In today’s world of e-commerce, consumers are looking for unique products that meet their personal tastes and express their special interests. But satisfying these desires at reasonable costs is not always available in traditional stores. Here comes the role of “Print on Demand – POD”, which represents a revolution in e-commerce.
Thanks to this method, anyone can turn their ideas and designs into products ready for sale without the need for prior inventory or complex processes.
In this article, we’ll give you a comprehensive guide on how to get started in the print on demand business, the tools you’ll need, and the most popular products in this growing market.
Whether you want to turn your passion for design into a source of income, or are looking for an innovative way to start a business at the lowest costs, this article will put you on the right path to achieving that.
What is print on demand?
Print on Demand (POD), or as it is known in English, Print on Demand (POD), is a modern model in e-commerce that allows you to turn your own designs into actual products that are sold online without the need for storage or prior production.
Simply put, you focus on creating the designs and running the store, while the intermediary partner handles the printing and shipping once the customer completes the purchase.
This model is very similar to the concept of dropshipping, where you don’t have to go to the expense or hassle of storing or shipping the products yourself. The difference here is that you provide added value through premium designs that are only printed when ordered, allowing you to run your project efficiently and smoothly.
The advantage of this model is that it enables you to generate passive income, as the design you create can generate continuous profits for you as long as your store is active and receiving orders.
Success in print on demand depends primarily on your comprehensive understanding of the nature of this business and your target group of customers, and then providing innovative products and customizing effective marketing strategies to reach your ideal audience.
Is print on demand profitable?
The answer here depends largely on you, as based on your efforts in design, pricing, marketing, and other aspects of the sales process, you can control your profits.
But if we approach the question in terms of whether this field currently has the potential to generate profits, then the answer in that case is definitely “yes.”
Consumers’ interest in some hobbies, sports, movies, and even anime and animation increases day after day, which is what you can exploit and fill their needs by providing designs for those interests.
You also have to be aware, as a person living in the Arab world, that this method allows you to sell to a foreign audience, which means that your profit margin can significantly increase due to the difference in the value of the currency.
How to start printing on demand
Starting to print on demand is very easy. You just need the right steps and tools and you will be able to make profits in record time.
Here are all the steps you need to enter the print on demand field in the best way:
- Choose the product
One of the most important processes that you must do while making a profit from printing on demand is choosing the appropriate product, and there are many forms of products that this method allows you to do.
But if we mentioned all the forms of these products, we would need a very long list, so we will mention the most important and most purchased types with a simple explanation of their different forms, and these products are:
1.Choose the product
One of the most important processes that you must do while making a profit from printing on demand is choosing the appropriate product, and there are many forms of products that this method allows you to do.
But if we mentioned all the forms of these products, we would need a very long list, so we will mention the most important and most purchased types with a simple explanation of their different forms, and these products are:
A) Clothes of all kinds: Clothes in all their forms are at the top of the most purchased and consumed print-on-demand products due to their large daily consumption, whether T-shirts, hats, or even socks.
b) Mugs and mugs: Mugs and mugs in general are among the products that people are currently working on customizing and creating the most, and the vast majority of print-on-demand platforms provide them.
C) Posters: Artistic posters or stickers are among the frequently used products that require a high degree of customization to suit the interests of their user, whether in the form of a football team you follow or a series you love, for example.
D) Decorations: There are many forms of decorations, home decor, and artistic publications that you can exploit, most notably posters, wall frames, and some other forms of decoration, depending on what the platform provides you with.
e) Covers and cases: I know many people who bought this type of product in particular due to its reasonable price and a one-time purchase for a long period of time, so keep it in mind whether for phones or other tablets and electronic devices.
f) Household Items: Things like bedsheets, towels, blankets, pillows, rugs and other household items are very much in demand in the print on demand industry.
2.Providing designs
Coming up with a good design for your print on demand products isn’t as easy as you might think, as you’ll need to customize them heavily to sell them.
This is because most of the people who buy this type of product are those who belong to a specific group and want to obtain products that distinguish them and reflect those interests.
We thought that the best way to make you come up with the best possible designs is to give you some common design materials and ideas in this field, along with how to actually design them.
