Your Guide to Starting a Print-on-Demand Business
Have you considered starting a print-on-demand business? Why wouldn’t you? According to Precedence Research, the global print-on-demand market is estimated to grow to $67.59 billion by 2032. Personalized products are becoming the norm, partly due to their availability and partly because of their emotional value. Ordered for personal use or as a gift, custom products are everywhere around us and can also be a lucrative business for entrepreneurs worldwide. Let’s see what it takes to open an online store and sell personalized products on demand.
What is print-on-demand?
Print-on-demand (POD) is a business model that allows you to sell custom products without the hassle of managing inventory and shipping. All you have to do is create designs, add custom products to your online store, and manage sales.
This form of dropshipping is convenient, as you partner up with a prin supplier who handles printing and shipping on your behalf. This print-on-demand company will only proceed to fulfill an order after it’s placed and paid for, thus eliminating the risk of overstocking.
Selling custom products can be a lucrative business, even for novice entrepreneurs. Many emerging companies quickly find what works best for them and have good profit margins with a minimal initial investment.
The benefits and disadvantages of starting a print-on-demand business
Like any other type of business, a print-on-demand store has pros and cons. As an entrepreneur, you want to know the good, the bad, and the grey areas before selling custom products under your own brand.
Benefits
Entrepreneurs often say that a print-on-demand business is easy to start and manage. Some of the most notable advantages of starting a POD store include the following:
- Low start-up costs: Outsourcing production and shipping to a third-party supplier significantly lowers the initial investment for your business. You don’t need to worry about the cost of renting and managing a warehouse, buying expensive printing machines and high-quality consumables, or looking for the best deals with a shipping carrier.
- Product diversity: Since you don’t have thousands of items in stock, you can quickly replace the products that don’t sell well with print-on-demand products that your niche will love.
- Easy to scale: Once you have a good strategy that works well, you can quickly scale your business by increasing the average order value and expanding your client base. Your print supplier needs to worry about managing large-volume orders on time.
- International sales channels: Most print fulfillment companies open opportunities for a global reach, enabling you to sell custom prints in a wide range of countries, from the US to Europe and Asia.
Disadvantages
While starting a print-on-demand business is relatively easy, the model isn’t ideal and not for everybody. Some of the cons include the following:
- Limited product range: While you can easily diversify your product portfolio, your options are limited to the ones provided by your on-demand service supplier.
- Lower profit margins compared to in-house production. Your print supplier buys their raw materials in bulk at a lower cost, then adds up to the product price to make up for their investment.
- Limited control over quality: Some fulfillment companies outsource their production to local partners. In this case, the highest risk is the product quality, which may vary across different production facilities. Your customers will expect consistency, which is hard to vouch for when you cannot control production.
When deciding whether print-on-demand is the right choice for your next business, factor in both the opportunities and limitations from the point of view of your target audience. What you consider a disadvantage may not matter to the end customer and the other way around.
What are the steps to starting a print-on-demand business?
The exact steps to starting your print-on-demand company may vary depending on your background, vision, and possibilities. A novice entrepreneur’s path will differ from the roadmap of an experienced business person.
1. Find your niche market
Not only is this step critical in your journey, but it is one of the most challenging ones. Simply put, a niche is a specific group with a common interest. The narrower the niche, the easier it is to analyze and understand its potential.
So the best approach is to start with a narrow niche you will eventually expand on. The fastest way to validate your business ideas is to start with a niche you know very well, such as a hobby that you’re passionate about. For instance, if you’re a biker, you can sell T-shirts personalized to a community of bikers.
Being a trusted member of such a group would play to your advantage when testing ideas and getting honest feedback. On top of that, endorsement from the people you trust will help you gain visibility.
Read more: How to find your print-on-demand niche
2. Decide on the first products to sell
When you start selling custom products, having a few items in a limited number of variants is a good practice. For instance, you can have three sizes of black and white T-shirts and hoodies. A common mistake is adding many products in a wide variety of colors and sizes. That can cause analysis paralysis and leave your customers undecided.
Of course, you will want to expand your product range in time and add more choices once you understand what sells well. The beauty of print on demand is that you can adjust the available product to any niche. That’s why everyday items such as T-shirts and mugs keep selling well. What will make customers buy these products from your website or e-commerce store?
The answer is outstanding designs. And that doesn’t necessarily mean they have to be overly complicated. Sometimes a witty quote in a font that is easy to read works perfectly. See below an example of a funny tee that recorded 6,000 sales in one month.
