How to sell custom clothing without having inventory?

[cjohns1982]

Hi, 

I signed up as I saw a promotion about selling bespoke and custom clothing without having the stock. 

I can't see where I can explore this more. Can you help? 

I want to sell children's t-shirts and other items with my designs on. 

Thanks

[Imogen · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @cjohns1982. Thanks so much for taking the time to write a post here in the Shopify Community. I hope you're doing well today! 

It sounds like you found a promotion that was related to the 'Print on Demand' style of business! Essentially, the idea would be this: You can operate a Shopify Store that is integrated with a Print on Demand Service. You would create designs, and upload those designs to the service. From there, you can feature these products in your store. Depending on the Print on Demand partner you end up using, the types of product you can sell with your designs will vary. Some printers allow for things like mugs or luggage, in addition to shirts and hats, for example. 

When a customer comes to your store and purchases a product, the order will be placed within the system for the printer. Then, you'll want to go in to the integration for the printer, and order the product on behalf of the customer. From there, the printer handles the production and shipping for you! It's honestly a great way to learn about ecommerce without incurring many of the expected start-up costs. 

I have several resources for you here that also have some additional information on Print on Demand stores: 

• What is Print on Demand: A Blog 
• Shopify App Store with Many Print on Demand Partner Options 
• Print on Demand Quickstart Guide

If you're curious for a suggestion, I've heard many good things about Gooten lately!

I did notice that you specifically mentioned that you saw a 'promotion' regarding this information. Was it a Shopify promotion? Did the promotion suggest it was offering some sort of deal? 

I highly recommend you take some time to check out all of the information I've provided you here. If you have any questions, you can always follow up here and I'll help you out! Additionally, feel free to drop your store URL for me here and I'l take a look at your shop and see if I can recommend any fine-tuning tips! 

[cjohns1982]

Hi Imogen, thank you, this was very helpful. 

I've struggled with setting my shop up (trying to change my shop name for example) and also had sent some questions through to suppliers (re: the size guide) as I wanted to order a sample but have had no response. So I've been unable to progress and found this all quite difficult and frustrating, is there anyone I can speak to, to help me? I feel my trial period has been wasted for these reasons and the likelihood, I think is I'll have to deactivate my account. 

[Imogen]

Hey again, @cjohns1982. Thanks for following up with me here!

Great idea to reach out to potential suppliers regarding some information on their products. It would be great if more business owner's took this step, as it helps them make the best decisions possible when looking to offer products that they don't a direct handle over. 

When it comes to chatting with someone about your store, you have a few options. Of course, I'm happy to chat with you here in regards to any questions that you might have! The Community is a great place to come when you have questions! Additionally, many folks opt to go the route of a 'callback' request through our Live Support Help Portal. You can access this portal using this link here and request a callback, where one of our Advisors would be happy to chat with you. 

I'm also really sorry to hear about your situation with your trial. When you're waiting to hear back from suppliers regarding product information, it can definitely feel like a drain on your trial time. I recommend that you reach out via a callback as I mentioned in my above paragraph, or reach out to the team through that portal in any method, and let them know about your trial situation. They may be able to assist you with adding more time, though I can't promise anything. 

As I said, feel free to follow up with me here if you have any additional questions. I'd be more than happy to bounce ideas around with you. 

[Beezees]

I also have a question. I have a decent amount of views to my page but no purchases. Why would that be? Mysnazzyproducts.com

[Imogen]

Hey there, @Beezees. Thank you for taking the time to follow up with us here!

I took a few minutes to explore your store, and I do think I have some idea as to why you may not have had many sales. 

When viewing your store, it very clearly looks to be a dropshipping business. Many of your products titles are what they would be if they were taken directly off of your supplier's website. I recommend adjusting some of your product titles to make them appear more customer friendly and recognizable.

In addition to that, some of your prices don't seem to match the product you're sell. For example, on your home page, you're featuring an RGB keyboard for sale for less than 10 dollars. Prices that seem unnaturally low may lead customers to believe that your business may not be legitimate. You should also consider how the products you are offering match a common theme - tech gadgets are great but when paired with crystal humidifiers, potential customers may believe the products will be low quality.

You're doing many things right with your conversion tools - you offer solid discounts and make customers aware of them via your announcement banner. However, your homepage is fairly plain. I recommend adding a logo to your header, as well as putting some photos into your banner that match your products. If you're able to take your own photos, that would be even better.

You should also consider making some pages for your store, and put some information about your business, such as contact information, in your site's footer. It's little things like this that build trust, and that goes a long way to helping customers convert from visitors into buyers.

I have a few pages I want to share with you here that I feel you can make good use of:

• A guide on About Us pages
• A guide on FAQ pages
• A guide on how to turn Traffic into Sales

I hope you find this helpful!