As per the latest insights shared in Nov-2020 by Statista, the e-commerce market volume is likely to double in 2022 in comparison to that for the year 2019. However, it still remains a challenging domain for the entrants.
Every retailer today has an aspiration to become an e-tailer. Every other social media along with a dozen other platforms like Wix offer a quick launchpad to build an online store. And still, the e-commerce industry remains tough for the newbies to mark their spot. On the contrary to brands in the offline space, the internet-based brands have larger market-shares and serious monopolistic competition. Unless the business comes up with a unique idea and builds a USP around “that idea” – you will always be just another shop.
The key for the start-up businesses wanting a bite from this Apple is product personalization. You cannot and should not expect different results creating just another online store. Therefore, the online store you need to build must be offering the functionality to create and sell merchandise online.
“The new trend is customization products with social distancing and travelling regulations.”
This strategy works for you whether you are targeting consumer goods or print merchandise. The idea here is to create a website with an online editor for the catalogue of customization products. In order for you to achieve that, you need a combination of technology experts with vast experience integrating solutions for the print industry.
Customization Products as USP
It is going to be 3-years now since Amazon registered the patent for Automated Manufacturing and Warehousing for clothing. In the same month, in Jan 2018, Epsilon Data Management, LLC published their research stating that 80% of the surveyed consumers are likely to purchase if brands offer customization products. Therefore, it would be fair to zero-in on the idea of product personalization as the x-factor for online success in the next decade.
You could try a website with an excellent graphics and UI but the SEO managers might not find them SEO-friendly. You move to the app directly, but the app advertising costs are soaring high. Discount and cheap price-labelled websites: the consumer loyalty is always questionable for customers with the loss budget. That is typically the free-bie lurking consumers and they belong to no one.
A generic online selling website with a standard catalogue of products is what every-other website on the web has. The costs of logistics, thin margins due to serious competition, and the need for paid online marketing takes a huge chunk of your net profit. Therefore, product personalization with the catalogue of customization products with a functional website to create and sell merchandise online is a no brainer.
Not before a decade or two ago, the idea to sell business cards online would be laughed at by most of us. However, today the empire of VistaPrint is built and still expanding with that one simple idea.
VistaPrint Story: Create and Sell Merchandise Online
When Robert Keane founded VistaPrint in 1994, it used to operate as a direct mail catalogue by the name ‘Bonne Impression’. It would provide brochures, newsletters, and software to small businesses in France – a typical merchandise printing shop.
In November 1998, while Google was still in the womb, they realized the potential of digital printing. The decision to allow their buyers create their merchandise online revolutionized the industry. They focused on two essential areas: (i) A browser-based desktop publishing software and (ii) Workflow automation software.
They took a simple idea to sell business cards online (along with the list of other business merchandise) and turned them into a catalogue of customization products. They built product personalization itself as USP and they now have an empire across the globe churning out billions of dollars in revenue.
Yes, they were (and still are) visionary; they had the first mover advantage; and they had the guts to do it. Great! Can it be done again? The answer is – you do not need to. They had to build a wheel, now you do not. To think of building a Billion dollar empire as a start-up is not a practical process – the first question is to stay afloat – to survive – to weather the competition. And, a website to create and sell merchandise online is a fine idea. An idea; we can help you build, sustain, and grow.
Your Guide to Build Product Personalization a USP
Building an e-commerce site requires a wee-bit more detailing than a retail shop. Here’s your list of things to consider before you choose a technology partner:
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Know Your Audience
We are not talking about the typical buyer’s persona here. You need to identify the audience you wish to serve. You may choose to build a personalized gifts website and the audience definition is much simpler and diverse here. The choice to build a website for customization products such as personalized shoes or other leather material requires a configurator.
Online merchandise is way simpler. However, there is a marketplace model and the other is the buyer-consumer relationship model. In the first instance, your audience includes the designers who create these customization products on your website and you sell them. For the latter, the user comes to your website, customizes the template you provide and orders in bulk. There is also an angle with a fusion of these two. So the first goal is to choose which is the one you are aiming for.
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Go Live at Minimum Cost
Reasonable – not cheap! To sell custom products online, you need a functional website. There are a number of excellent options available for ready-to-host Web-to-Print stores. But only a handful of one’s that come with required features and know-how of the industry. You need a product that is suited for your audience type and one that can accommodate your printing methods without much fuss.
The primary reason to not invest much at this stage is that you would need a marketing budget to enter the arena of selling customized merchandise online. Therefore, a functional website should be a viable option to save for the marketing budget you would need to have a reasonable break-even ratio.
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Matching the Audience and the Product Personalization Tool
There are typically three kinds of product personalization tools: (i) A basic text and image customization tool, (ii) Personalization Tool for multi-layer image customizations, and (iii) An online configurator – assembly level customizations. For example, if you want to sell business cards online, you should be content with the first option. However, for personalized shoes or purses; you must go for the third option.
Fastest Ways to Launch and Sell Custom Products Online
VistaPrint Script
Owing to the huge popularity of VistaPrint, people often go for a shortcut. They search for a VistaPrint script online and use that to build their own store(s). While you may get short-term profits with VistaPrint replica, you may not benefit in the long run. Rather, you might end up facing more setbacks than advantages.
The first setback is that while cloning VistaPrint, you won’t have a choice to keep only the features that fit your requirements. The second is the quality of interface that may not match up. Last but not the least, no matter how hard you try, a “copy” is ultimately a “copy”. People want unique features, not the ones copied.
Brush Your Ideas – Web to Print Store
It is a tested and loved product by several start-up businesses. Our W2P store is built with the focus to let start-ups businesses launch a website in less than 2 days. It is a product with the arsenal of functionalities that you need to acquire, engage, and serve your future customers in the best way possible. We guarantee that our product integration team is the A-team you seek by your side to embark on this journey ahead.
It is ready to go live as it is and if you do seek any customizations for your product personalization business idea – we would not be surprised.
Know More about Brush Your Ideas – Your A-Team
The team of Brush Your Ideas has over 4 years of experience enabling the businesses to sell custom products online using product personalization products. We offer a fully functional product design tool for Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, and virtually any platform a website is built on using our custom APIs. Our management team has over 14 years of business experience with technology integrations.
The diverse range of our products span design integrations for enterprise customers, W2P store for start-up and mid-sized businesses, and an ERP suite built for print commerce. We have the experience and know-how to anticipate the challenges your business will face when it reaches the next phase – today. Once your business matures and you wish to migrate from the W2P store to a subtler custom approach, the A-team that integrates your solution using a theme-based product, will still be by your side and help with the next phase, and so on.
We have a successful track record of over 80% clients retained because we do not just offer technology solutions, but we will also guide you to market your website. We only succeed when we help your business flourish and therefore, our expert consultant will always be part of your growth strategy discussions to lay the path of the success you desire. You are just one step away from engaging in a meaningful discussion with our strategy consultants and find out more about our vibrant business culture. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you set up your web-store to sell custom products online.
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