Demand?
In a nutshell, here’s how it works:
- You come up with a design to print on your products.
- You set up an online store and connect it to a
print-on-demand service. - A customer places an order in your store.
- The
print-on-demand service prints your design on the item the customer ordered and ships it to them.
As you can see, you don’t have to deal with inventory or
The great thing about
You can choose products and upload your design on a
Pros and Cons of Having a Print-on-Demand Store
Not sure if a
Pros of having a
- Less stress: You don’t have to store and manage stock, package orders, deal with suppliers or shipping companies.
- Mostly
hands-off: Once you set up a store, you don’t have to invest a lot of time in keeping your business running. - No dead stock: As orders are printed after an order is placed, you don’t risk having a pile of dead stock (that you’ve already paid for!) lying around.
Cons of having a
- More expensive compared to buying items in bulk: Since products are made to order, your profit margins are lower.
- No control over packaging and shipping: Since you don’t manage shipping, it’s harder to customize your packaging and control the price of shipping, or how long it will take for your items to reach your customers.
- No personal oversight/quality control: You don’t see the product before it’s shipped to your customers. However, you can order test batches to check the quality of items offered by a
print-on-demand company before you commit to their services.
Is Print-on-Demand Right For You?
The specifics of a
- Beginners who would like to open an online store, but don’t have time to source products and deal with inventory and shipping.
- Influencers, artists, musicians, or anyone else with a following who want to sell their merchandise.
- People who’d like to sell their own designs or whose business model involves sourcing designs from other artists.
- Businesses and nonprofits that want to sell branded merchandise.
- Aspiring entrepreneurs that can’t afford to make risky investments up front.
- Businesses that want to test new products while staying on a budget.
Branded merchandise is a popular way to let your followers support you (Image: Pip The Beach Cat)
What Product You Can Sell in a Print-on-Demand Store
The most common products are:
- Clothes for adults and kids. For example,
t-shirts, shirts, hoodies, caps, leggings, etc. - Accessories such as tote bags, phone cases, umbrellas, jewelry, face masks, etc.
- Home decor, for instance, wall art, throw pillows, towels, stationery
- Drinkware, say coffee mugs and water bottles
- Product catalogs for mailing.
There are various products you can customize and sell
How to Set Up a Print-on-Demand Store
1. Choose What to Sell
The choice and the range of products depends on what kind of store you’re thinking of starting. For example, if you’re dreaming about designing your own apparel line, you can sell all kinds of clothes and accessories with various custom prints in your store.
2. Create Your Design
Design can be as simple or elaborate as you want. It can be a print, or a stylized tagline or slogan. It’s best to avoid using prints found online as you risk violating someone else’s copyright. Also because you want your product to be original.
You can create a unique print for your products, or hire a designer.
The first option is better if you have design skills or if you’re ready to edit
Some
Designing a backpack via Printful’s
Hiring a designer to create a custom print will likely cost you more than making it yourself or with a graphic design service. At the same time, it can help ensure you’ll get a quality print no matter how elaborate you want the design to be. To hire a freelance designer, you can always check out websites like Upwork or Dribble.
3. Set Up an Online Store
Now that you know what you’re going to sell, you need a place to sell it! Setting up an online store might sound like a challenge if you’ve never dealt with building a website and have zero coding experience. However, for the
When setting up your online store, make sure to provide relevant information about your brand, contact information, as well as Terms and Conditions, Return and Refund Policy. This way your new website will look more trustworthy to potential customers.
An example of a website you can quickly set up with Ecwid
More: How to Build an Ecommerce Website: The Easiest Way That Requires No Experience
4. Choose a Print-on-Demand Service and Connect it to your Store
To start selling
Here’s what you need to consider when choosing a
- Price. When comparing prices, make sure to check out any additional charges or hidden fees that might be in the mix (reviews are your friend!).
- Potential profit margin. A 10 to 20 percent profit margin is average for the
print-on-demand industry. Determine how much you are willing to charge your customers for custom products, and make sure that your cost of goods sold doesn’t compromise your ability to become profitable. - A range of customizable products. Each
print-on-demand company has a selection of items that you can customize with your designs. Make sure they offer the specific products you’d like to sell in your store. For example, if you want to sellt-shirts, don’t hire aprint-on-demand service that specializes in ceramics. - Multiple stores per account. If you’re going to have several stores (say, for different target audiences), look for services that allow you to have multiple stores managed by one account.
- Branding options. Find out if a supplier puts their brand on products or packaging before you commit to them. Check if there are any limitations in your branding options or designs.
- Seamless integration with a store. Choose a provider that integrates easily with your ecommerce platform.
- Fulfillment and shipping. To prevent customer complaints on delayed delivery, choose a
print-on-demand service that ships from the same country or geographical area that you want to sell in. Keep in mind that the further your items have to travel, the higher the shipping costs. - The merchant policies. Check how and when you get paid from sales fulfilled by the
print-on-demand service. Some of them don’t pay out until after their return period has ended, which could be up to a month.
We know you don’t want to offer bad quality items to your customers. That’s why it’s incredibly important to compare several services by ordering test batches. This way, you’ll be able to compare the quality of products and printing methods and choose the best service for your specific design needs.
After you decide on a service, it’s time to sync it to your online store. If you have an Ecwid store, you can easily connect it to Printful. This
Start Your Print-on-Demand Business Today
You might be interested in starting a brand new business, finding a new way to test new inventory for an existing store, or getting your company’s name out there with branded merchandise. No matter what you’re looking for,
So what do you have in mind for your store? Maybe you want customized
Share your ideas in our comment section. Or else you can use it to give advice to fellow merchants, or ask any questions about starting a
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