Aleksandra Rosa

The world of print-on-demand and ecommerce is booming. Even during the uncertain times of the pandemic, the ecommerce industry has gone from strength to strength. In this blog post, we’ve put together the latest print-on-demand industry data, trends, and predictions. Use this key information to power your marketing and business growth for the ongoing year. Here’s what we’ll cover: Industry and product trends. COVID-19’s impact on print-on-demand. Printful’s in-house survey data. Sounds good? Let’s jump right in! Print-on-Demand Growth. Source: Printful The print-on-demand industry grew by 12% from 2017 to 2020. While other industries stumbled during the pandemic, print-on-demand was getting record-high interest. Several factors have contributed to that. First, there’s a growing demand for personalized and one-of-a-kind products. In fact, a lot of consumers (36%) are expecting some form of personalization by default and would even be ready to wait longer for customized products (48%). Since print-on-demand products are made to order with no minimums, even an order of a single product with a specific design can be fulfilled. This opens the door to satisfying a demand for personalization while still remaining profitable. Another factor is the shift from traditional retail to ecommerce. COVID-19 forced us all to adopt new habits, and online shopping is one that is here to stay even in the post-pandemic world. In 2019, the ecommerce share of global retail sales amounted to 13.8%. In 2021, the share was already up to 19.6%. That’s an increase of almost 6% in just 2 years. Sustainability and the demand for eco-friendly products is another key factor. In a 2021 survey, 27% of respondents said that, in the last 12 months, they tried out a new product for sustainability reasons and 25% spent more money on sustainable fashion. Print-on-demand has become the sustainable alternative to fast fashion—products are made only once they’re ordered, meaning fewer items go unsold and end up as waste. There are more factors, including the rapidly changing fashion trends, increasing purchasing capability, and new printing technology development. But for now, let’s turn to the focus of this blog post—print-on-demand statistics. Read on to discover the latest print-on-demand industry trends and predictions, as well as stats on digital textile printing, dropshipping, home decor, and t-shirt printing. Start your own clothing line with Printful! Get started! Print-on-Demand Industry and Product Statistics. Source: Printful The digital printing industry started in 1993 and grew exponentially to be worth $187.7 billion in 2018, just 25 years later. (ComCap) From 2017 to 2020, the print-on-demand apparel industry grew at a compound annual growth rate of 12%. (ComCap) Search interest for print-on-demand rose dramatically at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. It also spiked in January and April of 2021. In 2022, it still remains above the pre-pandemic level. (Ahrefs) Source: Google Trends Custom stickers were among the most searched for print-on-demand items in 2020, with interest continuing to grow. (Ahrefs) Personalized gifts have been getting more and more popular year after year, with 2020 signaling the highest interest to date (an increase of about 20% YoY). (Ahrefs) 1 out of 5 customers is willing to pay up to 20% extra for personalized products and services. (ComCap) Products decorated with photographs are widely used by individual customers as personalized gifts. The US holds the largest market share of about 39%, while Europe comes in next with about 28%. (GlobeNewswire) Google search volumes in 2020 and 2021 indicate that the fastest-growing print-on-demand product was custom face masks. (Ahrefs) Custom hoodies and custom hats have remained very popular print-on-demand items in 2020 and 2021. (Ahrefs) Currently, the top trending print-on-demand products in 2022 are hoodies, sportswear, premium t-shirts, eco-friendly products, hats, stationery, wall art, phone cases, drinkware, and bags. (Printful) Print-on-Demand During COVID-19 and Beyond. Source: Printful COVID-19 didn’t leave any person or industry unchanged. It forced us to adapt to a new way of life in the face of personal and professional uncertainties. One of the ways people tried to increase their financial security was by starting a side hustle. In 2020, new business creation in the US rose by 42%. And due to the unfortunate massive layoffs during the pandemic, as many as 56% of Americans expressed that they felt safer when working for themselves instead of having a traditional job. This shift towards owning your own business instead of working for someone else had a huge impact on the print-on-demand industry. Back in March 2020, the first red flags of the pandemic started to rise and so did interest in print-on-demand. In March, Google search volume for the “print on demand” keyword rose by 10,000 monthly searches and continued to grow until August. Why did print-on-demand