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Print On Demand Vs AliExpress Dropshipping 2022 Which is Better ? What Is the Difference?

Print On Demand Vs AliExpress Dropshipping 2022 Which is Better ? What Is the Difference?

Which is better between Print on demand drop shipping and AliExpress Dropshipping? Do you want to know? Journey along in this article to learn all the tricks.

Print On Demand Vs AliExpress Dropshipping 2022 Which is Better ? What Is the Difference?

 

What is Print on Demand?

 

Print on Demand, or simply POD, refers to a bargaining process where you work with a manufacturer/supplier for custom white-label products such as t-shirts, hoodies, books, etc. with your own designs and under your own brand in order to sell the customized products on a per-order basis. It means you don’t pay for the products until after you have actually sold the item.  So, there is no need to buy in bulk or hold any inventory yourself.

Besides, with print-on-demand services, every commitment comes after the sale of the products. From printing to shipping, everything is handled by your supplier. Once you’ve set everything up, it takes only a few clicks to fulfill an order once you’ve made a sale.

 

The Pros and Cons of Dropship in Print on Demand

 

1. Pros of Print on Demand Drop shipping 

Print on Demand (POD) dropshipping is a great business model for creative designers as well as artists who are looking to start their own merchandise or operate as a form of side hustle. Here are a few key pros of POD services:

1) Selling your own products

You get a great feeling of relief and confidence when you can sell your own products. With print on demand services such as Printful, TeeSpring, and Zazzle, designers can unlike in the past, easily sell their own merchandise on mobile covers, t-shirts, book covers, mugs, calendars and even more items where custom printing is possible.

2) The possibility of Custom Packaging

Another pro of using print on demand is that as soon as you start dropshipping custom designs, you can add your own logo and label to increase brand awareness. You will be able to sell your designs, keep a commission on each sale and increase profit margin.

3) Easy to Start as a Side Business

Since POD can be run as a side business, many POD drop shippers do not need to get anxious about starting the business. The stuff has a lower entry barrier and offers a lot of room to play with various designs and products.

4) The Whole Process Automates

You get a benefit of automating the whole process of Print on Demand dropshipping business. Right from advertisements to designing, as a print on demand drop shipper, you can spend as low as $10 daily to try out new t-shirt designs.

2. Cons of Print on Demand Drop shipping 

1) Expensive Product/Shipping Costs

Unlike AliExpress dropshipping, the POD dropshipping products are costly, with stringent shipping policy and expensive shipping cost. This is simply so because the designs are custom printed and not produced in bulk.

2) It requires strong design and special Skills

One drawback of a POD dropshipping business is that it requires strong design skills. People don’t just buy any T-shirt design, they are looking for designs that match their daily routines.

3) Demands Creativity and Resources

Even if you outsource your work, there is a chance that you will need tons of revisions before the final design gets made. So, get creative with your design if you wanna make money and gain brand visibility in POD.

What’s Aliexpress?

 

Aliexpress is a B2C e-commerce platform which allows individuals and companies to sell their products directly to foreign consumers. As an online store, AliExpress offers a platform where online shoppers can buy products at much cheaper prices than they would pay if shopping on Amazon and other similar services. AliExpress sells a wide range of items, from men’s and women’s fashion, toys, and electronics to hair and beauty products, jewelry, furniture, and even cars and motorcycles.

Print On Demand Vs AliExpress Dropshipping 2022 Which is Better ? What Is the Difference?

 

The Pros and Cons of Dropship in Aliexpress

 

1. Pros of Dropship in Aliexpress

1) No brands, fakes, knockoffs

AliExpress offers no counterfeit products. So, no worries when dropshipping with AliExpress

2) ePacket delivery with free shipping

Again, the majority of products on AliExpress come from China or Hong Kong, ePacket delivery is not only the most economical but one of the quickest for small goods to get to the United States.

3) No MOQ

You can order for as low as 1 order on AliExpress. So, you’re not limited to the number or order you can make.

4) Low price with a high margin potential

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On AliExpress, products come at a very low price, depending on the product you’re looking to buy. You can get products for as low as within the $1-$20 price range. For example, you can find running shoes on AliExpress for around $20 and sell them for $50. This provides a 60% profit margin.

2. Cons of Dropship in Aliexpress

1) High Entry Barrier

To become a drop shipper with AliExpress, the membership requirement is high. So, you’ve got to plan your budget before thinking of dropshipping with them. Otherwise, you can see your capital sucked .

2) Tough Competition

Because the entry barrier is high, the AliExpress dropshipping model provides a platform for serious competition. It is a forum for serious business owners and not a side business, unlike the POD.

 

Print on demand VS AliExpress Drop Shipping: What are Different?

