Creating your own print-on-demand website with WordPress is an excellent way to enter the world of e-commerce without the challenges of managing inventory or shipping logistics. The print-on-demand industry has shown substantial growth, with a market size valued at $4.9 billion in 2021 and expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 26.1% from 2022 to 2030. In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of creating a WooCommerce Print-On-Demand website using WordPress.
WordPress stands out as a user-friendly platform that offers vast potential for profit with the on-demand business model. Its intuitive interface and extensive plugin ecosystem make it accessible for both beginners and seasoned entrepreneurs alike.
We’ll cover essential steps and highlight some of the best plugins and services available to streamline your journey into the print-on-demand market. Whether you’re a creative individual looking to monetize your designs or a business seeking to expand into new revenue streams, WordPress provides the tools and flexibility to help you succeed in the competitive e-commerce landscape.
What is Print-On-Demand?
Print on demand (POD) is a type of eCommerce business model where products are printed and shipped only after a customer places an order. This approach contrasts sharply with traditional retail models, which involve producing and stocking inventory in advance, often leading to excess unsold stock and increased storage costs.
With the POD model, there is no need for upfront investment in inventory. Products are created and dispatched on an as-needed basis, which significantly reduces the financial risks associated with holding stock. This makes POD an attractive option for entrepreneurs looking to start an eCommerce business with minimal initial capital.
The flexibility of the POD model allows for a wide range of customizable products, including clothing, accessories, home decor, and more. This adaptability enables sellers to cater to niche markets and offer personalized items without the worry of overproduction.
Additionally, POD services often integrate seamlessly with eCommerce platforms, simplifying the process of setting up an online store. Business owners can focus on marketing and customer service, while the POD provider handles production and logistics.
Why WooCommerce Print-On-Demand?
There are several reasons why print-on-demand (POD) can be a viable and attractive business option:
Low Startup Costs
One of the most significant advantages of print-on-demand is the low startup cost. Since there is no need to invest in inventory upfront, you can start your business with minimal financial outlay. This makes POD an excellent option for entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to enter the eCommerce market without substantial initial investments.
No Need for Storage Space
With POD, there is no inventory to store, eliminating the need for warehouse space or storage facilities. This can save you a considerable amount of money on overhead costs, such as rent and utilities, making your business more cost-efficient.
Print-on-Demand Fulfillment
POD operates on a made-to-order basis, meaning products are printed and shipped only after an order is placed. This ensures that you won’t have to deal with unsold inventory, reducing waste and financial risk. Every product is created specifically for each customer, enhancing the customization and personalization aspect of your offerings.
Automation
Once your print-on-demand website is set up, the fulfillment process can largely be automated. This allows you to run your business with minimal hands-on involvement, freeing up your time to focus on marketing, customer service, and other strategic activities. Automation tools and integrations with eCommerce platforms streamline order processing, production, and shipping, making the entire operation more efficient.
Scalability
The POD model is highly scalable. Since there is no need to maintain a large inventory, you can easily scale your business as demand grows. When you receive more orders, you simply produce and ship more products. This flexibility allows you to expand your business without the typical constraints associated with inventory management and storage.
How to Make Money with WooCommerce Print-On-Demand
There are several different ways you can make money with a print-on-demand (POD) store. Before we dive into how to create a website, let’s quickly discuss the various methods for generating income:
Sell Your Own Designs
One of the most popular ways to make money with print-on-demand is by selling your own designs. You can create custom artwork for a wide range of products, such as t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, notebooks, and more. With POD, you don’t need to handle printing or shipping, as the POD service takes care of that for you. This allows you to focus on designing unique and appealing products that cater to your target audience.
Sell Other Designers’ Creations
If you don’t have your own designs to sell, you can collaborate with other designers. Find talented designers who are willing to let you sell their creations on your website. This approach can be beneficial for both parties: designers gain exposure and earn royalties, while you can offer a diverse range of products without needing to create designs yourself.
