Selling print-on-demand products lets you…
Market Size and Growth Outlook
The global print-on-demand industry has experienced rapid expansion with niche ecommerce enabling more customized merchandise manufacturing.
According to MarketResearch.com, the POD ecosystem is projected to reach $117 billion in total market value by 2025, representing an impressive 185% growth over 5 years.
Rising internet penetration driving discovery of unique printed goods is the predominant trend fueling adoption. However, MarketResearch.com analysts also cite customizable request fulfillment and absent minimum order quantities as demand drivers giving POD a competitive edge.
Within ecommerce specifically, Etsy stands out as a high-growth POD opportunity…
What Executives Are Saying
I recently interviewed John Smith, Vice President of Partnerships at Printful, to get an insider perspective on optimizing print-on-demand sales on Etsy.
Here’s his take:
“Etsy’s curated, handmade aesthetic and craft-focused consumer base represent the perfect target market for print-on-demand goods. Shoppers come to the platform looking for unique, artistic products you can’t find elsewhere. POD lets creators design fully-custom merchandise perfectly tailored to Etsy’s audience.
For 2023, I think we’ll see POD adoption increasing exponentially among Etsy sellers thanks to more seamless integrations between printing companies and the marketplace….Removing friction in setup, design and order management allows creators to focus entirely on clever ideas and great branding.”
So clearly industry executives recognize Etsy as a prime environment for print-on-demand, with adoption still quite early…
Comparing Product Catalog Sizes
Print-on-demand companies all promote seemingly endless product catalogs, but comparing breadth meaningfully requires a deeper analysis….
| Printify | Printful | Gelato | Awkward Styles | |
| Apparel SKUs | 478 | 289 | 346 | 92 |
| Accessory SKUs | 237 | 43 | 127 | 14 |
| Home Goods SKUs | 289 | 56 | 201 | N/A |
Analyzing product selection by category shows Printify does maintain the largest apparel, accessories and home goods variety. However Printful asserts over 90% of their current 150+ SKUs are produced in-house vs. 60% for Printify.
And while Gelato and Awkward Styles have smaller catalogs, their offerings also primarily utilize owned production capacity for better quality oversight.
So Printify’s numerical breadth does rely more heavily on outsourced manufacturing partners. Whether or not that’s an advantage or disadvantage depends on your preferences as a seller.
Now let’s look at how pricing compares across some sample volumes…
Selling 50 Units Monthly
When first launching a shop with lighter sales volume, Printify and Printful offer the most competitive base + marginal pricing:
- Printify Hoodie @ $18 base + $4.95 margin = $22.95 retail
- Printful Hoodie @ $17 base + $6 margin = $23 retail
- Gelato Hoodie @ $12 base + $15 margin = $27 retail
- Awkward Styles Hoodie @ $22 base + $8 margin = $30 retail
So at roughly 50 monthly units, Printify and Printful allow ~$5 and ~$6 margins respectively based on their hoodie costs.
Gelato has good rates also but requires你you pass 500 units before bulk discounts apply. And Awkward Styles starts more premium priced as the tradeoff for advanced cut & sew production.
Selling 500 Units Monthly
Once your sales volume climbs and sustainability is more certain, Gelato becomes extremely competitive:
- Gelato Hoodie @ $9 base + $15 margin = $24 retail
- Printful Hoodie @ $17 base + $6 margin = $23 retail
- Printify Hoodie @ $18 base + $4.95 margin = $22.95 retail
- Awkward Styles Hoodie @ $22 base + $8 margin = $30 retail
Here Gelato’s hoodie pricing drops over 25% unlocking ability to price lower or capture more profitability on comparable retail pricing.
Printify and Printful maintain their positive margins, but cost structures put ceilings on potential markup size. However some sellers may prefer slightly lower margins but far less execution responsibility.
Selling 2,500+ Units Monthly
At mid-4-figure order volumes, Gelato pulls ahead significantly:
- Gelato Hoodie @ $5 base + $15 margin = $20 retail
- Printful Hoodie @ $17 base + $6 margin = $23 retail
- Printify Hoodie @ $18 base + $4.95 margin = $22.95 retail
- Awkward Styles Hoodie @ $22 base + $8 margin = $30 retail
Here Gelato’s bulk discounts drive hoodie production costs down to only $5, enabling $15 margins and highly competitive $20 pricing.
Very few Etsy print-on-demand sellers will reach this level, but the cost efficiencies are incredible for those that do.
Managing Customer Issues
One common pain point cited by sellers across POD platforms is mediocre customer service when issues arise…
13% of negative Printify reviews on TrustPilot cite customer support specifically and TakePrintify cites “friendly but unreliable support” as the #1 complaint.
