If you have a Shopify store selling products online, you probably already heard about print-on-demand.
In this guide, we will talk about the best print-on-demand companies you can work with. Either because of their popularity, their product catalog, their shipping speed, or the quality of the products, these companies stand out from their competitors.
But before diving into it, let’s talk briefly about what print-on-demand is all about 💫
WHAT IS PRINT-ON-DEMAND
Print-on-demand is a business model, where an online store works with a supplier or white-label products that will fulfill and deliver those products. In other words, a print-on-demand company is in charge of producing and storing inventory, fulfilling, packing, and shipping products to final customers.
Online stores display these products on their websites and do marketing on them to make as many sales as possible. But once a purchase is completed, the order information is sent to the print-on-demand provider who will complete the process of fulfillment and ensure the customer receives their order 🛒
As its name suggests, what differentiates a print-on-demand company from any other drop shipping company, is that print-on-demand providers not only pick and ship products but also fulfill them. This means the products are printed, engraved, embossed, or whatever fulfillment technique is required.
This allows stores to offer unique products and differentiate from their competitors, by creating beautiful designs that make the products more attractive to sell them. Not only you can sell your art on products, but also with the print-on-demand model you can give your customers the chance to personalize those designs 💞 But let’s talk about that later.
Now let’s see some of the best suppliers you can work with today. This is just an orientation for you and the ones we recommend, but there are plenty more options out there! Make sure to do your research and find the best fit for your business! 👇🏻👇🏻
1. PRINTIFY
Printify is a Latvian company founded in 2015, that offers the service of drop shipping and printing, and today has the largest global print network. With over 800 products in its catalog, and more than 4M sellers around the world, is one of the most complete providers you will find today.
They offer a wide range of men’s clothing, women’s clothing, kid’s clothing, accessories, home decor, and more. Also, on their website, you can find lots of tutorials, webinars, guides, and more information that will help you be a successful seller.
📌 You can register with Printify here.
Highlights:
Free plan available.
Fast integration with Shopify.
Easy to use.
More than 90 printing facilities around the world.
A big product catalog (more than 800 products!)
Shipping calculator.
2. PRINTFUL
Printful is an American company founded in 2013 that allows businesses to print and ship products on demand. They offer a wide catalog of over 300 products and fulfill more than 1 million orders a month.
With 15 fulfillment centers around the globe, and an easy-to-use Design Maker, is only of the most popular POD providers nowadays.
In their catalog, you will find options like men’s, women’s, and kid’s clothing, hats, accessories, and lots of home and living products.
📌 You can register with Printful here.
Highlights:
They don’t require minimum orders, which means you can sell as few as one item.
Easy to use.
Fast integration with Shopify.
A wide product catalog (more than 300 products!).
Items arrive, on average, within three days.
Custom branding with packaging, pack-ins, packing slips, and more.
3. GELATO
Gelato is a Norwegian company, founded in 2007, that has created the world’s largest network for local production and distribution of customized products. With production centers in 32 countries, they offer fast and more sustainable delivery.
They specialize in apparel, calendars, wall art, phone cases, mugs, cards, tote bags, and photo books.
📌 You can register with Gelato here.
Highlights:
They have the largest network of local production hubs for e-commerce sellers.
Risk-free: free to use and no minimum orders.
Easy to use.
Fast integration with Shopify.
Latest technology and sustainably sourced materials from industry-leading brands.
24/7 customer support.
4. CUSTOMCAT
Custom Cat is an American company founded in 2015 that offers a quick and reliable print-on-demand fulfillment service. They have over 100 products to choose from and more than 40K units are produced and shipped daily from their headquarters.
Also, they are partnered with DIGISOFT to offer next-generation printing in their products. This means their prints are high-quality, more vibrant, and more durable than any other POD printing method.
Their product catalog includes apparel, housewares, and accessories.
📌 You can register with Custom Cat here.
Highlights:
DIGISOFT Printing Technology.
Easy to use.
Fast integration with Shopify.
Their products are priced for better profits.
They have a great catalog of Activewear.
5. SHINE ON
Shine On is an American company founded in 2016 specializing in viral and high-margin personalized products. They were born from the passion for creating and shipping high-quality jewelry all around the world. So, if you’re interested in selling jewelry this is the best partner for you.
They have their own factory in Florida, USA, that allows you to provide a better service to their sellers and affiliates.
📌 You can register with Shine On here.
Highlights:
Unique product catalog: jewelry, necklaces, bangles, watches, and more.
Allows you to get huge margins and enjoy more profits.
Easy to use.
Fast integration with Shopify.
World-class training and support.
6. TEELAUNCH
teelaunch is a company founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs with a rich 11-year history serving hundreds of thousands of e-commerce store owners. It was conceived as an idea to help people escape their daily jobs, but today it has turned into a successful company that helps thousands of customers to start and build their businesses.
They offer a wide range of products in their catalog, from apparel to accessories, home goods, kitchenware, drinkware, office products, pet products, wall art, and more.
📌 You can register with teelaunch here.
Highlights:
Amazing pricing.
Original and unique products.
Worldwide production.
