Your Position: Home - Packaging & Printing - A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Custom Sticker Business
Few business ventures have as low start-up costs and high-profit margins as stickers.
Custom sticker businesses are a beginner-friendly way to make money online without a substantial investment. Whether you’re an artist selling your latest designs on Etsy or a local boutique selling extra merch, stickers are a fun, creative way to expand!
Follow our step-by-step guide to getting started!
If you’ve ever tried online businesses, you know how difficult it can be to get off the ground. It requires upfront capital for hiring a team, manufacturing products, getting a brick-and-mortar space, etc.
A custom sticker business doesn’t have so many upfront costs. It’s one of the many reasons to start a sticker business.
Starting a sticker business generally costs between $100 to $1,000. You won’t need to seek
funding
from investors or loans from banks.
The cost of producing stickers is low, meaning you can get up to 80% profit margins!
Custom sticker businesses have an easy learning curve. All you need to do is pick your niche and designs, find a supplier, and sell them.
Businesses with storefronts have a lot of overhead costs. Custom sticker businesses let you take it all online, making money passively. Once you’ve set up your store, customers can purchase anytime. All you’ll need to do is continually restock your stickers and ensure fulfillment.
Sites like Etsy and RedBubble have dozens of sellers with over 15,000 reviews. Custom stickers are a hot commodity that’s growing in demand. They’re also great impulse buys since they’re priced low.
You don’t need a degree to get your sticker business up and running. We’ve broken down the process into eight easy-to-follow steps.
As a beginner, we recommend choosing sub-niches. Casting too wide of a net will make it difficult to attract your ideal audience. A niche lets you hyper-target a group of people by creating designs that resonate with their interests.
For example, pets are a very broad interest. You can niche down by choosing just dog or cat designs. You can add another unique flair by only offering Gothic-themed or cartoon-style pets.
A specific niche helps you stand out since few other sellers can match your offer. When competition is low, you can charge higher prices.
A common mistake for new sellers is they fail to validate their design ideas. Many will throw up designs, hoping they’ll stick.
Instead, you’ll want to test your design ideas first to ensure product market fit. Here are a few practical ways you can check to see whether people buy your designs:
On Redbubble, you can filter your search by “trending” or “best-selling.” Or, on Etsy, you can filter your search by the number of top customer reviews, which brings up the hottest-selling stickers. If your design resembles the top sellers, there’s a good chance there’s a big market for your stickers.
Many offer advanced research tools for enterprise companies. They allow you to build surveys and receive feedback from their built-in audiences. You can select your desired audience and see how people feel about your designs.
You can manually get feedback by posting your designs in Facebook groups, Reddit or Quora to see what others think.
If there’s a similar design on a T-shirt or mug, people likely would also buy stickers for it. Look on social media for popular memes or trending stories.
Once your design is validated, you’re ready to move on!
A business model determines your manufacturing and distribution process. This model affects your cost and effort to produce, impacting your scalability. We’ll break down each business model you can pursue in your sticker business.
Manufacturing stickers gives you complete control over the design and printing process. You create the artwork, print, cut, and ship the stickers to the customer. This model has the highest upfront costs and is labor-intensive.
Dropshipping is the best way to get started without much start-up capital. Unlike the manufacturing method, you don’t hold inventory or need to pay for stickers upfront. Instead, you sell your supplier’s design online.
When a customer makes a purchase, you order with a supplier, and they ship it directly to your customer’s address. Essentially, you’re the middleman in the process.
The downside to dropshipping products is that you have no input on quality control and shipping, which could lead to a poor customer experience. The key is finding excellent suppliers in a dropshipping model.
Print-on-demand (POD) gives you slightly more control than dropshipping. You design the stickers and ask the POD service or supplier to print and ship them.
All you have to do is upload the designs and focus on marketing. Your POD service will manage all aspects of manufacturing and fulfillment.
Private labeling is when you have a supplier create stickers under your brand. You do the rest, including branding your stickers, packaging, and marketing materials.
Branding is super essential for the long-term sustainability of an eCommerce business. It helps build a loyal customer base and sets you apart in the marketplace. Unfortunately, private labeling requires a higher upfront capital.
Wholesaling is the process of buying stickers in bulk, where you ship them out directly yourself. It’s similar to dropshipping, except it requires an upfront investment, and you’ll hold the inventory.
