Common Mistakes to Watch Out for in Print-on-Demand Business: A Guide for Entrepreneurs

Common Mistakes to Watch Out for in Print-on-Demand Business: A Guide for Entrepreneurs

Problem: Do you lack ideas on how to increase your Print on Demand (POD) store?

Everyone would agree that beginning a POD business is wonderful; however, it is not without its drawbacks. Regardless of whether you’re selling t-shirts, mugs, art prints, or other products, there are many barriers that most entrepreneurs will not be able to overcome to maximise sales and profits.

Unfortunately, there are some distinct mistakes that people make in the POD industry; that’s why we have to know them. This newsletter explains all these pitfalls and how you can avoid them. Let’s consider some more specific and practical cases to study; emphasise data analysis to develop your business.

Mistake 1: Choosing the Wrong Niche:

We sometimes try to sell ourselves to as many people as possible, and this is never a successful strategy. Another big lie is the belief that the wider the audience, the more product sales will be. But it can water down your brand’s messaging and leave you hidden amongst the crowd.

Case Study:

In the year 2019, a POD businessman launched a shop with general designs for various niches. From humorous statements printed on t-shirts to vague pictures painted on phone covers, the store attempted to capture as many trends as possible. However, the result was underwhelming: They were only able to attract 2% of the target after six months filled with ads and promotions.

The issue? Lack of niche focus. One major problem was that there was no specific target market to sell the products to, and thus the designs would not speak to the users in a meaningful way. Therefore, after the entrepreneur changed to a specific one (t-shirts with images of different products that are friendly to the environment), the business got 15 % higher engagement and 10% higher conversion rates.

Solution:

Don’t target the entire population since not everyone will have an interest in whatever business you are starting. The former enables you to reach out to a target group, which, in this case, identifies with your brand and its ideals. The market will be less crowded and more targeted, so your marketing initiatives are likely to yield a higher rate of returns.

Mistake 2: Lack of good quality designs and lack of good quality products:

It is established that POD firms depend on designs and product areas. The most important of all factors is that even if you are successful in marketing your product, it will be difficult to market to the same customers again if the product that you sold to the customers is not providing satisfaction to your customers. Print Full conducted a study in 2021 and realized that 72% of POD customers rely on product quality and design originality when making repeat purchases.

Case Study:

A POD company specializing in selling customized art posters gradually started experiencing low sales even after a small initial rush. As the following customer reviews indicated when they said these designs were so good, but the prints could hardly come out, colors inevitably washed out quickly, and sometimes, the prints looked more pixelated than they would have liked. Therefore, the store has its regular order of repeat business cut by a third within six months.

Solution:

Do not neglect the quality of the product. Make time and invest in creating specialized, superior-quality, and inimitable products. Suppliers should be tested before you commit to them and warrant that your printer of choice lays down certain quality control measures. It’s easier to sell products to a customer who has had a good experience with your company’s products and has recommended others to do the same.

3. Overlooking Profit Margins:

Here, one of the biggest mistakes that POD entrepreneurs are ready to make is underestimation of costs. Okay, you are right, POD appears not to be an excessively expensive business model, but if you do not pay specific attention to your selling prices, you may make just slightly above your costs—or even below.

Fact:

A study amongst POD companies by Shopify found that more than 60% of business owners identified calculating profit margin as one of the most difficult tasks of their business. Printed products’ base costs, printing prices, shipping, and transaction fees mean that thinning profit margins are easily done.

Case Study:

An aspiring entrepreneur started selling t-shirts at $20, still believing that he had a good enough margin. Yet, adding up the base cost of $12 for the shirt and the $3 shipping charges as well as a 3% fee charged by the transaction platform, the shirts usually generated only $2.60 in profit for them. Worse still, after incurring the costs of paid ads in a bid to entice traffic, the entrepreneur was earning a loss for every sale made.

Solution:

When determining your profit margins, be also smart. This is why, when setting your prices, you need to include every other expense, which consists of production cost, freight cost, platform charges, and advertisement cost. To gain a better understanding of your actual profits, use Shopify’s Profit Margin Calculator, for example. Ideally, target a 30–50% margin because that is what will allow you to grow your business.

