The first time I ever heard of print on demand, I believed it to be a strange publishing jargon. I never knew it would turn out to be the foundation of my entire business. POD is more or less a dream in case you are the creative kind and you just do not want to handle the inventory, the warehousing of the products, or even ship the products.
The term print on demand implies that goods, such as t-shirts, mugs, notebooks, or posters, are manufactured (in terms of printing and delivery) once a person makes a purchase. You do not purchase in bulk, and do not have to store anything. A third party supplier also prints the product, packs it, and delivers it to your customer in your brand name.
Personally, I run a t-shirt business where I can custom print on hoodies, mugs and tote bags using POD. I never touch any single product with my own hands. Everything is taken care of by my printing suppliers. It implies that I can introduce new designs within a couple of hours, experiment with what sells, and spend my time on selling and brand building rather than the logistics. Once I created a Valentine mug and executed a tiny advertisement campaign, and sold more than 100 items having no headaches about stocks and shipping.
The nice thing about POD is that it is of low risk and it is very fluid. You can begin with nothing in stock, with low experiment cycles, and create an actual brand out of your ideas. You should just remember that margins are thin, and things must be properly set up. Never take big orders without first taking samples.
To answer your question in short: Print on demand enables you to sell custom stuff, without ever having inventory in your hands. It is an effective framework of artists, entrepreneurs, and side hustlers in case you desire to get started lean and expand smart.