However, the advantage is you often receive a steep discount for buying in bulk, which lowers the cost per unit. Additionally, you can control the shipping experience by personalizing the packaging. Many sellers who choose the wholesale method offer customers faster shipping times since dropship suppliers often ship overseas.
The quality of your stickers will help separate you from other sellers. Quality stickers provide a higher perceived value when pricing your product. Here are sticker types you may want to choose from:
Vinyl is a highly durable sticker material. It easily sticks to hard surfaces, bubble-free.
Clear stickers look great on transparent surfaces, perfect for your homebrew or anything packaged into a transparent container.
Stickers printed on brown kraft paper provide a more natural, crafty look. This textured appearance gives off a vintage and minimalistic appearance.
Printing your design on a metallic foil backing draws attention to a product with its shiny and bright surface. These materials are thicker and more resilient, more durable than most materials.
Stand out among the crowd with hologram stickers. They provide a metallic spectrum of colors, creating a futuristic look.
Why wait? Select your options, share your artwork, and we’ll get you started on your custom products.
Get Started TrustpilotWhen creating your stickers, you can make them yourself or outsource the printing to a reputable custom sticker company.
DIY manufacturing is more labor-intensive and has a higher upfront cost. It requires choosing a paper type like vinyl or kraft paper. Then you’ll want a vinyl laminate sheet to cover the paper, which helps extend the life of the stickers.
Printing stickers require a high-quality inkjet printer that can cost $100 to $400. Once you’ve printed the design on your paper and laminate, you’ll need a cutting machine to make precise cuts. Cutting machines cost $250 to $400.
When starting a sticker business, making the stickers yourself can be expensive and time-consuming. Finding an outsourcing partner who can convert your design ideas into ready-made stickers is best.
Companies like The/Studio allow you to wholesale custom stickers. Simply choose your sticker type, shape, material, and design, upload your artwork, then place your order.
Once you’ve decided on the sticker types and how to make them, you can decide on the distribution process. Selling online is the best way to reach more people. However, if you already have a brick-and-mortar store, stickers can make a great addition to your product line.
You can create a site using a dedicated eCommerce platform like Shopify or BigCommerce.
eCommerce platforms make starting an online store easy. They come with website template designs and offer plug-and-play features. Just upload your product listings and design your store.
Shopify even offers apps that make life easier, such as adding bulk order discounts, email sign-up buttons, and more. Additionally, when you receive a sale, Shopify alerts you to ship the order to the customer.
Custom stickers can be a great impulse buy for your customers. Keeping them around the register is an eye-catcher for customers looking to check out. They can increase the order value, which boosts your store’s profits.
Many clothing retail stores, toy and entertainment shops, and even art boutiques can add custom stickers to generate additional revenue. We recommend choosing designs that fit the overall theme of your brick-and-mortar store.
Online marketplaces are the easiest way for beginners to get started on a shoestring budget. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on advertising. Etsy alone has 81.9 million active buyers, meaning you can tap into their loyal audience.
All you need to do is optimize your listings with keywords, persuasive product descriptions and titles, and eye-catching designs.
Companies like Redbubble allow you to upload your design to their list of ready-made products. This method is passive since Redbubble handles your manufacturing and fulfillment. Choose the type of stickers you’d like and begin selling!
There are other POD companies, like Printful, where you must acquire customers through advertising or social media. However, they will print and ship out your stickers.
Pricing your products is a science and art form. You need to price your stickers to ensure a healthy margin while remaining competitive in the marketplace.
Ideally, you’ll price your stickers three to four times the cost. Let’s do the math.
For example, stickers cost $0.58 a pop at The/Studio. Shipping a sticker domestically in the US costs $0.55, provided it’s a standard size under one ounce. Remember that if you’re selling internationally, it’ll cost $1.10 with a Global Forever Stamp.
So assuming your costs to produce and ship is $1.13 to $1.68, you’ll want to charge at least $3.39 for a single sticker ($1.10 x 3).
However, selling in packs can make your pricing much more lucrative. For example, a multi-pack that includes a variety of designs is attractive to customers and profitable to sellers.
Let’s say you list a five-pack of stickers for $10 and sell it to US-based customers. Depending on the weight and size, it can cost you about $3.45 ($0.58 x 5 + 0.55).
