Is Print-on-demand Still Profitable in 2025? Is There a Gap?
As the first months of 2025 are over, it becomes essential to evaluate "Is print-on-demand still profitable in the remain of 2025 and beyond?" This will help you make informed decisions and create a solid business plan. Let’s assess the future of POD with Teeinblue now!
Is Print-on-demand Still Profitable in 2025?
Yes. Print-on-demand is still definitely profitable in 2025, but competition has increased, making it a hard game, especially for beginners. You can earn money with a good niche (product), high-converting designs, the best print-on-demand partner, and effective marketing strategies.
Here are extra insights to help you determine further!
Is Print on Demand Still Worth It to Make Money?
Even with rising competition and a longer wait for your first earnings, print-on-demand remains a worth business model thanks to its key advantages:
- Low risk: This business model is legit. There's no need to invest in a physical store, manufacturing equipment, or inventory. You also don't have to handle product delivery to customers.
- Affordable starting cost: The main expenses with print-on-demand are designs, e-commerce platforms, and marketing. Overall startup costs may start from hundreds of dollars.
- Abundant products to sell: You can sell designs on any legal product - from everyday items like t-shirts, mugs, and home decor, to premium products like jewelry, car accessories, and more.
- High flexibility: Running your POD business online gives you the freedom and flexibility to work online globally, without the overhead of an office.
POD Profit Margin and Successful Rate
Here are some statistics to help you get a clearer picture:
- Profit margin: From Teeinblue’s statistics on thousands of print-on-demand merchants, the average profit margin falls between 15% and 60%, with the majority favoring the 25% to 50% range.
- Success rate: While there is no definitive rate for the entire market, Dropshipping.com indicates that around 24% of POD merchants remain operational after three years in business.
Is Print-on-demand Saturated Soon?
Print-on-demand is unlikely to be saturated soon. The market keeps growing fast with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.89% (Print On Demand Market, Imarc). This creates more room to make money.
Key factors driving print-on-demand growth include shifting consumer reading habits, the growth of global logistics and delivery networks, and the rise of self-publishing worldwide. Especially, product personalization is in high demand and more affordable to consumers, making it a significant driver.
⚠️ As more merchants enter the market, competition intensifies, making it more challenging to differentiate offerings and maintain higher profit margins.
The global print-on-demand market keeps growing fast (Source: Imarc)
Is Print-on-demand a Good Business to Start in 2025?
Yes. 2025 is still good to start a print-on-demand business, despite the high competition. Here are several factors that contribute to its profitability:
- The rising of personalized gifts: Projections indicate a CAGR of 6.7% from 2025 to 2033. A report from Salesforce also shows that 62% of customers prefer customized items to normal products.
- Emerging trends: The number of niche ideas will continuously increase each year, along with the development of the economy. Besides, not every POD business sells the same products in the same niche. In 2025, consider starting with personalized songs, calendars, scrabble, and crosswords.
- Market’s natural elimination: People now have more concerns about quality. Shops that offer bad designs, poor product quality, and bad service won’t stay long. It’s your turn to join with superior items and an excellent customer care policy.
- No perfect POD business: It is the truth that nothing is perfect in the world. When reading reviews, pricing, shipping, or return policies of a POD business, you will find the competitors' weaknesses. Then, you can find ways to improve and make them to your advantage.
Insights: The most profitable print-on-demand markets include the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Mexico, India, and Australia.
Another forecast for global print-on-demand growth by Precedence Research
💡 You may also like: Top Trending Niches and Designs for Print-on-demand
How to Make Money With Print-on-demand in 2025?
Making money with print-on-demand is possible by mastering the selection of four key factors: products, designs, print-on-demand (POD) providers, and marketing strategies. Here is how!
Research Market
Understanding the market is the cornerstone of a profitable print-on-demand business. By identifying customer preferences and emerging trends, you can strategically position your products to meet demand effectively. This knowledge leads to:
- Identify target demographics and their buying habits.
- Analyze competitors to find market gaps.
- Stay updated with industry trends and forecasts.
Choose Winning Products
Selecting products that resonate with your audience can significantly increase sales. It’s about offering what’s in demand and unique, which can set your brand apart. To achieve this, you should:
- Curate a list of popular items within your niche, which are more likely to sell.
- Determine products with high profit margins, to ensure financial viability.
- Select items that are feasible for print-on-demand, balancing creativity with practicality.
Getting started with your favorite niche will motivate you
Select the Best-fit Provider
The right provider ensures quality products, reliable fulfillment, and customer satisfaction. This step is crucial for building a reputable brand and fostering trust with your customers. In selecting a provider, aim to:
- Evaluate providers based on quality, cost, and delivery times, to maintain customer satisfaction.
- Choose a provider with positive reviews and a robust support system, to ensure a smooth operation.
- Place a sample order to ensure the product quality aligns with your needs and control any service discrepancies.
