With the rise in consumer demand for unique, personalized products, starting your own tote bag business could be the perfect opportunity.
When you add a CAGR of 4.60% for the tote bag market during the forecast period of 2024 to 2031, the appeal is even greater.
But what steps should you take to turn a mere idea into a lucrative business?
Read on to learn how to start a tote bag business in 5 efficient steps.
Let’s dive in!
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Why Go For a Tote Bag Business?
The tote bag market is one of the fastest-growing ones, and according to the research above, it’s expected to reach approximately $3.7 billion by 2031.
Besides being a profitable opportunity, jumping on the tote bag bandwagon allows you to tap into the super-popular trend of print-on-demand personalized products.
Thus, you can:
- Start your business with minimal capital and without large upfront investments in inventory.
- Reduce the risk of unsold inventory.
- Enhance customer satisfaction by enabling customers to choose designs that resonate with them, offering a high degree of customization.
- Expand your product offerings without the logistical challenges of managing inventory.
How to Start a Tote Bag Business in 5 Steps?
We assume you already did market research and identified your target audience and niche, so we’ll skip these obvious pre-steps.
Nonetheless, if you want more tips in this area, jump to our blog, How to Start a Print-on-Demand Business in 11 Steps?
Step 1: Create Unique Product Mockups
Product mockups provide realistic representations of items, allowing potential buyers to visualize how the final product will look before making a purchase.
This aspect is crucial in POD, where your customers often rely on visual cues to make informed decisions about color, size, and design placement.
Therefore, you can significantly enhance listings and boost sales by presenting products in a realistic context.
In addition, mockups help you “translate” designs well from digital screens to physical products, thus minimizing the risk of customer dissatisfaction due to misaligned or poorly placed designs.
To create visually striking promotional materials, you can also use mockups as effective marketing tools across various platforms, such as eCommerce sites and social media.
By showcasing products from multiple angles or in lifestyle settings, mockups can help you build buyer confidence in product quality.
💡 ProTip:
Dynamic Mockups, an automated mockup generator, allows you to easily create and customize product mockups that perfectly suit your audience.
You can upload your design assets and color and automatically create all mockup variations really quickly — 100 variations in 10 seconds!
You don’t need to start from scratch, but use any of our fully customizable Tote Bag Templates.
In addition, our AI Mockup Generator enables you to create fully tailored backgrounds you can easily switch without affecting the design.
You just need to provide a text prompt, and you’ll get the background that matches your brand vibe and connects with your audience.
Step 2: Choose a Reliable POD Supplier
Another perk of venturing into the POD tote bag business is that the POD supplier handles all aspects of production, fulfillment, and shipping, streamlining your operations.
This way, you can do everything under one roof.
It goes without saying that choosing the right supplier is essential. Depending on your requirements, look for suppliers that offer:
- Quality Printing: Ensure they provide high-quality prints by opting for suppliers that offer test samples. This step is crucial because it allows you to check the print quality, color vibrancy, and material.
- Variety of Products: Choose suppliers that offer different styles and materials. For example, if you cater to an eco-friendly audience, choosing a supplier that offers sustainable products is a great benefit.
- Good Shipping Options: Fast and reliable shipping is essential for customer satisfaction. If you send your products globally, check if your desired supplier has international shipping and the average turnaround times.
- Customer Support: Relying on a POD supplier requires responsive support to resolve issues quickly and not damage your brand and customer rapport.
Check our blog, 12 Best Print-on-Demand Sites You Should Know, to see some of the popular POD supplier options.
Step 3: Set Up Your Online Store
Although the thought of setting up your online store may sound intimidating, the reality is different.
✨ Most platforms, such as Shopify and WooCommerce, provide pre-built and customizable themes that you can edit to match and align with your brand and niche.
You should upload your product listings with detailed descriptions, images, prices, and categories for easier navigation.
✨ Another option is to go for marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay, where you don’t need to create an online store but list your products and upload your designs.
They usually charge a fee for listing and selling your products on their platform.
| Features | eCommerce Platforms | Marketplaces |
| Ownership | You have full control over the store, including design and pricing. | Shared platform with multiple sellers, less control. |
| Profit Margins | Higher margins as there are no third-party commissions. | Lower margins due to commission fees on sales. |
| Traffic Generation | Requires active marketing efforts to attract customers. | Built-in traffic from the marketplace’s existing audience. |
| Inventory Management | You manage all inventory and logistics. | The marketplace handles inventory |
| Customization | High level of customization available for branding. | Limited customization options, you follow marketplace rules. |
| Competition | Less direct competition as products are unique to your store. | High competition among many sellers offering similar products. |
| Scalability | More scalable for growing businesses with custom solutions. | May face limitations in scaling due to shared resources and policies. |
💡 ProTip:
Regardless of your choice, Dynamic Mockups provides integrations with both.
Thus, you can transform your WooCommerce store into a personalized design hub.
Your customers can upload their own designs and see them instantly on realistic product mockups on your WordPress site.
They can preview their custom designs in real time and eliminate guesswork while you provide them with a tailored shopping experience.
Prefer to go for marketplaces? No problem.
Our integration with Etsy enables you to skip time-consuming manual work and automatically generate product mockups you can quickly add to your Etsy listings.
