So I'm down to one or two sticker sales a day on Redbubble. This is unusually low and includes Teepublic and from what I've read, Amazon as well. Point being this seems to be an across the board slump. My pick is that the first half of 2021 (and perhaps longer) will be volatile, although an uptick may be seen when Biden's covid relief checks finally land in US bank accounts, which should be soon. Of course no one is expecting this to reverse, much less resolve the US economic downturn caused by the pandemic.
There will be some growth as the year progresses but overall sales will be depressed compared to last year with the dips being very low.
A lot of last year's PoD signups made during lockdowns will lose interest. There'll be a surfeit of accounts that have 5 - 12 designs and are effectively abandoned. How long Redbubble will keep these on the books is unknown.
Internet influencers will lose interest and move on to the next big thing, whatever that will be. You know an online market has been exhausted when videos of eager wideboys and girls promising thousands of dollars of online profits become ubiquitous on Youtube - as long as you subscribe to their online course, naturally. They're the crows and vultures flocking in to strip the last morsels of flesh from the corpse.
Having said that, the last quarter may see a surge greater than expected, due to relief at the global vax programme proving effective at reducing covid case numbers.
In short, I suspect it's going to be a tough year for PoD veterans.
