In a market outlined by fast-changing client preferences, shrinking product lifecycles, and rising operational prices, many retailers are underneath stress to undertake leaner, extra adaptive enterprise fashions.
Including new merchandise is likely one of the simplest methods to develop. However conventional stock means shopping for inventory earlier than you’ve made a sale, discovering house to retailer it, and managing what doesn’t transfer.
Print-on-demand (POD) flips this mannequin. Merchandise are created solely after a buyer orders. No upfront stock prices. No storage. No danger of overstock.Â
On this submit, we’ll present you ways one service provider used WooCommerce and Printful to show a deeply private story right into a fast-growing enterprise, together with the methods that made it work and the right way to consider in case your current retailer can increase through POD. For those who’re new to print-on-demand, begin with our print-on-demand fundamentals.
The numbers inform the story: the worldwide print-on-demand market was valued at $10.2 billion USD in 2024 and is projected to succeed in $87.1 billion by 2033, rising at almost 27% every year. However the actual alternative isn’t simply market progress. It’s what POD allows: you’ll be able to check new merchandise, increase into new classes, and reply to developments — all with out committing capital upfront.Â
WooCommerce and Printful make this sensible. Woo provides you the storefront, buyer information, and suppleness to construct precisely what you want. Printful handles manufacturing and international success. Collectively, they allow you to develop with out the operational complexities of holding stock. Right here’s how one service provider used this mix to construct a contemporary, scalable ecommerce operation.
Not each profitable ecommerce enterprise follows the identical playbook. Life Is Golden Firm demonstrates how print-on-demand allows a basically totally different strategic method — one the place capital flows to brand-building and buyer acquisition as an alternative of stock hypothesis.
We chatted with founder Michael DePace to be taught extra about Life Is Golden Firm’s excellent success.
Try their WooCommerce retailer and Instagram profile to see their methods in motion.
How Life Is Golden Firm got here to beÂ
After stepping away from a high-pressure tech function and navigating medical difficulties along with his son, Michael DePace discovered calm within the quiet, easy routines he shared along with his golden retriever, Enzo.Â
Impressed by the connection they shared, Michael began creating golden retriever-themed designs that captured the emotional bond between individuals and their canine. When he regarded for attire that mirrored that connection, “most felt both too cute or too generic. Nothing felt like what actual canine individuals really really feel.”
He might have adopted the normal path: discover a producer, order minimal portions, forecast which designs would promote, and handle stock. As an alternative, he made a unique strategic wager.
Why Michael selected print-on-demand
Michael selected print-on-demand particularly as a result of it allowed him to compete on model positioning and emotional resonance with out over-investing on stock.
“Life Is Golden Firm was by no means actually about making stuff — it was about capturing what Enzo gave me throughout a tough season of life, after which realizing 1000’s of different individuals felt that very same form of bond with their canine,” Michael shared. “As soon as I began telling these tales, the model grew as a result of the neighborhood noticed themselves in it.”
Selecting POD wasn’t nearly avoiding stock danger — it allowed Michael to reallocate capital to Life Is Golden Firm’s key differentiators. Whereas conventional pet attire manufacturers had been optimizing SKU forecasting and managing stock turns, Michael was constructing a neighborhood and iterating designs based mostly on direct buyer suggestions.
Woo and Printful: The inspiration for quick, versatile progress
Having spent a decade working a advertising company and dealing completely with WordPress and WooCommerce, Michael was already accustomed to the ecommerce platform. When requested why he continued to decide on WooCommerce, Michael highlighted the flexibleness and management that the platform is understood for.
“I wished full inventive and technical management — from structure to product metadata to customized order flows. WooCommerce provides me the flexibleness to construct superior automations and create a premium branded expertise with out platform limitations.”
— Michael DePace, Founder, Life Is Golden Firm
Printful paired naturally with these objectives. The platform’s high-quality merchandise, dependable success, and skill to help a big and rising catalog had been important as Life Is Golden Firm expanded. Though mapping SKUs and metadata required care because of the scale of his product line, as soon as every thing was arrange, WooCommerce and Printful labored collectively seamlessly. That mixture let him transfer rapidly and keep centered on what mattered: creating and connecting.
