When it comes to selling your merch online, it’s great to have a multitude of channels and points of contact, but with so many choices it’s also good to understand the pros and cons of each. What works for you might not work for somebody else, and vice versa. Landing on the right solution can depend on multiple variables. How much time you have to devote, your creative skills, what manufacturing method you opt for … these are all huge pieces of the branded merch ballet, and how much you earn is completely dependent on how well you can dance.
Where Are You Getting Your Merchandise From?
How much time you have to devote, your creative skills, what manufacturing method you opt for … these are all huge pieces of the branded merch ballet, and how much you earn is completely dependent on how well you can dance.
Self-manufacturing: DIY, or self-manufacture, is definitely not for the faint of heart. It not only requires a huge investment, but also ample space and time, 17 different pieces of software, a degree in rocket science and approximately a quart of holy water. OK, that may be a slight exaggeration, but only slight. Different products require different types of printing machinery and software. For self-manufacturing, you have to have blank inventory in stock, time to print the pieces as they are sold and a rock-solid shipping system. The list of needs and requirements is long and daunting and honestly, the investment is really only worthwhile if you’re going to provide branded merch for 15 or 20 different personalities or companies. If you’re doing this solo, don’t even consider self-manufacturing.
Sourcing/buying in bulk: Finding the products you want to sell can be an extremely time-consuming and tedious task. You can find custom coffee cups, coasters, phone cases, magnets and keychains branded with your logo on 500 different sites, but you have to look at shipping costs, turnaround times — and especially order minimums. That’s where most of us go off the rails, since who wants to buy, let alone store, 100 coffee cups without any guarantee of sell-through? Not unless you have money to burn.
Print on demand: By far, the best method of merchandising on a budget is print-on-demand (POD). Simply put, POD merchandise is not printed with your logo, photo or other distinct design until you actually sell it. That means you can showcase and sell any number of products without spending a single upfront dollar on inventory. Most POD companies will provide you with sample images of your branded products to use in your marketing, and then drop-ship the items to your customers. Your earnings will vary based on the POD company, but in the long run POD is the most effective way to offer branded merchandise.
If you do go with POD, you still have some work in store for you. Besides the sheer number of POD companies and sites to consider, you have to choose products and shipping options, while factoring in how much time you can commit and your personal skill level in areas like design. You need to consider delivery times and, most importantly, your earnings. There are a number of ways to market or “deploy” your POD products, and this is where we really need to look at what options will best suit you.
Where Are You Selling Your Merchandise?
Selling on your own website: This can be an OK option if you have an active site with a strong and engaged audience. You will need some sort of shopping cart software, payment processing, a shipping method, packaging capacity and of course, product images to showcase your merch. There are a lot of moving parts to orchestrate here, so this route is not highly recommended unless you are either adept at web design/development or have a webmaster who can do the heavy lifting for you.
Using affiliate products: This one is a bit hard to explain, but it’s a very solid potential deployment method, so here goes. Let’s assume you’re hooked up with a POD company that can provide you with product images and payment processing. You would then simply use software like WooCommerce or Shopify on your own site, and add your products as affiliate products — basically, send traffic to your own site where visitors can view your products, but when they click the “buy now” button, they are redirected to the POD site to make payment and arrange for shipping. The key here is to check fees and rates carefully, so you know how much your commission or earnings will be.
Selling on a POD site: Numerous POD sites offer “websites” for you to sell from. Most of these sites charge a monthly fee, which can range from $29 per month to much more, but the basics are fairly similar. Simply put, they give you a cookie-cutter web template with your logo and colors, and list your POD products. They handle all the payment processing and fulfillment, and you get a commission for each product sold. The commission amount varies from site to site and is based on the product sold. For example, site A might pay you a 17% commission on a specific product, whereas site B pays you 22%. Either way, you will still be tagged for the monthly fee.
Multi-user POD sites: The multi-user POD platform is not a new concept, but has quickly become a favorite among the industry elite. I can’t name any names, but I run one of these sites and I wouldn’t really recommend any other option. Here’s how it works. There is no monthly fee, and no upfront costs. Each user, or “vendor,” gets a dedicated page set up with 18 to 25 initial products. The user submits a good selection of quality images and the POD team creates mockups and product images, which are then deployed on the site. You only need to promote the products; the POD team handles everything else from site deployment to payment processing, fulfillment and customer service. This is the fastest and most hands-free solution there is for selling branded merchandise.
No matter which method you’re leaning toward, nothing can beat getting recommendations from people you know. If you’re going to sell branded merch, ask friends and colleagues what method or service they use and what their experience has been. Not everyone is going to excel with any given method, but firsthand recommendations should carry weight in helping you make your decision.
Danny Ferretti has over 25 years in the marketing industry and is the co-founder of GFE Model Services and Fangear.vip, a company that specializes in collectible calendars, branded merchandise and other model-centric printed products. He also offers free branding consultation to influencers of all sizes. For more information, contact sales@gfemodelservices.com or visit GFEModelServices.com.
