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How To Start A Tote Bag Business: Tips & Tricks From Experts
Starting your own tote bag business is your chance to tap into the eCommerce market today!
Thanks to their convenience, tote bags have become a must-have for everyone, whether used for grocery shopping, carrying work essentials, or hitting the gym. They can also be customized to showcase your personal style, making them perfect print-on-demand products!
In this blog, we will explain everything you need to know about how to start a tote bag business, setting the stage for a scalable and profitable venture. Right now, let’s get started!
How profitable is the tote bag industry?
In recent years, the tote bag industry has recorded significant growth, making it an attractive landscape for aspiring entrepreneurs or startups. The global market was valued at $5.54 billion in 2024, with a surge in demand for eco-friendly tote bags. Notably, over 60% of women aged 35 and older always have a handbag—a thriving chance to kick off your tote bag business.
Recycle and eco-friendly materials have been favored by tote bag businesses
If so, what is the potential market to sell shopping bags or tote bags?
“North America is expected to dominate the market due to the high purchasing power of consumers, demand for high-quality products, and elevated living standards,” says Data Bridge Market Research. However, you can scale your tote bag business in other markets like Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America—all of which have witnessed rapid growth since 2023.
Be mindful of major players in the tote bag market, such as Burberry (the UK), Capri Holdings Limited (the US), Double R Bags (India), and KERING (France). It’s apparent that you can not become a runner-up of them within a few steps; it takes time to perform. Instead, learn how they establish and promote their brand identity to compete effectively in the eCommerce market.
Prada is a renowned worldwide brand in the tote bag industry
Why Print on Demand Is Worth It for Your Tote Bag Business?
Print-on-demand (POD) isn’t a strange term to eCommerce sellers and buyers today. You don’t need to hold any stock—products are only produced and shipped when an order is placed. If so, what makes POD especially appealing for tote bag businesses? Let’s check here:
High need of self-expression
Recent reports show that 91% of customers “say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them.” This underscores how essential self-expression and customization are for standing out and driving revenue.
Customers prefer using shopping bags with custom quotes
Tote bags are more than functional accessories—they can help you reflect your preferences! Their spacious surface is ideal for bold designs, artistic patterns, or meaningful quotes that resonate with the customer’s personality. Whether someone wants to make a statement, showcase their creativity, or keep their look unique, tote bags can fulfill these desires.
That’s when POD can give you the flexibility to meet these needs effortlessly. Customize can personalize their canvas tote bags with their own designs, colors, and messages, with a desire to create one-of-a-kind products. From that, you can enhance customer satisfaction and build long-term loyalty, as everyone loves how your brand honestly tailors to their identities.
No inventory management
Inventory is one of the biggest challenges for any tote bag business. But POD can make the magic, as you only produce when an order is placed—no inventory needed! As a result, you can quickly adapt to market trends, especially when testing seasonal collections. Skipping the inventory process also frees up your efforts, allowing you to focus on other potential aspects.
POD allows sellers to reach seasonal tote bag collections effectively
What happens next? POD will help save upfront costs for manufacturing, storage, and shipping. This makes it ideal for small business owners or startups demanding a low-cost entry point to test products, refine offerings, and scale operations efficiently based on customer demands.
6 Steps To Launch A Tote Bag Business
This part will walk you through how to start a tote bag business with POD, from understanding the market to selling your first bag. Here are the 6 steps you should follow up:
Step 1 - Conduct marketing analysis
Market research is a must before launching your tote bag business. Don’t say about the overall market; identify a niche, like eco-friendly bags, personalized items, or trendy patterns. Narrowing down your niche will help you target the right audience and stand out in the market.
Sellers can use Pinterest for tote bag market research
You can explore social media platforms like Instagram or Pinterest to collect your ideas. However, for a comprehensive approach, conduct an in-depth analysis across platforms. Starting with Google Trends or Google Analytics sounds great for understanding your target demographics’ preferences, plus other analytics tools like Power BI to perform the best results.
Step 2 - Build your brand image
The next step involves establishing your brand identity or the role of marketing branding.
Think about your brand’s values, voice, and aesthetic. Are you focusing on sustainability? Maybe you want to emphasize minimalist designs or bold, artistic graphics. All should be defined by your brand’s story—why do your tote bags matter, and what makes them unique?
ALÉMAIS highlights its logo on its own tote bag designs
You can build your brand’s personality across everything, but your logo is first and foremost. Just in case your logo is apparent, customers might easily be reminded of you and your brand. And another important consideration is to make your brand name reachable to everyone.
Step 3 - Seek a POD supplier
As POD doesn’t require inventory, production, or shipping, you need to partner with reliable POD suppliers to handle the rest effectively. You can consider some renowned names like Printify, Printful, Gooten, or AutoDS to help run a smooth and cost-effective product delivery.