From ardour venture to fast-growing model
Life Is Golden Firm grew rapidly — partially as a result of the print-on-demand mannequin let Michael transfer on the pace of his creativity and his neighborhood’s response.
The mannequin proved itself throughout a Father’s Day marketing campaign. “Virtually in a single day, 1000’s of orders began pouring in,” Michael recollects. “Folks weren’t simply shopping for items. They had been shopping for items for his or her husbands, dads, and fathers-in-law — not as a result of the product was flashy or materialistic, however as a result of it spoke on to the connection that meant every thing to them.”
“One of many massive takeaways from our progress curve is that demand can spike rapidly round main gifting moments (Father’s Day, the vacations, and so forth.). That’s a powerful argument for print-on-demand: it allows you to seize upside throughout sudden demand swings with out forecasting stock months upfront — particularly early on while you’re nonetheless studying what is going to hit.”
— Michael DePace, Founder, Life Is Golden Firm
In his first 12 months alone, Michael had reached over a million potential prospects and was in a position to make Life Is Golden Firm his full-time job.
That is the place the strategic benefit of print-on-demand turns into clear: When demand alerts seem, conventional retailers typically face stock constraints, success bottlenecks, and stockout danger. Michael might meet demand instantly as a result of capability scaled with orders.
At his first in-person occasion, prospects approached him saying they already owned his merchandise. “Most of them had no thought I used to be native. They assumed it was a a lot bigger firm,” he stated.
Michael’s recommendation: Momentum beats perfection
When requested what recommendation Michael has for retailers contemplating print-on-demand, he was direct: “Hold issues easy at the beginning. Launch quick, check merchandise rapidly, and be taught what your viewers really loves earlier than you overcomplicate your catalog.
“The purchasers will let you know what’s working, and you’ll’t be taught any of that till you dive in. Momentum beats perfection each time.”
At this time, Life Is Golden Firm runs over 1,000 designs. Printful handles success so Michael can deal with design and neighborhood. WooCommerce provides him the storefront and information infrastructure to make good choices about what to increase and what to chop.
1. Launch merchandise sooner than rivals
The end result: First-mover benefits in micro-moments with out the stock gamble.
Conventional stock requires ordering months forward. By the point your inventory arrives, rivals might need already captured consideration.
Print-on-demand compresses this to days. If you spot a pattern, seasonal spike, or enhance in buyer requests, you’ll be able to reply earlier than the window closes.
This works particularly nicely in case your class has seasonal spikes — assume holidays, cultural moments, or viral developments. It’s additionally highly effective when early market presence issues, or when buyer preferences shift sooner than conventional stock cycles can sustain.
2. Supply customized merchandise with out customized operations
The end result: You seize high-lifetime worth prospects by means of personalization with out constructing customized operational infrastructure.
Customized merchandise used to imply advanced operations: one-off manufacturing runs, specialised fulfilment, and customized order administration. For many retailers, it solely made sense at excessive volumes.
Print-on-demand handles this complexity as commonplace. If prospects are asking, “Are you able to make this with my canine’s title?” or “Do you supply this in my workforce colors?”, POD makes it doable with out the chance.
This is smart if:
- You’ve gotten engaged repeat consumers who’d pay extra for personalised variations.
- Reward-giving drives purchases in your class.
- You’re already getting “are you able to customise this?” requests.
How Life Is Golden Firm leveraged this: “I do an enormous quantity of customized orders, and that merely wouldn’t be doable with conventional warehousing. You’ll be able to’t create one-off, extremely personalised items at scale except you’re utilizing a system constructed for it.”
Customized merchandise usually command important value premiums as a result of they resolve particular buyer wants that off-the-shelf merchandise don’t handle. In addition they characterize larger buyer lifetime worth — consumers who customise as soon as usually tend to return.
“These consumers are typically our VIP prospects. We see important repeat enterprise from this phase, as they typically return to make use of their customized paintings on further merchandise and store new collections when they’re launched,” Michael famous.
