At Gooten, we have the sincere pleasure of working with print on demand power-sellers from all across the world. There’s a common refrain that we hear from many of our partners, who tell us that launching a store and generating some sales is relatively easy. The hard part is knowing how to scale.
Indeed, even the most skilled power-sellers may have some questions about how they can strategically and efficiently take their business to the next level. Allow us to share a few basic tips for scaling your print on demand endeavors.
Scaling for E-Commerce Growth
Don’t Hesitate to Outsource
Sooner or later, any print on demand merchants who are serious about e-commerce growth will need to begin outsourcing. This is especially true when it comes to the simple and repeatable tasks that eat up your time, or the tasks you’re not especially good at.
Think about how long it takes you to complete these tasks, and assign yourself a reasonable hourly rate… say, $50. Can you find someone who can do it for less, freeing your time to focus on other areas of e-commerce growth? Often, the answer will be yes.
And of course, there are plenty of ways for you to outsource, whether that means enlisting a freelance designer or even hiring a virtual assistant to help you with administrative tasks.
Automate Your Print on Demand Business
To keep up with e-commerce growth, you’ll need to have an automated and efficient process. Make sure you have the best ecommerce platform for print on demand, but also the best print on demand partner to assist with order fulfillment.
Note that, with a well-automated process, you should be able to publish new design options across a number of different platforms, all with just a few clicks. Until you’ve reached that level of automation, you’re not really taking full advantage of the available e-commerce technology.
Use Email Marketing
A lot of print on demand power-sellers forget about the value of their email list. Simply put, this is leaving money on the table! Email marketing is an incredibly powerful way of expanding your reach and increasing your sales.
Every time you receive an order, make sure you ask for permission to gather the buyer’s email address. By doing so, you can build up a robust email list, which you can then leverage to spread the word about new products, designs, promotions, etc.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to directly engage with customers, so make sure you’re using it to its full potential.
Consider Social Commerce
Along the same lines, one of the most promising ways to boost your pool of customers is social commerce. Increasingly, people are buying products directly from their Instagram feed, from Facebook, even from YouTube.
Your business may not thrive on every single social platform, so it’s important to be discerning and not stretch yourself too thin. Do be aware of where your target consumers tend to congregate, and make sure you have a presence there.
Have Quality Control Measures in Place
A final note: One of the things that’s most likely to slow your e-commerce growth is a lapse in quality. Sloppy workmanship or sub-par products will derail any momentum you have, and fixing these problems can take a lot of your valuable time.
It’s better to just prevent quality issues from ever happening, and the best way to do that is by ensuring you have a print on demand partner known for their excellence and their accuracy.
At Gooten, we take the extensive responsibility of quality control off of your plate so that you can focus on your business. We’re able to achieve consistent quality because of the Gooten Standard—an above average level of excellence we hold for ourselves and our manufacturing partners.
In an industry where products are made on-demand, issues are inevitable. That’s why we do our best to minimize issues proactively, especially when it comes to print and product quality, so that you have a solid foundation for your print on demand efforts and your sustained eCommerce growth.
Learn More About Scaling Your Print on Demand Business
Learning to scale can be challenging, even for the savviest of power-sellers. At Gooten, it’s something we think about a lot, and we’d love to walk you through some different solutions for your print on demand business.
The next time you have questions about scaling your business, reach out to our team. We’re always happy to discuss ways in which you can ensure your print on demand business is a rousing success.
