how does shopify print on demand work

you could decide you want to start a,print-on-demand business by monday,get your website up and running by,tuesday and start making sales by the,end of the week,welcome back to learn with shopify i'm,your host michelle and in today's video,we're going to learn how you can start a,print-on-demand business,print on demand is a low-risk simple way,to start a hugely profitable business,with no inventory,whether you're an artist writer designer,or entrepreneur,physical products can be a great way to,monetize your creativity you can put,your own,original span on everyday products like,t-shirts posters backpacks books,and sell them online however if you do,go the traditional route of buying and,holding your own inventory,you may be left with a pile of products,that just aren't selling print on demand,services are a good way to avoid this,problem you won't have to invest a ton,of money in holding inventory,and it'll save you time in dealing with,logistics print on demand also allows,you to start selling really quickly,and at a fraction of the cost here are,the things that we'll be covering in,this video,we're going to define what print on,demand is we'll discuss the pros and,cons,i'll give you a list of services to,choose from and what they offer,we'll also talk about how to get your,designs into the real world even if you,have no design experience,and then we'll finish off with some,expert tips for making your business,profitable,print on demand is a process where you,work with a supplier to customize,white label products white labeling is,when a purchaser or a marketer,uses its own branding rather than the,manufacturer's branding,but what makes print on demand so,enticing is that you can sell the,products on a pre-order basis under your,own brand that means that you don't have,to pay for the product until after,you've actually,sold it so there's no need to buy in,bulk or hold any inventory,and the nice thing about print on demand,services is that everything after the,sale is handled by your supplier,that includes everything from printing,to shipping we're going to go over how,to get all of this set up in detail but,once you do make a sale it'll only take,a few clicks to fulfill an order,depending on your purpose you can use,print-on-demand services in a few,different ways you can use it to test a,business idea without fronting money for,inventory,you can test a new product line for an,existing business again without holding,any inventory at all,and you can use it to monetize an,audience you've already built,printing on demand is also a great,option if you're an artist or an,influencer,but you'd rather focus on doing what you,love rather than fulfilling orders,it's also a great business model to,create original products for a niche of,customers,so for example you can create apparel,for people who are passionate about,gaming,there are some pros and cons when it,comes to print on demand print-on-demand,sites can be used to build a business,based off of a drop shipping model where,the products and shipping,are all handled by a third party it's,one of the most accessible ways to,source products or start an online,business,but you should know that there are perks,and limitations before you dive in,print on demand is great for creating,products quickly once you have the,design,you can create the product and put it up,for sale in minutes this helps you be,nimble,and it helps you capitalize on trends,another plus is shipping,shipping is fully taken care of shipping,and fulfillment is basically out of your,hands,and it's up to the supplier to take care,of that after the sale you're just,responsible for customer service and,marketing,additionally since you're not physically,carrying products your cost to run your,business,will be lower and finally there's less,risk involved,it's easier to add or remove products,test ideas and pivot your approach,now let's take a peek at the cons so,naturally your cost per item is going to,be higher than if you were to buy in,bulk,on-demand products are known to have,thinner profits so depending on how you,price them and how you acquire customers,making real money is going to require,volume with print on demand,another con is that you'll have less,control over your shipping costs,and your options may also be limited if,you want to create a standout unboxing,experience,there are also limitations to,customization your ability to customize,products is going to depend on the,vendor and the product,you'll have to see what base costs are,what customization options are available,as well as printing techniques and size,options when deciding on which products,to customize,okay so by now you should have a better,idea of whether print on demand will,work for you,now we're going to hop into the services,that i recommend it might seem like all,print-on-demand services are similar at,first glance,but that's actually not the case you're,going to want to carefully consider who,you go with based on the products you,want to create,where you'll be shipping to the retail,prices you're going to offer among other,factors so for example,you might be tempted to go with a,company that has a low base cost for,their products but then you might,realize that it takes 21 days for,customers to get their orders,do your research and make sure