Looking for a powerful online business idea with a low barrier to entry? The world of print-on-demand (POD) just got a massive AI upgrade. Forget spending weeks on design and store setup—we’re talking about leveraging tools like Google’s Gemini Nano Banana, Everbee Store, Canva, and Printify to launch a fully functional store in hours.
This is your step-by-step tutorial to creating an entire print-on-demand shop using the latest AI technology, from finding a niche to getting your first product live.
Step 1: Nailing Down a Specific, Inspiring Niche
In this Online Business Idea, targeting a specific niche is always better than going broad. Instead of general categories like “dog shirts,” focus on precise audiences, such as “funny and sarcastic quotes for small breed dog owners,” to increase engagement and conversions.
Instead of asking AI to generate a product idea from scratch, use it to unlock your creativity and find a niche that truly inspires you, which is key to avoiding burnout.
My chosen niche: Funny and sarcastic t-shirts for small breed dog owners.
AI-Powered Brainstorming
For this Online Business Idea, you can kick off a brainstorming session using a powerful AI model like Google’s Gemini Nano Banana in Google AI Studio by providing targeted prompts.
“I want to start a new print-on-demand business. Ask me a series of questions to help me come up with ideas.”
By answering these questions, the AI helped me narrow my focus to pets, specifically small dogs, leveraging my personal experience as a dog mom of ten years.
Step 2: Generating and Refining AI-Powered Designs
Once the niche is set, it’s time to generate quote ideas and designs.
Quote Generation
I asked Google AI to generate 20 short, funny quotes for small dog owners. Great ideas poured out, such as:
- “Small Dog – Big Attitude”
- “Fur missile activated”
Design Creation with Gemini Nano Banana
The next step in this Online Business Idea is turning quotes into marketable designs using Google’s generative AI, called Nano Banana (formerly Gemini 2.5 Flash Image). I found this tool exceptionally precise in following prompts and visual references, making design creation fast and professional.
- Find a Design Reference: I sourced a professional-looking quote design from Canva (which offers a 30-day free trial for its Pro plan).
- Generate AI Design: I uploaded the Canva design into Google AI Studio and prompted Nano Banana to create a similar design for one of my quotes—for example, “My Dog Runs this House.”
- Refine and Download: The AI initially kept an irrelevant word from the reference image, but a quick follow-up prompt fixed it. The final image was downloaded.
Why Nano Banana is a Game-Changer: Unlike other AI image generators I tested, Nano Banana closely followed the reference style.
Adapting to Trending Designs
To maximize the potential of this online business idea, I looked at trending products.
- I used an extension (like Everbee) to analyze a popular Etsy t-shirt listing, finding that one design had sold 144 times, generating over $2,000 in revenue.
- I fed this trending design as a reference into Nano Banana, asking it to create a similar style but with a new quote and only featuring small breed dogs.
Upscaling for Print Quality
In this Online Business Idea, AI-generated images often come out smaller than needed for professional t-shirt printing. That’s where a tool like Canva Pro becomes essential to resize and refine designs for high-quality products.
- Remove Background: Canva’s one-click background remover is a lifesaver for apparel.
- Upscale Resolution: I used the AI image upscaler to increase the resolution and then exported the file as a transparent PNG for optimal print quality.
Step 3: Building Your AI-Powered Online Store
With designs ready, the next step in this online business idea is to set up a storefront.
AI Store Builder: Everbee Store
As part of this Online Business Idea, I partnered with Everbee Store, which can generate a fully structured POD shop from a simple text prompt. Everbee offers a risk-free trial starting at just $1 for the first month on its Essentials plan (regularly $29/month or $240/year), making it an ideal tool for launching quickly and affordably.
- Prompt: I chose the “Build with AI” option and entered: “Create a print-on-demand store to sell funny t-shirts for small breed dog owners.”
- Instant Structure: The AI instantly generated the store with a homepage, product placements, essential pages (About Us, Policy), and even a suggested name (“Hilarious Threads for Paws”).
- Key Integrations: I connected a payment processor (like Stripe, which is free to create) and installed the Printify app.
Printify: Your Fulfillment Partner
Printify is the chosen Print-on-Demand provider, which offers a forever free account—you only pay for the product and shipping when a sale is made.
- Connect Store: I created a “Printify Pop-Up Store” named Tiny Tails Prints and connected it to the Everbee Store platform.
- Product Selection: I navigated the Catalog, choosing the popular and cost-effective Gildan 5000 Unisex T-shirt, which offers a strong profit margin.
- Design Upload: I uploaded the final, upscaled PNG design and selected my product colors.
Creating High-Converting Mockups
In this Online Business Idea, high-quality mockups play a crucial role in boosting conversions. While Printify provides free mockups, I achieved better results using the Printify integration with Placeit for more professional and realistic product visuals.
- Placeit allows you to filter mockups by age, gender, and even ethnicity to perfectly match your target audience.
- In this Online Business Idea, best practice is to include a mix of images: 1–2 flatlays, at least 1 lifestyle mockup (showing someone using or wearing the product), and a clear size chart to help reduce returns and improve customer confidence.
Finalizing and Launching
After saving the product on Printify, it automatically synced to the Everbee Store dashboard.
- I customized the store’s look, replacing the banner image with an AI-generated one from Nano Banana.
- I double-checked pricing using the Printify calculator.
- With Stripe connected, the store was ready to sell in a matter of hours.
Step 4: The Traffic Strategy (Getting Sales)
Every successful Online Business Idea needs traffic, and my top source for free, high-converting traffic is Pinterest.
- Platform Fit: Pinterest is a visual search engine, making it a perfect match for visual POD products like t-shirts. People use it to search for gifts and seasonal items.
- Strategy: Take the high-quality lifestyle mockups created in Placeit/Printify and pin them on Pinterest with direct links back to your new Everbee Store product listings.
By leveraging AI for ideas, design, and store building, this low-risk print-on-demand strategy is one of the most accessible and exciting online business ideas you can launch today.
