How To Start Selling Print-On-Demand Candles Online

Today’s candles have evolved from simple light sources into home décor pieces and personal statements. But here’s the challenge when selling them: With candle preference being deeply personal, it’s nearly impossible to stock enough variety to satisfy every customer’s taste.

This is where print on demand (POD) comes in. Instead of guessing what will sell and investing in bulk inventory, you can offer endless variety while only producing what customers actually order.

Here’s how on-demand printing works and how to set up your own POD candle business.

What are print-on-demand candles?

Print-on-demand candles (or POD candles) are produced only after a customer places an order. Instead of making candles first and selling off inventory, a business lists multiple candle designs for purchase and only produces items once they’re purchased.

POD candle sellers can make their own candles or partner with third-party suppliers. Here’s how each model works:

• In-house production. You order candle-making supplies, develop and test designs, and create a product listing for each item on your ecommerce store. When a customer orders a candle, you manufacture the product and ship it directly to them.

• Third-party production. You partner with a print-on-demand (POD) supplier—a service provider that helps businesses sell POD products. You develop product designs that meet the supplier’s design parameters and create product listings using sample photos or digital mockups. When a customer purchases a product, the POD supplier creates the item, packs it, and ships it to the end customer.

Perks of print-on-demand candles

Print-on-demand candle businesses let you offer extensive product variety while minimizing risk and upfront costs. It’s also a chance to flex your creativity. Because you don’t have to worry about unsold inventory, you can experiment with offbeat design choices, target niche micro-audiences, or take a wild swing at the next viral trend without risking your profit margins should a product fall flat.

Neither a pasta-water-scented candle nor a devotional gift set featuring lesser-known composers of the early Baroque period is a guaranteed mass market hit, but each fills a previously unmet need for a certain group of consumers.

On-demand printing also lets you offer customized or personalized candles. You can incorporate a client’s requested text, use client-uploaded photos or label art, or allow customers to build custom candles with a product configurator.

Print-on-demand vs. dropshipping vs. white labeling

While you can make custom candles in-house, most print-on-demand candle companies outsource manufacturing to third-party print-on-demand (POD) suppliers. This approach often—but not always—involves dropshipping and white labeling. Here’s what each term means:

• Print-on-demand. Print-on-demand is a business model that involves manufacturing products after customers purchase them.

• Dropshipping. Dropshipping businesses act as intermediaries between suppliers and end customers. Like POD sellers, dropshipping business owners list products without holding inventory. Unlike POD, dropshipping always involves working with third-party suppliers and doesn’t always allow product customization.

• White labeling. White labeling refers to the process of selling a product produced by one company under another company’s brand name. White labeled products are generic and intended to be customized with the seller’s logo.

White labeling guarantees that satisfied customers credit your brand only. And while in-house POD companies don’t need to stock specific products—just raw materials and packing supplies—candle companies that use dropshipping don’t need to hold any inventory at all.

How to start a print-on-demand candle business

1. Conduct market research
2. Find your niche
3. Create a manufacturing and distribution plan
4. Design your products
5. Build your website and launch your business

With the right materials and know-how, you can get your customizable candles into the hands of your target audience. Here’s a step-by-step guide to starting a print-on-demand candle business:

1. Conduct market research

Market research is the process of studying the businesses and consumers that make up a particular market to learn what consumers need and how the market serves them. Common tactics include interviewing consumers, holding focus groups, and reading industry reports. You can also perform a competitive analysis, which involves identifying your top competitors and studying their pricing, marketing, and distribution strategies.

If candles are your main product, you’ll research the larger candle market to learn who your customers are, where and how they shop, and what motivates their purchases. You can also explore relevant niches, like eco-friendly candles, luxury candles, and personalized candles.

If candles aren’t your primary product—perhaps you’re selling candles as part of a broader merchandising strategy—you might study a different market or rely on existing audience intelligence. A beauty influencer who wants to offer branded candles featuring their signature fragrance blend might research the luxury beauty market, for example. What motivates these customers will be more relevant than what motivates the average candle shopper.

2. Find your niche

Choose a specific niche for your candle business. If you’re a creator or merchandiser, you can skip this step. It’s already built into your store concept. If you’re targeting the general candle market, however, you can boost your odds of success by focusing on a specific type of customer.

To find your niche, cross-reference findings from your market and customer research with your personal candle-making interests, skills, and values. If you’re a skilled graphic designer with a passion for sustainability, for example, you might create a line of sustainably sourced and packaged soy wax candles to target eco-conscious customers.

3. Create a manufacturing and distribution plan

If you’re working with a third-party candle manufacturer, evaluate potential partners based on price, quality, shipping and fulfillment options, ecommerce integrations, materials, design parameters, and personalized candle options.

