Selling Prints Online? A Better Way to Handle Fulfilment with Shopify & WooCommerce
For many photographers and artists, running an online store to sell prints online still involves a surprising amount of manual intervention, especially when managing print fulfilment between Shopify or WooCommerce and the lab. Orders come in through Shopify or WooCommerce, then get downloaded, paperwork is sometimes printed, files are checked, resized, and manually uploaded to the lab.
Sure, it works… but it’s not exactly efficient is it? It’s time-consuming, easy to make mistakes, and becomes increasingly difficult to manage as your order volume grows.
But that workflow through to the lab is starting to change.
We’ve now made it possible for orders to move more directly from your online store straight through to the lab, without needing ot manually reprocess every job. Instead of re-uploading files over and over, the order data and images can be passed through in a much more streamlined way.
The workflow looks like this:
- We guide you on how to set up your products with SKUs to match our lab products
- You upload your print-ready files to our locally hosted FTP server
- A customer places an order on your website
- The order details and image files are sent through to the lab automatically
- Each product is matched to a predefined print specification (size, paper, mounting, etc.)
- The lab produces the order and ships it directly to your customer as a drop ship order (plain packaging, no reference to Streets Imaging)
The key to making this work smoothly is correctly mapping your store products to our lab products with those SKUs. Once that connection is set up properly, each order knows exactly what it needs to become without any additional handling.
If you’re new to selling prints online and looking to build a storefront, both Shopify and WooCommerce platforms can support this kind of workflow, but they approach it slightly differently.
Shopify Print Fulfilment
Shopify tends to be more plug-and-play. It’s subscription based and a good option if you want something straightforward, near turnkey, and easy to manage.
WooCommerce Print Fulfilment
WooCommerce offers more flexibility and control. It’s typically more cost-effective than Shopify, but it does require a somewhat solid understanding of WordPress. Better suited if you need a more customised setup or more complex product variations.
There’s no right or wrong choice; it mostly comes down to how you prefer to run your shop. And this is where the real fun happens…
Automating your print fulfilment isn’t just about convenience; it changes how your business runs day to day. It saves hours of admin, reduces the chance of human error, shortens turnaround times, scales as your business grows, and frees up your time to focus on your creative work and marketing!
If you’re already selling prints online, this kind of workflow can beautifully remove a lot of pain points from your process. And if you’re not yet selling prints, it makes the idea of starting feel a lot more manageable. Get in touch with the lab today if you’re interested and would like to find out more.
Selling Prints Online? A Better Way to Handle Fulfilment with Shopify & WooCommerce
For many photographers and artists, running an online store to sell prints online still involves a surprising amount of manual intervention, especially when managing print fulfilment between Shopify or WooCommerce and the lab. Orders come in through Shopify or WooCommerce, then get downloaded, paperwork is sometimes printed, files are checked, resized, and manually uploaded to the lab.
Sure, it works… but it’s not exactly efficient is it? It’s time-consuming, easy to make mistakes, and becomes increasingly difficult to manage as your order volume grows.
But that workflow through to the lab is starting to change.
We’ve now made it possible for orders to move more directly from your online store straight through to the lab, without needing ot manually reprocess every job. Instead of re-uploading files over and over, the order data and images can be passed through in a much more streamlined way.
The workflow looks like this:
- We guide you on how to set up your products with SKUs to match our lab products
- You upload your print-ready files to our locally hosted FTP server
- A customer places an order on your website
- The order details and image files are sent through to the lab automatically
- Each product is matched to a predefined print specification (size, paper, mounting, etc.)
- The lab produces the order and ships it directly to your customer as a drop ship order (plain packaging, no reference to Streets Imaging)
The key to making this work smoothly is correctly mapping your store products to our lab products with those SKUs. Once that connection is set up properly, each order knows exactly what it needs to become without any additional handling.
If you’re new to selling prints online and looking to build a storefront, both Shopify and WooCommerce platforms can support this kind of workflow, but they approach it slightly differently.
Shopify Print Fulfilment
Shopify tends to be more plug-and-play. It’s subscription based and a good option if you want something straightforward, near turnkey, and easy to manage.
WooCommerce Print Fulfilment
WooCommerce offers more flexibility and control. It’s typically more cost-effective than Shopify, but it does require a somewhat solid understanding of WordPress. Better suited if you need a more customised setup or more complex product variations.
There’s no right or wrong choice; it mostly comes down to how you prefer to run your shop. And this is where the real fun happens…
Automating your print fulfilment isn’t just about convenience; it changes how your business runs day to day. It saves hours of admin, reduces the chance of human error, shortens turnaround times, scales as your business grows, and frees up your time to focus on your creative work and marketing!
If you’re already selling prints online, this kind of workflow can beautifully remove a lot of pain points from your process. And if you’re not yet selling prints, it makes the idea of starting feel a lot more manageable. Get in touch with the lab today if you’re interested and would like to find out more.
