Maximize Your Spirit Wear

Many booster clubs view merchandise and spiritwear as automatic moneymakers, but without proper planning, these ventures can actually lose money. In a recent webinar, we discovered how to turn your merchandise program into a reliable revenue generator through strategic planning and smart execution.

The Cautionary Tale: Why Strategy Matters

Picture this scenario: You order 100 tournament t-shirts at $10 each, planning to sell them for $20 apiece and make a cool $1,000 profit. But when the dust settles, you've only sold 21 shirts, leaving you with a $580 loss instead of a profit.

This all-too-common situation highlights why having a merchandise strategy is essential for booster clubs. Without one, what looks like income on paper can actually drain your resources. Use our Spiritwear Profit Calculator to run the numbers before placing your next order.

Leveraging Your Built-In Advantage

As a booster club, you already have an established niche - a significant advantage in the merchandise world. You have a built-in audience of fans who want to represent your school or team. The key is capitalizing on this advantage while avoiding common pitfalls.

Creating Effective Designs

The foundation of successful spiritwear is quality design. Here are the essentials:

• Secure a high-resolution logo (at least 150 DPI, ideally 300 DPI)
• Make sure your logo has a transparent background (tools like Canva make this easy)
• Avoid small text, especially for embroidered items
• Follow the three-design strategy:
  
  1. Your classic school/team logo (perfect for traditional items)
  2. A fun logo (perhaps featuring your mascot)
  3. A custom annual design (creates urgency to purchase)

Smart Product Selection: The 70-20-10 Rule

Follow this formula for a balanced merchandise offering:

• 70% proven sellers - t-shirts, hoodies, hats, and other reliable standards
• 20% seasonal items - playoff shirts, holiday merchandise, homecoming gear
• 10% experimental items - new products you'd like to test

This approach ensures stability while allowing room for innovation. Remember that your "fundraising t-shirt" is the workhorse of your collection - invest in making it attractive and affordable.

Purchasing Options: Finding Your Sweet Spot

Three main approaches exist for merchandise procurement:

1. Bulk Ordering

• Best pricing per item
• Highest profit potential IF everything sells
• Requires significant time investment (ordering, inventory management, sales)
• Creates financial risk if items don't sell
• Often requires sales tax collection

2. Print-on-Demand

• Minimal work required
• No inventory management
• Guaranteed profit on every sale
• Higher per-item cost and shipping fees
• Sales tax typically managed by the provider
• 5-7 day delivery timeframes

3. Third-Party Limited Sales

• Handled by external vendor
• Limited selling window
• Less flexible on design and pricing
• May have tax advantages in some states

For most booster clubs today, print-on-demand offers the best balance of convenience and profitability, especially with competitive pricing and improved delivery times.

Strategic Sales Channels

Consider multiple channels for reaching your audience:

• Online store - Essential for modern selling; enables digital promotion
• In-person store - Traditional approach requiring inventory management
• Events - Creates urgency; consider a hybrid approach with samples on display and QR codes for online ordering

Pricing Strategies That Maximize Revenue

Calculate your true costs (including shipping and design fees) before setting prices. Consider using:

• Loss leader pricing on select items to boost overall sales
• Bundle pricing to encourage multiple purchases
• Premium pricing on higher-end items like embroidered polos and quarter-zips

Creating Your Merchandise Playbook

Pull everything together into a comprehensive plan:

1. Build an annual calendar (work backward from key dates) - Download our Merchandise Calendar Template
2. Create your design framework (school logo, fun logo, annual design)
3. Develop specialized collections (senior, mom/dad, holiday)
4. Establish a communication plan (promote each item 7-15 times)
5. Track performance data and adjust offerings accordingly

Key Takeaways

• Merchandise has enormous potential but requires strategic planning
• Focus on simple, effective designs - you already have your niche
• Choose purchasing options that match your specific needs
• Keep product selection streamlined - 8-12 items is ideal
• Always sell online except when you can create urgency
• Create a communication plan - items don't sell without promotion
• Track your data to continuously improve your offerings

With careful planning and execution, your booster club merchandise can become a significant, reliable revenue source while strengthening school spirit and community identity.

This blog post is based on our recent webinar series for booster club leaders. Join us next time as we tackle volunteer recruitment and retention!

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