Your needs will depend on your niche. If you’ve selected a luxury niche that targets artsy men in their 30s and 40s, you might look for a partner that uses premium quality materials and offers earthy, delightful scents like sawdust, moss, and California sage.

If you plan to make your own candles, choose a work space and order candle-making supplies, including paraffin, coconut, or soy wax, wicks, candle containers, fragrances, warming tools, and a candle thermometer. You’ll also need décor items and shipping supplies, such as general packaging materials, tape, gift boxes and labels, and ribbons or other special décor.

4. Design your products

Create your unique candle designs, determining how many products you’ll list and which elements you’ll allow customers to choose. Let your unique value proposition (UVP) inform your approach. Here’s how a few different types of candle companies might approach this process:

• Merchandizers. If you’re monetizing a pre-existing following by offering branded merch, your brand is what matters. You might create one or two custom candle designs that express your unique brand essence.

• Visual artists. If you’re an artist or a graphic designer, your value proposition is how your candles look. You might publish 20 product designs, pairing your distinctive label art with complementary wax colors and container materials, allowing customers to choose from a menu of scents.

• Fragrance connoisseurs. If your fragrances are one of your selling points, you might create 12 signature fragrance combinations and let customers choose candle size and container material.

• Gift shops. If you own a gift shop, your perfect candle designs probably involve a little something extra, whether that’s luxury branding, innovative wick materials, or a space for client pictures. High-quality candles and personalized candles make particularly good choices for gifts.

Some POD services offer extensive customization options, but think twice before you offer fully custom candles. A few options can boost customer satisfaction, but offering too many dilutes your brand. Think about it this way: If your customers upload label art, choose wax and container type, and blend their own scent, what exactly is your company bringing to the table? Instead, isolate what you uniquely offer—whether it’s your artistic talent, sophisticated olfactory judgement, or edgy brand personality—and fix enough variables to ensure that your products consistently deliver that value.

5. Build your website and launch your business

Design and launch your online store, using a website builder to simplify the process of securing a domain name and hosting provider, designing and testing your site, and maintaining consistent branding. Consider choosing an ecommerce website builder. These platforms contain prebuilt organizational structures and themes that help you optimize your customer journey and boost your conversion rate.

Once your site is live, promote it to your audiences using tactics like social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing. Your best approach depends on your customer base, so consult your market research findings to build your marketing strategy.

Top 4 print-on-demand candle manufacturers

1. Printify
2. Candle Bliss
3. Printful
4. Gooten

The right POD service is one that fits your budget and meets your production requirements. Here are the four top suppliers to consider:

1. Printify

Printify is a print-on-demand service that handles printing and fulfillment for over 1,300 different products, including t-shirts, tote bags, phone cases, and candles. Sellers can use its product creator to visualize each design, and it integrates directly with Shopify and Wix as well as marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and TikTok.

Printify sources candles through Lumient, Printed Mint, Seventh Avenue Apothecary, and Candle Builders, allowing sellers to offer a range of fragrances, compositions, and size options. The free plan allows limited product designs and supports up to five stores. Printify also offers a Premium plan priced at $29 per month that supports up to 10 stores, offers a 20% discount on all products, and includes the company’s order management system, Printify Connect.

2. Candle Bliss

Specialty POD service Candle Bliss offers premium quality custom candles, fulfillment services, and custom packaging options. Its scent library offers over 20 fragrance combinations, including Fog and Fern, Oakmoss and Amber, and Bohemian Rose.

Products contain clean-burning, 100% coconut apricot wax and are available in both tins and amber, clear, and frosted glass jars in four-ounce and nineounce sizes. Candle Bliss offers fast fulfillment, sending out products within three days of order placement, and its prebuilt Shopify and Etsy integration directs tracking back to your online store for a fully white-labeled experience. Prices start at $6.50, and you can order a sample pack of three four-ounce tins to test scents.

3. Printful

Global POD company Printful offers two candle options: a nine-ounce scented soy wax jar candle priced at $10.94, and a 1.2 pound unscented candle at $13.21. The scented candle comes with nine fragrance options, including white sage and lavender, cinnamon vanilla, and Christmas Warmth.

Printfull’s selling price includes the cost of custom-printed labels. Its free plan integrates with 23 ecommerce platforms (including Shopify), comes with a Design Maker, and guarantees sellers 20% off on sample orders. The paid plan, Printful Growth, costs $24.99 a month and offers 33% off on products, 25% off on sample orders, and other perks, including free design digitization and 9% off custom branding.

4. Gooten

Gooten’s extensive POD product library contains six candle options, including tins and clear, frosted, amber glass, and ceramic jars. Candles are available in four-, eight-, and nine-ounce sizes, and their scented candle comes with 10 fragrance options, including Apple Harvest, Black Sea, and Mint Mojito. Gooten offers a pre-built Shopify integration, and users can register for a free plan to view product prices that include both product costs and shipping fees.