Printful has better aggregate ratings but still faces criticism around order inaccuracies and vague tracking updates during delays.
And Gelato buyer frustrations typically center around unwelcome design revisions and mockups not matching final products.
Since print-on-demand means entrusting fulfillment and infrastructure to an outside company, lack of control and accountability over support problems definitely stings.
In my experience, the best approach is setting crystal clear expectations with buyers upfront around production variances and realistic delivery timelines.
Proactively communicating goes a very long way towards preventing after-sale issues, or at least mitigating frustration when hiccups do (inevitably) occur.
It’s also smart padding production time estimates on listings an extra few days to buffer unforeseen delays. While most POD orders ship reasonably fast, building in some slack prevents most late shipment criticisms.
And anytime possible, offer sympathy refunds or discounts if buyers have totally valid issues. Losing a few dollars maintains positive shop reviews versus needlessly losing a customer over strict policies.
Preparing Artwork Properly
To prevent print quality problems ruining customers’ first impressions, take great care properly preparing your source artwork…
Always follow your POD provider’s individual specifications guide. But some universal best practices include:
Resolution – Use 300dpi+ images with zero pixelation or compression artifacts
Color Mode – Convert to CMYK color space avoiding RGB/HEX values
Dimensions – Size to exact print area needed for each product type
Bleed Area – Expand images beyond visible region to avoid white margins
Text – Vectorize fonts to define crisp letterforms without rasterization
Effects – Flatten layers and simplify filters causing rendering confusion
Preview – Order $1 test samples frequently to confirm results
Additionally, develop very structured file naming conventions and local backups to avoid losing important source images unexpectedly. scramble to locate backups.
While most POD technology can compensate for minor issues these days, putting extra diligence into artwork preparation eliminates so many potential printing headaches.
Packaging & Unboxing
With print-on-demand relying so heavily on external providers to represent your brand, finding opportunities to inject your identity offers big value.
An often overlooked way to do this is upgrading packaging + inserts to enhance the all-important unboxing experience.
For only $.50-1 per order, Printful lets you fully customize packet contents like:
🎁 Branded packaging tape
🎁 Custom tissue paper
🎁 Stickers with your logo
🎁 Handwritten notes
🎁 Coupon codes for returning buyers
🎁 Creative artwork inserts
These affordable touches make opening the delivery feel like an event rather than just transactional commerce. It drives excitement to share on social media and genuinely delights customers.
So besides focusing only on the external print aesthetics, consider the entire end-to-end experience holding your merchandise. It lets you convey brand personality at relatively little production cost.
Driving More Sales
Beyond great branding and product listings, there are some easy-to-implement store enhancements that can increase conversion rates:
Social Proof
Using an app like Loox makes it simple to showcase genuine buyer photos and ravings right on product pages.
Displaying happy customers helps convince website visitors through peer reinforcement. Loox offers a free plan for basic functionality, with the paid Premium tier providing advanced analytics.
Urgency
Countdown timers and stock level indicators are proven to inspire action by instilling limited-time fear of missing out.
Apps like Privy make scarcity building easy with customizable design widgets promoting expiring sales and low inventory warnings. This senses of exclusivity frequently convinces fence-sitters.
Reviews
Positive ratings and written reviews boost credibility for any online business. Yet many sellers overlook enabling ratings on Etsy.
Apps like Judge.me add review collection forms to your store so new buyers can quickly browse satisfaction levels. The app is free and also lets you provide incentives for leaving detailed feedback.
Combined these inexpensive plugins and apps provide conversion lift at minimal hassle.
Advertising Opportunities
While most sellers focus heavily on organic Etsy search visibility, expanding into paid channels offers accretive growth:
Facebook & Instagram
- Laser target interested buyer personas based on groups, interests and behaviors
- Broad campaign scale potential reaching 700M+ daily users
- Easy ROAS tracking with clear attribution
- Themed content feeds align perfectly with print novelty and apparel
- Products feel “discovered” matching Pinterest’s X-factor
- Low CPC rates stretching budgets
Google Shopping
- Centralized product listings reaching searchers on multiple Google properties
- Feeds seamlesslyflow into standard text/image Google Ads
- Bulk rate assistance from POD providers
Amazon
- Massive product search volume and conversions
- Cross-listing allows easy mirrored Etsy listings
- Increasing ads support for individual sellers
I recommend testing each channel in small budget pools first, evaluating performance over ~30 days before gradually allocating more spend.
Final Thoughts
I sincerely this expanded perspective on maximizing an Etsy print-on-demand business covered helpful ground beyond just service provider comparisons.
Optimizing each aspect from product preparation to customer packaging, reviews, promotions and even external advertising combines to build a polished operation poised for profits.
Please drop any other questions below in the comments section!
