Here`s a secret: you already have exactly what you need to compete with custom ink, and that`s something they can never accomplish. It`s customer service. Teespring, an amazingly technologically tech-snogged individual decoration company, has raised US$55 million to create an amazing e-commerce platform for its customers, to design and sell online. Custom Ink has a similar solution, and even with so much money, teespring has to cope. Big investors in Custom Ink, the Washington-s-in-line T-shirt company that started in a Bethesda basement 19 years ago, are pouring their shares as part of a deal with private equity firms Great Hill Partners and HarbourVest, people familiar with the deal confirmed Wednesday. The company began when internet-based e-commerce businesses were just beginning to transform the retail industry. And it was the vanguard of a form of interactive shopping where customers could design some unique purchases imitated by other online merchants. Your customers send you designs they`re created on Custom Ink and you ask you to print them. You don`t even use your online design tool! Custom Ink dominates the internet with custom clothing and their designer tool (and unfortunately, this has led many stores to think that an expensive designer tool is to attract customers, although a lot of data says something else). You need to understand that your business offers your customers tailored experiences and products. This combination of singularity and know-how leaves long-lasting impressions.
It defines your business in a totally different way than simply ordering a website. Custom Ink is for customers who don`t work on a budget. Instead, they are controlling, strict, and have no interest in working with a professional. They think they know what they want, and they need it quickly. They just want ridiculous shirts for their bachelor party, a bar tour or a party. Are these really the customers you want to print for? Katz left Wall Street two decades ago in search of an idea that would make the simple T-shirt a little more. Custom Ink customers go online and design T-shirts for family reunions, small businesses, youth sports teams, religious groups or student associations online. Imagine 50 T-shirts with “The Smith Family Reunion” or 150 baseball caps that mark the local 5K fundraiser. If you get custom cabinets for your kitchen renovation, are you going to shop online – or find someone on site to help you from start to finish? Focusing on your competition is not building a business. .
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