Printify can help deliver the high-quality POD tote bags to customers
That said, make sure to research each provider carefully. Factors like product quality, shipping times, and integration with your eCommerce platforms can impact customer experiences. Samples should be ordered from different suppliers to check the quality firsthand. Then, pick the proper partner that matches your brand’s values, your budget, and your tote bag collections.
Step 4 - Design tote bags and set pricing
The flexibility of the POD model allows you to focus on creating unique, eye-catching designs. For professional-looking images, you can use tools like Canva, Adobe Illustrator, or Procreate. After that, target your customer demands to customize impressive highlights like nature-inspired graphics for eco-conscious consumers and trendy patterns for fashion-forward customers.
Designers can use Canva to optimize tote bag designs
Now that you have canvas tote bag designs in hand, it’s time to set the product price:
Price = (Supplier’s base price + shipping + taxes + others) x profit margins (30% - 50%)
Remember to check out your market pricing to stay competitive. If your tote bag products may have slightly higher prices, emphasize the uniqueness to justify the value. Otherwise, consider tiered pricing, listing basic designs at a lower price and premium collections at a higher price.
Step 5 - Set up your site storefront
Your online store is where curious browsers become in-reality customers, so making it appealing at first is crucial. You can build up your site using various options, ranging from marketplaces (e.g., Amazon, Esty) to eCommerce platforms (e.g., Shopify, BigCommerce). Among these, Shopify stands out as the go-to solution for tote bag businesses over the years.
Shopify is more than just an eCommerce platform—it’s the ultimate toolkit for building and growing your online tote bag business. Here’s what outstanding Shopify can help:
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User-friendly dashboard: Shopify’s intuitive dashboard makes managing your store effortless, from adding new products to tracking sales performance. Even if you’re not tech-savvy, its clean interface ensures you can easily navigate everything.
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Secure payment processors: Shopify not only delivers various payment gateways but also ensures a safe checkout process, helping build customer trust. In addition, you can access features like automatic currency conversion to benefit global transactions.
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Intuitive inventory management: Shopify provides powerful tools to monitor stock levels, receive low-stock alerts, and sync with your suppliers to avoid overstock. Its inventory analytics help uncover customer behavior trends, enabling smarter decisions.
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Integration with POD suppliers: Shopify works well with top POD services like Printify and Printful. This allows you to automate order fulfillment and focus on designing and marketing your tote bags while your POD partners handle printing and shipping.
Now that, what should you do to reach an eye-catching and high-converting Shopify store?
It’s time to take everything to the next level with landing page builders like GemPages. It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, 200+ CRO templates, and various sales boosters to create stunning, high-converting pages without any coding. You can even integrate GemPages with Checkout, Klaviyo, or Bundles directly in the Shopify Admin for more comprehensive control.
GemPages is a free-to-install landing page builder on Shopify
Step 6 - Market your tote bag business
Once your designs and store are ready, it’s time to get your tote bag business noticed. Below are 5 marketing strategies that can make all the difference!
1 - Social media: Pinterest, TikTok, or Instagram are the perfect platforms to showcase your tote bags through vibrant visuals and creative videos. To increase visibility, remember to use hashtags like #ecofriendlytotes, #customtotebag, #podtotebag, or any trendy terms.
2 - Marketing influencers: KOLs and KOCs are called product influencers. They help review and introduce your tote bags to their engaged audience. You often deal with them through payments or incentives to influence how they promote your products, like in posts or stories.
3 - Email marketing: Each email should include exclusive discounts, sneak peeks of new collections, and behind-the-scenes updates. You can even have personalized email campaigns like abandoned cart reminders or birthday offers to keep customers engaged and boost sales.
Sellers can use email marketing templates to simplify their campaigns
4 - Content marketing: You can write blog posts about sustainable fashion, offer DIY styling tips, discuss types of tote bags, and promote guest posts on relevant websites. Also, focus on high-quality images, video tutorials, or infographics to help your site stand out better on Google.
5 - Advertising: Any platform offers paid advertising to target a wider audience. You can test various ad formats—carousel ads, shopping campaigns, or video promotions—to spotlight your best designs and drive traffic to your store.
How Much Does It Cost To Start A Tote Bag Business?
Starting a tote bag business always requires strategic planning to minimize the risk of finance. Your initial costs will depend on the scale of your business, the quality of materials, and especially what models you’re pursuing, either in-house or print-on-demand.
Normally, you need between $1,000 and $5,000, with the key costs including inventory, design, manufacturing, website setup, and marketing. For those opting for POD, the costs can be significantly lower as inventory costs are nearly zero. Let’s take a look at a breakdown:
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Inventory and materials ($500 - $2,000)
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Design ($100 - $500)
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Website ($20 - $50)
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Marketing ($200 - $1,000)
Conclusion
By now, we hope you can feel more confident about starting a tote bag business on your own. Besides that, you have a clear understanding of the tote bag market and POD models, ensuring the proper target market and comprehensive business plan. Don’t forget to visit GemPages blogs to discover more content like this and gain further insights into eCommerce!
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