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The twinkling lights are hung, Mariah Carey is belting out festive tunes on the radio, and shoppers are gearing up for another Christmas shopping season. If you’re looking to capitalize on this holly jolly spending spree, designing printable and drop-shippable Christmas products could be your ticket to extra cash this holiday season.
In 2023 alone, consumers spent over 964.4 billion in November and December, with a notable 28% of online shopping. Amidst the gift-buying frenzy, shoppers actively seek out personalized, seasonal merch like ornaments and holiday-themed apparel to get them into the Christmas spirit. As an online seller, you can grab a slice of these hearty holiday sales.
Print-on-demand (POD) platforms allow you to upload your designs and let the fulfillment partner handle printing and shipping, while you collect the profits. In this roundup, we showcase the best Christmas POD items you can sell on different platforms for passive income potential. From festive mugs to ugly sweater onesies, these merch ideas sleigh when it comes to seasonal buyer demand and sales opportunities year after year.
Let’s jump right in!
What are The Most Popular Christmas Print on Demand Products?
Before we start, it’s important to remember that different platforms feature different best-selling products. We’ve compiled a list of the best-selling Christmas print on demand products on the top 5 most popular e-commerce platforms as follows:
Platform | Best-selling Christmas Items |
Etsy | Personalized gifts, handmade goods, home decor, vintage items, jewelry |
Amazon | Toys, electronics, clothing and accessories, home decor, gift cards |
eBay | Collectibles, sports memorabilia, electronics, clothing and accessories, home decor |
TikTok | Fashion, cosmetics, accessories, home decor, household items, pet care products |
Walmart | Clothing and accessories, bedding, kitchenware, pet supplies, children’s toys |
So, depending on which platform you’re selling on, you can decide which is the winning product to focus on.
In this section, we’ll go into detail about each trending Christmas print on demand product and how to make the most out of it.
Christmas Ornaments
Ornaments are undoubtedly the global holiday symbol of celebration and joy. Long gone are the days of uniform ornaments; today’s ornaments come in a dazzling array of shapes, sizes, colors, and materials, from traditional glass and wood to modern acrylic and aluminum.
You can also find extraordinary ideas, such as custom-shaped, engraved wooden, or suncatcher ornaments. And don’t forget personalized items, which are always popular with customers.
Stockings
Besides ornaments, Christmas stockings are an indispensable part of the holiday season. Whether hung for candy and small gifts or serving as festive decorations, these soft and cozy accessories are a great idea to sell online.
This year, why don’t you try adding a delightful twist to the timeless Classic Christmas Stocking with the Dog Bone Christmas Stocking? Not only is it a unique addition to your shop, but this creative item is also a wonderful gift to capture the hearts of dog lovers.
Mugs and Tumblers
Holiday-themed mugs are the go-to option when it comes to last-minute Christmas gifts for loved ones, friends, and colleagues. Everyone loves to have a sip of hot tea or chocolate in the cold weather, bringing mugs an impressive potential to win in the holiday season.
Tumblers are slightly more flexible than mugs – people can carry them on the go and not worry about them being broken. They can keep the temperature of the beverage for a long time, even if it is cold or hot. Similar to mugs, tumblers can be printed, engraved, or customized according to the customer’s need, making them a top choice for personalized gifts.
One more great thing about mugs and tumblers is that they are also perfect for almost every occasion such as Mother’s Day, Independence Day, Valentine’s Day, or Easter. Just be sure that your designs are relevant to the holiday you targeted, and that you provide your customers with a variety of options to choose from.
Personalized Christmas Apparel
Hoodies, sweaters, sweatshirts, and pajamas are timeless holiday products. Not to mention the iconic ugly Christmas sweater, a must-have item for the season, continues to dominate holiday wardrobes. Notably, embroidered clothing is on trend this year, so it’s worth considering adding these items to your shop.
