How to Make Money with Print on Demand in 2025

Nowadays, making money online (MMO) has become a trend worldwide. There are many models of MMO and print on demand (POD) is one of the most popular ones. This model is amazing and easy, all you need is inspiration and some free time to add your own unique designs to custom products and list them online. Besides, print on demand websites or providers will help you manage products, produce, and ship them to customers so that you can focus on branding and marketing. In this article, we will walk you through how to make money with POD this year. By following the steps below, you can build your own business. Let’s explore all the details!

Identify Target Niche

A niche is a specialized market segment focusing on a specific product or audience. Choosing the right niche has many benefits such as increasing profits, reducing competition, and saving on advertising costs.

In addition, this is one of the most difficult steps in starting an e-commerce business. If you are not sure where to start, consider the areas that you are passionate about. It can be anything from sports, camping, and pets, to even rare topics.

So how do you find a profitable niche? Try the following methods to find a suitable one for you:

• Discover hot products: Search for trending products by searching on Google. Pay attention to the “hot" items this year and the emerging trends.
• Catch the new trend: Use Google Trends to search for popular topics on Google, Google News, or YouTube. This tool helps you visually gauge the level of interest in any topic.
• Relevant Keyword Research: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or Semrush to find keywords that your potential customers are searching for. This will help you better understand the needs of your target market.

Instead of trying to cover a broad range, focus on a specific market. Once you identify your target audience, such as dog lovers or new parents, it will be easier to build your brand and products accordingly.

Select Product Line

POD products are not limited to traditional products like T-shirts, hoodies, or coffee mugs. They are virtually endless, offering unlimited creative opportunities for sellers. Here are some best-selling items that POD businesses sell:

• T-shirts: The most popular and easy-to-sell option.
• Stickers: Fit the personalization trend and easy to get the first order.
• Hoodies: Fashionable and functional for every season, especially winter.
• Socks: Unique, innovative, and appealing to buyers.
• Custom tote bags: Eco-friendly and popular with modern customers.

For more ideas, be sure to check our Product Catalog and explore more items that fit your business goals.

Plus, whatever you choose to sell, think about your customers first. Your products need to be suitable and meaningful to your target segment. This will help you more stand out than competitors in the market.

On the other hand, if you’re not sure how to identify the right product for your online store, here are some great resources to start your research:

• Amazon: Browse each category to discover hot products.
• eBay: Track the best-selling trends here.
• Etsy: Get inspiration for unique gift ideas and products.
• Social Media: Access some platforms like Facebook, X (Twitter), Reddit, and related forums to learn about trends, demands, and community discussions.

Create Unique Designs

If you think you need to be a professional designer to start a printable products business, you are wrong. While unique designs are important, creativity and the right strategy are enough to create attractive custom products.

First, you must research the market and collect ideas from the internet or social media to develop profitable designs. For inspiration, you can refer to sources such as Pinterest, Dribbble, and Designious. However, it is important only to use these ideas to inspire your own designs and remember not to copy or use other people’s work without permission.

On the other hand, if you don’t want to create the design yourself, consider hiring a professional designer. Before hiring any designer, be clear about your needs and the style you want. After that, you can access some platforms like Fiverr or Upwork to find talented designers to help bring your ideas to life.

Also, don’t forget to test your designs before officially putting them into production. Because what you think is a great idea may not be suitable for your target audience. Therefore, you need to share your designs on social media, online forums, or within your network to gather feedback and make adjustments for the best results. Moreover, feedback from these channels will help you feel more confident when launching your product to the market.

You might want to read: 

How to Create Print on Demand Designs

+10 Best Free Print on Demand Design Software and Tools

Build Online Store

The next step is building your own online store to sell your products efficiently. There are two main options for building an online store: creating your own website or setting up a store on an existing e-commerce platform. The decision you make will depend on your resources and the level of control you want over your online store.

If you choose to create your own website, the biggest advantage is independence. You won’t have to compete directly with other retailers for customer attention on your platform. However, this requires a significant investment of time, money, and skills. You will be fully responsible for driving traffic to your site, including implementing marketing and advertising strategies to build brand awareness and attract customers.

Apart from that, if you choose e-commerce platforms or online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, or Etsy, you will benefit from built-in analytics and payment processing tools. These platforms often come with a simple setup process and a built-in customer base. According to a recent study, 35% of online shoppers globally said that online marketplaces are their main source of inspiration when shopping.

However, this convenience comes with its own challenges. You will face high competition, comply with strict regulations, and pay platform fees or commissions that can affect your profits.