 

There are a couple of areas to understand the differences in the two dropshipping models under review. But for clarity and spot-on analysis, let us focus on the following:

Print on Demand Dropshipping AliExpress Dropshipping
Membership fee No (Low barrier entry) Yes (varies with plan)
Shipping Policy Strict Flexible
Product Control Yes Yes
Minimum Order Quantity Order is on Demand No MOQ
Automatic Listing The whole process automates Yes
Product price Costly (Dropshippers to set their own price)

 

Super low
Dropshipping risk Less risky High risk
After Sales
IT Support Yes Yes
Product Category All categories Wide range
Customization Yes Yes, if it meets MOQ

 

Do Print on Demand and AliExpress offer API ?

 

Absolutely! They do have an API and you can find that out on AliExpress API. Webmasters can use the API to quickly obtain, filter, and display all kinds of product information. Developers as well can use the API and AliExpress server network to directly access Portals Affiliate data and better manage their publishing account. You can use the API by following the simple steps of applying for API, getting App Key, developing and testing, and then make the online call. AliExpress API has the following features:

· Custom: You can use AliExpress API to build apps which meet your unique need. However, customization on AliExpress is based on order meeting the requirements for minimum order.

· Efficiency: The API can multi-task, handle batch processing and manage large amounts of data.

· Open: Using the standard Web SOAP protocol, the API can accept any mainstream programming language.

 

Does AliExpress Dropshipping Sync Inventory to Sellers’ Store?

 

That‘s an important question with an absolute YES answer. AliExpress makes it easy to find products to sell on your store. You don’t have to worry about inventory or shipping. You can pay for products at wholesale prices and have them drop shipped directly to your customers.

 

Dropship from AliExpress to Shopify, Do my Customers Know?

 

Usually, customers don’t know whether the products you dropship to Shopify are from AliExpress or not. In fact, you can ship as many as possible AliExpress orders monthly to Shopify dropshipping and your customers don’t get to know where the products are from. People don’t know whether products are from AliExpress or if you’re doing dropshipping business with AliExpress.

Although the parcel may contain the suppliers’ info and the shipping address as well as product specifications, you have the chance of bargaining with the supplier to use your Business address or your Business labels attached with the parcel. There are no signs of AliExpress and prices on packages. However, sometimes sellers from AliExpress include their business cards in the package. But you can ask your seller (write a comment) not to include anything.

 

I am Gonna Start Dropshipping Business in Shopify with Zero Budget, Is It Possible?

 

This is a tricky one, no doubt. But let’s put it this way: Can you stay on for days without water? Your response is as perfect as mine. You wanna hear the hard fact that sucks but it’s true?  You can’t start dropshipping business in Shopify with no money. Maybe that’s too extreme. Why? To start with, you need some tools to work. Beyond that, for a business you could cash in as much as $65 a month, never think starting with no investment is the best idea.

Take this to the bank: the minimum you can have when starting to dropship with Shopify is $50.  By analysis, you will need $29 for your Basic Shopify Plan and an additional $15 for a dropshipping app like ProductPro or Oberlo. The assumptions are that with zero Orders, no revenue is expected, ad that stands for the Basic Shopify Plan. The Subscription fee is $44, transaction fees put at $0, dropshipping cost nothing ($0) and your net profit is -$44.

Buy hey! Here is good news. What other dropshipping platforms do not offer, Chinabrands does, and with all perfect delivery. Here are a few things you need to know about Chinabrands as a dropship service provider:

 

 

Advantages of Dropshipping with Chinabrands

· You can dropship almost any product from Chinabrands. Compare to limited and normal products from a number of dropshipping websites, Chinabrands offers you a very robust platform and ample opportunities to dropship a wide range of products to your store.

· Again, you can get the products at a much better wholesale price as you can even purchase directly from the factory or local wholesaler. Compare to the high price in many of the dropshipping websites out there that offer a very marginal or no turnover.

· Chinabrands offers multiple shipping methods for choice as the fulfillment warehouse is professional on international shipping.

· There’s no minimum order when dropshipping with Chinabrands.

· You have 200+options for logistics. And so, you’ve got no worry about whether your order will arrive by sea, air or land. You choose your choice. It’s that simple!

· Your could also customize your product provided it meets MOQ requirement.

· Chinabrands’ business  type is both B2B and B2C.

· They have warehouse occupation in more than 50 countries across the globe.

· The company has an internal quality control mechanism that whether products are made up to standard or are counterfeit.

 

Conclusion

 

No doubt, the post has opened you up to a lot of areas you perhaps have not hitherto been familiar with. It’s now left for you to choose which of the two dropshipping models you would want to go for: Print on demand drop shipping or AliExpress dropshipping. It’s all up to you from here and from here we say good luck as you consider whether to go for POD or AliExpress dropshipping.

