Sponsored by Gelato
How would you like to design custom merchandise that you can sell for a profit from the comfort of your home? If you have a creative flair and want to start a custom merch business, Gelato can help you achieve your goals with their print-on-demand (POD) platform!
What is Gelato?
Gelato is a FREE print-on-demand network where aspiring and established creators can start their own custom merchandise (merch for short) business from home! With Gelato, you’ll create an account, connect it to an online store like Etsy, choose which products to sell, add your designs to the product, set a price, and publish the products to your shop. When a customer purchases an item, Gelato will print and ship the item directly to the customer. This means you can have an e-commerce business without having to store an inventory or ship the products yourself.
Gelato has local production in 32 countries and ships to over 200 countries nationwide, and business owners can design and sell a wide variety of high-quality products like:
- T-Shirts
- Hoodies
- Coffee Mugs
- Tote Bags
- Phone Cases
- Water Bottles
- Posters
- Calendars
- Photo Books
- Stationery
How to start a merch business with Gelato?
To start a merch business with Gelato, all you need to do is create an account by logging in with your choice of email, Facebook, Google, or Apple. Once logged in, Gelato has a simple step-by-step process for getting started.
The first task you’ll need to complete is connecting your shop. Gelato integrates with a wide variety of platforms, including Etsy, Amazon, TikTok Shop, WooCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, eBay, Gumroad, Shopify, and more! If you don’t already have a shop, don’t worry. Gelato has a section where they will help you determine which platform best suits your business needs.
Once you have your shop connected to Gelato, you’ll choose products from their catalog and either upload your design to the product or use their design tool to create what you need. After you have the design in place, you’ll choose a mockup image, edit the product title and description, and then set your product price.
When determining your price, you’ll want to look at the price guide that Gelato provides. This graph will let you know where your item falls (lower, average, or higher) than your competitors for the same item. You’ll also be able to view the production price, shipping costs, and profit margin per product.
Before you publish the final products to your shop, you can order some samples at 50% off to ensure you’re happy with the quality and production.
When ready, publish the products in your shop and start promoting them. Gelato will take care of the fulfillment, shipping, and collection of your earnings. As a POD seller on Gelato, you can withdraw your earnings from your wallet anytime.
It’s also worth noting that Gelato has a mobile app that allows you to run your merch design business on the go!
Do I need a design background?
A design background or knowledge of design software will be helpful but is not required to be successful. If you have a creative flair or are great at coming up with unique sayings or quotes, there is an opportunity for you in the POD niche. With Gelato, you can upload your designs or photos from your computer, or you can use their online design tools.
Once you have your design, Gelato automatically creates mockups for you to use in your shop. I designed the cropped sweatshirt above with Gelato and the image below with Canva. I don’t have a design background, but I do enjoy being creative. If you choose a third-party design tool, you just need to ensure that the designs you’re creating, including the fonts and clip art you’re using, are available for commercial use. You don’t want to infringe on someone’s intellectual property.
How much money can you earn with a merch business?
Now, the real question. How much can you earn selling your own merch online? The answer is that it’s going to vary depending on many factors.
Let’s return to that coffee mug I designed. If I sold it for $17.38 and Gelato takes $14.38, I’m left with a $3.00 profit. Now, let’s say it was a popular design, and I sold 1,000 mugs a month. That means I would earn $3,000 in passive income!
How much you’ll realistically earn will depend on all of these factors:
- How unique and in-demand your items are
- The types of products you’re selling
- How many different items are in your shop
- Your profit margins
- Promotional methods you’re using
- Current trends and popularity of what you’re selling
- How many items you sell
- Your target audience
Promoting your merch business
If you’re serious about generating income with your merch business, you’ll need to create high-quality designs that people want, and you’ll need to let people know about your business. As a new business owner, you’re likely working on a shoestring budget, so the marketing methods I will cover are free and don’t involve spending money on ads.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
No matter what platform you choose to sell on, you need to incorporate good SEO practices into your products. If you’re selling a cat tote bag, you’ll want to include a detailed description of the bag, a catchy title with your main keywords, and related keywords throughout the description.
For instance, you’ll want to include the color of the tote bag, its size, the materials it’s made with, the target demographic, and synonyms for your main keyword cat, like cats, kitten, and kitty. You want to cover all the words people might search for when looking for products like yours. Don’t worry; you don’t have to be a great writer to create catchy descriptions; you can use an AI writing tool like ChatGPT to create catchy SEO-rich descriptions.
Word-of-mouth marketing
Once you have everything in place, including your SEO-rich descriptions, tell the world you’re open for business! This can include everything from sending out an email to family and friends to announcing your new merch business on Facebook. You can even offer your design services to people you know. For instance, let’s say you have a child in an after-school activity, and they need custom T-shirts for their group. Offer to design the T-shirts, and then the parents can purchase what they need through your shop; I call that a win-win!
Social media
Another free and easy way to reach more buyers is to promote your designs and products on visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. On these platforms, you can capture the attention of new people and build your customer base. You can also gather new merch ideas based on trends and suggestions, as well as engage with loyal customers!
What kind of ratings does Gelato get?
Gelato is a reputable POD company that’s been around since 2012. Merchants using Shopify give Gelato a 4.8-star rating out of 5.
On Trustpilot, production creators give Gelato a 4.6-star rating out of 5, with one user named Alice saying:
I love Gelato! I can create fun designs and publish them to my store. It automatically sets them up in my shipping profile so no need to hunt them down to make sure they are connected. Would recommend this app!
Another Gelato user had this to say:
I’ve had the pleasure of using Gelato for my business, and I’m beyond impressed with both their customer service and the quality of their products! From the start, their website is incredibly easy to navigate, and the order process is smooth and hassle-free.
Gelato review wrapup
If you’ve wanted to launch a merch store from home, Gelato is a great option that allows you to start for FREE! They have many different integrations that you can use and a huge product catalog of merchandise to choose from. Whether you’re a YouTube creator who wants to create custom merch for your fans or you want to start a fun graphic T-shirt business, Gelato can help you achieve your goals. Once you establish yourself as a POD seller, you can invest in some of Gelato’s premium services, which include premium mockups, fonts, images, branded labels, packing, and more.
Head here if you’re ready to launch your Gelato merch business! You also get 50% off your first merch orders within two days of signing up!
This post was sponsored by Gelato and written by Holly Reisem Hanna. Please be aware that we only promote advertising from companies we can legitimately recommend to our readers. See our disclosure policy for further information.
