Kateryna Tytarenko, SEO Specialist in Multi-Programming Solutions • 14 min read
The start of a new year is a time to refresh your old approaches and create something new, inspiring, and successful. Check your annual goals plan and find a paragraph about financial independence, working for yourself, recognition, and thriving. Even if you didn't think of launching your own business, we’d give you some food for thought.
Gone are the days when you required huge investment, large production spaces, and TV advertisements to start. Now, you need an internet connection, a mobile device, and a bit of passion for gathering the public around you, sharing common interests, and producing a printed product that will be profitably sold in a few clicks. Take another look at how to become a successful business owner by engaging with your customers, working with complaints, and breaking borders for your recognition. Keep reading this guide on how to start POD and find some beneficial tips for your inspiration.
Build a community before launching
Explore the history of niche formation
Grow your sales across borders
No stress with print on demand
Usually, entrepreneurs start their e-commerce businesses without a solid customer base. The idea of a startup may appear before they build a strong online presence and attract thousands of followers. So, advertising a new venture like a clothing printing business and finding new markets to gain more leads become crucial for corporate management. It may take several months or even years before sellers build strong relationships and retain a base of loyal buyers. Of course, talking about stable profit is seamless in this situation.
But what if you start differently? For example, you may create an online community around you, unite people with common interests, and introduce a print on demand brand after getting many subscribers.
It’s a tested business tip for small business owners. This is exactly how the founders of Dogcore, a POD company, have done. Both being pet owners, they shared funny memes on social media, which helped create a friendly community. After several years of engaging the audience, they decided to launch a dedicated online shop. Here, loyal fans of Dogcore activity could purchase custom clothes, like hoodies, caps, t-shirts, and accessories, which reflected pet themes and other unique design ideas.
As businessmen emphasize, they don’t think about the profit when posting content online. The first purpose was to find people who share the same passions in life and enrich their communication. So, when Dogcore decided to run a POD store, they already had a customer base ready to purchase unique products. Indeed, it is a perfect way to save costs on t-shirts marketing.
If you want to attract supporters, backers, and strongest advocates long before running a POD shop, consider Dogcore tips for business success. Here are several ways you can grow your audience and generate buzz before you start a campaign:
Many entrepreneurs choose a niche for their sales depending on financial aspects. Still, reaching success may be challenging if you don’t love what you do. It’s much easier and faster to build a store around your interest. Working on your growth and creating an engaging product line becomes a lifestyle, and you appreciate every new challenge.
Researching key milestones and driving factors in your niche development is one of the efficient small business tips for fast success. Opening an online shop in a segmented market without prior experience may be problematic. That’s why every entrepreneur should clearly understand how this e-commerce area has developed into a separate market. Gaining relevant knowledge through online research can significantly improve your chances of success.
You may start by searching for pioneers in the niche and learning their practices. Find which factors encouraged them to start a business oriented on a particular group of people with their preferences and interests. Evaluate problems that society had due to the lack of a suitable solution on the market and how first niche invaders could solve its pain points with their offerings.
A competitive landscape is another factor you should consider while researching the history of your niche formation. Discover companies that could withstand economic crises, rapid market changes, and technological progress. You can thoroughly analyze which small business owner tips help shops to thrive and adapt to current changes and vice versa - why other enterprises stopped their existence.
Another criterion you should pay attention to is customer behavior. Along with gaining insights into users’ preferences and needs, you can explore which tools helped entrepreneurs engage the audience and keep them making repeatable purchases (social media activity, quizzes, free gifts, discounts, loyalty programs, etc.). Understanding the perfect way to reach your potential clients will save you time and costs in marketing.
In 2026, business owners have more opportunities to research their niche and address consumers’ needs, including data analytics and digital marketing. Now, POD companies can leverage widespread small business tips for entrepreneurs: cater to specific requirements and create a personalized user experience by monitoring emerging trends and implementing automation. Businesses that can blend authenticity and innovation receive higher chances to succeed in the modern niche marketplace.
How to Build a Platform Like Printful
Even though your POD store may be registered in the United States, its audience can stretch to neighboring countries and even other continents. Luckily, the world internet network and international shipping companies allow businesses to reach potential clients abroad and deliver orders right to their doors.
Dogcore guys could find their fans in Canada, the UK, Germany, and Australia. Years of online interactions and high-quality content allowed them to spread the word about their business across the globe. The more they sold, the more people could test their products and talk about them online and in person.
Here are some top tips for new business owners who want to sell their stuff across borders:
Sometimes, negative comments can give you another reason to communicate with customers deeply, learn their opinions, and fix gaps in your service or quality. Turn complaints into the best practices for small businesses by showing your quick response to customers’ feedback and ensuring you can solve any questions.
Dogcore founders say they receive at least one negative testimonial per year, which doesn’t always mean there’s a seller’s failure. For example, one client made a late Christmas order and was warned that the package could be delayed (on the 25-28th of December) due to the holiday rush, weather conditions, etc. This consumer agreed but later wrote a complaint, blaming Dogecore for ruining the celebration. Shop owners answered in a funny way, saying they rejected the guilt but still ensured the buyer would get their packages right to the door.
In the case of some extraordinary situation, every store owner should have a plan of what to do to avoid losing clients. For example, you can offer a refund if the package was lost or address an issue with free shipping, a discount for the next order, or a gift. Sometimes, financial tips for small business owners may sound differently: “Reputation is more valuable than profit.”
Answering negative reviews is as crucial as thanking for positive ones. Indeed, in some cases there’s a customer guilt. For example, when they ask for a refund for the bad smell of the t-shirt and then don’t reply for 68 days, as a Dogcore client did. No return policy (we talk about the apparel segment) considers refunds in such a long term. And a shop owner should prove their case. Unfortunately, not all buyers are honest, either. But it shouldn’t impact the opinions of other clients.
While numerous complaints store owners receive are related to shipping delays, fulfilling customers’ orders on time remains one of the crucial tasks for them to solve. Luckily, there’s a proven small business tip for beginners, allowing printing services to optimize their working processes and increase the number of satisfied clients. We talk about cost-effective order fulfillment automation and a dedicated B2B solution - Podza by MPS.
The app automatically accepts and distributes orders, calculates margins, generates invoices, and can connect to other services like Shiphero or Shipstation for streamlined processing.
With Podza, POD companies will get a trusted assistant who works 24/7, eliminates human factor risks, and proceeds dozens of operations, saving their owner time and costs. Some of the most remarkable app features include:
The Podza app streamlines routine processes, freeing human resources from low-performance tasks and reducing stress for POD entrepreneurs. This e-commerce app features things that make a business successful, allowing entrepreneurs to focus on further scaling, stay competitive, and utilize innovative approaches.
PodZa Insights: Using AI for POD Business
With a diversity of digital tools and platforms available today, launching a profitable POD business is no longer a dream. While you may still have a lot of work to do, including research and building transparent relationships with customers, you also have more opportunities compared to the e-commerce landscape a couple of decades ago.
Now, a printing business startup may have fewer investments but require more creativity, honesty, and passion. You can try to build a community around a common interest and supply your subscribers’ engagement with regular posts, storytelling, and pictures.
As the global reach becomes more accessible, expanding your impact has become easier than ever. Grow to international markets with multilingual websites, sustainable practices, and diverse payment options. Automated tools like Podza can assist you in processing large amounts of orders, which reduces the risks of delays and clients’ complaints. Finally, the negative reviews allow you to improve the service and communicate with the audience. These tips and advice for small business owners can help you build an efficient foundation for future success. So don’t doubt and start building your own e-commerce empire in 2025.
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