Anna Navolokova, Marketing Manager in Multi-Programming Solutions • 11 min read
This summer brought a lot of food for thought for all the entrepreneurs, including POD companies. However, changes are inevitable if we talk about development and stable work in the long view. This article will give you some ideas on organizing your business management as well as finds out what improvements are necessary for future growth.
We’ll talk about Amazon’s sustainable fashion, reflected in the reduction of energy consumption and environmental pollution, and new achievements in fast aircraft delivery. Also, you’ll know about new opportunities for online sellers and suppliers to raise their brand awareness, connect to target audiences, and receive meaningful feedback. We hope, you’ll enjoy this hot print on demand compilation news and find something useful to implement for your business.
Amazon is becoming more sustainable: the intro of green hydro practices and their impact on POD
\What's new in the delivery world? Instant shipping that's gaining momentum
August is Black Business Month - exploring how global companies support entrepreneurs
Live Shopping for Collectibles on eBay, Etsy Seller App, and Shopify Collabs
Good news for entrepreneurs that follow the green business model: Amazon logistics and warehouses are confidently transferring to a net-zero carbon. The company has signed a Plug Power contract for 10,950 tons of green hydrogen for their shipping and service cars. Thus, an e-Commerce giant begins to decarbonize its operations and reduce fossil fuel usage.
How can Amazon be sustainable even now? Currently, around 15,000 of its forklifts in 70 fulfillment centers use green hydrogen instead of diesel and petrol. And the company is not going to stop. Its long view plan - to grow the number to 20,000 by 2025 and 30,000 by 2040. Thus, the enterprise unhesitatingly follows the green course of its development, reducing environmental pollution and saving energy and natural resources.
Amazon is an active follower of the Climate Pledge commitment. It supports eco-responsible technologies, having invested $2 billion in companies that produce electrolyzers for green hydrogen. The corporation shows an incredible example for other hard-to-abate areas like aviation, sea shipping, and metallurgical plants, “turning the climate crisis into climate action.”
Further, Amazon is considering other hydrogen appliances, such as electric trucks and generators. The company will probably produce electricity all over the fulfillment centers, using energy-efficient equipment and renewable natural resources, like wind and hydropower.
Considering the renewed wave of interest in sustainability, it is worth noting what Amazon sustainable packaging is. It's about the creation and usage of boxing from recycled materials. The initiative began in 2008 by eliminating heavyweight cartons and replacing them with easy-open lightweight parcels. As of today, the company delivers products with their own recycled packaging, free of harmful toxins.
With the growing importance of eco-responsible production, POD sellers will benefit from the Amazon partnership. They will contribute to environmental safety, dealing with a partner who processes all the fulfillment operations (picking, packing, and shipping) without excessive carbon emissions.
POD is considered a sustainable business idea by itself. With on demand printed products to sell, vendors don’t create doubtful commodity stock without the confirmed consumer’s order. Moreover, they contribute to recycling decrease and energy efficiency. And now, with a new Amazon policy, an e-Commerce business can become environmentally friendly at every stage of its functioning.
Modern buyers become pickier when it comes to unsustainable brands. Instead, entrepreneurs caring for the planet's cleanliness and its inhabitants’ health attract more customers’ attention and inspire confidence.
Same-hour eco-friendly delivery is not science fiction anymore. Soon it may become one of the e-Commerce shipping trends. Prime air drones, developed by the Amazon team, will probably deliver lightweight packages directly to the customers by the end of this year. Moreover, innovative technology will ensure the safety of logistics and increase its overall productivity.
For 17 years, Amazon has overcome the path from Prime two days delivery (also provided by other instant shipping websites) to the outstanding 60 minutes. For almost a decade, scientists developed, built, and tested the product, having done 188 updates to the robotic system. 2020 became the year when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorized the company to make air delivery via autonomous drones. The company received a Part 135 Certificate, which approved reliable and safe Amazon instant shipping.
Thus, later in 2022, California and Texas will become the first states capable of accepting 5 pounds packages (so far, no more) from Amazon sellers. And the marketplace will widen its delivery area to improve customer experience hrough more states in a few months or years. This perspective gives an excellent opportunity for online sellers to grow their clients’ loyalty, decrease costs (which are quite expensive according to current instant shipping quotes), and provide environmentally safe logistics.
The main question in a new type of shipping stays in its trustworthiness. And here, Amazon experts explain their guarantees. Companies’ air drones represent not primitive, remotely piloted craft. Instead, they are responsible for reacting to unexpected situations. Vehicles are programmed to make autonomous decisions in force majeure situations. For example, if some new building arrives on their way, drones will correct the direction not to contact an object.
A sense-and-avoid technology lowers the risk that a customer’s package will be lost or damaged by encountering an obstacle in the air or on the ground. Safe drone delivery is stated by numerous tested and improved flight hours and over 500 validated processes, ensuring the reliable work of an aircraft system.
