One of the essential parts of a print on demand business is something you can guess.
The supplier!
There's an overwhelming number of them, and the differences between each aren’t obvious.
So we'll be looking at two great suppliers, SPOD and Gooten. You may have heard of them, and we're going to see which one will be best for you and what we think is best overall!
The main difference between SPOD and Gooten is the additional profit potential and fulfillment time. SPOD has the best fulfillment time over any other POD supplier. Gooten is known for its unique program that increases profit margins once you meet sale criteria.
First, let's look at the overview of the areas we'll be covering.
Overview: SPOD vs. Gooten
When comparing SPOD and Gooten, we'll be comparing them in these areas:
- The pricing & plans
- The profit margins of products
- The print quality
- The branding services
- The order fulfillment experience
- The shipping times
- The integrations to your store
- The customer support quality
Here's a rundown of the pros and cons of SPOD and Gooten to know at a glance what you should be expecting from these suppliers.
| SPOD | Gooten | ||
| Pros | Cons | Pros | Cons |
| Super fast fulfillment | catalog lacks in variety | Unique products | Print quality can be inconsistent |
| High print quality | Products are more expensive on average | competitive pricing on products | Limited integration options |
| A variety of different print methods | No marketplace support like Etsy | Great integration with Shopify |
To sum up, let me give you a few examples of which supplier to choose:
SPOD is an excellent choice if:
- You want the fastest fulfillment time possible.
- You want consistent print quality that you can rely on.
- You don't care about using platforms like Etsy.
Gooten is an excellent choice if:
- You want a variety of product types.
- You're a big fan of the Shopify platform.
- You want to have a higher profit margin than average.
If you want to save it for later – check out our infographic below:
What is SPOD?
SPOD is a newer print on demand dropshipping service. They are also one of Shopify's integrated apps powered by Spreadshirt.
Over 20 years have passed since the creation of SPOD. According to its website, more than 50,000 things are made daily during writing.
95% of products are mailed out within 48 hours; in 2020, it shipped more than 9.8 million products.
Impressive, right?
Owners of Shopify stores may use SPOD to quickly develop a print on demand store and offer personalized goods. It's important to remember that SPOD targets novice to medium volume merchants in their marketing.
One benefit of SPOD is that it ships from the US within 48 hours. Orders are expected to arrive within three to eight days.
Here's a breakdown of SPOD's pros and cons.
SPOD's pros
- Locally and internationally, the production and shipping from SPOD are the fastest POD supplier.
- SPOD's quality of print and product is extremely high.
- Labels, clothing tags, and embroidered patches can be customized to match your brand.
- SPOD allows printing digitally, screen printing (for bulk orders), cutting and sewing, and embroidering.
SPOD's cons
- SPOD's products are limited in variety.
- Product pricing is above average in SPOD's catalog.
- SPOD has no integration with third-party marketplaces such as Etsy, Amazon, or eBay. Bummer!
What is Gooten?
Gooten is named after Johannes Gutenberg, the printing press inventor, according to Gooten's blog.
This POD specialist was motivated by Gutenberg's commitment to pushing the boundaries of technological printing.
As a result, they sought to impact the ecommerce sector through print on demand and cutting-edge technologies. In 2015, Gooten's adventure into the print on demand industry officially began.
Gooten is the most available all-around apparel, home decor, and accessories supplier that ships around 4-6 business days.
They combine their proprietary technology and operational expertise with a global network of 30+ best-in-class manufacturing partners!
Here's a breakdown of Gooten's pros and cons.
Gooten's pros
- Gooten's catalog is full of unique products, so if you want to offer your customers something they haven't seen before, Gooten's a good choice.
- Gooten offers competitive prices on its products, especially with its VIM program.
- Gooten seamlessly integrates with Shopify. An example of Gooten products working with Shopify is automatically updated when they are out of stock.
- Many Gooten customers praise the platform's ease of use.
Gooten's cons
- Printing quality is inconsistent because you cannot choose your printing houses.
- You'll need to look elsewhere if you want to integrate with Gooten from a different ecommerce platform than Shopify, Woocommerce, or Etsy.
Which one has a better pricing plan?
Our first look at the difference between SPOD and Gooten is the available pricing and tiers of accounts.
Pricing of SPOD
SPOD is free to use with no installation fees! (Source)
They also have no other tiers available.
Which plan is right for me if I decide to use SPOD?
Since there's only one free plan, that's all you need!
