Printing on demand is an excellent way for all businesses to get their custom designs out into the marketplace. It avoids the common time, expense, and stress necessary to get your custom designs printed, and allows you to sell directly to customers without the need for any sort of warehousing or logistics on your end.
Print-on-demand is a great way for smaller businesses to get a foothold in the online marketplace, and it’s also an excellent way for a larger business to diversify its range of products. This can be a key element of taking your business to the next level.
What is it?
It’s best to first understand exactly what printing on demand actually is – though the name is quite self-explanatory. Normally you would have to have a printing company print a certain number of items in bulk, and then they would be shipped to you. You store them, and then as you sell them you ship them off one by one to customers before ordering more.
Printing on demand is different – you work with a printing partner with whom you make your custom designs from the selection of base blank templates/items they offer. Then, when a customer purchases an item through your storefront, the order is then passed on to your partner. They will print the item to order, before packing it and shipping it on your behalf.
How do you benefit?
The benefits of printing on demand are obvious – the first is that it’s affordable. You will often only pay when you actually make a sale. Your partner will take a small portion of each sale they fulfil. So you’re only ever making a payment from profit that you have already made, you don’t actually need to find the capital for bulk printing and shipping costs.
The second key benefit is storage. Managing a large amount of inventory is a challenge for all businesses, but particularly those who are taking their first steps into online selling. With printing on demand, all the items are kept in the warehouse of the fulfilment partner where they’re printed as required and shipped straight from those premises.
The third is sheer convenience. It takes a lot of effort to process, package, and ship a growing number of orders while at the same time trying to develop your business. Printing on demand allows you to avoid this, as your fulfilment partner will do the heavy lifting for you. With trained staff and long-established procedures in place, the process becomes more efficient.
Your brand, your way
Printing on demand allows your business to express itself and for you to let your creativity out.
You can have any design that you choose, and all of your sold items will be shipped in packaging that carries your unique branding. Finding your space in the marketplace has never been easier, more affordable, or more accessible than it is thanks to the printing on demand services offered by companies such as Printful.
Make your start today.