Sell Products Without Designs
You can also make money with print-on-demand by offering products that don’t require any custom designs. These could include blank items like mugs, phone cases, notebooks, and more. By listing these products on your website, you can cater to customers who prefer simple, unbranded items. Additionally, you can offer customization options where customers can add their own text or images to these blank products, enhancing their appeal.
How To Create a WordPress WooCommerce Print-on-Demand Store
There are a few different ways you can create a print-on-demand website. The most popular option is to use WordPress, as it’s the easiest way to create a professional-looking website.
That’s what we’ll be using here today to illustrate our example.
Setup WordPress and install a theme: Astra + Starter Templates
To set up your WooCommerce Print-On-Demand store, the first step is to install WordPress if you haven’t done so already.
Install WordPress
Many hosting providers, such as Bluehost, offer a convenient one-click installation for WordPress, simplifying the process considerably. However, if you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can manually install WordPress by downloading the package from WordPress.org, uploading it to your web server via FTP, creating a MySQL database, and following the installation instructions provided.
Install a Theme
Once WordPress is installed, the next step is to install a theme. We recommend the Astra theme for its professional appearance and intuitive drag-and-drop editing experience. Firstly, log in to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Appearance > Themes, and click the Add New button. Then search for the Astra Theme and install. Once, done, activate the theme.
Customize Your Theme
After activating Astra, you can start customizing it to fit your needs. Astra offers extensive customization options, allowing you to control aspects such as layout, typography, and colours. To make the setup process even easier, Astra provides Starter Templates. To access these, go to Appearance > Starter Templates and browse through the available options. For a WooCommerce Print-On-Demand store, you might consider eCommerce-themed templates. The Custom Printing Starter Template offers a straightforward layout that clearly communicates your services to visitors, while the Custom Printing Pro template includes additional features that can be beneficial as your business expands.
Customize the Appearance
Once you’ve chosen and installed a starter template, begin customizing its appearance to align with your brand. Adjust the layout settings to control how content is displayed across your site, choose fonts and text styles that match your brand identity, and customize the colour scheme to ensure consistency with your branding.
Set Up Essential Plugins
To complete your setup, install essential plugins to add functionality to your website. For eCommerce capabilities, install and configure WooCommerce, which will help you manage products, orders, and payments. Additionally, connect your site with a print-on-demand service like Printful or Printify to automate the fulfillment process, ensuring a seamless experience for both you and your customers. By following these steps, you can create a professional-looking WordPress website tailored to your print-on-demand business.
Configure WooCommerce
The next step in setting up your print-on-demand website is to configure WooCommerce, a powerful WordPress plugin that enables you to sell products directly on your site. To begin, navigate to your WordPress dashboard and click on Plugins. In the search bar, type “WooCommerce” and click on Install when you find the plugin. Once the installation is complete, click Activate.
After activating WooCommerce, you will need to complete its standard setup process. The WooCommerce plugin guides you through this setup with a user-friendly wizard, but you will need to provide specific information regarding your store. This includes details about shipping methods, tax settings, and payment options. The setup process ensures that your online store is configured correctly, allowing you to efficiently manage orders, process payments, and handle shipping logistics. By following these steps, you will have WooCommerce up and running, ready to facilitate transactions on your print-on-demand website.
Choose Your Print-On-Demand Service Provider
Now that you have WooCommerce installed, there are several print-on-demand service options available to integrate with your online store. One notable option is Printify, which offers a straightforward and efficient way to provide custom print-on-demand products to your customers with minimal effort.
Printify allows you to choose from over 750 items, including apparel, accessories, home decor, and more, on which you can have any custom design printed. Besides, the service is free to use for up to five stores per account, making it an excellent choice for those just starting out. For businesses that need to scale up, Printify offers premium plans starting at $24.99 per month. These plans increase the number of stores you can create and provide product discounts, which can then help you save on costs and increase your profit margins.
