If you are thinking about starting an online business or looking for ways to expand an existing one, consider print-on-demand services. Whether you want to find new ways to promote your brand or satisfy customer demand for unique, custom products, there are many ways print-on-demand services can benefit your online business.

1. Sell Customized Products

There are thousands of places customers can purchase t-shirts, hats, hoodies, pens, cups, and other items. With so much competition, it is difficult for new sellers to enter the market. However, print-on-demand makes it possible for anyone to sell unique items that customers can’t find anywhere else.

With print-on-demand, you can design your own artwork, or purchase artwork from professional artists and use it to create a wide variety of customized products. You can also allow your customers to create their own designs. Advancements in printing technology, such as pad printers, have made this process faster and more cost-effective than ever.

2. Easy To Set Up

Print-on-demand stores are easy to set up. You can build your own e-commerce platform, or use an existing service, such as Shopify or Etsy to sell your products. You may also be able to sell directly on the site of some print-on-demand providers.

Once you have an account set up with a print-on-demand service, you just need to upload your artwork and select the products you want to sell. With most services, you can link directly from your seller platform to the print-on-demand service, so that orders go directly to and are shipped from the printer. There is no need to purchase inventory and keep it on hand.

3. Promote Your Own Brand

Print-on-demand makes it easy to print t-shirts, keychains, mousepads, pens, and other items with your company name and logo on them. Hand these promotional items out at community events and tradeshows to promote your business or make them giveaway items on your online store or social media accounts. You can even include one of your promotional items as a freebie with orders so that your customers become advocates for your business.

4. Grow Your Business

A print-on-demand business is easy to scale up. Once you have your artwork created you can print it on just one item or hundreds of items. This gives you the freedom to either focus on one particular niche of products or focus on promoting your artwork on a variety of products. You can easily add new products and remove products that aren’t selling at any time.

5. Fast Turnaround

Many traditional dropshipping businesses rely on products shipped from China which can result in significant customer wait times. Additionally, the cost of selling these products can fluctuate wildly with shipping prices. Print-on-demand orders can often be filled on the same day and most customers can expect to receive their product within a week. Customers don’t like to wait for merchandise, so this faster turnaround time can give you a competitive advantage.

6. Never Run Out of Inventory

Print-on-demand vendors keep high volumes of most items in stock at all times, so you don’t have to worry about products being sold out or back-ordered. This is particularly important during busy sales times, such as the Christmas holidays. By contrast, relying on a traditional drop shipper can leave you waiting around for new inventory to arrive, which may cost you sales and repeat customers.

7. Quality

Print-on-demand services offer high-quality products with high-quality printing. These products can match up with the quality of anything you might find in a traditional retail store. Your customers will never have to worry about receiving something that looks like it was made by an amateur.

8. Low Cost of Entry

Selling traditional products requires a large upfront investment in inventory. You can sell print-on-demand products with very little upfront investment. This gives you the chance to try out different designs, hone your marketing skills and grow your business without having to worry about having a garage full of unsold inventory.

9. No Fulfillment or Shipping Hassles

Because products are shipped directly from the printer to your customers, you don’t have to worry about packing and shipping items. This allows you to focus on the parts of your business that make your business unique. Instead of spending your time dealing with logistics, you can be creating artwork and promoting your business.

10. Cost-Effective Design Services

What if you don’t have any artistic talent? Even if you’re not an artist, you can benefit from print-on-demand services. Most services have a team of professional designers you can utilize at cost-effective prices. All you have to do is come up with the ideas and let the pros create artwork that is ready to be printed on your products.

11. High-Tech Printing

If you are thinking of print-on-demand services being like those screen printed t-shirt operations you used to see in the mall, you have the wrong idea. New technology, such as pad printing equipment, has eliminated the need to use bulky, messy, outdated technology to print products.

New technologies make it possible to print on almost anything, so you aren’t restricted to just selling t-shirts. Most print-on-demand services are constantly expanding their product offers and they take care of maintaining and upgrading the equipment.

Print-on-demand services are a great way for small business owners to start an online business with low overhead and few barriers to entry. They also make it easy for small businesses in any industry to find creative ways to promote their business with promotional products.