Merch is goods with symbols, logos, original inscriptions, or prints. For example, at any more or less large concert, there is a point where they sell souvenirs with the name of the group or photos of the performers – this is merch. At every football or hockey game, ardent fans are always dressed in branded T-shirts, scarves, or caps of their favorite team – this is also merch. When addicted fans come to the bookmaker’s office, they are also often dressed in sports merch.
You are able to use any product for merch, on which you can apply an original drawing or inscription. Most often, these are things that people wear on themselves. After all, merch is released not only for profit but also for promotion.
The most common merch:
- garments – T-shirts, hoodies, long sleeves, windbreakers;
- accessories – socks, bracelets, bags, caps, hats, phone cases, bandanas;
- souvenirs – mugs, pins, key chains, mousepads, notepads.
Athletes and not only – produce sports shoes, clothing and accessories for sports.
How to design and create merch?
It all depends on what kind of product you are going to sell. Each production has its own nuances. For example, the cost and price of the merch will differ if you apply a pattern to clothes or souvenirs in different ways.
Here are the basic steps:
Step 1. Decide what product you will sell
Choose what’s relevant to your audience. For a rock band that bikers listen to, motorcycle gear might be great. For football fans, sportswear, footwear, fitness accessories, and more are suitable.
Of course, there are examples of merchandise that are far from the audience, but it will be difficult to achieve commercial success in such cases. For example, the American rock band The White Stripes released a sewing kit. More popular are products that are fun for people to wear or use: products with unusual or funny inscriptions and drawings, things that emphasize style and individuality.
You can take as a merch any product that you can apply a picture to – it can be either a popular thing or understandable only to your fans. A suitable product is one that is interesting to the audience, and on which you can make money.
Step 2. Decide what will be displayed on your merch
It can be a logo, photograph, motto, or print. Exclusivity is important: people will buy a regular T-shirt or mug elsewhere and cheaper. And the merchandise is bought for originality and interesting ideas.
You can run a poll among your followers or fans and find out which printed items they want to buy. But be aware that survey results are not always reliable. In practice, people may be better off buying things that are not at all what they chose during the survey.
The best way to gauge future demand is to pre-order items that you want to sell later. So you see what exactly people will order.
Step 3. Order your first batch of merch
It’s better to make a small batch at the beginning. There are companies where you can immediately order goods with prints: they buy the goods themselves, print a drawing according to your layout, and bring the finished batch.
Step 4. Calculate the selling price
The price at which you will sell the merchandise to your customers is called the selling price. It consists of the cost of the merchandise and the mark-up.
Merch cost – the cost of manufacturing the goods, advertising costs, delivery. It depends on many factors: the quality of the basic product, the complexity of printing, the circulation.
The larger your order, the cheaper production, and printing will be. But you need to calculate your strength. For example, ordering 1,000 mugs is more profitable than 100, but if you are not sure that all the goods will go away, it is better to order less.
On the cost of the merch, they make a markup, taking into account how much you want to earn and how solvent your audience is.
How to get money on your merch startup?
In order to start your own business, you need a lot of investment. Considering that for the release of sports merch you need to invest a lot of money in tailoring or creating the first batch of goods, you need to look for effective ways to make money.
A good way out in this situation is sports betting. But all newcomers who want to turn sports betting into a stable income should understand that this occupation is a serious risk. It is almost impossible to make money on bets without a competent strategy and experience. As in any profession, in sports betting, you need to go from painstaking training and bumping up to receiving dividends from the time and effort spent.
There is no strict framework for those who want to know how to make money on bets and how much. The amount is limited by the player’s own bankroll and bets limits.
How to increase your chances of winning?
If you have an irresistible desire to earn a lot and immediately, they need to pay attention to sweepstakes and super express bets. Many bookmakers have a loyal attitude towards express bets, and sweepstakes are one of the most popular offers to gamblers. You can include several events in the express at once, raising the value of the coupon to several million.
The betting game is no less profitable. The sum of prize funds of super express bets from some bookmakers is in the tens of millions of rubles. The advantage of such offers is that, in a successful scenario, you can win tens, or even hundreds of times more than the amount that was originally delivered. But the higher the number of possible winnings, the lower its probability.