Would you like to sell products via dropshipping, and do you have some knowledge of graphic design and marketing? Print on demand (pod) may be of interest to you. This type of dropshipping lets you develop your image as a designer by personalizing the products you sell with your own creations. In this way, you sell unique items and stand out from the competition! Today, we focus on the print on demand market!
Print on demand (POD) and dropshipping
Print on demand (POD) is part of the dropshipping e-commerce model. You can sell your products without having to buy and store them in advance, and your suppliers take care of shipping to your customers on your behalf. What’s special about print on demand is that you can print your designs on a whole range of products, including textiles, stationery and accessories (phone covers, mugs, etc.), and then sell them via dropshipping.
With no inventory or logistics to manage, your sole mission will be to promote your product catalog and, by extension, your image as a designer. Print-on-demand offers a number of advantages:
- Fast, personalized creation of new products;
- No logistics to manage, no stock;
- Automated order management;
- Inexpensive solutions to develop your business.
Beware, however, that the same risks apply to dropshipping and print-on-demand e-commerce. Even if you delegate logistics to your supplier, you’ll still have obligations towards your end customers, such as meeting the delivery deadlines advertised on your store. You’ll also be dependent on your suppliers for after-sales service, which can be complex if they’re not based in Europe and have long delivery times. You also need to pay attention to the quality of your suppliers’ printing materials, as your image as a seller is at stake if the printing is of poor quality.
Make sure you know what you’re doing before taking the plunge into print on demand (POD)
Choose the right training
Before you launch your print on demand business, it may be worthwhile for you to upgrade your skills in the field, for example, in how to promote your products.
To develop your print-on-demand business, you’ll need a wide range of digital marketing skills, such as design creation, branding, e-commerce store management, SEO, social networking, and so on.
Being an entrepreneur is a profession in its own right, requiring a broad knowledge of business management, commerce and marketing, legal affairs, taxation, accounting and so on. Taking the time to train yourself in all these areas can save you time in the long run, and help you meet the legal obligations associated with your business.
You can self-train on these subjects thanks to all the freely available resources, such as videos on Youtube or free training courses. You also have the option of paying for training on generalist platforms such as Udemy, Openclassroom or more specialized platforms like Dougs Academy.
What legal status should I choose for my print on demand business?
To open an online shop, you first need to create a legal structure. All legal forms are suitable, including :
- Micro-business (auto-entrepreneur legal status);
- Sole proprietorship (EI, ex EIRL);
- Single-member companies (SASU or EURL)
- multi-partner companies (SARL or SAS).
It all depends on your sales and personal situation
How to make print on demand (pod)
Ready to get started with print on demand? Just be patient… Here are the 3 main steps you need to take before starting your business!
Step 1: what type of products should you sell in print on demand (t-shirts, caps, etc.)?
This is the big question you need to ask yourself, and it’s going to be crucial in the development of your print on demand business.
Before you know which products to sell on your e-commerce store, you’ll need to define a target audience. Ideally, it’s best to choose a well-defined customer niche as your target audience, as you’ll generally have less competition. Next, you’ll need to identify the products that work best and develop a brand identity based on your sales targets and objectives.
Keep in mind that your customer niche will be the guiding thread in the development of your print on demand business, as it will help you choose the products to sell on your online store. A customer niche, in other words, is a specialized market with a specific target. For example, for the mug market, a product niche might be “mugs with animal illustrations”, or if you’re focusing on a particular subject, “all products with animal illustrations”.
Let’s face it, you won’t be able to please everyone from the outset, and you’ll need to focus on a specific offer for your target audience. This is one of the most important parts of print on demand, requiring the most strategic analysis.
Secondly, identify your competitors and their strategies. Need inspiration for your customer and product niches? Take a look at what your competitors are offering, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and what their customer niches are. Ideally, you should choose a niche where the competition is not too great. Conversely, beware of niches where no competitors are present, as this can generally mean that the niche is not very profitable.
Among the most popular print-on-demand products you’ll find the classics:
- T-shirts ;
- Mugs;
- Hoodies and sweatshirts;
- Phone covers ;
- Napkins ;
- Bags ;
- Caps ;
- Water bottles ;
- Etc.
In addition to choosing the products you want to sell in print on demand, you’ll be able to stand out from your competitors and reach your target audience with your unique designs.
Step 2: Find the supplier best suited to your needs
The second essential step is to find your print on demand supplier!
Finding the right supplier will also be crucial to the development of your business, particularly in terms of product quality and customer satisfaction. You’ll be closely linked to your suppliers for the after-sales aspect of your business. So choose your supplier as a trusted partner with whom you share common interests.
