How To Build Print-On-Demand Shopify Store From The Ground Up
Table of Contents
Most people start their e-commerce journey with print-on-demand. The reason is simple. It is easy to into with low up-front cost and low risk.
To build your own print-on-demand store, Shopify is a great option. Shopify has been one of the top choices for e-commerce because it is easy to use and reliable. In this article, we will show you how to build a print-on-demand Shopify store.
Why should you start your POD business on Shopify?
Many eCommerce businesses choose Shopify to run their stores, especially print-on-demand (POD) businesses. Here are 3 main reasons:
Shopify is easy to set up and manage
Shopify is incredibly user-friendly and straightforward. You don’t need any coding knowledge or experience with websites to set up a fully working online store.
Whether you're just starting with eCommerce or already have some experience, Shopify makes the whole process simple.
Shopify supports integrations
In addition to themes and widgets, Shopify lets you integrate various apps through its App Store. Many of these apps are tailored for POD businesses, making it easier to set up and run your store without too much hassle.
This makes Shopify a great platform for both beginners and more experienced users. It's simple for beginners to get started, but if you're more experienced, you can use advanced features to enhance your store even further.
Shopify allows for plenty of customization
Another great thing about Shopify is that you can easily customize your online store. They offer a wide selection of themes, add-ons, and widgets to help you design a store that fits your style.
With over 5 million active Shopify stores, it’s rare to see two that are the same. Thanks to Shopify’s large collection of themes and customization tools, you can create a store that perfectly matches your brand and the products you sell.
Step-by-step guide to building print-on-demand Shopify store
Shopify offers an easy setup process, and with print-on-demand (POD) services, you can sell custom products without worrying about inventory or shipping.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you build your own Shopify store from scratch.
Step 1: Set up your Shopify store
Shopify gives you complete control over your online design and marketing initiatives. You can easily set up a store using the following 3-step tutorial:
Create a new Shopify account
- Visit Shopify.com and click on the “Start Free Trial” button.
- You’ll be asked to answer a few simple questions, then click Next until you reach the “Create Your Shopify ID” page.
- Choose your preferred registration method and wait a few seconds while your store is set up.
Once complete, you’ll be directed to the Shopify dashboard. Keep in mind that new accounts come with a 3-day free trial, and if you choose a paid plan, you can enjoy Shopify for just $1/month for the first 3 months.
Customize your store
To customize your store’s theme:
- Go to the “Online Store” section in the left menu and click on “Themes”.
- Then, click “Customize” to change the default theme to fit your style.
If you want to try a different theme:
- Go to the “Theme Library”, click “Add theme” to see more options
- Then choose “Visit Theme Store” to explore popular themes.
- Once you find one you like, click “Add” to add it to your theme library.
- After selecting your theme, click “Customize” to update it with your logo, fonts, images, layout, and other elements.
- Click “Save” when you’re finished.
Set up essential elements
To make your store functional, you need to add pages, set up navigation, and choose a domain. Nevertheless, there’s no need to rush, you can always update these later.
- Add pages: Go to your Shopify admin, click on “Online Store” > “Pages” > “Add page”. Enter a proper title and content, then click “Save”.
- Set up navigation: Under the Navigation section (found in the Pages settings), create menus that link to important pages. This helps customers easily find what they're looking for.
- Edit domain: When you sign up, you'll get a free "myshopify.com" domain. If you'd like, you can change it once for free by going to Settings > Domains and picking a new one.
Step 2: Connect with Print-on-demand services
Shopify doesn't offer print-on-demand services directly, but it allows you to easily connect with third-party suppliers from all over the world. This lets you set up a POD business with no inventory or upfront costs.
Here’s how to link your Shopify store with a POD supplier:
- Visit the Shopify app store: Search for "print-on-demand" to find a list of POD apps available for integration.
- Pick the suitable POD app: Browse through the options and choose an app that fits your needs. After deciding on your option, click “Install”.
- Connect the app to your store: After installing the app, follow the simple instructions to link it to your Shopify store.
Step 3: Create eye-catching designs for your products
In the print-on-demand business, great designs are key to standing out and attracting customers. Unique and appealing designs will help make your Shopify store memorable and competitive.
Here’s how to create standout designs for your print-on-demand products in three simple steps:
- Find design ideas: Stay updated on design trends that are popular with your target audience. This ensures your designs are modern and attractive to buyers.
- Prepare your design guide: Make a checklist that includes things like image size, resolution (DPI), file format, color settings, and bleed (extra space for printing).Â
- Create your designs: You can either design the artwork yourself, hire a designer, or buy ready-made designs depending on your budget and skills.
Step 4: Launch your design as a Shopify product
Once your Shopify store is ready and you have your designs, it's time to start selling by launching your first product.
As you’ve already connected print-on-demand suppliers to your store, you can easily add and publish products using their apps. Some popular print-on-demand apps you can use to get started are Printify, Printful, Gelato, etc.
There will be some cases that your supplier isn’t available on Shopify or you want to manually add products. Then you can follow these simple steps:
- Go to the “Products” page in your Shopify dashboard and click “Add Product”.
- Enter the product title and description.
- Upload your product image under the Media section.
- Set the product price, inventory, and shipping details.
- Click "Save" to publish the product to your Shopify store.
If you prefer an easier way to manage your products, you can install a POD customizer. It not only helps you publish products, manage orders, and fulfill them.
Moreover, it even allows customers to personalize products with live design previews on your Shopify store.
Step 5: Place a test order
Before you officially launch your Shopify store, it's a good idea to place a test order. This will help you see how everything works, from browsing the store to completing the checkout.