When is print on demand worth doing?

So, when might you want to focus on using a print on demand service for your store? Let’s look at some circumstances in which it might be a profitable choice for your business:

  • Your audience wants distinction. Some people don’t really care about how distinct the products they buy happen to be, but plenty is very invested in it. If you sold generic dropshipped shirts, anyone who bought one would know that thousands of others across the globe would be buying that same shirt — but if you sell unique items printed on demand, you can preserve a feeling of group exclusivity and distinction.
  • You have a strong brand. Part of maintaining a strong brand is keeping your name and style out there, and by selling items using your logo and/or designs, you can turn your customers into willing brand representatives.
  • You want to play off pop culture. You might not care much about the latest memes, but don’t underestimate how many shirts they sell. Using a print on demand service allows you to rapidly implement new creative designs to reference elements of pop culture that are likely to drive sales.
  • You want to run limited editions. A plain white T-shirt is as generic as you can get, but that same shirt with your custom-made design is instantly unique. This means that you can introduce artificial scarcity to your range. For instance, you could run a limited-time design and commit to only selling 500, deleting the listing after that.

There are plenty more circumstances in which you might want to use print on demand, but these are the most notable. It’s easy enough to introduce decent profit margins if you have high-quality designs, and you’ll be able to stand out from other sellers through style alone.

When is AliExpress dropshipping a good idea?

What about the drop shipping option? It’s also a great choice, so let’s check out some situations in which you’d benefit significantly more from stocking some AliExpress items:

  • You’re creative with words, not graphics. More than anything else, visuals sell printed items. The right design can turn a basic sweater into a collector’s item, but if you don’t have any flair for visuals (and you don’t want to invest heavily in design) then you might struggle to succeed that way. If you’re good with words, though, then standard drop shipping can be excellent — when everyone has the same products, you need an edge, and having a great copy will give you a huge edge over your rivals.
  • You want to offer a wide range of items. Print on demand, as the name suggests, is limited to items that can be printed (or at least printed upon). If you aspire to be a general trader and sell everything from laptops to footballs, dropshipping will be the fastest way to get there.
  • You have a keen eye for trends. Items of clothing have fairly static popularity, shifting only with the seasons (and, to some extent, fashion) — whereas AliExpress offers countless items that can go from cheap to costly in a heartbeat. Think back to the fidget spinner craze. Fidget spinners were extremely cheap but got significantly pricier when the demand rocketed, and any drop shipping store with a little foresight had the chance to list more fidget spinners with healthy margins and reap the profits while other retailers were still figuring out whether to produce some.

The big advantage of AliExpress dropshipping is the sheer variety on offer. Whatever direction you want to pursue as an entrepreneur, you can find suitable items in the AliExpress range — and whenever you want to change things up, you can do so easily.

Which is likely to make you more money?

We’ve now covered the basics of this topic, including what these two options are, how they can practically be implemented, and when they’re worth pursuing — so it’s time to return to the titular question and try to determine which one is more profitable. So, which one should you pick if you only choose one?

Overall, at this point, I have to suggest going with print on demand over general dropshipping. I think you’re more likely to profit from it, for the following three reasons in particular:

Drop shipping is increasingly saturated. Because it’s so easy to lump hundreds of drop shipping products into an existing store, you’ll see the same items appear again and again across countless sites. This damages their perceived value. After all, when you can get something from anywhere for roughly the same price, where’s the urgency to buy from any specific store? And doesn’t that suggest that it’s worth waiting for a price drop? Custom clothing, though, never seems to reach a saturation point, largely because even the smallest design change creates an entirely new product from an aesthetic standpoint.

Generic products have tough profit margins. Once you factor in the cut of the drop shipper, it’s tough to competitively price a dropshipped item (particularly for higher-priced products). Even if your price is only fractionally higher than a shopper can find elsewhere, it’ll still lose your sales — and if you put your prices low enough to beat the competition, you’ll struggle to make any money from your sales. The appeal of the clothing (and branded merchandise) industry is that having a popular brand is often enough to justify charging hugely more for essentially the same item with only cosmetic changes.

You have shipping options with print on demand. And by options, I refer mainly to shipping speed. If you’re dropshipping electronics from China, shipping will take as long as it takes, and you won’t have any way to speed it up if you want your service to stand out. Print on demand services, though, should be local (at least to your country), giving you the option of providing two-day delivery or specific delivery slots.

Either of these approaches can make you money, of course, and there’s nothing solid in place to prevent you from scaling up rapidly. It simply seems to be the case that you’re more likely to run up against challenging circumstances and diminishing returns if you try to compete as an AliExpress drop shipper.

See also  10 Products You Should Avoid Dropshipping

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