If you have access to a few members from your target community, you can run a quick survey to help you decide on the right products to start with. One of the questions worth answering at this stage is whether your niche is after high-quality products or whether they would compromise on quality for a better price. Another good question to ask is what their favorite e-commerce platform or marketplace is. The data will be enough to tailor your offering to what your audience wants.
Tip: Test the products you want to sell by ordering samples from several print-on-demand companies. Use them for a few days, take high-quality product pictures, and expose them to high temperatures to see how the print and the material are affected. That way, you can advise your customers on properly using their custom products and quickly handle complaints.
Read more: How to pick winning personalized products
3. Find a fulfillment partner for your online business
If you don’t want to have your own on-demand printing production site, you will need to pick a custom print provider who will fulfill your customers’ orders. There is a plethora of print-on-demand sites out there advertising their services. When comparing your options, it’s a good idea to pay attention to the following criteria:
- the range of products in their portfolio
- the quality and price of the materials used
- the print quality of the materials
- the ink used, especially if your target niche is into environmentally-friendly products
- how easy it is to create custom products on their platform
- how competitive their shipping costs are
- their time in business and rating
A side-by-side comparison of three to five print-on-demand businesses and testing a few products your potential customers are interested in should help you decide on the best print provider for your online store.
4. Create your online store
When you start your business in the print-on-demand sector, you may not know where to open your first store. On the one hand, the POD business model is incredibly popular; on the other hand, too many options can be confusing. So we’ll reduce them to two main choices which do not exclude each other.
If you have the resources, having your website gives you the best long-term value, provides advanced control over your data, and streamlines your marketing efforts. You have absolute freedom in design and customization, so you can craft a store that appeals to your target market. Also, you have more control over prices since you don’t have to pay a fee for using the platform. However, everything comes at a cost, and building and managing a website from scratch may be costly.
If you are not ready to have a website, consider creating a store on one of the marketplaces or e-commerce platforms available. Amazon gathers the largest number of visitors – around two billion a day. Such platforms are convenient to users due to their immense product range, where customers can buy everything they need. However, gaining exposure as a new store may be challenging, especially if you don’t yet have a client base. E-commerce platforms like Shopify are more beginner-friendly and often preferred by new shop owners looking for cost-effective options.
5. Set up your strategies and start selling
Once you have completed the previous steps and made the choices that best suit your business, it’s tempting to start selling immediately. However, your patience will be rewarded if you take one more step – defining your strategies. Careful planning will not only facilitate execution but also eliminate a great deal of the guesswork. So instead of simply enjoying the thrill of making sales, you will also be able to identify customer behavior patterns and seasonality factors, empowering you to replicate your success.
You need to define a comprehensive sales, pricing, and marketing strategy to begin with. Your sales strategy should identify your potential customers and help them move along your sales funnel until they make a purchase and beyond that point.
Your pricing strategy is vital to your business. In a highly competitive market, you need to factor in how much you owe to the print-on-demand services that fulfill your orders and how much you are left with after tax, then come up with prices that are appealing to consumers and, the same time, maintain healthy profit margins for your store.
Your marketing strategy should detail where and how you promote your business, leverage paid advertising to attract quality leads from various social media channels, and how email campaigns can help drive more sales. Another important strategy is search engine optimization (SEO), which is critical for your website.
It’s important to note that your strategies are not set in stone and should be regularly evaluated and readjusted as needed for better performance.
Summing up
The print-on-demand business model can be a wonderful opportunity for entrepreneurs considering starting a business with low investment costs and potentially reaching high profits. The main steps in opening a store include finding the right niche and products, partnering with a print-on-demand service provider, and setting up the main strategies. You can run your business from your own website, an e-commerce platform, or a marketplace. While POD is still profitable to some entrepreneurs, you need to weigh the pros and cons and see if it fits your vision.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
Is it worth creating my store as a separate website?
Your options are selling through your website, via marketplaces or e-commerce stores, or combining the two. The latter option is often recommended in the industry to maximize sales, as each customer has their favorite shopping platform. One or two marketplaces, e-commerce stores, and your website will typically be more than enough.
Do I have to create my designs if I start a print-on-demand business?
No, it’s not mandatory to create your designs. You can hire a professional designer part-time, freelance, or full-time. Alternatively, you can purchase ready-made graphic elements under a commercial license.
What is the difference between print-on-demand and dropshipping?
Print on demand is a form of dropshipping that empowers you to outsource product fulfillment to a third-party POD business, also called a print supplier or print fulfiller.
Is print-on-demand profitable in 2023?
Yes, the print-on-demand industry is still profitable. Of course, you need to spot the right niche, sell products tailored to your target market, and have solid strategies in place for your store.
