How to Create a Shopify Print on Demand Store

Along with dropshipping, Print on demand (POD) has become a familiar concept and model in many countries around the world. However, not everyone understands and is correct about this model. If you are looking to learn more about the e-commerce market or you are doing business in this market and want to expand into new areas, then this blog is for you.

The blog How to create a Print on Demand Shopify Store will help you answer all the questions surrounding POD and hopefully, you can find the best direction for your business.

Before going into the details, make sure you have built an eCommerce store on Shopify!

What is Print on Demand (POD)?

Print-on-Demand (POD) is an e-commerce model that allows you to sell personalized products by printing on-demand designs like clothes, mugs, bags, and more. The feature of this model is that the product will only be printed when there is an order, so you will not need to store or own any products, not be afraid of problems related to storage or inventory. Instead, all you need to do is choose and sign up for a platform that allows you to go through the entire process from printing to execution.

POD is another form of Dropshipping because POD users will not have to worry about inventory management or shipping and delivery. 

In a word, Dropshipping is when you connect with a supplier, then post their product for sale, and only when a customer buys that product from your online store, you need to create an order with the supplier provided to the supplier to deliver the product to the buyer. This means that you do not need to own the product, nor are you responsible for its transportation, management, and storage. POD is similar but different in that you can submit designs that are self-created and specialized only for print.

Pros and Cons of Print on Demand

Pros: 

- Easy for you to get started

Nowadays, the majority of POD systems are intuitive and simple to use. Therefore, starting and operating a business is made simple by simply opening an account, building a profile on the platform, and uploading items. You don't need to worry about any technological prerequisites and may post designs in just a few minutes.

- No inventory

POD helps reduce storage costs, which is a major concern when entering the e-commerce field. You won't have to worry about not being able to push goods or hoarding expensive inventory because the goods will only be produced and printed when the consumer orders them. In short, choosing a POD eliminates common business process risks such as inventory and out-of-stock.

- Reduce Fulfillment Stage

The product packaging and shipping process involves many stages and is difficult for you to fully manage, especially for retailers or small businesses. The POD platform will take care of this whole aspect, so you will save time and effort when you don't have to directly find a way to get the product to the end customer.

- Save time allocating work

You will have more time to focus on the things you want to do, and want to invest in your business when choosing POD. Instead of spending time thinking, and worrying about the process of shipping and packaging products, you can spend that time on other jobs that are your strengths such as creating, designing, or building communities. contracts, marketing, and creating business strategies.

Cons: 

- Limit the increase in customer experience

While not having to participate in the fulfillment process gives you a lot of advantages, it also leaves you with limited control over how your products are packaged and how they are shipped. POD platforms will have a fixed fulfillment process and this will make it impossible for you to surprise your customers when they receive your products. For example, if you want to decorate the product packaging of a loyal customer more specifically or include a thank you card in the package, you will not be able to do that when applying the POD model.

- Lack of product diversification

The range of products you can sell with a POD model is often limited to the service provider's capabilities. If the POD service provider you choose can only support you in the production of fashion products such as clothes and bags, then you obviously will not be able to order other accessories such as Phone cases or laptop cases can be there. This means that you will be "sticky" with your initial decision and difficult to expand your business in the later stages. This factor won't be an issue if you sell certain types of popular products like t-shirts or porcelain mugs. However, POD will not be suitable for retailers who want to differentiate or select products in a niche market.

- Low profit 

When you work with a POD service provider, the cost of the product will be higher than the price when buying in bulk, which means your profits will be reduced. This is extremely understandable, but instead of having to import 1000 products at once to get cheap and then have to find a way to store or have a headache if not pushing all the goods, the extra work of bringing that product to work with the factory In case of printing, having to bear a high price when buying retail products on POD platforms so that they do not have to worry about other cumbersome steps later, this cost is not large.

- Limited market statistical data

If you are a seller who needs statistical data from the market to make business decisions, then POD is clearly not the right path for you. Large e-commerce platforms will often have a lot of data about the frequency, rate, rating and quantity of product statistics, from which you can analyze to make a choice of which products are suitable to sell. in your store. However, for POD platforms, it is difficult to give such detailed statistics, so it will be difficult for you to make predictions about products that sell out or dominate the market.

How to easily create a POD Shopify Store

Step 1: Set up Shopify

In this step, you need to sign up for Shopify and build a basic Shopify store. This means you can simply view Shopify setup, choose a theme, change colors, add a logo, set up a page (About Us, Contact Us, etc.), create a Policy & Terms (In settings), and activate Shopify Payments.

Shopify lets you try it out for 14 days without a credit card

Step 2: Add a third-party app that provides print-on-demand services

After completing the Shopify store setup, your next step is to choose a suitable Shopify Print on Demand app. 

Check out the apps below!

* Printful: Print on Demand

Printful: Print on Demand is a print-on-demand dropshipping service provider ready to assist you every step of the way and take care of the boring tasks (you know, fulfilling orders). This app will help you print, package and ship your products to your customers.

* Printify: Print on Demand

Printify: Print on Demand helps you customize a wide selection of products in seconds from clothing to accessories, home decor, and more. You can use this app to easily access a global network of providers that print, pack and ship your orders directly to your customers upon arrival.

* CustomCat: Print on Demand

With CustomCat: Print on Demand, you can easily make your own goods from photographs you submit, post to your store, and sell them. Print-on-demand fulfillment from CustomCat eliminates the need for physical inventory, allowing you to concentrate on other areas of your business. To monetize your audience, outfit your business with made-to-order bespoke products, or make distinctive clothing and one-of-a-kind personalized presents.

Step 3: Alternatives Designs & Inventory

Your designs are the foundation of your product. It will help you attract customers and make your business unique.

