TLDR; A laser business doesn’t have to depend on one type of customer. Some markets tend to hold up better when the economy slows down, including pets, memorials, weddings and events, sports, business awards, and personalized products. By working across several markets, you can adapt when demand changes and find new opportunities for your laser without needing new equipment.
When the economy gets shaky, having more than one way to make money can help.
That is one reason a laser can be useful for a small business, even when times are tough. You can use the same machine for different products and different customers. If one type of work slows down, you can try something else.
Some types of spending tend to hold up better than others. People still spend money on their pets. Families still need memorial products. People still get married and celebrate major events. Businesses still buy awards and gifts.
These are markets that can continue to see demand when the economy slows down, making them worth considering if you’re looking for new opportunities for your laser business.
1. Pets
People spend a lot on their pets, and that spending has continued to hold up even as consumers become more careful with their money.
The U.S. pet industry reached $158 billion in 2025, with spending expected to reach $165 billion before the end of 2026. The American Pet Products Association also reports that pet owners continue to prioritize spending on their animals despite economic pressure.
There are plenty of ways to get into this market without selling traditional pet supplies.
Think about custom pet tags, portraits, ornaments, feeding stations, memorials, keepsakes, signs, and other products that can be personalized with a pet’s name, photo, or story.
Pet memorials are especially meaningful. When someone loses a pet, they’re often looking for something more personal than a store-bought product. An engraved memorial gives them something tangible to keep and remember them by.
And speaking of memorials…
2. Memorials and Celebrations of Life
Matt Buxton saw an opportunity sitting right in front of him.
As the owner of Buxton Funeral Home, he started offering engraving as part of his funeral services. After adding it, he said his urn sales doubled or even tripled.
He estimates that he makes about $150 in revenue from an engraved urn, while casket engraving can bring in around $400 and larger memorial engravings can reach $1,500.
That’s a good example of why memorial work is worth looking at.
Funeral services are becoming more personal, and families are looking for ways to include photos, memories, and details that reflect the person they are remembering. Dignity Memorial has reported an increase in personalized services.
For a laser business, that can mean working with funeral homes, monument companies, and cemeteries.
Urns, caskets, plaques, photos, and larger memorial pieces can all involve engraving.
AP Lazer’s large-format, convertible design also gives businesses the ability to take on those larger memorial jobs that wouldn’t fit inside a traditional enclosed laser.
For someone already working in the funeral or monument industry, engraving can be another service to offer existing customers. For a laser business, those same customers can become a source of larger, higher-value work.
3. Weddings and Other Milestone Events
Here’s one assumption worth challenging:
A wedding business doesn’t have to mean wedding products only.
People get married, but they also graduate, retire, celebrate anniversaries, host reunions, throw milestone birthday parties, and mark all kinds of other important events.
That gives your business plenty of opportunities beyond wedding season.
The U.S. wedding market remains around $100 billion, with roughly 2 million couples getting married in 2025. Personalization continues to be an important part of how couples plan their weddings and make the event feel like their own.
A laser can be used for signs, table numbers, cake toppers, seating charts, guest books, favors, décor, bridal party gifts, and other personalized pieces.
But there’s another customer here that can be just as interesting: the wedding professional.
Wedding planners, venues, photographers, rental companies, decorators, and event businesses all need products for their clients. Instead of finding hundreds of individual couples, a laser business can build relationships with the businesses already serving those couples.
Ellie Harward, owner of Derive Home, has built a business around that idea. She uses her lasers to create custom pieces for weddings and events, including large engraved mirrors.
One of her wedding pieces can become part of the event and then go home with the couple afterward.
And when wedding season is over, Derive Home can use the same equipment for custom pieces for businesses, homes, and other events.
4. Sports and Athletic Products
Think about how many things a local sports organization needs besides uniforms.
Trophies. Awards. Gifts for coaches. Player recognition. Team merchandise. School fundraising products.
There can be a surprising amount of work tied to a single team or organization.
Industry data continues to show strong participation in sports and fitness, even as consumers and businesses deal with higher costs.
For a laser business, that can mean engraving bats, equipment, plaques, medals, trophies, signs, and other products, but an even bigger opportunity may be moving away from one-off orders.
Instead of waiting for individual customers to order a personalized item at a time, you can approach schools, leagues, clubs, and athletic programs.
A team might need 30 player gifts. A tournament might need 50 awards. A school could need recognition pieces throughout the year.
One relationship can turn into multiple orders.
5. Awards, Recognition and Branded Products
Here’s a market that can be easy to overlook if your business is built around consumers.
You don’t necessarily have to sell the product.
You can sell the personalization.
A business may already have a supplier for its awards, gifts, plaques, or promotional products. What it doesn’t have is someone to engrave them.
That creates an opportunity for a laser business without requiring you to develop an entirely new product line.
The promotional products industry generated $27.1 billion in U.S. distributor sales in 2025, showing that businesses continue to spend on branded merchandise even in a more cautious economy. PPAI reported the 2025 sales figure.
You could engrave awards and plaques, customize corporate gifts, handle employee recognition pieces, or personalize products for schools, clubs, and events.
And this type of work is repeatable for even MORE income!
A company that orders 25 employee awards this year may need another 25 next year. A school may order awards for every season. A business might come back whenever it needs employee gifts or customer recognition.
This is a great avenue to walk down if having to constantly find new clients stresses you out.
6. Home and Personalized Lifestyle Products
Home is a huge market, and there is plenty of room for custom products.
People spend money on furniture, décor, gifts and other items for their homes. Personalization gives a laser business a way to compete without trying to sell the same products as everyone else.
You can start with smaller products such as signs, cutting boards and personalized gifts, then move into larger projects like furniture, doors, wall art and custom décor.
Here and Now Custom Laser Engraving is one example. They used their AP Lazer to customize a glass-top table and matching glassware. Comparable engraved glass-top tables currently sell for around $859 to $1,350, with more elaborate custom pieces listed for several thousand dollars.
There are a lot of ways to turn ordinary products into custom work that customers are willing to pay more to have made for them.
That means more products to sell, more price points to work with, and more opportunities to grow your business.
Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Market
You don’t have to pick one of these markets and build your entire business around it, that’s one of the biggest advantages of having a laser.
You might start with personalized gifts and discover that local sports teams need awards. A funeral home might become a customer. A wedding planner might start sending you orders. A company might need employee gifts.
The machine stays the same, but what you’re making with it can change.
That’s useful when the economy changes, too.
If one type of customer slows down, you have somewhere else to look. If you find that memorial work is more profitable than consumer gifts, you can spend more time pursuing it. If a local business starts sending you repeat orders, you can build around that relationship.
You don’t need to predict exactly where the economy is headed.
You need enough flexibility to keep looking for the next customer.