Platform vs Marketplace
The first thing I’ve decided to choose, is how the business will be set up. The first decision is whether I’ll be using a Print on Demand (POD) service that comes with an integrated marketplace or if I’ll build my own website, and use a POD service that can connect to my own store.
Some sites that include an integrated marketplace are: Etsy, Amazon, RedBubble, Teepublic, Novatomato. These do not require you to build your own website, come with an already existing user-base; people that are already on the site looking to buy T-Shirts. It also comes with competition. A lot of different stores/brands will be trying to sell to the same customers that you are. Also, the profit margins for the sold items are lower.
All of these are important points, but what I honestly want to do, is learn as much as I can about building an online business. And I believe that to do that, I have to take the slightly harder path of building my own store. This will allow me to dive deeper into things like SEO optimization, marketing tactics, and even webdesign and management. So that’s what I’ll do.
I shall build my own website
This means that I need to find:
- POD provider
- Must work in Germany, and eventually other countries
- Must offer good quality products
- Plus points if sustainable – it’s not a short term priority, but a long term one
- e-commerce platform
- Should be easy to use as a short term priority
- Should easily integrate to POD service
- Should include hosting to make my life easier
- Domain name
- This one is hard, do I chose a niche first and name the brand based on that, or do I chose a neutral-ish name that will allow breathing space with the niche selection? What are we thinking chat?
POD provider
Quite a few to choose from here. Gelato, Printful, Printify, Awkard styles are the most named when performing a surface level investigation. These platforms are the most used, and have good integration with other platforms, so I won’t be investigating too deeply into this (again, trying to solve things fast, instead of perfectly).
I can tell, mostly from reading reddit posts, that none of these platforms will be perfect. They all come with quality issues and inconsistencies, poor support, and they themselves use outsourced services, which you have absolutely no control over, and which will introduce more clogs in my own business.
But alas, after my little investigation, I decided to go with Gelato. This company that works well in Germany, offers products which I have read good reviews on, and supposedly “use responsibly sourced & sustainable products“.
e-commerce platform
This part was a little bit easier. Again, a lot of providers to choose from, but there is of course one which everybody knows and uses, and has been tried and tested a million times: Shopify. I read a lot about other providers, like Shopware, Magento, wix, SquareSpace and bigcommerce. I almost went with bigcommerce, since the consensus seems to be that it allows for more customisation and growth, but I decided that I wanted easy and simple to start, and I can always migrate if the need arises. It’s good to know that there are options that I can grow into, while starting in a cozy and user friendly platform like Shopify.
I also was able to grab a three month for 3EUR type deal, which is great for getting things started.
Domain name
Since I am not ready for this yet, I shall wait until I am forced to decide on a niche and name before moving on. The solution here is to procrastinate, until it is too late.
I do know that I will be using porkbun to buy the domain name, since I have already used them to buy this domain, and others, in the past. At least I don’t have to think about that.
Conclusion and Next Steps
In fewer word, I shall build a store in Shopify, using Gelato as a POD provider, and porkbun as a domain provider.
After choosing, I need to make and pay for the accounts, link them, and start thinking about what I want to do with the store: select a niche (which includes performing a market research), start thinking about some shirt designs, and start building a brand. Sounds daunting. And it is.
Javier Litke 