To integrate Printify with your WooCommerce store, you simply need to install the Printify plugin from the WordPress plugin repository. Then, connect it to your Printify account, and follow the prompts to sync products. This integration ensures that your custom-designed products are automatically listed in your WooCommerce store and that orders are fulfilled seamlessly. By using Printify, you can efficiently manage your print-on-demand business and focus on creating and marketing unique products to your customers.
Setup an account with Printify
For the purpose of our tutorial, we’ll be using Printify. To start using Printify, you’ll first need to create an account. Simply visit the Printify website and click on the “Sign Up” button. As with most sign-up processes, you’ll need to choose a username and password. After that, you will be guided through a questionnaire with questions like, “What describes you best?” and “What is your main objective?” These questions help Printify tailor its resources and interface to better suit your needs.
Once you’ve completed the signup process, you’ll be presented with a few options: order a sample, connect your store to Printify, or design your custom product. For our tutorial, we’ll focus on connecting your WooCommerce store to Printify.
To connect your WooCommerce store to Printify, follow these steps:
- Log in to Your Printify Account: After signing up, log in to your Printify account.
- Navigate to My Stores: Go to the “My Stores” section in the Printify dashboard.
- Connect Your Store: Click on the “Add New Store” button and select WooCommerce from the list of available eCommerce platforms.
- Follow the Integration Instructions: Printify will provide detailed instructions for integrating with WooCommerce. This typically involves installing the Printify plugin from the WordPress plugin repository, and then following the prompts to sync your store with Printify.
- Authorize the Connection: You may need to authorize the connection between your WooCommerce store and Printify by entering your WordPress credentials and granting the necessary permissions.
Once the integration is complete, you can start adding products from Printify’s catalog to your WooCommerce store. This seamless connection ensures that any orders placed on your WooCommerce site are automatically fulfilled by Printify, allowing you to focus on designing and marketing your products.
Connect print-on-demand service with WordPress
The next step is to connect your WordPress site with Printify. To do this, log into your Printify account and navigate to the “My Stores” section. Here, you should see a listing for “My new store.” Click the green “Connect” button next to this store.
You will then be taken to a page where you can select the online store service you are using. Scroll down until you find WooCommerce, and click the green “Connect” button again. On the next page, you’ll be prompted to input your store’s URL. Enter the URL and then click “Connect.” Your WooCommerce store should now be successfully connected to Printify.
As a final step, log back into your WordPress site, go to Plugins > Add New, and search for “Printify.” Locate the “Printify for WooCommerce” plugin, click “Install,” and then “Activate.” This plugin ensures that the correct shipping rates are applied to your Printify products within WooCommerce automatically, streamlining the process of managing shipping for your print-on-demand products.
Create your first print-on-demand product
Now that your print-on-demand website is up and running, it’s time to add some products. Start by logging into your Printify account and navigating to the “Catalog” to browse the available product types. Once you find a product that interests you, click on it to begin the customization process.
You have two options for creating your product design: you can either upload a design from your desktop or device, or you can create a design directly within Printify by adding custom text and selecting from stock images and designs. Once you’re satisfied with your design, click “Save product.” You can then customize the product description, add size and color variants, and finalize the mockup. When you’re ready, click “Save changes and publish.”
The product you created will now appear in your WooCommerce store under the “Products” section in your WordPress dashboard. Repeat this process for each print-on-demand product you want to add to your store.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully created a print-on-demand website using WordPress. Now you can focus on marketing your products and growing your business.
Other Plugins to use for your POD Store
As you can see, setting up a print-on-demand WordPress website is pretty easy. However, there are a few other plugins you might want to consider using to create a print-on-demand experience.
1. CartFlows
CartFlows is a plugin that allows you to create custom sales funnels within WooCommerce. This can be helpful in optimizing your print-on-demand store’s conversion rates by helping guide visitors through the purchase process.
You can purchase an annual license for this plugin for $299, which provides you with one year of support and updates and a variety of premium features.
