Selling Arts at CafePress and Zazzle

Many artists, professional or amateur, have been publishing their arts or designs at CafePress and Zazzle. The artist makes their incomes by taking a share of profits from the sales of the gift items or products with their art designs printed on top. CafePress has been a success story being the first prominent player in the online self-publishing industry.

Yet, web technology has evolved greatly in the last few years. Many web sites are now built with Web 2.0 technologies that significantly change the user experience and improve productivity. One of the runner-ups is Zazzle. Equipped with better technologies, Zazzle has brought self-publishing to the next level. Learning from its predecessor, Zazzle has introduced many new features and improvements. CafePress also has made a strategic mistake in charging a monthly fee for so-called "premium store" that comes with more features and no limitations in product creation compared to its "basic store." As a result, Zazzle has taken away a significant chunk of business from CafePress over the last coupe of years, as you can tell from the pictures below.

I'll go into a lot more details in my next post comparing the two sites. Stay tuned.

Fig.1 Daily Page Views Comparison (Click to see the full sized chart. Source: Alexa.com)

Fi.g.2 Daily Reach Comparison (Click to see the full sized chart. Source: Alexa.com)

Fig.3 Daily Traffic Rank Comparison (Click to see the full sized chart. Source: Alexa.com)