Throughout the human historical timeline, ways of doing business have never stopped changing, from goods exchange, and money transactions, to online business.
The invention of the e-commerce business helps thousands of people start their own merchandise without worrying about physical limitations like inventories and rented stores.
Along with that, print on demand eCommerce is a subset of the e-commerce business and becomes more and more common as it’s easy to start and best for limited capital.
However, to commence with POD business, you’ll need to create an online store on either a print on demand eCommerce platform or an online marketplace to integrate it with your favorite printing company.
Print on demand eCommerce platforms
Description of print on demand eCommerce platforms
First and foremost, an eCommerce platform is a multi-party, end-to-end software tool that allows both merchants and buyers to participate. Some examples of these services are e-commerce website builders, accounting and inventory management systems, and customer support.
Moreover, a consumer may use an eCommerce platform to find things, add them to a cart, and then check out.
Besides, when comes to the term on-demand printing, a print on demand eCommerce platform will take customers as online sellers. Their service allows you to build an online store, connect it to your printing company, and start selling your custom products.
To help you pick the most appropriate printing service, we adequately described the 5 best POD companies that are worth working with.
The 4 top-rated print on demand eCommerce platforms
Shopify
Shopify is one of the most famous e-commerce platforms.
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows users to create online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Its goal is to provide merchants with the tools they need to establish, market, and manage e-commerce, and it works in the background.
Thus, Shopify will be an ideal choice for your print on demand eCommerce business as most printing companies on all scales nowadays integrate with Shopify such as Printful, Printify, and Zazzle.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free eCommerce platform that makes it simple to sell goods and services online.
WooCommerce is well-known for its affordable price, customization ability, and fantastic e-commerce features.
Furthermore, WooCommerce also has a theme store with over 1000 themes and designs. You can get a beautiful and robust store up and running for about $20-$100.
After creating an eye-catching store, you can confidently connect it to the printing service you choose to get your products fulfilled.
Wix
Wix is a cloud-based website builder.
Certainly, most of you have heard of Wix – a website builder. Its user-friendly drag-and-drop site builder tools and over 500 ready-made templates allow you to create a website without needing to hire a web developer or having professional skills.
Additionally, Wix speeds up the web building process and gives you creative control over the design of your website.
In a nutshell, Wix will be a great print on demand eCommerce platform for small and medium enterprises as it’s simple to use, customizable, and reasonably priced.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce enables business owners to create an online store and sell their products on the internet.
Another famous print on demand eCommerce platform is BigCommerce. It’s an online store builder that supports tens of thousands of online entrepreneurs in over 150 countries.
Besides, BigCommerce enables you to add products, post photographs, handle orders, create pages, and more all on your own. You may also use their drag and drop panels to construct your online store.
Additionally, they also collaborate with common print-on-demand companies like Printify, Printful, and CustomCat.
Print on demand eCommerce marketplaces
Description of print on demand eCommerce marketplaces
An online marketplace is an eCommerce site or app that allows customers to shop from a variety of vendors.
Besides, the operator of the marketplace won’t own any inventory. Instead, their role is to display customers other people’s goods and facilitate transactions. That’s why lots of eCommerce businesses choose online marketplaces for trading their print-on-demand products to minimize the inventory pressure.
Now we will list for you some print on demand eCommerce marketplaces providing top-notch services
The 3 best print on demand marketplaces
Etsy
Etsy is a global online marketplace where people can create, sell, and buy items.
Etsy is a marketplace where e-merchants can register for online stores and share selling space with others.
Besides, with Etsy, you will mainly focus your efforts on product development, customer retention, and promotion. They also offer you a low cost so that you can start a new Etsy store without spending any money.
Meanwhile, Etsy still lacks the ability to manage your store, and grow and scale your brand.
eBay
eBay is a popular online shopping site known for its auctions.
If you choose Printful as your print-on-demand provider, you’ll easily find eBay in their suggestions about e-commerce integrations.
eBay is a popular online shopping site known for its auctions and consumer-to-consumer sales. It is also widely used as a sales channel by online merchants. Thus, you can quickly set up your online store on eBay and link it to the printing company’s website to start vending.
Furthermore, eBay is available in different countries so you won’t worry about overseas orders and shipments.
Amazon
Amazon is one of the biggest e-commerce retailers in the international marketplace.
Undoubtedly, Amazon is one of the biggest e-commerce retailers in the international marketplace. Thousands of sellers create their stores and sell products via this eCommerce site because of its enormous customer base.
However, it’s not easy to open a new store on Amazon and it only integrates with a few POD suppliers such as Printful, Shirtee, Merchize, Gearment, and Merch by Amazon. That’s an important factor that you should take into serious consideration.
Print on demand eCommerce platforms versus Print on demand marketplaces
The path you choose may have a big influence on your brand’s identity and growth plan, as well as practical implications (especially when it comes to payments).
The tip is that you should focus on your business requirements and each POD site’s strengths to pick the best solution for your print on demand eCommerce business.
You should focus on your business requirements.
To give you a brief note,
- Shopify, Squarespace, and WooCommerce are great options for small businesses that need a quick store setup.
- Magento and BigCommerce are suited for larger businesses with high order volumes.
- Wix or HubSpot offers drag-and-drop functionality for store owners with little to no coding experience.
- Etsy’s consumers exceptionally prefer unique and custom design products.
Final thoughts on print on demand eCommerce platforms and marketplaces
To sum up, the goal of print on demand eCommerce and online marketplaces is the same; that’s to sell products to customers. Both assist you with powerful tools to set up your store and integrate it with the POD provider.
After finishing store setup, you can look for some tips for starting a print on demand eCommerce to conduct a successful business from Shopify.