The print-on-demand business model allows you to put a unique spin on everyday products and sell them online. Imagine your logo on T-shirts, posters, backpacks and water bottles. Or how about turning your writing into a self-published book? Print-on-demand makes it easy to design or customize everyday items and sell them online.

This guide explores a business model that has been gaining popularity in recent years: print on demand. Below, you’ll find links to four of the best print on demand services, along with essential tips for starting a print on demand business.

What is Print on Demand?

Print on demand (POD) is a business model that produces a variety of products, such as clothing, accessories, and home decor items, as orders are placed. Once a customer places an order, the product is printed, packaged, and shipped by a third-party print-on-demand service. Sellers often prefer this model because they don’t have to purchase and manage inventory. Common products sold through POD include t-shirts, mugs, posters, and books. This method is attractive to many sellers because it allows them to test different designs and product ideas without a large financial investment.

What you can do with our Print on Demand service:

• Test out small business ideas or new product lines without the risk of buying inventory.
• Monetize your YouTube audience or fans with branded merchandise
• Create unique products for specific niche audiences, like CrossFit enthusiasts or French bulldog owners.
• Producing small quantities of products for events or brand promotion
• Offer products that celebrate seasonal holidays or cultural trends.
• Compare designs and products that customers prefer

Pros and Cons of Print on Demand (POD)

Print on Demand (POD) is a dropshipping business model that simplifies the process of selling customized products. Once a sale is made, the POD service handles the production, packaging, and shipping of the product.

This model offers an accessible way to run an online business and has several advantages:

• Quick time to market: Design your product and add it to your list in minutes.
• No inventory required: You can run your business with low cost and low risk since you don't have to handle inventory.
• Outsourced Fulfillment: Sellers don’t have to worry about fulfillment because POD partners handle shipping.

disadvantage:

• Increased unit costs: Since bulk purchasing is not possible, the cost per unit may be higher.
• Limitations on shipping controls: You may not be able to set shipping rates or customize your shipping experience.
• Customization limitations: POD services often cannot handle complex design requests.

4 Popular Print-On-Demand Services

The reason why choosing a print on demand service is important is because it should fit your needs in terms of product selection, shipping speed, and price. For example, shipping may seem cheap, but if customers have to wait three weeks to receive their order, it may lose its appeal. Making the wrong choice can not only result in financial loss, but also affect the growth of your brand.

So do your research—use Google and review sites to carefully vet potential partners. Start by considering these four popular print-on-demand services:

1. Printful

Printful is a popular print-on-demand site thanks to its wide selection of high-quality products and brands (Gildan, American Apparel, etc.), easy-to-use mockup creator, and the option to add your own branding to the unboxing experience.

Printful's various printing techniques for apparel products:

• Direct to Garment : Print is applied directly to the garment.
• Cut and Sew : The garment is cut, printed, then reassembled for a seamless print across the entire piece.
• Embroidery : Applying designs using thread.

You should also be aware of how additional customizations can affect the price. For example, printing on sleeves or interior labels may incur additional charges on top of the base price.

In addition to apparel, Printful also offers a variety of products including mugs, bedding, pillows, framed posters, beach towels, aprons, and more.

2. Printify

Printify is unique in that it offers a wide range of unique white label products through its international supplier network, in addition to the standard t-shirts and hoodies. The platform boasts printing options for over 200 products, including unique products such as jewelry, watches, shoes, and water bottles.

Printify is free to use, but it offers a premium subscription for $24.99 per month, which gives you up to 20% off all products. This is a great option if you want to scale your business and improve your margins.

3. Gooten

Gooten , like Printify, offers a wide range of products, including the ability to customize unique items like calendars and dog beds.

Gooten prints its products through a network of international suppliers and dropshippers, so there may be greater variability between products in terms of print quality and shipping. However, this also means that product and shipping prices are likely to be lower.

Gooten provides an intuitive image editor that gives you a clear sense of what your final product will look like.

4. Lulu

Lulu is a self-publishing platform that allows you to print and distribute your own books and ebooks, providing a variety of tools you need. Lulu is one of the most popular print-on-demand companies.

Lulu Direct is Lulu's print-on-demand service that lets you create your own book products with a variety of book sizes, binding types, and page qualities.

Although Lulu Direct doesn’t have a built-in editor for designing your books, Lulu Xpress offers downloadable templates to get you started. It also has a transparent pricing calculator to help you figure out the cost of your project, and includes a variety of shipping options.

Discounts are also available for bulk orders.

Check out more print on demand companies and sites to find the best option for you.

5 Tips for Getting Started with Print on Demand

Using a print-on-demand service can often be easier than managing your own inventory, but there are unique considerations to keep in mind.

Here are some essential best practices that every print-on-demand business should follow:

1. Use the Print on Demand app

Marketplaces like Etsy make it easy to list your products, but the best way to build a long-term online presence and truly promote your brand is to start your own online store.

