Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1488543
G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 • G R A P H I C S P R O 7 5 etc., and sent to the end customer. is is how we have scaled our business. We still take bulk orders locally and online, but our core business is print on demand. In my opinion, once you've decided to move into print on demand, you'll likely need some new equipment. You may opt for a DTG machine, a DTF machine, or even just a coffee mug press and a sublima- tion printer. at being said, you can cer- tainly jump into the game if you already have a laser engraver or a UV printer — the list of products you can sell with this model is growing every day. Once you've decided which print method you want to use, there are (at least) two ways for a traditional print shop to enter the print-on-demand game. You can either use your own designs or you can solicit other creators to fulfill for. We actually do both. Let's talk about these two strategies. Using your own designs When I started printing, I had already been selling physical products on Amazon for several years. I knew how to create list- ings, and that's what I did. I began listing coffee mugs with my own designs that I could sublimate in my basement. Since I already had hundreds of designs, I sim- ply had to create the mockups and write the titles, descriptions, and bullet points to create as many listings as I could on Amazon. I have now expanded these offer- ings to Walmart, Etsy and several other eCommerce platforms. At this point, we have over 50k listings on Amazon alone, so you can imagine how many orders are coming in each day. e beauty of these platforms is that they supply traffic to your listings. ink about how many millions of people go on Amazon each month to buy a gift for a loved one. Now think about how many different types of products your same designs could be printed on for different consumers — it's a match made in heaven. Now, I'm not here to say it's easy. You need to pay about $40/month for an A mazon professional seller plan, you have to deal with customer questions and returns, plus Amazon takes about 15% of your revenue right off the top. e other platforms also charge a percentage of the sale, but it varies by platform and category. However, if you can scale by adding more listings and you provide great customer Personalized mugs are a print-on-demand staple.