A) Determine the material of the designs
Here are the most prominent forms of designs to profit from printing on demand, and a simple example of doing them in practice to get the most benefit possible. These forms are:
- Political orientation: This type is currently appearing in the American elections, where voters wear phrases related to the election campaign of their candidates, the most prominent of which is Trump’s famous phrase “Make America Great Again,” which you will find on many forms of products.
2.Pets: Many people tend to represent themselves with a pet and acquire products designed around it. The most prominent examples of this are cats, as there is almost no product that does not have designs of their own.
3.Trends: From time to time, trends occur on social media sites, and are reflected in users’ desire to acquire products related to them. A prominent example of this is clothing with common phrases from a series or influencer written on it.
4.Famous quotes and sayings: There are some quotes and sayings spread that express the thinking of some people and make them interested in buying products that contain them, which is clearly represented in the encouraging sayings on many sports products.
- Prominent and famous personalities: A large segment of fans of some fields are interested in acquiring products that contain important figures within those sectors, whether artistic, political or even sports.
The most famous examples of this in the Arab world are the many products that contain pictures of beloved football players such as Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah and others.
6. Series and movies: Series and movies are among the arts that, although they are common, but their custom products are few and you can still use them effectively, and the best example of them is the Friends series, which we find on many jackets and cups.
7. Anime and animation: The market for anime and anime fans is rising day by day, and I almost never look for a product of any kind without finding some famous anime on it such as Naruto and One Piece.
8.Games: The number of people interested in this field is small but very effective in purchasing, and the most important example of the success of print on demand in this field is the large range of products centered on the character of Cretos scanned from a game.
b) How to get the right designs
There are two basic ways to get designs for your products, especially when we are talking about an area where copyright should be considered for designs.
Here are the details of the two methods and where to do them:
- Use a designer: This method is best suited if you do not have any background in the field of design, as learning from scratch will take you time and effort beyond creating the store from the ground up.
There are many ways to get professional designers who do exactly what you want, just like freelance platforms like Fiver, Khamsat and Freelancer.
You can also reach them on social networking sites through Facebook groups, for example.
Here’s a picture showing some of the print-on-demand design services on the Pfeiffer Small Services website:
But whatever the platform, what matters is that the designer has a business gallery with a good number of suitable projects with what you want to implement.
- Design yourself: If you decide to choose the hard way and learn to design, what you need to do is learn how to design via a professional tool like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.
If the designs you want to do are pretty simple, you can try the Canva tool, but it gives you much less creativity and customization than the previous tools.
3. Choose the platform
There are two main forms in which a print shop is opened on demand, the first of which is selling through a specialized platform directly, where designs are displayed and your store is managed only on them.
The second type is selling through a printing company, which is a bit more complicated, as you have to use an additional e-commerce platform to place the products on.
Here are all the details and platforms for each of these two methods:
a) Best direct print on-demand pallets
Print on demand platforms are the easiest and fastest way to get started in the industry, as all they do is design and marketing them and they will take care of the rest.
The most important of these platforms are:
Merch By Amazon or Amazon Merch on Demand is the most popular print-on-demand platform due to its name being associated with Amazon.
The most important thing that distinguishes it is certainly that it provides a very large customer base and does not impose any costs to start it, in addition to the integration of its various services to give the customer the best possible experience.
On the other hand, it can hinder you from having too much competition, as well as putting in place a lot of strict product design policies.
As for the fees you charge, they vary based on the type of product, the country of sale, and the price you set.
2. Redbubble
Redbubble is one of the prominent print-on-demand platforms, which has many features that set it apart from the rest of its competitors.
It has a variety of products with the ability to set the pricing you want for it, and its platform is simple and very easy in terms of user experience.
The percentage that the site takes may be a little large, but it is still reasonable compared to the rest of the features.
3. Teepublic
In addition to being one of the leading platforms in this field, it is also unique and has a special system in working in some aspects.
It sees your designs and based on them you judge your level and put you in one of two categories: Artisan Accounts and Apprentice Accounts.
The first is the best and most profitable on the platform while the second gets slightly lower profits per sale.
b) Best print on demand companies
Print on demand companies provide you with all the services of the platforms we mentioned earlier except for displaying products, where you will do this through one of the e-commerce platforms or famous marketplaces such as Amazon, Shopify, or even the Facebook Store.
The most important and largest of these companies in the print on demand market are:
It is the most famous company in this field at all, and it has a wide spread worldwide, which makes its services more efficient than the rest of the companies by a large margin.