You have 3 methods for product design:

* Method 1: Use Photoshop/Illustrator to create free, high-quality images with your imagination.

* Method 2: Hire a professional designer. This way, you can be sure that your designs will at the very least be formatted and sized correctly for Print On Demand. Depending on how skilled your designer is, they might sell or might not. However, each design will cost more the better the creator is. This option may be very expensive.

* Method 3: Buy available designs. You can buy ready-made professional designs that have a proven track record and perfect niche. Fiverr and Etsy are two websites you can go to when you need to buy ready-made designs

Step 4: Set up products 

With a newly launched store, we don't recommend setting up too many products. You should only set up 5 - 10 products maximum and focus on creating beautiful product pages.

You can design your own product pages using Shopify Default or use EComposer - Shopify page builder apps to create your own product pages. EComposer provides you with a lot of templates suitable for many different fields.

Check out the blog How to Create a High-Converting Shopify Product Page now!

Step 5: Set up store promotion campaigns

In order for customers to know your store, you should research promotional campaigns. You can create a Coming Soon page with great deals

A Shopify Coming Soon Page is a landing page where you may point visitors to learn more about your company or product, pique their curiosity and ask them if they want to receive information about upcoming product offers

Click here to see How to create a Shopify Coming Soon Page 

Step 6: Launch Your Store

At this stage, after you've tested everything, place a test order yourself to see how your store performs. Once you're sure everything is fine, it's time to launch your store.

At this point you won't advertise it, you just need to enable it so it can take orders. This helps you make sure everything works as expected, you know how it works, and you can solve any problems.

Click here for Shopify's guide to launching a store

Step 7: Setup social media accounts, advertise and scale

- Run ads on social networking platforms

Facebook is a fantastic platform to advertise. Due to Facebook's acquisition of Instagram, advertising on the Instagram platform was also purchased by Facebook. This implies that you may run the same campaign and deliver advertisements concurrently on Facebook and Instagram. 

Click here for Shopify's guide to Facebook Ads.

- Use Google PPC ads

The most effective commercials for merchants are those that are product-based. The most popular source of product-based advertisements, often known as "PLA" ads or "product listing ads," is Google Shopping. They may be quite profitable if the margins allow it, depending on your specialization.

Click here for instructions on Google PPC Product Listing Ads

- Scale up your store

Scaling an advertising campaign comes next if it has been successful. Scaling ads allows you to maintain control over your expenditures in relation to your return on investment.

Click here for how to scale Ads

5 Inspiring Shopify Print on Demand store examples

1. Classic Dad

A print-on-demand business that has locked down a specialty is Austin-based t-shirt retailer Classic Dad. The apparel in this market niche for Classic Dad features "Dadisms"—cheesy phrases that, if used properly, encapsulate the spirit of fathers everywhere.

It also wastes no time with its Shopify shop. The company prominently displays its "top sellers" on the site. The structure is straightforward and uncomplicated, and there is no visible clutter to distract from the lines. Customers can easily find the shirts, tanks, or clothing items they're looking for using the upper navigation bar, which is labeled with quotes connected to the yard (or barbecue).

2. Raccoon Brand

A wonderfully straightforward store is Raccoon Brand, a print-on-demand company that sells, well, things with raccoons on them. There are only three sites other than the homepage: t-shirts, hats, and purses. However, Raccoon Brand is less well-known for its products or the design of its Shopify shop. The way it conducts business is what's really fascinating.

Raccoon Brand doesn't conduct straight sales through its website, which explains this. The customer does not make a purchase immediately through the website; instead, clicking one of the goods directs them to Amazon, where they can finish the transaction.

3. District of Clothing

District of Clothing, an appropriately titled print-on-demand clothing business, makes excellent use of white space on its Shopify shop. Its product sites are sleek, and seamless, and do precisely what they're meant to do: draw attention to the powerful slogans and eye-catching hues of its clothing. 

Everything about District of Clothing's Shopify shop, from its UI (user interface) to its t-shirts and sweatshirts, sticks out because it was created to take advantage of the natural contrast between black and white. in the finest possible manner.

4. Print Prohibition

Similar to District of Clothing, Print Prohibition brilliantly exploits the yin/yang duality of black and white. The two-tone color scheme of the Shopify shop ingeniously contrasts with the lively, punchy hue of its prints thanks to a superb monochrome logo.

The website for Print Prohibition is certainly attractive. But it also reads well; in fact, it ranks among the top print-on-demand Shopify shops on this list for connecting with customers on a human level. Print Prohibition personalizes its web appearance by using "we" and "you" in the "About the Shop" part along with slang terms like "heck. 

5. Circle Square Diamond

A print-on-demand Shopify shop called Circle Square Diamond sells artwork that is influenced by mountains and snow areas. It describes itself as specializing in "minimalist...modern artwork," so it should not be surprising that the company has a similarly contemporary, minimalist website.

The website has a modern, minimalist aesthetic, with a light text accent that never overpowers the artwork's pictures. The website of Circle Square Diamond also visualizes design and diction working together in a dynamic ballet, producing a sophisticated style.

Additionally, Circle Square Diamond has a blog, unlike many of the other print-on-demand Shopify shops on this list. Here, the company informs clients about nearby ski resorts, holiday obligations, and any most recent COVID-19 updates. Additionally, blogs are excellent for business because they help develop a brand and can boost organic rankings in search engines, as Circle Square Diamond is aware.

Bottom line

POD is gradually becoming more popular in the e-commerce market. However, it is popular but not quite easy to apply. If you intend to get into this business model, you should really seriously study it and create your own strategy.

We hope the blog How to create a Print on Demand Shopify Store will bring a lot of useful information for your business. If you have any questions, contact us via EComposer.

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