Top Selling POD products in 2022
(This post includes affiliate links)
If you are thinking of selling your art or designs but without the hassle of storing products, keeping with the inventory, shipping, and customer service then print on demand is a good choice for you to start with.
There are several print-on-demand shops online these days and more are popping up. So, before you decide to put your name on a certain product you should check the quality of the print and the store’s overall reviews. By now you’ve probably heard of Redbubble, Zazzle, Society6, Shopify, Spoonflower, TeePublic, Merch by Amazon, and so on.
All of these stores are well known and have been around for decades, thus they have established a certain type of product they sell the most.
What are pod products?
POD is a way to sell customized made-to-order products that feature your design.
We could say it is a way of drop shipping. You create a design, post it online on a certain product, customers buy it, and a third-party company with a printing service prints it and ships it.
The key feature of POD is that you don’t deal with the costs made in producing a product. Once a product is sold you get paid a commission and that is it.
Basically, it is like affiliate marketing, but you get to decide what the product is going to look like, how much the commission will be, and which products you’ll be selling your designs on.
So, which products sold the most in 2022:
Unisex t-shirts
Children’s t-shirts
Mugs
All-over print hoodies
All-over print yoga pants
Engraved jewelry
Posters
Tote bags
Stickers
Backpacks
Wall art
Cushions
Towels
Phone cases
Hats
Face masks
Water bottles
Socks
(The results are based on the US market)
1. Unisex t-shirts
T-shirts are versatile and they work well in any season. So, opening a t-shirt shop is never a miss. T-shirts can be worn all year round and because of their popularity, even the POD businesses offer different types of t-shirts from different sizes to different materials. These t-shirts best sell in black, so when designing a shirt, we need to make sure it looks great in black and white when making the design. The t-shirts are also available in different sizes so customers can choose their specific size. Some say that the t-shirt niche is already over saturated but with the right sub-niche and design, title, description, and keywords you can make sales as well.
2. Mugs
Mugs are like t-shirts. They are versatile and can be sold all year round, for special occasions, or as home décor. Mugs sales peak during certain seasons but they keep consistent throughout the whole year. Different POD companies offer different mugs to put your designs on. When it comes to design placement for mugs you do need to think it through so you don’t put the design right in the middle of the mug thus no one can actually see it because when you hold the mug the hands are covering the design. The best placement is on either the left or right side of the mug.
3. All-over print Hoodies
In the past, you could only print a logo on the hoodies, or a smaller image on the front or the back but now more and more POD companies offer the option of all-over print. This became a great thing, especially for artists who work with patterns, and buyers also like the overall print as well. For the past year, the all-over print on hoodies has grown in popularity and it is continuously growing. A lot of influencers have these types of hoodies in their merch. Because the print is all over the printing expenses are going to be higher and thus the hoodie will be higher in price as well. Even with the hefty prices the sales for these hoodies are actually growing.
4. All-over print on yoga pants – leggings
This type of leggings became very popular when people started wearing them to music festivals. They are covered by a pattern all over, comfortable, and stretchy. You can wear them when working out, or just chilling on the sofa. The prices are again a bit higher because they have the print covering the entire product. At this point, they are a lot of designs available already, but the market is not too saturated, you can still make a profit selling this type of products. It comes down to how well your design looks on them and which niche you’re targeting.
5. Posters
As an artist, I like to paint with oil paints and acrylics, but I don’t like the hassle of buying canvases and I also don’t have a place to store all the paintings. This is why POD which offers wall art prints on posters, canvases, etc. is an excellent choice. I don’t even have to draw the art piece on an actual canvas I can do it digitally. But canvases and paintings are still a bit more expensive than simple posters. The client has also the option of getting your art print and framing it themselves if they wish. It is a cheaper way of getting wall art from your favorite artist. Posters have always been popular but with the rising of POD businesses, it has been growing even more. It is also because more and more people decide to rent a home so putting a hole in the wall is not an option. Sticking a piece of paper to the wall is still cheaper and hassle-free.
6. Backpacks
Backpacks are unique POD products that have been growing in popularity as well. This could be because lately there have been options for all-over print backpacks. In the past, you could only put a small square image on the backpack, but now there are more options. The ones that are gaining in popularity are the ones with an all-over pattern print. They gain in popularity when it’s time to go back to school or college. Because they have all over print the prices are a bit higher and if commissions are kept low, you can still make profits.
7. Wall art
Home décor items like wall art have always been in high demand. POD sites offer a variety of products for wall art on which you can put your designs and art on, and the prices are quite reasonable. But more and more people started to make digital downloaded wall art that buyers can print out at home thus making it even cheaper.
There are more products that are on the rise, but I’ll leave it here. I could write on and on about this topic.
The bottom line is yes, the POD business is growing by each year and people are buying products online more and more. Some sections and niches are already saturated so succeeding in them takes more time and effort on your part but that doesn’t mean you still can’t make sales in those niches. It is easier to start with the smaller and less known niches because there is less competition. This way you can get your foot in the doorway and then move to the more saturated niches.
Selling POD items and actually making a full-time living is possible even now but it will take more planning and strategizing from your end.
Always remember why you’re doing all of this and who is your end customer. When you’re doing this as a business always remember that you are designing your products for the customer, and not to please your own hobby, and you’ll make it.
Love, MiA
