Traditionally retailers have made money by buying and holding stock and then selling it to their customer base. This model, however, carries a risk in that your customers may not be interested in your offering and you’re stuck with stock you can’t sell.

A print-on-demand system offers you a chance to negate this risk thanks to its ingenious business model. Whether you are a dedicated retailer, a business owner looking for a side project, or an entrepreneur with an idea, print-on-demand warrants your further investigation.

How Print on Demand Works

The essence of print-on-demand is explained in the name. You design your product, say a t-shirt and sell it online. Every time a customer orders your shirt the warehouse prints it, packages it and dispatches it directly to your customer. You pay every time the shirt is dispatched.

Depending on your requirements you can use it in the following way:

• New products – Design your shirt products and sell them on your website. If you hit a popular groove why not sell it? Now you can do this easily with no upfront costs and only pay when you sell. This is the most popular use of print-on-demand products.

• Events/branding – If you have an event coming up say a tradeshow, having your teams wearing products that carry your logo, look the same etc, is a highly effective use of print-on-demand.

• Staff uniforms – As staff can come and go having a design and easy ordering systems makes it ideal for staff uniforms. You don’t want unused stock taking up storage space and you don’t want to pay an upfront fee for uniforms that may never be worn.

And let’s not forget that logo designs change and so uniforms can quickly become obsolete. Again, you don’t need worthless stock cluttering up space.

Relieving Storage Space

Another key advantage of using print-on-demand is that you don’t have to store anything. You can run the whole operation from your office and let your print-on-demand partner do the hard work. This saves plenty of headaches and you don’t have to worry about upfront costs or space rental fees.

The better print-on-demand companies also offer a bulk storage option. So if you find yourself inundated with orders for a particular product you can leverage this to your advantage. Also, the more your order in bulk the better discount you receive. This maximises your revenue stream and your bottom line.

A Brand New Revenue Stream

If you’re an entrepreneur you can use print-on-demand to generate additional income. You could hit on an idea for a shirt that is separate to your main business and wants to minimise upfront costs. A print-on-demand company is perfect for this. It also means you do not have to devote as much time and resources to get the venture off the ground as you would have going down a traditional route.

Print-on-demand offers you a chance to reduce upfront cost, storage headaches, and still deliver a good quality service to your customers. Given that the better products are compatible with most shopping platforms, this is an opportunity you should leverage to drive sales and success.