An e-commerce store is a business model that offers products or services online. It features a visual storefront, a virtual cart, and online payment options.
These businesses can be anything from niche brands to large marketplaces. That also includes the print-on-demand market.
Print-on-demand (POD) allows artists to print their designs on products. The e-commerce store prints the items only after purchase, so there is no need for inventory. Print providers like Lumaprints also handle the shipping, making POD a branch of dropshipping, but with far more creative control and customization.
Setting up an E-Commerce Store for Your Artwork
An e-commerce store exists entirely online. This gives you full control over how your work is presented, priced, and sent to your customers. When you pair it with POD, you can sell prints, apparel, and other products from the comfort of your home.
Below is a step-by-step guide to building a store that showcases your art.
Step 1: Target Audience
The first step when creating any e-commerce store, including those in the print-on-demand market, is finding your target audience.
Your target audience is the group of people most likely to buy your products. Once you know who they are, choosing the right marketing platforms, creating your content, and setting your prices becomes much easier.
If you already have followers, use them as a guide to see who your work appeals to the most. Otherwise, finding a niche can make this process easier.
In each case, define these three main categories:
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- Demographics: Age, gender, occupation, income, and education
- Location: Regions where most of your potential audience lives
- Interests: Hobbies, lifestyles, habits, values, and beliefs
Step 2: Products to Sell
After you know who your audience is, you’re ready to decide which products to sell.
For a POD business, this step includes both selecting the right artwork from your gallery and printing it on products your target audience will love.
The benefit of print-on-demand artwork is that you don’t have to take a huge risk. There is no inventory, so you can test which products sell best and focus on those.
Still, to jumpstart your business, make sure your offer is clear. Group your products into categories and optimize titles, descriptions, and images. Use keywords so your store is easier to find by search engines.
Step 3: Brand Definition
The first thing that people notice when they open an e-commerce store is the design. This is particularly important for artists.
You want to use design as a tool to define your brand as an art business.
Before you start building your website, develop your:
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- Business name
- Logo
- Typography
- Color scheme
- Mission and vision
These elements should reflect your work and make you recognizable to your target audience.
Step 4: Website Setup
When you’ve defined your audience, branding, and products, you are ready to build and set up your store for POD.
There are many ways to approach this step. You can host your own store from scratch or use platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. Your choice will depend on your preferences, skills, and whether you want to hire a helping hand or build the website yourself.
In each case, you will need to make sure to:
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- Choose a hosting provider
- Connect your domain
- Choose a theme
- Build the storefront (including all product categories you offer), a cart, and a checkout system
- Incorporate your visual identity
- Add contact information and social media channels
- Offer different payment options
- Write copy for all pages, including product descriptions, homepage, about page, policy pages, and an FAQ page
- Add product photos
- Set prices
- Refine details
Finally, it’s time to connect your store to Lumaprints and enable automatic processing so the product is printed and shipped to the customer when they order.
Selling Print-on-Demand Artwork Products
If you want to sell your art online, print-on-demand is the easiest and least risky way to start.
With this model, your products are created only after a customer places an order. This makes it a cost-friendly way for new artists or anyone working with a limited budget.
When you use Lumaprints’ POD service, your designs are printed only after a customer completes their purchase in your e-commerce store. You don’t need to make upfront investments or manage inventory. You provide your artwork in a print-ready format, and Lumaprints handles the printing and shipping.
This makes the whole process much easier and allows you to focus on creating your designs and marketing your e-commerce store.
Print-on-Demand Formats
When you connect your store to Lumaprints, you can choose to print your designs in several formats. All formats are museum-grade quality and come in a variety of sizes, styles, and framing options.
Here is a brief overview of our main printing formats:
Fine Art Paper Prints
Fine art paper prints are one of the most popular options for printing art. Our paper prints are vibrant, thick, archival-grade, and acid-free. There are multiple paper types to choose from, including matte, glossy, metallic, and velvet.
Metal Prints
With metal prints, we infuse inks directly into an aluminum sheet, which delivers beautiful colors and durable output. These are robust, waterproof, and have a glossy surface.
Canvas Prints
Canvas prints feature canvas stretched over a wooden frame. They have a subtle texture and a three-dimensional look that adds character to any artwork, especially canvas prints.
Peel-and-Stick Prints
Peel-and-stick art prints are printed on a woven fabric and are easy to install, remove, and reposition. They come in a wide array of sizes, including classic art print formats and large wall murals.
Conclusion
Creating an e-commerce store and selling print-on-demand artwork is one of the most accessible ways for artists to earn more from their work.
Before you start, define your target audience and branding elements. Then you’re ready to build your shop, choose the right products, and connect the store to our POD system.
If you need support along the way, schedule a 30-minute consultation with the Lumaprints team. We’re here to guide you through the process and answer any questions you may have.
About the Author
Sara Popovic
Sara is a writer and illustrator who likes to dabble in web and graphic design, as well as handcrafting. She loves exploring various ways to create, present and market art.
Sara has worked on several ecommerce projects in the past, including Etsy and Fabletics. What drives her to create content in this industry is helping people build their own creative projects and turn their passion into a living.
