Key Pain Points for Printers Using Shopify and How to Fix Them

Summary: Is Shopify slowing down your print business instead of helping it grow? You’re not alone. Since Shopify does not provide print-specific capabilities, it has certain limitations that can hinder your print business productivity and profitability. Let’s discuss the common challenges faced by printers using Shopify and strategic ways to solve them.

Did you know? Almost 90% of eCommerce businesses fail within the first 4 months of operations. The major cause behind this shocking figure is the poor choice of the store building platform.

For many print shop owners using Shopify, this reality translates into frustration over limited features and high costs, ultimately hindering growth. While Shopify is a popular choice for e-commerce, it often falls short in addressing the unique challenges of print businesses.

This blog delves into the top pain points experienced by print shop owners using Shopify, such as limited customization options, high commission fees, and complicated order management. We'll also explore how modern web-to-print software for printers can help you overcome these hurdles and optimize your online print business for success.

What are the Top Challenges for Printers Using Shopify?

The limitations and challenges of using Shopify can supress the growth and creativity of print businesses. There are many hurdles to tackle, and it can be overwhelming. Therefore, let's identify the key pain points and discuss actionable strategies to overcome the day-to-day challenges of print businesses.

Challenge #1: Limited Customization Options for Print Products

Creating a print shop with Shopify leaves you with limited customization options. It offers only a few customizable templates, but those templates are used by a lot of other stores and are generic, which makes it difficult to get a unique store.

Impact:

Having just a print shop online doesn’t do justice to the custom products you have to offer, and not having an effective resolution for print product customization challenges can be a major disadvantage. Other than that, branding is all about uniqueness. If you cannot create a unique store, you cannot build a brand.

Moreover, if the customer cannot recognize your brand, it affects customer satisfaction and brand image. This lack of professionalism in your brand identity, discourages them from doing business with your brand.

Solution:

Utilize advanced custom web-to-print solutions developed for print businesses. Create an online store with your branding and display print products based on your offerings.

Furthermore, W2P solutions benefits your customers too. It lets you tailor customer experiences for different users based on their interests and preferences.

Challenge #2: High Commission Charges on Every Sale

When discussing about one of the top print business challenges and ways to overcome them, Shopify challenges like high commission fees on each sale can significantly cut into profit margins. And if you wish to lower the payable commission charges, it asks you to buy an expensive subscription.

Impact:

These fees can make it difficult for small to medium-sized print businesses. Over time, the total costs may reduce your profitability, which will restrict you from reinvesting in your business or expanding your custom-printed product SKUs (stock keeping unit).

Solution:

The competitive pricing plans by web-to-print providers allow you to keep more of your profits without the hefty commissions. By choosing a dedicated W2P platform, you can enjoy a more sustainable financial model that supports growth.

Challenge #3: Complicated Print Order Management

Managing print orders through Shopify can become complicated, especially as your business scales. The lack of custom print-specific features makes it difficult to track and fulfill orders efficiently.

Impact:

This complexity can lead to errors and delays, thus frustrating the customers. An inefficient order management system can negatively affect customer loyalty and brand reputation. Moreover, the ineffective workflow can limit the potential of your print business by restricting the number of orders you can handle at once.

Solution:

You can opt for an advanced print order management software that are specifically designed for print businesses. It streamlines the entire print process enabling you to track, manage, and fulfill orders seamlessly to ensure customer satisfaction and repeat business.

It helps you free up your team for more creative tasks such as designing new products and handling the entire order cycle. Furthermore, it reduces the turnaround time by streamlining all the processes and scheduling processes for maximum efficiency.

Challenge #4: Difficulty in Managing Bulk Orders and Customization

Handling bulk orders with specific print customization requirements can be a daunting task on Shopify. The platform lacks the necessary functionalities to streamline processes like variable data printing.

Impact:

The inconsistencies, lack of personalization, and increased labor costs can make your customers unhappy. Not being able to manage bulk orders efficiently may drive potential customers to competitors who offer faster and a more reliable service.

Due to this, processing variable data printing orders becomes way more hectic than it should be.

Solution:

A print-specific solution can offer advanced features to handle bulk orders with ease, including customizable templates that make mass personalization possible. This ensures that you can meet client expectations while maintaining efficiency. This enables you to fulfill VDP orders with ultimate quality in the least time.

Challenge #5: Lack of Shopify Integration with Print-Specific Shipping Providers

Shopify has some of the best shipping providers but those are generic. It lacks the support for integrating print-specific shipping providers, which results in logistical challenges that can hinder your operation.

