How to Start Your Print on Demand Business with Gelato: Step by Step

I’ve used a lot of print on demand platforms in the past – testing them out for clients as an ecommerce consultant, writing reviews about their features, and even using them to produce custom merch. Gelato is one of my favorite options of all – for a few reasons.

Not only is it incredibly easy to use, as you’re about to see in this guide – but Gelato is great for sustainability-focused businesses, and companies that want access to premium products (at a lower price) and fast delivery speeds.

In particular, it’s the best POD vendor on the market for premium paper and art products (more on that later).

So, how do you set up your print on demand business with Gelato? I’m about to walk you through the entire process, step-by-step.

What is Print on Demand?

If you’re looking for advice on how to set up a print on demand business with Gelato, you’re probably already familiar with POD.

Just in case you’re not, print on demand is a business model a lot like dropshipping, which allows vendors to sell products without having to create them, purchase or manage inventory in advance, or deal with fulfillment.

All you need to do is choose a POD partner (Gelato in this case), and select the products you want to sell.

You can then use the design tools built into the POD platform, to customize those products, and list them on your website for customers to purchase.

When someone buys your product, you send the order over to your POD vendor (automatically with a Gelato integration), and they handle producing the item, packaging it, and shipping it to the buyer.

One of the reasons POD is growing so fast as a business model (at a CAGR of 25.8% to be exact), is that it delivers all the benefits of dropshipping (such as no upfront costs or inventory management), without limiting you to selling the exact same products as everyone else.

With some vendors, like Gelato, you can even take advantage of specialist features like a “Personalization Studio” which allows users to customize their products themselves on your website. For instance, they can add their own images and special dates to a calendar, without you having to do any extra work.

That means you have a great way to tap into the growing “personalized product” market (expected to be worth around $142 billion by 2032).

Why Choose Gelato for Print on Demand?

There are a ton of print on demand companies for merchants to choose from these days – and I’ve experimented with most of them, from Printful and Printify (two of the biggest names), to Gearbubble, Sticker Mule, and Prodigi.

For me, though, Gelato stands out for a few key reasons. First, as mentioned above, it’s one of the most sustainable POD brands out there.

While a lot of other companies choose eco-friendly materials and inks for their products, Gelato goes far beyond that.

The company works with local manufacturers worldwide to reduce carbon emissions, offers access to sustainable packaging, and actively works to keep waste to a minimum.

This focus on sustainability is important now that consumers are becoming more eco conscious. Not only are customers actually looking for more sustainable products – but they’re willing to pay 9.7% more on average for goods they know are eco-friendly.

The Benefits of Gelato

It’s not just sustainability that gives Gelato an edge – though. The company also delivers:

• An incredible product range: Gelato might have fewer products than some POD companies, but it excels in specific areas. For instance, you’ll get access to a wide range of art print options, from metal prints to wood prints, unique framing options for posters and photos, and a wide selection of paper products, like calendars and photobooks.
• Exceptional quality: Based on my experience, and according to the reviews I’ve read on channels like TrustPilot Gelato delivers exceptional quality consistently. It uses fantastic materials and state-of-the-art technology to ensure that every product is premium.
• Reduced costs: Gelato recently reduced the base cost of its products by around 40% across its portfolio. That means you can access high-quality products, and maintain higher profit margins too. It’s art and paper products are particularly good value for money.
• Unique tools: Gelato offers access to free Shutterstock images for designs, powerful pricing calculators, and a Personalization Studio, so users can add their own designs to products. There are a bunch of other great features to take advantage of too, such as one-click integrations for channels like Shopify.
• Fast, sustainable shipping: Gelato’s brilliant network of global printing partners doesn’t just help to reduce your carbon footprint. With partners located closer to your target audience, you can reach customers faster too – particularly in regions like Europe.

What about Other POD Platforms?

Obviously, Gelato does have some things in common with other top print on demand platforms, like Printify and Printful.

Those companies also offer access to global fulfillment networks, ecommerce integrations, and eco-friendly products.

