Beyondemand vs. Printful: What’s the Difference?
Printful and Beyondemand can both help you sell branded merchandise without filling your office with boxes. But that’s about where the similarities end.
Printful is built around print-on-demand fulfillment. You choose products, supply the designs, connect your store, market the merchandise, and Printful produces and ships each item when a customer orders.
Beyondemand is Merch as a Service. We partner with brands, creators, artists, and organizations to build and manage the merch business with you. That means strategy, design, product development, production, ecommerce, fulfillment, and ongoing management, without requiring you to become a merch expert.
If you’re comparing Beyondemand vs. Printful, the real question isn’t which company can print a shirt.
It’s how much of the merch business you want to run yourself.
Beyondemand vs. Printful at a Glance
What Is Printful?
Printful is a print-on-demand fulfillment company that lets businesses and creators sell customized products without purchasing inventory in advance.
You select products, add your artwork, connect Printful to an ecommerce platform, and list the products for sale. When a customer orders, Printful produces, packs, and ships the product.
It’s a straightforward model that removes much of the logistical headache associated with traditional merchandise production.
For entrepreneurs who want to build and operate their own merch store, that can be a great fit.
But you’re still running the merch business.
You decide what to sell. You develop the designs. You determine pricing. You build the brand. You drive the traffic. You decide what products to launch next.
Printful helps you make and fulfill what sells.
What Is Beyondemand?
Beyondemand takes a different approach.
Instead of giving you the infrastructure to run a merch program yourself, we become your merch partner.
We call it Merch as a Service.
Our team works with you to develop a merchandise program around your audience, brand, and business goals. Depending on the program, that can include:
- Merch strategy
- Product selection
- Custom design
- Product development
- Production
- Ecommerce
- Inventory management
- Order fulfillment
- Customer experience
- Ongoing program management
And there’s another major difference: Beyondemand can fund the merchandise program.
Rather than asking you to put capital into inventory and hope it sells, we can take on the upfront merchandise investment for approved programs.
You bring the audience and the brand.
We bring the merch infrastructure.
Print on Demand vs. Merch as a Service
This is the biggest distinction between Printful and Beyondemand.
Print on demand: You run the merch business
Print on demand solves an important problem: inventory.
Instead of purchasing 500 shirts and hoping they sell, a product can be produced after the customer places an order.
That makes POD flexible and accessible.
But removing inventory doesn’t remove all the work involved in running a successful merch program.
You still need to answer questions like:
What should we sell?
What will our audience actually wear?
How should the collection look?
How should we price it?
How do we build the store?
How do we merchandise the products?
When should we launch something new?
How do we turn a handful of products into an actual brand experience?
With a traditional POD model, those decisions largely stay with you.
Merch as a Service: We run it with you
Beyondemand is designed for organizations that have an audience but don’t necessarily want another business to operate.
We handle the merch side.
Instead of logging into a platform and assembling products yourself, you work with an experienced merch team that helps develop the program from beginning to end.
That gives you the benefits of having a merchandise business without having to build an internal merchandise department.
The Difference Shows Up in the Product
Print on demand is built for flexibility. Products can be produced individually as customers order them, eliminating the need to stock finished merchandise in advance.
That convenience can be exactly what some sellers need.
Beyondemand takes a more curated approach.
We can source products, develop custom pieces, explore decoration methods, build cohesive collections, and make decisions based on what makes sense for your particular audience.
Because the goal isn’t simply to put your logo on something.
It’s to create merch people actually want.
A great merch line should feel like an extension of your brand, not a catalog of products with graphics dropped onto them.
Who Is Printful Best For?
Printful can make a lot of sense if you:
- Want to launch products quickly
- Prefer a print-on-demand model
- Want to control your own store and merchandise strategy
- Already have designs ready to go
- Are comfortable handling your own marketing and merchandising
- Want access to a large catalog of customizable products
- Want to test products without purchasing inventory
For independent sellers, small ecommerce businesses, and creators who enjoy running the operational side of their store, Printful provides a lot of flexibility.
Who Is Beyondemand Best For?
Beyondemand is built for brands and creators who already have something valuable:
an audience.
You might be a:
- YouTuber
- Podcaster
- Musician or band
- Creator or influencer
- Brewery
- Resort
- Venue
- Museum
- Lifestyle brand
- Organization with an engaged community
You know your audience.
You know your brand.
You just don’t want to spend your time becoming an expert in blanks, decoration methods, inventory, ecommerce, fulfillment, and merchandise operations.
That’s where we come in.
Is Beyondemand a Printful Alternative?
Yes, but it’s not a one-for-one replacement.
If you’re searching for a Printful alternative because you simply want another print-on-demand platform, Beyondemand probably isn’t what you’re looking for.
If you’re searching because you’ve realized you don’t want to run the merch operation yourself, then we should talk.
Beyondemand changes the relationship.
Instead of:
Platform + You = Merch Business
Think:
Your Brand + Beyondemand = Merch Business
You stay focused on the thing that created your audience in the first place.
We focus on turning that audience into a merchandise opportunity.
So, Which One Should You Choose?
Choose Printful if you want a print-on-demand fulfillment solution and prefer to maintain control over the day-to-day operation of your merch business.
Choose Beyondemand if you want a team to help fund, build, launch, fulfill, and manage your merchandise program.
Neither model is right for everyone.
The difference comes down to what you’re looking for.
Do you want a platform that helps you run a merch business?
Or do you want a partner that helps run the merch business with you?
Your Audience. Our Merch Expertise.
You’ve already done the hard part.
You built the brand. You created the content. You earned the followers, fans, customers, or community.
You shouldn’t have to build an entire merchandise operation just to give those people something great to wear.
Beyondemand handles the merch so you can keep doing what built the audience in the first place.