Whether it’s for themselves or their loved ones, people are always eager to embrace the festive spirit with Christmas-themed apparel. To cater to this demand, provide a wide range of sizes and include a clear size chart in your product descriptions, ensuring that everyone can find the perfect fit to showcase their holiday spirit.
Pillowcases and Blankets
The end of the year is a perfect time for people to re-decorate their homes and welcome the new year with new things. As a result, home decor items such as blankets and pillowcases are in high demand at this time of year. Moreover, pillowcases and blankets are affordable, meaningful, and useful, making them best-selling products every holiday season.
You can consider following these tips to make your blankets and pillowcases more attractive:
- Provide a diverse range of options, such as fleece or quilted
- Select high-quality materials as they can affect the experience of the end-user
- Apply joyful designs and festive symbols, such as reindeer, pine tree, Santa Clause, etc
- Opt for colorful colors, such as cherry red, pine green, gold, white, etc
Tote Bags
Practical, eco-friendly, durable, and versatile, these huge advantages make a tote bag an ideal gift for holiday shopping and can be used all year round. You can create a special version from any regular tote bag by adding festive motifs or using vibrant colors such as red, green, gold, or silver.
Christmas Cards
Customizable cards rank high among Christmas print on demand products. To make this product win, we suggest that you go creative with a vast array of options for your customers to send heartfelt messages to their loved ones. From traditional Christmas motifs like snowflakes, reindeer, and Santa Claus to more contemporary designs featuring trendy patterns and modern typography, a diverse selection of templates can cater to a wide range of preferences. You can also offer your customers to use their own photos to personalize their cards further, adding a touch of individuality to each creation.
Wrapping Paper
How can Christmas be complete without colorful gifts? Personalized wrapping paper adds a touch of sentimentality and elevates the gift-giving experience for your customers, so don’t forget to create and sell custom wrapping paper designs that cater to different demographics, themes, and occasions. Set your offerings apart from generic store options by infusing them with your unique creativity.
Pet Costumes
Of all the Christmas print on demand products, pet costumes might stand out for their adorable appearance and ability to capture the attention of pet owners. However, even though costumes can be lovely to humans, they may not always be comfortable for our furry companions. So, consider offering practical and comfortable pet accessories such as festive tank tops or collar signs that allow pets to participate in the holiday festivities while still being cozy.
Home Decorations
Home decor items, such as doormats, tree skirts, and Christmas sacks, are also best-selling Christmas print-on-demand products because they are a great way to add the holiday spirit to everyone’s home. To win at home, you just need to remember a few things:
- Choose high-quality, durable materials to ensure that your customers can enjoy their Christmas gifts for years to come.
- Offer a variety of sizes: For example, you’re selling tree skirts, but not everyone buys the same Christmas tree size. so be sure to include a wide size range and a size chart so your customers can find the most suitable for them.
- Make sure that you use the correct color system: For example, the RGB color system is commonly used in websites and online logo design, while CMYK is used for printing all types of printers and POD products. To avoid the product being printed in the wrong color with the design file, Merchize recommends that sellers should use the CMYK color system while designing and sending files instead of using RGB. You can learn more about the difference between CMYK & RGB color systems here.
Suggestions POD Products Suitable for Each E-commerce Platform
In addition to choosing potential products, selecting the right product for each e-commerce platform is one of the important factors to ensure success, especially during the year-end holiday season. Each of them has its own unique characteristics and attracts specific target customers. Below are some suggestions from Merchize about POD products suitable for each different e-commerce platform:
Etsy
Etsy is an ideal e-commerce platform for handmade, unique, and personalized products. Therefore, creative, highly customized POD products will easily attract buyers during the holiday season. Check out the print on demand products below to increase your revenue for the year-end sale season effectively:
- Personalized ornaments: Wooden, ceramic, and acrylic ornaments with unique designs, offering the option to print names, messages, or custom images, will be a great choice for Etsy customers.