However, Gelato goes above and beyond in all of the areas mentioned above. The price of their premium products is much lower than what you’ll see on other platforms.

Plus, Gelato products reach customers faster. About 90% are delivered within less than five days.

Additionally, while other companies deliver worldwide, few actually partner with local printing companies to improve delivery times and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time.

If my recommendation isn’t enough to convince you, check out some of the awesome customer success stories Gelato has shared on its website – they’re sure to inspire you.

How to Set Up your Print on Demand Business with Gelato

I don’t want to spend all day raving about Gelato – after all, the point of this article is to show you how to launch a business with the platform.

Fortunately, Gelato is very easy to use, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble. Here are the steps to follow.

Step 1: Deciding What to Sell

First, you’ll need to figure out what you’re going to sell. That process should start with identifying your target audience.

After all, the most successful products are always going to be the ones that resonate with the priorities of your ideal customers.

I’d recommend taking a niche approach. Although you get a lot more freedom to create “unique” products with POD than you would with dropshipping, there are a lot of companies competing for the same audience.

Choosing a specific customer base will help you gain a competitive advantage.

You can focus on selling products you’re already knowledgeable about (like art), or check the web to find out what’s trending.

Tools like Google Trends and Semrush are fantastic for finding out what kind of items customers are searching for. You can also check out what’s selling on marketplaces like Amazon, or what influencers are recommending.

Think about how you can make your products unique for your audience. For instance, with Gelato, you can give your customers the option to personalize their photobooks and calendars with special dates and photos, using the Personalization Studio.

If you choose the paper products and art route (which I recommend with Gelato), you can also give them access to a wider range of formats, like fine art Giclee, prints with premium wooden frames, metal or foam prints, and so much more.

Once you’ve chosen your products, create a business plan. Think about the things you’ll need to invest in (like an ecommerce platform, marketing and branding), and the pricing structure you’re going to use to make a profit.

Step 2: Setting up your Gelato Account

Now you’ve handled the preparation phase, you’re ready to start setting up a Gelato account. I’d recommend making sure you have your ecommerce platform set up first (as it will make the next step a lot smoother).

When you’re ready visit the Gelato website and click “Sign up for free”. 

Gelato will give you the option to use an existing account with a platform like Google or Facebook to sign up, or you can just enter your email address and choose a password.

Once you’ve signed up, Gelato will take you to an initial onboarding page where you’ll be asked a few questions about your business, where it’s located, and the products you want to sell.

You can skip answering some of these questions if you need to. Next, you’ll be sent to the Gelato home dashboard, where you can start checking out all of the features, like the design tools, and the product catalog.

I recommend taking some time to click through the tabs on your dashboard and familiarize yourself with things like the product templates and the resource center.

Once you feel confident with the platform, you can connect it to your online store.

Step 3: Integrating Gelato with your Store

Gelato isn’t a POD marketplace, so you can’t just list your products on their website when you want to sell them.

It also doesn’t offer access to a “pop-up” store builder like Printify. Instead, you need to connect Gelato to an existing ecommerce platform or marketplace.

Gelato offers a range of integrations with Shopify, TikTok Shop, Etsy, Amazon and more, so you have a lot of freedom for deciding where you want to sell your products.

To connect your store, click on the Stores button on your Gelato dashboard and select your preferred integration.

You can use APIs to enable connections to some sales channels, but I’d recommend using a direct integration if you’re a beginner.

Whichever option you choose, Gelato will walk you through getting everything set-up. Notably though, the process is a bit different for each integration.

For example, if you pick Shopify (my favorite ecommerce platform), you’ll be directed to the Shopify App store, where you can install the Gelato app onto your website.

In most cases, setting up the integrations only takes a few minutes, and when you’re done, you can start adding products you make in Gelato to your existing store.

Step 4: Creating Products and Adding them to Your Store

This is the exciting part – actually creating your print on demand products. Again, you have a range of options to choose from with Gelato, including accessories and clothing.

But, for me, Gelato really shines from an art and paper products perspective.