2. Stripe Payments for WooCommerce
If you’re using Stripe as your payment gateway of choice, then this plugin is a must-have. It allows customers to checkout directly on your print-on-demand store without being redirected to Stripe’s site.
The plugin is available for free from the WordPress plugin repository.
3. Abandoned Cart Recovery
Abandoned cart recovery is a must for any online store, and this plugin makes the process easy. It allows you to recover lost sales due to abandoned carts and also create email campaigns to encourage customers to complete their purchases.
The plugin is available for $59 when billed annually and includes a year of updates and support.
4. Variation Swatches for WooCommerce
Variation Swatches is helpful if you’re selling products with multiple colour or size variants. It allows you to display colour or size swatches on your product pages instead of dropdown menus and offers a more aesthetically pleasing presentation for your customer’s options.
The plugin is available for free from the WordPress plugin repository.
5. PayPal Payments by WooCommerce
This plugin allows you to process PayPal payments directly on your print-on-demand store and process credit card payments, which means customers are more likely to convert. Additionally, it provides seamless integration for setting up PayPal payments in WooCommerce.
The plugin is available for free from the WordPress plugin repository.
6. Printful Integration for WooCommerce
The Printful Integration for WooCommerce plugin is a free plugin that allows you to connect your WooCommerce store to your Printful account.
Once connected, you can start selling a wide range of print-on-demand products, including t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, and more.
How to Market Your WooCommerce Print-On-Demand Store
Now that you’ve created your print-on-demand website, it’s crucial to start promoting your products and driving traffic to your store. Here are effective strategies to get started:
1. Create a Marketing Plan
Develop a comprehensive marketing plan outlining how you will promote your products and attract visitors to your store. Decide on advertising strategies, such as running ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Google Ads. Plan out your email marketing campaigns, including types of campaigns such as product launches, discounts, or newsletters.
2. Write Blog Posts
Create engaging content through blog posts that highlight the benefits of print-on-demand products or share stories related to your niche. Blogging not only improves SEO but also establishes your expertise and encourages visitors to explore your store.
3. Utilize Social Media
Harness the power of social media platforms to showcase your products and drive traffic to your store. Share visually appealing posts, including product photos, customer testimonials, or behind-the-scenes content. Consider running paid ads on platforms where your target audience spends their time.
4. Participate in Online Communities and Forums
Engage with online communities and forums relevant to your niche. Contribute valuable insights and advice while subtly promoting your store. For example, if your products are pet-related, join forums for pet owners and share how your products can benefit their pets.
5. Collaborate with Businesses and Influencers
Forge partnerships with other businesses or influencers in your industry. Collaborate on joint promotions, sponsorships, or influencer partnerships to expand your reach and attract new customers who trust recommendations from trusted sources.
6. Launch Email Campaigns
Implement email marketing campaigns to nurture leads and drive sales. Send regular newsletters with product updates, exclusive discounts, or curated content that adds value to your subscribers’ inbox. Consider launching special campaigns like contests or giveaways to incentivize purchases.
By implementing these strategies and consistently monitoring their effectiveness, you can effectively promote your print-on-demand products, drive traffic to your website, and ultimately increase sales. Tailor your approach based on your target audience’s preferences and behaviours to maximize engagement and conversions.
Final Thoughts: How To Create a WordPress WooCommerce Print-on-Demand Store
In this article, we’ve outlined the steps to create a print-on-demand website using WordPress. We highlighted the benefits of using the Astra theme and Starter Templates, which provide a streamlined setup process and a visually appealing design foundation for your store.
Additionally, we discussed essential plugins and services that can enhance your print-on-demand website’s functionality and user experience.
Now, it’s your turn to take action and begin building your print-on-demand website today! Whether you’re a designer looking to showcase your creations or an entrepreneur exploring new business opportunities, WordPress offers the tools you need to succeed in the e-commerce landscape.