- Sweaters/Hoodies: Christmas designs with personalized messages or images will make sweaters and hoodies sought during this time.
- Custom Shape Photo Night Light: With unique Christmas designs and allowing customers to customize personal messages or images, this product is an interesting gift.
- Stained Glass Suncatcher for Window Hanging: Colorful glasses with Christmas motifs will make a unique window decoration and easy to sell on Etsy.
- Stocking and tote bags: Custom-printed socks and tote bags with unique designs appeal to individuals who love personalization and a distinctive style.
- Embroidered sweatshirts: Sweatshirts with images and text embroidered directly onto the surface can be a big trend and a hit in your Etsy store this holiday season.
Amazon
Amazon is a global online retail platform with a diverse customer base. Therefore, when designing POD products to sell on Amazon, ensure they are popular, easy to produce, and quickly distributed to suit a huge customer. If you are selling on Amazon, you can consider selling some of the following items during this season.
- Christmas T-shirts/Hoodies: Printable clothing products with Christmas motifs such as Santa Claus, pine trees, and reindeer will easily attract mass buyers.
- Pillowcases and tablecloths: Designs with traditional Christmas motifs such as snowflakes and candy canes can sell well on Amazon, especially during the holidays.
- Christmas stockings: Producing stockings with pre-printed or customized designs is a popular choice.
- Posters and prints: Prints with winter, Christmas, or festive themes will be very attractive during the year-end season.
- Ceramic cups and tumblers: These are useful products and meaningful gifts, especially when printed with Christmas pictures or messages.
- Christmas tree skirt: This is a unique niche product that helps your store diversify to reach all customer needs.
eBay
eBay is a global online marketplace, suitable for unique, vintage, or rare products. Therefore, POD products with a nostalgic or highly personalized style will be suitable for this customer segment. To boost your revenue on this platform, you can add some of the following products to your store this holiday season.
- Ornament: Ornament with retro, classic design, or 80s-90s style, suitable for collectors.
- Socks: Design this item with nostalgic prints, or using vintage tones such as burgundy, or dark green will be suitable for customers on eBay.
- Vintage Sweaters/T-shirts: Sweaters or t-shirts with retro designs, using classic images and fonts, are very suitable for customers’ tastes on eBay.
- Paintings and posters: Vintage-style paintings or posters with Christmas images from previous decades are also a potential product.
- Doormat: A doormat with Christmas images and motifs will be sought-after home decor items during this year’s sale season.
TikTok
Currently, TikTok is a popular social network in the world, especially attractive to young users. In addition, TikTok has a strong influence thanks to short videos, so unique and eye-catching POD products will easily attract attention. To leverage the potential of holiday sales on this platform, Sellers can refer to the following products:
- Creative hoodies/t-shirts: Design t-shirts or hoodies with eye-catching and creative patterns in a modern or humorous style will easily go viral on TikTok.
- Ornaments: Use glowing designs or special shapes for ornaments, that will easily impress through short videos.
- Tote bags: With creative images and unique Christmas patterns, these bags will become fashion items that can be easily sold through videos on TikTok.
- Color changing mugs: Mugs that change color when there is hot water with Christmas patterns are interesting products that easily create visual effects through videos.
- Pet apparel and accessories: Items for pets always get a lot of attention on TikTok, especially with unique or humorous designs.
- Stickers: This item is easy to design and customize in any shape and size. With their affordable price tag, they are a great add-on item to add to your store.
Walmart
Walmart is a potential online shopping market where customers are looking for popular products at affordable prices. POD products at Walmart need to focus on utility value and popular designs. Suitable products that can reap thousands of sales include:
- Pajamas: According to the 2023 Christmas best-seller list, pajamas are one of the best-selling items at Walmart. Don’t miss out on this potential item on your sales plan this holiday.
- Socks: This product makes for an easy-to-produce Christmas gift and can be sold in affordable combos.
