Merch as a Service vs. Print-on-Demand: Key Differences

What Is Print-on-Demand?

Print-on-demand, often shortened to POD, is a production model where merchandise is produced after a customer places an order.

Instead of ordering hundreds of shirts in advance, you create a product digitally and make it available for purchase. When someone buys it, the POD provider prints the item and ships it to the customer.

This solves one of the biggest traditional problems with merchandise:

inventory risk.

You don’t need to guess whether you need 50 shirts or 500. You don’t need a warehouse full of unsold products. And you don’t need to commit significant capital to inventory before knowing whether people will buy it.

That makes print-on-demand especially useful for:

• New creators
• Small ecommerce businesses
• Artists and designers
• Side businesses
• Testing new designs
• Testing demand for merchandise
• Sellers who want to manage their own merch operation

POD has made launching merchandise easier than ever.

But there’s an important distinction.

Print-on-demand is primarily a production model. It isn’t necessarily a merchandise strategy.

What Is Merch as a Service?

Merch as a Service, or MaaS, is a fully managed approach to merchandise.

Instead of asking a creator or brand to become its own merchandise company, a Merch as a Service partner handles the expertise, infrastructure, and operations required to build the program.

At Beyondemand, that can include:

• Merchandise strategy
• Product selection
• Creative and design
• Custom product development
• Sourcing
• Production
• Ecommerce
• Inventory management
• Order fulfillment
• Customer experience
• Ongoing program management

For approved programs, Beyondemand can also fund the merchandise investment.

That means you bring the audience and the brand.

We bring the merch operation.

The Biggest Difference: Production vs. Partnership

The easiest way to understand Merch as a Service vs. print-on-demand is to look at what problem each model is designed to solve.

Print-on-demand asks: How do we produce this product without holding inventory?

That’s a production question.

And POD has a very good answer.

Make the product after somebody buys it.

Merch as a Service asks: How do we build and operate a successful merch program without doing it all ourselves?

That’s a business question.

It includes production, but it also includes everything that comes before and after production.

What should we sell?

What products fit the brand?

What will the audience actually want?

How should the collection look?

What should we charge?

What materials should we use?

How should products be decorated?

How should the store work?

How much should we produce?

How do we fulfill orders?

What should we launch next?

With Merch as a Service, you have a team helping answer those questions.

Print-on-Demand Makes Merch Easier to Produce

There’s a reason POD has become so popular.

It removes a huge barrier to entry.

Traditionally, selling merchandise meant committing money before you knew whether anyone would buy the product.

Imagine ordering 500 shirts.

If all 500 sell, great.

If 75 sell, you’ve got 425 reminders that your forecast was wrong.

Print-on-demand changes that equation.

When someone orders one shirt, one shirt gets produced.

That makes it possible to launch products with significantly less inventory risk and experiment with designs without committing to large production runs.

For someone launching their first merch store, that flexibility can be incredibly valuable.

Merch as a Service Makes Merch Easier to Run

Merch as a Service approaches risk differently.

Rather than simply removing inventory from the equation, a MaaS partner can take responsibility for much more of the merchandise operation.

At Beyondemand, that starts with figuring out what the program should be.

Because making products is only part of the job.

Someone still needs to determine what products make sense.

Someone still needs to develop the creative.

Someone still needs to source everything.

Someone still needs to manage production.

Someone still needs to operate the store.

Someone still needs to fulfill orders.

Someone still needs to figure out what comes next.

With a traditional DIY approach, that someone is usually you.

With Merch as a Service, that’s what the merch partner is there for.

What About Upfront Costs?

Both models can reduce the financial barriers associated with traditional merchandise, but they do it differently.

Print-on-demand reduces risk by producing after the sale

With POD, there’s generally no need to purchase a large amount of finished inventory upfront.

The customer places an order first.

Then the product gets made.

It’s an elegant solution to the inventory problem.

Merch as a Service can fund the program

Beyondemand can take a different approach with approved programs.

We can fund the merchandise investment.

That means you don’t necessarily have to choose between purchasing inventory yourself and limiting the program to products that can be produced one at a time.

