If you want to start a dropshipping store but also love custom products, there’s a business model suitable for you. It’s print on demand dropshipping. Nowadays, more people love to use customized products, as these products show their personality and uniqueness. They like to have their favorite quotes printed on their shirts, or their favorite characters, their favorite pets on their jackets.
Print on demand dropshipping is surely a profitable and promising business that anyone can consider jumping in. So to help you have a deeper understanding of this online business model, we have enclosed here the very basic knowledge and how you can start a successful print on demand dropshipping store. Now, let’s go!
What is print on demand dropshipping?
Print on demand dropshipping is a branch of dropshipping. So basically, it works the same as dropshipping in general. But with this model, you will not sell ready-made products like normal but will customize white label products with your own design. As the products are made with your designs, you can sell these products under your brand or upon orders. That means you can brand your store better.
Some common products for print on demand dropshipping are t-shirts, aprons, mugs, luggage tags, art, and so many more.
How to start a print on demand dropshipping business
Building a print on demand dropshipping business is simple. Just like dropshipping, you don’t have to order in bulk or need a big capital to begin. But there are still challenges that you need to overcome. For better preparation for your start-up, you can refer to the below tips before starting.
1. Choose your niche
First things first, you need to decide your niche. You don’t target everyone for sure. You need to narrow down your audience so that it fits with your business capacity and business goal. Identifying your target audience will help you have a clear view of how you will design your products, how you do marketing, and so on.
Think about who you will sell your products to, what they like, what their problem is, and how your products can change their lives. After choosing your niche, it will be much easier for you to think of your designs, your advertising strategies to attract your customers and boost your sales.
2. Create product mockups to present
For print on demand dropshipping, you will customize the products. So it’s important to present to your customers how your products would look like. And here’s when mockups are needed.
You can help bring your products to real-life by mockups so that your customers have a better experience when they shop with you. With good pictures and videos, people will be more convinced to buy the products from you.
3. Test order
It’s really important to test your products before selling them to your customers, especially with print on demand dropshipping. Make sure that all your shirts or mugs are of good quality, well designed, well packaged when they are delivered to your customers. Otherwise, with just one poor quality product then your business will fail.
You can carefully verify the product quality by test order, which means you order like a real customer to see how your products look like when they reach your customers. Furthermore, when you have your products in your hand, it’s easier to market or take good product photos of them and put them on your website.
4. Handle Shipping as a Professional
Though you will not handle shipping directly but will rely on your dropshipping agent, you still need to keep an eye on the process to make sure everything is in order. Remember to make it clear with your agent about the shipping time and method. As you will be the one who communicates or informs your customers of the shipping details. If anything goes wrong, you still are responsible.
So it’s best to be clear with your customers as well. Try to meet or even do better than their expectation by setting reasonable standards. Your customers will feel better if they know in advance that their orders will arrive in two weeks. If the products are shipped just two days earlier, they will even more appreciate.
But if they have no idea about the shipping time, then they might get angry and complain about your store. It’s recommended to update your customers about the shipping process constantly. You can put the shipping information on your website, your page, or send your customers an automatic email after they order. Try to draw out a plan to handle shipping and customer care in a professional manner. And that will reduce most of your problems with shipping.
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