We will be honest here and tell you that we did think about starting an online business, and the first idea that came to mind was creating a sticker business. And it is worth noting that most people who want to start an online business have also thought about starting a sticker business. That is because a sticker business is one of the most profitable businesses since it involves printing, but you can mark up the prices. It can also be said that running digital printable businesses is the most beneficial, but a physical sticker business can be the next best option.
Talking about the idea of a sticker business, it is also to be kept in mind that the competition in this type of business is the highest it has ever been. That is because of the number of platforms you can choose to run your online business, and everyone can set it up. If you are serious about starting your own sticker business, we are here to tell you everything you need to know:
Research and Identify your target audience
To start a sticker business in 2024, you will first need to know your target audience and who are the people most likely to buy your stickers in the first place. For example, we know that a K-pop band called BTS is very popular worldwide and has a primarily female audience. Now, if you are willing to print stickers related to the BTS band, you can know that your target audience will be principally female and can be anywhere worldwide.
This is just an example; you can select any niche you want to start your sticker business. This is your target audience, and they are the ones most likely to buy your products and bring traffic to your site. You must also ensure that your sticker designs are unique and inspiring, which is why people will be willing to buy your stickers in the first place. For that, you need to design your stickers so they are appealing to them.
Design and Prototype your stickers
As we mentioned earlier, designing your stickers and making them unique from the other sticker stores will be your differentiating factor in the long run, and that will help you gain initial traction. Because if you don’t have anything unique to offer to your audience, it will just become a gain of pricing, which is not sustainable to run a business.
Once you have designed your stickers and are confident they will appeal to your target audience, the next step is to prototype them and get them ready for the market. To do that, you will need to test the stickers in the real world in different conditions, such as rain, cold, heat, and humidity, and see how durable they are.
You will also not like any product that does not last even a month, even though it is just a sticker, because of the emotions attached to it, so the product must be designed and then prototyped in such a way that it is long-lasting, durable and is worth the money people are paying for it.
Avoid Copyrighted material
We have seen that the sticker business is such that it is very to get copyright strikes. Hence, you need to check the intellectual property rights of the stickers you are designing because if you use a copyrighted logo, you might get into trouble with the copyright owners.
Choose the material for your stickers.
You might already be aware that three types of stickers are available in the market based on the material used to manufacture them: Paper, Polyester, and Vinyl.
It is a fact that paper stickers are the least durable because they can be torn off easily, and they get wet in the rain as well, which is why they should be priced the lowest as well. Next comes Polyester, a material not widely used for stickers because of the high manufacturing costs. The most popular material is Vinyl, which is dust and water-resistant and the most durable.
Deciding whether to outsource the production or make in-house
Once you have decided on the material with which you want to print your stickers, you will be left with the question of whether to outsource the production of your stickers or make them in-house. Well, it is worth noting that making stickers in-house can be done for a small batch, but if you want to do the same for an extensive collection, it will be challenging, and you will need special machines for sticker printing.
If you have the capital, you can set up your sticker printing warehouse, but if you don’t have that, the best option is to outsource your sticker printing business so that you get it done from someone else and need to sell it on your online store.
Now that you have decided to outsource the sticker printing, you must select the best available option for sticker printing and make them your long-term suppliers as well. It is worth noting that this business runs on meager costs, so you need to negotiate a lot to get the best sustainable rates to run your online business, including shipping and packaging charges.
Setting up your sticker business
Once you have finalized the sticker designs, tested them, and selected the material and your suppliers, you next must register your business to run it without any legal issues. It would be best to get your VAT or TIN or whatever official document is required to register your firm as an official business.
Deciding on the price of your stickers
We know that one of the most tricky parts of any business is setting the pricing right for your products, and it can be an extremely tiring task because you have it all under control but don’t know how to price the product correctly then it won’t sell. The general rule of thumb is that you set the pricing of your product close to what your competitors are doing unless you are using a different material to them. However, we have seen that some companies price their products differently but usually have some uniqueness about them. If you also have that and feel confident about your pricing, you decide your price, see the data, and assess the situation after a few months of sales.
Also, you must keep the profitability aspect in mind when deciding on the price of your stickers because you will have to cost of running the online store, shipping of the stickers as well as packaging and other costs to add to the overall pricing, which means that you might burn money if you don’t price them higher than your costs. If you are ready to lose money and have investments, then you can price your stickers on the lower side to gain traction early on and increase the prices later once enough traffic comes to your store.
Marketing your sticker business
You can use multiple ways to market your sticker business, as this is one of the trendiest businesses and one that can be promoted very well through organic and paid marketing. If you have the budget to run ads for your sticker store, do that by all means, as it can be very profitable but make sure that you set the budget for your ads; otherwise, the acquisition cost will get too high.
You can also use social media to organically market your stickers by showing them to your followers (if you have many) or even sending those stickers to your friends and family and telling them to spread the word about your new venture.
You can also use your stickers on everything you own, such as bags, laptops, other electronics, and daily use items so that people know that you have this sticker business and can also see how durable they are.
You can also create your blog aside from the sticker store to create awareness about the stickers on your blog by writing content related to how you are printing these stickers, details about the material you are using, and how you can get creative with those stickers.
As you can imagine, the ideas are endless. These stickers can be promoted in hundreds of ways, so you can use your imagination, encourage them in the most unique way possible, and grab the eyeballs so that more visitors come to your store and purchase your stickers.
Conclusion
Everything you need to know about starting your online sticker business has been mentioned in this article, and we have thoroughly reviewed the entire process of a sticker business and mentioned them in this article. From designing your stickers, selecting your target audience to choose the material you will use, and avoiding copyrighted material, we have thought of everything that might go into running a sticker business.
However, we might have missed out on any particular aspect of running the sticker business. If that is the case, feel free to reach out to us and mention it in the comments section so we can also add that particular section.