Making money in a global pandemic: meet Jono and his booming POD business

Jan 5, 2021 | Blog, English, Features, Products, Products & Features, Tips

Print on Demand business: blog header showing a line drawing in red of a pair of hands clapping in approval

From challenge to opportunity: starting your own Print on Demand business

The Covid-19 crisis has forced many changes in the way people work, whether that’s swapping the company office for a desk at home or, as increasing numbers of individuals are doing, launching an online business in the face of furlough and redundancy. In this turbulent period, nearly three-quarters of British bricks-and-mortar businesses have lost revenue. Global GDP was expected to have fallen by 5.2% by the end of the year. And yet, in the face of crisis and recession, e-commerce has experienced unparalleled growth. Within the e-commerce sphere, Print on Demand in particular, is flourishing: the custom T-shirt printing market size is projected to be worth a staggering $6.9 billion by 2027.

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Building a Print on Demand business with Moteefe

Starting a new business can feel a little daunting. Shortages of time, confidence and money create barriers for many people. Built for effortless, end-to-end e-commerce, that’s where Moteefe steps in.

Moteefe’s powerful Print on Demand platform makes it easy to get your designs on great products that reach your buyers, wherever they are. It can accommodate every size of business, from global enterprises to independent retailers and everything in between. It’s free; there’s nothing to pay, ever, so there’s no need for a credit card to start selling. Moteefe is a global platform with localized production centers all over the world, empowering you to sell everywhere, from anywhere.

By its nature, Print on Demand is a risk-free business model. Products are only produced once a customer has bought them. Once purchased, they’re printed and delivered to the end consumer directly from production centers. As a result, there’s never any need to buy inventory upfront or store stock.

Start a POD business today

Success story: Jono’s Print on Demand business

UK-based seller Jono began his Print on Demand career with Moteefe in October 2019. Today, Jono has just celebrated his year-long anniversary and is one of the most successful sellers on the platform. To date, he has sold nearly 5,000 items and pulled in an astounding £58,914.30 in profit. In Jono’s first two months alone, he sold over 2500 units, making over £33,000.

Jono is the creator of the hugely popular Made In Poor Taste Instagram page which boasts more than one million followers. He sells merchandise through his Made In Poor Taste branded Moteefe store, basing his designs on memes which have proven to be popular with his community of followers.

A strong start

Once Jono had made the decision to start his Print on Demand business, it didn’t take him long to start selling on Moteefe. In just a few hours, he had recruited a designer, created some initial designs, uploaded them to the platform and begun pulling in a profit. Jono started using Moteefe on a Friday afternoon; by Monday, he had sold more than 250 units and generated more than £3,000 in profit. What makes this all the more impressive, is that Jono achieved these first 250 sales organically, without using paid social media advertising.

Secret to success: A great Print on Demand partner

Jono’s success story highlights the importance of a good Account Manager. As soon as Moteefe Account Manager Aidan Kessel saw Jono’s potential, he contacted him and together they came up with new ideas for designs and began to plan how to scale further using Facebook ads.

“After working with Jono, I saw a huge potential in helping him learn how to run his own ads, and after a few screen sharing sessions, he has sold an additional 100 units via Facebook ads, using a pixel placed on his organic posts to help create the perfect audience to target” Aidan said.

“Since I started flirting with the idea of selling merch on my meme page, Aidan and the Moteefe team have been incredible. Explaining every marginal detail and being available to chat pretty much 24/7 has meant I’ve gone from a complete e-commerce novice to selling 3,000 units a month! I highly recommend Moteefe for people just starting to experiment with e-commerce, but also veterans! The pricing and analytics, including the payout mechanism, are absolutely top-notch. We will be working together for years to come I’m sure!” Jono added.

Moteefe offers its top sellers a bespoke Account Management Service which includes help with translating designs and ads to reach global audiences and personalized advice. The platform also runs weekly live stream workshops as well as regular expert webinars and Facebook ads masterclasses.

Print on Demand Business: Made In Poor Taste Instagram Page

Selling Print on Demand in Europe

Jono concentrates on the UK market where his memes and designs have the most resonance. This may be a factor in his success, as Facebook Ads in Europe are known to have lower CPMs than ads directed to audiences in the USA. In terms of POD, it’s a younger market and the competition is not as intense as that in North America where the industry was born. Jono’s designs are original works, but sellers will find that the classic Print on Demand themes and designs are not yet all played out in Europe and the British Isles.

If you want to branch into Europe, Moteefe offers many advantages. The platform boasts eight production centres on the mainland as well as two production centres in the UK, providing a reassuringly robust supply chain even in the face of global pandemic and Brexit. Localized production centers are an extremely powerful feature of the platform. They give sellers the competitive advantage of being able to offer faster turnaround and delivery times than those using services in the USA or Asia. It also allows them to offer up-to-the-wire Christmas delivery dates. Ambitious sellers who want to test their winning designs in new European languages are supported by the availability of a translation service for high-potential designs.

Why you should start a Print on Demand business with Moteefe

If you’ve got the drive to succeed and some snappy ideas, then the burgeoning industry of Print on Demand could be the ideal way for you to make money online. Print on Demand involves placing designs on a range of consumer products, from T-shirts to coffee mugs and phone covers. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t a designer; like Jono, many of Moteefe’s top sellers have partnered with artists who can bring their ideas to life. Once you have your design, your campaign can be created in minutes.

Moteefe is a truly global business, with offices in London, Lisbon and Hanoi, and 20 fulfilment partners around the world. The company has managed to grow even during the Covid-19 crisis. Indeed, it was recognized as one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the UK by The Sunday Times Fast Track in 2020 in addition to being a proud Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and Technology Fast 500 EMEA company.

More than 5,000 retailers, from indie entrepreneurs to high street brands, use Moteefe’s platform to manage the sale, on-demand production and fulfilment of new products. The fully flexible end-to-end e-commerce platform enables anyone to set up an online store or offer customized products on their own site in minutes. Products are produced immediately following a customer order.

With no minimum production run, Moteefe’s platform removes the risk, wastage and upfront cost normally associated with testing ideas, geographies and markets. It enables the rapid scale-up and production of successful products to meet demand. It also improves supply chain efficiency and sustainability by working with local fulfilment partners to minimise shipping distances. Every order is produced and routed as close to the end-consumer as possible for cost and carbon reduction. It is the only technology-enabled end-to-end e-commerce solution to manage the entire production and fulfilment of high quality, on demand, customized products globally.

Retailers of all sizes have total flexibility: they can use the Moteefe platform either as a fully integrated end-to-end service, or just pick and choose the parts they need. And as Moteefe is white-labelled, the retailer owns the customer relationship and can use the data to drive repeat sales.

Ending 2020 on a high

At the end of Q4, Jono’s sales were going strong with an excellent range of ugly Christmas sweaters flying off the shelves. We look forward to catching up a little later in Q1 and getting the full scoop on last year’s achievements.

Why not see if you can emulate Jono’s success and make money online? It couldn’t be easier to get started. Just go to http://www.moteefe.com, upload your design and start selling.

Start selling POD with Moteefe today

Happy selling!

Team Moteefe