Starting in early 2026, the creator economy continues its rapid expansion, valued at approximately $235 billion globally and growing at a 22.5% CAGR (Forbes, Jan 2026). In the U.S., creator-led commerce is accelerating as brands mature beyond early traction, shifting focus from viral launches to sustainable operational systems.

Suppliers are increasingly seeing this shift play out in real demand.

Merchize, a global print on demand platform, is reinforcing its fulfillment infrastructure - including optimized US production and logistics - to support creator businesses as they move beyond early traction and face higher order volumes and repeat demand.

“Most creators don’t struggle at launch,” said Huong Bui Minh, Head of Marketing at Merchize. “The real challenge emerges after the first successful drops, when order volume spikes but fulfillment systems were never built for consistency at scale.”

Staying Competitive During Market Expansion

The growth of the print on demand market is developing in parallel with the creator economy, indicating that monetization models are being reshaped. Physical products have become a core layer of creator-led commerce, particularly in categories such as apparel, home decor, and personalized merchandise.

Current POD industry growth is driven by repeat demand from audiences that already trust the brand, while viral trends tend to be temporary in nature.

As creator brands scale into the U.S. market, fulfillment capabilities are becoming a decisive constraint or enabler. Localized production, logistics reliability, and quality consistency are no longer optimization levers. They are emerging as baseline requirements once the order volume exceeds early traction. In this context, operational alignment between creators and suppliers plays a central role in determining whether growth remains durable or begins to fragment under pressure.

What Breaks First at Scale

From working closely with thousands of creators selling to U.S. customers, around 80% of whom focus on the U.S. market, Merchize has observed recurring sales patterns among creator-led businesses.

As daily order volume increases, many brands begin to face delayed production, inconsistent print quality, and order backlogs. These issues become especially visible during peak periods such as Q4 2025, when smaller suppliers struggle to keep up with demand. In contrast, larger, infrastructure-driven providers are better positioned to absorb volume spikes without disrupting fulfillment.

This difference becomes especially evident at the production level. At Merchize’s U.S. facility, average production time reached approximately 1.2 business days during the Christmas peak season, while maintaining a 97.2% on-time fulfillment rate. It shows how well-developed infrastructure supports reliable delivery during periods of high demand.

These operational frictions rarely appear in marketing dashboards, but they directly influence repeat purchases and long-term brand perception. As a result, leading print on demand companies are prioritizing infrastructure expansion and experienced operational teams to improve production throughput, stabilize fulfillment workflows, and reduce reliance on manual intervention during peak demand.

Operational Maturity Insight

Operational maturity often emerges as the quiet dividing line between temporary momentum and creator businesses that can truly scale. Once brands move beyond early growth, many of the challenges they encounter can no longer be solved by increasing marketing spend alone.

At this stage, fulfillment reliability, production throughput, and quality consistency start to dictate growth ceilings. Creators with resilient operational foundations are able to sustain promotional cycles, relaunch winning products, and capitalize on seasonal demand without operational breakdowns. Those without such systems frequently experience customer dissatisfaction, refund pressure, and declining lifetime value despite strong front-end demand.

It reflects the dynamic role of both sellers and suppliers in driving long-term growth.

Built on Operational Experience

Unlike traditional platform upgrades driven by feature checklists, Merchize’s expansion was shaped by operational experience on the ground. The company focused on reinforcing production capacity and refining quality control processes that impact creators most once they reach a growth inflection point.

With optimized systems, automated logistics, and more standardized lean production processes, the approach is designed to support consistent delivery performance while retaining the flexibility creators rely on in print on demand.

As order volume increases, these improvements help creators maintain consistent delivery timelines and product quality - two factors that often break first when brands scale beyond early traction.

From the Supplier Side of Creator-Led Commerce

Across its supplier network, Merchize has observed creator-led commerce evolving into a more disciplined operating model. The creators who endure are not always those with the largest audiences, but those who invest early in operational foundations.

The company’s infrastructure expansion reflects this shift, supporting creators who treat their brands as long-term assets rather than short-term monetization plays.

As social commerce platforms continue to blur the line between content and retail, fulfillment infrastructure is becoming increasingly strategic. For creator brands selling into the U.S. market, operational readiness can be the difference between a temporary spike and a sustainable business.

Merchize’s expansion underscores a broader view that the future of creator commerce will be shaped not only by creativity and reach but also by the systems that quietly support growth behind the scenes.

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Company Name: Merchize
Contact Person: Ron
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Country: Vietnam
Website: https://merchize.com/