Pricing of Gooten
Just like SPOD, Gooten is free to use with no other fees. (Source)
There are also no other plans available with Gooten.
Which plan is right for me if I decide to use Gooten?
Gooten has only one free plan for you to use!
Pricing & plans final verdict: As you can see, there is no advantage in the pricing plans between either supplier, so there is no winner in this category.
Which one has better profit margins?
Next, we'll look at which allows the most profit per product purchase!
SPOD's products
SPOD's product pricing is average, so neither cheap nor expensive in the POD supplier market.
You can view SPOD's product listing to see the number of products available to you and their pricing. They cover both the product and the printing service.
Their shirt's lowest offer is about $11.
Gooten's products
Gooten has a mix of apparel, home goods, and accessories that average better prices than most.
You can view Gooten's product catalog on its website to see which products best fit your store.
The lowest price for shirts is about $7.
What Gooten has that no other supplier does is their Very Important Merchant (VIM) loyalty program. With enough purchases within a three-month time, you'll gain a status that allows discounts on product purchases.
They go by:
The profit margins of products verdict: While both suppliers are very close in profit margins, Gooten has the edge due to their VIM program allowing more profitability.
Which has the better print quality?
Print quality is one of the biggest reasons people want out of a supplier because if the quality is terrible, you won't get repeat customers and will receive more refund requests.
Print quality can make or break a supplier's success.
SPOD's print quality
SPOD's print quality is reported as less than 0.8% return rate per 100,000 items shipped (Source)
Even though this statistic only mentions returns and not overall satisfaction with print quality, SPOD does have a good 4/5 review rating on Shopify.
Gooten's print quality
Gooten's print quality has been known to be spotty over the years. This is due to them using a network of hundreds of global manufacturers.
Their strategy is to ensure you have various products at a reasonable price, but it looks like that can sometimes compromise quality.
Print quality final verdict: SPOD seems to have better customer feedback and returned stats than Gooten, so they're the better supplier for print quality.
Which one offers a better branding service?
Branding is the supplier's service for your products to give a customized personal feel.
The most common example is a packaging slip that allows displaying your logo and a personal message with every order. Sometimes these branding services can be an additional cost as well.
SPOD's Branding
SPOD's branding services are only a product slip that shows your logo and a message you can customize with.
Gooten's Branding
Gooten's branding services are only the product slip that allows you to feature your logo, customizable message, website address, and support contact information.
Branding final verdict: Gooten offers just a little more than SPOD in branding services, making a better choice in this category.
Who has faster order fulfillment?
Order fulfillment is the time between the supplier receiving your order from your store to printing and shipping the product to the customer.
Now let's look at the average differences between SPOD and Gooten.
The order fulfillment time of SPOD
SPOD has the fastest fulfillment time of any supplier at 48 hours!
You can get your products to your customers much faster than most competitors with SPOD's 48-hour turnaround offer.
Around 99% of SPODs products will ship out to you within 48 hours or less. More than half of orders are shipped within a day. This is a huge bonus compared to other providers who take days or weeks to manage an order.
Through their connections with European and American production facilities, SPOD provides a 48-hour turnaround. As a result, you will be able to get items in your area faster because you are connected with regional assortments of products.
The order fulfillment time of Gooten
Gooten's fulfillment time is better than an average supplier's.
A large majority are within three business days, with a rare chance of being 4-6 days. (Source for the full details). Their customers have reported it's been closer to 4-5 days on average.
Order fulfillment verdict: With SPOD's unbeatable fulfillment time, it has to go for the best supplier in this category.
Who has the fastest shipping?
Shipping times are crucial in being successful. Amazon has set the standard in when customers want their purchases as fast as possible, so any advantage you can have over the average store will be noticeable.
Do both SPOD and Gooten ship internationally?
SPOD and Gooten are both ships internationally! There are some countries they can't ship to, though.
Here's the list of countries Gooten cannot ship to.
SPOD has both suppliers from European and US, so they don't overlap in countries. So here's their list of countries they cannot ship to
What is the estimated delivery time of SPOD and Gooten?
For Gooten, it may take up to 12 business days for US deliveries and up to 21 working days for international deliveries. However, expedited deliveries take only two to four business days, and overnight shipping takes just one day.
SPOD's shipping is around the same time, up to 12 business days. You can know precisely what times for what country before they even ship with their shipping calculator page.
What are the shipping rates for SPOD and Gooten, and how are they calculated?