gain such interest during the pandemic? It makes setting up a fully functioning business fast and easy. With a design or a design idea, you can have products ready for sale in a matter of a short lunch break. And what’s really important with a highly contagious virus lurking around—you can set up your store from the safety of your own home. But it wasn’t just the print-on-demand industry in general that gained online attention. A sudden increase in search volumes also happened for specific print-on-demand products, like custom stickers and personalized gifts. Unsurprisingly, the fastest-growing print-on-demand product (based on Google search volumes in 2020) was custom face masks. In January 2020, the keyword “custom face mask” had a humble 345 monthly Google searches on average. By April, the monthly search volume had reached a whopping 172,000. The numbers continued to grow, reaching a record-high volume of 224,000 in July 2020. Afterward, the trend rapidly declined, falling to just 6,000 monthly searches in July 2021, just a year later. Source: Printful Digital Textile Printing Market Statistics. Historically, screen printing has been the preferred technique. However, over the last few years, there’s been a shift toward digital printing because of its affordability and little to no order minimum requirements. (ComCap) The crucial advantages of digital printing are the sharpness and high-quality nature of the prints, as well as reduced operational costs due to lower consumption of resources. (Fortune Business Insights) Clothing had the largest digital textile printing market share in 2020, followed by soft signage (i.e. banners, flags, etc.), home decor, and others. (Fortune Business insights) Source: Fortune Business insights In 2021, the US digital textile printing market alone was estimated at $340.2 million. (Business Wire) The global digital textile printing market as a whole is projected to grow from $1.5 billion in 2020 to $2.7 billion by 2026. (Business Wire) The key driving factors of market growth are increased demand for sustainable printing, rapidly changing fashion trends, more purchasing capability, decreased per unit printing cost, the trend towards automation, as well as new technologies being developed in the textile industry. (Mordor Intelligence, Business Wire, Allied Market Research) The digital textile printing market is also positively influenced by a shift towards apparel with customized prints, and increased interest in recycled textiles. (Allied Market Research) Digital printing technology reduces the consumption of water by nearly 90% and lowers the electric consumption by nearly 30%. (Fortune Business Insights) The fastest-growing digital textile printing market by region is the Asia Pacific, followed by North America and Europe. (Mordor Intelligence) Source: Mordor Intelligence In 2020, China accounted for 43.5% of the global textile export value with an exporting value of around $154 billion. (Mordor Intelligence) Approximately 3.41 billion meters of clothing fabric were produced in China in October 2021, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China. (Mordor Intelligence) China is forecast to reach a projected digital textile printing market size of $396.9 million by 2026 with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 13.7%. (Business Wire) Japan and Canada’s digital textile printing markets are forecast to grow at 7.5% and 11% respectively by 2026, while the German market is expected to grow at approximately 8.3% CAGR. (Business Wire) By 2030, the global market value of the digital textile printing industry is expected to be $7.9 billion. (Allied Market Research) New technologies like gel printing are positively impacting the innovation of the industry. In 2021, Canon launched a new gel printer that offers companies operating in the large format market access to all advantages of UV gel technology at a lower investment. (Mordor Intelligence) Web-to-Print Industry Statistics. Web-to-print is a business model that has been gaining traction. It involves selling printed products through an online platform. (Booklets Print) Also known as online printing, this industry has grown exponentially since the development of ecommerce and digital payment solutions. (Booklets Print) In 2020, the global market for web-to-print was estimated at $983.4 million. (Research and Markets) The growth rate of the global web-to-print market is 6.2%, with an estimated value of $1500 million by 2027. (Research and Markets) Dropshipping Statistics. In 2020, the size of the global dropshipping market was estimated at $128 billion. (Market Data Forecast) The dropshipping market is expected to record a CAGR of 32% from 2021 to 2026. (Market Data Forecast) Search interest for dropshipping and dropshipping suppliers rose dramatically during the year 2020 and peaked at the beginning of 2021, indicating that more and more people show continued interest in starting their own...

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