So how do you find the right one?
There are 2 ways to choose your supplier, depending on your sales channel. You can either create your own dropshipping online store with tools like Shopify and specialized print on demand apps, or you can go through a print on demand marketplace like Merch by Amazon or Spreadshirt. You can also combine the two! We’ll come back to this point in the next step.
Certain selection criteria are essential if you are to choose the right suppliers to meet your customers’ needs.
A supplier with warehousing facilities in Europe or France, for example, will generally offer shorter delivery times than one who stocks his goods in Asia.
Generally speaking, suppliers who specialize in a particular type of product will offer better quality products than generalists.
To help you choose, the best thing to do is to make an analysis of all the suppliers that could meet your needs and select the best one.
To give you a few examples of print on demand suppliers with warehouses located in Europe:
- Printful ;
- Printify ;
- Spreadshirt ;
- Redbubble;
- Merch by Amazon ;
- Gooten.
Some of these suppliers, like Amazon, also have a strong international presence, which can be a real advantage if you want to do print on demand internationally.
And for suppliers located exclusively in France, here are a few examples:
- Tunetoo ;
- T-Pop ;
- Dropshipprint ;
- Waaflow.
Step 3: Which is the best site for print on demand?
Have you figured out which products to sell and which suppliers to choose? Congratulations! You’ll soon be able to start selling your products, but to do so you’ll need a store.
There are 2 ways to sell your print on demand products. You can create your own online store using tools like Shopify or Woocommerce, or you can use a marketplace offering print on demand services. You can also combine the two to multiply your sales channels and reach different audiences.
Solutions for creating your print on demand e-commerce store (Shopify, Woocommerce, etc.)
The first option is to create your own dropshipping print on demand store. This solution will generally cost you less than a marketplace that takes a commission on your sales or charges you a service fee. But you’ll incur higher costs for digital marketing (SEO, social networking, site management, etc.) and, more generally, for promoting your products.
To create your own print on demand store, a number of tools exist to simplify the task. These are called CMS, or content management systems.
One of the leading CMS is Shopify, which lets you create your own e-commerce store with very little computer knowledge. What’s more, it can easily interconnect with other applications, notably print-on-demand applications such as Printful or Printify APIs. In concrete terms, with such integrations you can link your customer orders directly to your supplier orders.
There are also alternatives to Shopify for managing your print on demand store. To name but a few:
- WordPress with Woocommerce
- Prestashop
- Wix
- Magento (will require more IT knowledge)
Creating your own store will obviously have a price tag, which will vary according to the CMS you choose.
Using a marketplace to sell print on demand (Merch by Amazon, Redbubble, etc.)
The other solution for selling your products on print on demand is to use a marketplace. There are two ways to sell via a marketplace.
The first is to use the print on demand services of marketplaces such as Merch by Amazon, Redbubble or Spreadshort. The transaction is managed from start to finish by the marketplace, from sourcing your products and printing your designs, to payment and dispatch of your goods to the end-buyer. No need to turn to a third-party supplier!
Please note that not everyone can register with Merch by Amazon. The platform will review your registration before accepting or rejecting it. You will then be integrated into a sales system with different levels depending on your performance as a seller. In other words, depending on your performance, you will be limited to a certain number of designs per day, which you can present on the platform. There are also other conditions for selling with Merch by Amazon. To find out more, read our article on Amazon print on demand.
The second option is to sell on a marketplace without using their print-on-demand services, and therefore keep a third-party supplier. This gives you greater freedom to set your own objectives, while benefiting from the audience of the biggest marketplaces. In concrete terms, this means creating a seller account on a marketplace to list your products and place your purchase orders with print on demand suppliers such as Printify, Printful, T-pop, Gooten, Tunetoo, etc. Creating a professional seller account on a marketplace comes at a price, of course. Amazon, for example, charges €39 ex VAT per month in 2022.
The big plus if you sell via marketplaces is that you’ll benefit from their traffic and therefore reduce your digital marketing costs. For a giant like Amazon, the colossal traffic it generates can be a real springboard for your sales, provided you have prepared your targeting well and selected your flagship products.
There are other marketplaces with less traffic, but sometimes better qualified, depending on your target audience. You’ll find marketplaces that specialize in different fields, such as Spreadshirt, which focuses more on clothing sales. These types of marketplaces can help you reach some of your customer niches more easily.
You can also choose both methods and sell on both a marketplace and your own print-on-demand store! This way you can diversify your sales channels and reach different audiences for different products.
Now that you know how to get started, all you have to do is choose. Are you ready to get started with print on demand and sell your creations?