Don’t have the start-up capital to set up a print shop? Don’t worry. You don’t need to create products to sell them to your customers. You can grow a print reseller network for your wholesale print-on-demand business.

While other companies were struggling to gain growth during the pandemic, the print-on-demand industry was growing leap and bounds. Another factor contributing to this growth is the shift from retail business to an online one. People’s buying behavior changed a lot, and eCommerce businesses were forced to adapt to this behavior. Even in the post-pandemic world, now the online shopping trend will stay.

From 2017 to 2020, the print-on-demand industry took a 12% leap. In 2021, it still saw a growth spike, and in 2022, it remained above the pre-pandemic level.

Hence, it’s an opportunity for you to grow your print wholesale business. You can find the gaps in your strategies that were not evident pre-pandemic and try your best to eliminate them. This blog will explain how you can set up your reseller network, what you can do for your resellers, and what they will expect from you.

What is a reseller network?

A print reseller doesn’t directly print the products they sell. They work with a wholesaler who will take wholesale orders for printing products such as banners and posters.

A print reseller network is a channel that acts as an intermediary between the wholesaler and the end consumers, which might be businesses or customers. A reseller network can help you increase your outreach to new consumers. You will be able to access an experienced sales team and grow your brand recognition. At the same time, the reseller will get the commission from selling your products. So, it’s a win-win situation for both of you.

How to manage the reseller network?

The managed print market is forecasted to increase from $28.40 billion to $50.78 billion by 2023, at an 8.5% CAGR between 2017 and 2023.

Thus as a print-on-demand wholesaler, you should be selective about whom you choose to represent your product. Only by finding ones that align with your brand the most can increase your sales, as not all can be good representatives. Below we have explained the criteria to manage your reseller network:

1. Set the right expectations

You must set proper expectations, including quota, total sales, revenue, and deals closed with your resellers. You should come clear with your resellers on all points, like how much percentage they’ll get on selling your products? Will you be giving them any bonuses or incentives?

Setting up a reseller network takes time and resources, so don’t waste them on unworthy ones. The ones who won’t be suitable for your business will automatically back out. So you’ll be left with those who will represent your brand positively.

Also, establish with your resellers that you expect consistent results as you don’t want your sales to decrease over time. Some resellers might give you a good performance early on, but later, they might not perform well.

Set some ground rules on what your resellers can do and not do with your product, as you don’t want a negative representation of your brand. If you set the right expectations, your relationship with your resellers will sail smoothly in the future.

2. Set roles and responsibilities

Every reseller will have its own reselling model. So, you just need to set responsibilities and give control over products to resellers about who will be responsible for reselling what.

Here are some things that you can expect from your resellers:

Help you expand your business through marketing and sales activities.
How to effectively manage your reseller network (Print Reseller Web-to-Print Storefront Module).
Must be customer-focused and deliver actual value to your customers.
Must be knowledgeable and keep themselves up-to-date with industry trends.

Here are some things your resellers can expect from you:

Providing quality support and training.
Providing ready-to-print templates.
Branded web-to-print storefronts for resellers.
Growing with Wholesale.

3. Knowing customer data and KPI

Knowing about their past and current customers’ data and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a must if you want to choose the best-qualified resellers for you.

You must know how many brands the resellers have interacted with in the past and did any one of them is your competitor? How much sales do the resellers bring per month, and how many brands are they currently working with?

Analyzing this data, you’ll be able to determine how much sales the resellers can bring you on an average basis.

4. Vertical market focus

A vertical market is focused on a specific niche means it targets particular consumers eliminating competition often seen with conventional marketing. In addition, vertical focus produces higher efficiency and reduces production costs as the company doesn’t have to pursue its individual goals.

Hence, if you are running a wholesaler print-on-demand business, it will be incredibly beneficial to build a reseller network focused on a vertical niche. It will have all the clients in the same vertical niche, which means more sales for you.

If a reseller network is serving clients from various verticals, it won’t be able to focus on one niche. Moreover, your products might not match the reseller’s clients’ expectations, so it will reduce your chances of increased sales.

Final Thoughts

If you are running a wholesaler print-on-demand business and feel that your sales are stagnating, then growing a print reseller network will increase your revenue. You’ll get endless possibilities with a reseller network, such as increasing your brand recognition and reducing competition. While you’ll enjoy increased sales, your resellers will earn a commission from each sale. So, it will be a win-win situation for you.

Resellers can expand your customer base and scale your business so you won’t have to purchase expensive tools and build a system from scratch. With ready-made reseller management tools such as Design’N’Buy, you won’t be required to break your bank to manage the network. So, get started on reseller network management now.

It’s not an understatement to say that Web-To-Print solutions are a raging business to invest in. Why? Well, digitization is the latest trend, one which is going to stay for a long time. As per research, the Web-To-Print industry is expected to grow at a rate of 5.1% and will earn a revenue of $30.5 billion by 2023. Anyone investing in this field is likely to capture huge customer markets and in turn, earn high revenue.

With the entire world going digital, printers should also invest in software that offers quick-time solutions. All, including B2B and B2C customers, want a rapid-paced solution with a custom product design feature. The tedious process of going physically to a designer, sharing a concept, waiting for the design, ask for edits and then get a final draft, is outdated now.

