What is Print on Demand?

Print-on-demand (POD) is a rising business strategy that allows artists and designers to sell unique items to a large audience without needing to build a physical product until the product is purchased.
Upload your designs, select your product prices, and drive traffic to your listings.

Customers can purchase products via an e-commerce platform such as Etsy, eBay, or Shopify.
When a consumer chooses a product, the design is printed onto the goods they chose, such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags, stickers, and so on, and is then sent to them directly by the printing company.

You can create your own brand of clothes or accessories and sell them on your online store without having any stock. The product is designed when the customer validates his order, which is why no investment on your part is necessary.

Print on Demand: pros and cons:

If you are creative and you have a great project for creating your business, PoD is an interesting solution because it has the same advantages as dropshipping. Indeed, you have no investment to plan to create and sell your products and you also have no packaging and shipments to plan. The Print on Demand provider takes care of the printing, packaging, and shipping.

You can have all your artistic creations printed on demand on textiles, mugs, phone cases…
Print on Demand also has some disadvantages such as the delivery time which necessarily includes the manufacturing time of the product. It takes an average of 2 weeks to place an order and receive the product.

Inevitably, you have no visibility on the quality of the product before shipping to the customer since the supplier takes care of everything. To avoid unpleasant surprises, the choice of Print on Demand supplier is essential.

To best meet your needs and guide you in launching your Print on Demand business, we have selected the top PoD suppliers.

Which platforms for print-on-demand are the best?

Here are some of our favorite and most popular Print-On-Demand businesses for beginners. Each has its own set of distinct benefits and rewards. Several Print-On-Demand business owners use many or all of the services mentioned below in various ways.

1- Merch by Amazon:

Amazon, like everyone else, has a stake in print-on-demand. Amazon is well-known as the world’s largest e-commerce website, and they continue to be the dominant player in print-on-demand.
The majority of the graphic t-shirts and sweatshirts for sale on Amazon are print-on-demand products developed by people just like you!

Merch by Amazon, unlike other print-on-demand businesses, needs designers to be admitted to the program and requires you to “tier up” as you go.
You will only be allowed to publish 10 designs at first, but additional spaces will become accessible as you generate sales and establish yourself.

2- Redbubble:

Redbubble is the lowest barrier to entry and is very easy to use in the Print-On-Demand sector. Simply create a storefront on their website and begin submitting your designs!
You may manually insert your design, text, or logos on a variety of items and specify your royalty percentage to be collected when a consumer purchases a product.
Your designs may be discovered and purchased by people all over the world thanks to outstanding native SEO and tagging features.
Redbubble designers may post up to 60 designs every day, so you can rapidly stock your store with plenty of designs for potential buyers to choose from.

You can see My Review of Redbubble here.

3- Teespring:

Teespring is a free platform that lets you to submit, sell, and advertise your designs directly from the site. You may link your items to an Etsy or Shopify store, or you can keep things simple with a native Teespring storefront.

Design your items, set your prices, and start driving traffic to your Teespring store!

4- Teepublic:

Teepublic includes many of the same capabilities as Redbubble and Teespring, including the ability to simply submit your images or artwork to a variety of purchasable products.
Sign up for a free Teepublic account to start selling your designs on up to 75 different products.

5- Printify:

Printify allows you to effortlessly upload your designs for print-on-demand service while seamlessly integrating with your eBay, Shopify, or Etsy storefront.
Printify is unique in that they function as a sort of intermediary, seeking the best prices on items and then outsourcing your printing and shipping to other companies.

6- Society 6:

Society6 is most similar to Redbubble in terms of upload and customization, as well as its built-in storefront. You’ll have a customizable built-in storefront and native traffic right now with Society6!

7- Spreadshop / Spreadshirt:

Spreadshop, powered by Spreadshirt, allows artists to create their own storefronts and advertise their creations to a large audience.
There is no need to be concerned about payments, production, fulfillment, or shipment. Spreadshop handles the fundamentals of beginning your own business so you can focus on creating.

8- Printful:

Printful is gradually becoming one of the most popular print-on-demand websites, thanks to its large range of products and ease of use.
Printful not only provides a diverse range of print-on-demand products, but they also provide warehouse fulfillment services for all of your e-commerce or dropshipped products.
We recommend integrating Printful into your e-commerce store if you want to create a long-term brand or e-commerce business.

9- Teemill:

Print-on-demand t-shirt fulfillment and online store builder with an award-winning reputation. Create a free Teemill store today!
You personalize your website and create products for your free online store.

Teemill will then print the design directly to the garment, package it, and ship it to your consumers, as well as handle any returns.
When a garment is worn out, it is designed to be returned so that it can be recycled and produced into new Teemill products. Teemill will give you store credit for every return.

10- Zazzle:

Zazzle is one of the most well-known print-on-demand websites on the internet. Set your royalty rates, upload your designs, and earn recommendations on any transaction. There are no listing, monthly, or annual fees to worry about. Your profit is determined by the royalty rate you choose.

With Zazzle, you will not have your own shop front; instead, your designs will be listed on the main site. However, you can still boost sales by sharing your designs on social media and with your network.

Zazzle is well-known for its high-quality items and diverse selection. T-shirts, shoes, leggings, wallets, invites, mugs, office supplies, bibs, and much more can be designed.

11- Gelato:

Looking to expand your global business? Gelato is a print-on-demand company situated in Europe with over 100 product variants and 100 production locations spread throughout 34 countries. With all of those locations, fulfillment times are faster, transportation distances are shorter, and long-distance shipments emit less carbon dioxide.

Gelato is also delivered quickly, with an average turnaround time of 2 to 6 days and most orders delivered within 72 hours. A major edge when competing with Amazon!

The disadvantage of Gelato is the limited product range and production types. Gelato, for example, does not offer embroidery or laser engraving. Furthermore, the majority of its manufacturing plants are located in Europe.

For businesses situated in Europe who wish to concentrate on more popular things like t-shirts, sweatshirts, wall art, mugs, etc., Gelato is a wonderful choice.

Conclusion:

There are tons of e-commerce platforms to choose from and each offers its own benefits and unique qualities. The platform that you ultimately chose comes down to your own business goals and aspirations.

We recommend considering platforms like Etsy or Shopify to get started, but most print-on-demand fulfillment services are able to link with many other platforms.

We advise using tools like Canva, Adobe Illustrator, or Photoshop to develop your own text or graphic designs for print-on-demand projects. To get started, consider looking into buying designs from freelancers on websites like Fiverr or Upwork!