Imagine you're enjoying coffee at your favorite café, wondering what Print on Demand product you could sell on Etsy. And then you notice the cute aprons that the waiters are wearing. Suddenly, it hits you – what about print-on-demand aprons with charming patterns and quotes? Before diving into weeks or months of work to launch your apron shop on Etsy, it's crucial to evaluate this POD product idea.
Here's what you need to consider when assessing a potential product for your shop:
Supplier – Is there a POD supplier that offers this type of product?
Demand – Are there enough people interested in buying your product?
Competition – How many shops on Etsy are already selling similar products?
Price and Margin – What is the potential profit margin for this product?
Ease of Design – How simple is it to create designs for this product, or will it require a significant amount of time?
Availability of Mockups – Are there attractive and readily available mockups for your product?
Other Considerations – Think about sizes, customization options, and the possibility of batch sales.
Some criteria are more critical than others. For instance, you might be willing to invest more effort and time in the design process if the product shows good selling potential. However, certain criteria are non-negotiable. For example, if there's no demand or the profit margin is too low, you might want to explore other product ideas.
Now, let's evaluate aprons as our potential product, based on these criteria.
Supplier
A quick Google search for "apron print on demand" reveals several POD suppliers, including Printify, Printful, Merchize, and Gooten. If you're unsure how to select a supplier, consider reading this article. Let's assume we've chosen Printify.
Supplier Assessment: Positive
Ease of Design
Next, examine the supplier's design requirements. For Printify, the design template size is 4350 x 4783px.
The design template seems straightforward enough. Although it's not exactly a perfect rectangle, positioning your design within this template should be quite manageable. Additionally, the maximum size required by Printify is below 5000px, which is quite reasonable. This is a plus because the larger the template, the trickier it becomes to work with. High-resolution images that print clearly on large items can be hard to come by. Also, it's worth noting that our go-to design tool, Canva, doesn't support files larger than 25MB. This could become a hurdle if you're planning to design for larger items, such as curtains or rugs.
Ease of Design: Positive
Availability of Mockups
If you're uncertain about what a mockup is, I recommend reading this article, which discusses both plain and lifestyle mockups. The default Printify mockups look good to me. Printify offers various apron styles, so it's worth checking to see if you prefer their mockups. It's important to note that sometimes other suppliers might offer the same or very similar products with different mockups. So, if you're not satisfied with the default mockups from your supplier, explore mockup options from other suppliers.
Availability of Mockups: Positive
Demand and Competition
I've combined these factors because I typically use the same tool to assess them. To evaluate demand and competition, it's crucial to understand the search volume for your product on platforms like Etsy and the number of listings for it. Ideally, you want a product with high demand and low to moderate competition.
I use a tool called E-rank for this analysis. E-rank provides a wealth of information for product research, helping to identify potentially successful products that could generate sales. This tool has been a significant time saver, allowing me to focus on products likely to sell well on Etsy.
Let's assess our apron product idea using E-rank:
I log into E-rank and use the Keyword Explorer tool to investigate potential keywords related to my product.
Starting with the basic keyword "Apron," E-rank provides some interesting insights:
Search volume is 18,079 (green), indicating a good number of annual searches for "Apron."
Average clicks are 18,337, meaning the search resulted in slightly more clicks, which is excellent (CTR is 101%). These numbers are all green, indicating positive results. A low CTR would be a red flag, suggesting that despite searches, listings aren't getting clicked, possibly because they don't match what buyers are looking for.
Etsy competition is 141,746 (red), showing a high level of competition. However, this is expected with a broad keyword. Our goal is to find specific types of aprons with high search volume but lower competition, and E-rank excels here by revealing related searches and their statistics.
As long as the parameters are mostly green or yellow, the product/keyword passes the demand/competition evaluation.
Based on E-rank's data, it seems the apron passes this stage of the process, and we can proceed to evaluating margins.
Demand and competition: Positive
Price and Margin
At this point, we've identified a product with good demand, acceptable competition, ease of design, satisfactory mockup availability, and a reliable supplier. The final question is: Can we profit from it?
In Print on Demand (POD), our expenses include:
The product cost paid to the POD supplier.
Shipping costs from the supplier to the customer.
Etsy fees, which for products priced between $30-$50, amount to roughly 12-15%.
The desired profit margin is subjective, but I aim for at least $13-$15 per sale.
Let's calculate the selling price for our apron. Assuming we're using a generic apron fulfilled by MWW on Demand in the US:
Product cost with a Printify premium subscription is $16.09.
Shipping within the US is $6.49.
Total product cost is $22.58. To achieve a $13 profit after Etsy's 15% fees, we'd need to sell the apron for about $43. However, browsing Etsy reveals many aprons, including personalized and patterned ones, priced between $25-$35. A monogrammed bestseller apron costs around $30 delivered. Unfortunately, at this price point, securing a profit using a US-based POD supplier is challenging. Other sellers might be sourcing aprons in bulk or have partnerships with local printers or manufacturers.
Price and Margin: Negative
Other considerations
Even when the potential margin appears low, there are several factors that can tip the scales in favor of your product, allowing you to increase your overall price or margin. First, consider offering customization – personalized items often draw more attention on Etsy, and you can command a higher price for personalized products. Personalization doesn't have to be complex; adding a custom name, date, or quote to the design qualifies as personalization. You can learn more about selling personalized products here.
Another aspect to consider is the possibility of selling your product in bulk. Your supplier may offer a discounted rate for large orders, and you'll also save on shipping costs. This strategy can significantly enhance your overall margin. Aprons, for example, are an excellent candidate for both personalization and bulk sales. You could offer designs personalized with a chef's name or target cafes and restaurants, which are likely to place orders for multiple aprons at once.
Given the current market prices, aprons don't meet our margin and profit criteria. Margins are absolutely crucial, and I would hesitate to proceed with a product that requires significant effort but yields little return due to market saturation with cheaper alternatives.
However, if you're set on this product, consider exploring other POD suppliers offering more affordable options, potentially from Asia. Working with suppliers in China or Vietnam is feasible but comes with its challenges, particularly longer shipping times, which must be communicated to customers.
This product evaluation process may seem daunting initially, but with experience, it becomes more straightforward. Eventually, assessing a product idea using E-rank and this methodology could take just 15-20 minutes.
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