How to Pick Winning Personalized Products
Sometimes it seems like the print-on-demand (POD) market is becoming saturated, but new companies keep joining the throng – and hitting enviable revenue seams. And that keeps attracting more ambitious newcomers with an entrepreneurial spirit. After all, how hard can it be to find winning personalized products?
Well, that depends! To be sure of POD success, you need to hit upon the following:
- The right niche
- The right product
- The right marketing strategy
These three elements are all related. If the products you’re selling match your targeted niche’s needs, potential sales will be waiting for you. And if your marketing plan matches the products you’re selling, you should attract buyers to your store looking for those items.
In this article, we’ll focus on finding winning personalized products that sell reliably, and in high numbers. We’ll show you how to source items that appeal to your target audience and help you win profits.
Key takeaways
To choose print-on-demand personalized products that will sell well in your store…
- Consider your niche audience;
- Identify demand;
- Analyze the market offering;
- Set competitive prices;
- Add value to your offering to attract niche buyers.
How print-on-demand works
Print-on-demand is a business model for print products in which physical stock is produced only after a sale goes through. Often the seller won’t make the prints themselves but will collaborate with a POD partner who handles fulfillment (printing) and dropshipping (delivery direct to the buyer) on the seller’s behalf.
Tip: For a full, beginner-friendly business model overview, please see our short guide on how print-on-demand works.
A great advantage of working with a POD partner is that it reduces the risk of initial investments. The low overhead costs let you experiment with different products and designs without the financial burden associated with storage, industrial printers, and potential overproduction.
Another benefit of print-on-demand is that it enhances process automation. The biggest market players – such as merchOne – support integrations with all major marketplaces and can seamlessly integrate with your CRM system, too. That means you can focus on finding high-potential products and growing your business.
How to find winning personalized products
The ideal POD product should represent unique value to your niche and be designed to stand out. Therefore, it’s logical to start by researching your target audience. Learn about their values and priorities and observe their buying habits. These insights will help you choose personalized products that resonate with your target audience.
Tip: Check our article on how to find your POD niche for more details.
Once you’ve done your audience research, proceed with the following three practical steps:
Identify demand
Will people buy your product? You don’t want to invest time and effort into a product few people want. So how exactly can you measure demand? Most businesses use a combination of the following three methods:
- Ask your target audience – get direct feedback from those you want to sell to.
- Check trends – use Google Trends or other tools to see what’s driving sales.
- Test the market – launch a product and see how it goes.
When analyzing trends, check the “related topics” and “related queries” sections and look for opportunities related to your niche. For instance, when searching for “custom mug”, you may notice that “pet accessories” is gaining popularity. Would your target audience buy something that combines both trends? Test out potential ideas, like this:
- Custom mug with name of buyer’s pet
- Custom mug with name and picture of buyer’s pet
- Custom mug with a funny quote about pets and a picture
You may notice “magic custom photo color changing coffee mug” in the “related queries” section. This search query has the word “breakout” next to it, meaning the search volume has grown by over 5,000%. Now that’s something worth looking into!
Analyze the market
Competitive analysis builds business acumen. Once you’re informed about what companies like yours are focusing on, you’ll better understand the market, helping you notice potential product opportunities. If other businesses sell thermochromic “magic” mugs, for example, there’s a market for the product so that you could profit from it too.
Note: Needless to say, competitive analysis shouldn’t lead you to copy your competition’s designs. That would be copyright infringement, and would make you liable for legal action. The idea is to find sources of inspiration so that you can create unique designs aligned with your brand identity and catering to your specific audience.
Consider profit margins
The price of any new product needs to be set at an attractive and competitive level. In other words, the item’s value to your buyers must outweigh its price – and outweigh it to a degree that gives you the edge over your competitors.
Running a simple search for “magic custom photo color changing coffee mug” on Amazon reveals that these products sell for around EUR 18.50 apiece.
Source: Amazon
merchOne currently sells magic mugs at EUR 6.30. So, if you can sell at the market price, you could see a profit margin of 65.95%.
Here’s how we reached that figure:
| Magic mug cost on merchOne: Revenue: Profit: Profit Margin: | EUR 6.30 EUR 18.50 EUR 12.20 65.95% |
* All figures were up to date at the time this article was written but are subject to change. Please note that your profit margin may be lower on account of taxes.
It can be helpful to get an estimate of your competitors’ total sales. One way to get a ballpark figure for the product you’re interested in is to check the customer review count on a platform such as Shopify or Amazon. That will give you a rough indication of the number of orders that have gone through.
Note: Your POD products are much more likely to be successful if they have a USP (unique selling point), i.e., a feature that gives you an advantage over your competitors. USPs come in a variety of forms – your products could feature prints designed by a recognized graphic designer, or you could provide free shipping – but note that they are likely to increase your costs and, therefore, decrease the profit margin of your product.
Trending personalized products
A popular question in the industry is whether any products with universal appeal will sell in decent quantities no matter what. Well, no product comes with a guarantee of sales, of course – but some categories of items are trending right now.
According to Grandview research, four main categories of products enjoyed success in 2021: apparel, home décor, drinkware, and accessories. Indeed, all these categories have been selling well for years now.
Customization is a feature that reliably sets you apart from your competitors in the printing sector. Indeed, experts believe that it will increasingly be viewed as a standard feature of print-on-demand products. Many vendors already use a strategy to find a product that’s selling well and then customize it to suit a particular niche.
Note: Some products may sell in large numbers only under certain market conditions. The obvious example here is custom face masks sold in extraordinary numbers during the pandemic. Other items, such as mugs and hoodies, might be more popular during the cold season. So you need to factor in seasonal, social, and other aspects when estimating how successful a product will be.
Things to consider when choosing a personalized product
There are many variables to consider in product sourcing, with decisions to make every step of the way. If you want to play it safe, your product needs to:
- Already have had a good market response
- Solve a specific problem
- Be lightweight and durable for shipping
- Be intuitive to use
Remember that demand can’t easily be manufactured. If consumers don’t already want a certain item, there’s little chance of you getting them to buy it, no matter how appealing it may seem to you personally. So the safe bet is choosing a product with reliable demand.
Ensure your items can be shipped safely, as fragile products will lead to breakages during delivery, earning you negative reviews.
Once your product reaches the buyer, you need to make sure they can use it correctly. Including clear instructions and offering after-sales support will help here.
A good product alone isn’t enough to guarantee sales. You need to target a specific niche and develop an effective marketing strategy.
Tip: Keep an eye on emerging trends in your niche. The simplest way is to observe what your niche audience is talking about and how they react to viral products and general market trends. A weekly routine check of social media platforms and forums should keep you in the loop about what your potential customers are driven by. Consult exploding topics for more general data.
Summing up
When choosing a product, choose something that will serve your niche market. The products you choose should reflect what your target audience is willing to buy – and in quantities big enough to make the addition worthwhile.
Rather than simply following high sales figures, think about the reasons why your niche market is drawn to certain items. Once you understand how they think, you’ll be able to identify products that offer value to them.
