The 10 Best Reasons to Start a Print on Demand Online Business

What is a Print on Demand Online Business?

Think of a print-on-demand ecommerce business as a white-label endeavour. You work with a supplier to produce items like baseball hats or tote bags that have your custom designs, branding, or ideas on them.

In turn, you advertise these items for sale on your online store. Whenever a sale comes in, the supplier manufactures, prints, and ships the items under your label. This leaves you with very little to actually physically manage.

Print on demand is an excellent opportunity for anyone who wants to start an online business but doesn’t want to invest in large quantities of inventory ahead of time.

It’s also perfect for people who have been thinking about starting their own business but aren’t sure what kind of product they want to sell yet, as you can test out several different types of products by creating them yourself. The more you lean into data analytics on your designs and offerings, the better your POD business will grow.

10 Reasons to Start a POD Ecommerce Business

Reason 1: Low startup costs

Print on demand businesses have a low startup cost. This means that you don’t need to buy expensive equipment or hire staff. You also don’t need to pay for expensive marketing campaigns or advertising campaigns, as your customers will find you online.

Most of the time, you can work with a POD supplier that takes a cut of whatever items you are selling. As long as you work that into the price of the product, you get to bring home a good amount of your business, and the supplier handles the rest. Without needing to invest in inventory, you experience way fewer expenses.

Reason 2: No need for physical space

If you’re starting a print on demand business, you’ll notice that there’s no need to rent a physical space. This is because everything happens online and can be done from anywhere in the world.

You won’t have to worry about inventory, shipping, or returns either because everything is printed after an order has been placed (and paid for). And with only one customer service representative needed per 100 customers, this means that your overhead costs will be kept low as well.

Reason 3: Wide variety of products

Print on demand allows you to sell products that you could never sell before. You can sell products that are not available in stores, online, or in your local area. The wide variety of products that can be printed on demand is endless, and it’s an exciting opportunity for entrepreneurs who are looking to expand their business into something new.

Some of the more common POD products include:

• • Sneakers
  • T-Shirts
  • Stickers
  • Tote Bags
  • All-Over Print Hoodies
  • Posters
  • Mugs
  • Socks
  • Face Masks

Reason 4: Low risk

As you can see, starting a print on demand business is low risk. You don’t have to invest in inventory, so there are no upfront costs or monthly costs associated with storing your products in a warehouse. This eliminates one of the biggest reasons why traditional businesses fail: they spend too much money on overhead before they make any sales.

You also won’t have any shipping costs or returns because everything is printed as needed for customers who order through your website or retail location. Plus, since there are no employees involved (you’re running it yourself), there’s no salary or benefits expense either.

Reason 5: Scalability

You can grow with the business. You don’t need to hire more staff, and you won’t be tied down by overheads or long-term contracts. If you want to take on more work, simply outsource it via freelancers and get them working for you remotely.

As the supplier is handling all your orders and they already have the capability to fulfill large orders. All you really need to do is focus on growth through marketing and promotional activities.

Reason 6: Minimal time commitment

With a POD business, you don’t need to be there all the time and can work from home. You can set your own hours so that they suit your lifestyle, whether that’s early mornings or late nights.

And if you want to take some time off for a holiday or just because, no problem. Any POD tools you use should be integrated with a wide range of ecommerce platforms, apps, and mobile devices. That will allow you to manage your print on demand business without restrictions.

Reason 7: Don’t handle returns

Returns are a hassle for any business. Not only do you have to deal with the logistics of returning the product, but then you also have to store and manage inventory.

You can avoid all of this by selling products on demand through POD systems like Printful and similar services where customers can order exactly what they want without worrying about whether or not they’ll like it later.

Reason 8: Easy integration

One of the best reasons to start a print on demand online business is that it’s easy to integrate with other platforms. You can easily integrate your products with social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

You can also integrate your products into ecommerce websites like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento. Additionally, you can use marketing tools such as MailChimp and Google Analytics to help grow your business even further. Good POD works with all modern tools and tech stacks.

Reason 9: Creative freedom

The freedom to create your own designs, products, and rules is one of the most attractive benefits of starting a print on demand online business. You don’t have to design what other companies tell you to design.

You can make your own products and sell them at whatever price point or quality level you want (within reason). You can decide when and where to work, as well as how much time off each week/month/year.

Many successful POD sites have creatives behind them. People with marketing, copywriting, or graphic design experience want to create something new, but have been stuck under a boss or system that doesn’t allow their exploration.

Reason 10: Easy accounting

When you’re running a print on demand online business, it’s important to keep track of your money. Luckily, everything is already done for you.

You will need to manage your income/expenses, but as for inventory and cost of goods sold, it is all done for you through the supplier. You’ll get access to easy-to-read reports that cut way down on tax implications.

Boost POD Sales with Customer Support

Customer support is a vital part of any business and print on demand businesses are no exception to this rule. You need to be on hand to help your customers with their questions and queries, whether they’re ordering something or just browsing.

OPMC has a powerful Customer Support for WooCommerce plugin that handles this aspect of your business. It allows you to automate many of the questions and inquiries your customers need answers to before placing an order.

When you make that process easier, you grow your potential revenue streams. That is precisely how you want to think about and operate your POD online business.

Conclusion

The benefits of a POD ecommerce business are many, and the risks are low. You can get started today with little or no upfront investment and begin earning money in as little as two months. With the right tools and systems in place, you’ll be able to scale your business quickly without needing additional employees or inventory storage space!