You may have seen the news on Merch today; the print centres have been shut to allow for priority deliveries to get through. It’s going to affect a lot of people, but you can’t argue with what Amazon is trying to do. T-Shirts and hoodies are not essential items.
While this may not affect all of us (I’ve only just started on Merch), some may see a sharp decrease in their income because of this. While this may possibly push users towards other services, it’s sensible to think they will start to be affected soon too.
You should plan to have no income from print on demand for the next month or so.
While Redbubble shares (like basically everything else) has plummeted, I am still quite confident it’s going to bounce back. Even if it doesn’t, some other company will rise and offer a similar service.
This post is essentially a part 2 of the previous post; “How to cope with a lack of sales“, so read that for a bunch of ideas as well!
Covid-19 is affecting the entire global economy, and we should all use this time to our advantage; whether that is to be productive, or to focus on survival, or just to take a break. It’s very likely that you, along with 3 billion other people, are currently experiencing some sort of quarantine. So what would be some good things to do during a lockdown?
Chill out
For starters, take some time off! Life is not all about work. I have struggled in the past with a slight addiction to being productive, and feeling guilty for not being so.
Now is a perfect time to chill out and focus on your health and well-being. It should be your priority. While this pandemic may peak in a couple of weeks, it’s going to be a long road.
I haven’t put in any work for my online outlets for a good week now. They’ll still be here when I get back to them.
Broaden platforms
If you must work, then consider spreading your options. Open up a new shop on a new platform. In my previous post, I listed a bunch of places you could open a new shop.
As well as being productive, opening a new shop will keep you occupied and goal orientated, especially good if you are this type of person.
Slash existing margins
It might seem counter-intuitive, but I have completely slashed my margins on Redbubble for the time being. there are a few reasons for this.
Firstly, nobody is buying anyway, and a cheap sticker might just lure them to a sale. If a cheap sticker can make somebody happy, then I’m happy.
I’ve accepted I’m not going make much of a profit this month, and it’ll likely be the same deal next month, but I might as well try and get some sales.
Margins can always go up later, and they might even benefit from recent interest due to low pricing.
Download your Redbubble sales statistics
Just in case Redbubble does go downhill, it’d be nice to see statistics of your products. These will help when you try to rebuilt your POD business elsewhere. You can focus on the products which actually sold, and ignore those that didn’t.
- Go to this link
- Select ‘Download as CSV’ (Alternately just click here)
All of your sale information is now backed up. It’s a good diea to put this into Google Drive and sift through it. You might see some patterns. Which product types sold? Which ones didn’t? I’ve never sold a sleeveless top, for instance! Good to know, now I’ll not bother with those in future.
Learn a new skill
Since we’re all stuck at home, why not learn something new? Is there anything POD related that you just wish you knew? Now really is the perfect time to learn something that can help you out later.
Personally, I’m following a great web design course on Udemy. With the internet, you basically have the entire summit of human knowledge at your fingertips!
Graphic design, SEO, marketing generally, coding, Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, web development, heck, there’s so much to choose from!
Start a website
Finally, I’ll mention this. I have seen an increase in traffic to all of my sites since the lockdown. With people stuck at home, there is a larger audience for them.
If you have a passion, I would strongly consider making a website out of it. even if there are competitors, you cna still carve out a niche for yourself. Website income can be delightfully protected when it comes to something like a lockdown.
Everyone should own a website at least once, just to see what it’s like! It may even grow to be a big part of your life, like it did for me!
In summary
It’s going to be a tough period for anyone involved in print on demand. Hopefully, unlike me, you are not at least somewhat dependent on your POD income, so you’ll get through without much financial worry.
Good luck and stay safe!