On average, e-commerce entrepreneurs take in $101,446 a year, which is nothing to sneeze at. This might have piqued your interest, but of course, to make that kind of money, you need to pick something that’s not only popular, but something that you’re good at too.
One great option is print-on-demand products, especially if you’re artistic. What is this, and how does it work? And more importantly, how can you dabble in this industry?
Read on to find out more about all of the above, especially how to start a print-on-demand business.
What Is Print on Demand?
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process that only prints items after orders are received. Products can include books, posters, clothing, mugs, and more. This approach is different from traditional printing methods since typically, you’d print large quantities of items in advance, store them, and then try to sell them.
POD is advantageous in several ways; the largest benefit is that it’s cost-effective and reduces the need for large upfront investments in inventory. This also means that there’s minimal waste since you produce only what’s needed. In addition, there’s flexibility for customization and updates to designs or content with minimal cost.
All in all, POD enables small businesses and individual creators to sell products without significant financial risk. So if you want to do e-commerce without fear of losing tons of money, then this is a great option!
How Does Print on Demand Work?
First, you need a design or book content, which you can either do yourself or outsource to someone else. Next, you’d upload the design or content to a POD platform, such as Amazon KDP, Teespring, or Printful.
If someone places an order, then the POD service prints the item, but only after a successful order goes through. The printed item is then shipped directly to the customer.
How to Start a Print-on-Demand Business
After understanding how a print-on-demand business works, do you want to start one? Then here are the steps to follow.
Choose Your Niche
As you can see in the sections above, there are so many ways you can break into the print-on-demand industry. Not only does this mean that there are plenty of options, but it also means that you’re bound to be drawn to at least one particular area.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your choices, then identify your interests. That’s a good place to start since you’ll be invested in creating products.
From there, you can determine if there’s a potential customer base by researching marketing demand. You can use tools like Google Trends, keyword research, and competitor analysis to gauge interest.
Create a Business Plan
Knowing which niche you want to be in will help immensely with your business plan. Here, you’ll set clear business objectives and goals based on what you want to sell.
You can also do smart financial planning. Estimate initial costs, pricing strategies, and revenue projections to see if this is something feasible.
If so, then come up with a marketing strategy. After all, people won’t know about your fantastic service and products unless you tell them about your business. So plan how you’ll promote it, such as through social media, search engine optimization (SEO), and/or paid ads.
Design Your Products
Brainstorm about what designs you want for your print-on-demand business. If you’ve got the skills and experience, then you can design them yourself using tools like Adobe Illustrator.
Otherwise, you can hire a freelance designer from platforms like Fiverr or Upwork. This may cost more money, but it can save you time and energy, especially if you don’t have graphic design experience.
Whichever route you choose, do mockups before finalizing your designs. Use sites like Placeit or Canva to create realistic product mockups so you know how things look. You can then tweak your designs accordingly.
Set Up Your Online Store
Many people set up an Etsy print-on-demand store, so that’s a very easy path to choose too. But know that you have other e-commerce platform options, such as Shopify and WooCommerce. Again, browse through their sites to decide what feels right for you.
If going away from a site like Etsy and doing your own online store, you should also purchase a custom domain. That will make your store look professional.
While setting up the store itself, make an appealing and user-friendly store layout with easy navigation. That way, users won’t get frustrated and click off when they can’t find what they like, add to their cart, and check out.
Lastly, while it’s not necessary, you should set up an official business as well. This will add to your professional appearance, and it might be just what convinces customers to choose you above your competition.
And if you need help, use our business registration service. Our base package is completely free, and you can add extra services for a custom experience. We’ll have your LLC or corporation up in no time flat.
Choose a Print-on-Demand Platform
Earlier, we mentioned Amazon KDP, Teespring, and Printful as popular POD platforms; another one is Redbubble. It’s really up to you to browse each website and see which one speaks to you and your business style.
Do note that one thing you must watch out for is that your chosen platform integrates with your e-commerce store. Otherwise, things can get messy.
List Your Products
Your product listings must be compelling or you won’t attract any interested buyers. So put some thought into them; you can even consider hiring a freelance copywriter to create snappy copy for your listings. Plus, they’ll know how to use the right keywords to increase organic traffic.
In addition, attach high-quality pictures to your product listings. If they’re blurry and dark, users won’t have a good idea of what you’re selling, and they won’t care to find out more, much less make a purchase. You should also organize your products into categories and use tags to make them easily searchable.
Last, but not least, set appropriate prices. In your market research, you should’ve found out what your competitors are charging. You can then set your prices a little lower to attract buyers.
Set Up Payment and Shipping
Your customers will want a secure way to pay for your products, so don’t just pick any payment gateway. Do your due diligence and integrate secure ones like PayPal, Stripe, or Shopify Payments.
Plus, they’ll want easy, fast, and reliable shipping options. Make sure to configure shipping settings based on your POD provider’s capabilities and policies.
Launch and Market Your Store
Once your store goes live, it’s time to go hard on the marketing. Follow the plan you’ve outlined earlier, such as promoting your products on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. You should also build an email list and send regular updates and promotions to keep people interested.
In addition, you might’ve already optimized your product listings, but go a step further. Write blog posts with natural keywords sprinkled throughout to get organic traffic through search engines.
To boost your organic efforts, you can consider paid advertising too. For instance, you can run ads on Google, Facebook, or Instagram to drive traffic.
Get Into On-Demand Printing Now
Now that you know how to start a print-on-demand business, you might’ve realized it’s perfected for you. This is especially true if you’re driven and have a creative mindset.
Not only are there several niches you can get into, but you can also come up with your own designs or hire someone else to do it. With so many choices available to you, it should be a relatively easy and even fun process to get into printing on demand.
Sign up with Business Anywhere if you’d like to start an LLC for your print-on-demand business. We can set you up for FREE (just pay your state fees!). We can also provide you with a virtual mailbox.
