Hello, i have a question for the community, hopefully it doesn't reek too much of newjackery.
I have been kicking this around for a while, debating whether or not to try selling shirts with the help of a company that provides printing on demand & order fulfillment OR getting a handful of shirts printed and shipping them myself. I'm still not sure which way I want to go. The way I see it:
Printing on demand & order fulfillment:
PROS - You are only printing shirts that have been purchased, so there is a much smaller financial investment, and you are not sitting on a bunch of inventory if they do not sell. Also less work/hassle in that you are letting another company do most of the work.
CONS - Less profit per shirt, less control. Plus (from what I've seen) it seems hard to find a legit company that does printing on demand & order fulfillment/blind shipping that doesn't force you to basically be an extension of their company i.e ondemandcompanysname.com/yourtshirtcompanysname (cafe press etc)
Shipping them yourself:
PROS - More profit per shirt, plus most everything is in your control.
CONS - If you don't sell, you are sitting on inventory and are not getting a return/profit on the financial investment of printing the shirts.
What i've been thinking lately though, is that obviously, no matter how you get the shirts made or shipped, it's going to come down to marketing, getting the word out, and genuine interest in your designs & product from strangers. So, if you don't end up with consumer interest that translates into tangible sales, it doesn't matter if you are shipping them yourself or going through another company.
So therefore, you might as well go all in, go super hard, hustle the crap out of your stuff, and double down on inventory, go big or go home and try to build genuine buzz and interest if you are really passionate about making a go of this and have faith in your designs & product. Plus, more profit.
Any thoughts / wisdom any veterans of the community can provide, I would have much gratitude.
peace
I have been kicking this around for a while, debating whether or not to try selling shirts with the help of a company that provides printing on demand & order fulfillment OR getting a handful of shirts printed and shipping them myself. I'm still not sure which way I want to go. The way I see it:
Printing on demand & order fulfillment:
PROS - You are only printing shirts that have been purchased, so there is a much smaller financial investment, and you are not sitting on a bunch of inventory if they do not sell. Also less work/hassle in that you are letting another company do most of the work.
CONS - Less profit per shirt, less control. Plus (from what I've seen) it seems hard to find a legit company that does printing on demand & order fulfillment/blind shipping that doesn't force you to basically be an extension of their company i.e ondemandcompanysname.com/yourtshirtcompanysname (cafe press etc)
Shipping them yourself:
PROS - More profit per shirt, plus most everything is in your control.
CONS - If you don't sell, you are sitting on inventory and are not getting a return/profit on the financial investment of printing the shirts.
What i've been thinking lately though, is that obviously, no matter how you get the shirts made or shipped, it's going to come down to marketing, getting the word out, and genuine interest in your designs & product from strangers. So, if you don't end up with consumer interest that translates into tangible sales, it doesn't matter if you are shipping them yourself or going through another company.
So therefore, you might as well go all in, go super hard, hustle the crap out of your stuff, and double down on inventory, go big or go home and try to build genuine buzz and interest if you are really passionate about making a go of this and have faith in your designs & product. Plus, more profit.
Any thoughts / wisdom any veterans of the community can provide, I would have much gratitude.
peace