Instead, the merchandise can be developed around what makes sense for the brand, audience, and opportunity.

That opens up possibilities beyond traditional POD while helping remove the upfront financial burden from the creator or brand.

Product Selection vs. Product Strategy

A print-on-demand platform might give you hundreds or even thousands of products to choose from.

That sounds great.

Until you have to choose.

Should you sell a heavyweight tee or a lightweight tee?

A trucker hat or a five-panel?

Embroidery or screen printing?

Three colors or eight?

What price makes sense?

Does your audience even want a hat?

Having more options doesn’t necessarily make those decisions easier.

A catalog gives you choices. A merch strategy gives you direction.

Merch as a Service focuses on determining which products actually make sense for your audience and brand.

The goal isn’t to launch the most products.

It’s to launch the right ones.

The Quality Question

Print-on-demand and premium merchandise aren’t mutually exclusive.

There are excellent POD products available today.

But POD is inherently designed around products and decoration methods that can be produced efficiently as individual orders come in.

Merch as a Service isn’t tied to a single production method.

Depending on the program, that can mean exploring:

• Premium garments
• Custom headwear
• Specialty decoration
• Unique materials
• Custom packaging
• Cut-and-sew products
• Retail-quality collections
• Products sourced specifically for your audience

The production method follows the strategy, rather than the strategy being limited by the production method.

That’s an important distinction.

Who Is Print-on-Demand Best For?

Print-on-demand may be the right choice if you:

• Want to launch merchandise quickly
• Don’t want to purchase inventory upfront
• Already have designs ready
• Want to test new product ideas
• Prefer managing your own store
• Want control over your product catalog
• Enjoy the operational side of ecommerce
• Are building a new or smaller merchandise business

For many sellers, POD is exactly the right solution.

Who Is Merch as a Service Best For?

Merch as a Service is designed for brands and creators that have already built something valuable:

an audience.

That might include:

• YouTubers
• Podcasters
• Creators and influencers
• Musicians and bands
• Lifestyle brands
• Breweries and cideries
• Resorts
• Museums
• Venues
• Organizations with engaged communities

These brands don’t necessarily need another piece of software.

They need merchandise expertise.

They want great products for their audience without having to build an internal team to make it happen.

Is Merch as a Service Better Than Print-on-Demand?

Not necessarily.

They solve different problems.

If you want to upload designs, select products, run your own storefront, and have products produced as customers order them, print-on-demand may be exactly what you need.

If you have an established audience and want an experienced partner to help build and operate the merchandise program, Merch as a Service may be a better fit.

Think about it this way:

Print-on-demand gives you a way to make merch.

Merch as a Service gives you a way to have a merch business without running every part of it yourself.

Can Merch as a Service Include Print-on-Demand?

Yes.

This is another important distinction.

Merch as a Service and print-on-demand aren’t necessarily opposites.

Print-on-demand is a production method. It can be one tool within a larger merchandise strategy.

A managed merch program might use bulk production for one product, print-on-demand for another, custom manufacturing for something else, and a completely different fulfillment strategy depending on what makes sense.

The point of Merch as a Service isn’t to avoid POD.

It’s to avoid letting one production method dictate your entire merch strategy.

The right production model is the one that works for the product, audience, and business.

What Does MaaS Actually Mean for Your Brand?

The easiest way to explain MaaS is this:

You shouldn’t have to become a merchandise company just because people want to buy merchandise from you.

Your expertise might be making videos.

Or music.

Or podcasts.

Or beer.

Or building a community around a brand people love.

That’s what created the opportunity in the first place.

Merch as a Service lets you stay focused on that while experienced merch people handle the rest.

You Built the Audience. Let’s Build the Merch.

Your audience is already telling you something valuable.

They want a deeper connection to your brand.

Great merchandise gives them one.

The question is how much of the merchandise business you want to take on yourself.

If you want the flexibility and control of running your own operation, print-on-demand can be a powerful tool.

If you want a team to help fund, design, produce, launch, fulfill, and manage the program, that’s what Merch as a Service was built to do.

You keep building the audience.

We’ll handle the merch.