Teespring, has announced that it has registered a compounded growth of 97% during the second quarter of 2020. The social commerce platform has attributed the staggering growth to a large-scale pivot towards eCommerce activities during the pandemic.
The company has benefited as it continues to see 2,400 creators signing on the platform every day. This is a growth of 2013% for the company. In the past two years, the company has paid out $80 million in creator profits.
Teespring Growth Notable for Creative Entrepreneurs
This is considerable growth for a company that had focused on a creator centered platform. partnerships with the likes of eBay, Amazon, YouTube, Twitch and Instagram allowed it to see more than 300,000 signings on to its platform to date. The success -according to Teespring lies in its end-to-end support on its creator centric platform. In it, content creators, designers and artists can design, promote and sell customized on-demand products.
In three steps creators can use the Teespring platform to create customized products, promote and sell products using the platform’s partners and collect profits from the sales. Support includes order fulfillment where Teespring will handle order production and shipping. Creators can set the selling price and keep 100% of the profit. a T-shirt maker can set its base price of $12, opting to sell it for $30 and would cash in $18 in profit.
Ecommerce the Next Frontier
Before COVID-19 brick and mortar businesses were limited to their locality. They relied heavily on personal selling, traveling salesmen and expensive advertisements to do much of their selling. With the advent of eCommerce and dropshipping, the rules have changed in favor of agile businesses that are willing to take the leap.
Using these platforms, they expanded their reach by playing on the economy of scale and the capability that comes through using the internet. Businesses do not have to look for physical outlets to do their selling. They no longer go to customers but customers come to them literally from all corners of the world.
Another factor that has helped here is the customers’ needs for personalization. We are now in a global market where functionality is not enough. We consume products that reflect our personalities. From clothing, books, cellphone covers, music, food and even information are all set based on our likings. Today customers expect their online shopping experience to be customized from beginning to end. They want the products they buy to express their personality; they do not want a simple mass-produced product. These offer a growing niche market for handmade products that are highly customizable. The made-to-order model helps you cut costs in regards to inventory and production costs. Thanks to the many platforms available you don’t have to worry about processing orders, handlings payments or shipping. All you have to do is focus on producing products that are in high demand.
A case in point here is the success of online content creators who have used platforms such as Teespring. on average successful creators have seen their revenues growing by an average 31% during the outbreak period.
Let Your Niche Guide you
For a business to conquer a niche market, it must first understand and speak that niche’s language. It needs to know the value the product has with its customers. And it should ask if the business is delivering on the promise of a unique experience. It should also look towards allowing the customer to have as much say in the making of the product.
Most importantly your product must stand out from the competition. It should have its own story, its unique attributes and importantly should not be in a saturated market.
A good product remains a mere novelty unless people know about it. As such a business needs to put out the word there is a product that the customer is looking for. This entails reaching out and engaging with customers at almost the individual level.
Mass marketing isn’t as effective in a niche market- it would amount to distracting noise. For niche marketing, you will need to think like your customers to make connections. Instead of shotgun marketing where you broadcast your message hoping to make a connection, narrow your quarry.
Look to segment your prospects in terms of age, location, vocation, hobbies or even life stage. There is a particular kind person that buys your products and you should know their passion. Word-of-mouth and targeted online outreach strategies are strong drivers to tap into. they will help make it possible for even small companies to find their target market and engage.
Image: Teespring