This step is essential to confirm that everything is set up correctly. However, there are a few important notes for you regarding the process of placing a test order:
- You can only use the test order feature if you're on a paid Shopify plan, not during the free trial.
- Don’t fulfill any test orders to avoid being charged. If you use a print-on-demand app that automatically processes orders, make sure to turn it off first.
Step 6: Sell your print-on-demand products worldwide
Once your print-on-demand products are live, the next step is to focus on pricing and marketing to get more people to visit your store.
First, let’s dive into how you can price your items reasonably:
- Understand your costs: Add up all your costs, including the price of the products, shipping, taxes, platform fees, and marketing expenses.
- Set a profit margin: Decide how much profit you want to make from each sale.
- Calculate your break-even point: Divide your total costs by your desired profit margin to figure out how many sales you need to cover your expenses.
- Review and adjust prices: Regularly check market prices, seasonal trends, and competitors to make sure your prices are in line with the market.
Once you have chosen the appropriate price, the store is basically considered complete. The next step is to figure out how to reach customers.
If you don’t know how to promote your Shopify store, you can consider some of the following strategies:
- Promote on social media: Share your products on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit, and Twitter to reach a wider audience.
- Run ads: Use paid ads on social media and Google to target people who are most likely to buy from you.
- Improve your SEO: Make sure your store is easy to find on Google by improving your search engine rankings.
- Set up email marketing: Send regular emails with special offers, product updates, and helpful content to build a connection with your customers.
- Use reviews and testimonials: Encourage customers to leave reviews to build trust and show that your products are worth buying.
- Host contests and giveaways: Run contests or giveaways to get people excited about your products and encourage them to share your store.
- Work with influencers: Partner with influencers to help spread the word about your store and reach new customers.
Step 7: Manage and fulfill orders
To manage your orders, simply click on the Orders page in the left-hand menu. Here, you'll see all the details about each order, including customer info, product details, order ID, payment status, and fulfillment status.
The next step is to send orders to the fulfillment stage to ensure timely delivery. Since you've already connected your print-on-demand suppliers to Shopify, they’ll take care of the printing and shipping.
To make sure everything runs smoothly, follow these easy steps to set up automatic payment capture and order fulfillment:
- From your Shopify dashboard, click “Settings”, then choose “Checkout”.
- Under “Order processing”, select “Automatically fulfill the order’s line items”.
- Then, go to “Settings”, choose “Payments”, and click on “Payment capture method”.
- Select “Automatically at checkout” so that fulfillment happens automatically once a customer pays.
Step 8: Track your order’s production and shipping status
Since your print-on-demand supplier takes care of production and shipping, you don’t need to handle it yourself.
However, it's still helpful to track the process so you can keep customers updated in real-time. This also lets you quickly respond if any issues come up.
To check the status of an order, go to the “Orders” page and look at the “Fulfillment status” column for the latest information.
Step 9: Pay charges and withdraw your profits
Setting up a POD store on Shopify is very easy, but it is not free. Typically, you will need to pay attention to the following fees:
- Monthly subscription fee: Shopify charges a monthly fee starting at $25, billed every 30 days.
- Transaction fees: Shopify charges a fee on each sale made using third-party payment providers. A tip to avoid these fees is to use Shopify Payments.
- Print-on-demand fulfillment fees: You’ll pay your print-on-demand suppliers for fulfilling and shipping each order.
- Credit card fees: Shopify charges a fee for each credit card payment. The fee is lower for higher-tier plans.
- Other fees: These may include currency conversion fees, fees for using Point of Sale (POS) systems, third-party apps, themes, or your domain name.
After reviewing the charges, you can assess Shopify’s income and earnings. Just to “Analytics” and choose “Reports” to evaluate performance.
As the store owner, you can withdraw your profits whenever you like. Your first payment may be held for up to seven days, but after that, you’ll receive payments according to your chosen schedule - whether that’s daily, weekly, or monthly.
Essential tips to boost your success in selling POD on Shopify
Launching a print-on-demand store on Shopify opens up many opportunities, but to truly thrive in the competitive eCommerce space, you'll need a solid plan.
The following tips will help you build a strong foundation for your POD business:
Choose a profitable niche Â
Focusing on a specific niche helps you target a group of people with unique needs, leading to more sales and loyal customers. To succeed, research market trends, understand what your audience is looking for, and pay attention to what your competitors are doing.
Always order samples
Ordering samples lets you check the quality of your products and see how they look in person. This helps you avoid disappointing your customers and protect your reputation.
Plus, having the actual products gives you the chance to take photos for your product listings or social media.
Use eye-catching mockups
Great photos are important to make your product pages more appealing and encourage people to buy. Be sure your product images are clear, high-quality, and attention-grabbing.
Many print-on-demand suppliers offer mockup templates to help you present your products in a professional and attractive way.
Design is the heart of your products Â
The design of your products is what makes them stand out and appeal to customers. Well-designed products not only attract more buyers but also help build long-term loyalty.
You can use various tools provided by your suppliers to create high-quality and attractive designs.
Offer customizable products Â
Personalized products are becoming increasingly popular, with 71% of consumers expecting companies to offer customization options. By partnering with a reliable service for product personalization, you can take advantage of this trend and grow your business.
Wrapping up
In conclusion, Shopify is one of the great platforms for starting a print-on-demand business, with millions of sellers and many opportunities to succeed.
This guide has helped you understand how to build print on demand shopify store from scratch. Now, it’s time to begin your journey to success in the print-on-demand industry!
>>>> Read more:
