Are you tired of dealing with low-profit margins and heavy competition in your POD business?
You are definitely not alone!
The interest in print-on-demand business models rose tremendously during and post-covid. It’s a simple and convenient business model with limited barriers to entry. But with limited barriers come excessive competition.
Every competitive business niche requires clever strategies to outsmart the competition. This article covers the tried-and-tested solutions to the four most common challenges in niche print-on-demand business.
#1 Selecting A Reliable Print-On-Demand Supplier
Selecting a niche is difficult. But simply choosing a POD niche with growth potential isn’t enough. It follows the struggle of choosing a reliable POD service provider. Capturing a niche market requires quality combined with exceptional customer service. While some POD suppliers don’t match the product expectations, others fail to provide quick deliveries.
The primary requirement remains intact in producing and delivering quality products.
Word of advice: Start slow, no matter how inclined you are towards adding many products to your eCommerce store. Expand slowly after evaluating the current progress.
Now, why is it essential? Because different products require varied suppliers to handle the orders. You might get excellent custom printed t-shirts from one while quality yoga leggings from others. When exploring your options, keep the products limited in the initial stages to provide the best quality. Switching suppliers every few weeks will hinder your entire functioning.
Let’s now look at the core areas of focus while choosing print-on-demand suppliers:
Order Samples For Testing Quality
Some POD businesses place orders in bulk to have an edge by providing quicker deliveries. While customers love receiving orders within four days, poor quality will disappoint them. You will deal with product returns and the excessive burden of cost. Instead of disappointing multiple customers at once, order samples to evaluate quality.
Quick Order Fulfillment
While experimenting with different suppliers, identify the time taken in production after order placement. Also, focus on the location where the orders ship from. It will help you estimate the time according to your customer segments’ areas.
The time taken by each supplier varies on different factors. For instance, POD service provider Qikink guarantees 95% of dispatches within 2-3 days. Furthermore, your orders reach your customers within 4-6 days.
Lastly, always discuss the standard shipping times and rates to avoid delays.
Printing Techniques From Print On Demand Business
Your carefully made aesthetic designs require the proper printing technique. Many designs require specialized printing techniques to avoid creases. Identifying whether your POD service provider uses the appropriate printing technique is crucial.
Qikink caters to all your printing needs by providing many printing techniques. Some methods of custom printing provided by Qikink include DTG, sublimation, UV printing, Vinyl printing, 3D printing, embroidery, and more. The platform covers you even if your USP revolves around providing eco-friendly products. Its eco-solvent printing method uses non-toxic, renewable components.
#2 Low-Profit Margins
Print-on-demand businesses often have lower profit margins due to high printing costs and excessive competition. Investing in costly printing techniques becomes essential to produce quality products. However, some platforms like Qikink offer quality products at the lowest pricing possible, which increases your profit margins.
You can also increase your revenue generation using the following tactics:
Invest In Content Marketing
No one likes the idea of sales content thrown in their face at all times. Every excellent brand focuses on selling an experience instead of a product. Grow your profits rapidly by providing knowledge about your niche Print On Demand business’s core and exciting areas.
For example, create videos targeting foot-related challenges instead of generalized sneaker promotion. Next, emphasize the material used by you to solve the problems. The idea is to focus on creating content that resonates with the users.
Let’s say your brand focuses on delivering eco-friendly products in another scenario. Promote the idea of saving the environment through a vlog.
Takeaway Tips:
- Use the right platforms or social channels to promote ideas. Also, focus on maintaining consistency in all channels.
- Provide the right incentives to your current customers for sharing their experiences. Next, promote these experiences to develop credibility and attract new customers.
Focus On Product Diversification In POD
Can you introduce another product complementary to your current products?
For example, you focus on selling embroidered tote bags. How about introducing scarves to style along with it?
Browsing through eCommerce websites will help you understand products people purchase together, even with no initial buying plan.
How to begin: Start by conducting market research to identify product types people purchase together. Next, focus on searching for print on demand suppliers providing quality products. Order samples and evaluate the quality before producing designs.
Invest In Google Dynamic Search Ads
Google dynamic search ads help run highly targeted ad campaigns. Google crawls the website to identify areas that match specific search queries. It increases the chances of identifying users searching for products in your niche. An added personalized touch helps initiate quick actions from ideal prospects. Therefore, reaching your ideal prospects eventually increases profitability.
Niche-specific businesses benefit highly from this investment. Instead of a generalized audience, you come across people searching specifically for your products. It works well in filling gaps in your keyword campaigns.
Take the following steps before running a dynamic search ad:
- Improve your website, as the quality of your website content determines your ad strength.
- Invest time in creating relevant ad descriptions resonation with your target audience.
- Focus on creating a responsive web design to accommodate mobile users.
