Creating a Custom Print on Demand Store with Squarespace
The eCommerce market provides a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs to start their own successful businesses. However, given the huge number of opportunities, the industry swells with competition too.
Customers today are more likely to buy from online retailers who have well-designed websites. After all, things might get a bit boring if everyone follows the same format and offers the same things in the online stores that all look the same. Therefore, one of the keys to eCommerce success is finding ways to differentiate yourself from the competition.
It's always beneficial to have an advantage over the opposition with a well-designed online store that will attract more customers and result in more purchases. The good news is that those who have joined the most recent waves of online businesses can rely on Squarespace for being their hidden weapon.
Wondering how to get started? In this article, I’ll help you create your very own custom print-on-demand (POD) store with Squarespace.
Benefits of Having a Print-on-Demand Store With Squarespace
With a POD business, you partner with a third-party vendor that prints out individual orders as they come in from your customers. So, for example, if you’re selling custom tumblers, they will only manufacture it when someone places an order for it on your website.
One major perk is that you and others like you may launch a business without having to worry about the hassle of investing in an inventory or managing it. You can focus on running your company while your POD partner handles production, packaging, and shipping.
There are several options for setting up a POD storefront, including eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, etc. Out of these, Squarespace makes a compelling case for why it should be your ideal website builder. They offer superior graphic power, ease of use, and overall value for your money. A personal domain name and unlimited storage space are both included.
Steps to Create a Custom Print-on-Demand Store With Squarespace
Now that you understand why creating a POD website with Squarespace is your best bet let’s help you set up a store and start earning.
1. Set Up Your Squarespace Store
To set up your Squarespace store, you’ll need to first create an account. Squarespace provides a 14-day free trial that allows you access to all its tools. (p.s. When you’re ready to subscribe, you can use my code KRISTINE10 to save 10% on your annual subscription!)
After you’ve created an account, choose a template or design your own! You will have lots of options to choose from but this post will help you know what to look for.
Simply enter your email address or use your Google account to sign in to Squarespace. The next page will prompt you to enter a title for your website before providing some general editing tips. Depending on your vision for your website, you can:
Add pages
Organize the structure for easy navigation
Add content
Choose color scheme
Add branding elements like logos, fonts, store policies, etc.
Once your store is all set up, you’re ready to move to the next step.
2. Pick Print-on-Demand Provider
You may connect to a number of print-on-demand services with Squarespace Extensions. The success of your print-on-demand venture hinges on picking the right POD partner to work with your eCommerce platform. But how do you choose the best POD service when there are so many? Here's a rundown of some things to think about:
Your budget
The catalog size
Quality of products
Customization options
Delivery timeline
Quality of support
Ease of integration
I like Printify because it provides an extensive catalog of more than 800 high-quality white-label products. You can sell anything and everything from custom jackets to custom phone cases, stickers to shoes - whatever you can think of! They also have a free mockup generator that helps you create beautiful designs easily and create 3D mockups. Lastly, they guarantee a production time of 10 days. If they don’t meet the timeline, they’ll process a refund! And if you ever get stuck, they’re available around the clock to help you with any issues.
Once you’ve selected your POD provider, it’s time to understand what it’ll take to survive and thrive in the market. For that, we move on to the next step!
3. Do a Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis is a technique for gauging the business's market standing in relation to that of its competitors. It is a technique for gathering information and making it useful.
Conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis positions you to outperform the competition and win over loyal customers. Competitor analysis is an integral part of developing a successful company plan. A thorough competitor analysis will help you in the following ways:
Learn more about the current corporate climate, which may assist you in better positioning your brand;
Find your niche and stand out from the competition;
Take note of the areas in which your rivals excel;
Use opportunities to benefit you and take advantage of your rivals' shortcomings.
Learn from the marketing moves made by your competitors and use those lessons in your own approach.
4. Choose Your Products and Upload them to the Store
After the competitor analysis, you should be clear about what you want to offer. Now, link your POD provider with Squarespace and display your products on your website.
With Squarespace and Printify working together with its integration, this is a breeze. Browse the comprehensive collection and pick the items that you believe will appeal best to your intended audience.
Using Printify's straightforward interface, you can add your company's logo or other custom artwork to any of your selected products. You may easily customize the appearance of your products by uploading and positioning your own custom artwork. You can personalize your products with art, typography, and more with Printify's mockup generator and state-of-the-art design tools.
Once your designs are ready, simply upload them to your store with a descriptive title, compelling description, and the selling price.
5. Create a Marketing Strategy
Online retailers need to work harder to attract customers than traditional stores since they can't just rely on foot traffic. You can't expect clients to appear out of thin air if you launch an online store.
While the products offered in each online store may be unique, their marketing approaches are consistent. To help you replicate this strategy on your own, you’ll have to do the following:
Define your unique selling point, meaning what makes you stand out from your competitors.
Create a marketing funnel from discovery to purchase to understand the customer journey.
Set marketing objectives for each stage of the funnel and how you’ll achieve them.
Define your budget and determine what methods you can afford.
Define your marketing channels and key performance indicators (KPI) to measure progress.
Determine a timeline to implement the strategies and stick to them.
Track your progress, see what you can do better, and implement changes.
Related Post: Crash Course: The Squarespace Commerce Analytics Panel
6. Launch Your Store
Once your marketing strategy is in place, it’s time for action! Find out what kind of fulfillment alternatives and shipping costs the POD provider offers before you start selling online. Some POD services may have the ability to fulfill and ship orders mechanically.
Make sure your shipping policies are in line with the requirements of the POD supplier you plan to use before you announce them to the public.
That’s it launch your store and publish it on all marketing channels to start making sales!
More Tips While Creating a Custom Print-on-Demand Store With Squarespace
Squarespace websites are built keeping search engine indexing in mind, but how well people find your new store still depends heavily on the material you provide as well as how you exhibit it. I strongly suggest you take advantage of the SEO tools that Squarespace provides or use a tool like SEOSpace to help your site get noticed. You can also optimize your Squarespace website by:
Targeting keywords
Optimizing product pages, their images, title, and description
Creating regular content in the form of blogs
Creating inbound and outbound links
and following other SEO practices found on their official checklist.
Another strategy you can implement is setting up an affiliate or referral program for your shop. Adding an affiliate strategy will boost your marketing returns multi folds and visibly show results with increased brand awareness, customer loyalty, generation of leads, and conversion rates. For more on my favorite affiliate and referral marketing tool check out this post!
Conclusion
The eCommerce industry is booming with opportunities, and Squarespace provides a great solution for entrepreneurs to create visually stunning websites with little to no coding knowledge. You have a lot of freedom with Squarespace when it comes to designing your eCommerce platform and handling client orders, including the option to use POD services. With this article, you’re equipped to start your own print-on-demand store and sell customized items to the world. Get started with your very own POD store on a Squarespace website today!