Many experts recommend their use due to the many options it provides in all its aspects, whether in the currencies used, the number of products, or even technical support methods.
The company enables you to order samples of your products with ease, and you can calculate your profits very easily no matter what product you sell with the Printful earnings calculator.
It is one of the very unique platforms in its range of services, as it is in addition to the distinctive print on demand service that it provides to you like other platforms.
It also has a large number of suppliers in many places, which significantly reduces shipping costs, and enables you to price your products and determine your profits flexibly.
But the pricing system is a little different, as the platform has three plans, including a free plan, and as for the method of calculating profits, it has a very good profit calculator.
It is one of the leading print-on-demand platforms, and provides you with a wide range of products exceeding fifty products, and does not charge any fees or upfront costs to register in it.
It also has many useful tools integrated with the sales process that will make you know the performance of your store clearly and how to develop from it to achieve greater profits.
What is unique about Teespring pricing is that it does not put a percentage, but rather takes a fixed amount on the product it sells, no matter what price you set, and that fixed amount varies according to the product and its details.
4. Store settings
If you choose to use a printing company and create an online store, you will need to configure the store in all its aspects in order to improve the user experience.
Here are the elements that you will need to adjust in your store that will suit the two methods to a large extent, the most important of which are:
a) Design: All you have to pay attention to is that the design of the site fits with the specialization of the store and takes into account its speed and organization in order to make the user experience on it the best possible.
b) Pricing: Pricing is the most free element that you are free to determine in most platforms, in which you have to take into account the percentage of the platform and marketing costs in order to achieve good profits.
c) Visuals and images: Print-on-demand platforms and companies often provide you with ready-made templates for the user to see the shape of the final product after printing, but your role at that point is to take into account the quality and accuracy of the designs.
Titles and text: Make headlines and texts encourage purchase and match the texts in which users search for your particular product, using the right keywords through tools such as Google Trends, e-Rank, and Google keyword planner.
5. Marketing
One of the most important steps you need to do in any store is marketing, which is especially important in print on demand due to the limited category you target in each product.
The most important marketing practices and methods in print on demand are:
a) Social media marketing: Social media is a fertile environment for marketing products of this type, and you can post content in it, do sponsored ads, interact with users, and many other ways.
b) Search Engine Optimization (SEO): There are many SEO optimization practices that you can apply in your store and will inevitably generate more traffic, such as optimizing links of all kinds, increasing store speed, using the right keywords, and other methods.
c) Email marketing: It is a method that you should use to try to get customers to buy back by sending offers and discounts or even informing them about new products and periodic updates.
d) Influencer marketing: Having an influencer in your niche promote your products is by far the most effective of all the other methods, but it’s also significantly more expensive.
e) Contests and free gifts: Contests and gifts have the effect of magic in increasing awareness of your brand and spreading it among consumers in this field, so try to do them periodically through various sales channels.
Additional tips for printing on demand
The field of print on demand is full of mistakes that you have to avoid and tips that will save you a lot of losses during your trip, and the most prominent of these tips are:
a) Follow the platform’s rules: What hinders the most hindering the start of printing on demand and causing rejection of designs is the lack of knowledge of designers about the platform’s laws and policies, so be well aware of them.
B) Research well: You have to do good research on the type of products and designs that you will use, and that they have enough demand to make reasonable profits in the market in which they will sell, and you can identify them through the keyword tools that we mentioned before.
c) The quality and uniqueness of designs: The main factor that judges your store to succeed or fail is the designs and their quality and uniqueness for the market, and you must take into account their superiority over the rest of the competitors in a certain aspect to attract buyers.
d) Always ask for samples: In order to make sure of the quality of printed products, make sure to order a sample from the platform before you start working on it, and some of the platforms that we have already mentioned provide facilities to obtain samples before starting to encourage you to use them.
The bottom line
Print on demand is one of the best and easiest ways to profit from the Internet right now, but it still requires a lot of research and comparison in order to produce the best results.
During this article, we have provided you with a comprehensive overview of print on demand, its concept and steps, as well as the most prominent platforms that will help you complete sales using it.
If you’re still reluctant to start them, remember that the effort and capital you risk are too little to be noticeable compared to the profits and rewards you can get.
So don’t be lazy and do your research well and choose your product range and platforms suitable for you and start marketing immediately, and you will see results that impress you.