“We develop a little bit of a relationship through the personalization course of, because it’s not simply including the title in a chilly, impersonal field on an internet site. I believe that human contact goes a great distance in including lifetime worth.”
For inspiration on the right way to construction and scale your individual customization expertise, check out Life Is Golden Firm’s personalization choices and course of.
3. Broaden into new markets with out establishing success infrastructure
The end result: You validate market demand earlier than committing capital, lowering growth danger whereas sustaining pace.
Testing a brand new market used to imply committing to regional stock, success partnerships, and upfront capital — all earlier than you knew whether or not demand existed.
Printful’s international success community (with amenities in North America, Europe, and past), allows you to check demand with virtually no upfront funding. Merchandise ship from wherever’s closest to the client.
This works if you happen to’re:
- Contemplating worldwide growth, however uncertain about demand.
- Testing new buyer segments (like company gifting).
- Coming into classes the place you don’t have forecasting information but.
How this helps companies develop sooner: Life Is Golden Firm reached over 1,000,000 potential prospects within the first 12 months with out constructing regional stock or success operations. Merchandise shipped from the power closest to the client, lowering supply instances whereas permitting Michael to deal with model constructing relatively than logistics coordination.
For established retailers, this implies you’ll be able to check a European market phase or increase into company gifting with out the infrastructure funding that will usually be required.
4. Scale profitable merchandise based mostly on actual information
The end result: Your product portfolio turns into a real-time optimization engine relatively than a quarterly forecasting train.
With conventional stock, you decide to merchandise earlier than you may have efficiency information. With print-on-demand, you’ll be able to launch variations, watch what sells, and scale the winners — all with out being caught with merchandise that don’t transfer.
This method works finest if you happen to’re monitoring efficiency (Google Analytics, conversion information, e mail engagement) and may act rapidly on what you be taught.
Michael DePace makes use of this method with seasonal collections: “I can check new merchandise and launch seasonal collections immediately with out the stress or monetary danger of coping with inventory.”Â
His 1000+ design portfolio isn’t the results of betting massive on each idea — it’s the results of fast iteration the place profitable designs get expanded and unsuccessful ones get quietly discontinued.
Able to get began? Right here’s a phased roadmap that will help you increase your online business with print-on-demand from early testing to long-term progress.
Months one and two: Basis setup and preliminary testing
Your first month ought to deal with integrating WooCommerce with Printful, constructing a decent and cohesive starter assortment, and launching early exams to gather efficiency information. By listening to early advertising outcomes and retailer habits, you’ll start to see patterns in what individuals reply to.
Months three to 5: Optimization based mostly on information
On this stage, you’ll refine your catalog based mostly on what your information tells you. You’ll be able to increase top-performing merchandise, introduce seasonal capsules, and implement automated e mail flows like welcome sequences, abandoned-cart messages, and VIP packages.Â
That is the place the mannequin begins to really feel scalable. You’re not guessing, you’re responding to clear alerts. This era is all about sharpening your model and optimizing your lineup.
Month six onward: Scaling and growth methods
After your preliminary basis and optimizations, you’ll be able to scale extra deliberately. This would possibly embrace getting into new markets, including premium or bundled merchandise, or partnering with creators and area of interest communities. Your metrics turn out to be extra superior — measuring conversion charges, repeat buy habits, buyer acquisition value, and long-term profitability.
Print-on-demand has developed far past its newbie roots. At this time, it’s one of the strategic and cost-efficient methods to scale a enterprise with out taking up important operational or monetary danger.Â
WooCommerce provides you flexibility and possession, whereas Printful provides you the success infrastructure to develop rapidly and creatively. Collectively, WooCommerce and Printful type an agile system that helps you adapt to shifting buyer expectations and construct a future-ready enterprise grounded in flexibility, creativity, and sustainable progress.
Able to discover print-on-demand to your retailer? Get began with Printful.
Latoya is a accomplice advertising supervisor at Woo, with a background in B2B tech advertising. In her free time she enjoys mountain climbing throughout her house island of Jamaica and travelling. She’s hiked the Blue mountain peak 3 times.