User-friendly.
Top-notch support.
7. GEARMENT
Established in 2016 in the USA, Gearment is a growing network of print-on-demand sellers around the globe. With over 10K merchants today, their product catalog focuses on products like apparel, home and living, and accessories.
📌 You can register with Gearment here.
Highlights:
100% free to use.
Fast integration with Shopify.
Effective optimization of cost and quality that makes you highly profitable.
Robust production time: average time 1-3 days.
Global shipping.
24/7 support.
8. CASESTRY
Founded in America in 2017, Casestry is a company that specializes in phone cases and mobile tech accessories. They are well-known for their premium products with a lifetime warranty, so if you’re exploring the idea of selling mobile accessories, this is the partner you want.
Even if Casestry’s star products are phone cases, they are slowly adding new items to their catalog such as mugs, tumblers, and tote bags.
📌 You can register with Casestry here.
Highlights:
Unique product catalog: premium mobile tech accessories.
Premium products.
Same Day Turnaround: one business day.
Zero risks and no minimum order size.
Customized packaging, slips, shipping labels, and custom-tailored messages inside the packaging!
9. MERCHONE
You may know merchOne as Picanova, it used to be its name until not so long ago. Founded in 2006, it's one of the companies with the longest track record in the world of print-on-demand for e-commerce.
Also, merchOne is part of The Customization Group (TCG), a global leader in mass customization that offers high-quality, affordable, and unique on-demand products.
In its catalog, you will find a wide variety of products, such as decoration, home and living articles, apparel, and accessories.
📌 You can register with merchOne here.
Highlights:
Fast turnaround: Orders are ready to ship within 48 hours on average.
Easy integration with many e-commerce platforms.
Focus on quality: High-quality raw materials and cutting-edge printing technology.
Sustainable Manufacturing: merchOne promotes environmental awareness by leveraging renewable energy sources and recycled materials.
10. PODBASE
Podbase is a Lithuanian-based print-on-demand platform founded in 2021. Even though the company is notably young, they have a powerful production unit behind them (8+ years of printing experience). Podbase has the most extensive list of phone models in the market (100+) and puts a big emphasis on quality.
They specialize in superior quality tech-accessories like phone cases, MacBook cases, iPad cases, and AirPods cases. You can also find a few other products in their catalog: premium screen protectors, canvas, posters and mugs.
📌 You can register with Podbase here.
Highlights:
Free to use.
Shopify integration.
Superior quality products.
Transparent product and shipping pricing.
Fast turnaround: less than 24 hours on average.
Global shipping.
INTEGRATION
Now that you have different print-on-demand providers to choose from, what we recommend is that you do a deeper analysis of each of them, the products they sell, their prices, and their quality. You can do test orders to receive actual products in your home and check both the quality of the product and the printing.
The process to create an account with a print-on-demand provider is as simple as it is to create an account with Shopify. Once you have a registered account, you can install the corresponding app directly in your Shopify store to integrate everything in one place. All the apps listed before – except Casestry – have apps in the Shopify App Store.
If you have your Shopify store and your POD account connected, once you start selling products in your store, the POD will receive all the order information to proceed with the fulfillment and shipping automatically 🛒
CUSTOMIZATION
As we hinted before, by working with a print-on-demand company, not only you can add your own art and amazing designs to the products that you sell and get them printed, but also you can add personalization options to them.
Product personalization is a great way to engage with your customers, by letting them create their own unique version of the products that you sell. This will help you boost your sales and differentiate from your competitors even more! 💞
If you’re interested in exploring this option, you can rely on a robust product customizer like Customily.
Customily is the best product personalizer you can find for Shopify stores, and it integrates with all the print-on-demand providers listed in this guide. This means you can integrate everything: your Shopify store, your POD provider, and Customily, and sell personalized products online fast and easily.
The best part is, once you start making sales, the orders with all the personalization details included will be sent automatically to the POD for fulfillment! So you can basically have an online personalized gift store running on autopilot and just watch as you make sales 🚀
CONCLUSION
Working with a print-on-demand company is a great way to have your own business without having to invest money in product stocking, warehouse, packing, and shipping. You pay only for what you sell, so it’s a great and risk-free option for those who are just starting in the e-commerce world.
As we said before, you have plenty of options to choose from, so make sure to investigate and analyze what’s best for YOU. Something important you should consider is that you don’t need to marry with just one company! If you want to sell a wide range of products, you can try working with different providers and pick the best products from each. Do not close yourself to a single way of doing things, you can diversify your options! 💫
Have you worked with any of these PODs before? Do you know others you’d like us to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below!
📌 UPDATE: Now you can get Customily 2.0 for Etsy and automate fulfillment too! Read everything about our new update here or TRY IT FOR FREE now!
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Customily Product Personalizer is the best solution to sell personalized products, both in the e-commerce and the print-on-demand market. With the widest range of personalization tools, free clipart designs, realistic live previews that increase conversions, and printing files that help you automate your printing business; Customily is the ally you need to boost your profit margins in a high-competitive market.
Visit our website to learn more about us.
Or try it for FREE on Shopify.