The Demand for Print on Demand
This story previously ran in PS Magazine September 2023. Learn more about this topic with Brand Chain's newest educational content: Print on Demand (POD) — Potential, Pitfalls and Profit.
Low inventory. Wasted inventory. Supply chain issues. Time and resources spent. Money lost.
If the global pandemic taught corporations anything, it was to become more risk averse. For the print and promo industry, this has meant shifting to meet customers’ needs without incurring further risk or loss.
Enter print on demand.
The technique is far from new, but a changing demand from consumers, paired with business owners’ interest in agility and the ability to offer personalized products in smaller quantities, has given print on demand renewed interest.
What Is Print on Demand?
When printers became accessible to the public in the 1980s, the general concept of print on demand began to enter mainstream consciousness. In the 1990s, the concept of direct to garment (DTG) printing took off with the introduction of the Revolution printer, allowing for custom printing in the retail space.
Today in the brand solutions space, print on demand is widely known as a technique that allows a customer to order white-label products (t-shirts, business cards, hats, etc.) with a custom design or logo applied. Products are ordered in small quantities, typically with quicker turnaround.
In 2022, the global print on demand market was valued at $5.4 billion and is projected to reach $39 billion by 2031, according to Straits Research. Behind this trend is an ever-growing consumer preference for online shopping, the boom of e-commerce shops and a heightened demand for personalized products.
The Value of Print on Demand
One of the greatest benefits of a print on demand program is its ability for customers and distributors to cut down on, and even eliminate, the burden of inventory. Because of its made-to-order nature, there’s no need to stock up on thousands of preprinted items, only to let them sit on a warehouse shelf in the hopes of getting ordered — or worse, putting them at the risk of becoming obsolete.
“We recognized a trend in the promotional products industry. Distributors began to tell us that their customers expressed a growing need for company stores to showcase their branded merchandise, but they didn't want to bear the burden of inventory management,” Eric Shonebarger, president of Hit Promotional Products, says. The company turned to print on demand to offer distributors a better solution and serve as a trusted partner.
This model also requires little to no upfront investment for the distributor and affords a greater opportunity to expand product offerings. “If you're buying inventory of everything you want to offer, you’re going to have a limited scope due to budget. If you utilize print on demand, you can offer a wider gamut of products,” Jed Seifert, co-founder of Stakes Manufacturing, says. “And you can double down on your successes to increase revenue without any inventory investment or risk. If a certain t-shirt design is selling rapidly, why not launch it in other colors, sizes and styles?”
Personalization is key with print on demand, too. “When printing products on demand, there's a lot more flexibility to meet the customer's needs,” Emily Myers, vice president of sales and marketing at BCSI, says. With printed collateral such as business cards, sell sheets, brochures and more, it’s simple to update names, photos and other custom details.
Automation That Powers Print
Behind the scenes, automation is essential to powering the efficiency of print on demand; Shonebarger, Seifert and Myers all note it as a critical part of their programs.
“Automation is crucial for the success of our print on demand orders, as they typically involve smaller order sizes,” Shonebarger says. “Manual interventions in the process result in increased costs for both distributors and suppliers. To mitigate these costs and ensure efficiency, we’ve prioritized setting up highly automated systems.”
“We’re fully integrated with all of our garment distributors through smart technology that routes orders, manages automated purchasing and uses machine learning to understand what our inventory should be,” Seifert says.
“We use technology throughout our facility to track every element of the process, starting with application programming interface (API) order ingestion from our partners all the way through production and order fulfillment to their customers. We’re investing more in automation as we continue to evolve and streamline our business to do more with less.”
Similarly, Myers points to the seamlessness and time-saving benefits that automation provides. “When an end user submits an order through our storefront, it automatically sends the print-ready PDF, art and order details to BCSI in an electronic format that our system can read,” she says. “That order travels straight into production without anybody at BCSI touching it. We've been doing integrations like that since the early to mid-90s.”