As a result, you’re netting $6.55 in profit per order, minus other fees such as Etsy listing fees, Shopify fees, website hosting, etc. However, a 50 or 60% profit margin is still considerably high. If you’re selling larger packs, the profit margin only increases since the cost to ship stickers is so low.
Marketing is the key to scaling your business. Your marketing plan depends on your budget and where you’re selling it.
Online marketplaces like Redbubble and Etsy don’t require any promotion unless you run ads. You simply optimize your listings and wait for the sale. If you sell on your website through Shopify, you’ll need to send traffic to your site.
SEO and ad campaigns are great ways to market your stickers. You can create free guides that help people learn about stickers to rank higher on Google searches. However, ad campaigns are the quickest way to drive traffic.
You can pay influencers to promote your stickers to their audience or run Facebook carousel ads that show off your designs.
Selling stickers is a profitable business model with low start-up costs and a considerable upside. The stickers market was worth $151.8 million in 2021 and is projected to grow to 191.1 million by 2028. Since the production costs are low, you can achieve up to 80% profit margins.
Starting a small sticker business costs $100 to $1,000. If you’re producing the stickers yourself, you’d need to purchase the equipment and supplies. The start-up costs are very low if you outsource the design and printing. It’ll also save time and ensure professional-looking stickers!
You’ll need a specialized inkjet or laser sticker printer, ink, a cutting machine, vinyl sticker paper, and packing and postage supplies. Additionally, you’ll need a dedicated eCommerce platform like Shopify or BigCommerce. Fortunately, if you dropship your stickers, you won’t need to invest in tons of supplies.
Custom sticker businesses are something that just about anyone can start. Even if you’ve got no design skills, you can easily have a designer and printing company bring your ideas to life.
If you want to fast-track your success, work with The/Studio! With tons of material and support for each step of the design, you’ll have a bulk order completed in minutes.
Don’t be sticker-shy! Choose The/Studio for wholesale custom stickers and launch your new business today!
Setting up your own sticker business may seem complicated, but with a little bit of procedural knowledge and some convenient online tools, it’s really not that hard.
Stickers are a great product for a first-time business owner as they present very few complications – they’re easy to produce, easy to ship, and it’s easy to create and offer new products frequently. Unless you went to business school, the most difficult part is often following the proper procedures to set up and register your new business legitimately.
It can seem complex, but I went through this whole process when I started my own business, so let me walk you through the 9 steps I used to get my shop up and running!
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Whether you want to produce your own stickers or you're looking to source them and resell, here are my key steps that will help you out on this journey.
You know you want to sell stickers, but what kind? There are two main things to consider when choosing your stickers: the method of printing and the material you print on. Three popular choices of material are:
Paper is the cheapest of the three, but also the least durable, while vinyl and polyester have shiny finishes that are water and oil-resistant. Offering stickers in a range of materials is a great idea, but I suggest choosing one material to start with and expanding later on once you establish your business.
In terms of printing options, you can use inkjet printing, sublimation printing, other types of digital printing, or traditional screen printing. It’s helpful to research each option so you can decide which best suits the look and durability you want to achieve and which fits into your budget.
Once you know what you want to sell, the next step is to decide how to produce your stickers. You can either make them yourself or outsource the work to a sticker printing company.
To choose the right method for you, consider the size of the operation you want to set up, and what kind of budget you can spare for equipment.
If you’re aiming to start a small business and you already have some sticker printing equipment, taking care of the production yourself might be a great option. With this option, you need to find a good supplier for the materials you require.
However, if you’re hoping to ship a large amount of product and don’t have any equipment on hand, outsourcing might be a more efficient and sustainable approach than investing in equipment. There are many outsourcing companies you can choose from and plenty of different services offered, so you’re likely to find exactly what you need.
When you send an order to a customer, someone has to pay for the shipping. The four most common strategies are:
If you keep packaging to a minimum, stickers can be easily sent through the mail as letter packs rather than packages, which will reduce the cost significantly.
This may make free shipping a viable option even for a new business, but ultimately, you should make the choice based on your budget and preferences.
Before you start designing stickers, it’s useful to pinpoint your target audience. Who do you want to make stickers for?
You may have multiple groups in mind, but it can be good to start small and focused, and then you can expand your audience and product lines as you gain clientele and profit.