Thus, you can make your workflow faster and more efficient.
Step 4: Price Your Products Wisely
Pricing your products wisely is crucial for maximizing profitability and ensuring market competitiveness.
You should consider both fixed and variable costs when pricing your tote bags. Once you’ve calculated your total costs, decide on a profit margin.
Usually, the margin is set to around 20%. If you go below 15%, you may not be able to cover operational costs and marketing expenses.
On the other hand, going above 60% can be challenging to sustain unless you sell unique or premium products.
When determining the best pricing strategy for your product, consider these factors:
- Target Market — Understand your audience’s purchasing power and willingness to pay.
- Market Demand — Adjust pricing based on current demand trends to remain competitive.
- Testing Prices — Experiment with different price points to find the optimal balance between sales volume and profit margins.
If you want to find out more about all the ins and outs of pricing strategies for your products, you don’t want to miss our blog, How to Price Your Print-on-Demand Products?
💡 Worth Knowing
Tools like Price2Spy or Google Alerts track real-time price changes and updates from key competitors, allowing you to review competitor pricing and market trends in the POD industry.
Step 5: Promote Your Business
Promoting your tote bag business starts relatively early in the process, from mockup creation. High-quality mockups allow you to post visually appealing photos of your tote bags in various settings.
A good option is to use lifestyle images to show your audience can use tote bags in everyday life.
Social media play an important role in promoting your business since they can significantly enhance your visibility and sales.
Here are some effective strategies you can use to maximize your social media impact:
✨ Focus on platforms where your target audience is most active: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok.
| Platform | Audience Demographics | Content Formats | Engagement Rate | Advertising Options |
| Diverse: Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers | Photos, Videos, Stories, Live Streams | 0.15% (average) | Native Ads, Sponsored Posts, Influencer Partnerships | |
| Younger: Gen Z, Millennials | Photos, Stories, Reels, IGTV | 0.70% (average) | Sponsored Posts, Stories Ads, Reels Ads, Influencer Partnerships | |
| X (formerly Twitter) | Diverse: Millennials, Gen Z, Professionals | Short-form Text Posts, Images, Videos | 0.05% (average) | Sponsored Tweets, Video Ads, Influencer Partnerships |
| TikTok | Youngest: Gen Z, Young Millennials | Short-form Videos (15-60 seconds) | 2.65% by followers, 4.07% by views | Native Ads, Sponsored Hashtag Challenges, Branded Effects, Influencer Partnerships |
*The engagement rates are based on the Socialinsider’s 2024 Social Media Benchmarks report.
✨ Create engaging content through lifestyle mockups and video content, demonstrating the versatility of your tote bags, including styling tips or behind-the-scenes looks at the design process.
✨ Actively engage with followers by replying to comments and messages.
✨ Host contests and giveaways where hosting contests where participants can win tote bags by liking, sharing, or tagging friends.
✨ Announce special promotions or discount codes through social media posts and stories.
✨ Partner with influencers who align with your brand values and have a following that matches your target market.
They can promote your tote bags through authentic content, expanding your reach significantly.
✨ Motivate customers to share photos of themselves using your tote bags on social media.
Not only does this provide social proof, but it also builds community around your brand. For example, offer incentives for sharing the content, like discounts, special offers, premium deals, etc.
✨ Leverage paid advertising on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to reach specific demographics based on interests and behaviors.
✨ Use social media to drive traffic to a landing page where potential customers can sign up for newsletters and get exclusive content and offers.
🎁 Bonus: 9 Trending Tote Bag POD Designs
Here is a list of the hottest tote bag designs this year to help you kickstart your tote bag business.
- Floral patterns
- Animal-inspired tote bags
- Vintage and retro designs
- Quotes and inspirational messages
- Abstract art
- Nature scenes
- Fnadoms and hobbies
- Anime and superhero themes
- Seasonal and holiday themes
Looking for more inspiration? Jump to our 30 Tote Bag Design Ideas To Inspire You to get creative.
How Can You Start a Tote Bag Business With Dynamic Mockups?
Dynamic Mockups exceeds the capabilities of a “mere” mockup generator.
Besides bulk mockup creations, we provide a wide range of tools to personalize your products and hit the sweet spot with your target audience.
🔥 Let your shoppers create their designs directly on your website with our online Mockup Editor without leaving your platform.
This way, you’ll remain in complete control of print quality while your customers enjoy more engaging shopping.
🔥 Apply and switch countless color options and see the changes in real time.
🔥 Adjust and reposition different assets to avoid misplaced designs.
🔥 Upload and customize your Photoshop files for more realistic mockups and apply Photoshop blending modes.
🔥 Automate mockup creations with Adobe, WordPress, Zapier, and Make integrations.
🔥 Automate your listing updates with Etsy and WooCommerce integrations.
Curious to test Dynamic Mockups?
Start with Dynamic Mockups for free and start a tote bag business that sets you apart.
Start creating for Free!
Showcase your E-commerce products like big brands, without costing a fortune
Keep Learning:
How to Start a Hoodie Business in 7 Easy Steps?
13 Top Print-on-Demand Niches to Watch
9 Tips to Start a Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Business From Zero
