The number of times a group of friends have gotten together and talked about how much fun it would be to start an apparel printing business or a custom gift business is innumerable. I know my friends, and I have come up with many great one-liners and graphics for our “one-day” business way too many times!
A few years ago, such a dream was harder to turn into reality. Now, there are so many easy, well-laid-out ways to go about establishing a business that it seems much more accessible to startups!
However, there are so many things that can be done that it can be somewhat confusing to go about it.
Start small. Pick one item that you want to work with, for example, t-shirts. It is one of the easiest things to print on and sell. Everyone from a movie enthusiast to a person organizing a company offsite will need T-shirts.
To start, you will need a few things: a list of what you want to print on the shirt, software to create these designs, T-shirt vendors, T-shirt print machines or print vendors, and, lastly, shipping partners. Once you have all this figured out, you can start the business.
While it appears simple, there are nuances and elements that you must take into consideration to ensure a smooth workflow and sales. Here are some useful tips for you:
Start small Apparel Printing Business
Starting an apparel printing business doesn’t mean you offer every and all kinds of T-shirts. You can start with a couple of colors and styles, like a black and white half-sleeved, round neck T-shirt. The smaller you start, the better you can get at the basics. And the better you are at the basics of printing, the easier it will be for you to branch out and scale-up.
Once you perfect one kind of shirt, you can branch out to other products as well. For this, you can integrate an online product designer tool which has features for various products that you can print on.
Get the basics right
Any ecommerce store has fierce competition, and all of them can sell great products. What will make your business stand out is that you give a superior customer experience in terms of how the store looks, how you handle payment, shipping, packaging, and so on.
People don’t want too much prompting or too few notifications. If disturbed too much, they will ignore you, and if too less, they will feel like you did not keep them engaged enough. So, get the basics right, get the necessary attention to your store, and then ensure that you serve your customers with everything they need.
Offer something new
Every other store is selling T-shirts. And more than that, anyone with even a primary know-how of Photoshop can design a T-shirt. A T-shirt design tool comes into the picture. You can integrate a T-shirt design tool into your store and offer your customers to design their own T-shirts.
You can bring in quite a lot of interest to your store by offering this way of customization. Engaging people in designing their products also helps them as they get to try out elements on a screen rather than buy variants of designs and then check if they like them.
Pay attention to shipping
Business owners often think that their job is over once a customer purchases from them. Some go far enough to think all they have to ensure is that the product is not damaged during shipping. But that is too basic now, and you have to go a few extra miles!
It starts with being able to pick a delivery date. It benefits both you and your customer. If they have chosen a date, they will only be available to receive it when the package reaches them, thus decreasing the chances of missed deliveries and returns.
Then comes packaging. It should be aesthetically appealing while also being safe. Your delivery partner needs to be technologically advanced so that they give the buyer constant updates about the location of their parcel, allow things like “leave with a neighbor,” and even drop off at a nearby hub.
Starting a Tshirt printing business is not just about T-shirts or print, but so much else. You have to offer high-quality products, a smooth ecommerce store, an engaging user experience, a robust online product designer tool for customization, and efficient shipping options to your customers.
Competition is fierce, but at the same time, starting a business is much easier, more well defined – and more dynamic. It is no longer about finding a new idea either, but rather about finding a different way to do the same thing.
Find a problem and create a solution. Anyone who has ever started a t-shirt business has once thought about how they would like to be able to design their own t-shirts without involving a number of other people. So, all you have to do for your customers is just that! Let them design their own t-shirts and get out of their way!
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