Mistake 4: Poor Customer Service

As any business goes head to head with its competitors on the internet, one will discover that customer service is crucial. A bad word on your product or an unresolved complaint from customers will deter others, "Grossman." Zendesk also notes that customer retention rises to an 84% likelihood of making another purchase from a business with fantastic customer service.

Case Study:

During the holidays last year, a POD business on Etsy saw business booms, which presented a problem with addressing customer questions regarding shipping and product concerns. Consequently, it received many complaints from customers and lost 25 % of its sales in the subsequent months due to the loss of reputation.

Solution:

The first rule of successful customer relations management will be to always offer the best customer service from the onset. This includes instant replies to inquiries, realistic information about shipping durations, and a concise return policy statement. Some elements of customer relationships may be outsourced for bots’ assistance, but always address more detailed cases individually to build customer trust.

Mistake 5: Neglecting Marketing and SEO

For POD businesses, social selling is typically done on assisting platforms, such as Etsy or Redbubble. That being said, depending on these platforms without guiding marketing or SEO strategy in place would point your growth in the wrong direction. In their e-commerce drop shipping POD, Oberlo reveals that over 90% of businesses that scale, invest in digital marketing and enable their online stores for SEO.

Case Study:

Specific examples include a POD business that launched a range of typography-based designs that had a great performance on Redbubble initially. However, the sales failed to pick up after three months of effective market exposure, as implied in the initial increased market demand. Essentially, the store had no external marketing plan at the time of the analysis, and most of the products included in the store did not have SEO optimization. If a business owner thought about his or her competitors, he or she found that they ran Facebook and Google ads and used keywords in various descriptions and titles of a product. With the results of their SEO and advertisements, the store doubled its amount of traffic within the first 2 months.

Solution:

Always remember marketing, and especially SEO. There is a need to come up with a marketing plan, which could consist of email marketing and social media marketing. Incorporate methods into your product title and descriptions after understanding relevant keywords for enhanced search results, not just on Etsy or Redbubble but on Google as well.

Mistake 6: Excluding Shipping and Delivery Times

This seems to be a big issue in a POD business since you don’t know the duration it may take to have your received item shipped to you if your supplier is in a different country. However, the effects of long delivery times are something businesses can ill afford: dissatisfied customers and low ratings. Statista reveals that 56% of consumers note that they will reject an online purchase over the cost of shipment and delivery time.

Case Study:

A POD brand that specializes in apparel was receiving many complaints from its customers because the delivery of products took between three and four weeks. The firm used a supplier located in Asia, and it failed to explain the estimated shipping time to its clients. Hence they observed increased cancellation of orders and negative feedback by 20%.

Solution:

Explain your shipping time right from the time you launch your online store. If your products are slow to ‘arrive’, then provide your customers with an email update and try to switch to a cheaper, faster shipping method, even if it only gives you smaller margins. You can also provide express delivery at a cost to other customers who want their orders as soon as possible.

Mistake 7: Not Analysing Data & Metrics

A common problem with many POD business owners is that they slave away on design and product sales while not paying much attention to the numbers. This can result in ineffective ad spend, wrong customer segmentation, and a lack of proper certified growth. According to Shopify’s 2023 State of Commerce report, the companies that are doing a monthly or weekly audit of metrics and are adjusting their approach consequently are 25% more successful than the ones that don’t.

Case Study:

A new POD store tried Facebook ads, and by running the ad, they didn’t frequently check the performance data. The owner later realized that 60 percent of his advertising spending was targeting the wrong demographics. With the help of adjustments regarding targeting and selecting the best-performing audiences, ad cost was reduced by 40% while conversion rates improved by 40%.

Solution:

This way you’ll be able to see what strategies are bringing in more traffic, which ads produce better results, and which sales techniques are more effective. You should make an effort to utilize analytical tools such as Google Analytics or analytics tools for each platform and use them to come up with better marketing strategies, get to know your customers better, and therefore increase a marketer’s ROI.

Conclusion

Staying clear of these mistakes will assist you in attaining a successful and sustainable print-on-demand business. Take care with your niche selection, keep quality a priority, be careful with your margins, and ensure that you provide excellent customer service. Don’t ignore marketing, and never lose sight of data.

You can follow other people’s misfortune and avoid similar scenarios, which will help you reach success in the long run. The POD business can indeed be saturated, but you have to know how to compete and grow your business.




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