Single watch winder for Rolex -Mozsly
Print-On-Demand, or POD, means “Print On Demand”. It is a business model that was created
to meet the individual needs of customers.
The Differences Between Product Customization And POD
The key point is that there are two fundamental differences between product customization
and POD:
1. The Target Groups Are Different:
Product customization is more oriented to the store, that is, store owners; in dropshipping, while
POD faces customers, that is, customers. Product customization is customized according to the
requirements of the store, and POD is customized according to the requirements of customers.
Take the water cup as an example: The store may ask us to print the store LOGO around the cup,
but the customer is different. Each customer will have different requirements. For example,
customer A wants to print his name on the cup, and customer B says he wants to customize a
bear pattern on the cup, customer C says he wants to put some graffiti on the cup, and so on.
To put it in a nutshell: Product customization faces a “group” service, and POD faces an
“individual” service.
2、Different Production Scale：
As mentioned above, because product customization and POD face different target groups, their
production scale is also different: Product customization belongs to “group customization” and
POD belongs to“private customization”.
Or use a simple product example: walk the dog noose. If the product is customized, the supplier
is required to print the name of the store or the store wants to make its brand, requiring the
LOGO and name of the customized brand, and so on. In this case, the supplier will make mass
customization of the target product according to the requirements of the store.
The supplier customizes individual products to meet the customer’s individual needs. For
example, Customer A wants to customize his pet dog’s name on the noose and then customize
a set of nooses according to his requirements; Customer B says he wants to print a meaningful
number on the noose and the supplier will customize another product that will belong to
Customer B. And so on, customized to each customer’s individual needs one by one.
Seeing this, I believe you have a general understanding of product customization and POD.
Like any business model, POD has both advantages and disadvantages. Next, let me explain
the advantages and disadvantages of POD:
Advantages of POD
1.Don't worry about inventory：
The POD model is the same as the dropshipping model, so there is no need to worry about the
biggest problem in e-commerce business storage costs. From order to production to delivery,
you don’t need to consider any of these problems. It’s all the responsibility of the suppli
2. Easy to get started, low cost of trial and error：
Today, most POD platforms are friendly to novice users and easy to use. Therefore, it is easy
to start and operate the POD business by registering an account, creating a profile page on the
platform, and uploading the product. What you need to do is to design pictures. You can try to
upload different drawings to the product for testing. If you are customized by customers, you
will need even less operation.
Weaknesses of POD
1. Lower profits:
We have also introduced above, POD products belong to “single product customization”, and
the cost compared to mass-produced products must be relatively high. If you work directly with
the service provider to distribute locally, the cost will be higher. The cost of transportation will
vary from place to place and the price varies. For overseas transportation, if you send it on your
own behalf, the freight is relatively high. Correspondingly, the cost goes up, which means that
your profits will be reduced.
2. Limited customized products and lack of diversity：
The ability to customize products depends on suppliers and products: The limited capabilities of
POD suppliers lead to a lack of diversity in merchants’ products. If your choice of POD service
provider can only produce clothing, bags, and other clothing, and fashion products, then you can
not order printed phone cases, computer bags, and other products; this means that you may
have to choose another POD service provider. Moreover, most of the categories of products
that support customization are limited:
Clothing products: t-shirts, dresses, leggings, skirts, shorts, sweaters.
Accessories: carrying bags, socks, hats, masks, etc.
Household items: porcelain cups, pillows/pillowcases, blankets, towels， etc.
Technical accessories: mobile phone case, etc.
Thank you for reading. I hope this article will help you better understand the product POD.