Make your business simpler by integrating with your online store platform using our Print on Demand app. This allows you to bring your designs to your website in just a few clicks.

Building a print-on-demand store gives you direct control over the shopping experience, including the look and feel of your store and how customers interact with your brand and discover your products.

Additionally, running your own store allows you to build a customer email list, run targeted ads, and sell on social media – all effective ways to maintain profitable relationships with your customers.

2. Sample order is required

Sellers must be confident in the quality of their products, even when sourcing them from third parties such as print-on-demand services.

The best way to make sure a product looks and feels the way you want it to is to experience it for yourself as a customer. Place a sample order through an online store and test the entire shopping experience from browsing to delivery.

Some services, like Printful, offer sample discounts of up to 20% to help sellers validate their design choices.

In addition to ensuring product quality, samples can also be used to take product photos for use on your website and social media profiles.

3. Create a mockup of your product

While samples can help you take attractive photos of your products, mockups are effective visual marketing elements and play a vital role on your store's product pages.

Most print-on-demand services will help you create mockups, which can show your product in person or on a flat layout. You can also use other services and free mockup templates to bring your product to life.

Mockups help your customers visualize your product, so it may be worth the extra effort. PlaceIt is a mockup generator that makes it easy to create photo and video mockups. Or, if you know the basics of Photoshop or other photo editing tools, you can find templates on Mockup World or Behance .

4. Approach shipping strategically

Even if you don’t ship the products yourself, it’s your responsibility to set expectations and communicate with your customers throughout the delivery process. The best print-on-demand companies will be transparent and proactive about their shipments, but you are still the primary point of contact with your customers.

It is important to consider printing time when shipping. Add 2-4 days for production time, and more for complex orders.

Make it clear to your customers what to expect regarding shipping, either on an FAQ page or a separate shipping page.

If possible, incorporate shipping costs into the retail price. Adding shipping costs to checkout may discourage some customers from purchasing, but the “free shipping” incentive can boost your marketing efforts.

For example, you might justify a longer wait time by offering free shipping. Many consumers are willing to wait a little longer if they feel they can save money on shipping.

5. Find your niche

The print-on-demand model has relatively low margins, so you need to be strategic about how you position your brand. Establishing a clearly defined audience can lower your customer acquisition costs and increase your potential revenue.

Finding a niche can help you grow your audience. Here are some niche marketing strategies to try:

• Start an Instagram Account: Curate content for your target market and post consistently.
• Run Facebook Ads: Run ads to test your product with your target market.

Create a design

Design plays a vital role in creating successful print-on-demand products, but you don’t have to be a professional designer to source original designs.

As long as you understand a few key concepts, you can work effectively with designers and commission or create your own designs in a variety of ways.

The first and most important thing is to prepare the design file. When working with a designer, it is important to make it clear that the design is for printing. This means that the file should be saved at a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch). The size of the image you upload should be the same as the print area of ​​the product.

Please note that print specifications may vary depending on the printing technology used. If in doubt, it is best to provide your designer with the print specifications for your specific product so they can understand the situation.

In most cases, the file you upload will be in PNG or PSD format. If you use a transparent background, keep in mind that the color of the t-shirt will become the background color.

How to find design ideas and designers

The ideal situation is if you are a designer or know a designer who you can work well with. But don’t despair if you don’t have design skills. Outsourcing exists for that.

You can find designers and collaborate with them on platforms like Behance or 99designs . As long as you provide clear instructions, you can find designers who will create useful designs. Here’s how to clearly communicate your design project:

• Share your insights about your customers. Explain the purpose of the design and the target audience. Showing your website is also helpful.
• Be clear about what you want. Over-communicate what you want with your initial proposal and subsequent revision requests (at least one or two revision requests). Try to provide specific feedback at each step.
• Provide examples for inspiration. Provide references for designers to look to, or provide examples of work you've done in the past that you've enjoyed.

There are many talented designers out there, so you can find someone who can bring your ideas to life. The hardest part is deciding what to design in the first place.

This part may vary depending on your product's target audience, but you can find design inspiration on social media networks like Pinterest or Subreddit, or wherever your potential customers are active online.

Find content, messages, or styles that resonate with your target audience, but be careful not to directly copy or infringe on someone else's work.

Social media is also a great place to test your ideas. Try creating a mini focus group like this:

• Post to your personal network
• Get feedback using Instagram’s polls and questions stickers
• Share design ideas on the subreddit

Design, Sell, and Grow

Print on demand services offer an accessible starting point for new entrepreneurs or those who want to test out their ideas before investing. There are thousands of white label products available, and endless design options to make them your own.

While certain combinations are bound to sell better than others, it's relatively easy to reuse the same core design across multiple products.

Once your business idea is successful and you start generating meaningful sales, you can move away from the print-on-demand model and hold your own inventory, or continue to use these services and expand your customer base in new ways.

One of the biggest advantages of the print-on-demand model is that it gives your business flexibility and gives you back time to focus on growth.

Print On Demand FAQs