What is Print on demand?

• You want to sell your design products, but you don't want to print them yourself and you don't have the money to buy a large number of screen printing products.
• You want to sell your product through your own brand 'store, instead of sending customers to another website to make a purchase.
• You want to sell your product through a market like Amazon or Etsy, but not pre-purchase inventory.

Using a Print-on-demand fulfillment company allows you to do all of the above – because by using them you can offer products for sale that don’t physically exist yet – and to do it with little to no upfront investment. More specifically, Print on Demand is an e-commerce business model that allows participants to print printing products according to the design and number of customers required. With print on demand, you don't keep any physical inventory. Typically, the printing company will handle the completion and delivery for you, so the store owner doesn't have an upfront inventory investment and fees that come from management and storage.

Every supplier will offer you a base cost including production and delivery costs. You design content, upload, rate and sell your custom products on e-commerce platforms. The difference between the basic price and the selling price is the profit you receive. From there, help you make sales campaigns more effective. Print on demand products is quite diverse, such as T-shirts, hoodie, tote bags, porcelain mugs, phone cases, hats, leggings, ...

The business model with Print on demand

Step 1: Set up shop

Depending on the e-commerce platform you choose, you can do either of the following:

· Firstly, integrate with existing stores: You can build your online store with e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce, and Esty. If you have had an online store before, you can integrate the store with the POD platform.

· Secondly, take advantage of POD platforms: If you don't have your own e-commerce website, you can sell on POD platforms like Zazzle and Redbubble. These POD brokers will let you create an account and post products on their platform. If there are orders, they will help you complete them then send them.

Step 2: Post the design and select the type of product

After you've set up your store, you need to post the design and select the type of product.

Step 3: Sell products

After your store is launched to the public, you should implement marketing strategies to pull traffic to your website. If you sell on PODs, most of these e-commerce platforms will do it for you. In general, in any case, your purpose is to attract the attention of your visitors and make them potential customers willing to buy your product.

Step 4: Complete the order

When an order is made, the third party is the supplier/manufacturer to whom you have previously signed a contract that will print, pack and deliver the product to your customers. When the order is delivered successfully, you will receive your money.

Pros and cons of on-demand printing

Pros:

• You do not need to print anything in bulk. In POD, the emphasis is on the part required by the user - the printer will print the product only after it has been ordered. This means you don't have to gamble with your own money - you won't have a huge stock of T-shirts with a design that doesn't sell as well as you would like.
• You do not need to buy a printer yourself. Your POD partner takes care of all the technical parts of the printing process - you don't need to buy any printers, which can be very expensive. And you don't need to learn how to print a product.
• You can experiment with designs easily. POD also allows you to take more risks with the designs you provide - you can find something more unusual and see if your customers dig new things. Because the products are printed on-demand, you end up not investing heavily in something that may not be marketable. If a design is not as popular as you want, you can easily remove it from your store.
• It's easy to customize your design. You can offer more customization options to your customers - for example, your customers can incorporate something unique to them, like their names. With POD, you can only print one T-shirt and you won't be stuck with a bunch of shirts with someone's name.

Cons:

• You lose control of the process of completion and product quality. As with drop shipping, POD means you don't see each product, so you only need to rely on the printer to do your job properly. This is why it is important to check your products before you start selling to see what they look like.
• You depend on your printing partner for products and their availability. POD companies work with different suppliers to source products. This means that there are many moving parts, and sometimes products may be out of stock or not available.
• Order fulfillment takes longer. Because each product is printed on-demand, it will take longer to execute orders if you already have the order. Our average order processing time is 3 days and shipping time is above all. As a store owner, you must manage customer expectations - let them know that each product is printed on demand and this will take a little longer than sending a done product.
• Return management may require more attention. Therefore, make sure you set up a financially reasonable return policy for you and ideally go with your POD partner's policy.

Business potential print on demand

The business of on-demand printing has increasingly attracted much attention as well as investment from online money-making circles. Not only is this model rich in potential because it is new, but it is also very diverse as well as flexible for investors.

With the business of on-demand printing, you can test new business ideas or product lines. Because you do not need to store inventory or the cost of buying machinery, the risk of this type of business is significantly reduced. From there you can be more comfortable in realizing new ideas. Serving a minority group of customers with high and loyal needs is especially important for businesses amid today's tough market competition. In particular, you can also create products with a limited edition to give to a group or a loved one.

I hope that through this article, you will understand more about printing on demand. Start your print on demand business and create your own success story. If you have any additional questions about print on demand or e-commerce in general, please contact us in the comments or support team, we will be happy to help. Remembering to use coupon code MAR_DL to get 18% discount for this item. 

View more: How To Start Your Own Print On Demand Business On ECommerce Website?

Sam Helen

Developer

Hi there! I’m Sam Halen, a software testing officer at NetbaseJSC.
My major is Management Information Systems at Netbase. From 2015-2020, I participated in e-commerce projects on WordPress, Magento and my position as a tester. Have background knowledge about Database, SQL, web programming.

Currently, I am also working as a product researcher and developer. I research products, processes, and services, and then apply that knowledge to create new products, processes, and services. I always try to analyze the data to give the most comprehensive ideas to users. Through these articles, I hope to help customers reach and use our products most effectively.

I care about how to test better and how to help people better understand our products. If you have any questions about the product or you have some ideas or tips to share with us, just put it in the comment box! We will support you to bring a great experience when you use our products.

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