As much as you need artistic faculty and design sense to establish a print-on-demand business, you also need to know the ins and out’s of running the business. The former you can outsource to freelancers, and the latter is where eCommerce platforms come to the rescue. The best part about the print-on-demand industry is that once your initial setup is completed, it can start to generate passive income.
This guide is all about why eCommerce platforms are essential, key features to look for while choosing one for yourself. And the five best eCommerce platforms recommendations by the Syncerize for establishing print-on-demand business.
The Importance of Ecommerce Platforms for Print-On-Demand Business
Ecommerce platforms are the growth tools and support providers for easily running your eCommerce business. Some eCommerce platforms are a complete product management suite offering merchandising, search capabilities, product pricing, running promotions, and personalized sales; others eCommerce software offer specialized functionality.
These tools are important for scalability. Their data protection provides the business with peace of mind. With customization, you have the freedom to design your stores the way you like.
Ecommerce platforms offer the following benefits:
- Introduce automation to ease the burden of running all business processes
- Create space to focus on expanding your business – focus on marketing
- Save time spent doing mundane business operational activities
- Cater to increased work demands as your business grows – help in scaling
Key Features of Ecommerce Platforms
Ecommerce platforms are a one-stop solution for print-on-demand businesses. When deciding on the buying and selling platform for your business, look for the following key features:
- Complete customer view
- Product catalog option/merchandise
- Smart order management
- Stellar customer experience
- Website security
- Easy to work on content
- Dedicated support
5 Best Ecommerce Platforms
1. BigCommerce
One of the prominent names amongst the eCommerce platforms for creating and managing online stores is BigCommerce. It has feature-rich eCommerce tools. BigCommerce serves both B2B and B2C customers with the option to offer products with different price lists and catalogs. It has an impressive variety of theme templates.
Because of the vast build-in tool collection, it initially takes effort to get started with BigCommerce. But their comprehensive documentation and support make the onboarding less stressful. BigCommerce is more suitable for large businesses. Small and medium businesses can rely on the flexibility and scalability of BigCommerce for growth.
It’s equally good for non-tech-savvy people and tech-geeks to perform coding tweaks.
Pros:
- Feature-rich eCommerce tools
- Impressive variety of theme templates
- Flexibility and scalability
- Robust SEO performance
Cons:
- It lacks phone support
- Speed issues
- Expensive for advanced plans
2. Shopify
Shopify is one of the leading eCommerce platforms. Making an online store is quick and easy with all the customization options and templates. It’s easy to set up a store without the need for technical or design experience. Shopify comes with support for multiple credit cards and currencies with more than 100 payment providers worldwide and ensures data security.
It is a content management system to control the functionality and layout of your store. Shopify is a fully responsive platform manageable from mobile or desktop. With Shopify, you can sell products on your online store, marketplaces, and social media.
Shopify offers a 14-day free trial without the credit card requirement to try before buying it. First-rate site performance loads Shopify store faster. With Shopify, you can sell physical and digital products as well.
They offer a comprehensive knowledge base of how-to’s and what’s for user guidance. Theme store, friendly UI, and Shopify Abandonment Cart Recovery are some additional features.
Pros:
- A complete solution for eCommerce
- Easy, fast, and scalable option for beginners
- First-rate site performance
- Offers multiple selling channels
Cons:
- It mostly relies on paid 3rd party apps and plugins.
- Poor SEO performance.
- It lacks the option to customize checkout.
3. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin. It integrates with a WordPress website to create an online store. It is best suited for eCommerce businesses with an affiliate model. Setting up your online store with WooCommerce is a one-time effort and would be easy if you have experience with WordPress CMS. You can extend the functionality of your online store with a plugin library.
WooCommerce provides its users with secure payment and communication solutions.
It is best suited for small businesses with a WordPress resource in their team. Scaling with WooCommerce may be challenging as the platform becomes slow with the addition of themes, plugins, and products – affecting overall performance.
Pros:
- Customizable and plenty of integration options
- Best of SEO
- Plenty of service providers
Cons:
- Lack of support – would have to troubleshoot yourself
- Need extensions for adding functionality
- Hosting plans can be pricey
4. Magento Now Adobe Commerce
Magento now known as Adobe Commerce is a cloud-based, fast, and automation-based eCommerce software. With Adobe Commerce, it’s possible to manage both B2C and B2B sales channels. It’s highly customizable and has a community of developers ready to work on your store. It has an extensive marketplace to expand the functionality with extensions as well.
Adobe Commerce’s basic plan is free, and the enterprise plan costs thousands of dollars annually; thus is suitable for businesses with an established customer base. Adobe Commerce has built-in multi-language support. It offers frequent security updates and allows the user to improve the security of their store. Users can also add extensions to secure their valued information.
It integrates with third-party applications and comes with a responsive user interface for mobile devices. Adobe Commerce provides diverse eCommerce features related to marketing, product catalog, inventory & order management, payments, and business intelligence.
Pros:
- Highly flexible and scalable
- Advanced SEO
- Mobile friendly configuration
- Robust security
Cons:
- Complicated for beginners
- Requires advanced programming knowledge
5. Printful
Printful is an easy-to-use print-on-demand solution and comes with great customer service.
It offers a wide range of products for customization and integrates with many eCommerce platforms and marketplaces.
Printful mockup generator lets businesses create product collateral for their websites. With 5 fulfillment centers in North America and Europe, Printful offers worldwide shipping. Everything is automated from the point customer places an order to the point they receive the order at their doorstep. Shipping times are short with replacement policies for handling lost or damaged goods.
This platform is easy to set up and user-friendly. Printful also offers branding options to customize your customer experience.
Pros:
- Access to big consumer markets with Printful fulfillment centers
- Mockup generator
- It has a huge collection of print-on-demand products of high quality.
- Variety of printing options
- Discount on sample orders – good for beginner POD businesses
Cons:
- Best only for clothing, accessories, and homeware products
- Profit margins are low as you don’t pay a subscription fee. Your cost is in purchasing the goods you want to sell.
Start Your Print-on-demand Business
For startups & small businesses, the following are the recommended eCommerce platforms:
- BigCommerce
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Printful
For large businesses, the following are the recommended eCommerce platforms:
- BigCommerce
- Adobe Commerce
Each recommended eCommerce platform has pros and cons that must be carefully considered because the platform you choose for your business would greatly benefit its success.
