Print-on-Demand / Merchandise-on-Demand Solutions for the United Nations Postal Administration

The United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) intends to expand its line of products by including UN stamp-themed merchandise, and is exploring the use of "print-on-demand" / "merchandise-on-demand" vendors for such expansion. The UNPA was established on 28 March 1951 and has been printing and selling postage stamps and philatelic products for the past 70+ years. The UNPA has a wide range of beautiful artworks and illustrations, which it intends to use on the designs of UN stamp-themed merchandise. The UNPA distributes and sells its postage stamps worldwide through its stamp counters at UN Headquarters in New York (USA), Geneva (Switzerland), Vienna (Austria), online at "unstamps.org," and a network of authorized sales agents and dealers in various countries. The UNPA ultimately wants to offer UN stamp-themed merchandise to customers across the globe, but will initially focus on the United States, Europe and China markets, in order of listed priority. The objectives for the UNPA to expand into merchandise are to: - increase revenue; - reach and engage younger customers and those who are not already buying and/or collecting UN stamps; and - introduce these non-traditional UNPA customers to the historical significance of stamps and attract them to buy UN stamps and related products. The UNPA seeks to partner with a few established print-on-demand and merchandise-on-demand vendors on a non-exclusive basis. As the UNPA is subject to limited resources and minimal experience in merchandising, the ideal partners should have a large, steady base of repeat customers who frequently visit their respective websites with the intention of completing a purchase. The UNPA will create and upload product designs to the partners’ platform but will not be responsible for marketing, advertising, customer engagement, or customer service. The UNPA is seeking "passive" print-on-demand companies, rather than "active" ones. Vendors should not require the UNPA to purchase and hold any inventory in advance or assume any inventory risk. Vendors must accept, process and fulfil the orders directly without any intervention from UNPA. The quality of the merchandise being produced and fulfilled by the vendor should be of high quality and compatible with the United Nations brand and image. Royalties generated and paid to the UNPA should be comparable and on par with other major print-on-demand companies in the market.