If your initial vision for the business idea didn’t include a specific audience, you can research the current market to see if there’s a gap in demand that you can fill. By scoping out the competition, you can get ideas about how to do things yourself, as well as note down types of products you don’t see a lot of.
Now that you’ve solidified some of the key components of your future business, it’s a good time to draw up a business plan. This can help you pitch your business in the future if you decide to seek financial backing, partners, or hire talent.
It can also help you consolidate your ideas and get a better view of the big picture. Planning a business involves juggling a lot of different ideas and possibilities, so there’s always a chance you might overlook something important.
A few basic things to include in your business plan are:
Your business plan doesn't have to be very thorough if you're starting out small. Remember that you can go back and edit it or update it later on when your business begins to grow.
Registration procedures can be tricky, but for a small business such as an online sticker shop, it often isn’t as complex as you might think.
To save stress and problems later down the line, I strongly recommend doing the work and research to register your business as soon as you’re able. For most small businesses, registration can actually be completed in just a few hours and without great expense.
First of all, you need a business structure. If you’re embarking on a solo venture, then the best option is to choose a sole proprietorship. This structure is the most common among online merchants, but you can’t use this if you’re planning to start a business with another person.
As a sole proprietorship, registering your business can be pretty simple, but the exact requirements will vary based on your state.
To find out what kinds of permits and licenses you might need, the best place to go is your local Small Business Association (SBA), or your local city hall. In most cases, you’ll be able to apply for what you need online for a small fee.
Now that you’ve chosen your materials, decided on a shipping method, and registered your business, it’s time to start putting together your products. There are many different options when it comes to collecting designs for your stickers, the first of which is creating the designs yourself.
To do this, you’ll need certain kinds of software and equipment. If you want to create digital art for your stickers, you could use equipment like an iPad or a Wacom tablet to draw with, and you’ll need editing software like Adobe Creative Suite to create your stickers. You can also create text-based stickers yourself without the ability to draw.
Another option is outsourcing your artwork to an independent artist, whose work you can then edit into a sticker yourself. You might do this because you want to commission certain types of work, or you might work with an artist to make merchandise from their existing work.
If you plan to use existing intellectual property in your designs, I recommend researching copyright laws and discerning exactly what kind of usage is legal and safe.
While figuring out where to sell your stickers might seem like one of the more complicated steps in this process, it can actually be very simple.
Here are some of the most popular ways to sell stickers:
Of these options, using a digital marketplace is the quickest and easiest, but it also comes with fees and costs that you might want to avoid.
It may surprise you to know, however, that the second easiest option is setting up your own online shop. Services like GoDaddy make it possible to create professional websites without any technical know-how, and they are also highly customizable.
Setting up your own website, while it may be a little more time-consuming to begin with, will give you complete freedom over many important aspects of your business. This includes payment options, design, and product range. With Pay.com, you can even set up your own customized checkout page.
When I started my business, I knew I wanted to devote as much of my time as possible to designing and creating my merchandise, so I researched how I could start accepting card payments as easily and quickly as possible.
After a lot of research, my ultimate recommendation for any small business is to work with Pay.com.
With Pay.com, you can handle payments online, in person, and even over the phone, which provides all the flexibility a small business needs to be able to take advantage of any opportunity for a sale. With online payments, you can set up a personalized checkout page on your site and choose exactly what payment methods you want to offer.
When you make a sale in person, Pay.com can generate a secure payment link that you can send to a customer via email or text message, allowing them to checkout and pay on the spot.
Whichever method you use, you can see all of your transactions and the fees you need to pay on the Pay Dashboard, so you always know how much you’re earning and how much you’re spending.
Click here to find out how you can get started with Pay.com!
Starting a sticker business is simple compared to a lot of other business ventures, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t difficulties.
Here are some pros and cons to consider before you make a decision:
The answer to this question really depends on the amount of effort you’re willing to put into this project. Running a small business might not be very complicated, but it does still require time and effort.
On the other hand, creating a business from scratch and seeing it grow into a successful venture can be very rewarding. A well-managed sticker business can turn out to be profitable, and as long as you follow current trends, it could begin to generate more and more revenue over time.
With useful tools like Pay.com, you can rest easy knowing that your payments are safe and well-managed without you needing to do the hard work. That way, all your focus can shift to managing your business and making sure it's on the right track!
Click here to get started with Pay.com now!
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