that,you're weighing out all the factors here,are some of the most popular services,that all meet,different needs by the way all of these,services are free to set up and you only,pay,when someone places an order for one of,your products and i should mention that,they do all integrate with shopify,printful is a popular shopify app,because of its wide selection of,products and brands to choose from,it allows you to mock up your designs,easily you can add your own logos,stickers custom notes and inserts for a,more customized unboxing experience,for apparel products in particular,printable offers a number of printing,techniques one of the more common,techniques that they offer is direct to,garment which prints ink directly onto,the material,this is good for simpler designs like,slogan teeth you can do a,cut and sew also known as the all over,print the article of clothing is printed,on in,many pieces and then it's sewn together,for a seamless print across the entire,piece,the base cost will be higher for this,technique but it also lets you create a,more premium product at a higher price,point,embroidery is perhaps the most complex,printing technique because the final,product is actually a threaded design,with a 3d effect,this is best for simple designs that,involve only a handful of colors,and for products like hats that,traditionally featured embroidered,designs you should also be mindful of,how additional customizations will,affect the price,printing on the sleeve for example will,usually mean paying on top of the base,cost,besides apparel printable also offers,mugs pillows,framed posters beach towels aprons and,more lulu is a self-publishing print on,demand service,for books with the lulu express shopify,app you can choose from a wide selection,of book sizes,binding types and page quality for your,books you can't design your book within,lulu express but they do,offer downloadable templates to get you,started it even has a transparent,pricing calculator to help you cost out,your project,including various shipping options there,are also discounts if you'd like to,order in bulk,like printful guten is a shopify app,that offers a wide range of products,that you can customize,they have unique products like calendars,mugs and dog beds,however since guten uses an,international network of vendors to,print their products,there's also a lot more variance between,their items in terms of quality and,shipping,but that also means that your product,prices and shipping prices are lower as,well,guten has an intuitive image editor that,gives you a good sense of what your,final product will look like,printfy is another print-on-demand,shopify app that features the usual,selection of t-shirts and hoodies,but what's notable about prinify is that,it has an international vendor network,with a number of unique,white label products that you're not,likely to find anywhere else,they have items like jewelry clocks and,shoes and the platform actually has over,200 products that you can print on,while printify is free to use you can,pay 29 a month for a premium,subscription that gives you 20,off all of their products and this is a,pretty solid option if you're looking to,scale up later and improve your profit,margins,this list is by no means exhaustive so,for more print on demand options,check out the shopify app store you,don't need to be a full-time designer to,have a successful print-on-demand,business,in the best case scenario you have a,designer friend that you can work well,with,but if you don't that's what outsourcing,is for you can find designers to work,with on behance,99designs or other freelance sites who,can produce designs as long as you,provide clear instructions,here's how you can add clarity and,context for a design project,you'll want to begin by sharing insight,into your audience tell your designer,what it's for,and who your audience is showing them,your website will help give,more context and make sure that you're,clearly explaining what it is that you,want,you'll have time to explain this in your,initial introduction and through,revisions,by the way you're going to want to,include one or two revisions in the,scope of the project,and be clear by over communicating what,it is that you're looking for and,provide,guidelines and finally give examples of,inspiration,it helps to show them a reference to,base the design on or point to other,works,that you like when working with,designers you should specify that your,design is for printing,this tells them that it should ideally,be 300 digital pixels per inch,and have a transparent background the,designer will know how to properly,prepare these artwork files for print so,you won't have to worry about that,note that the print file specifications,will change depending on the printer,and the printing technique used so when,in doubt send the designer the print,specs for the specific product,and any printing guidelines so that they,understand the context,the designs you upload should be large,enough for the printing area of the,actual product,keep in mind that resizing a smaller,image to make it bigger will result in a,loss of quality so you want to avoid,doing that and if you want to take a,crack at designing and you don't have,access to photoshop,try using pixlr for free i'll also drop,a link in the description box for,another,16 free photo editing