At some point, most successful e-commerce businesses are going to reach capacity — they’ve outgrown their current space, storage or manufacturer and need to accommodate the demand for their products quickly so they can KEEP growing. Switching to Gooten takes the stress out of having to manage inventory, manufacturers and shipping so you can keep growing without having to sweat the small stuff.
You should be able to count on your print on demand company to keep operations running at maximum capacity. In these recent, unprecedented times, we’re seeing our competitors having to slow or halt major production due to the shut down of crucial manufacturing locations — in some cases they have to close their doors altogether. If the company your business relies on can’t remain resilient, what does that mean for you?
At Gooten, we know how to seamlessly adapt to unexpected, fast changes in the industry like an overnight closure of a large manufacturer, with little to no interruption to your business. And with our managed, distributed supply chain and dedicated team across the world we’re prepared to keep your business growing even through difficult times.
Now let's dive in to what it looks like for business owners when it's time to switch to Gooten and how we can be at the forefront of your growth.
When popularity surpasses capacity
Has your business become too popular to handle on your own?
Say you’ve been hearing the demand from your fans and followers to start selling your designs on t-shirts for awhile, and you decide to start an online store for people to buy and wear your designs — what a great idea!
FIRST, you’ll probably need to look into multiple manufacturers who can create a decent t-shirt with your design, order samples to see how they look, then order your first round of inventory to get you started. Oh, and you’ll also need some packaging to ship it in, of course.
Once that’s squared away and your product is live on your store, your marketing mind gets to work and you start promoting. Your followers adore your t-shirts and so do their friends and family — soon they become loyal customers spreading the word. Now it’s time to order MORE inventory and maybe add a new product or two.
… and now comes reality.
Not only that, but if the manufacturer who makes your t-shirts doesn’t do the coffee mugs or tote bags your customers want, you’re now juggling multiple manufacturers for multiple products on top of all that inventory.
The piles of inventory in your garage or that storage space you pay for monthly just don’t seem to be cutting it now. So what are your options? You may have to start limiting your inventory, pay more to get a larger storage space OR stop accepting orders all together — not ideal.
Congrats! Looks like you’ve hit capacity …
Now let’s take a look at a success story — how Steve saved his store by switching to Gooten …
Good for you, Steve!
If you’re like Steve and are thinking of switching to print on demand to help your business continue to grow, we know that you have quite a few businesses to choose from. To figure out if Gooten is right for you and to make the choice easier, we’ve broken down how print on demand companies operate on a spectrum.
The spectrum typically ranges from having a single source — only one provider to manage and a single manufacturing option — to having multiple sources — with multiple manufacturers to choose from and manage.
Single Source
Print on demand models closer to “Single Source” likely create and fulfill your orders with a single manufacturer or in-house. For some business owners, that fits their needs — everything’s made under one roof so you know where it’s coming from. But here’s where capacity issues can arise …
- Demand for your product goes up maybe for a holiday season or a really successful marketing campaign. Since your product is made by a single source, it’s not easy to meet the demand of a huge spike in sales without overwhelming its own production capabilities, which was essentially your issue in the first place.
- Adding a new product to your store the company doesn’t specialize in or have the facilities or equipment to produce. They now have to purchase and learn how to use new equipment rather than just sourcing a vendor who already does the job well — and that could mean quality suffers.
- Manufacturer shuts down or can’t operate normally due to extenuating circumstances (like a global pandemic). What happens to your orders then? It’s pretty simple — they don’t get fulfilled or there’s a major delay in fulfillment.
Multi-source
On the other side of the spectrum, you have companies with a large network of vendors or manufacturers and plenty of products to choose from. Sure, that can work for businesses who want to oversee and manage all production, but here’s where it gets tricky …
- YOU are responsible for choosing which vendor produces which item. If there are five vendors who can produce the same shirt, there’s a good chance you’re not necessarily going to know which one is best for what you need.
- YOU are responsible for juggling multiple manufacturers and vendors and monitoring quality control, which is tedious and time-consuming.
- If a manufacturer unexpectedly shuts down, who do you think has to figure out where your orders need to be routed — that’d be YOU.
And then there's Gooten.
Sitting right in the middle gives us advantages others don’t have.
While Gooten allows you to manage all of your products, orders, and sales channels in one place, we fulfill orders through a large network of skilled manufacturers and trusted providers we manage, taking the guesswork out of finding the best people to make your product at the most competitive rates and best turnaround times.
This means that our production capabilities can handle your influx of orders from a successful marketing campaign, seasonal demand or adapt to an unexpected global crisis without you having to manage it.
Bottom line — stores that use Gooten get the capacity, flexibility and pricing power of a large, complex global supply chain without the hassle of having to manage it.
TO SEE UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION REGARDING GOOTEN’S HANDLING OF COVID-19, VISIT OUR STATUS UPDATES PAGE.