Worldwide, Gelato offers the widest selection of art products, ranging from aluminum and wood prints, to foam, fine art Giclee, and more.

It also offers a wide range of framing options, and some brilliant stationary accessories, like calendars, which are great for customer personalization.

All of these products are very affordable, particularly when you consider the quality, and they can be created and delivered to customers fast.

Remember, Gelato has some of the fastest turnaround times in the market – particularly when you opt for prints and art products.

Designing and Using Templates

To select and design a product, click on the Product Catalog tab in your Gelato dashboard and filter through the options to find whatever you want. Next, click the Create Order button.

This will take you to Gelato’s design center, where you can customize your product. You can choose what kind of printing option you want (like screen printing or Giclee).

You can also choose colors, sizes, and other elements like frames, and decide how you want to position prints.

You can then upload images from your computer into the design tool, or use existing design resources like Shutterstock images, free graphics, fonts, stickers, and shapes.

Spend some time experimenting with designs and elements, and pay attention to the pricing section. Gelato will show you in real-time how much you’re going to pay for the base product.

The design tool will also evaluate the quality of any images you upload, informing you whether the images you choose might lead to a low-quality product.

Once you’re ready click Save and head to the Templates section of your website. This is where you can generate the mockups and add items to your connected store. You’ll also be able to place orders manually from here.

Step 5: Configure Shipping and Pricing Settings

After you create a product with Gelato and add it to your store, you’ll maintain complete control over your prices and shipping policies.

Typically, I’d recommend trying to set a profit margin of about 30% to 50%, based on the price of your product. Gelato also has a handy profit calculator to help you choose the best price for your items – so give that a go if you’re unsure.

You can always consider experimenting with different pricing strategies too – such as launching products for a lower price to attract new customers.

After you’ve established a price, you can set up shipping profiles, which is very easy with Gelato’s direct integrations.

Gelato gives companies using platforms like Shopify access to pre-configured shipping profiles to help them streamline fulfillment, and choose the cheapest, fastest option for their customers.

If you want to give your buyers more control, you can add “live shipping rates” from Gelato into your website, so customers can see what they’ll pay for different options.

You can find a handy guide on how to use the live shipping rates feature here – but once again, it’s a relatively straightforward process.

Step 6: Launching and Promoting your Store

At this point, most of the hard work is done. All you need to do now is launch your store (if you haven’t already) and start capturing the attention of customers with marketing.

There’s really no limit to the marketing strategies you can use, but some of my favorite options include:

• Content marketing: Use blogs, articles, and even videos shared on your website to highlight the features of your products, and boost your chances of ranking on the search engine result pages for specific keywords. Target high-volume, low-competition keywords were possible, by choosing niche terms like (custom sustainable calendars).
• Email marketing: Create a landing page or form on your website to collect contact details from customers in exchange for something special, like a discount on an initial order, or access to an exclusive new product. Then, use an email marketing tool like Klaviyo or Brevo to nurture audiences with regular newsletters and product updates.
• Social media marketing: Create social media profiles on the channels your customers already use, like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. Regularly showcase your products, respond to customer queries, and even run competitions to boost engagement. Consider working with influencers to drive more attention to your products and your benefits. Pro tip – give them access to a free product in exchange for promotion.

Keep an eye on the results of all the marketing strategies you use.

Shopify has some great tools for monitoring the impact of social media campaigns, and content strategies, and most platforms for social and email marketing have their own analytical tools that can help you make more informed decisions about how to scale your marketing efforts.

Dive into Print on Demand with Gelato

The Print on Demand space is growing fast, and Gelato is one of the top platforms giving companies an opportunity to really stand out in this market.

With it’s unique approach to sustainability, its wide range of high-quality products, and its innovative tools, it’s great for all kinds of new merchants.

With the steps above, you’ll have no problem setting up your print on demand business, and using Gelato to drive new customers and sales to your store.

Sign up for your account today, and don’t forget to keep experimenting with new products and marketing strategies to maintain sustainable growth. You’ve got this!