A win-win in the business world is the new black. But not so many businesses nowadays can yield profit and help other companies to have their piece of the pie at the same time. Still, some businesses manage to do both — take Printful, for example. It provides a perfect opportunity for people to run their own e-commerce store and make money for Printful. How it all works and how you can create a win-win platform or app, read in our article.
What Is the Printful App in a Nutshell?
So, what is Printful? Basically, it’s a print-on-demand drop shipping and warehousing company. You don’t have to worry about printing equipment, storage place, inventory, and shipping processes as the company provides them for you. All you have to do is to keep an eye on your online store, and Prtintful will do all the rest.
How Does It Work?
It’s quite easy to start using all the perks provided by the Printful platform and apps. First of all, you have to create a free Printful account. Then, you need to connect your online store with Printful. Luckily for many business owners, Printful can integrate with lots of e-commerce platforms and marketplaces so you can choose anything at your liking.
Once you’ve set up your account, you can use a Printful Mockup Generator to create product images for your products. You can put your unique design on men’s, women’s and children’s clothes, hats, mugs, and other merchandise.
So, if you want to have a competitive Printful-like app or platform make sure it integrates with Shopify, WooCommerse, BigCommrese, Magento, 3dcart, Weebly, etc. and that it can also be connected to various popular marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, Etsy, Bonanza, just to name a few. Make sure you have your own mockup generator so that users could create their exclusive designs for their merch.
What Is So Innovative About the Printful Business Model?
In what way does Printful make money if your registration is free of charge and the company provides all the necessary equipment and tools for running your business? It’s quite simple — you’re only charged when someone makes an order on your website. When a customer makes a purchase in your store, the Printful team gets the order information and charges you depending on the retail price set in your online store. For instance, if your product is purchased for $20, they will charge you $12 for the fulfillment, print, and packaging.
Moreover, they ship the product under your brand name to your customer, so you do not have to worry about the shipping costs, how to print products, or where to store them.
How Do You Create an App Like Printful?
So how can you have the app or platform that resembles Printful? First and foremost, what you need to do is to choose how you will earn money. It doesn’t mean that you have to copy all the monetization part of the Printful business. You can charge a percentage from any purchase, or you can set up your own business model. Focus on your company’s objectives to select the best model.
If you are struggling to find the right model, you can use business model canvas. They are visual representations of your company’s money-making processes, customers, propositions, and other things that can lead you to crucial insights about the best model that will suit you. You can also read the article How to Launch an App and Earn on It: A Step-by-Step Guide to find out more about how you can monetize your apps.
Printful gives users a perfect chance to run their business, and at the same time, generate lucrative profit, ensuring a win-win outcome for everyone.
Once you’ve chosen the right business model for your startup, now it’s time for you to think about the technical part of your app/platform to provide value to your users.
Here are the main things of Printful that you should consider when you get down to creating your own Printful-like app or platform:
- API so that you could integrate your app/platform with other 3rd party apps and platforms, like e-commerce platforms and online marketplaces
- API to incorporate various billing methods, for instance, PayPal and/or payment with card
- Mockup designer to create a custom design of products
You should also include such full-fledged sections as:
- Inventory
- Orders
- Dashboards
Also, you have to decide if you need only a website or a mobile application, or maybe both. If you indeed need a mobile app, you have to understand what operating system you should target — Android or iOS.
You have three options of how you can build Printful-like website/app:
- In-house.
If you have enough resources and expertise in creating software products, you can rely on what you have and create the platform/app you need for your startup.
You can team up with a software development provider to build a Printful-like app/platform. Be sure to find a reliable and experienced partner that will help you make the most out of your business.
- Freelance.
Freelance is one of the most resource-saving ways to build a software product, serf freelance websites to find a perfect programmer to help with your goals.
Wrapping Up
To sum up, Printful is a perfect example of a business that is profitable for both a company and its users. To ensure the success of your app or platform, you should make certain that you have chosen the right business model for your startup that aligns with Printful vision. Also, you’d better check whether your app has all the necessary technical parts — a mockup generator, various APIs, dashboards, and others. You can use your own resources or help provided by freelancers or software development vendors.
Be sure to create an app or platform like Printful so that your startup brings only win-win value for everyone.