Impact:

Without proper third-party print integration, you might face issues like higher shipping costs or delays in order delivery, which can hurt customer satisfaction and retention.

Solution:

Many print-centric solution providers offer web-to-print integrations with leading systems and applications that cater to the printing industry. This ensures a seamless fulfillment process that enhances your service quality and keeps your customers happy.

Challenge #6: Complex Workflow for Proofing and Approval

The proof and approval process on Shopify can be complex, requiring human intervention and often leading to miscommunications.

Impact:

A complicated workflow can cause dissatisfaction and potentially lead to lost sales if customers find it too time-consuming. The canceled orders also account for the avoidable expenses for your print business.

Solution:

An advanced W2P software offering top-notch print proofing software can simplify the proofing process. Clients can approve designs quickly and easily without back-and-forth communications and speeding up order fulfillment.

Challenge #7: Quality Control and Consistency

Maintaining quality control and consistency is crucial for print businesses, but Shopify lacks robust tools to manage these aspects for a print business.

Impact:

Inconsistent quality can damage your reputation and lead to the loss of clients and your brand image. Nothing can replace the necessity of high-quality standards for building trust in your brand.

Solution:

The integrated quality control features in a robust print workflow management software ensure that every print job meets your high standards. With a systematic approach to quality management, you can positively deliver consistent products.

Challenge #8: Order Fulfilment and Shipping

The fulfillment process on Shopify can be complicated, especially for print-specific needs, leading to inefficiencies. As it doesn’t have any custom print-specific shipping integrations, order fulfillment might not match the customers’ requirements or your brand-specific customizations.

Impact:

Delays in order fulfillment can agitate customers and hurt your brand’s reputation. Efficient shipping is crucial for customer satisfaction.

Solution:

You can choose from various shopify alternatives for print businesses that can streamline the order fulfillment and shipping process to ensure timely delivery. This helps you maintain high customer satisfaction and build loyalty.

Challenge #9: Managing Print Job Management and File Formats

Dealing with various file formats and managing print jobs can be a nightmare on Shopify, which isn’t tailored for print businesses. For services like wide-format printing, Shopify may not support the required file format, thus making it difficult to handle print-specific files.

Impact:

This can result in lost time, cost to correct the file format, and potentially unhappy customers if jobs don't match their expectations.

Solution:

The advanced print job management features in a print-specific solution can handle multiple file formats effortlessly. This makes it easy to manage print jobs accurately and efficiently.

Challenge #10: Multistore Management

For print business owners looking to expand, managing multiple stores on Shopify can be difficult and inefficient. As a custom print business, you have to manage your various franchises, suppliers, and trade printers. Considering the limitations of Shopify, it becomes complex for niche-specific custom print service providers to manage all stores within a single platform.

Impact:

Without a well-structured approach, it can lead to confusion, operational inefficiencies, and potential revenue loss.

Solution:

A print-backed solution offers a unified platform for managing multiple stores from one dashboard. This allows you to streamline operations and enhance your overall business strategy.

Challenge #11: Inventory Management for Print Products

It won’t be wrong to say that inventory management on Shopify for custom print products stores is not one of the smoothest experiences, due to the diverse product offerings and customizations.

Impact:

Poor inventory management can lead to stockouts or overstock, both of which can harm your production schedules and profitability.

Solution:

The inventory management features in a solution catered for print business can be helpful. It helps you track stock levels in real time and manage to have an optimum production cycle.

Why Web-to-Print Solution is the Best for Print Businesses?

A print business cannot be successful until and unless printers understand the exact requirements of end customers and fulfill them. This is only possible if printers adopt the right technologies, strategies, and systems that are applicable specifically for the printing industry.

Adopting a web-to-print solution can transform your print business by providing end-to-end control over your print operations. From tailoring print workflows as per unique business needs, providing integrated designer studios for print personalization, dynamic pricing based on print jobs, to giving print-specific shipping options – a web-to-print solution can offer it all.

ConclusionWhile Shopify offers a general e-commerce solution, it falls short in addressing the unique print challenges. Utilizing a new-age web-to-print solution like the ones offered by OnPrintShop, you can get tailored capabilities that cater to the specific needs of print business owners. By switching to OnPrintShop’s W2P solution, you can overcome the generic e-commerce platform pain points.With a focus on customization, order management, and integrated solutions, OnPrintShop positions you to not only survive but thrive in the competitive print industry. So, without any further ado, book a live demo today and experience the ultimate storefront management system.