No wonder that one day your Amazon print on demand t-shirts will be shipped from fulfillment centers to the customer within 60 minutes with an autonomous drone. We’ll know whether it will cost much from the instant shipping rate online as soon as aircraft delivery comes into force.
Selling Your Print on Demand Products at Burning Man Festival
The last summer month was a time for raising attention to Black-owned print on demand and other businesses. Amazon did not stay away from this activity, providing initiatives to increase the traffic to the appropriate marketplace stores.
Thus, the e-Commerce platform is testing special badges, which allow users to discover and support online shops and entrepreneurs - to popularize their brands, attract more audiences and get a chance to receive small Back-owned business grants. The handshake sign appears on the list of affordable product offers and in the search field for American stores.
Amazon also established Black Business Accelerator to support the annual female business summit, whose goals are teaching and empowering women in their entrepreneurship. This year’s conference was dedicated to career growth, business improvement, and financial issues. Founders of such brands as Mocktail Club, Livity Yoga, and ICONI shared their best practices in e-commerce development with the other startupers.
Black-owned business statistics show that only 2.4% of all US enterprises were hosted by Afro-Americans, while they comprise 14.2% of the whole country’s population. So consider an appropriate badge on Amazon online shop for raising brand awareness if you are a Black-owned entrepreneur or want to support them not only in August but annually.
Let’s find out what other innovations summer 2022 has brought to the e-commerce world. You will probably find inspiration for your brand promotion and daily routine optimization.
This June, eBay pushed its limits and introduced a new engaging live shopping platform, allowing sellers and customers to interact in live mode while researching products and making purchases. The program established a new attractive method of merching, which looks like a traditional brick-and-mortar shopping trip.
The first series of eBay live stream shopping was dedicated to collectibles. The top platform seller Bleeker Trading represented a rare card collection and could answer customers’ questions through the chat box and a live stream.
The live shopping beta version showed another side of online sales, making them more meaningful and personal. With a conversation in a real-time mode, entrepreneurs can now highlight the main features of their product and promote it to a great variety of clients at the same time. Moreover, with such interaction between sellers and clients, both receive instant feedback. Buyers can get familiar with the features items have and undoubtedly make a purchase. And merchants can ask about clients’ desires and provide timely changes to their product line to improve user experience. That’s how you can do live shopping on eBay. And that is the way POD business gets a chance to advertise a printing service and find interested clients for wholesales or dropshipping.
Selling print on demand summer trends 2022 on Etsy was even more convenient with an improved app developed on vendors’ feedback base. The most frequently used features for managing an online store are now available at a fingertip:
The new Etsy app is already available for Android and Apple. So if you own an online shop or want to establish multichannel sales, consider expanding your horizons with a useful application.
TOP Trending Print on Demand Products To Sell on Etsy in 2023
Marketing through the influencer is one of the most effective ways to reach thousands (or even millions) of new clients, even if we talk about top selling print on demand products in 2023. A famous individual’s authority will help to raise audience awareness for your goods. And Shopify Collabs now provides incredible possibilities to connect merchants with content creators. Everyone wins in this partnership. Entrepreneurs grow traffic and sales rates, while influencers receive income from their promotions. At the same time, customers get familiar with trendy, high-quality products, saving time on reviews.
The best decision while using Shopify Collabs is to work with creators from a relative niche. This will ensure your partners are familiar with the product type and can build trust with the public. Moreover, you can rely on common interests with creators’ subscribers, which may result in a larger number of purchases.
If you still don’t use a Shopify dropshipping app like DropZa, you may consider such an implementation for your management optimization, streamlining everyday operations, and connecting your print business with the sellers.
Summer 2022 was rich in significant events that have deeply impacted e-commerce entrepreneurs. As one of the leaders in the world of sales, Amazon showed an excellent example of what businesses’ future may look like. Humanity is transferring from the consumer attitude to eco-friendliness, transparency, and mutual assistance in every sphere of life.
Now the time for acting, not only thinking, has come. Society does its best to save natural resources and protect the planet. New eco-responsible production methods and print on demand delivery services are already being integrated, and they can work well if everyone joins the game.
We are facing an increase in green hydrogen adoption, allowing corporations to decarbonize technological operations. But still, there are a lot of sectors to apply innovation, like aircraft, metallurgy, and cargo shipping. New achievements in aerospace made a dream of fuel-free instant delivery come true.
Artificial intelligence is no more science fiction. Long years of development and testing brought outstanding results: drone shipping can make its first customer delivery by the end of this year.
POD businesses have a lot of ideas for improvement, to begin with, their production line sustainability and decreasing energy consumption, reflected in eco-friendly textiles print on demand and fulfillment. Some new tendencies are also viewed in the interaction between vendor and client. Now online sales are not just about profitability, but better user experience, accessibility, and support.
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