Anyone have experience selling merch? Stickers, shirts, sweatshirts?
I plan on making and selling stickers and shirts of my art in the future. I wanted to know if anyone has experience doing this?
My initial thoughts would be using drop shipping companies where I don’t handle the stock, but provide the company with my designs and I set up a Shopify site or something.
I don’t dropship (do everything in-house), but I certainly went down this rabbit hole in detail when I first started my company.
How can I help?
oh cool! I know someone else that does that but I don't know the details. What was your spin up costs? For the printer, software, etc. How did you plan and determine what to sell them for?
I don’t have an exact number for you there, simply because I went through HUNDREDS of experiments trying to learn everything about both printing and garment materials. You have to change only one variable at a time in order to really determine what’s good and what isn’t.
So for example let’s say you’re doing DTG on Brand A's 100% cotton. Your results will change if you’re doing it on Brand B’s 100% cotton. And it might change if you use 100% ringspun cotton. And then obviously it’ll change if you alter the printing process. Or if you choose another colored shirt (because some shirts are composed of different materials when they’re different colors).
So it’s just a big mess of trial/error.
Software: If you’re dropshipping, it makes sense to go with Shopify simply because of its integrations with most of the major dropshipping providers. However, if you’re a developer at all, I’d say you should look towards a more open source solution like ThirtyBees or WooCommerce. As a developer, you’d be able to likely surpass Shopify’s capabilities because of the nature of open source software.
Pricing: I always went for quality. The clothing space, and the shirt space in particular, is extremely saturated. So it’s tough to stand out if you’re selling commoditized, generic shirts with the cheapest materials. I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to provide higher quality garments and really build a brand. So I priced them at a reasonable rate to where I’d probably be making less margin than the cheap/high volume sellers, but also not selling shirts at $70+ like the high-end fashion brands.
And this has actually virtually eliminated my return rate too, so don’t underestimate the power of creating a quality product. Yeah, you’re likely gonna get those customers who think you’re charging too much for a shirt, but if that’s the case, then that’s not really your market.
If you’re focusing on quality and providing reasonably-priced products (not cheap, but not expensive, either), and someone’s complaining about the price, they can go somewhere else to just get the cheapest option available. In other words, that’s not your value prop.
With clothing specifically, I’d say that it’s a good idea to check out some ranges between the low, mid, and high end spectrum of brands so you can compare prices and combine that with the level of quality you’re offering.
Also, if you’re dropshipping, keep in mind that the fulfillment center wipes out most of your profit margin, so at that point it becomes a volume game. As with many things, it's a tradeoff.
Dude. Forgot to answer. Thank you so much for the detailed response. I appreciate it!
I ran a company that utilized part of this model back in the early 2000's. The players have changed, but the rules are still the same. Here's my advice:
-The ability to setup a Shopify site will depend on the vendor(s) you select. Some will force you to use their own store, some won't be sophisticated enough to receive automated orders from your system, and some will be just right for you. But before you focus on that piece...
-Focus on their quality. This is your art after all and you won't want customers receiving a sticker that peels apart or cracks a week after receiving it. Get samples of everything you plan on selling from multiple vendors. You may find that you'll have to give up a little more money to the manufacturer to get the quality you find acceptable.
-Make sure you know where they are printing and shipping. Lots of overseas players these days and no one wants to wait 28 days to receive a sticker.
-If you think you'll hit a volume that works, try to get out of the drop ship model one piece at a time. You may be able to do this by working deals with local suppliers, or using the profits from the drop ship model to produce some of the product yourself. From there, you'd obviously be able to offer custom products of that type to others in your situation and grow your business that way.
One thing that worked REALLY well for me when I started to move manufacturing in house was to contact a bunch of companies and discuss the potential of me using their beta equipment in a production environment. By then, we had enough business where we were printing every day and it made sense. About 50% of the companies I spoke with were interested, and we selected a small number of what we considered the best products and people to work with. Of that group, we received free equipment and sometimes the ink (so they could control what was being run in the tests) so our only costs were labor and blank materials. They had the right to come in and inspect during working hours and we welcomed their visits. We learned a lot, and were able to influence better end products which we sometimes received strong discounts on for the assistance.
Amazing feedback! Thank you!
Yeah, this is a day-dreaming/research level. I'm probably 6 months away from pulling the trigger on anything and I'm just leveling up knowledge and finding paths for myself.
I've read that the dropshipping/shopify integrations nowadays are amazing and even for people without a tech background they are able to set it up easy.
Thanks so much again for the response!
I don't have experience doing this, but I've worked with some Shopify people (not in that space). I think there are a ton of apps that'll let you do this easily on Shopify, which means probably on any ecommerce platform.
https://apps.shopify.com/printful -- here's one, I can't find how much they charge though. I also saw one called tshirtgang.com.
You've definitely got options, and it'll probably be pretty easy to do. You just need the people who want your shirts and stuff :)
haha, yeah I definitely have to make some sweet designs first, of course :p
That's where I'm at right now. Diving back into designing and art and having fun. I'll find my style and strengths over the upcoming months. I've already noticed that my videos on youtube are getting better, and my art is getting better too.