- Conduct a website audit to ensure all areas are easily accessible by search engines.
- Businesses targeting multiple languages must run various single-language campaigns.
Choosing a competitive print-on-demand niche has its own drawbacks. Finding ways to make your products stand out becomes crucial. Competing with brands in the niche for decades isn’t easy. But here are two core areas of focus that help develop a profitable niche POD business:
#3 Heavy Niche Print On Demand Business Competition
Selecting the right niche is extremely important for the success of your online selling business. It can help you identify your target audience, plan your marketing strategies, and decide on the products that you want to offer. In short, the niche you choose will have a major impact on how well your business performs.
Competitor Analysis: Benefiting From Your Competitors Weak Points
Devising strategies from your competitors’ weak areas will help you design products that sell. Firstly, focus on the value they provide to the target prospects. Secondly, analyze the strategies used by them to attract specific customer segments. Diving into their unique strategies helps reveal the opportunities they are yet to conquer.
And guess what? These are the opportunities that help conquer a specific niche.
- Targeted products
- Unique offerings
- Value-based factors
- Shortcomings and challenges
- Marketing campaigns and targeted channels
- Current market positioning
Cover the following in your competitor research:
Your competitor X focuses on providing unique designs and quality that stand out. But order fulfillment takes around 12 days. Can you provide quality products within a shorter duration? Remember that every customer waits impatiently for the product to deliver post-order placement. Shorter delivery times become the edge you put in front of your prospects.
Let’s take an example to understand having the edge over your competitors.
In another scenario, let’s say you specialize in providing custom-designed marvel fandom t-shirts. Now you analyze the businesses targeting the marvel fandom.
What if they are just providing t-shirts, but you also offer free marvel-centered bookmarks?
We all love receiving free goodies that interest us. It will help capture instant attention and drive in orders.
Businesses in your niche are selling highly similar products. But every brand has a unique identity that helps perceive target prospects’ notions. The way you talk to your ideal customers can make all the difference.
Brand Identity: Finding Your Unique Way Of Audience Communication
The focus of brand voice: driving your customers to you.
For example, a print-on-demand brand targeting sitcoms can use funny dialogues in their content. What office fan doesn’t respond to “that’s what she said”? They all do. Whether you need a humorous or sophisticated brand voice depends on your target niche and ideal customer base. A younger audience will likely respond better to humor.
Final Call: Put your unique brand identity before your ideal prospects after defining it. The channel of promotion based on target prospects remains crucial. For instance, using Instagram to promote quirky t-shirts remains a perfect choice. Identify the channels used by your customer segments to make the most of your promotional efforts.
We understand the urge you have to add as many products as possible. From T-Shirts to shoes to bags, you want your custom designs on everything. However, choosing the right products require careful analysis in your niche pod business.
#4 Selecting The Right Products In Print On Demand Business
As we have already covered competitor analysis, let’s look at some trendy print-on-demand products you can consider:
Graphic T-Shirts
The graphic t-shirt market has grown tremendously in the last few years. Look at the results derived from a simple google search, “purchase graphic T-Shirts.”
Notice how the aesthetic designs stand out. Conduct a google search to get design ideas and create even better products.
Tote Bags
Custom tote bags are an excellent option for providing a practical fashion accessory. It has replaced plastic bags and has become a necessity for most women. The varieties you can provide in this product are endless. Take a look at the many refined suggestions for custom tote bags.
Posters
People love improving their room’s appearance using posters. Motivational posters remain one of the top choices for rooms. After all, who doesn’t like waking up to positive vibes?
Another great idea is to target fandoms and create custom posters. People are willing to spend money on posters targeting their favorite movies, series, etc.
Look at the enticing harry potter posters you can find with a straightforward search. The younger audience will likely take action (in this example, even the older generation).
All-Over Print T-Shirts
How often do you come across All-over print T-Shirts worn by celebrities all over Instagram?
It gives you room for creativity as the options for printing are endless. Look at the following designs covering poets, singers to movie characters.
With famous personalities adding to the trend, targeting this product will help you increase profitability. When you work on creating enticing designs, you can charge as high as you want. People following the trend will purchase if the design captures their eyes.
Additional Tip: Users are heavily inclined toward psychedelic themes and products with bright color combinations.
Developing a profitable print-on-demand business requires focusing on multiple aspects. However, choosing a reliable POD service can save you three out of four problems.
Conclusion
Qikink helps you select from India’s most extensive product range with multiple printing options satisfying all your requirements. Low pricing and increased emphasis on quick deliveries provide an exceptional user experience. Moreover, it integrates easily with platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify to help you run your store at ease.
With over 10+ years of experience in the industry, Our founder has dedicated his career to helping brands achieve exponential growth through innovative print-on-demand solutions.
