With the growing spread of technology today, many companies have been quickly adapting to API printing because it is extremely fast and efficient. With API Printing you can skip having to invest a ton of money into an inventory and machines. By using API integration to streamline your printing, you will be able to please your customers and make easy money.

API Printing and How It Works

API stands for "Application Programming Interface". Web APIs are interfaces between different applications to receive or post data. If you are running an eCommerce store, instead of adding all the shipping prices and options in your database, you connect to the API of another website to get real-time pricing data. A webshop posts the financial data of the transaction to the payment provider which handles the payment of the customer. When payment is successful, the API sends back a response to the eCommerce store that the order can proceed. 

APIs enable applications to talk with each other and execute or trigger certain actions without the need to have access to the code or database of the service. 

Now, APIs are already widely used in eCommerce, shipping, payments, social applications around the world, and even global print on demand. 

By connecting your application, eCommerce platform, or enterprise systems to one Print On Demand (POD) Website API, you will have a global print and fulfillment network up and running in your application within days. This system is extremely useful if your store doesn’t have an integration already in place. You can avoid having to maintain an inventory or investing money in a warehouse. If you need custom prints, API printing is your most affordable and efficient choice. This is how it works:

  1. You sell your designs through your own website or app.
  2. The Print on demand web store prints and ships the products to your customers, white label
  3. Your customer receives the products white-label.
  4. You receive your profit.

The point of API is so businesses don’t have to waste time and money on manual labor. It is an automatic and quick way to transfer data from one source to another. Think of the print as a segment of codes that are sent from one database to another.

How Can Print API Integration Help Your Business?

Automated, Fast, and Efficient

API was specifically designed for businesses to save a ton of money and time. Not only is using API fast and efficient, but you will find it is a lot easier to manage than it sounds. 

We all know that Google wants the user to have the best experience and it's not just about having an API but a "properly designed API" that results in greater user experience. 

Through the ability to automate various processes at once, your customers will receive faster results. In fact, technology today is much faster and efficient than people, in terms that it is actually replacing manual labor. So, there will be less room for human error.

This is why API printing will be saving you a ton of money and time. With API printing, you or your customers can completely customize their store’s integration. API can allow you to create unique products that are suited to your image. So whatever you consider to be unique to your own product, API can deliver it. Most small businesses do not have the finance or resources to build their own API's so finding a solution for their company's needs that makes their orders seamless is a better, more affordable option. 

Perfect for B2B Businesses and Wholesale

B2B businesses, or wholesale businesses, need API printing for many reasons. Wholesale businesses distribute products and goods to retailers, institutions, professional business users, and commercial retailers. If you are a business that is sourcing materials for your production process, you need API printing.

Essentially it works as a drop shipping process, where you order or sell your designs through your own website or app, and the POD website that provides the API you connect with will process and fulfill your prints, and ship them to your customers. There is absolutely no need for stock when we print on demand. API printing is a solution for all developers because it creates an easy shop integration. 

Overall you will save a ton of money, avoid having to maintain and invest in a stock, and you can be entirely eCommerce-based without needing a warehouse, all while you keep your customers happy.

How To Choose a POD Supplier

When you decide to pursue a print provider for your eCommerce store API integration, you need to pick a print on demand supplier to fulfill the order. Choosing the right supplier is essential. Here are some quality POD options to consider:

  1. Printify

With Printify, eCommerce shop owners can sell products in their own store with their design ideas and have Printify print, package, and ship the finished product to customers throughout the world. Printify will take the process from the order placement and fulfill the customer’s order going forward. 

When you join Printify and use it in conjunction with your store, you’ll have access to a print provider network of businesses in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Canada. Printify works with many different companies around the world to ensure that your products are created right. 

Printify offers over 250 custom products, ranging from custom t-shirts to customized wall decor to notebooks. With so many products offered by Printify, you can create a wide array of customized items for your customers. 

  1. Printful

Printful makes it easy for you to sell customized products through your eCommerce website. You can choose from a large list of products that can easily be customized by Printful and offer these items created by Printful to your customers. 

With Printful, you can have custom printed clothing created as well as many different logo accessories, including posters, coffee mugs, backpacks, and blankets. Printful has a large inventory of customizable products and the tough decision will be narrowing down the Printful options to a smaller list of your favorites.  

Printful also integrates with many different eCommerce platforms, which helps to ensure that you can easily link to the services Printful provides. Some of the eCommerce platforms Printful can link to include Shopify, Wix, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento. If you use one of the platforms that Printful integrates with, you might find that Printful is the company for you. 

  1. CustomCat

Another well-known print on demand provider that you can join forces with to have your custom products printed and shipped is CustomCat.

With hundreds of customized products, you can decide what designs you want to add to the mix.

CustomCat offers quick, on-demand product fulfillment with no minimum order requirement.

With digital printing, embroidery, and dye-sublimation products, you can have your pick of CustomCat products.

Other benefits of CustomCAt include they ship to most places around the world, with the exception of the following countries: Cuba, Falkland Islands, Iran, North Korea, Somalia, & Sudan, the company has an easy-to-use platform. 

Printcart web-to-print solution and printing API integration

As an experienced software and website development company, we're focused on developing technologies that respond to our clients in the printing industry needs. We deliver custom-built eCommerce web to print solutions, API integrations, and all the eCommerce-related services that help your printing business to grow.

If your organization needs something unique we will help you plan, design, and develop any kind of software. As a result, you will see increased productivity and job quality in your company.

Here are some examples of printing API integration we have done so far. We connected our client websites with other Print on demand website APIs so that they could import the products and variations and also shipping fees and taxes. 

We recommend doing API integration from the beginning when you start building your website. As it will be used for import products, variations, shipping, taxes at the checkout stage. So it is good to have it from the beginning so you can add product and category and also make sure after the import later, it will not affect your UI. 

  1. Integrate Printful API

Because Printful is a well-known print on demand website, especially in Europe, there are many clients asking us about the API integration. This video shows you how to create a product from Printful and set up customized design with the Printcart. This is a customized function service. 

 

  1. Integrate 4over4 API

4over4 is one of our clients. They purchased our online designer software Printcart and requested to develop some new features to fit their printing business needs. 4over4 is a popular printing website in the USA. They offer a wide range of products to choose from and have printing and design experts reviewing your artwork before it goes to print. Some of our clients in the USA saw their website and want to do the API integration to import their products and variations and also shipping fees and taxes.

Some words from Printcart team

Now that you have a better understanding of what print on demand and print API integration is, you might be ready to start a business and start selling. Whether you’re a sole entrepreneur or have a company with many employees, setting up a web to print is a good option to consider. Now’s the time to get to work, start selling, and make some money!  You just do one simple Web to Print API integration, and you are directly connected to print partners around the world.

Lynn Jones

Shop Owner
Lynn Jone, Digital Marketer, copywriter, and avid fan of Technology!

One of my favorite quotes is: "Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value" - Albert Einstein.

I graduated from foreign trade university majoring in Economics. However, it took me 5 years to find my passion for Digital Marketing. With over 5-years research and over 3-years practical work experience, I am confident that I can easily what problems your website is facing and suggest the best solution for your business.

I used to be an accountant, a salesperson, a banker even a receptionist. However, I just feel to be myself when I choose to be a Marketer, especially an SEOer. I have spent a lot of time studying and learning about marketing tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Ahref, Alexa, Similar Web, ... In order to understand customer behavior as well as to make a website to be on the top rank on the search tool.

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So let’s explore the wide world of ever-increasing content, and investigate how you ensure your message is well delivered to your target customers.