Other zazzle's competitor (print on demand) are in trouble. according to google bard.

Discussion Forums General Zazzle Discussion
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I ask the google experimental Bard a.i. chatbot and he replied this.

"Yes, there are a number of print on demand websites that are in trouble. Here are a few examples:

  • Society6:  Society6 is a print on demand website that allows artists to sell their designs on a variety of products. In February 2023, Society6 announced that it would be laying off 15% of its workforce. The company said that the layoffs were necessary to “ensure the long-term health of the business.”
  • Redbubble:  Redbubble is another print on demand website that allows artists to sell their designs on a variety of products. In March 2023, Redbubble announced that it would be laying off 20% of its workforce. The company said that the layoffs were necessary to “adapt to the changing market conditions.”
  • TeePublic:  TeePublic is a print on demand website that allows artists to sell their designs on t-shirts. In April 2023, TeePublic announced that it would be laying off 10% of its workforce. The company said that the layoffs were necessary to “ensure the long-term health of the business.”

These layoffs are a sign of the challenges that print on demand websites are facing. The print on demand market is highly competitive, and margins are thin. As the economy slows down, print on demand websites are facing increasing pressure to cut costs.

It is unclear how many more print on demand websites will be forced to lay off employees in the coming months. However, it is clear that the print on demand industry is facing a period of uncertainty."

I hope zazzle and this community will be fine.
stay safe people. ~

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Did you ask the Bot who is hiring, who has experienced a period of ‘growth’  etc etc and then ask it to compare to the national average for other businesses. Because only asking in the ‘negative’ is actually NOT going to give you a ‘reflective’ results of the print-on-demand business  (not saying you’re not correct) but you do need to ask more questions before jumping to that analysis.

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well, I ask more latest news from bard regarding these website and it says 

"Sure, here are some of the latest news on Society6 and Redbubble:

  • Society6

  • Redbubble

Overall, both Society6 and Redbubble are constantly adding new features and tools to improve the experience for artists and customers. If you’re thinking about selling your art on a print on demand platform, both Society6 and Redbubble are worth considering."

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No they’re not. We mainly design templates customers can customize. Neither of these sites offer that. They are not comparable platforms. 

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Bots shouldn’t be trusted, and this new one is no different. For instance, RB hasn’t changed anything much other than simple tweaks for years. There’s no designer ability to create coupons and discounts, not as far as I’ve seen. I can’t speak for the others, but I assume the info there isn’t much better. For real information, one needs to go to real people.

Colorwash's Home

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@chuamishael  
To add a more balanced perspective to your post,here is more about layoffs , and using temp workers , read various posts about zazzle—-
Enter the following in the google search bar—
“has zazzle done any layoffs of employees”

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Ouch! The painful wrongness of those answers. At least ChatGPT admitted “As an AI language model with a knowledge cutoff in September 2021, I don’t have access to real-time information or the ability to browse the internet. Therefore, I can’t provide you with the latest news about Redbubble and Society6. I recommend visiting their official websites or checking reliable news sources to get the most recent updates on these companies.”

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I asked the latest GPT a more neutral question: “Will there be more or less demand for Print on Demand stores like Zazzle in the coming years?”

Besides the regular warning that it can’t predict trends accurately, no one can. The reply was overall positive for the Print on Demand market with some very good points.

  1. E-commerce Growth : E-commerce has been growing rapidly for years and is expected to continue growing. This overall trend is likely to benefit print-on-demand businesses as more and more people are comfortable shopping online.

  2. Personalization Trend : There’s a growing trend towards personalized and customized products, and print-on-demand businesses like Zazzle are well-positioned to cater to this demand.

  3. Creative Entrepreneurship : The rise of creative entrepreneurship and small businesses could increase the demand for services like Zazzle, as these platforms allow individuals and small businesses to create custom merchandise with little upfront cost.

  4. Sustainable Production : Print-on-demand services can be seen as more sustainable than mass production methods because products are only made when there is a demand, reducing waste. If sustainability continues to be a major consumer concern, this could drive more demand for POD.

  5. Technological advancements : Advances in printing technology and logistics could make print-on-demand services more efficient, cost-effective, and appealing.

However, there are also potential challenges:

  1. Competition : The online marketplace is very competitive. New entrants, alternative business models, or shifts in technology could impact the demand for current POD services.

  2. Quality Control : As these businesses scale, maintaining consistent product and print quality can be a challenge. Poor quality could harm a company’s reputation and demand for its services.

  3. Regulatory Changes : Changes in laws or regulations related to e-commerce, international shipping, or environmental standards could impact the business model.

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I got off those sites mostly because for RB they have a confusing tier system that doesn’t make sense.  Youtubers kinda explain the issues.  I think the biggest problem would have to be the spammy uploads people do and its costing the sites money like bandwith or something like that.  If that’s the case, they should have made a certain limit of uploads or have a design limit that isn’t too unreasonable.

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Yeah that tier system is greedy, a lot of redbubble designers decided to close their shop.

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This is the worst possible information anyone could use to make a business decision. Using AI is the cool thing on Youtube right now and that is about it. This kind of speculation isn’t helpful to sound business planning. It might be someday, but not now. 

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NOTE: I was an IT person for years, and please take my opinion as just that - an opinion from someone who has seen all the fads and trends on the Internet. 

AI is dumber than a rock and a disaster for artists. All the images look the same. Garish, popart looking artwork. When you ask it a question it just keeps getting dumber and dumber. For example, you ask it to give you a mockup of lets say - a Halloween background for a greeting card. It keeps feeding you mockups of artwork frames or cellphone cases. You keep saying, “Leave out the cellphone cases.” It just keeps giving them to you. It’s like talking to a machine that doesn’t understand nuance. You can’t even go on Instagram or anywhere without being fed a bunch of garbage ads about using AI to make your business really take off! Sure thing. I think most people now recognize the fake artwork generated by AI and would much rather see all you talented artists and your work.  It also takes away your creativity when it comes to things like digital artwork. 

As far as what you were doing a search for, Google is fast becoming a garbage way to find anything anymore. I don’t know how many there are because I don’t stick around long enough but it seems like the first 3 pages are just junk ads with clickbait stories.

I will say Google is still good for a quick answer, such as the other day when I forgot what a tailgate on a truck was called. Or the name of a movie you forgot or the name of a book.  But anything deep is just not worth that much. 

I’m not being negative. I have just been on the Internet since it first began, and it goes through many phases of fads and “the next big thing” then the companies learn their lesson and settle down. I think AI is going to be great for things like finding cancer early and stuff like that. But business decisions? You’re talking about servers that go out and scrape stuff off the Internet and throw it together to feed it back to you. A lot of that stuff they don’t own or pay for.

Anything you think might be a change in the wind is just a passing thing for the Internet. 

This is one of the most useful tools I’ve found on Google, to be honest:  (I used to use another trend tool, but this one seems much more realistic and up to date). Finding trends has always helped me with my online work. 

https://trends.google.com/trends/

I’m pretty sure the next big thing is coming. It’s not AI. We will soon know. The AI companies are already being sued for stealing artwork. I think that’s going to be a game changer for them. 

_ I saw a quote recently that described it to me much better than I can say myself:  _

The task that generative AI has been most successful at is lowering our expectations, both of the things we read and of ourselves when we write anything for others to read. It is a fundamentally dehumanizing technology because it treats us as less than what we are: creators and apprehenders of meaning. It reduces the amount of intention in the world. 

P.S. I just stumbled on this post by accident, and I thought I’d throw in my two cents. 

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