Comments
If you make it (easy), they will come
I have been a web designer long enough to know that behind even the ugliest of sites lies some very successful companies. A lot of people just don’t see the web as a marketing channel and have an ugly looking, amateur website as their only online representation. That’s like sending your five year old along to a sales meeting. Not only does it look unprofessional, it actively puts customers off!
I realised this fact with a bang when i was looking for a company to print tshirts for PlanHQ. I looked at quite a few websites and to be frank, they all looked like they were run out of some 12 year old’s garage and I had absolutely no faith that I would actually get anything for my money.
In the end, I actually went and visited the premises of a business BEFORE committing to purchase – this is someone who’s normally happy buying anything online. It struck me that t-shirt printing sites all had several things in common:
- They didn’t understand google. It is very hard to search for a t-shirt printing company, I had the nagging feeling there were a lot more out there but I would never be able to find them.
- T-shirt printing companies didn’t simplify their product. I just wanted a few t-shirts printed, I didn’t want it to feel like a very complicated, high risk task! I wanted an easy process (choose a t-shirt, submit your image in this format at this resolution, pay your money, wait 2 days, get your t-shirt couriered). That was, in the end how the process worked where I went, but honestly, you would never have guessed (the place I went to didn’t even have a website)
- T-shirt companies don’t understand the importance of beauty This is pretty frightening as I trust them to make my clothes look cool. Ugly sites put me off! Even though I know it’s psychological and a website is often no reflection on a company (!), I still was put off even calling most of the places I found.
T-shirt companies are not alone
A lot of other companies are in the same boat, but t-shirt companies are such an easy example of businesses that could totally take advantage of the web. If I was a t-shirt company that printed corporate tees, I’d ensure people could do it all online. Otherwise, every time someone wants a batch done it takes hours out of their day. They simply cannot afford to do it!
T-shirt companies could easily make my life easier by embracing the web. If I could find one half-decent site I would switch my business to them in a flash. Seriously.
Hello, my name is Natalie, I have a business called 
August 28th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Hey Nat,
Who did you buy your t-shirts from then? Sounds like they have a reasonable process (two day turn around is pretty good if that is what you got) just need some savvy web designer to build a web presence for them.
Dean
August 28th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
check out Cafepress.com it’s a pretty good setup they have going
August 28th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Hmm looked at Cafepress in the past. I suppose I wanted to have control over the t-shirts (as in we are a picky bunch and wanted to try on t-shirts first and choose the ones we liked best) also it feels like it would take a while to get them to NZ…?
We went with a place called Club 55 T-shirts. i did talk to her quickly about a website and she didn’t seem interested, I think they are happy with the amount of business they currently get… But don’t you worry, I’m onto it!
August 29th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Sounds like a business opportunity! You build the site and they do the supply chain!
August 29th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. I wrote this article on Make it Happen: http://www.makeithappenhq.com/why-are-you-in-business/ about why people get into business, and to be honest, I think those guys got in to have a nice small business. They don’t actually see the need for a website because they are happy how they are. That makes it one big sales pitch!
However, I seem to hear of a lot of people getting into the online t-shirt printing market, stemming from Threadless etc, so I’m sure it wont be long before it’s done.