💡 Scroll down to the end of this article to find the most profitable products, providers, and sites!
Create Converting Design
Attractive and unique designs can be the difference between a browse and a purchase. Good design captures attention and communicates brand values, making it a key driver of sales. With design in mind, strive to:
- Offer designs that appeal to your target market.
- Create a diverse library of designs to cater to various tastes.
- Test designs for market response before full-scale printing.
Simple but profitable design for print-on-demand
Sell on a Profitable Platform
Selling on the best print-on-demand sites can maximize visibility and profits. It’s best to focus on platforms favored by your audience to boost product traffic. Besides, remember to weigh each platform’s cost against its benefits for optimal profit, and fine-tune your listings for better search presence and conversion rates.
For example, Shopify provides everything you need for an e-commerce website. It allows you to design, customize, manage, and advertise your store. It is easy to use and affordable for every merchant. Don’t worry if you are a beginner, their team will enthusiastically support you from the first step.
Conduct Effective Marketing Campaigns
Marketing drives traffic and converts interest into sales. It’s essential for brand growth and customer acquisition, acting as the voice that communicates your brand’s value to the world.
There are always free choices for marketing to maximize your margin. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can bring great organic traffic to your website. Or you can share your product on social media such as Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
Try to reduce marketing costs to increase profit margin
Note: Every start is hard and challenging. Print-on-demand cannot make you a millionaire or bring you profits without creativity, meticulousness, and great patience. Don’t rush and don’t expect that the print-on-demand store will give you high income after a short time.
You may encounter troubles when setting up your store or launching the first campaign. But don’t worry, the second try will be better.
Most Profitable Print-on-demand Products for 2025
Here are top profit ideas for your start:
- Basic apparel & athleisure: Top high-margin print-on-demand basic apparel are T-shirts, hoodies, polo shirts, and leggings. With the growing trend of people embracing a fitness-oriented lifestyle, offering comfortable and stylish workout athleisure can be a lucrative addition to your product lineup.
- Art & printings: it’s worth testing out personalized wall art with photo upload, text, black-and-white, street and star map, clipart, songs, calendar, and scrabble.
- Home Decor: Here are the hottest niches for home decoration in 2025: Christmas ornaments, mugs, posters, doormats, pillows, blankets, acrylic decor gifts, etc.
- Eco-friendly products: A PwC survey in 2024 says that 46% of consumers buy more sustainable items. And they are willing to pay 9.7% more. You can catch the going sustainable trend with compostable phone cases, wooden tech accessories, hemp and cork-based vegan leather for pets, organic cotton t-shirts, etc.
Some profit print-on-demand ideas for you
Which Print-on-demand Service is Most Profitable?
Here are the best print-on-demand services that provide comprehensive solutions at affordable costs:
- Print-on-demand providers: Printful and its alternatives, such as Printify, ShineOn, Gelato, merchOne, Dreamship, CustomCat, and more. To reduce costs, it’s best to choose providers in the customers' country.
- POD platforms & marketplaces: Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, and Amazon.
Among these services, apps like Teeinblue Product Personalizer will help you catch the trends of personalized products and save you 50% effort of selling POD:
- Design and add custom options for your customers to choose from.
- Sell unlimited products from any POD provider.
- Combine designs with products to launch a campaign and sell on Shopify and any website builders.
- Automatically generate production files that are high resolution and ready to print.
- Send orders to POD companies that integrate API with Teeinblue within clicks.
4 Examples of Profitable Print-on-demand Sites
You’ve got the answer to “Is Print-on-demand Still Profitable?” and a basic guide to making a profit. Walk around the successful stores below to get inspiration.
- GearBunch stands out with its custom leggings and activewear, targeting women who love sports. They make their mark with handcrafted, all-over-print leggings, made to order. Their success hinges on offering high-quality, limited-edition items and prioritizing customer satisfaction.
- iLikeMaps specializes in personalized maps, featuring cartographic designs of over 700 cities. They distinguish themselves with a custom map creator that allows customers to personalize any location. Their high-quality prints and top-notch customer service drive their success.
- Sharp Shirter captures attention with quirky designs on tees and wallpapers, known for their sharp all-over print tees and unusual designs. They connect with a wide audience through bold and humorous designs and contribute to environmental conservation by donating a portion of their profits.
- House Of Chingasos resonates with the Latino community by combining humor and cultural pride in their custom apparel and accessories. They engage their audience with Latino-centric designs and effectively use social media advertising to reach their market.
In conclusion, making a profit from a new print-on-demand store is absolutely possible. The keys to success are choosing the right niche, creating high-quality designs, choosing the best POD companies, and launching effective marketing strategies. Still wondering about “Is print-on-demand still profitable in 2025?”, don’t hesitate to join Teeinblue Global Community for POD Personalization to have further discussion.
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