Want to give your sales a boost? Here’s why you should consider creating an online store!

Whether you’re hoping to peddle more of your own designs, make it easier for your customers to order or open up your screen printing shop to customer-designed orders, here are some reasons an online product store can help your screen printing business.

1. Reach a New Market

One of the primary reasons to create an online store for your screen printing shop is to reach a new market. Many screen printing shops are local businesses, catering to local schools, business customers and organizations. With an online store, you open up your business to people around the world. Just keep in mind that when you’re marketing your online store to a larger audience over the internet, the same principles matter: Know what your niche is and focus on telling potential customers how you can meet their specific screen printing needs.

2. Make Ordering More Convenient

Even if you’re planning to keep your business local, or continue to focus your service on your existing customers, there’s a benefit to offering an online store. More and more, people are gravitating toward online purchasing. Having an online store makes it easy for your customers to browse your offerings and place their orders. And more often than not, when purchasing is quick and convenient, customers will order more and order more often.

3. Let Your Customers Be the Designers

Screen printing is all about creating custom garments, and with special software made just for the job, you can let your customers create their own original designs. They can upload logos, utilize the clipart you provide through the software or create special effects. This type of software can help your current customer type to get the most out of their customization experience, and it can open up new markets for people who want to use your online store to create and sell their own custom-designed apparel.

4. Increase Productivity

Every business wants to operate as efficiently as possible to maximize their employees’ time and increase their profits. An online store can help you do just that. Because customers will be able to upload their own images, customize their designs, preview what the print will look like and place their own orders, they’re lessening the workload on your employees. That means your sales force can be out seeking new clients, rather than inputting existing clients’ orders; your graphic designers can be working with customers who require design professionals; and your art department can spend time on separations and preparations rather than uploading artwork for clients who are satisfied to do that themselves.

Whatever your goals for your business, creating an online store will help you reach them. It can help you reach a larger pool of clientele, make ordering faster and more convenient for your customers, allow customers new and old to create their own custom apparel for a unique shopping experience and increase productivity in your shop by allowing customers to take on some of the tasks normally handled by you or your staff.

For some best practices to follow when setting up your online store, check out this blog post:

A Guide to Selling Your Screen Printed Products Online