Want to learn more about print on demand? Join the next Brand Chain Member Meetup: Print on Demand (POD) – Potential, Pitfalls and Profit!
Delve into the world of short-run printing along with your fellow Brand Chain members Tuesday, Nov. 14 from 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. CT. Learn how to navigate the challenges and maximize the benefits of this printing method for the worlds of print and promo. Tune in as experts discuss how to strike the perfect balance between quality and affordability, ensuring that your brand’s message reaches the masses without breaking the bank. Unlock new potential by embracing new ways to revolutionize your services.
Print on Demand for All
For Myers and the team at BCSI, the very concept of print on demand is core to their business. “Our company was founded on creating business cards, and every business card order is unique to that individual,” she says. “This niche has helped us grow into print on demand for other products; it fts well with how our entire system was created.”
While the company has offered print on demand for decades now, Myers and the team at BCSI recently launched a new system, Printforce (shop.printforce.com), exclusively for distributors. The self-service site offers pricing, product selections with 500 different variations and a portal for order submissions, largely focused on print collateral. The site will open the business up to one-off orders for distributors who want print on demand but don’t need an entire storefront of their own. Previously, BCSI had accommodated these requests on a case-by-case basis, but it required manual work and processing. The move to Printforce helps BCSI double down in their efforts to streamline and automate their work wherever possible.
Meeting the Demand for Retail Quality
The technology that powers print on demand has continuously evolved and increased in quality over the last several years. For Stakes Manufacturing, the focus has been on two types of printing: direct to garment (DTG) and, more recently, direct to film (DTF).
“We use our own proprietary file prep process, which allows us to Pantone match while producing at retail print quality and durability standards,” Seifert says. “We also source our own consumables, inks, films and powder adhesive.” This approach allows Stakes Manufacturing to be “substrate agnostic” and offer print on demand designs for materials like polyester golf shirts, six-panel hats and woven canvas backpacks, with a clean finish and soft hand feel transfer that won’t peel or fade after a few uses.
A focus on retail-level quality has been key for Stakes from day one, working in the B2B space with major sports teams, music labels, artists, licensees, custom product platforms, other printers and more. “When Sony Music Group sells a Beatles shirt to their fans for $35 on the official Beatles website, they expect it to be produced with premium quality print, durability, color accuracy and garment,” Seifert says.
The Future of Print on Demand
As businesses continue to be conscious of their footprint, Myers believes the trend of print on demand will only continue to grow. “There's a shift in corporate America, where companies are looking to minimize the amount of inventory they have sitting on their floor — they don't want their money tied up,” she says.
She’s seen this trend come to life in recent work with a large national brand. The parent organization has 50 brands and previously housed all marketing collateral in a warehouse, but it was quickly becoming obsolete. With thousands of sales reps across the country, they needed a solution to become more nimble and turned to BCSI.
“The sales reps order what they need, when they need it,” she says. “It just comes through the distributor’s ordering system to BCSI as a print-ready PDF, then we print it and ship it. It’s been great, and it’s exciting to work with such a large brand.”
As Shonebarger and his team look ahead, they’re cognizant of where print on demand can really shine. “It's important to acknowledge that certain products and decoration methods may not be suitable for print on demand, due to the setup time required,” he says. “It’s often more practical to focus on low-quantity orders and higher-valued items to ensure the best solution. By aligning our offerings with these considerations, we optimize the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of our print on demand services, providing customers with tailored options that meet their specific needs.”
Seifert sees an opportunity for the space to grow and mature, which means having the industry consider it more holistically. “Business owners should look at print on demand as a pivotal part of their supply chain that is complementary to traditional production and purchasing methods,” he says. “What could they accomplish as a business if they freed up their cash flow from inventory? How much net new revenue would they generate if they were finding the places where digital printing makes more sense than screen printing and fully leveraging digital’s capabilities to create new opportunities?”
By Kristin Frankiewicz