When you attend a gig, bouncers at the door and band T-shirts stacked on tables right next to it are as common as the inevitable encore at the end of the show. Folks just want to take something home to remember those unforgettable moments they just shared with their favorite band. As a band or musician, there’s just this one little point of contention: how much merch do I need to keep people happy?
The Pre-Order Dilemma
It’s a bit of a tightrope. You buy too little and miss out on giving your fans what they want, and buying too much means you may end up paying on top, leaving you to wear the gear yourself – most likely in a size that won’t fit you.
If you pay for merchandise up front, you need to sell quite a lot of stuff before you get your money back, and sometimes that can take up to 100 pieces of merch sold. And obviously, you don’t want your money tied up in stocks in the cellar and wait for having flogged a couple of hundred tees to operate in the black.
What it boils down to is this: to break even fast, you’d have to be able to sell your T-shirts for much more than you paid for them, and – unfortunately – that’s exactly what will make your fans think twice before they spend their money. What’s more, you need to be able to offer all the sizes and colors, so buying in advance comes with the stock risk, inevitably so.
Benefits of Print-On-Demand
If you look at it from an economical side, pre-ordering is very unwise when you base your ambitions on the principle of “opportunity costs”. This principle is about “what’s the best was to let my money work for me”, and dead capital in the cellar is obviously not a wise investment.
Time for some good news. Print on demand is a merchandising method that works without any payment in advance when conducting your business online. If you put your band merch up for sale in an online shop, you can skirt around all the fulfillment risks. Instead, you earn money with every sale you make as you are free to set your own commission, meaning you’ll earn with the first sale already.
A Flexible Product Range
The advantages are obvious: You have the choice of over 150 products in many sizes and colors. “Not available” is not available here! You never invest in wrong products since the articles are only printed on your customers’ orders with your designs. You can choose from a wide range of products like event-related products, warm clothing and unusual accessories in a matter of clicks.
Since dispatch, payment and even customer service are handled directly by Spreadshirt, you have more time for the essentials – your music. Your band shop looks just like any other professional online shop. Oh, and yes, the free Spreadshirt shop system can be easily integrated into your existing band page and adjusted to the look and feel of your brand.
Just give it a try and get your merchandise business off the ground, free and without any hassle. Upload your own logo and open your own online shop in just a few clicks, and off you go!