Aiming for record numbers in second half of 2020 despite COVID-19
Spreadshirt Group successfully continued to demonstrate profitable growth for 2019. Last year, Europe’s leading print-on-demand platform generated a revenue of $146 million, a 12.9% increase compared to the previous year. The large order market from teams, social groups and businesses were the primary contributors to this growth. Business units like Create-Your-Own and TeamShirts exhibited notable development. Additionally, Spreadshirt marked significant improvement in most other business units and a movement towards the B2B market.
Successful first year for SPOD in the United States
Spreadshirt’s youngest spin-off, SPOD (Spreadshirt Print-on-Demand), had a very successful first year. The B2B drop shipping service for e-commerce shop systems was launched in the United States at the end of 2018. SPOD has already been ranked no. 2 by Shopify as the best print-on-demand company. The business unit gained several major industrial partners with contracts resulting in over half a million items a year.
Spreadshirt’s influence as a global platform
In total, Spreadshirt shipped more than 6.4 million printed products to over 170 countries. These products ranged from bandanas to posters to t-shirts. Compared to the previous year, this is approximately an 17% increase of items ordered. Switzerland saw the largest increase in orders for 2019, followed by Sweden and Poland. Like the previous year, the five largest markets remained Germany, the United States, France, Scandinavia and the Benelux countries.
The Marketplace and Spreadshop attract designers and entrepreneurs
An essential part of Spreadshirt’s DNA is the ability to make money through the platform. Creatives, companies and organizations alike can generate revenue as Marketplace Designers, Spreadshop Owners or SPOD Merchants with products designed by them. Spreadshirt’s Marketplace and Spreadshop partners earned over $15 million in commission during 2019. In the Spreadshop division, an additional 20,000 new Shop Owners successfully marketed their ideas using the free shop business model. The total number of partners who sold designs printed on clothing and accessories via Spreadshop or Spreadshirt Marketplace in 2019 increased by 12% to over 110,000.
Increase of new employees worldwide
In all business units, Spreadshirt was able to increase the number of people employed worldwide. With 900 employees representing Spreadshirt in locations like Poland, the Czech Republic, the United States, and Germany. Currently, half of the workforce and people from 37 different countries work at the headquarters in Leipzig, Germany. The other half of the workforce are located in Poland, Czech Republic, and the United States.
What’s next for 2020?
“2019 was a fantastic year for Spreadshirt. We have further increased our profitability and have taken significant market share in the team and group order segment,” comments CEO Philip Rooke on the past year. “In 2020, Spreadshirt will be 18 years old. In the year we come of age, we wanted to have another record year and we planned to achieve a revenue of 150 million Euros. However, COVID-19 also presents us with immense challenges. We are experiencing a big drop in large orders as all social events and happenings have been cancelled. However, after the first month the gift and customized product orders boomed, and we’ve already seen 68% more orders.
As a profitable and well-positioned company, we are very confident that we will be able to master the current crisis and continue on our way to further growth, having gained a lot of new experience. We will stick to our plan for 2020 and launch TeamShirts in the US, SPOD in Europe and grow our market share in all business units,” Rooke summarizes Spreadshirt’s current plans for the remainder of the year in response to COVID-19.
Images Available for Download
- Infographics Spreadshirt 2019 in numbers (1.6MB; jpeg)
- Philip Rooke (Spreadshirt CEO)
- Further Photos via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/spreadshirt/albums