tools if you're,not interested in paying for photoshop,alright so we've got you covered with a,couple of expert tips,firstly always order samples the best,way to ensure quality is to be your own,customer so that you can experience,firsthand,what it's like to receive your products,that said you're going to want to always,order samples before sending product out,to customers,it's always possible that something gets,lost in translation from the design you,see on your screen,to your printed product and by ordering,samples you can double check the overall,quality of how it looks and,feels if you do find any discrepancies,just reach out to your vendors customer,service,support for advice on how to fix any,issues,and beyond ensuring product quality,samples are also good to have on hand,for taking your own product photos for,your website and social media,even when you're not shipping products,yourself you're going to want to make,sure that you're setting the right,expectations with your customers,about costs and shipping time make sure,that you're accounting for how long it,takes for something to print,first of all and then adding that to,shipping time rule of thumb is to add,anywhere from two to four days for,production,it can sometimes be more depending on,the product always be upfront about your,shipping times or you're going to get,customers with questions and complaints,and outline what to expect on your faq,page or you can consider creating a,separate shipping page to explain,lead times to customers if you can try,to partially or,fully absorb your shipping costs into,your retail price,year after year studies show that,surprise shipping costs added at,checkout deters customers from buying,on the flip side you can use shipping,deals as a tool to entice customers to,make a purchase,free shipping is a great sales sweetener,so try using conditional,free shipping to encourage customers to,add more to their cart to reach a,certain threshold,you can use free shipping to justify,longer wait times at that point you can,go for less expensive slower shipping,services as many consumers will wait a,little bit longer for an order that they,know,will save the money on shipping model,pictures help drive sales,but mock-ups are also an effective,alternative for your product photography,many print-on-demand services can help,you create your own mock-ups by showing,your products on a person,or as a flatlay but there are other,services and plenty of free mock-up,templates,that can help show your product clearly,these mockups are what will sell your,products to customers,so it can literally pay to go the extra,mile placeit is an easy to use mockup,generator that lets you create photo and,video mockups for eight dollars each,check out mockupworld or behance for,photoshop templates if you're,comfortable in photoshop,marketing is what ultimately determines,the success of your business,but if you're targeting everyone you're,not really marketing to anyone,that's why niching in is so important,having a clearly defined audience like,specifically targeting,dog owners for example can actually help,you create products that are in demand,it lowers the cost to acquire customers,and maximizes your potential profits,often people think that if they niche in,they're going to lose potential,customers,but the opposite is actually true if,your audience is too broad you'll appeal,to no one and lose potential customers,in that regard,there are countless possibilities for,acquiring a niche audience with,marketing but here are some ideas to get,you started,first start an instagram account and,create or curate content for your target,audience,get followers and build relationships,among your prospective customers,next try running facebook ads targeting,the interests,of your target customers you can also,use facebook ads to test out your,designs for as little as 10,to see which ones resonate with your,audience one of my favorite tactics is,collecting emails from visitors once you,start to pick up some steam,so that you can continue to market to,them for free,and finally get your products into the,hands of influencers who can introduce,your products to their audience and help,you make sales,print-on-demand services offer an,accessible source of inventory for,new entrepreneurs or for anyone who just,wants to test out an idea before they,invest in it,if one of your online business ideas,pans out and you start to generate a,meaningful number of sales,you can always graduate from using a,print-on-demand site to holding your own,inventory so that should give you a,pretty good head start and some,insight into print on demand in today's,video we covered what print on demand,is some services you could use how to,work with a designer,and some strategies to keep your,business running smooth and profitable,i'm curious to know why you clicked on,this video let me know in the comments,what you plan to use print on demand for,i'm excited to see all of your creative,ideas and if you've already launched,drop me a link to your store so i can,check it out,hit that subscribe button so you don't,miss out on any future videos and,remember,we're a channel for small business,owners with big plans,i'm your host michelle thank you so much,for watching and i will see you in the,next one,you

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