In this article, we will take a deeper look and compare platforms with online marketplaces to help you make the best choice for your store.

Merchize seamlessly integrates with many of the world’s most popular platforms and marketplaces.

Choose Reliable Supplier

When starting a print on demand business, finding a reliable supplier is one of the most important things. A reputable supplier will not only ensure the quality of your products but will also help you process orders quickly and efficiently, maintaining customer satisfaction.

Indeed, collaboration with a reliable print on demand company is very important. Your reputation as an entrepreneur depends largely on your ability to meet customer expectations. A good supplier will not only help you avoid problems with defective products or late deliveries but will also build long-term trust with your customers, contributing to the success of your business.

In this situation, Merchize is one of the best solutions for you. We have various product types in multiple collections from clothing, and home living to accessories with high-quality and competitive base costs. Additionally, we also help you produce, manage, and ship products to customers. With Merchize, you will get the highest quality products, the best prices, and the lowest shipping costs in the industry. 

Determine Pricing Strategy

The profit you make from the POD model is directly dependent on the retail price you set. You need to set the right price to ensure profits and create a competitive advantage in the market.

Here are some important factors to consider when pricing your products:

• Production and shipping costs: Calculate the total cost from manufacturing to shipping the product to the customer, including taxes and other service fees. This ensures that you do not take on financial risk.
• Average market price: Research the prices of similar products from competitors and monitor current market trends. This helps you set reasonable, competitive, and attractive prices for customers.
• Customer location: Consider the geographic location of your customers to optimize shipping costs and delivery times. Choosing a local printing service provider will help you save costs and improve the customer experience.

A good product pricing strategy not only increases your store’s chances of success but also keeps customers coming back. 

Ensure Product Quality

One of the important things to build customer trust is to provide high-quality items. If your products meet customer expectations, they will return to your online store. To ensure this goal, the first step is to choose a reliable print on demand service, then you should order sample products from them to check the print quality, style, color, and overall product quality.

Promote Products Effectively

Now that you’ve completed all the steps to selling your print on demand products, all you need to do is promote them. No matter how good and unique your products are, they won’t convert if customers don’t know about them. So, you need to advertise your products on every medium you have.

Here are some ways to market your business:

Social Media Marketing

• Maintain an active presence on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Pinterest to easily find and engage with your target audience.
• Create engaging content, respond to comments, share your brand story, and engage in discussions on other accounts to build connections with your customers.
• Social media not only helps expand your brand’s visibility but also makes it easier for customers to find you more naturally.

Influencer Marketing

• Partner with influencers whose style and values ​​align with your brand to reach a large following.
• Influencers help you build trust quickly and promote your products organically through reviews, posts, or videos.
• Choose influencers whose audiences are similar to your ideal customers to increase effectiveness.

Content Marketing

• Create blogs, videos, or product reviews to share useful information and demonstrate your expertise in your industry.
• High-quality content not only attracts traffic but also builds trust, which can convert visitors into leads.
• Consider monetizing your content with affiliate programs or advertising partnerships.

Email Marketing

• Build a quality mailing list to send regular offers, product updates, and newsletters.
• Personalize email content based on the interests or behaviors of each customer group to increase effectiveness.
• Email marketing is a powerful tool to maintain engagement and encourage customers to return to shop.

Paid Advertising

• Use targeted advertising on platforms like Google Ads to increase search engine visibility, or Facebook Ads to target specific audiences by age, interests, and geographic location.
• Investing in paid advertising not only helps drive traffic but also increases conversion rates when combined with the right strategy.

Track Store Performance

Last but not least step in building a print on demand business is following your online store performance. This is a crucial factor in maintaining and growing your business. You can measure key metrics such as customer traffic, conversion rates, and user engagement by using analytics tools. These data provide insights into what is working well and what areas need improvement, helping you make smart decisions and optimize your business strategy.

In addition, continuous performance monitoring also helps you quickly grasp market trends, promptly fix problems that arise, and continuously improve the shopping experience for customers. This is the foundation for sustainable growth, maintaining customer satisfaction, and optimizing profits.

Print on demand is a potential business model for designers and artists around the world. It brings many benefits to beginners such as ease to start, no risk, no inventory, and the ability to expand the business. However, it also has disadvantages such as no control over product quality, low profit margin, and split responsibility. Consider your potential as well as your business goals to decide whether to do POD business or not.

Finally, we hope this article will be the foundation for you to start a print on demand business most easily. If you have any questions, please contact us for the fastest answer.