Print on demand (POD) is a booming industry that allows anyone to create and sell their own custom products online. Whether you want to design t-shirts, mugs, art prints, or anything else, POD gives you the freedom and flexibility to express your creativity and make money from it.
But how do you succeed in this competitive and fast-changing market? How do you stand out from the crowd and attract loyal customers? How do you scale your business and grow your profits?
In this blog post, I will share with you my story of how I achieved print on demand success in 2024. I will reveal the strategies and tools that I used to build my brand, optimize my store, and market my products. I will also give you some tips and tricks that you can apply to your own POD business.
My name is Abedo and I am the founder of MerchBrandy, a print on demand store that sells geeky and artsy clothing and accessories. I started my POD journey in 2020, when I was looking for a way to make some extra income online. I had a passion for graphic design and a knack for creating catchy slogans and logos. I decided to give POD a try and see if I could turn my hobby into a business.
I did some research and found out that POD was a growing and profitable industry. According to Printful, one of the leading POD platforms, the global POD market was valued at $5.397 billion in 2022 and was projected to reach $39.035 billion by 2031¹. That's a compound annual growth rate of approximately 26.2%!
I was amazed by these numbers and decided to jump on the opportunity. I signed up for Printful and connected it to my Shopify store. I chose Printful because it offered high-quality products, fast and reliable fulfillment, and white-label branding. This meant that I could create my own branded products and have them shipped directly to my customers, without having to worry about inventory, printing, or shipping.
I started by creating a few designs for t-shirts, hoodies, and hats. I used Photoshop and Canva to create my graphics and text. I wanted to target a niche audience of geeks and creatives who shared my interests and style. I came up with some clever and catchy phrases and logos that reflected my personality and passion.
I uploaded my designs to Printful and added them to my Shopify store. I set my own prices and profit margins. I also wrote catchy product descriptions and added relevant keywords and tags to optimize my SEO. I wanted to make sure that my products would rank well on Google and other search engines.
I launched my store in January 2021 and waited for the sales to roll in. But to my disappointment, nothing happened. I realized that I had made a common mistake: I had focused too much on creating my products and not enough on marketing them.
I learned that having a great product was not enough. I needed to get the word out about my store and drive traffic to it. I needed to find my target audience and convince them to buy from me. I needed to build trust and loyalty with my customers and turn them into repeat buyers and brand advocates.
By the end of 2022, I had made over $90,000 in revenue and over $42,000 in profit. I was thrilled by my results and decided to scale up my business. I added more products and designs to my store, expanded to new markets and regions, and hired a virtual assistant to help me with some tasks. I also invested more in marketing and advertising to reach more customers and increase my sales.
In 2023, I achieved print on demand success. I made over $120,000 in revenue and over $69,000 in profit. I had over 10,000 customers and over 20,000 followers on social media. I had a loyal and engaged fan base who loved my brand and products. I had a strong and sustainable POD business that gave me freedom, flexibility, and fulfillment.
I hope you enjoyed reading my story and learned something from it. If you want to start your own print on demand business, I highly recommend you to check out Printful and Shopify. They are the best platforms for POD and ecommerce, and they will help you create and sell your own custom products online.
If you want to see my products and designs, you can visit my new store at MerchBrandy². You can also follow me on social media and subscribe to my newsletter for more tips and tricks on POD and ecommerce.
Thank you for reading and happy selling!