Gooten's shipping rates
Gooten works through a 'network approach.' They also manufacture and ship products closer to your customers. In addition to speeding up lead times, this also reduces shipping costs!
You can also choose flat shipping rates with Gooten. For domestic orders, these costs include fulfillment. Shipping prices can also be calculated based on the customer's location and shipping method.
Using Gooten's shipping calculator, you can estimate shipping costs per product and location to get a better idea.
Gooten accepts customer orders and holds them for two hours after placing them. Once it has been sent for production, it can take up to four business days to complete.
Tracking is added whenever Gooten's vendors print shipping labels and the shipping carriers scan them.
SPOD's shipping rates
SPOD's shipping prices vary depending on which US state you're shipping to or which European country.
To calculate your approximate costs, head to their shipping calculator. There's a choice of Standard, Premium, or Express shipping options.
Standard is via USPS, Premium is via USPS Priority, and Express is via FedEx. The price of your goods is calculated based on their value.
The shipping verdict: While SPOD and Gooten have average shipping times, SPOD's shipping calculation webpage is super helpful to know ahead of time, and I feel compelled to give the edge to them.
Who has the more diverse integrations?
Integrations are necessary because not every supplier works with every website provider or marketplace website like Etsy.
Some suppliers make a great effort to be compatible with as many platforms as possible, while some may specialize in only one.
SPOD's integrations
SPOD is a platform for Spotify users, so it makes sense to integrate with Shopify. But in addition, SPOD connects directly to Woocommerce, Squarespace, and Magento. (Source for the complete list.)
Gooten's integrations
Gooten has fewer integrations, but they can connect with different platforms, unlike SPOD.
Gooten's integrations cover platforms such as Etsy, Big Commerce, woocommerce, and Shopify. (Source for the complete list.)
It's hard to choose which supplier has the better integrations. SPOD has more but lesser used platforms, while the opposite with Gooten.
Since Etsy is a valuable marketplace website and can work alongside a business website, Gooten has the advantage here.
The profit margins of products verdict: While both suppliers are very close in profit margins, Gooten has the edge due to their VIM program allowing more profitability.
Which one has the better customer support?
When things go wrong, there's your supplier's customer support that can help you out. Not all are equal; some can go the extra mile for you.
When choosing a supplier, it's essential to see if customer support is reliable and accurate.
The customer support of SPOD
SPOD has an intensive help center. You'll find blogs and FAQs on getting started, designs, the fulfillment process, etc.
You can also see how to reach them through phone or email for both US and European store owners.
The customer support of Gooten
Gooten offers live web chat support Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST. You can also contact Gooten by email, and they will respond within 72 hours. Gooten's comprehensive online knowledge base and blog are also available for self-help.
It's a tough choice because Gooten and SPOD have intensive support pages with everything you need to know to get started and succeed.
Gooten does have a few more options in communication with the support team than SPOD, so they're just a tad better for customer service.
The customer support verdict: Gooten does have a few more options in communication with the support team than SPOD, so they're just a tad better for customer service.
So, SPOD or Gooten? (Which one fits with you)
Honestly, it's tough to choose between SPOD and Gooten because they're even in many areas, like products, profit margins, customer service, and shipping rates.
However, SPOD's super fast fulfillment time is noticeable, even though Gooten's isn't that much behind.
Gooten has the potential to be way more profitable than SPOD due to their VIM program, but that's only under the conditions you can get a lot of sales in a few months.
You may need to decide which one fits your ideal platform because their integrations differ. For example, if you want to be on the Etsy platform, it will be an easy choice for Gooten.
Compare other print on demand companies
Not sure yet if SPOD or Gooten is the right fit for your business? Check out our other comparison articles below:
And to compare more companies, visit the comparison hub!
Final verdict
Based on the above criteria information, determining which of these suppliers is the best depends on what you value more.
Since fast shipping times are directly impacted by the fulfillment times and are such an essential aspect for customers, we will give this verdict to SPOD.
While Gooten has more significant platform integrations and the possibility to become more profitable, SPOD has the more considerable guaranteed advantage.
Thank you for reading, and have a great day!
Want to learn more about print on demand?
Ready to move your print on demand store to the next level? Check out the articles below:
- 14 Best US Print on Demand Suppliers (Fast Shipping)
- Can You Combine Dropshipping and Print on Demand?
- 15 Best Print on Demand Companies and Suppliers
Plus, don’t forget to check out our in-depth how to start a print on demand business guide here!
