Is eCommerce Prepared For 3-D Printing?

By Pete Rizzo, Editor (@pete_rizzo_)

This May, gunsmithing group Defense Distributed printed a firearm, made the files for its design public and then filmed its members using the weapon.

For the 3-D printing industry, it was quite literally a shot heard around the world. It didn’t take a well-worded Associated Press headline or U.S. Department of State involvement to hammer home the new reality: 3-D printing, a near 30-year-old technology, had arrived.

Almost overnight, a debate began across the country over the ethical implications of 3-D printed guns and 3-D printers, with some arguing that the technology should be banned outright

The clamor was so loud it overshadowed the event’s most important implication: American hobbyists had bypassed traditional commerce channels to design and realize a complex, 16-part product with the power of emerging technology that could be set up in their homes.

Before the dust had settled, eBay and Amazon made their first attempts to cater to the burgeoning consumer 3-D printing market. In June, Amazon unveiled a 3-D printing store, and in July, eBay released eBay Exact, an app that allows buyers to purchase customizable printed merchandise.

The moves come at a time when the true power of 3-D printing is only just being realized and its future applications are still unclear.

Some 3-D printing professionals say that within the next decade consumers will be able to make purchases at their favorite retail websites by downloading and customizing designs and printing products at home. Others say 3-D printing will take a longer road, growing to replace traditional manufacturing before enabling certain types of buying from consumer homes.

However, a consensus is emerging: 3-D printing is expected to revolutionize global trade. The questions are how soon will this occur, and how can today’s eCommerce players prepare and adapt to survive this change?

In this PYMNTS.com Report, we talk to experts in the field to discuss what today’s eCommerce giants should be doing to prepare for the full implications of 3-D printing.

Providing Security For The Young Market

One barrier currently prohibiting 3-D printing from wider consumer use is the cost of consumer products. Though reduced in recent years, high prices are likely to limit the number of eCommerce ventures into 3-D printing in the short-term, and slow innovation and limit the growth of the new market in the long-term.

Fargo, North Dakota, resident John Schneider has confronted the high cost of 3-D printing firsthand. Schneider is setting up a “makerspace,” or a business where paying members can access shared 3-D printers at a lower cost. He suggested that eCommerce players are in a position to alleviate these challenges by improving a space that was formerly occupied by hobbyists.

“3-D printer filament is one thing that’s available for purchase on Amazon, but it’s difficult to know what you’re going to get,” he said. “Good filament yields good 3-D printing output. Bad, cheap filament can ruin entire prints, and even be unusable.”

Schneider said the user reviews offered by the site could help new consumers navigate their current options more effectively so that others can spend confidently.

Watch For Disruptive Trends

Of course, the prospect of consumers being able to print any and all products at home raises challenges as well as opportunities. Alex English, owner of ProtoParadigm, an Oregon-based 3-D printing supply company, told PYMNTS.com that eCommerce companies have an incentive to embrace the increased convenience and cost savings that could be provided by accessible 3-D printing. 

“Printing goods at home dramatically reduces the cost of production, while eliminating the costs of transportation, warehousing, distribution and retail,” he told PYMNTS.com. “The environmental impacts of 3-D printing replacing some portion of the traditional trade of goods is not insignificant either.”

English said he believes big companies like 3D Systems and Makerbot have the resources to create an at-home 3-D-printer that truly captures consumer interest, and that they’ll release such a product in a year or two.

Tom Nardone, the president of PriveCo, a company that specializes in niche products printed with 3-D technology, also predicted that changes will start to become visible in the short-term. 

“I can’t see Amazon and eBay being interested in the technology as a replacement for their current services [as of now] because the items they sell are so varied,” he told PYMNTS.com “I would think companies that make and sell narrower product lines should be more concerned. LEGO, Hot Wheels, Tupperware, Rubbermaid, IKEA, board game manufacturers, Wham-O and companies like that.”

Steve Faktor, author and founder of VC investment firm IdeaFaktory, echoed this sentiment, saying that within four years the auto parts, medical prosthetic, houseware, hardware and toy industries would likely embrace 3-D printing. He expects printing with food, chemicals and genetic materials will come within the next five-to-10 years.

Erol Gunduz, a professor at New York University School of Continuing Professional Studies’ Center for Advanced Digital Applications, believes it will be three-to-five years before consumer-facing companies begin embracing this model, and was less certain than Nardone and Faktor that any commentator could put restrictions on where the market will go.

“The technological development is expanding rapidly,” he told PYMNTS.com. “All someone would have to do is push the rate of change two steps further than the current speed with innovation in mind rather than just straight consumption.” 

Embracing Innovation Before Its Necessary

3-D printing enthusiasts acknowledge that eBay and Amazon are doing their part to increase awareness about 3-D printing. But, they say they are falling short when it comes to innovating with the technology given the resources they have to do so.

In part, this may be because 3-D printing enthusiasts view the current state of the market as comparable to the computer industry of the ’80s and ’90s, while major players are just testing the waters.

Faktor said that he believes eCommerce companies should try and capitalize on the technology.

“Companies should stay diligent by monitoring this market for new developments. By engaging in early dialogue with emerging 3D printing companies, they’ll come up with lots of promising hypotheses,” Faktor told PYMNTS.com. “My advice is run as many small-scale experiments as you can and don’t hesitate to make strategic investments in the ones that show promise.”

Faktor cited the fact that 3-D printing is already disrupting manufacturing as a reason eCommerce companies should be taking the industry more seriously.

“Soon manufacturing will be as easy as saving an appointment on Google Calendar,” he said. “If 3-D printing can scale, we’ll see the end to labor in manufacturing. Machines that can easily retool and print in mass quantities will eliminate the need to import clothes, toys, and trade show knicknacks.” 

Recognizing The Market’s Limitations

While some are more optimistic, Gunduz suggested there will limits that constrain the market in the near future, and that traditional manufacturing will continue to be a necessity for businesses, and by extension the eCommerce market, for some time. 

“While 3D printers are becoming more robust, they do not offer the same level of quality that other more ‘traditional’ manufacturing methods provide,” he told PYMNTS. “In this regard, some objects can be created in terms of form but will not meet the necessary material requirements in order to be truly functional or realized.” 

As captivating as the idea of owning your own 3-D printer or allowing your customers to print products may be, recent evidence shows this reality may not be as close as many think, simply because of economic factors.

Wohlers suggested in May that the total market for 3-D products and services is only $2.2 billion, and that much of the spending is shifting to professional-grade systems and away from consumer products.