- Cups: Simple printed ceramic cups for Christmas, produced in large quantities and cheaply are easy to sell at Walmart.
- Pillowcases and blankets: Popular printed pillowcases and blankets for Christmas can be purchased in large quantities for the family or to decorate the living space.
- Wrapping paper and home decor: Basic but popular products like gift wrapping paper and home decor are also effective options to sell at Walmart.
How to Sell More Christmas Print on Demand Products This Year
Now that you have a list of the best-selling Christmas print on demand products on different platforms, it’s time to leverage your year-end sales by following these tips:
Choose unique niches for your business
Choosing the right niche for Christmas print-on-demand products is essential for a successful holiday business. It will help you reduce competition from other businesses that are selling a wider range of products, increase sales and customer satisfaction, and develop your business in the long term. For example, Christmas is not only a celebration of the birth of Christ, but also a moment for families to gather, bond together, and share joys and sorrows. In this special time, remembering and establishing a spiritual connection with departed loved ones becomes an essential activity. You can combine Christmas and memorial elements to honor the joy of the festive season and the spiritual connection with departed loved ones.
Find trustworthy print on demand suppliers for Christmas products
A trustworthy print-on-demand supplier offers a wide range of products and customization options, so you can create unique and personalized products for your customers. For example, Merchize can help you take over the whole process of producing, packing, and delivering the products to your customer’s doorstep. Moreover, Merchize will handle quality control, and logistics, and even take care of branding work for you. By that, you can free up your time and energy to focus on creating attractive and effective designs, generating more sales, and growing your business.
Create a precise marketing campaign for your Christmas print on demand products
Having a precise marketing campaign for your Christmas print-on-demand products can help you generate buzz and excitement, improve brand awareness, and drive sales. This includes creating holiday-themed posts and displays for your fan pages, storefronts, and websites, running exclusive Christmas promotions, or partnering with influencers to expand your reach. You can also implement a specific email marketing strategy for the holiday season, sending personalized emails highlighting top-selling items tailored to customer preferences and past purchases to increase relevance and engagement.
If you’re unsure of how to set up a marketing campaign effectively, take a look at our guide on 10 marketing tips to optimize your store for the holiday season!
Common Design Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Christmas Print on Demand Products
Besides implementing best-selling products and following best practices to drive sales, being aware of the common mistakes can help you avoid unnecessary problems when selling print on demand during the Christmas season:
Using copyrighted or trademarked content
If you use a trademarked word or design without permission, you could be sued for trademark infringement, lose sales, and face significant legal sales. Make sure to check the copyright and trademark status of any designs you use, and avoid using copyrighted or trademarked material without permission.
Using low-resolution images
Low-resolution images can make products look unprofessional and of poor quality. As a result, you may lose sales to competitors who are using high-resolution images in their product listings. Moreover, if you have to refund because customers are unhappy with the quality of the images, you will incur additional costs. This can include shipping costs, restocking fees, and the cost of the products themselves. When printing on demand, it is important to use high-resolution images to ensure that your designs look their best.
Using too many colors or fonts
Christmas products often carry a joyful vibe, but you shouldn’t mistake them for overusing too many fonts and colors. It can lead to visual clutter, making the design lack cohesion and reducing readability. For example, a design with more than 3 fonts can make it difficult for customers to focus on the product and understand its key features. On the other hand, a simple but significant design with a few well-chosen colors and fonts is often more effective than a cluttered design with too much going on.
Not testing your designs
Different designs have different displays on different products. For example, some designs work with an AOP (All-Over Print) product, and some don’t. So before you upload your designs to a print-on-demand platform, be sure to test them thoroughly to make sure they look good on a variety of products and sizes.
We hope that this article has brought you an overview of the most potential Christmas print on demand products to win this holiday season. Targeting the right audience, selecting the right product, and following proven best practices will help you grow your business in the long run.
Team up with Merchize to skyrocket your year-end sales today!