A W2P solution helps to minimize the operational cost and production time by offering online product design, which is ready to print. As per statistics, 58% of the printing businesses that chose Web to print solutions, felt an increase in sales and 55% reported a sharp rise in profits. Therefore, owning an online print store is certainly a great bet for entrepreneurs who want to launch into a feasible and profitable money-making business.

After pondering on the positive aspects of the venture, there are certain pitfalls that must be considered before taking a plunge into buying a design tool for a printing business.

Five Mistakes to Avoid While Choosing a Web-To-Print Solution:

1. Lack of research, homework and strategic planning

New bees need to do a reality check before venturing into a business that demands the purchase of a design tool for a printing business. Just like any other business, there are chances that this one may not work out for them. As per Forbes, 90% of the Startups fail (including W2P companies) due to lack of research, inability to gauge the target audience, poor marketing and many other reasons.

While 21.5% fail in the maiden year, 34% lose their grip in the second year, 50% suffer in the fifth year of commencing the business and 70% lose the game by the tenth year. Therefore, it is important to pool in experts who perform risk-benefit analysis before the actual investment.

The next step is to check the resources, brainstorm the process, build a marketing strategy and then only venture. This will be an ideal way to set up an online print store that will see the sunlight in the long run. So, the first thing is not to rush in the purchase of print store software.

2. Investing in the wrong software

After all the research and zeroing down on the idea of investing in a Web2Print eCommerce storefront, entrepreneurs need to search for the best technical machinery for it. As technology is changing in a blink miss and new concepts are coming up every day, they need to figure out which kind of W2P software works best for their company.

It is not advisable to invest in or subscribe to outdated software. In fact, it is recommended to enroll in the latest version of the software or add plugins that keep their Web-to-Print website up-to-date.

This may seem to be a tiny pointer but is certainly worth an incisive thought as outdated technology will demand more maintenance and rework in the future. To avoid such downsides, one must choose an eCommerce print shop that offers futuristic functionality, quick online product design modules, and a completely user-friendly interface.

3. Design over function

Know the purpose before creating a design!

It is said in the digital world that ‘form follows the function’. This means the purpose of creating a certain design or template should be very clear. Technocrats must gauge their target audience, assess the reason for choosing a particular Web-To-Print software solution and hunt for their probable market. This will aid in choosing the best print store software. When purchased with such clarity, the website offers custom product design, which pleases customers and eventually ends up in increased sales.

Suppose a print store owner wants to build a company that sells trendy T-shirts with unique prints. In this case, the first thing to figure out is the target audience – whether it is kids, youth or women of different age groups. Followed by this, the team needs to brainstorm the colors, the message, the design, and the fabric. Once the audience is known, it is easy to create a custom product design, which matches the demand of the audience.

Basically, when the function or purpose is known, the design part will flow effortlessly. Therefore, it is important to prioritize the evaluation of the function (purpose) and not jump on the creative aspect or the design element of the business.

4. Slow load times are the shortest way of losing customers

A business can fail even after knowing the heart of the target audience. Reason? Low-performing technology is the prime reason for the failure of a W2P website. The biggest reason for customers to choose an eCommerce print shop is to reduce the time for publishing the material.

Suppose, customers need to print brochures for marketing a certain feature of the company. They can easily do so by simply customizing the existing template and printing as many copies of the brochure as they want.

In this case, if the template takes time to show up or custom product design UI takes time to load then it can be very disappointing. Hence, it is important to choose a quick loading software solution that performs customization in a jiffy, designs products online, and gives ready-to-print material in the shortest possible time. In a nutshell, it’s important to minimize downtime to maximize the business!

5. Poor checkout process – Another sure shot way of losing customers!

According to a report by SaleCycle, around 57.60% to 84.27% of customers withdraw from an eCommerce store during checkout, irrespective of the industry. Businesses can lose a big portion of the customers by keeping a tedious checkout process. In terms of revenue, it turns out to be a whopping amount of $18 billion, which eCommerce brands lose due to cart abandonment.

Simplifying the checkout process will give significant results. Nowadays, people want to make purchases within few steps so, focus on offering a hassle-free checkout process. Make it multi-lingual to give added comfort to customers spread across the globe.

Apart from a simple three-step checkout process, the payment part should not ask for too much information. It can annoy the customer and he/she may walk out of the cart. Reports suggest that 12% of people drop out as the site demands a lot of unnecessary information. Nearly 11% of people abandon the checkout process if the website is too slow to load.

eCommerce experts suggest that around 7% of customers are lost due to the unavailability of payment options. Apart from a secure payment gateway, it’s important to offer multiple options for plastic money so that customers can pay as per their convenience. This way, by applying checkout optimization strategies, storefront owners can curtail the chances of losing customers during checkout and even increase the conversion rate by 35.26%.

To sum up, these are some of the reasons why businesspersons miss the mark in choosing a Web-To-Print solution. Anyone planning to launch an eCommerce print shop needs to consider the above aspects to succeed in the venture. By choosing the right technology partner, entrepreneurs can cut down the operational cost, minimize risk and maximize profits!

Grow a Print Reseller Network for your Wholesales Print Business